For the first time since November, the overall Rural Mainstreet Index (RMI) fell below growth neutral. Trade tensions with China and Iran combined with the failure to finish up the USMCA are having a dragging effect on the Midwest economy.
“I think the real problem right now is what’s ahead,” said Creighton University economist Ernie Goss. “The uncertainty with hopefully new discussions going on with China. It’s really hitting the grain farmer particularly hard in this part of the country. Livestock is doing somewhat better, because livestock depends a great deal more heavily on the domestic economy.”
“Right now, they’re expecting farm loan defaults of over 10 percent,” said Goss. “That’s double what we recorded two years ago. All of this is spilling over into the farm sector, but, what happens on the farm doesn’t stay on the farm. It spills over to Topeka, spills over to Wichita and other communities across the region.”
(Read more: WIBW News Now)