Hunter Biram and Ryan Loy discuss the economic impact of the January winter storm on Arkansas’s poultry industry, where prolonged outages and freezing conditions led to major production disruptions. They walk through the difference between damage estimates and economic impact, highlighting over $200 million in structural losses alongside additional losses tied to bird mortality and reduced production. The conversation also explores how these losses ripple through labor income, jobs, and tax revenues across the state. While rebuilding activity will generate significant economic output, they emphasize that it largely reflects recovery from losses rather than new growth. The episode highlights the scale of the storm’s impact and what it means for producers moving forward.

Rising input costs are creating new challenges for producers as fertilizer and fuel markets respond to global conflict and supply chain uncertainty. In this episode, Hunter Biram and Ryan Loy are joined by Grant Gardner (University of Kentucky) to discuss how these shifts are impacting crop margins, input availability, and decision-making. They cover potential acreage shifts between corn and soybeans, the role of energy markets in commodity prices, and how these dynamics are influencing demand. With volatility building across multiple markets, they also discuss what producers should be watching and how to approach risk management in the current environment.

Join Hunter Biram and Breana Watkins as they discuss how rising fuel and fertilizer prices linked to conflict in the Persian Gulf are reshaping crop profitability heading into the 2026 season. Updated University of Arkansas enterprise budgets show tighter margins across several major crops as higher diesel and nitrogen costs increase production expenses. While soybean returns appear stronger in some scenarios, factors such as yield expectations, soil type, equipment needs, and rental agreements all influence planting decisions. The episode highlights how producers can use enterprise budgets to evaluate breakeven scenarios and manage risk in a volatile input cost environment.