Eastern Washington farmers, who face a double-gut punch of higher costs and low prices for wheat, could force career-altering decisions soon if economic forces don’t change, an agriculture economist told them Wednesday.
Eric Jessup, the director of the Freight Policy Transportation Institute at Washington State University, provided the economic outlook as part of the 2026 Spokane Ag Expo and Farm Forum that will continue through Thursday at the Spokane Convention Center.
“I would say we don’t want to have too many more years like this last year,” Jessup told the crowd. “I’m talking like across the whole country. Two or three more years of net returns to farmers like we’ve had this past year and I would expect those bankruptcy numbers to take off.”…