What Is Saving Grace for Embattled Valley Farmers? People Always Need Food [Video]

Fresno State on Wednesday brought together economists, lenders, farmers, and industry representatives to discuss the changing landscape in California agriculture for its 43rd annual Agribusiness Management Conference.

Saying agriculture is in the midst of a drastic transition, panelists struggled to paint an optimistic picture of ag’s future. But the event’s economist assured growers, saying Americans will only want more food.

But farmers will have to overcome the after effects of an overexuberance of investment and expansion and find a price point that can pay for increasing regulations and water costs while also staying competition with rising foreign markets.

Easy Money Lead to Overexuberance: Covington

The talk comes amidst notable bankruptcies in the ag world, collapsing commodity prices, land sell offs, and high interest rates.

“When money’s free, it invited a lot of private equity into the space here in California, plus we had a number of farmers who had deep pockets with a lot of cash …