Wilted Ag Sector May Grow Anew

The government's bailout plan, I believe, is too little and too late to make any significant difference in the current credit crisis that continues to worsen.

The meltdown is far beyond Wall Street and the banking industry, because available credit is frozen everywhere, from large corporations to small businesses, and many companies are having a difficult time even meeting payroll because of the inability to borrow short-term money.

We certainly have extreme readings on sentiment indicators in the market, and we are certainly very oversold. Rate cuts, around the world, are a possibility, and that would certainly spark at least a short-term rally. However, I don't know if the rally will have any legs, and we will have to examine the action as indices hit heavy resistance levels.

One area that looks extremely attractive to me and is heavily oversold is the agricultural sector. Many companies in this sector are down between 50% and 70%, all because of forced selling as funds moved to quickly raise cash.

I like the fact that the agricultural sector isn't dependent on worldwide economic growth, but on population growth, which isn't slowing, especially in developing markets.

In addition to this population growth, income growth will also increase the demand for food. Even a modest amount of income growth in developing countries will increase demand for food.

Even though the U.S. is in, I believe, a Wall Street-induced recession, the Chinese economy will continue to expand along with consumer incomes all across Asia. That means the demands for agricultural foods, beef and related products will continue to expand no matter what the U.S. economy does.