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The USDA’s Emergency Commodity Assistance Program (ECAP) opened applications on March 19, 2025, providing $10 billion in economic assistance to farmers. This initiative is part of a broader $31 billion package approved by Congress in December 2024, aimed at supporting farmers affected by natural disasters in 2023 and 2024. The USDA plans to release initial payments, covering 85% of the total, with supplemental payments expected in the summer. 

This year’s National Ag Day is Tuesday, March 18. And this year, we celebrate the important role Northeast agriculture, commercial fishing and forest products plays in our everyday lives. 

The recent surge in egg prices is driven by several factors, including supply chain disruptions, increased feed costs, and higher demand. These elements are affecting both producers and consumers, leading to significant price hikes. Understanding these dynamics is crucial for navigating the current market and planning for the future.

This month's Knowledge Exchange Partner highlights a series of Industry Snapshots, compiled by Farm Credit East's Director of Knowledge Exchange, Chris Laughton. In addition to a summary of the national economy, northeast farm economy sectors such as dairy, timber and forest products, cash field crops, livestock, fruit, vegetables, greenhouse and fishing are included.

Farm Credit East was pleased to recently award two winners of the Lipinski Rural Initiatives Award.

While corn and soybean crop planting is slightly ahead of last year nationally, it is way behind in New York and across the Northeast, due to unusually cold and wet weather, making field work difficult. 

The Farm Credit Northeast AgEnhancement Program, a joint effort of Farm Credit East and CoBank, recently provided $115,000 in grant funding to 27 organizations to assist their efforts to encourage youth leadership development, support young and beginning farmer initiatives, promote diversity, equity and inclusion, and advance northeast agriculture, forestry and commercial fishing. 

Farm Credit East has released its 2024 Northeast Dairy Farm Summary and 2025 Mid-Year Outlook, indicating that 2024 was a profitable year after a challenging previous year for the Northeast dairy industry. This year’s report also includes dairy market outlooks from prominent dairy economists.

This month's Knowledge Exchange Partner article contributors Corey A. Geiger and Abbigail C. Prins of CoBank, outline a mixed outlook for U.S. dairy in 2025, noting strong retail sales and export potential but weak restaurant demand and rising costs. They highlight a historic drop in cow culling, surging butterfat production, and global herd challenges, suggesting cautious optimism for the industry’s future.

In today's Tax Talks, learn more about the Maine Dirigo Business Incentives program. The program offers significant tax savings for certain qualified businesses in the state of Maine.