My farm-based family is slightly better off this year due to the dought letting up some in Nebraska. But it's not nearly enough to make up for losses due to the dought. Generally any figure that says "Net farm income" has to be analysized carefully. There are many corporate farms and then there are the few small and family sized farms that actually support the people who live there. The income for each is based on different factors and has a different effect on the local economy. My quick thought is that this news item had no direct relationship with the election.
Muuaybe you could take it and try to figure out what effect it might have had on owners of newspapers, radio stations, banks, etc. That might have had some kind of effect. But, again, it wouldn't be a direct one.
adrienne
Today's WSJ has a story that to me, at least, was news.
"Farmers are happier than they've been in years. Net farm income across the US is expected to jump 24.5% this year."
I was unaware of this geographically broad prosperity and now wonder it it might explain much of the red state votes?
One other sentence in the article datelined Carroll, Iowa:
"In Carroll, merchants started preparing for a better Christmas this fall when they saw the corn harvest."
Gene Coyle
