Listen live 
Economy on the High Plains
Western Kansas farm credit
As far as ag financing is concerned, it has not significantly changed. The underwriting standards might be a little bit higher, we might raise the bar a little bit more, it may take a little bit more equity. Interest rates are extremely low, which makes it tougher for the banker, which I'm sure doesn't make the farmer cry too much.
Anderson says farmers have a tendency to find a bank and remain pretty loyal to it, which is something Boyd Westeman, a farmer in Hamilton and Stanton counties has done. Westeman says he has not had any issues with his credit.
No, I haven't. I haven't. I've been at the same bank for roughly 32 years and I think maybe that's the trick to it, find you a bank that you can work with and stick it out and try not to switch any more often than you have to. I seem to have a little bit better luck if I move slow and just slowly build rather than trying to go out and take on a big load.
Westeman does know of some others struggling along and thinks it's likely a combination of them not having a longstanding history with a bank, taking on too much at once, and just dealing with the impact of the economic downturn. Bill Luebbers farms in Wichita County. He expects guidelines on loans for farmers to tighten up.
I'm sure with the trickle down effect it's eventually going to get out here to us, but I haven't had any problem personally. You know most of our banks out here are locally owned, I think they're fairly strong, as far as the production credits and things like that. I imagine we're all going to feel the scrunch a little bit, but, no, as far as I know, it hasn't hit us yet.
Tracy Bruckner serves as the Director of the Rural Policy Program at the Center for Rural Affairs in Lyons, Nebraska. Bruckner says the call and e-mail volume has increased of farmers asking the center for help with credit. The center gets calls from farmers across the country, a concentration of them are in the Midwest and Great Plains. Some calls are from farmers that need credit help because they do not have the equity necessary to get credit from a traditional bank.
We hear through the grapevine that through traditional sources credit has tightened up and credit's always been a little bit hard to come by for beginning farmers especially, wanting to get started in agriculture, so we hope that these government programs will make a big difference for them the programs that came through the 2008 Farm Bill.
Bruckner is referring to changes in direct farming and ownership loans as well as in a down payment loan program. Bruckner says there has been a 128% increase in the down payment loan program usage showing that its changes have made a big difference, but probably that there is also a greater need now for people trying to get access to credit. Mark Anderson of Farm Credit of southwest Kansas says that things still look good locally.
I think things still look pretty good. 2007 was an excellent year. Farmers made a lot of money, paid a lot of debt down, so they put themselves in positions to be certainly more creditworthy than they had been in previous years. This last year at the end of the year with the fall of the commodity prices has been a little tough. We haven't given everything that we made back in 2007, but depending on when the crops were marketed, things overall look pretty good.
For those that do need help with production or land loans, Tracy Buckner at the Center for Rural Affairs says to call or e-mail them for more information. The condition of credit for farmers will become clearer as renewals continue. For High Plains Public Radio, I'm Lindsey Fields.
© Copyright 2012, hppr
(2009-01-15)
Listen Now:
GARDEN CITY, KAN.
(hppr) -
Most agricultural loan renewals will take place in the next three to four months. Mark Anderson is the CEO of Farm Credit of southwest Kansas. Anderson expects that the number of loans in 2009 will not differ much from 2008. Almost all loans are expected to be renewed. Anderson says that as far as the economic downturn and housing crisis are concerned, there has not been a significant impact on agriculture locally.
null
As far as ag financing is concerned, it has not significantly changed. The underwriting standards might be a little bit higher, we might raise the bar a little bit more, it may take a little bit more equity. Interest rates are extremely low, which makes it tougher for the banker, which I'm sure doesn't make the farmer cry too much.
Anderson says farmers have a tendency to find a bank and remain pretty loyal to it, which is something Boyd Westeman, a farmer in Hamilton and Stanton counties has done. Westeman says he has not had any issues with his credit.
No, I haven't. I haven't. I've been at the same bank for roughly 32 years and I think maybe that's the trick to it, find you a bank that you can work with and stick it out and try not to switch any more often than you have to. I seem to have a little bit better luck if I move slow and just slowly build rather than trying to go out and take on a big load.
Westeman does know of some others struggling along and thinks it's likely a combination of them not having a longstanding history with a bank, taking on too much at once, and just dealing with the impact of the economic downturn. Bill Luebbers farms in Wichita County. He expects guidelines on loans for farmers to tighten up.
I'm sure with the trickle down effect it's eventually going to get out here to us, but I haven't had any problem personally. You know most of our banks out here are locally owned, I think they're fairly strong, as far as the production credits and things like that. I imagine we're all going to feel the scrunch a little bit, but, no, as far as I know, it hasn't hit us yet.
Tracy Bruckner serves as the Director of the Rural Policy Program at the Center for Rural Affairs in Lyons, Nebraska. Bruckner says the call and e-mail volume has increased of farmers asking the center for help with credit. The center gets calls from farmers across the country, a concentration of them are in the Midwest and Great Plains. Some calls are from farmers that need credit help because they do not have the equity necessary to get credit from a traditional bank.
We hear through the grapevine that through traditional sources credit has tightened up and credit's always been a little bit hard to come by for beginning farmers especially, wanting to get started in agriculture, so we hope that these government programs will make a big difference for them the programs that came through the 2008 Farm Bill.
Bruckner is referring to changes in direct farming and ownership loans as well as in a down payment loan program. Bruckner says there has been a 128% increase in the down payment loan program usage showing that its changes have made a big difference, but probably that there is also a greater need now for people trying to get access to credit. Mark Anderson of Farm Credit of southwest Kansas says that things still look good locally.
I think things still look pretty good. 2007 was an excellent year. Farmers made a lot of money, paid a lot of debt down, so they put themselves in positions to be certainly more creditworthy than they had been in previous years. This last year at the end of the year with the fall of the commodity prices has been a little tough. We haven't given everything that we made back in 2007, but depending on when the crops were marketed, things overall look pretty good.
For those that do need help with production or land loans, Tracy Buckner at the Center for Rural Affairs says to call or e-mail them for more information. The condition of credit for farmers will become clearer as renewals continue. For High Plains Public Radio, I'm Lindsey Fields.
© Copyright 2012, hppr
