Agribusiness outlook for 2005: silver linings mix with some dark, stormy clouds

Feedstuffs, November, 2004 by Duane Thurman

The outlook for 2005 appears good despite the challenges of high oil costs, political turmoil and trade embargo issues. What could go wrong with this projection? High energy costs could cut corporate capital investments, and companies may start another round of cost cutting, affecting inventory levels, exports and job growth.

In November 2003, we were very optimistic about our projections for agribusiness in 2004 as the fundamentals for positive growth were in place.

Fortunately, our year-ago projection was mostly on target, despite the daunting challenge to the beef industry following discovery of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in one cow in late 2003, ultra-high oil prices, the adverse impact of imbalanced media reporting, national and global...