Ag Economist Recommends Ranchers Take Advantage of Low Feed Costs

The question on the minds of many beef producers is, "How soon will the herd rebuild?" In the opinion of economists like Dan Basse, that won't happen yet.

Basse, an economist for AgResource Company, recently discussed his thoughts during the Feeding Quality Forum in Dodge City, Kansas. He said it's important to look at what is happening worldwide in agriculture to better understand what is happening locally. While those in the U.S. beef industry have been doing relatively well, there are some big struggles elsewhere.

"U.S. farm income is down 39% the last couple of years," he said. "Brazilian bankruptcies are up more than 500%, Russian farmers are struggling because of the war, as are Ukrainian farmers. No matter where we look, we are seeing issues with the world economic landscape for the agricultural sector."

Basse said that while it looks bad worldwide, the U.S. has some major struggles too, especially surrounding the government debt.

"We believe that there's a bullish market ahead. We still don't have herd rebuilding. We still see supplies tightening," he said. "When you think about what's forthcoming, it is something that I think you can be bullish about."