Ag economist to keynote Feb. 15 public forum

January 30. 2017

By NCTA News Service

Curtis, Neb. – An agricultural economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City will deliver the keynote address at an Ag Business Economic Symposium in Curtis on February 15.

Cortney Cowley, who is based at the Federal Reserve’s offices in Omaha, Neb., is the luncheon speaker at the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture’s forum. Four regional businesses are also program presenters.

Mary Rittenhouse, assistant professor and division chair of the NCTA Ag Business Management Systems Division, said student interest and is keen in the current agricultural economy as graduates prepare for their future employment and individual agricultural enterprises. The forum is open to the public.

Ag Business Club students from NCTA will greet participants with 9:30 a.m. registration at the Nebraska Agriculture Industry Education Center.

However, due to luncheon reservations, Rittenhouse requests pre-registration and online payment of all attendees by Feb. 10 at: http://ncta.unl.edu/economic-ag-symposium.

The symposium will feature agricultural ownership and management transition, legal and estate planning, real estate and insurance, and commodity marketing and risk management.

Cowley is an agricultural economist in the Regional Affairs Department at the Omaha Branch. She supports the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City and the Federal Reserve System efforts surrounding agricultural economics research, analysis and outreach.

She conducts research on issues related to the farm economy, agricultural finance and natural resources.  Cowley is a contributor to the Bank’s Economic Review research journal, the Tenth District Survey of Agricultural Credit Conditions and the Federal Reserve System’s Agricultural Finance Databook. She also provides regular updates on the agricultural economy for the public, and for the Kansas City Fed’s president – who is a voting member of the Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee.

Cortney joined the Bank in 2015 after completing her Ph.D. in agricultural economics at Oklahoma State University. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in biosystems engineering from Oklahoma State and a master’s in civil engineering from Colorado State University.

Other program presenters are Steve Herman, Esq., of Norman, Paloucek & Herman, in Curtis; Phil Hinrichs and Andrew Fischer of Farm Bureau Financial Services;  and Steve Knuth of AgWest Commodities.