American Bankers Association Farm Bank Performance Report

Last week, the American Bankers Association (ABA) released its annual Farm Bank Performance Report.  Today’s update includes several highlights from the ABA update. The ABA report indicated that, “The U.S. banking industry is a major provider of credit to agriculture with more than $186 billion in farm loans extended— approximately 50 percent of the total farm credit outstanding in the U.S.—as of year-end 2018.”“Farm banks have benefited from several years of strong agricultural sector performance and have, during these years, increased their quality and quantity of capital while strengthening their balance sheets.”“Farm lending posted solid growth during 2018,” the report said; adding that, “Farm real estate loans grew at a faster rate than farm production loans.”