United States: ISU economist says Russian invasion could open new commodity markets

Iowa farmers could inadvertently find new markets for their commodities because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Chad Hart, an agricultural economist with Iowa State University, explains. “If Russia and Ukraine aren’t able to export, that means the rest of the world is searching for another place to buy grain from,” Hart says, “and it tends to drive actually more sales for us here out of the U.S.” When Russia invaded Afghanistan in 1980, then-President Jimmy Carter imposed a grain embargo on Russia. Hart doubts the effectiveness of a similar embargo today. “Global markets have changed quite a bit since then and we won’t see the same impacts with the same policy moves,” Hart says, “given how time has changed agriculture over the last 40-some years.” Agricultural exports from Russia and Ukraine have ground to a halt and the invasion is going to have certain impact on what Ukrainian farmers can produce this year. “On the wheat side, I would say the planting is already done, so ...