Reports have indicated that the Federal Reserve has given some notice about leaving interest rates unchanged in 2019, which is very good news for farmers around the region.

Low-interest rates have been cited as the reason the current farm economy has not reached the crisis levels that were frequently seen back in the 1980's. Politico reports that while farmers are having losses, those losses don’t compare to the 1980's when interest rates were between 10 and 20 percent, compared to the five or six percent rates seen today.

Despite declining farm income and low prices of goods, the low-interest rates are keeping land values strong for at least the near future. The Federal Reserve bank this week signaled interest rates will not likely be raised in 2019, which differs from the previous plan that included two interest rate increases this year.