The Rising Influence of Rising Affluence

[DewDiligence]

Somebody’s wrong about US farm income! On its recent quarterly CC, DE executives said 2012 was a record year, but USDA says 2012 will be down 3% from 2011 due to widespread drought:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/27/usa-agriculture-idUSL1E8MR4MR20121127

There’s evidently a difference in how DE and USDA are defining the term.

DE expects 2013 US farm income to be 4% higher than 2012 (and a new record); USDA will release its first forecast for 2013 in February.

This section of the Reuters piece above is something everyone can agree on:

High farm income gives producers the cash to update their equipment and pay for seed, fertilizer and pesticides. Their outlays buoy businesses ranging from Deere and AGCO to Monsanto, Syngenta, Potash Corp and Dow AgroSciences.

See #msg-79481841 for a related story.