It’s rare to hear an Ag economist talking about relationships, but Kansas State Extension Livestock economist Glynn Tonsor said good relationships are always important for farmers, and perhaps more now than ever.

He noted keeping up relationships is good for anybody’s mental health.

"But it’s also essential for having sound context for decision making. We’re also making decision making in a new high stress, high implication realm, and having good relationships and communicating well is important for that," Tonsor continued.

Two key relationships to nurture these days are the one with your lender, "if you haven’t already you need to talk to them about the small business loans and support tools that are now available. That requires active communication.

And also very important right now is the communication with those people you buy from and sell to, "particularly if you’re a livestock producer who is trying to sell a market animal having a good relationship to know the situation is very important at the moment."

Tonsor added these relationships are always essential but the importance of these relationship has certainly been heightened during the past few weeks.

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