- The overall index fell below growth neutral for the 19th straight month.
- Rural Mainstreet businesses, not directly linked to farming, expanded employment for the month.
- Average annual cash rents for crop acreage was $211 per acre, which is down 16 percent from last year according to bank CEOs.
- More than seven of 10 bank CEOs expect farm loan defaults to rise over the next 12 months. Almost one in six bankers expect such defaults to expand by more than 10 percent.
- Almost one-third of bankers report that property taxes are a major economic problem for farmers in their area.
Overall: The index, which ranges between 0 and 100 slipped to 45.3 for March from 45.8 in February. The last time the overall index was at or above growth neutral was August 2015.
“Weak farm commodity prices continue to squeeze Rural Mainstreet economies. Over the last 12 months, livestock commodity prices have tumbled by 6.6 percent and grain commodity prices have slumped by 0.9 percent. Thus, year over year price changes remain negative, but are now less negative than several months ago,” said Ernie Goss, Jack A. MacAllister Chair in Regional Economics at Creighton University's Heider College of Business.
But there was a great deal of variability across the 10-state region. For example, Scott Tewksbury, president of Heartland State Bank in Edgeley, North Dakota reported, “Record 2016 crop yields have enabled most crop based farms to have a good economic year in our area, but concerns remain over projected profitability for 2017.