Issues

One of the major discussion points at ag lending and banking schools is the trend in family living costs and withdrawals from farm and ranch businesses. Some lenders say that their customers are living on $40,000/year, while others state that the living withdrawals have increased dramatically, particularly in the last five years with strong grain and commodity prices....More

The sprouting of an unapproved genetically engineered wheat strain in an Oregon field appears to have been an isolated incident, U.S. agricultural officials said on Friday, adding that they had validated a method for detecting the presence of the GE wheat. "As of today, USDA has neither found nor been informed of anything that would indicate that this incident amounts to more than a single isolated incident in a single field on a single farm," said USDA Office of Communications Director Matt Paul. "All information collected so far shows no indication of the presence of GE wheat in commerce."...More

During a recent ag lender training session in Charlotte, N.C., Ronnie Hucks, VP of AgFirst Farm Credit Bank, discussed an interesting observation. This is the first time in history that three generations have been in the workforce during the same time span. Let’s take this subject deeper and examine some of its implications....More