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Economist says the economy has softened, but other areas are strong

A senior economist at The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City says economic conditions have tightened since last year.

But, Cortney Cowley says the farm real estate market is still going strong.

“Our farm real estate makes up about 80% of the farm balance sheet,” she says. “So for that to remain stable I think is good for the agricultural economy in general and it comes shorter term liquidity side. We’re we’re still I think benefiting from a lot of strength from previous years.”

She tells Brownfield… 

“Credit quality remains really strong too, even though we are starting to see some weakening in shorter term indicators like crop prices, farm income, farm lender, payment rate, we still see really strong credit quality across the board,” she says.

Farmer surveys from The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City show good financial stability for farmers in the ag sector.

She says economists will continue to watch trends to determine the economic outlook for 2024 and 2025.