March 13, 2024
Contact: Courtney Perrett, 573-882-6217, cperrett@missouri.edu
Photo by Tevin Uthlaut
The 2024 Abner W. Womack Missouri Agriculture Outlook Conference is set for Wednesday, April 3, at the University of Missouri Bradford Research Farm near Columbia, Missouri.
Former U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt will be the keynote luncheon speaker.
Each year at the conference, the University of Missouri’s Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI-MU) unveils its baseline outlooks for ag production, farm prices and consumption for the next ten years. Those outlooks inform Congress on agricultural policy.
Abner Womack is the cofounder of FAPRI-MU, which is celebrating its 40th year in 2024. This is the 10th annual conference bearing Womack’s name.
“The outlook for Missouri agriculture is higher production in 2024 because of a rebound in yields, lower grain and oilseed prices more than offsetting a slight decline in input prices, and lower government payments,” said Ben Brown, senior research associate with FAPRI and conference organizer.
Brown said Missouri livestock producers should see improved profitability this year compared to 2023 because of higher prices and lower feed costs.
“However, drought conditions liquidated herd sizes leaving fewer market-ready animals,” he said.
Preparing farmers for the future
As a leader in agricultural research, including market conditions and policy, the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources is helping Missouri’s farmers achieve success. FAPRI is committed to providing the information and analysis needed by policy makers as they make important decisions affecting everyone with a stake in agriculture.
In addition to the keynote address, the conference includes a U.S. commodity panel featuring the American Soybean Association, the National Cotton Council of America and American Farm Bureau, and a panel of policy experts from the U.S. House and Senate Agriculture committees, the International Food Policy & Research Institute, and the American Sugar Alliance.
An international panel covering global issues relevant to U.S. agriculture features FAPRI’s partners from around the world, including the University of Nevada Reno, which partners with FAPRI on international crop and livestock models; the Bureau for Food Agricultural Policy, South Africa; and Teagasc (the Irish Agriculture and Food Development Authority).
Joe Outlaw and Bart Fischer, co-directors of the Agricultural and Food Policy Center at Texas A&M, will provide a farm finance update.
Free registration is available on FAPRI’s website and is required if eating lunch. Registration and networking begin at 8 a.m. The conference runs to 3:30 p.m. at 4968 Rangeline Rd, Columbia, MO, 65201.
Story written by Julie Harker
