The recording of our April 20th COVID-19’s Impacts on U.S. Food and Agriculture webinar is available for viewing. Slides used during the presentation are also available for download.

COVID-19 is disrupting U.S. food distribution and marketing, reducing demand for key agricultural commodities and producing severe financial pressure among agricultural producers. Purdue ag economists Jayson Lusk, Michael Langemeier and James Mintert discuss what’s happened to retail and wholesale food markets and how supply chain issues have produced stock-outs at retail. They also examine the impact demand destruction is having on corn and soybean markets, what it means for crop revenue and how it could impact program payments for producers who recently enrolled in either USDA’s ARC or PLC programs. The impact on meat and livestock markets has been especially severe and they discuss how packing plant shut-downs are affecting both livestock producers and retail consumers.