There are several issues that agriculture will have to deal with in 2009, among them farm input costs, commodity trends and biofuels. However according to USDA Chief Economist Joe Glauber says that without question the biggest issue for agriculture will be the economy both in the U.S. and abroad.
"The world economy will be even more important as we look at, in particular things like GDP growth worldwide," Glauber says. "The real issue will be countries like China, which have been such drivers in the world economy. The real question will be whether or not the world recession hits and really adversely affects their growth. If that's the case then I think that the situation may be worse than a lot of people think including myself."
A wider and worse severe world recession could mean a major cutback in U.S. farm export sales to China and the rest of the world, which could result in lower prices for U.S. farmers.