By Mike Boehlje and Chris Hurt

Agriculture has been on a roll in recent years.  Record high grain prices stimulated record high incomes and surging land values increased wealth.  Crop producers overall were doing well as the prices of their crops outpaced rising input costs.  Agribusinesses that provided cropping inputs have generally benefited as well.  But the current financial crisis has been a hard and swift change for crop farmers.  In just 14 trading days between September 26 and October 16, futures prices for corn lost 30%, soybeans 26%, and wheat 23%.  Ethanol prices-a critical market for corn-fell by 24% during that period. 

To read the entire article Assessing the Financial Crisis and its Impact on Agriculture click here.