Posts By: Betsy Urso

ABA Survey: Credit Quality Tops List of Concerns for Ag Lenders in 2019 ABA Banking Journal With the farm economy in the midst of a prolonged downturn, the primary concern among ag lenders in 2019 was credit quality and the deterioration of agricultural loans, according to the latest agricultural lenders survey conducted by the American… Read more »

We firmly believe that sharing information and insight is extremely important, particularly in changing economic times such as these. To that end, for the last three years, we have teamed up with the American Bankers Association to survey a broad number of ag lenders regarding their local economic and lending conditions. Through the questionnaire, ag… Read more »

  Farmer Mac announces with profound sadness that Keri Votruba, a member of Farmer Mac’s Board of Directors, died unexpectedly on October 22, 2019 at the age of 60. Mr. Votruba, a rancher and crop farmer from Hemingford, Nebraska, joined Farmer Mac’s Board in May 2018 as a member elected by the holders of Farmer… Read more »

Financial Conditions in the U.S. Agricultural Sector: Historical Comparisons USDA – Economic Research Service – Economic Information Bulletin No. (EIB-211) 36 pp By: Greg Lyons (Farmer Mac), Nigel Key, and Christopher Burns This study compares recent aggregate and farm-level measures of financial performance to historic levels to better understand the severity of the current downturn… Read more »

Grace Wu de Plaza on Rolling out New Compliance Initiatives [Podcast] SCCA – The Compliance & Ethics Blog By: Adam Turteltaub Even the best compliance initiative can’t survive a bad rollout. That’s why it’s essential that the planning is done properly. In this podcast Grace Wu de Plaza, Director, Compliance & Corporate Integrity, Farmer Mac,… Read more »

Should You Rent Out Owned Acres? AgWeb Powered by Farm Journal By: Sara Schafer Many farmers plan to rent out their ground to fund retirement years. But, should you do so now to improve your financial standing? In most areas, average operator returns exceed rental returns for farmland. But, with declines in farmer profitability, the… Read more »

In the Summer 2019 edition of The Feed, Farmer Mac’s quarterly perspective on agriculture, Farmer Mac’s Chief Economist Jackson Takach notes some highlights from the 2017 Census of Agriculture, including the number of farmers who spend 200+ days a year working off-farm. Listen in to this broadcast as Jackson discusses the Census of Agriculture with… Read more »