Tight Margins Force Farmers to Carry Debt Forward into ’26

Low commodity prices and high input costs are squeezing farm margins as the year draws to a close. Keith Olander, executive director of AgCentric and the Minnesota State Agricultural Center of Excellence, says many farmers will be forced to carry loans forward, making 2026 cash flow planning even more challenging. “Lenders, I think, are always willing to help, but we need to not just think of the hole we’ve dug to this point,  it’s how do we protect ourselves into ’26 and not be a year from now where we’ve still got debt lagging on us with operating (loans) not paid off,” said Olander. “Of course, we’re all trying to be optimistic that we get an interest rate cut because that’s a game-changer. There are similarities to the economic conditions of 2016-to-2019, but there are also stark differences. Those differences include interest rates and inflationary gains in input costs.