Concerns about future interest rate rises could be behind the first real terms fall in borrowing by Scottish farms for almost a decade.
Farms owed a total of £2.34 billion to banks and other lenders in 2017-18, official figures show.
While that marked an overall rise of £22 million on the previous year, when inflation was accounted for lending to agriculture fell by £13 million.
This 1% drop was the first time since 2009 that outstanding borrowing had not risen in real terms.
The Scottish Government report noted: “The slow-down in the amount of lending may be a sign of uncertainty in the future prospects of agriculture.
“Factors that could affect the slow-down might include overall weak growth in the economy, or concerns that interest rates may rise in the future.”
Borrowing by the sector is estimated to be worth about 10% of farms’ total assets, with the report adding this was “relatively low since agriculture has a number of high value assets, for example land”.