Midwest Farm Economy Possibly Stabilizing
Recent data from the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank Survey of Agricultural Credit Conditions suggests conditions in the farm sector may be stabilizing.
Agricultural credit conditions weakened further in the second quarter of 2017, but the pace of deterioration has slowed. Although the rate of which farm loans are being repaid continued to decrease, the change from a year ago was not as sharp as in recent years. Only 37 percent of bankers in the survey reported a decrease in repayment rates from a year ago, the lowest share since mid-2015. Farmland values continued to trend lower alongside the reductions in farm income and weaker credit conditions, but the changes have remained modest.
With the fall harvest approaching, agricultural lenders and borrowers remain concerned about prospects for the farm economy in the Midwest, particularly in regions with limited potential for high crop yields. However, bankers were generally less pessimistic about economic conditions in the farm sector in the second quarter than in each of the past two years.
Source; NAFB News