An unsettled economy, in combination with other factors, have more than doubled the amount of money at risk for U.S. farmers, a University of Illinois agricultural economist says. 

“Last year, both production costs and commodity prices doubled and then plunged,” Nick Paulson says. “Despite the recent decline, both prices and input costs are still well above their long-term averages for corn, soybeans and wheat.”

According to Paulson, this means farmers “have twice as much money at risk due to higher volatility in the market.” An additional problem facing growers, he says, is that government programs that once provided a safety net have been undermined by market volatility.

“These programs are based on price levels that are now basically irrelevant,” Paulson says. “Programs no longer guarantee breakeven prices or even prices close to breakeven for producers.”

It will become increasingly important in this volatile environment, he notes, to lock in input costs when they are favorable.

In Other No-Till News…

• Under a cross-licensing agreement, Syngenta will receive global non-exclusive licenses with stacking rights to the Herculex Insect Protection traits from Dow AgroSciences. Meanwhile, Dow will get access to Syngenta’s Agrisure traits, including the Viptera trait.
• CF Industries Holdings has rejected Agrium’s third offer to acquire the fertilizer company. Stephen Wilson, chairman, president and CEO, said in a letter to stockholders he felt the offer showed Agrium was “more interested in derailing our proposed business combination with Terra Industries than in acquiring CF Industries for anything other than a bargain price.”
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