economist ernie goss on the importance of knowing your banker. 'the trust and the banker who lives in that community, knows the farmer, knows the conditions, and there's a long-term relationship that goes back decades in manhy case. the lender in the community understands that it is long-term. we see the ebs and flows and over long term,

that's according to the latest rural mainstreet index from ernie goss at creighton university. tht survey covers 10 states and is based on responses from ag bankers. the october r-m-i shows the farm equipment sales index slding to 10 point 8 from 14 point 2 last month. the r-m-i uses 50 as growth neutral. goss says s nkers remain pessisimistic about short and intermediate prospects for ag equipment delers and producers. the survey also ackowldeging that caterpillar's recent decision to layoff 5 thousand employees is having a nenetive impact on the entire central illinois area. coming up, find out how a "fosteparent" is helping to retore oyster beds in new hampshire. in the country is (in the country brought to you by the all new kubota ssv series skid steers. you asked for a quality skid steer and we delivered. visit your local kubota dealer totoest drive one today) along the east coat, the oyster population has suffered a dramatic decline in recent decades, but conservationists, restaurant workers and even oyster foster parents are working to change that. noreen nah-zeze from

that's findings from the october rural mainstreet index released by ernie goss as creighton university. for the second stragit month, the index fell below growth neutral. and this month, not one of the ten states surveyed were on the growth side of the index--with a score above 50. bankers also reporting that nearly a third of all corn sales were being made below break-even. cash rents have fallen 15 percent year over year designed to protect communities and divert water. as we've seen, levee systems can fail when they are inundated by flood water. the engineering of levees helps make them strong, but agriculture plays a role in keeping them strong. tobie blanchard shows us how in this report provided by the lsu agcenter. hundreds of miles of levees snake around waterways in louisiana protecting homes, businesses and agricultural crops from floods. the greater new orleans area alone has more than 100 miles of levee systems. lsu agcenter agronomist jeff beasley is looking at the role vegetation plays in strengthening a levee. most people when they think about levees they think about the

creighton university's economist ernie goss sees raising interest rates as a good thing. if the fed does move forward with its decision in december, it would be the first rate rise since 2006. meanwhile, u-s economic growth slowed in teh fourth quarter. the commerce department says the gross domestic product increased at a 1 point 5 percent annual rate after increasing nearly 4 percent in the second quarter. pick up this quarter. china is dropping its one child policy for the first time since the 1970s. this opens the door for ag exports as the population grows. now the country will allow two children for every couple. the communist party issued a statement, saying to promoate a balanced growth of population, china will continue to uphold the basic national policy of population control. this still needs to be approved