Surviving The Downturn: Ag Economists Team Up To Show How We Got Here, And What The Future Holds

MARY HIGHTOWER

LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS

As agriculture faces its darkest period since the 1980s, a team of economists from across the Southeast documented their answers to “how did we get here?” and “how do we recover?” into a sweeping publication titled “Surviving the Farm Economy Downturn: 2026 Update.” 

“The number of farm bankruptcies is rising across the South, and much like previous downturns, producers are asking for advice on how to manage their way out of this hopefully short-term economic downturn,” Joe Outlaw and Bart L. Fischer, co-directors of the Agricultural and Food Policy Center, wrote about the publication in Southern Ag Today. 

At 155 pages, the report from the Southern Risk Management Education Center and the Agricultural and Food Policy Center, features the work of 37 experts from the two centers, plus Auburn University, Mississippi State University, Texas A&M AgriLife, University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture, University of Florida, University of Georgia, University of Kentucky, University of Maryland, and the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture. 

The document is divided in six primary sections: Setting the Stage, Crop Market Outlooks, Livestock, Ag Lending/Credit/Crop Insurance, Strategies, and Resiliency. Each section contains from two to eight highly detailed articles. 

SRMEC Director Ron Rainey said the project’s analyses come from a deep pool of expertise.  

“This is a project led by Southern Risk Management Education Center and the Agricultural and Food Policy Center leadership with expertise from the Southern Extension Economics Committee,” Rainey said.  

“Leadership at both centers started discussions in September 2025 and convened a meeting of committee members this February, where we announced the 60-day timeline for article first draft and chapter assignments,” Rainey said. 

The first effort was published in 2018. 

The publication was made possible by support from the Southern Risk Management Education Center, under project award Nos. 2021-70027-34722 and 2025-70027-45397, from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture. 

The Southern Risk Management Education Center is based at the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture. The Agricultural Food and Policy Center is housed at Texas A&M University.    ∆

MARY HIGHTOWER

UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS