farm income
Interest rates surge at same time farmers are borrowing more money
Farm income is stagnant at the same time that farmers and ranchers across the country are borrowing larger amounts of money and paying sharply higher interest rates on the loans, said the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank. "Large loans drove the increase in farm lending, which may heighten concerns about cash flow in 2018."
Tax boon for co-op customers must change, says Grassley
The first major agricultural flaw found in the new tax law has “got to be changed,” said Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley. Grain companies are very concerned that Section 199A of the new law “would put them out of business if we don’t do something,” he said.
‘Trump bump’ melts as farmer optimism wanes
Farmers are increasingly pessimistic about financial conditions in coming months, with Purdue’s Ag Economy Barometer dropping by nearly 18 percent since last January.
Outlook for U.S. farm income: Stable but ‘at much lower levels’
After a three-year plunge, U.S. farm income is stabilizing “at much lower levels than in previous years,” said the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank, warning that “growing inventories and trade uncertainty remain the key risks to the outlook.”
Grain companies say tax law gives edge to cooperatives
Privately owned grain companies, from the giants of the grain trade to local merchandisers, “fear their grain supply will dry up” because of a provision in the newly enacted tax law, said Reuters.
Big dairy ‘co-op’ illustrates what’s wrong with modern agricultural co-ops
Dairy Farmers of America, the 20-year-old product of the largest merger in dairy cooperative history, has become a vertically integrated “corporation” that enjoys the legal benefits of a cooperative while increasingly serving its own bottom line rather than its member farmers, says Washington Monthly.
Farmers more optimistic than a year ago
A post-harvest survey of growers found they were more optimistic at the end of 2017 than they were during the post-election “Trump Bump” of a year earlier, said DTN/Progressive Farmer.
Crop insurance rises to 31 percent of direct federal farm assistance
In 1994 and again in 2000, Congress voted for the government to pay a larger share of the premium for crop insurance subsidies, one of the reasons for increased participation in the insurance program. One measurement shows the larger role: insurance now amounts to 31 percent of direct financial assistance to farms, compared to 2 percent in 1989, according to the USDA Economic Research Service.
Farmland values edge downward in Midwest and Plains
The Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank says the prolonged decline in farm income pushed farmland values lower in the central and northern Plains, "but at a modest pace" of 3 percent for non-irrigated land during the summer. The Chicago Federal Reserve Bank said land values, although relatively stable for the past year, fell 1 percent during the summer.
Purdue poll finds few farmers expect higher commodity prices
The great majority of corn, soybean, wheat, and cotton growers expect commodity prices to muddle along at current levels through next fall, says a monthly Purdue poll. Only 20 to 25 percent of row-crop farmers expect higher prices in the next 12 months.
Farm income stabilizes after steep decline that began in 2013
U.S. farm income will tick upward this year, a sign of stability three years after the collapse of the commodity boom pushed income into a nosedive. Still, even with this year’s upturns, income will be a fraction of 2013’s peak, said the USDA.
Leave NAFTA nuclear option on the shelf, say U.S. ag groups
Commodity prices will fall and export sales will be lost if the Trump administration withdraws from NAFTA, which generates one-third of U.S. agricultural trade, said U.S. farm and agribusiness groups in a letter to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. With farm income down sharply, "2018 would be an especially damaging time to lose America's two largest food and agriculture product markets."
Three USDA reports this week will frame the ag sector outlook
In back-to-back-to-back reports, USDA economists will paint a numerical picture of the U.S. farm sector this week, with estimates of farm income, ag exports, and the output, demand and prices for 2018 crops. Most likely, they will add up to large crops, comparatively low grain prices and constrained income heading into the fifth year since the collapse of the commodity boom.
USDA nominees give top priority to larger U.S. farm exports
The board of the Consumer Goods Forum, which includes 400 of the biggest goods companies in 70 countries, used Climate Week to call on foodmakers and retailers to standardize the "Sell by," "Use by" and "Best before" labels that confuse consumers and contribute to food waste. The industry "call to action" dovetails with a UN goal of reducing food waste by 50 percent by 2030.
Trump trade tactics imperil farmers, says Glickman
Exports generate an important part of U.S. farm income, yet they are jeopardized by President Trump's decision to renegotiate NAFTA and his threats to cancel the U.S.-Korea trade pact, writes former agriculture secretary Dan Glickman in an essay in The Hill newspaper. "These two threats alone have serious potential implications for the health of American agriculture, which is so dependent on agriculture exports.
U.S. farm income noses upward after three years of declines
Commodity prices are still in a trough but U.S. farm income is on the rise for the first time since 2013 because producers are sending more crops and livestock to market than initially expected, said the USDA. It forecast net cash farm income, a measure of liquidity, of $100.4 billion this year, far stronger than the February forecast of $93.5 billion, but only three-fourths of the record set in 2013.
U.S. cropland prices stable for fourth year amid ag sector slump
Farm income plummeted with the collapse of the commodity boom in 2013 yet cropland, usually a farmer's biggest asset and the foundation of a farm's financial health, is as valuable as ever, the USDA says. Producers are making enough money to pay their mortgages, aided in part by low interest rates on the loans, while the perennial hunger among farmers, ranchers and investors to buy land is bolstering prices on the national level, although the Midwest and northern Plains feel the pain of lower commodity prices.
Dip in farm lending as sector copes with lower income
Ag bankers are charging higher interest rates and allowing longer repayment periods because of persistently lower farm income, says the Ag Finance Databook published by the Federal Reserve. The quarterly publication says farm loan volume was down 7 percent during the first six months of this year compared to January-June 2016.
House defeats Trump-backed government funding bill
One day after President-elect Donald Trump shot down a stopgap government funding bill, the House defeated a Trump-backed bill written by Republicans to keep the government running until March 14. The GOP bill included $31 billion to buffer the impact in rural America of natural disasters and lower farm income.