See webinar presentation slides here.

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Sponsors: University of Missouri: Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute, Rural and Farm Finance Policy Analysis Center, and MU Extension.

Target Audience: Agricultural lenders, credit managers, rural land appraisers, Congressional staffers, county commissioners, agricultural service providers, farmers, and ranchers

Event information will be cross-posted on the FAPRI events page and the MU Extension ABP webpage. Marketing materials will be sent to all past participants of the MU Extension Agricultural Lender School and Agricultural Lender Seminars, the Womack Agricultural Outlook Conference, and Breimeyer Agricultural Policy Seminar. Promotion will happen on social media platforms Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. A press release will be created in collaboration with CAFNR communications to send out to media partners in Farm and Rural Press.

Key Objectives:

• Educate attendees on US monetary policy and overview options under consideration by the Federal Open Market committee
• Provide historical context of how monetary policy options influence consumer spending behavior and investment decisions
• Prepare attendees on how monetary policy decision may impact loan demand, asset values, and loan refinancing
• Draw special attention to areas of concern among Missouri’s farm and rural sector

Speakers:

• Moderator: Ben Brown (Agricultural Economist, Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute)
• Presenter: Cortney Cowley (Senior Economist, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City- Oklahoma City Branch)

Webinar Information for Promotion

Macroeconomic indicators including consumer and producer price inflation, employment rates, and interest rates moved sporadically in 2022 and early 2023. The changes in the US were accompanied by geopolitical events around the globe sparking product availability concerns and commodity price volatility. This webinar looks at financial indicators impacting consumers and agricultural producers and provides an outlook for 2024 and what it could mean for Missouri’s agricultural and rural economy. Topics discussed will include US monetary policy, agricultural loan demand, and banker expectations for land values and credit conditions in the 10^th Federal Reserve District.

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Ben Brown
Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute, University of Missouri

Ben Brown is a Senior Research Associate with Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) conducting farm level and sectoral outreach initiatives. He routinely works with MU Extension’s Agricultural Business and Policy team, also within the Division of Applied Social Sciences at the University of Missouri.

A native of Western Missouri (Bates County), growing up on a diversified row crop and cattle operation, he was active in 4-H and FFA leading to his passion for Extension. Ben received undergraduate degrees from Kansas State University in 2015 in Agricultural Economics and Agronomy. He received a Master’s in Agricultural and Applied Economics from the University of Missouri where he was a graduate assistant at FAPRI. Prior to joining MU, he was an Associate Professor of Professional Practice at The Ohio State University leading farm management education in Ohio.

His area of work focuses on U.S. farm policy, commodity markets, and farm finance. Recent work includes analysis of impacts to crop basis under extreme weather scenarios, examination of U.S. agricultural producer consolidation, educational seminars for agricultural lenders, farm policy education to producers and agricultural service providers, weekly grain market outlooks, and hosting international trade groups interested in U.S. agriculture.

Cortney Cowley
Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City – Oklahoma City Branch

Cortney Cowley is a senior economist in the Regional Affairs Department of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. She also serves as a special advisor on the agricultural economy to Federal Reserve Governor Miki Bowman.

Cortney’s current research focuses on agricultural finance, commodity markets, farm management, and natural resource economics and policy. Her responsibilities also include writing for the Tenth District Survey of Agricultural Credit Conditions and Agricultural Finance Updates.

Cortney joined the Bank in 2015 after completing her Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics at Oklahoma State University. She holds a B.S. degree in Biosystems Engineering from Oklahoma State and a M.S. degree in Civil Engineering from Colorado State University.