JONESBORO, AR – The farm economy was the focus at the 31st Annual A-State Agribusiness Conference held here this week and the mood was best described as tense. As is custom, conference director and professor of ag economics Dr. Bert Greenwalt kicked the conference off with greetings and thank yous to the many sponsors who keep the event free for attendees, including USA Rice that has been a sponsor for 24 of the conference’s 28 years.
Greenwalt used the platform to present several current and former students, all of whom extolled the opportunities the A-State program provided, including many who had interned in Washington, DC, for Congressman Rick Crawford or in Arkansas for Senator John Boozman. But when the speakers took the stage in the general session, the celebratory atmosphere shifted.
Dan Basse, president of AgResource Company, gave a sobering keynote address where he walked through the geopolitics of agriculture and in particular, where soybeans, corn, and wheat find themselves. Of note was the massive soybean crop expected to come out of Brazil with millions of new acres and a variety that increases yield dramatically.
Basse also expressed concerns about President Donald Trump’s tariff strategy, noting that China has spent the last four years diversifying its supply chain and that almost 70 percent of all U.S. ag exports by value are destined for Mexico, Canada, and China, the three countries first targeted for trade action by Trump.
Next, Matuschka Lindo Briggs, senior vice president and regional executive of the Little Rock Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, broke down the role the Fed plays in everyone’s lives and how the institution goes about gathering the information and data that informs U.S. monetary policy. She also provided a preview of findings her group recently reported into the Fed in the ag, transportation, healthcare, and real estate space.
Dr. John Anderson, director of Cooperative Extension Service for the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture, provided more analysis of the ag economy, and while he also talked about the challenges of farm profitability, it is worth noting, rice had a slightly better – but not easy – path to profit.
It was fitting and appreciated that at the end of his remarks, Anderson shared information about the Farm Stress Management & Resilience Project for mental health and reminded attendees that, “at the end of the day, you are more important to your family and your community than your farm is.”
The final speaker of the morning was Mary Kay Thatcher, senior manager for Federal Government and Industry Relations for Syngenta, who painted an equally sobering picture of the state of politics in Washington now and for the foreseeable future.
She explained that because of vacancies in the U.S. House of Representatives, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) cannot afford to lose a single Member to pass any legislation without help from Democrats. She also shared updated budget targets Republicans will need to hit if they hope to extend the Trump Tax Cuts, including slashing as much as $200 billion from the draft Farm Bill.
Attendees then got a short break to practice deep breathing exercises, smoke, or disassociate as they headed over to lunch and breakout sessions.
The lunch featured Dean of the A-State College of Agriculture Dr. Mickey LaTour with an overview of the many exciting developments at the college, including a recruitment and retention rate that surpasses Big Ten ag schools. Dr. Heidi Banse provided an update on the new School of Veterinary Medicine that will break ground on a new building this spring and welcome their first class in the fall.
The luncheon keynote speaker was Arkansas Secretary of Agriculture Wes Ward who thanked everyone in attendance for their work in agriculture that is so vital to the state’s economy. He shared some of the work he is undertaking with Governor Sarah Sanders on water issues and how he is working to market Arkansas ag to the rest of the world. He reminded attendees that he is serving as the current president of the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) and will be bringing that group’s annual meeting to Rogers, Arkansas, this fall.
The conference then broke into three concurrent sessions: Cotton Issues and Outlook; Animal Health Issues and the A-State College of Veterinary Medicine; and Rice Industry Issues and Outlook. Grayson Daniels, vice president for grain sales and procurement at Riceland Foods, shared his analysis of rice and soybeans, stocks, carryover, imports, exports, and market conditions. He also offered a report on the political scene affecting agriculture that mirrored the challenging scenarios that had been being laid out all day.
Michael Klein, USA Rice vice president of communications and strategic development, closed the session with more Washington uncertainty and the potential impact on the rice industry from the trade association’s perspective. He praised Arkansans for sending such a strong Congressional delegation to Washington and said though the challenges were many and the risks great, the leadership of Senator John Boozman, the dean of the delegation and chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, would see the industry through.
He closed with a heartfelt plea for attendees to stay vigilant, stay informed, and to remain skeptical of things they read and hear.
“If it sounds really outrageous and you think to yourself, ‘that can’t be right,’ chances are it isn’t,” he said. “There have been so many rumors flying around about what the Trump Administration is doing or not doing it’s hard to keep up with it all. Hit pause and triangulate where you are getting your news from. Trust, but verify.”
He urged people to look to the
USA Rice Daily and
The Rice Stuff podcast as sources of verified, unbiased, apolitical industry news.