Farmers are starting to meet with their bankers as the end of the year approaches. “Currently, the farm economy remains soft,” says American Farm Bureau Federation economist Veronica Nigh. Just this year alone farm bankruptcies were up 24 percent compared to the same time frame in 2018. “I get asked a lot ‘Are we back in the 1980s?’ For comparison, during the 80s farm crisis there were 4800 farms closing per year. Last year we lost 480 due to bankruptcies.” Nigh adds one underlying driver is farm assets. The total value of land, buildings and equipment is significantly higher compared to the 1980s. More from Nigh in this interview.