Family farm bankruptcies are at the highest they’ve been since 2011.
The American Farm Bureau Federation said these Chapter 12 bankruptcies increased by almost 20 percent between 2018 and 2019. Last year alone, there were 595, up nearly 100 from 2018.
Director of Public Policy for the North Dakota Farm Bureau Pete Hanebutt said bankruptcies are always a concern, and while there were some family farm bankruptcies in the state in 2019, he says the number did not rise as it did nationally.
“A lot of that is because of the diversity we’re blessed within North Dakota. When you think about North Dakota commodities, we have two kinds of wheat that we raise generally, we have several edible beans that we raise, we raise flax and canola, we raise sugar beets, we raise potatoes. We’re not just a corn and soybean state,” Hanebutt shared.
Hanebutt said other states suffered because of the many delays it took to pass several trade deals last year.
