Blaine Nelson is the Senior Economist on the Strategy, Research, and Analytics team at Farmer Mac. In his role, he analyzes trends within America’s agricultural sector, with areas of focus including farmland values, commodity prices, interest rates, and agricultural sector profitability. He disseminates this information to borrowers and lenders to help keep them well-informed about the environment they operate in and to help guide their decisions. Blaine was raised on a commercial row crop and dairy farm in Northern Minnesota and went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in Applied Economics from the University of Minnesota and a master’s degree in Agricultural and Applied Economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.