DTN Special Correspondent Elizabeth Williams reported recently that, “Although farm finances are tight for the fifth year in a row and the cash flow outlook is grim, farm tenants are generally honoring their leases this spring, real estate experts said, and land values appear to be holding steady.
“When most cash rents were paid on March 1, the coronavirus was not seen as that menacing in farm country. It wasn’t until the second week in March when major events started to be cancelled that people worried about widespread ramifications of the coronavirus, said Doug Hensley, president of Hertz Real Estate Services in Nevada, Iowa.
“By then, farmers had already locked in their spring financing. Even in hard-hit areas reeling from last year’s wet year, many farmers eked out a small profit in 2019, said banker Nate Franzen, president of the agricultural banking division at First Dakota National Bank in Yankton, South Dakota.”
The DTN article noted that, “However, the farmland market still relies on fundamentals, which means there will be keen interest in how supply and demand plays out this year.
“‘Even in this time of uncertainty, one thing the pandemic has done,’ Franzen said, ‘is that people are reminded of the basic things in life, and how food and agriculture are awfully important.'”
