For example, some of these young entrepreneurs and farmers are capitalizing on the recent trend for broader access to locally produced and sourced food. Which brings us back to our focus today: agriculture is the foundation for many rural economies and it is the central topic for this conference.
Current conditions in agriculture appear to be stable, though at a low level of income, following sharp declines for several years from the peak in 2013. The prices of major agricultural commodities have also remained low in early 2019. For example, today, the price of corn is about 40 percent less than it was from 2010 to 2013.