Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to evaluate farm financial stress within the USA over the past 20 years and the agricultural and economic factors which have impacted farm businesses. The effect of the 2005 Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act (BAPCPA) on farm financial...

Farm succession by the “next generation” is a key factor in the determination of industry structure and the total number of farmers and has profound implications for farm families which rely heavily on intergenerational succession. Our results indicate that, in addition to farm, operator,...

The objectives of this paper are to examine the debt maturity structure of farm businesses and to investigate the determinants of the farm businesses’ choice of the maturity structure. Based on 2008 ARMS data, our findings indicate that size, asset maturity, financial risk, region, and type of...

The financial health of the agricultural economy has been excellent for the past few years, especially with farm income reaching record levels. However, the U.S. economy has experienced a recession and a credit crisis. Although the U.S. farm sector has been mostly shielded from the economic...

The farm household structure is a complex set of inter-relationships between and among a variety of internal and external factors involving consumption, investment, and income-earning activities. In this paper we use ARMS data to explore the contribution of off-farm income to the viability of...

This study examines the determinants of income diversification of farm households in the United States. Farm households allocate their time between farm and off-farm activities to help stabilized household income (consumption). What characterizes those households who engage in off-farm...

Fewer farm operators rely on borrowed funds, but farm debt is increasingly concentrated in larger farms.

This paper uses a double hurdle model to help explain one aspect of the changing capital structure of U.S. production agriculture--the increase in the number of debt free farms. Our findings suggest that nonfinancial factors, such as operator age, region, risk aversion, and financial factors...