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Friday, February 20, 2015

Falling crop and energy prices push rural Midwest economy into decline, bankers' survey says

"Weak prices for energy and farm produce, sagging exports, declining farm equipment sales and lower prices for farmland combined to push the rural Midwestern economy into decline this month, according to a Creighton University survey," taken among bankers in 10 states, Steve Jordon reports for the Omaha World-Herald.

"The survey results have hovered near the no-gain, no-loss level of 50, on a 100-point scale, in recent months, slipping to 46.4 for the latest Rural Mainstreet Index, with an outlook index for the coming six months of 41.5," Jordon writes. Farmland prices declined for the 15th month in a row, at a rate of 6 percent to 8 percent a year.

Creighton takes the survey in Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming.

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