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COVID-19 and its economic impact

CoBank President and CEO Thomas Halverson says the coronavirus pandemic will continue to impact the economy, which is unlikely to return to “normal” anytime soon. 

“Certain sectors are going to find it much harder to return because of how consumers behave,” he says. “Business are going to have to run their businesses in different ways because it’s our view we’ll be living in a world of COVID-19 unless or until an effective vaccine is made available.”   

He says farmers and ranchers are resilient and adjusting to the extreme volatility.  

“They entered this COVID-19 situation after several years already of vulnerability caused by a sustained lowering of commodity prices since 2013-2014,” he says.

Halverson, speaking during the US Soybean Export Council’s virtual Asia Trade Exchange, says he’s hopeful commodity prices are starting to stabilize.