A stabilizing farmland market and continued low interest rates have created a favorable climate for many Iowa farmers to rework their term loans and reduce the pressure on their cash flow from low commodity prices, lenders and economists said last week at the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation (IFBF) 2017 Economic Summit.

"Right now, the window is open, and we have a lot of options to help borrowers," Jim Knuth, senior vice president of Farm Credit Services of America, said during the day-long conference on the Iowa State University campus in Ames. "But we are at a point in the cycle that farmers need to work with their lenders to find the best options to work through this period of adjustment. It a time for proactive adjustments."

Farmers' balance sheets are getting support from clear signs of stability in...