U.S. farm income is on the rise. Yet, farm income alone is often insufficient for many farmers to service their debt. In fact, for many farm operations off-farm wages have become their main source of income. In 2008, 90 percent of all income for farm households came from off-farm activities. ;...

With the farm boom ending in 2009, many farmers have become less able to repay short-term loans. As farm profit margins erode and farm loan delinquencies rise, some in the agricultural industry worry that lending standards will tighten—as they did in the farm debt crisis of the 1980s. ; One...