Farm debt has continued to increase alongside faster growth in farm-production loans. Similar to recent quarters, outstanding agricultural-loan balances at commercial banks have increased by about 5 percent. Non-real-estate loans increased at the fastest pace since 2016 while growth in real-estate loans slowed slightly. Even as debt balances continued to grow, farm-loan performance remained strong and delinquency rates have decreased slightly for the third-consecutive year. The net interest margin and return on assets at agricultural banks were more than a year ago, but softened slightly from the previous quarter as funding costs for lenders continued to increase.
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Ty Kreitman
Ty Kreitman is an assistant economist in the Regional Affairs Department at the Omaha Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. In this role he primarily supports the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City and Federal Reserve System efforts surrounding agricultural-economics research, analysis and outreach.
Francisco Scott is an economist at the Economic Research Department of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. His current research focuses on agricultural-industrial organization, industry consolidation and market power, regional economics and policy.
