2020 Spring Farm Outlook

2020 Logan County Farm Outlook LINCOLN DAILY NEWS March 19, 2020 Page 11 2009 and many were able to recover from that bad harvest. As a lender, Irwin said that there are basically three farm loans; land, equipment, and operating. Reviewing what he has seen recently, Irwin said there is farm ground out there for sale, and the price ranges are wide. He noted farm sales he has attended where the ground went for $8,100 to $8,400 per acre. At another sale, he saw the ground bring $12,100 per acre. He said the primary difference was that the lower cost land was what the farmer would consider “rough.” It was good soil, but perhaps it had fewer straight edges, had large drainage ditches or other rough terrain that would make it harder to farm and more time consuming for the tractor and combine. The higher priced land was more attractive. The field was flat, lines straight and there were no barriers to farm around. Irwin said all were good soil with the ability to yield well. The difference in desirability came from the differences in the terrain. Irwin said that middle of the road farms, neither rough nor pristine, are going for around $10,000 an acre. He added that it appears to him at least that the middle of the road farm ground is what is more readily available in Logan County. The pristine acres are not as plentiful as they once were. Equipment costs have soared over the last decade. In 2010 a good combine, perhaps not the Cadillac, but more than capable of doing the job would go for $200,000 to $250,000 new. Today, double that. Even though the price has doubled, Irwin said most equipment notes are written for four to five years, not a whole lot different than purchasing a family vehicle. Operating loans are much more complicated because a producer in the fall is more often than not in the combine harvesting while talking to vendors about next years’ input purchases. Early buying gets better pricing on fertilizer, chemical and even seed. But that means that next year’s input are being bought this year, and eventually all that needs to be sorted out on the balance sheet and in the operating loan. Playing much to the favor of producer right now is the fact that interest rates are at all- time lows. Irwin said that the prime dropped a half point the first of March, something that is unheard of. He added that the drop in interest rates is connected to the coronavirus. This is a knee-jerk reaction to what is going on around the world, that the everyday person would not Continue 4