AEI.ag Presents

In the season finale, we head to Michigan for our last story as we think about the future of the farm financial system. Featured Guests: Brent King (B. Riley Advisory Service), Jeff Conrad (AgIS Capital LLC), Thomas Hoenig (Former President, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City), Nate Franzen (First Dakota National Bank)

When the Federal Reserve adjusts interest rates, it can significantly affect asset values, including farmland. While attention in 2022 has focused on the Fed raising rates, the preceding decades-long policy of extremely low interest rates has also been consequential in the form of asset inflation - the cousin of price inflation. Featured Guests: Jim Farrell (Farrell Growth Group), Nate Franzen (First Dakota National Bank), Thomas Hoenig (Former President, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas...

Why is the U.S. government, and the Department of Agriculture in particular, involved in lending? Dive into how USDA's ag lending programs have shaped the ag economy and farming in general over the last hundred years, and learn what this can tell us about the overall health of the farm financial system. Featured guests: Jonathan Coppess (Associate Professor, University of Illinois), Heather Malcom (Bank of the Rockies), Mike Boehlje (Purdue University Department of Agricultural Economics).

How does Farmer Mac fit into the big picture of ag lending? Its story is still being written. Featured guests: Brad Nordholm (Farmer Mac), John Blanchfield (Agricultural Banking Advisory Services), Jeff Conrad (AgIS Capital LLC).

Credit can be a powerful tool. But it also comes with risks. One way to manage that risk is to understand who you're lending from and what their motivations and experiences are. How exactly does an agricultural lender work as a business? How do interest rates impact banking’s business model? Go behind the scenes to crunch the numbers. Featured guests: Nate Franzen (First Dakota National Bank), Heather Malcolm (Bank of the Rockies).

Conditions in the farm economy have changed rapidly since season one of the AEI.ag Presents podcast explored the 1980s farm crisis, and in sometimes contradictory ways. You may have heard that there is way less leverage and debt today than there was back then. Yet, farming has also gotten more capital intensive. Interest rates and inflation are also adding to growing uncertainty in 2022. So how much debt is there, really, in today’s agriculture economy? And what might be in store for th...

AEI.ag Presents will return this fall for season 3! While you are waiting on that, check out our newest podcast, Ag Interrupted, where we’ll take a deep look into agricultural trends that matter to learn more about the often unexpected ways that the agricultural industry, agricultural markets, and agricultural businesses get shaped by the history we’re not paying attention to. Listen to & follow Ag Interrupted wherever you listen to podcasts.

From policy to electric vehicles, the future of ethanol is arguable as uncertain as it has ever been. Have the seeds for ethanol’s demise already been sown, or is the outlook less dire than it initially seems? In this episode, you’ll join Ag Economic Insights David Widmar and Brent Gloy, as well as economists, historians, policy advisors, and entrepreneurs as they share their perspectives on the birth of two environmental ag policies. Learn more about becoming and AE...

Just as corn-based ethanol production was surging to fulfill the mandates of the 2007 RFS, enthusiasm began shifting to the new kid on the block: cellulosic ethanol. With the help of the government - including mandated usage- the even better renewable fuel made from switchgrass, corn stover, or other biomass feedstocks was just around the corner, or so we thought. This raises important questions for carbon markets, what happens if the technologies needed, despite the enthusiasm and investment...

The Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) bolstered the market for corn-based ethanol, but also fueled a frenzy to build ethanol plants. Proposed plants got larger, building costs jumped higher, and a surge of potential projects created a regulatory and construction logjam. But just as fast as the mania turned red hot, the prospects of an even better technology and the ripples of the Great Recession shuttered projects that were years into planning. This episode, you’ll joi...

Ethanol’s rise was fueled by the introduction of the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS). Often lost in debates about implementing RFS has been the motivation, political shuffling, and history of two historic pieces of legislation. How exactly did RFS come to be, and what can we learn as it applies to the voluntary programs proposed for carbon? This episode, you’ll join Ag Economic Insights David Widmar and Brent Gloy, as well as economists, historians, policy advisors, and entrepreneurs as...

Fifteen years ago, corn ethanol was a wunderkind, set to cure the U.S.’ addiction to foreign oil, reduce the pollution caused by driving, and revitalize American agriculture and rural economies. In the intervening years, the problems evolved while ethanol remained, and today many question what the future of the sector might look like. Today the U.S. is facing a different set of challenges, particularly around climate change, and the search for a solution - perhaps a silver bullet - remains. A...

Exploring the causes, impacts, and lasting effects of one of the most infamous events in American agriculture history, the 1980s farm crisis. In this final episode of Escaping 1980, we’re training our gaze on the horizon, armed with a solid understanding of what happened during the last farm crisis. The 1980s and today are not perfect foils for one another, but there are certainly similarities. And though the differences might offer some comforts, those similarities should give us pause. Dig...