Falling prices, borrowing binge haunt Midwest 'go-go farmers'

Some farmers loaded up on easy credit when grain prices were high - and kept borrowing after they crashed. Now debt and delinquencies are rising fast, raising fears of broader turmoil in U.S. agriculture. Their distress could foreshadow broader economic turmoil in the grain sector, which includes corn, soybeans and wheat.  “We’re in for a very, very rough time,” said Jim Mintert, director of Purdue University's Center for Commercial Agriculture. “It’s going to take several years to work our way through this.”  A Reuters analysis of federal data on agricultural lending in the grain-producing “I-states” - Illinois, Indiana and Iowa - shows that delinquency rates on farmland and production loans are rising sharply. “It’s definitely a red flag,” Robert Johansson, chief economist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, told Reuters.