Annual Agriculture Conference
On November 17, 2014, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago held a conference to examine the role of farm income in the Midwest economy. While farm income has long been an important driver of midwestern economic activity, its influence had been waning until the boom in crop prices of the past decade. Moreover, this expansion of agricultural income contrasted sharply with the troubled fortunes of the broader economy of the Midwest during and after the Great Recession.
At the conference, experts from academia, industry, and policy institutions will discuss farm income trends and their interplay with the regional economy. The goals of the conference include understanding key components of farm income; assessing the primary economic drivers for the agricultural sector; examining policies that affect farm income; farm income’s linkages to agricultural lending; and discussing the influence of farm income on the midwestern economy, especially on rural communities.
