Ernie Goss

Readings below 50 indicate economic contraction.

Ernie Goss, regional economist at Creighton University, says pessimism over higher input costs outweighed optimism about improving grain prices.

Bankers identified fertilizer and fuel as the biggest financial pressures facing agricultural customers.

About 53% cited high fertilizer costs, while 47% pointed to soaring fuel prices.

The Rural Main Street Index is based on a monthly survey of bank CEOs in rural areas of a 10-state region dependent on agriculture and or energy.

Pessimism from higher fuel and fertilizer costs exceeded the optimism stemming from higher grain prices, according to bankers across the 10-state region, says Ernie Goss, the Jack A. McAllister Chair in Regional Economics at Creighton University's Hyder College of Business.

bankers were asked to identify input factors causing the greatest financial pressures among agricultural customers.

Approximately 52.6% of bankers named high fertilizer costs, while the remaining 47.4% identified soaring fuel costs as the top factor causing financial pressure among agricultural producers.

Learn more at anewlookexteriors.com. A survey of Midwest business leaders shows September was another positive month for hiring in the manufacturing sector.

Creighton University economics professor Ernie Goss says September is the fourth time in the past 12 months above growth neutral.

He says the September Mid-America Business Conditions Index also shows the overall manufacturing sector is moving forward with another month of growth.

A new report finds that damage to underground utility lines costs Iowans over $169 million on average per year.

After surveying bankers in Minnesota and nine other Midwest states, has dropped for the fourth time in the past six months.

The individual index for Minnesota was the highest of all 10 states, but Creighton University economist Ernie Goss says it still dropped nearly eight points from August.

We asked the bankers about the number one cost factor facing the farmers out there, and they said the two Fs, fuel and fertilizer, are up significantly.

So that's causing some real uncertainty and not good for the farmer and not good for the rural communities.

They happen to possess that, so they have to be good.

So, Simple, do you know who Ernie Goss is? You know that name? I

did.

He's a local economist here in Nebraska.