A survey of Midwestern bank CEOs indicates improvement in the rural economy. The Creighton University Rural Mainstreet Index shows growth for the fourth time in five months. Creighton rural economist Ernie Goss calls it positive news.
“The rural Main Street economy, especially that connected to agriculture, is doing very well, in fact [it’s] the best numbers we’ve seen since January of last year,” Goss told Brownfield Ag News Thursday. “And of course, that’s before COVID-19, the impacts of that, hit a month or two later.”
Goss credits better grain prices, government stimulus checks and the vaccine roll-out, along with bankers’ expectations of better livestock prices.
