If there has ever been any doubt that the marketplace for agriculture products can change overnight it has certainly been reaffirmed over the last week or 10 days.
On March 11, the FCC Young Farmer Summit was held in Yorkton, where Craig Klemmer, Principal Agricultural Economist at Farm Credit Canada, gave some insights into what he saw in terms of the ag markets, which he admitted were volatile based on a number of factors.
That day COVID-19 was of course on the minds of people, the event host suggesting people not shake hands as a precaution.
Klemmer too, of course mentioned that the World Health Organization had just labelled COVID-19 a pandemic. He also noted how the National Basketball Association was talking about the potential of playing games in empty arenas as a safety measure.
Within hours the impact Klemmer might have imagined were about as out-dated as the horse-drawn plow.
The NBA had put its season on hold, which was followed quickly by the National Hockey League and virtually every other professional sport in Canada and the United States.
Then came junior and minor hockey seasons shut down for the season in Canada.
And, around the world most sport venues had turned off their lights in the face of concerns over the spread of COVID-19.
Sports of course are just a very visible example of the efforts being made to curb the spread of the disease. Travel has been restricted, schools closed, larger gatherings banned, bars and theatres told to close, all moves from various jurisdictions in response to the continued spread.
How will this all play out for agriculture?
That is yet to be determined for these are quite clearly unprecedented circumstances, but it will mean volatility.
Still, in the end through any large scale disaster a constant is a need for food.
There will be pressures on the system to safeguard against COVID-19, but food will need to flow from the farm gate to the people, and that will be a focus one hopes not just here, but around the world moving forward.
The current situation is of course uncharted for most of us, although I suspect it is not so unlike some of the pressures faced by people in the 1930s and post the great wars in terms of uncertainty, and fear that many of us feel.
But, we can expect farmers in the field within a few weeks, and ranchers tending to their calves, as they always have, growing the food that we will need through and post COVID-19.
Calvin Daniels is Editor with Yorkton This Week.
