Agricultural Innovation and Food Processing Sector Trends

Drivers:

• Agricultural equipment manufacturers saw higher than expected sales due to the federal government’s farm relief program and the need for farmers to replace aging equipment.
• There has been a drastic change in individuals’ food and beverage consumption. The demand has shifted away from restaurants, bars and other food-service businesses and towards food consumed at home. Because of this, local food and beverage manufacturers’ products changed in terms of types, quantities and packaging of goods (e.g. larger quantities to smaller quantities – less wheels of cheese and more small containers or less fountain soda to more bottled soda).

Drawbacks:

• There has been mild disruption in both agricultural equipment and food and beverage manufacturing supply chains, sometimes slowing the delivery to customers.