Working Capital Better Than Expected

Going into spring, the ag economic situation is “a tale of two farms.” Bell Bank Senior Vice President and Director of Agribusiness Development Lynn Paulson says livestock producers are on firmer footing than crop-only farmers. “If you’re in the livestock business, times are actually pretty good, especially cow-calf,” said Paulson. “If you’re strictly a row crop operation, obviously, there’s some stress. We’ve gone through the majority of our loan renewals and it probably turned out a little bit better than we were anticipating. Liquidity or working capital stayed a little higher than we anticipated.” Paulson says part of that is due to government payments.