SAVANNAH, GA - Two Midwestern Farmers Union leaders says farm bankruptcy numbers dont tell the whole story about the financial crisis in U.S. agriculture.

There were 595 Chapter 12 bankruptcies in 2019, the highest level since 2012 and Nebraska Farmers Union President John Hanson calls bankruptcies the tip of a very large iceberg.

Hanson says theyre seeing a repeat of the 80,15,5 situation.

"80 percent have lost equity and in some cases they've lost quite a bit of cash, but they're in a strong enough financial position yet to continue to go forward. Then you have 15 percent that are in the red zone and those folks are really scampering to try to do anything they can to turn their numbers around. The five percent are the folks that are pretty much upside down and don't have enough equity left."

South Dakota Farmers Union President Doug Sombke believes 2020 is going to be even tougher than 2019.

Sombke says MFP payments have helped, but in many cases have only prolonged the inevitable.

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Farm bankruptcies 'just the tip of a very large iceberg' - Norfolk Daily News