Farm Values to Continue Dropping, Economist Says

U.S. farmland values will continue to erode, with more and more agricultural businesses folding, says an economist for First National Bank of Chicago.

“We’ve got several years of continued poor prices and income in the farm sector before things should start to pick up,” economist Richard Chamberlin said in an interview.

“That means more bankruptcies among farms, a further squeeze on the operating earnings of farms that survive and more foreclosures of farm banks,” Chamberlin said.