Farmers are failing to pay their loans at the highest rate in nearly a decade, Forbes reports.
The loan delinquencies appear to be due to declining crop prices, as well as tariffs put in place by the Trump administration. Nationwide, nearly 20 percent of farm loans were delinquent. That’s up from 16.5 percent last year.
The rates are likely being driven upward by delinquent grain growers, as President Trump’s trade wars that have hurt exports of corn, soybeans, and wheat. Farm profits have declined for five of the past six years.
Last August, the Federal government announced a bailout to farmers of nearly $5 billion. That money was supposed to ease the damage from the Trump trade wars, but it doesn’t appear to have been enough.
Some farmers have said that temporary payments don’t solve the long-term problem of being shut out of foreign markets, including Canada and Mexico.