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Drought impact on new and emerging markets

The drought is having a massive impact on agriculture.

Compeer Financial new markets lending specialist Paul Dietmann says the scope stretches beyond traditional crop and livestock production and is being felt in direct-to-consumer markets.

“Anybody who is marketing meat direct to consumers, most of them are doing something grass-fed. Well, pastures are just burnt up, there’s just nothing left. So that’s having a pretty big impact.”

He tells Brownfield most small-scale vegetable growers use irrigation, so they haven’t been as affected.

But Dietmann says risk management tools are lacking.

“One of the things that emerging markets farmers face is that there’s not really any crop insurance options for them.”

USDA’s Risk Management Agency does offer some products targeted toward smaller-scale farmers, but he says none of them seem to fit very well when there’s a drought.