Yes, it's still the dead of winter (though you wouldn't know it in balmy NYC), but it's not too early to get a read on what agricultural economists are thinking about in the coming growing season:
Will avian flu arrive in the United States on the wings of migratory or imported birds?
Will concerns about soybean rust migrating deeper into major soybean-growing regions trump issues such as high energy costs when farmers decide what to plant in 2006?
Will the multi-year drought end in the Great Plains and other parts of farm country?
How will World Trade Organization talks, tight federal budgets and the 2007 Farm Bill debate affect U.S. farm programs and income?
If you know the answers to those questions, U.S. Department of Agriculture policymakers and University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension ag economists would like a moment of your time.
The answers are the key to their 2006 ag outlook.
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