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Farmers already planning 2018

A financial consultant says producers are already looking at their 2018 budgets and business plans now that they have a better idea of what the new harvest means for their bottom line.

Jase Wagner with Compeer Financial tells Brownfield producers have a clearer picture about their finances now that most of the harvesting is done.  “The yields have been better than expected, in particular, across the corn market, so their financial positions are looking a little better than we expected going into the harvest but we’re still seeing some stress in certain areas where we didn’t have a great yield, and we’re expecting more conversations about re-balancing their balance sheet and locking long-term interest rates to take some risk off the table and really just trying to find ways to lower their overall cost of production.”

And to do that, Wagner says producers are working to negotiate prices for next season now.  “Some are working harder to stay in the industry and work with their landlords and co-ops, often the local co-ops on fertilizer prices, trying to get those into a level that makes sense for us long term.”

Overall, Wagner says he’s seeing more farm finance successes than failures.