Sen. Moran Questions Federal Reserve Chairman Powell on Rate Hikes on Agricultural Industry

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (Kan.) - a member of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee - today questioned Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell during a Banking committee hearing on recent interest rate hikes and their impact on the Kansas agricultural community. In the increasingly difficult business environment Kansas farmers already face, uncertainty surrounding the trajectory of costs poses growing concern for the farming industry and its lenders.

"Farming is a noble calling, and it has a lot to do with being able to feed people who are now desperate," said Sen. Moran. "Part of the concern in regard to agriculture is that interest rates have a significant consequence to the profitability, to the survivability, of producers and profit margins get squeezed. If interest rates continue to climb, we face declining or lower land values that create greater access to credit challenges."

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