A CoBank analyst says right now some of the largest economic difficulties for farmers have been government created.
Tanner Emhke tells Brownfield farmers and ranchers have been at the front lines bearing the cost of the trade war and government shutdown, “This shutdown is only exacerbating an existing issue with financing, you can’t get loans, certain funds may be inaccessible and because of the continued stress in the ag economy, bankers are getting a little more disciplined with their lending.”
He says production costs are expected to continue to rise without political resolutions in sight, but CoBank is hopefully that won’t be the case, “2018 was a year of rising costs, and hopefully in 2019 we can see those costs moderate or even go down.”
Ehmke says interest rates are expected to be one of the largest areas farmers see costs decrease.
Continue reading CoBank says politics are hurting farmers at Brownfield Ag News.
