Farmland Values And Credit Conditions Save The Date

In the first quarter of 2023, the Seventh Federal Reserve District’s farmland values saw a 10 percent increase from a year ago, marking the eighth consecutive quarter of double-digit year-over-year growth. In addition, “good” farmland values in the District rose 2 percent from the fourth quarter of 2022 to the first quarter of 2023, according to the survey responses of 148 District agricultural bankers. Despite demand to purchase farmland still being up, there was a smaller amount of farmland for sale in the three- to six-month period ending with March 2023 than in the same period ending with March 2022. Moreover, the number of farms and the amount of acreage sold were down somewhat during the winter and early spring of 2023 compared with a year earlier. Annual cash rental rates for District farmland saw an increase of 8 percent in 2023—down from their gain of 11 percent in 2022. The vast majority of responding bankers (78 percent) forecasted District farmland values to be stable during the second quarter of 2023, while 15 percent forecasted them to be higher and 7 percent forecasted them to be lower. Agricultural credit conditions held fairly steady in the District during the first quarter of 2023. The availability of funds for agricultural lending in the first quarter of 2023 was nearly unchanged from a year earlier, but demand for non-real-estate loans was down for the 11th straight quarter. At 70.3 percent, the average loan-to-deposit ratio in the first quarter of 2023 was slightly down from the previous quarter. Repayment rates for non-real-estate farm loans were higher in the January through March period of 2023 compared with a year ago, and the renewals and extensions of these loans were lower. The amount of collateral required by banks across the District was on net a tad higher than a year earlier. By the end of the first quarter of 2023, the District’s average nominal interest rates on farm operating, feeder cattle, and farm real estate loans had reached their highest levels since the third quarter of 2007. However, average real interest rates for all three were last higher in the first quarter of 2021.