As 2025 comes to a close, agricultural bankers and farmers have expressed concerns about inflation and lower profit margins as reasons to be pessimistic about the state of the farming industry in Wisconsin and neighboring states.

Surveys from the Federal Reserve Banks of Minneapolis and Chicago painted a dire picture, with lower rates of repayment for non-real-estate farm loans coupled with increased requests for extensions and new loans.

Joe Mahon, regional outreach director for the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, said that low crop prices are squeezing farmers despite strong production.

“We’re seeing, overall, the market conditions are sort of dominating,” Mahon said during the presentation. “Strong production should offset some of (the lower prices), so that’s good news to farmers. But we’re not necessarily seeing that balance out in terms of higher income because prices are so low.”

The issue could have been compounded by a steep increase in fees for Wisconsin farmers, but the increases were dialed back after public outcry by the agricultural industry. (RELATED: Wisconsin Weighs Sandhill Crane Hunt as Farmers, Wildlife Advocates Clash)

While the numbers are cause for concern, some agricultural bankers are less worried, saying that the survey doesn’t necessarily indicate that more farmers are unable to make payments on their loans.

Rene Johnson, senior vice president of agricultural lending at Lake Ridge Bank, said that farmers are also finding additional ways to boost their revenue despite shrinking profit margins and inflation.

“They are being very creative and adding things that they can add easily to their farm without a lot of investment,” she said.

“They’re also looking at non-productive assets that maybe they could sell to generate cash.” (RELATED: Online Sports Betting Plan Dead, Till Next Year)