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Most farmers prepared for spring purchases

An agricultural lender says despite the down economy, most farmers have or can get the money they need for planting season.

Ty Martin with Compeer Financial tells Brownfield concern about a farm’s financial health was higher about four to five months ago when they feared commodity markets would collapse, but farmers are very good at navigating tough times. “They’re very good these days, compared to when I started my career on being able to control their costs coming in, and they market a heck of a lot better than they once did.”

Martin says most of the balance sheets he’s seen have not been gaining strength, but also not going backwards either. “We were worried that we would see, you know, true negative net incomes from last year’s crop year. We really have not seen that as financials have started coming in.”

Martin says interest rates are higher than they were but, “We’re back up to what I would call an average interest rate historically. The good part is is that we’ve sort of leveled off and we haven’t continued to go up much higher than where we were at.”

Martin says most farmers are able to make the purchases they need to make and some are even moving ahead with expansion plans.

AUDIO: Ty Martin with Compeer Financial discusses lending, interest rates, and more with Brownfield’s Larry Lee.