According to data from the International Trade Administration (read the full report HERE), Nebraska's export market contracted by 5.3% over the first four months of 2023. Nebraska's processed food exports were down double digits, over 11%.
Of the Midwestern states, only Oklahoma fared worse than Nebraska over the first third of 2023. Kansas was the only other Midwestern state that saw trade go down.
"Nebraska had been moving along fairly briskly," says Creighton University economist Ernie Goss, who authors the monthly Mid-America Business Conditions Index. "There had been solid growth before this. Now we're seeing slow to no growth."
Other than a declining export market Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Kansas have something else in common - drought, and experts say that's a major contributor to the trade slowdown.
"The drought's really had a significant impact, particularly on two states - Kansas and Nebraska," Goss says. "It's hurting the food processing industry and likewise causing a decline in trade."
"Farmers are feeling it on the front end with the commodities that they're growing," says Austin Haarthorn, an economist with the Nebraska Farm Bureau. "A lot less is going to the suppliers, less is going to the processers. They're getting paid less for the crop that they're producing so they're producing less of the crop."
The lack of rain is creating a lack of confidence in Nebraska's short-term economic outlook. June's Business Conditions Index dropped below growth neutral in the Cornhusker State for the first time this year.
Perhaps complicating matters, the deadline for the new Farm Bill is September 30th, and experts say no one knows what effect that could have.
"That's very volatile," Haarthorn says. "I don't know if anyone knows exactly what's going to happen there, or when it's going to happen."
Source: newschannelnebraska.com
Photo Credit: gettyimages-neenawat555
Categories: Nebraska, Business