Eastern Iowa Farmer Fall 2020

coronavirus
grain marketing economist and assistant
professor of economics in Iowa State
University’s College of Agriculture and
Life Sciences.
“We have seen ag prices across the
board slide down significantly because of
the spread of the coronavirus and all the
social distancing and physical distancing
responses that we’ve had to put in place
in order to try to tamp down the virus,” he
said.
Iowa Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig
said in late June that the disruption to
agriculture has been “unprecedented.” All
farmers, consumers and business have
been affected, he said, adding that the
economic damage could be more than
$6.5 billion.
Iowa State University economists
estimated in the spring that the state’s pork
industry had lost more than $2 billion; the
beef industry, $700 million; corn, nearly
$800 million; and soybeans, more than
$200 million.
By early summer, the U.S. pork industry
had lost about 25% of its processing
Chad Hart,
Iowa State University
College of Agriculture
and Life Sciences
capacity due to
COVID-19. In Iowa,
the nation’s top pork
producing state,
about 600,000 pigs
were backed up by
mid-May. President
Donald Trump ordered
meatpacking
plants open through
the Defense Production
Act to soften
disruptions in the
supply chain and
get food on grocery
store shelves.
The state’s ethanol
industry was operating at 70%.
In response to the market turbulence
created by the virus outbreak the USDA
created the $19 billion Coronavirus Food
Assistance Program (CFAP), Hart said.
“The virus hit a large swath of markets,
especially within agriculture. This package
is trying to respond to all of that,” Hart said.
“We have seen ag
prices across the board
slide down significantly
because of the spread
of the coronavirus and
all the social distancing
and physical distancing
responses that we’ve had
to put in place in order to
try to tamp down the virus.”
— Chad hart
Home
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800-943-4685
Hwy. 151 E. • Cascade, Ia
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www.caslbr.com
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eifarmer.com fall 2020 | Eastern Iowa Farmer 55