Credit Quality of Kansas Farms

The objective of this paper is to examine credit migration of individual Kansas farms from 1980-2003. Individual farm data collected from the Kansas Farm Management Data Bank are employed. From 1980 to 2003 these farms had an average credit rating equivalent to a Standard and Poor's B classification, which represents a vulnerable to adequate borrower. Farms in consecutive periods showed the largest tendency to remain in the same ratings category, with smaller tendencies to increase or decrease in credit quality. When movement did take place, there was a high likelihood of only a one category movement