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Banker says farmers are using stronger financial positions wisely
An ag banker says most farmers are taking advantage of their stronger financial positions heading into the 2022 growing season.
Mary Elvekrog is a senior dairy lending specialist with Compeer Financial. She tells Brownfield 2021 had mostly favorable weather, good commodity prices, and the pandemic relief programs bolstering profit and loss statements. She says several of her clients used those dollars to purchase some inputs early, but not everything. “Not so much on the seed. I would say I had a farmer mention to me saying, you know, I need to kind of get off the combine first before I make some of those decisions, so I didn’t see it as much in seed but I certainly did see it with the fertilizer and some chemical costs as well.”
Elvekrog says farmers paid down a lot of debt and most are reluctant to jump into an expansion project or major capital expense with one exception. “Land is probably one of the things we see where if it comes available, and you’re currently renting it and you need it for manure management, it becomes a high priority if you can at all swing it.”
Elvekrog says she’s advising farmers to continue to pay close attention to their risk management plans and to keep watching for price breaks on feed and input items.
