Agricultural News
Oklahoma Farmland Values Rise, Despite Significant Downturn in Farm Income
Thu, 11 Feb 2016 14:27:22 CST
Oklahoma farmland values have held stronger than other states across the region, but the state is also looking at much lower farm income. That's according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City's quarterly survey of the seven-state region.
Oklahoma was also the only state in the Tenth District where bankers reported increases in average cropland values over the previous year. Oklahoma farmland values rose modestly with non-irrigated and irrigated cropland increasing three percent. According to survey respondents, values of non-irrigated and irrigated cropland decreased four percent and two percent, respectively, from a year ago.
Oklahoma ranchland values also continued to rise, in addition to the Mountain States. Oklahoma's ranchland values increased four percent over last year. For the rest of the Midwest region, growth in the value of ranchland stalled in the fourth quarter alongside sharp declines in cattle prices that persisted to the end of the year. From January 2015 through December, feeder cattle prices plunged more than 25 percent, causing profit margins in the cattle sector to deteriorate significantly. Alongside these price declines, year-over-year growth in the value of ranchland dropped from an average of eight percent in the first three quarters of 2015 to zero in the fourth quarter.
Farm credit conditions in the Tenth District also deteriorated alongside lower farm income. Bankers expected farm income to remain subdued in the coming months. For the second quarter in a row, bankers in all District states indicated they expect a further decline in farm income in the coming quarter. These expectations of lower farm income continued the trend of reduced incomes in Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska, but marked a significant downturn in expectations for future farm income in Oklahoma and the Mountain States.
The effects of weakening farm income continued to ripple through the farm economy in the fourth quarter. In addition, lower farm income trimmed cash rents somewhat and was expected to continue to pressure agricultural credit conditions in the coming months.
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