Diverse portfolios lessen lender risks from ag loans

Roughly a third of the loans made by Greeley-area banks — large or small — is going into the hands of farmers, ranchers and dairymen. Most bankers consider that percentage comfortable because it signifies a diversified loan portfolio.

“For a bank of our size, that’s actually a fortunate deal in that we’re not extremely concentrated in ag,´ said Larry Wisehart, senior vice president of lending at Independent Bank of Kersey.

By contrast, Bill Hertneky, senior vice president at Norwest Bank Greeley, said that in many small farming towns in eastern Colorado and in Iowa and Kansas, “they may run 50-plus percent (in…