Nebraska agriculture featured on NPR's All Things Considered

National Public Radio's All Things Considered program spent some time last week in Nebraska visiting farmers, an ag economist, bankers and others to discuss the farm economy, grain prices and technology – even including a moment talking about Twitter.

The story "What Recession? It's Boom Time For Nebraska Farms" ran today - follow the link for an abbreviated written report and full audio, or click the embedded play button below. It's a good report by Robert Siegel and crew.

Brandon Hunnicutt and his wife, Lisa

Included in the report is Brandon Hunnicutt, a family corn, soybean and popcorn farmer from Giltner – aka @cornfedfarmer on Twitter. The report notes Hunnicutt's family, which includes five children and his wife, Lisa, and the farm they operate with his father, brother and cousin. It describes how they have invested in technology and facilities to help them be successful.

Yet All Things Considered dived into the grain prices and related ag economy as a whole, with economist Ernie Goss of Creighton University; Kelly Holthus, president of Cornerstone Bank in York, farmer Clint Jensen,who serves on the local advisory committee to the Department of Agriculture's Farm Service Agency, and others.

In essence, the report notes that the ag economy is in better shape overall because of good demand for grain and a number of other factors that result in higher prices overall. Those higher grain prices and the economic activity they create then trickle through to many other businesses.

While Siegel didn't talk about Nebraska's economy in general, without the strong ag base we have, the state would be in a considerably more difficult position today. Agriculture drives our economy and there are tremendous benefits to helping keep Nebraska agriculture going strong.

Harvest Public Media and Nebraska Public Radio's Clay Masters (@ClaytonMasters) spent some time with Siegel and the other NPR folks on the trip. He wrote a blog about a portion of that here.