Economist says retail prices up with COVID-19, but farmers aren’t benefiting

Economist says retail prices up with COVID-19, but farmers aren’t benefiting

A Farm Bureau economist says none of the commodities are doing very well in the markets during the unusual consumer buying caused by coronavirus concerns. John Newton tells Brownfield, “May Class Three milk is down 11%. May Class Four milk, which is milk used to produce nonfat dry milk powders. Given how much powder is exported, it’s down 22%. Hogs and live cattle were down as much as 30% before the market rallied.”

And, Newton said that rally didn’t help prices enough.