Ahead of the Fed — Farm Level Interest Rates

At the end of 2015 many expected that the Federal Reserve might raise interest rates several times in 2016.  This was not an unreasonable guess as the December 2015 economic projections of the members of the FOMC suggested that most thought increases in the targeted Federal Funds were likely.

As it turned out, there were no additional increases in the target through November, setting up the December meeting as the last likely opportunity for a 2016 increase.  While we discussed the potential for farm level impacts of an increase back in 2015, we thought now would be a good time to take another look at farm level interest rates and begin to think through some of the implications of a potential interest rate increase. (more…)