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Farmers continue to face a down farm economy

The president and CEO of Farm Credit Council says agricultural producers continue to face a down farm economy.

Todd Van Hoose says farmers have seen low commodity prices and deteriorating farm income for several years.

“Farmers are having to make changes to their operation and lenders like Farm Credit are having to make adjustments to their operations as well,” he says. “For producers who looked at a farm plan for 2019, for a lot of them it was almost impossible to pencil in a profit and that makes it very difficult.”

He advice to farmers is to talk to their ag lender.

“Is there something we can restructure for you, is there some change to your operation that might make sense,” he says. “That’s the kind of thing we want to have discussion around so that both of us can plan and find that way to have success.”

Van Hoose spoke to Brownfield this week in Washington D.C.

Audio: Todd Van Hoose, Farm Credit Council