End of cheap money for US farmers plows trouble

Interest expense: A farmer harvesting cranberries in Massachusetts. Most US farmers depend on short-term, variable-rate loans they take out after fall harvest and before spring planting to pay for everything from seeds and fertiliser to livestock and machinery. — AFP

MONTANA farmer Sarah Degn had big plans to invest the healthy profits she gleaned for her soybeans and wheat this year into upgrading her planter or buying a new storage bin.

But those plans have gone by the wayside. Everything Degn needs to farm is more expensive – and for the first time in her five-year career, so is the interest rate on the short-term debt she and nearly every other US farmer relies upon to grow their crops and raise their livestock.