[ad_1]<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Many farmers are facing higher debt as a multiyear drop in prices for corn, wheat, and other commodities plagues on. That is pushing more farmers out of business. The Farm Belt will soon have fewer than 2 million farms, the lowest in years.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/strong>: More Home Buyers Say: Give Me an ‘Agrihood’<\/span><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Still, economists aren\u2019t predicting the crisis to be as severe as the one that struck the Farm Belt in the 1980s, in which farmland values plummeted and interest rates soared.<\/p>\n
Economists expect farmland values to fair much better this time around. After all, farm incomes reached record highs just in 2013. Many farmers still have significant cash reserves. Interest rates are still relatively low too, despite recent upticks.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor some, the slump is an opportunity,\u201d The Wall Street Journal reports. \u201cFarmers with low debts and enough scale to profit from last year\u2019s record harvests could be in a position to rent or buy up land from struggling neighbors.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, lenders<\/a> say farmers are going through their saving fast. They say \u00a0younger farmers \u2013 without sufficient reserves — and large growers \u2013 those who may have expanded too much during the boom years — may be the most vulnerable. Large growers may have accumulated too much debt in recent years as they expanded operations and also locked into multiyear land leases at high rents.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe potential for a big crisis is real,\u201d says farmer Less Scheufler, who has expanded his farm nearly 10-fold over the years. \u201cIf things stay similar to how they are now, you haven\u2019t seen anything yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
Source: \u201cThe Next American Farm Bust Is Upon Us<\/a>,\u201d The Wall Street Journal (2017)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
[ad_2]<\/p>\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"