He also faces the threat that China, the world's leading cotton producer, will unload more of its heavy surpluses on the market, lowering prices more. That isn't the only way Machac is affected by the world economy. U.S. imports of cotton apparel and other textiles are driving down domestic demand for U.S. cotton, says Carl Anderson, a cotton marketing specialist for the Texas Agricultural Extension Service. He says another 25 percent of Texas growers needed the federal payments to satisfy their bankers. Lenders not optimistic Based on a Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis poll of 103 bankers in the Dakotas, Montana, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan, lenders are likely to be cautious.
Bankers says capital spending is almost nonexistent.
About 59 percent of the bankers says the level of loan repayments is below normal. The poll also revealed that 38 percent of farmers have reached their debt limits. This farmer staying Some economists say farmers should play the futures market to minimize their risk. When Nelson looks at the wheat futures prices on his computer screen in his farm office, which has a shelf of toy tractors circling it, he sees a better price in the months ahead than he can receive now. But it's still a loss.