Ken Zuckerberg Lead Economist with CoBank says ag retailers are on “relatively firm footing.”
In CoBank’s latest report, he says, “we analyzed consolidated U.S. farm financial data and studied CoBank’s proprietary customer database. Weather permitting, ag retailers are reasonably well positioned for an improved outlook on sales and services this spring.”
Here are two key takeaways from the report:
- Agronomy sales and services are poised to improve as data heading into 2020 is in line with 2018, including farmer prepayments, accounts receivables, and delinquency trends
- Even with expanded acres in 2020 compared with 2019, ag retail has inventory of seed, crop protection and fertilizer to meet demand
CoBank studied data from its database of more than 200 grain and farm supply cooperative customers.
Looking into the unknown of 2020, Zuckerberg says the two largest risks are flooding and impacts from the coronavirus pandemic.
He notes a wide swath of farm country already reporting saturated soils in March with forecasts for above-average precipitation this spring.
He also notes CoBank is watching the global spread of COVID-19 and how it could disrupt supply chains and the availability of certain inputs.
You can watch Zuckerberg’s overview of the report here:
And click here for the full report from CoBank
