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REVIEW: variable interest rates

An ag economist says now is the time to evaluate variable interest rates.

Corey Geiger is with CoBank.

“The days of cheap borrowing are in the rearview mirror,” he says.  “I think business owners, family farms, really have to take a look at that. It’s important to your planning. It’s important to your future.”

Geiger tells Brownfield up to 65 percent of milk produced in the U.S. is covered by two main dairy insurance programs including the Dairy Margin Coverage program, which he says has been a lifeline for farmers.

“Through August, we’re at $1.2 billion in payments,” he says.  “We’re looking at $3.80 to $3.90 per hundredweight (for margins), that’s an insurance program—farmers paid money into that. The other product is Dairy Revenue Protection, in the first and second quarter of the year, $330 million in payments.”

Geiger says dairy prices are looking better this fall with spot butter hitting historic records and providing upside potential.

Brownfield’s Larry Lee interviews Geiger during the World Dairy Expo.