The first day of the 2021 Potato Expo brought farm policy discussions and a look at the farm financial situation. Farm Credit Council CEO Todd Van Hoose told attendees farmer borrower stress is starting to stabilize.
“The rally in the commodity markets and getting past some of the worst parts of the pandemic are starting to show. In addition, a whole lot of government money went into farmer’s pockets,” said Van Hoose. “Right now, we’re in relatively good times, but farm leverage is increasing.”
The average debt-to-asset ratio for U.S. farmers is climbing. “It’s been in a steady increase since 2012. We cracked 14 percent in 2020 and it will probably move higher in 2021, but that ratio is low compared to other industries. There’s still lots of agricultural assets out there not leveraged at all.”
Van Hoose also discussed COVID, the new Congress and policy priorities for a new administration.
Source: Red River Farm Network
