New Publication Released: Surviving the Economic Downturn: 2026 Update
By Paul Goeringer
The Southern Extension Economics Committee (SEEC) recently released an update for its Surviving the Economic Downturn publication for 2026. In recent years, farms have been hit with lower crop prices and higher input costs. During this time, we have seen the number of farms filing for bankruptcy rise. This publication provides advice for producers seeking alternative ideas to survive this recent economic downturn. You can find this publication here.
Paul Goeringer, along with legal researchers Holiday Scott, Madeline Jones, and Olivia Scuderi, assisted in drafting a section on alternative leases, with Tiffany Lashmet from Texas A&M University. At the same time, Paul co-authored a section on bankruptcy, led by Adam Rabinowitz of Auburn University and Will Secor of the University of Georgia.
The publication includes 24 articles written by 36 Extension Economists from the SEEC. Each article was double-peer-reviewed to ensure the publication provides the most up-to-date information and strategies possible. The papers were categorized into 6 distinct areas: Setting the Stage; Crop Market Outlooks; Livestock; Ag Lending/Credit/Crop Insurance; Strategies; and Resiliency. The publication, available here, was made possible by support from the Southern Extension Risk Management Education Center, under project award Nos. 2021-70027-34722 and 2025-70027-45397, from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
*For image: A farmer checks his phone while standing in a cornfield at golden hour, with an irrigation system stretching across the field behind him. Image by DiedovStock from Adobe Stock Images
Accessibility: A man wearing a baseball cap and a plaid button-down shirt stands among tall corn plants, looking down at a smartphone in his hands. He is positioned in the middle-left of a wide farm field, photographed from a low angle through foreground corn leaves. Behind him, a center-pivot irrigation system extends across the field toward the horizon. The sun is low in the sky on the right side of the frame, casting warm, golden backlight across the scene and creating lens flare among the corn leaves.*
