News Desk

Oklahoma Shines, Bucks Downward Trend

Oklahoma saw a steady rise in land values, thanks to a stellar market for beef cattle such as this fine-looking Angus at the Express Ranches Big Event in Yukon. — Cropland values trailed falling commodity markets, but cattle are fetching record prices. So did ranchland values, which jumped almost seven percent in the Tenth District.

Using responses from 218 banks, the Kansas City Fed presented its survey of Agricultural Credit Conditions covering the first quarter of 2015. A selection of observations by some of these bankers follows:
“Livestock producers have seen improvement in net income due to cheap feed and higher cattle prices.” – Southeast Colorado
“The drought still has an impact on our farmers and ranchers.” – South Central Oklahoma
“The drought in our area will force producers to rely on insurance proceeds to fund the operation.” – North Central Kansas
“More than half of our customers’ cash flow projections show a loss in 2015.” – Northeast Nebraska
“Very few land sales lately.” – Northeast Nebraska
“Loan demand is higher due to low commodity prices. If corn prices rise to $4 per bushel or higher, loans will be repaid.” – Western Nebraska
Read the complete report at www.KansasCityFed.org.