NEWS for North Dakotans
Agriculture Communication, North Dakota State University
7 Morrill Hall, Fargo, ND 58105-5665

February 11, 1999

Updated Price Projections Available for Producers

The North Dakota State University Extension Service has released "Plotting a Course 1999," the latest set of short- and long-term commodity price projections to aid management decisions. With this planning tool farmers and ranchers can prepare annual budgets for crop and livestock enterprises, project cash flow and set price expectations, says an NDSU agricultural economist.

"With the general decline in crop and livestock prices, price projections are more important than ever," says Ron Haugen, extension farm economist at NDSU.

The publication lists 1999 price projections for crops and livestock produced in the state, gives historical price references and provides future price estimates. Included are crop price projections for wheat, durum, oats, feed barley, malting barley, oil sunflower, confection sunflower, corn, soybeans, flax, dry edible beans, rye, potatoes, canola, alfalfa hay and mixed hay. There are also livestock price projections for beef steers and heifers, slaughter hogs, slaughter ewes, slaughter lambs, feeder lambs and wholesale milk.

"Current supply and demand conditions rarely last for long periods of time and so usually are a poor indicator of future trends," Haugen stresses. "For that reason, producers shouldn't be using the short-term price projections for planning their capital purchases or expansion alternatives beyond the next production season."

Instead, Haugen suggests using the short-term price projections in budgets for only the upcoming year. The long-term price projections included in the publication will help producers evaluate plans affecting their enterprise for more than one year.

To obtain a free copy of "Plotting a Course 1999" (EC-1090), call NDSU at (701) 231-7882 or stop by a county office of the NDSU Extension Service. The publication is also available electronically via the Web at http://www.ext.nodak.edu/extpubs/farmmgt.htm.

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Source: Ron Haugen (701) 231-8103

Editor: Dean Hulse (701) 231-6136