Agricultural recession

An agricultural recession describes a period of low crop prices and sharply reduced farm incomes. Consequences may include second order effects such as rural flight of people to towns and also had political effects.

A common feature of agricultural recessions, in contrast to famines and crop failure, is a link to market conditions, such as the opening up of new areas of production or crops reaching markets previously protected, either by transport costs, or a war blockade (as after the Napoleonic and First World Wars).