Top Markets Issues to Watch in 2023
Tim Hammerich
News Reporter
Agriculture faces a handful of issues in 2023, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation. During a panel discussion at the annual convention in Puerto Rico, AFBF Chief Economist Roger Cryan told attendees that global food insecurity is rising.
Cryan… “After decades of improvement in food security around the world we've got growing numbers of folks who not really finding it easy to feed themselves and their family, there's been a big bump about 200 million more people were food insecure in the world in 2021 then there were three or four years before that, and there's a lot of things behind that.”
After years of good fortune, Cryan says there are many challenges in 2023, including the Russia-Ukraine war, inflation, and interest rates.
Cryan… “We are facing the highest inflation we've faced in 40 years. That was all because the Federal Reserve Bank chose to stimulate demand in the economy where supply was the issue, and now they're trying to deal with it by raising interest rates. These interest rates that the Fed sets really have a big impact on short term interest rates, which raises the cost of operating loans and so forth, but also the combination of rising inflation and the higher short term interest rates has contributed to higher long term interest rates. Hopefully these have already peaked, but all that is promising some problems. In 2023 and 2024 we'll be talking about the cost of credit and 2025 and beyond, we'll be talking about the burden of debt.”
That’s American Farm Bureau Chief Economist Roger Cryan.
