Weak farm income to drag Nebraska economy through 2019

Weak farm income will continue to hamper Nebraska’s economic growth during the next three years, according to the long-term forecast released this morning from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Bureau of Business Research and the Nebraska Business Forecast Council.“Farm incomes have been driven down over the last four years and are expected to bottom out in 2017,” said Eric Thompson, director of the Bureau of Business Research, an applied economic and business research entity of UNL’s College of Business. “Weakness in its largest sector will cap growth in the Nebraska economy, despite strong performances in select sectors like construction and business services.”Net farm income is projected to decline by nearly 16 percent for 2017, to $3.7 billion, as federal support for agriculture continues to decline and yields normalize following a strong 2016 harvest. It would be the fourth straight year of decline, and the projected total is about half of the 2011 record high of nearly $7.5 billion.The forecasters say agriculture should hit bottom in 2017 and begin trending upward in 2018 and 2019.