Economics
Rising interest rates uncover investment opportunities
While it may be hard to find the bright side of rising interest rates — just ask a Washington wheat farmer who’s already dealing with high input costs — there are investment opportunities to be found. According to Jordan Thayer, a financial advisor with Morgan Stanley, banks may charge more…
Juggling the economic triple play
In baseball, a successful triple play only occurs when the convergence of events is navigated using precision execution. Moving to farm and ranch management, global macroeconomic, geopolitical, fiscal and monetary policies are resulting in the economic triple play. Strategic operations in an agribusiness requires one to simultaneously manage prices, costs…
AMMO is coming to town
The Agricultural Marketing and Management Organization (AMMO) is back, with a 2023 calendar that includes seminars on herbicides, taxes and the markets. “We are excited to be fully back to in-person seminars this year. I think many people are tired of webinars and are looking for opportunities to get away…
Honest retirement considerations for farmland
Ask an ag producer what three things they consider key to the overall success of their farming operation, and the prevalent response will be hard work, honesty and family relationships. There isn’t a day that goes by that your farming operation doesn’t rely heavily on each of these key components…
Washington ag’s 2021 top 10
Thanks to the impact of the 2021 drought on wheat’s value of production, the crop slipped from No. 3 to No. 4 in the list of Washington state’s top 10 agricultural commodities last year. Apples remained at the top of the list, followed by milk, then cattle and calves, which…
Managing the economic, 3-headed dragon
The economic journey that lies ahead is going to be a three-dimensional pathway full of challenges, but also opportunities for the proactive manager. Along this journey, disrupters can occur to bottom-line profits in the form of the three-headed, fire-breathing dragon. If not properly managed, it can lead to burning through…
Growing a new kind of crop
Have commodity farmers become so efficient that they’re hurting themselves and the rural communities that they live in? Finding ways to add value to a crop could bolster the bottom lines of both. “We are producing more than we ever have before, and we are doing it cheaper than we…
Producer tips to managing the unexpected
Rising inflation, interest rate increases, a conflict in Europe, supply chain disruptions, and shifting consumer preferences are creating an environment of unexpected consequences. Managing a farm or ranch business in an economic environment with extreme volatility can be challenging, but also opportunistic. At a recent agricultural conference, Dr. Steve Isaacs,…
The case of the disappearing dollars
With wheat prices hovering north of $10 per bushel, wheat growers may look like they are doing pretty well, but appearances can be deceiving as rising production costs keep eating away at producers’ profits. According to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates, total U.S. production expenses increased 5.5 percent from…
Connection with end users drives farming family
Down in the Horse Heaven Hills, Garrett Moon and his wife, Jessica, have begun selling small grains to regional flour mills and directly to consumers in an effort to look beyond the commodity market. “I think part of it was a little bit of curiosity to break outside of the…
