AgLetter: May 1998
Our latest survey of agricultural banks in the Seventh
Federal Reserve District found that farmland values continued
to rise during the winter. The bankers reported
that farmland values rose 2 percent during the first three
months of 1998, while the year-over-year gain, as of April
1, averaged about one-tenth. The demand for new farm
loans remained firm and the survey respondents reported
a modest increase in available funding for farm loans.
But loan repayments at agricultural banks deteriorated—
compared with a year earlier—due to lower prices for
most farm commodities.
