Author: Helen

U.S. farmers are being priced out of the U.S. economy as the nation shifts to a lower growth path

U.S. farmers are being priced out of the U.S. economy as the nation shifts to a lower growth path

Farmland Values Hit Record Highs, Pricing Out Farmers

The price of agricultural products fell for the first time in five years, in a sign that farmers are being priced out of the U.S. economy as the nation shifts to a lower growth path.

Prices for corn, soybeans and wheat fell in July, as the year-end holiday brought a surge in sales. That helped to push the U.S. crop above a record. Prices for soybeans also fell more than in the past year, as a drought and a heat wave took their toll.

The drop in the price of raw products is a relief for U.S. farmers who have struggled with high operating costs and low prices in recent years due to a series of storms and shortages in the oil and grain supply, and to trade tensions with China over the auto industry.

Agriculture is a major sector of the U.S. economy, and the vast majority of those working in the industry are small farmers, said David Cote, a senior economist with the American Farm Bureau Federation in Washington, D.C. “Somebody is going to benefit from that and some people are actually going to be hurt,” he said.

The drop in the prices for raw products is a relief for U.S. farmers who have struggled with high operating costs and low prices in recent years due to a series of storms and shortages in the oil and grain supply, and to trade tensions with China over the auto industry.

“Somebody is going to benefit from that and some people are actually going to be hurt,” Cote said.

The decline in crop prices is driven by a combination of factors, including a lack of new crops to replace crops damaged by the drought; strong demand from China for American-grown soybeans as it pursues a trade strategy to boost its economy; and a lack of rain in the U.S., leading to a fall in

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