Major Farm Loan Repayment Issues Rising in Midwest

(CHICAGO, IL) Farmland values for the Seventh Federal Reserve District were down one percent in the second quarter of 2019 from a year earlier. However, values for “good” agricultural land in the District were unchanged from the first quarter to the second quarter of 2019, according to a survey of 157 bankers. Excessive precipitation in the spring led to historic flooding and widespread planting delays across most of the Midwest. Reporting bankers indicated that 69 percent of their borrowers were at least modestly affected by extreme weather events in the first half of 2019. Agricultural credit conditions were weaker compared with a year ago. Repayment rates for non-real-estate farm loans were lower in the second quarter of 2019 than a year earlier. The portion of the District’s agricultural loan portfolio reported as having “major” or “severe” repayment problems (6.2 percent) had not been higher in the second quarter of a year since 1999. In addition, renewals and extensions of non-real-estate farm loans in the District were up from a year ago. For the April through June period of 2019, the demand for non-real-estate farm loans was higher than a year earlier, but the availability of funds for lending by agricultural banks was lower.