Search Results
Journal Article
Are Water Resources Keeping Up with U.S. Economic Needs?
Access to water is necessary to sustain human civilization and agricultural production. Recent analysis finds that most of U.S. land area, economic activity, and agricultural production are in regions with stable to positive trends in local water availability. This provides reassuring news about overall U.S. vulnerability to water resource depletion. However, some Western and Southwestern regions are facing serious water risks that scientists expect to become more severe over time, suggesting that efforts to alleviate this concern should have a regional focus.
Journal Article
The Expanding Role of Renewable Fuel Policy as a Demand Driver in Agriculture
Energy policies that promote shifts toward renewable fuels have important implications for the agricultural sector. Policies in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in particular are likely to increase connections between the U.S. row crop sector and the energy industry. The IRA, which Congress passed in August 2022, created policies to help further transition the U.S. economy away from hydrocarbons and toward more domestic renewable fuel production. Previous shifts in renewable fuel policy, such as the implementation of the Renewal Fuel Standard (RFS) in 2006, may help shed light on the IRA’s ...
Journal Article
Shoring up water supply, curbing demand key to Texas’ future growth
Funding for water infrastructure improvements has emerged as a priority for the Legislature during its 2025 legislative session. Absent changes to policy, Texans could face significant water shortages during droughts and constraints on future growth and economic development.
Working Paper
Drought and Cattle: Implications for Ranchers
Drought has occurred with greater intensity and frequency in many areas of the United States in recent years. Despite the growing concern surrounding the impacts of drought on the agricultural sector, few studies have quantified the impact of drought on the cattle industry. In this paper, we estimate the impacts of drought on cattle herd management, hay production, hay prices, and farm income in the United States from 2000 to 2022. Our results indicate that drought negatively impacts hay production and results in higher hay prices. Drought also contributes to herd liquidation and is ...
Journal Article
Some Segments of the Agricultural Economy Are Particularly Sensitive to Changes in the Foreign-Born Farm Labor Supply
For years, many segments of the U.S. agriculture sector have relied on foreign-born and undocumented workers to meet labor demand in farm operations. While farm operators may be able to partly reduce this reliance through investments in machinery and further hiring through the agricultural guest worker visa program, these alternatives would take time to deploy and could substantially increase costs.
Newsletter
Farm Income’s Impact on the Midwest Economy
While farm income has long been an important driver of Midwestern economic activity, the influence of the agricultural sector had been waning until the boom in crop prices of 2004?13. More recently, a reversal in crop prices, along with other factors, has led incomes from crop farming to decline. Against this backdrop, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago held a conference on November 17, 2014, to examine the role of farm income in the Midwest economy.
Journal Article
Eighth District Farmers Navigate Global Supply Uncertainty
Disruptions in the supply of fertilizer and other agricultural inputs have affected U.S. farmers, who nonetheless remain in a strong financial position.
Journal Article
Not Bullish: U.S. Cattle Herds Hung Up on Higher Interest Expenses
Cattle inventories declined to historically low levels at the start of 2024. Cattle producers may facechallenges maintaining or restocking herds, as higher interest expenses on cattle and input purchases in2022–23 have constrained profit margins. Although feed costs have decreased slightly, higher costs forfinancing and other operating expenses could continue to put pressure on cattle production andprofitability.
Briefing
Can Immigration Help Boost Rural Economies in the Fifth District and Beyond
We examine the role of immigration in rural areas. While immigrants tend to concentrate in urban areas, rural areas also significantly benefit from immigration. Agricultural firms, for example, need to hire many immigrants to help with harvesting crops. Past restrictions to immigration in rural areas haven't proven to be very effective in boosting native worker employment in these areas. First, firms respond to such restrictions by investing in new technologies at the expense of labor. Also, native workers seem unwilling to take many jobs in rural areas, which makes immigrants particularly ...
Journal Article
Freshwater Scarcity Risk Rises in the U.S. and Eighth District
Although fresh water was once considered abundant, growing scarcity issues are putting pressure on parts of the U.S.—including in the Fed’s Eighth District.