By Mark Steil, Minnesota Public Radio News

WORTHINGTON — High grain prices have led to big profits for crop producers, strengthening the farm economy while Mainstreet continues to struggle.

Flush with money, farmers are spending on field equipment and pickup trucks.

At a farm equipment dealership in Jackson, in southwest Minnesota, tractors, combines and plowing equipment crowd the sales yard. The brisk winter wind can’t chill the warm glow a healthy farm economy has brought to this business and most of the agricultural sector.

Marketing manager Nate Janssen said there’s been a lot of interest in the machinery now that the harvest over.

“Farmers have a little bit of time,” Janssen said. “They’ve got their taxes figured out, as far what they’d like to spend to get into a lower bracket. We’re kind of geared up and ready to go.”

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