Look for the Positives

There’s plenty of pessimism about the farm economy, especially for the crop sector. Agricultural Economic Insights Co-Founder David Widmar is still seeing some positive news, including the ad hoc and farm bill programs. “Cash is going to hit the accounts in 2026 for the 2025 production,” said Widmar. “That’s from that FBA program; that’s the ARC and PLC program payments that we’ll get from last year’s production, but that will come in the fall of 2026 and, of course, Congress is still talking about kicking the can around a little bit about maybe more programs for 2025 production.” Positive factors also include resilient farmland values, a strong livestock sector and historically low loan delinquency levels.