Common Ground Blog

Farm Credit Services of America (FCSAmerica) and Frontier Farm Credit are co-sponsoring a webinar series, Two Economists and a Lender. Our April installment featured Agriculture Economic Insights (AEI) co-founders David Widmar and Brent Gloy and Jen Aadland, insurance services officer. The webinar recording from April 21 is available. Explore upcoming webinars.

Good decision-making is challenging in the best of times. In times of uncertainty, even small decisions can become big obstacles.

Fortunately, there are decision-making strategies and risk management tools to help farmers and ranchers navigate through the uncertainty and move their operations forward – in the next six weeks, six months, and six years. In our Spring 2022 Outlook, economists Brent Gloy and David Widmar team up with our crop insurance expert Jen Aadland to bring order to what feels like a chaotic start to the growing season.

Consider this: Planting season begins with unusually high commodity prices and the expectation that most producers will have a profitable year. Yet producer sentiment is down amid rapid cost increases, inflation, tight labor markets, weather challenges, and market disruptions from war and the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It’s uncommon that we find ourselves less certain in our decision-making as we head into spring planting than we did at the beginning of the year,” Widmar says.

But decisions still need to be made. By focusing on what can be controlled and using proven strategies, producers can be less reactive and more proactive in managing today’s economic environment, Aadland said.

Watch the webinar in its entirety, or jump to the sections that you find most interesting or relevant to your needs.

To register for future webinars, visit our Webinars page.