finance

The Agricultural and Food Policy Center (AFPC) at Texas A&M University and the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) at the University of Missouri recently published their Representative Farms Economic Outlook for December 2010. This baseline report offers an assessment of farms, crops and their financial outlook.

Feed grain producers across the nation should increase the financial strength of their operators over the next five years, helped by strong commodity prices. Farms that have been in marginal or poor financial position in the last several years because of lower grain prices should recover and climb into stronger financial positions.

Some highlights include:

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• Jim Kielkopf, economist for AgriBank, discusses how economic uncertainty has impacted producer decisions and what role speculators and hedge fund industry play in agriculture.

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• How the current national economic situation resembles the challenges that agriculture faced in the 70's and 80's, Allen Featherstone shares his thoughts.

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• Vincent Amanor-Boadu, economist, shares his thoughts on what has lead our nation into a recession and what actions should be taken to get us out of it.

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• Ken Auer, President of the Farm Credit Council, explains the availability of credit to agriculturalists during this economic recession.

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• Jim Harvey, President of the Heartland Financial Resource Group, offers his advice about how to successfully transition your operation to a future generation of operators

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• Jason Henderson, Vice President of the Federal Reserve Bank in Kansas City, weighs in on the condition of the agricultural economy.

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• Mike Hutjens, University of Illinois Extension Dairy Specialist, provides a more complete understanding of Milk Urea Nitrogen
• Developing employee leaders in your dairy can be easier when realizing the multicultural dynamics that exist. Jorge Estrada, Leadership Coaching Intl, helps you do just that.
• Some new opportunities are on the horizon for young and new farmers