Iowa farmers are being forced to use more working capital and short-term borrowing to meet their cash-flow obligations as market prices have fallen sharply over the last two years, Iowa State Uni­ver­sity’s (ISU) John Lawrence said in a testimony last week.

Lawrence, ISU associate dean for Extension Programs and Outreach and director of Agriculture and Natural Resources Extension, made the remarks to a subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives’ Small Business Committee.

If commodity prices continue to remain low, the financial conditions of most farmers will...