By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Creighton University economist Ernie Goss said the bankers he surveys for the Rural Mainstreet Index aren't that enthusiastic about the infrastructure bill that has made it through Congress.
"30 percent of them, almost one-third said, no, they'd rather not have it, it's not going to have much of an impact for agriculture," Goss said. "More than one-fourth, 26.8%, said the broadband impact, the impact of that broadband connectivity portion of it, that's $65 billion, not a small amount, that will have the biggest impact on the agricultural sector of rural Main Street."
Goss said it will still be a long time before we're back to normal in both the supply chain in general and the overall money supply.
"We're saying the second half of 2022," Goss said. "In other words, six months out, we'll see things get back to normal. That would be the supply chain disruptions. That's an important part of the rural Main Street economy, too. The bankers report that farmers are having difficulty shipping out and getting in."
These are part of the forces that are causing agricultural input costs to outstrip the growth in revenue that has come from increasing commodity prices.