Steve Irish used to farm 450 acres of rich crop fields in east-central Illinois, but that 15-year chapter of his life ended with a recent conversation with his banker.
The banker was blunt. Irish was deep in debt from the farm equipment he bought, and needed to pay back the money he owed. So now Irish’s tractor, combine and other machinery needed to run a grain farm is up for sale in an online auction, Reuters reported.
“We had no choice,” said Irish, who also lost the lease on most of his rented 450 acres. Without land and equipment, he said, he could not farm.
As the US farming sector enters the third year of a downturn caused by a global glut of grains and slumping commodity prices, bankers across the Midwest are starting to tighten lending conditions and even cutting some clients off.
Many corn and soybean farmers already are trying to adjust by selling off grain stockpiles, begging landlords to reduce rents and pleading with bankers to restructure debt and give them more time to pay it back.
But bankers are worried about the potential of loan defaults as incomes fall, prompting farmers to take on more debt. US farm debt, adjusted for inflation, is now at the highest levels since the nation’s agricultural crisis in the 1980s, when scores of rural banks failed.
Tightening credit sends a clear message: the hard times are here to stay, and sacrifices are in order to avoid a future of forced land sales, farm equipment repossession and bankruptcies.
Credit Squeeze
How many farmers have had their credit lines cut off in recent months is not known. At least for now, say bankers, they do not expect a repeat of the 1980s, when Willie Nelson and Neil Young held a benefit concert to help thousands of bankrupt farmers.
Current interest rates are far lower, as are debt-to-equity ratios. Farm assets, too, are valued at about one-third higher, according to federal data.
But bankers now are saying no to clients they may have backed during the recent boom times, according to farmers, economists and interviews with nearly three dozen lenders. Some are requiring customers to put more cash down for land or equipment purchases.
Customers with grain in their bins are being steered toward government-backed loans where the taxpayer would shoulder some of the risk. The number of these marketing assistance loans from the US Department of Agriculture–short-term credit backed by crops–rose to over 47,500 with $5.7 billion dispersed in 2015, up over 50% from when the downturn began in 2013, according to USDA data.
The squeeze comes as most farmland rent payments–which can run into millions of dollars–are due March 1. Seasonal payment deadlines also loom for seeds, chemicals and equipment.
