Originally published in Heartbeat Magazine Spring 2025.
Your go-to resource for navigating agriculture’s financial landscape where our knowledgeable FCS Financial staff addresses some common questions from our members.
I completed my operating renewal for this year but continue to be apprehensive about my cash flow projections and liquidity for this year. What should I communicate with my loan officer and how often?
Clint Callow, Vice President, Ag & Rural Lending, St. Joseph
Anyone involved in agriculture knows how lower crop prices and higher input costs have affected cash flows and liquidity over the last few years. This makes it as important as ever to know what your projected input costs are and to keep an extra close eye on them as the year moves forward.
If you have already completed your renewal and see possible issues, then hopefully you and your loan officer have already discussed these and possible solutions. If not, then it is important to reach out and schedule a time to talk this over with your loan officer before planting season starts to ensure you have the proper plan in place for the year.
As the year progresses, if you start to see that expenses are higher than expected or that there are other demands on cash flow or liquidity that you didn’t expect (loss of acres, planting issues, unexpected machinery breakdown or repairs, poor crop conditions, need for extra fertilizer or chemicals, need for additional operating funds, unexpected family needs, etc.), then reach out to your loan officer and have a conversation about what you are seeing. These meetings can take place at any time during the year. As loan officers, we would much rather talk about possible issues along the way, then wait until they have turned into a bigger problem that might be a challenge to resolve. These meetings can be done via a phone call, but sometimes they are better done in person. In person meetings can take place at your local FCS Financial office or our loan officers would appreciate the opportunity to come out to your farm or place of business and have these discussions. This allows us to not only see the numbers that are concerning you, but to also make a visual inspection of your operation and the challenges you are facing.
