Murray Fulton: January 2008 Archives

As we move into a new year, the question "What does the future hold?" is on many people's minds. The general optimism exhibited at the Crop Production Week in Saskatoon last week (January 5-12, 2008) provides one indication of what people in the agricultural sector are expecting. Industry analysts, who typically share the optimism of farmers and input suppliers, talk about a new paradigm and predict that high grain and oilseed prices can be expected for at least two years. Some suggest, like the Economist magazine in their December 6, 2007 article Food Prices: Cheap No More, that commodity prices could remain strong for as long as 10 years.

While it is important to try and predict what the future will hold, it is also necessary to do something else, particularly, perhaps, in a period when times are good. Specifically, it is incumbent upon everyone to think about what the future should bring, rather than what it could bring.