From Hay & Forage Grower:

Most producers will go through financial stress in the next three years, predict 84% of U.S. ag professionals recently surveyed. But surveyed experts thought the majority of producers were “moderately equipped” to manage financial turmoil, says Jason Johnson, Texas AgriLife Extension Service economist and associate director of the Southern Region Risk Management Education Center at Stephenville, TX.

This means that, with some assistance and maybe increased knowledge, producers have the capacity to adapt to the new market environment. Among these skills is the ability to produce the documentation needed to secure loans, Johnson says.

“It’s pretty gloomy (the report), but it’s better to acknowledge these risks now than it is to wonder three years later what happened to your operation,” he says. “According to the respondents, only 7% of producers are currently ‘well-equipped’ in terms of financial management skills to manage their business through a period of financial stress.”

A total of 2,300 ag producers, ag economists, consultants, educators and lenders from all 50 states were surveyed by four Regional Risk Management Education Centers and the Center for Farm Financial Management at the University of Minnesota.

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