Farmers are producing too much food, holding down prices and holding back economies in states with big agricultural industries.
South Dakota and Iowa are the only two states in the country where gross domestic product fell in the second quarter. Ultra-low crop and livestock prices stemming from a global oversupply have squeezed farm incomes, pulling down Iowa’s GDP 0.7% and South Dakota’s 0.3% from the prior quarter.
Elsewhere, low farm prices dented growth in 23 other states but not enough to tip them into decline, the Commerce Department said in a recent report. Overall, U.S. GDP advanced 2.8% nationwide during the same period. (These GDP figures exclude federal military and civilian activity located overseas, making the U.S. tally slightly lower than the more widely reported 3.1% growth rate for the second quarter.)
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