Eastern Corn Belt farmers are facing similar conditions reported by the Western Corn Belt. The St Louis Federal Reserve Bank, following a Kansas City Fed report, says bankers reported that farm income had declined, and that farm household spending and capital expenditures remained below levels compared with a year ago. The survey includes seven Midwest and Midsouth states, including Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky. Overall, bankers were slightly less optimistic when asked about the prospects for farm income in the fourth quarter of 2018. As one Missouri lender stated, farmers are hurting, expecting “no change in the marketing plans because they have bills to pay and will need to sell the crop to make those payments.” The report says small farmers are hurting because of the low prices and are usually the ones who do not have on-farm storage to allow them to hold their harvested crops.
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