By Ryan Hanrahan
AgWeb’s Tyne Morgan reported that “agricultural lenders surveyed in the new 2025 ABA/Farmer Mac Agricultural Lender Survey expect only 52% of U.S. farm borrowers will be profitable this year, signaling a sharp decline from recent years. It’s also a sign producers across major crop regions are continuing to navigate through a period of tighter margins and severe financial stress.”
“Ninety-three percent of ag lenders expect farm debt to increase over the next year, which is up slightly from the 88% of lenders who responded that way last year. But the high number indicates there will be higher demand for farm loans, something that can be a hallmark of previous downturns,” Morgan reported. “According to the survey, lenders say the 2025 farm economy is being shaped by soft commodity prices, high input costs and high interest rates — all working together to squeeze margins. ‘This is the tightest farm income environment we’ve seen since before the pandemic,’ said one ag lender from Iowa.”
“Crop producers — especially corn, soybean and cotton operations — face the most pressure due to rising costs, lower commodity prices and declining working capital,” Morgan reported. “Livestock operations, in contrast, remain relatively stable thanks to stronger protein demand and improved feed costs.”
“Unfortunately, lenders do not expect profitability to improve over the coming year,” the Farmer Mac survey said. “Survey responses show lenders project slightly less than half of borrowers will remain profitable in 2026. If realized, this would be the lowest proportion of profitable farmers since 2020, according to lender responses.”
Source : illinois.edu