An excess of harvest that has beaten American farmers is subsiding, fueling an unexpected recovery on the American farm after an agricultural recession for years.
Prices for maize, soybeans and wheat have risen to their highest levels in more than six years as dry weather and strong export demand from China deplete US stocks.
Rising commodity prices are taking place through the food chain, contributing to the sharp rise in US farm incomes and raising the prospects for a range of rural businesses, from grain traders to equipment manufacturers and fertilizer suppliers.
At the same time, the renaissance in the grain sector is raising costs and pushing profit margins for food and fuel producers who absorb large amounts of corn and soybeans from the U.S. each year and are likely to drive up food prices for some consumers, some foods say. directors.
It is a dramatic reversal in recent years, in which rapid harvests have inflated the US grain supply, pushing prices lower and reducing farmers’ incomes. A wave of bankruptcies swept the Midwestern farms, followed by trade disputes and the coronavirus pandemic, which deepened farmers’ struggles.