According to the data from Economic Research Service, farm real estate comprises nearly 79% of total U.S. farm assets in 2000. Since much of the current attention is focused on the residential real estate and subsequent credit crisis, it is high time to look at another important market, farm real estate. Agricultural land values typically vary from state to state, depending on the quality of soil and demand for its use.

In this article, I compared the average farm real estate values for three states, Iowa, Illinois and Indiana for the period between 1970 and 2008 (see the figure below). These three states together are responsible for more than one third of total corn and soybean acreage in 2008.

The Labor Department reported on Friday that 84,000 jobs were lost in August 2008 indicating a 6.1% unemployment rate. This current unemployment rate is the highest since September 2003.

The purpose of this article is to understand the relationship between unemployment rates and recession periods and finally their link to stock market prices.

The purpose of this writing is to give a quick summary of important economic indicators which have the ability to influence the markets. Every week or every month some kind of statistics pertaining to either general U.S. economy or producer/consumer interest hits the markets. Sometimes this information is overwhelming for people new to the financial markets and it is especially important to know what to look for and how to interpret these indicators. The following are some basic important economic indicators with out any order of significance. (Click charts to enlarge.)

Institute for Supply Management Manufacturing Survey [ISM]: This is the first monthly report focusing on the manufacturing sector of the economy. ISM computes a measure called The Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) based on the survey responses from purchasing managers with regard to manufacturing. Generally if the PMI is above 50, it indicates an expanding manufacturing sector and a reading below 50 indicate a contracting manufacturing sector. The following graph indicates the PMI index history for the last one year. Except in January 2008, the PMI index is declining continuously which indicates that the manufacturing sector is contracting.

According to the March 31^st prospective plantings report released by USDA, farmers in the U.S. intend to plant 86 million acres of corn in 2008. When compared to last year, this year’s acreage is estimated to decrease by approximately 8%.

High input costs associated with corn and relative soybean prices are encouraging farmers to reduce corn acreage and favor soybeans. The present estimated 86 million acres are still considered to be at high levels when compared to historical crop acreages. Also at the same time, the demand for corn is increasing at a faster rate than supply, creating an upward pressure on prices.