nov 10, 2025: 60 minutes interview

There has been a good deal of negative anecdotal evidence in the news about farming. These personal stories, while in some cases are sad, do not accurately portray what is going on in the Ag sector.

One theme is that farmers can’t sell their soybeans. Yes, it is true we have alienated China, the world’s largest buyer of soybeans, but of course farmers can sell their soybeans. We recently sold 40,000 bushels of soybeans for 2025 harvest at prices that exceeded the average price realized in 2024. We also contracted with grain buyers to sell 30,000 bushels of soybeans for next year’s harvest because grain buyers were willing to pay even MORE for next year’s crop. They might be wrong, but they must believe that prices will be higher next year.

Last night on 60 Minutes two farmers were telling the interviewer that things are so bad they might go bankrupt. We don’t know what their personal situation is and like any other business some farmers do go bankrupt. However, at this point in time, there are no signs of significant distress in the area of our farms. Profit margins are not as high as they were a few years ago. And farmers would certainly like to see grain prices rise and input costs decline. But they have the financial wherewithal and willingness to pay us basically the same cash rents for 2026 as they did in 2025.

An insight into the financial condition of farmers can be found by looking at the financial reports of Ag lenders. A large Ag lender in our area is Frontier Farm Credit. As of the end of the 3rd quarter they had $3.2 billion in loans outstanding. Of that amount, 1.07% were nonperforming loans. Farm Credit Banks in other areas such as Texas, Alabama, and Illinois show similar results even though the crops and type of loans may well be different.

The bottom-line is that while farmers are facing some headwinds, at this point in time there is no factual evidence of distress in our area, and it appears that the same can be said for other areas as well.