Periodically the Federal Reserve releases the Beige Book or more formally ‘Commentary on Current Economic Conditions by Federal Reserve District. This book summarizes the comments by Federal Reserve member banks relating to various economic sectors including Agriculture. These comments don’t provide any data but do help to understand trends or new conditions to follow. You can read the book here: https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/beige-book-default.htm.
Let’s look at some of the comments about agriculture.
Chicago: “The outlook for crop income was unchanged through April and early May despite wet weather slowing planting in much of the District.” Chicago also reported some cold weather damage to some fields. Some dairy operations in Wisconsin had to find new milk buyers when Canada restricted ultra-filtered milk importations. Incomes for hog and cattle improved as prices rose.
St Louis: “Agriculture conditions deteriorated significantly due to flooding across the District”. Flooding across the region had hampered planting with cotton being farthest behind in planting progress.
Minneapolis: “District agricultural conditions remained weak since the previous report because of continued low commodity prices.” The district noted that planting was slowed by mid-May rains but that planting progress was on a par with the 5-year average.
Kansas City: “Persistently weak farm income continued to weigh on the District’s farm economy and agricultural credit conditions. Soybeans prices were lower than one year ago but soybeans remained profitable at current prices. Bankers in the western region of the district were expecting much lower farm income than those in the eastern part of the district. Wild fires devastated parts of the district and reduced cattle and wheat incomes.
Source: 31 May 2017 Beige Book, Federal Reserve System
Red Willow Farm and Ranch Management 