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Asset concentration in the US agricultural balance sheet: a relative information approach

Gulcan Onel (Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA)
Jaclyn Kropp (Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA)
Charles B. Moss (Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA)

Agricultural Finance Review

ISSN: 0002-1466

Publication date: 6 August 2018

Abstract

Purpose

Over the past four decades, real values of farm real estate and the share of assets on farmers’ balance sheets attributed to farm real estate have increased. The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors that explain the concentration of the US agricultural balance sheet around a particular asset, farm real estate, and the extent to which the degree of asset concentration varies across United States Department of Agriculture production regions.

Design/methodology/approach

State-level data from 48 states and entropy-based inequality measures are used to examine changes in asset distributions (real estate vs non-real estate assets) both within and between regions over time.

Findings

The agricultural balance sheet is found to concentrate into real estate in the USA over the period 1960-2003 with the rate of concentration varying across production regions. In some regions, the concentration is mainly due to changes in real estate prices, while in other regions concentration is also driven by changes in real estate holdings or changes in total factor productivity.

Originality/value

This study formally estimates the degree to which the concentration of balance sheet items can be explained by the observed changes in farm real estate prices relative to observed changes in agricultural factor productivity or changes in farm real estate holdings. The computed regional differences in asset concentration and its main drivers have implications for changes in equity and solvency positions of farmers as well as agricultural lenders’ risk exposure.

Keywords

Citation

Onel, G., Kropp, J. and Moss, C.B. (2018), "Asset concentration in the US agricultural balance sheet: a relative information approach", Agricultural Finance Review, Vol. 78 No. 4, pp. 497-512. https://doi.org/10.1108/AFR-08-2017-0068

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Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

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