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Another ‘cautious’ year for Nebraska’s ag economy

It looks like more of the same for the ag economy in the coming months.

“Everybody across the state is very cautious,” says Richard Baier, president and CEO of the Nebraska Bankers Association (NBA). “Obviously there’s a lot of concern among our producers, and subsequently our ag lenders.

“I think it’s been true, in recent years, that 50 to 70 percent of our customers continue to make money—and we have 20 to 30 percent that struggle, and maybe 5 to 10 percent that really struggle,” Baier says. “I don’t expect those percentages to change a lot, but obviously it continues to be challenge.”

Tina Barrett with Nebraska Farm Business says Market Facilitation Program payments will help keep many farmers afloat for another year.

“It’s going to definitely be a significant help, just like it was last year,” Barrett says. “If they hadn’t seen those dollars come in the way they had, we wouldn’t have seen probably very many operations make money. And I think it would have been similar this year.”

Alan Emshoff, president of Generations Bank in Exeter, Nebraska and chairman of NBA, says it’s a challenging time—but he says farmers are used to dealing with challenges.

“There are a lot of headwinds right now, but they’re accustomed to that,” Emshoff says. “They’re resilient people and if you talk about ‘Nebraska Strong’, you can look a farmer right in the face and you’re looking at Nebraska Strong right there.”

Brownfield spoke with Baier, Barrett and Emshoff at Husker Harvest Days near Grand Island, Nebraska.