The NEW Cooperative location in Lidderdale in western Iowa. (Photo by Jared Strong/Iowa Capital Dispatch)
OMAHA, NE (KELO.com) — The regional farm economy is in the red for the fourth straight month according to Creighton University’s monthly Rural Mainstreet Index. The Index includes a survey of community bankers in a ten-state region. Half of those bankers say their local economies are in recession. One of the bankers in the survey, Jeff Bonnett, the CEO of Havana National bank in Havana, Illinois, says things are ok for now, but four years of low commodity prices are taking a toll on farmers, “We’re still in good shape on this end. There’s equity in land still, and we still have equity in farm equipment with our borrowers. We’re feeling ok about it, but it gets worse every year.” Grain prices have improved in recent months, but that’s been eaten up by high production costs.
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