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Report: Future Ag Production Expected To Outpace Demand, Put Pressure On Farm Incomes

By Brock Turner, IPB News | Published on in Agriculture, Business, Economy, Statewide News
(Brock Turner, WFIU/WTIU News)

New data shows that consumer could be paying less for food in the next ten years, but that comes at a cost to farmers.

The study is from the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development and the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization.

While the report might be good news for consumers, it’s not so for farmers because they’re projected to produce more than what consumers demand.

Don Villwock is a southwestern Indiana farmer. He says he’s worried, especially for younger farmers as they struggle to make ends meet.

“A lot of my career, I didn’t, just kind of took it year by year,” he says. “But, as young people look at careers in agriculture [they have to ask] is that a place I want to spend my life?”

Villwock says the report contradicts the optimism many farmers had that increasing population would eventually increase prices.

Local farmers are already bracing for market turbulence due to trade uncertainty abroad and an unseasonably high number of rainy days this spring.