Preparation for a rocky road ahead hoards.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from hoards.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Dairy risk is as volatile as the milk markets
While bank standards for assessing loans haven’t changed, the risks associated with dairy operations certainly have changed during the pandemic. That has been abundantly apparent with the rise and fall of the milk market in the past year. Panelists on the February 17
Hoard’s Dairyman DairyLivestream discussed a few of these alterations in risk assessment and advised dairy farmers to regularly evaluate their finances, make adjustments when needed, and steer clear of recency bias.
“The title of the webinar is ‘How are we evaluating farm loans these days?’
“The answer is the same way that we always have,” explained Sam Miller, who is the managing director of agricultural banking at BMO Harris Bank. He outlined a few of the key metrics they evaluate before granting loans including the operation’s core strengths, balance sheet, profitability, cash flow, liquidity, price risk management, and the industry forecast.
(AP Photo/Gerry Broome)
Legislation has been introduced to double the state’s Farm Workforce Retention Credit from $600 to $1,200 next year with a total price tag to state taxpayers of $50 million a year.
A.3886 was introduced by Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo, D-Binghamton, with several co-sponsors. The credit would increase from $600 in 2020 to $800 in 2021 before increasing to $1,200 in 2022. The legislation also makes the tax credit permanent. Companion legislation, S.3502, has been sponsored by Sen. Michelle Hinchey, D-Kingston.
Farms across New York are contending with a 23.5% in total production costs since 2007 due to increased labor costs. According to 2017 USDA ERS data, farm labor expense in New York was about 13.2% of the value of agricultural receipts, compared to the national average of 9.5%. A recent Farm Credit East report estimates that labor costs will increase by $299 million.
Farm Credit East is a lender that provides financial resources to the agricultural industry. It recently hosted a webinar with a Cornell University dairy
Reprinted from Hoard s Dairyman
Chronicle Express
A coalition of organizations representing various agriculture sectors from New York have signed a letter urging Governor Andrew Cuomo to include agriculture and food processing employees back into Phase 1B of the state’s vaccination schedule as soon as possible. New York state developed a schedule to administer the vaccine based on type of industry and employee, age, health status and other criteria. The state had followed the guidance from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that was provided and defined essential workers based upon occupation.
Frontline healthcare workers were the first to be eligible to receive the vaccine when it was available under Phase 1A. Under Phase 1B includes: first responders, transit workers, educational and childcare employees, individuals living and working in homeless shelters, front facing grocery store employees, and anyone over 75. Originally included in Phase 1B were agricultur