Crop insurers already are calling Mississippi a train wreck for crop losses with recent excessive rains leaving many crops stranded and wasting in fields too wet for harvest equipment to enter. (Photo courtesy of Scott Corey, MSU Ag Communications)
Crop Claims Expected to Mount
Kernel Quality Low Enough to Trigger Yield Adjustments in Many Cases
Tue Oct 27, 2009 02:13 PM CDT
Crop insurers arrange salvage buyers and adjust for quality, encouraging insured farmers to finish the job of harvesting.
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Many dairy and hog loans are in a near-crisis situation. (DTN file photo)
By the Numbers
 Ag's Bad Loans on the RiseSubscriber Content
Fri Nov 6, 2009 03:48 PM CST
Livestock's losses set the tone for trouble in the farm economy.
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Chart by Kim Adrian
DTN Ag Interest Rate SnapshotSubscriber Content
Fri Nov 6, 2009 08:09 AM CST
Track daily moves in farm mortgages and operating credit, based on interest rates supplied by a major farm lender.
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At this stage, pork and dairy producers are "living off their equity." (DTN file photo)
Financial Woes Hit Livestock, Ethanol
Lenders Report More Debt Workouts, Loan LossesSubscriber Content
Thu Nov 5, 2009 11:56 AM CST
The Farm Credit System and other ag lenders are seeing more debt restructuring and higher loan losses in the ethanol, dairy and swine industries due to deterioration in credit quality.
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Adam Erwin's BFF(Banker Friend Forever) has left, but he hopes to have as good a relationship with his new banker. (DTN graphic by Scott R Kemper)
MBAg by Adam Erwin
My Banker, My BFF Subscriber Content
Thu Nov 5, 2009 08:51 AM CST
His banker put him on the plat book. Now Midwest farmer-columnist Adam Erwin worries how he'll play within the rules since his loan officer left for greener pastures.
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For the first time in memory, even the Risk Management Agency concedes that harvest may not finish in time for its Dec. 10 End of Insurance Period, the normal settlement date for most spring planted crops.
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Last year, crop revenue insurance passed the acid test for protecting against price declines. This year's question is how well it will compensate for quality losses. It's a first-time consideration for much of the Corn Belt and an issue so widespread that the Risk Management Agency is expected to announce a clarification on quality protocols in the next few days.
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With all the news reports of crop quality issues in 2009, you'd think phones would be ringing off the wall at crop insurance agencies. Mississippi might be a special case, but agents I've interviewed in Iowa, Indiana and Alabama the last few days feel more like the old Maytag repairman: lonely.
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The slowest crop harvest in 30 years has many Corn Belt growers playing high-stakes poker: If they harvest a wet crop now with more than 30 percent moisture, they're socked with drying costs than can run 60 cents per bu.
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More Minding Ag's Business...
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Under the Tax Code, debt forgiveness produces taxable income, but for farmers who meet certain privileges, debt relief may not be immediately taxable. (DTN file photo)
Ask the Taxman by Andy Biebl
How Does IRS Treat Debt Forgiveness?Subscriber Content
10/21 11:57AM
DTN tax authority and CPA Andy Biebl answers readers' questions on how IRS taxes restructured debt, terms for buy-sell agreements and energy credits for grain dryers.
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Adam Erwin's BFF(Banker Friend Forever) has left, but he hopes to have as good a relationship with his new banker. (DTN graphic by Scott R Kemper)
MBAg by Adam Erwin
My Banker, My BFF Subscriber Content
11/5 8:46AM
His banker put him on the plat book. Now Midwest farmer-columnist Adam Erwin worries how he'll play within the rules since his loan officer left for greener pastures.
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Many dairy and hog loans are in a near-crisis situation. (DTN file photo)
By the Numbers
Ag's Bad Loans on the RiseSubscriber Content
11/6 3:52PM
Livestock's losses set the tone for trouble in the farm economy.
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