The vice president of data analysis with Illinois Farm Business Farm Management (FBFM) says the average farmer’s debt to asset ratio is relatively stable.
However, Brad Zwilling says that’s because the value of assets continues to rise.
“Our debt-to-asset ratio really hasn’t changed much since about 2012.” He says, “So that means that either we’ve got less debt and about the same amount of assets, or the debt’s increasing and our assets are increasing faster, and that’s really what we see.”
In a recent FarmDoc webinar, Zwilling says farmer debt per acre is increasing.
“In the late 1990s, that was about $300 an acre.” He says, “It has been increasing. We’re up now over almost $900 an acre.”
He says farmers are also spending more on interest per acre in recent years.
“Since 2021, from about $30 an acre to over $50 an acre in 2025.” He says, “And we’ve had to go back to relying on more operating debt after the 2021 and 2022 high income years.”
Zwilling says recent government assistance programs have helped alleviate some of the pressure farmers are facing from carrying a heavier debt load.
