Financing Constraints and Access to Credit in Post Crisis Environment: Evidence from New Farmers in Alabama

We use survey data to study the degree to which new farming operations in Alabama were financially constrained after the 2008 financial crisis. Next, we control for farmers’ self-selection out of the credit market and identify which farmers were able to secure loans during the period of 2009–2010. The results show that new farmers that started any part of their operation after 2005 were financially constrained but no evidence that their financing constraints were affected by the crisis. As expected, we find that lending was collateral-driven, although lenders also considered farmers’ profitability and cash flows.