Although the drought’s effects on the Seventh Federal Reserve District lingered, the year-over-year increase in agricultural land values only eased to 13 percent in the third quarter of 2012. In addition, there was a quarterly gain of 5 percent in the value of “good” farmland—actually...

On November 9, 2010, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago held a conference on rural development and the role of midwestern agriculture. Experts from academia, industry and policy institutions, including U.S. Department of Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen A. Merrigan, discussed rural...