UW Extension’s Hewlett Helps Organize Federal Reserve Agricultural Roundtable in Cheyenne

A group of Wyoming, Colorado and Nebraska producers will meet with Federal Reserve economists Thursday, Sept. 24, at Laramie County Community College in Cheyenne to discuss agricultural economic conditions.

 

John Hewlett, a University of Wyoming ranch and farm management specialist in the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, has worked with the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City to organize Wyoming’s participation in the two-hour regional roundtable.

 

Participation in Fed roundtables is by invitation. The Kansas City Fed holds these sessions periodically across its district to hear from the operations closest to production agriculture, in language that has not been through a survey instrument first.

 

Hewlett helped identify and recruit a cross section of operators intended to reflect the breadth of agriculture in Wyoming. He also will contribute to session discussions.

 

“Working with the Wyoming Stock Growers Association, the Wyoming Farm Bureau Federation and our extension colleagues, we have assembled a small group that reflects Wyoming’s livestock and crop agriculture,” Hewlett says. “This is an opportunity for producers to explain conditions that don’t always show up clearly in regional numbers, including transportation and marketing challenges, our arid environment, irrigation water issues, and the realities of producing livestock and crops in Wyoming.”

 

Working with Hewlett were extension colleagues Jay Parsons, of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and Stephen Koontz, of Colorado State University, who assembled participants from their respective states.

 

The Fed combines conversations with producers and other agricultural stakeholders with surveys and economic data to build a clearer picture of agricultural conditions.

 

That work is reflected in several public resources, including the Beige Book, the Fed’s periodic summary of regional economic conditions; the quarterly Agricultural Credit Survey, which tracks farm income, loan demand, repayment rates, collateral requirements, interest rates, and farmland and ranchland values; monthly agricultural finance updates on farm lending volumes and new loan originations; and short analyses of land values, cattle inventories, beef demand and food prices.

 

These publications are free and available to the public. Producers, lenders and landowners use these resources when negotiating leases, weighing land purchases and comparing loan terms.

 

Wyoming is one of seven states in the Tenth Federal Reserve District, along with Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, northern New Mexico and western Missouri.

 

The upcoming roundtable is hosted by the Kansas City Fed’s Center for Agriculture and the Economy, established in October 2025 to consolidate the bank’s agricultural research and industry engagement. Nate Kauffman, senior vice president, economist and Omaha Branch executive, serves as the center’s executive director.

 

The roundtable is not open to the public and is not a media event. Questions about the Kansas City Fed’s agricultural research and publications can be directed to the Center for Agriculture and the Economy at www.kansascityfed.org/center-for-agriculture-and-the-economy.

 

Wyoming producers interested in UW Extension’s farm and ranch management programming can reach Hewlett at (307) 766-2166 or email hewlett@uwyo.edu.

 

About University of Wyoming Extension

 

UW Extension serves Wyoming communities by helping residents apply university research and resources to practical problems. Since 1914, UW Extension has provided educational programs and tools to the state’s 23 counties and the Wind River Indian Reservation. From 4-H programming and pesticide safety education to food preservation and nutrition courses, UW Extension upholds the university’s land-grant mission by offering learning opportunities for people of all ages. UW Extension staff help Wyoming residents boost agricultural production; care for lawns and gardens; cultivate future leaders; support individual and community well-being; and develop thriving businesses. To learn more, visit www.uwyo.edu/uwe or call (307) 766-5124.