News Release
October 22, 2007

UW bulletin finds commercial banks major player in ag loans

Researchers in the University of Wyoming’s College of Agriculture found the Farm Credit System and commercial banks since 1992 have eroded the agriculture real estate loan market share of the Wyoming State Land and Investment Board.

“Both Wyoming agriculture and state government may be pleased with the reduced dependence upon public capital,” said Ed Bradley, an associate professor in the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics and one of the authors of a bulletin examining changes in loan volumes and market shares for real estate and non-real estate agricultural lenders in Wyoming from 1972-2003.

Importance of Agricultural Lenders in Wyoming: 1972-2003, B-1181, is available from the UW Cooperative Extension Service and can be viewed or downloaded at http://ces.uwyo.edu/economic.htm. Printed copies, for $5 each, can be ordered by calling (307) 766-2115 or e-mailing cespubs@uwyo.edu.

“Wyoming agriculture entered the 21st century with capital being provided by a wide array of competitive commercial providers,” said Bradley.

Researchers examined commercial banks, life insurance companies, the Farm Credit System, the Farm Service Agency, the Commodity Credit Corporation, the State Land and Investment Board, and “individuals and others,”  a general category that represents different credit sources for real estate and non-real estate loans.

The emergence of commercial banks as a major agricultural real estate lender is somewhat surprising, according to the bulletin, since banks historically have preferred to provide mainly shorter-term, non-real estate loans.

“The recent willingness of banks to issue real estate loans could reflect the fact most
farm and ranch operations are more credit worthy than a couple decades ago,” Bradley noted.

Contact: Steven L. Miller, Senior Editor
Phone: (307) 766-6342
E-mail: slmiller@uwyo.edu
Archived News Site http://uwadmnweb.uwyo.edu/UWAG/news.asp

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