Rural Mainstreet Index Rises Again

The Creighton University Rural Mainstreet Index remained above growth-neutral in December.  It’s the fourth-straight month, and tenth time in the past 12 months in the Index moved higher.  The index is a monthly survey of bank CEOs in rural areas of a 10-state region that depends on agriculture and/or energy.

While it’s still above growth-neutral, the index did drop from 54.2 in November to 50.2 in December.

According to Creighton University, “Federal agriculture crop support payments and somewhat higher grain prices gave a boost to the Rural Mainstreet Index.”  The index shows bank CEOs, on average, expect about 12% of grain farmers to experience financial losses in 2020.

“However, this is down from last year at this time, when bankers expected about 15 percent of their grain farmers to have a negative cash flow during 2019,” says Dr. Ernie Goss of Creighton University.

There was some good news as the farmland and ranchland price index soared to 52.8 from a weak 40.4 in November.

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