As the U.S. economy slowly works its way out of the Great Recession, the biggest downside risks come from global economic weakness — financial crises in other parts of the world that can stymie growth here.

Steven Deller, a community economic development specialist with the University of Wisconsin-Extension, talked about some of the macroeconomic forces shaping the future for agriculture last week.

During the Great Recession, he said, agriculture was a source of relative stability, and the overall U.S. economy is now showing signs of reasonable economic growth.

These macroeconomic forces are important to farm families, he said, in terms of jobs, workers and wages to farm family members.

Deller's comments were part of a series of analyses presented during the Agricultural Economics Forum, sponsored by the Renk Agribusiness Institute Jan. 21 on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus.

The global economy has made a modest recovery from the huge recession that affected many economies beginning in 2009, but is showing more signs of renewed weakness.

In the Euro zone, Greece's troubled economy is again showing signs of trouble and there may be problems in South American economies.

Closer to home, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is expected to grow at a reasonable 2.8 percent, Deller said. Some economists see it rising as high as 3.2 percent while others forecast a lower 2.4 percent.

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