By Bruce Burnett, MarketsFarm
Published: March 27, 2020
![](https://static.producer.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/27121427/BAD050315_Monette_Seeding_7.jpg)
A trend has developed in the business news channels over the past week that has not been hard to miss.
Suddenly the CEO’s of the big agriculture and food concerns are being featured front and centre during the business segments. Usually these companies are noted only when they release quarterly results and even then there is not enough interest to conduct a live interview.
Suddenly CNBC is running segments on Cargill, ADM, Mondelez, General Mills and other like companies. Grocers are also of interest as they are brought on to assure us that the toilet paper supply chain is not broken. It took a major pandemic for people to notice the remarkable things that our farms and agricultural businesses perform every day.
I have no doubt that after this pandemic is over people will quickly return to their ho-hum attitude towards the fact that grocery have fully stocked shelves with food produced around the globe.
We will be planting the 2020 crop in North America in the middle of the most serious pandemic in over 100 years, and the markets are not concerned. In North America over 200 million acres will get planted in a mere eight weeks or so.
Whatever the weatherman throws at farmers, whatever the input supply chains do to disrupt seeding, farmers will get this job done. It would be nice to see some recognition for keeping the store shelves stocked, even if there isn’t a pandemic.
Markets are recognizing the value of agricultural commodities relative to other investments.
Although the rally in gold has boosted the commodity to the top of the list, spring wheat and canola have managed to continue to hold onto their value relative to other investments.
In other words, agriculture commodities are an island of stability in the stormy seas caused by the COVID-19 outbreak.
Original article published in Producer.com : https://www.producer.com/2020/03/suddenly-agriculture-is-important/