The Incidence of Financial Stress on Kansas Farms

December 4, 2019

Though both having a negative profit margin and a debt to asset ratio over 0.70 are important determinants of financial stress, a high debt ratio explains the vast majority of the variation in financial stress over time.

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U.S. Cattle & Hog Sectors

November 27, 2019

Chicago Federal Reserve 2019 presentation by James Mintert.

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Long-Term Trends in Pigs per Litter

November 21, 2019

A simple linear trend was used to predict pigs per litter for each year.  The annual growth rate in pigs per litter was 0.10 pigs per year or 1.07 percent.  This may seem small, however, over the 26-year period, this equates to 2.57 pigs or an increase of approximately 32 percent.

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Why Does my Lender Keep Talking About Working Capital?

November 20, 2019

Why is working capital so important in today’s environment?  To start with, working capital represents a farm’s first defense against financial stress.  When cash flow is tight or even negative, working capital can be used to cover the gap or shortfall.

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Measuring Financial Stress

November 1, 2019

Farms with low profitability and high solvency are typically financially stressed. This article uses the operating profit margin ratio and the debt to asset ratio to create a measure of financial stress.

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Cattle Feeders Place More Heifers on Feed

October 31, 2019

USDA’s October Cattle on Feed report, released on Friday, October 25th, indicated that the nation’s on feed inventory of 11.3 million head was about 1% smaller than a year ago, but still more than 4% larger than two years ago.

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Impact of Recent Changes in Corn and Fed Cattle Prices on Cattle Finishing Net Returns

September 30, 2019

This article discussed recent trends in feeding cost of gain, the feeder to fed price ratio, and cattle finishing net returns. Average cattle finishing losses in the first six months of 2019 were $52 per head.

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Leasing Land

September 16, 2019

A series of leasing articles that discuss cash rents and land values.

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Fall 2019 Crop Outlook: Following USDA’s September Crop Production Report

September 13, 2019

Recorded September 13, 2019 | Jim Mintert and Michael Langemeier discuss the outlook, market analysis, and marketing considerations for the 2019 crops.

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International Differences in Labor Efficiency and Productivity

September 3, 2019

Examining the competitiveness of crop production in different regions of the world is often difficult due to lack of comparable data and agreement regarding what needs to be measured.

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2023 Farm Custom Rates for Indiana

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