Farm debt is at a record $605 billion, and that may not be the whole picture. More farm credit now comes from equipment companies, input suppliers, co-ops and private lenders, and that debt is hard to measure. Dr. Jenny Ifft, agricultural economist at Kansas State University, is working with USDA to size it up. She joins Damian to explain why vendors have become lenders and why “0% financing” is never really free.

Is farm debt a problem? Balance sheets still look healthy. The real risk is cash flow, with many mid-sized grain farms barely covering their debt payments. Damian and Jenny weigh the warning signs, the lessons of the 1980s, and the flip side: plenty of capital is looking for somewhere to go — maybe farm debt is a non-issue, especially when compared to Main Street America’s debt load.

Farmers: Jenny is collecting seed price sheets for her research. Email a photo of your seed price sheets to [email protected].

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