| MINNEAPOLIS -- While farmers in Minnesota and surrounding
states continue to struggle, their financial status has improved from a
year ago, the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis reported Thursday.
The Federal Reserve surveyed 101 bankers, and 46 percent reported
average or above-average farm income in the third quarter -- an increase
of 32 percentage points compared with 1999.
"But in the context of low current prices and poor overall income
for several years running, district farmers are still experiencing
financial problems," said regional economist Tobias Madden.
Madden said emergency government payments are partly responsible for
the rise in farm income, and that without the payments, farmers would be
in worse shape.
Nearly one-third of the lenders who responded to the survey reported
normal or above-normal capital spending over the last three months. That's
compared with 11 percent in the third quarter 1999.
Stan Dopheide of Wells Fargo Bank Minnesota NA in Worthington said
farmers in southwestern Minnesota are experiencing "about
average" income levels for two reasons: average to above-average
crops and emergency government payments.
"We've been looking at below-average grain prices for over two
years now, and the program payments have helped substantially as far as
bringing up the farm income," Dopheide said.
"Livestock prices have improved somewhat or stabilized, and that's
also helped farm income," he added. |