Posts By: Betsy Urso

Agfirst, Cobank, Farm Credit Bank of Texas and Farmer Mac Participate in Hurricane Relief Effort October 7, 2022 COLUMBIA, SC – AgFirst, CoBank, Farm Credit Bank of Texas and Farmer Mac joined together to provide $325,000 in relief aid for those hard hit by Hurricane Fiona and Hurricane Ian. These entities share a common mission… Read more »

How to stay ahead of a downturn FarmFutures By: Ben Potter It was 1983, and the timing couldn’t have been worse for first-generation Indiana farmer Randy Kron to kick off his career. Commodity prices were dismal, interest rates had spiked by double digits, and the U.S. economy was clawing its way out of a three-year… Read more »

Farmer Mac cultivates securitisation programme International Financing Review By: Richard Leong Farmer Mac is ramping up its first agricultural mortgage securitisation programme which launched last year in its effort to expand financing in a largely untapped market. The government-sponsored enterprise, whose official name is Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corp, sees its securitisation programme blossoming because of… Read more »

Here’s Why Buying U.S. Farmland Just Became More Expensive AgWeb By: Tyne Morgan Jackson Takach, chief economist for Farmer Mac, says the current environment of rising interest rates could impact farmland investments, and in turn, farmland values, which could show up in Q3 of 2022. Another interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve last week… Read more »

Is Agriculture Better Prepared to Weather the Rapid Rise in Interest Rates? AgWeb By: Tyne Morgan The main signal that agriculture is in a better position than it was 40 years ago is leverage. “The Feed” shows the total sector debt-to-asset ratio has averaged 10% to 15% since the early 2000s, compared to 15% to… Read more »