Data released by the American Farm Bureau shows farm bankruptcies went up almost 20 percent last year. There were close to 600 Chapter 12 farm bankruptcies in 2019, up from almost 100 in 2018. Nebraska Farm Bureau Senior Economist Jay Rempe says major factors for those filings included higher debt levels and inability to pay that off along with the debt ceiling being raised which led to more bankruptcies.
He says it’s not surprising the Midwest states had the most bankruptcies in 2019.
Wisconsin was the leading state with 57 bankruptcy filings and that wasn’t unexpected according to Rempe due to the economic stress dairy producers have been under.
Farm Bureau says that over the past ten years there have been more than 5,000 farm bankruptcies.
