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With over 167,000 farms in Missouri and Illinois producing a wide range of commodities, including soybeans, corn, cattle, poultry, hogs, and grain, agricultural (ag) financing is a critical factor for a healthy farm budget and economy.
The fluctuating demand for farm production due to seasonal crops, growing population, changes in health and diet trends, as well as the current pandemic impacting food supply chains to restaurants and grocery stores that are closing or temporarily closing, farmers are looking to adjust their production and market distribution focus to ensure stability in ag sales and long-term production sustainability.
Ag financing preparation requires a deep understanding of crop seasonality, market demands, and farm production requirements.
It’s important to plan ahead and consider financing options to help expand or maintain current farming operations. At HOMEBANK, we’re dedicated to helping farmers thrive to continue building and supporting our communities.
We understand there are many economic and cost factors to manage when trying to maximize farming production. Evaluating your ag finance options to match your budget and production needs can stabilize your margins and enable farm growth when needed.
To help stabilize overhead costs of equipment depreciation and machinery purchases/repairs, equipment loans can increase your affordability to invest in more now while spreading out the costs over the longer term.
Utilizing operating lines of credit can help manage the volatile shifts in the prices of dairy and grain productions, as well as the changing costs of labor needs, by providing you the ability to cover short-term, unplanned changes, so you can plan for larger production and long-term financing changes that will enable you stability in your profit margins.
To address the intense costs of depreciation on equipment and machinery, establishing equipment loans that align with your production needs can offset these required investments, and minimize your production margin impacts that can be spread out over time.
Exploring the advantages of agri-business lending is another valuable ag financing option that covers a wide-range of farm production and credit needs. Every farm is unique and uses different techniques from planting to harvesting. Preparing for changes in consumer tastes and health fads can significantly impact the cost of cattle and hog/pig farming can be more efficiently managed with appropriate ag financing tailored to your farm production and budgetary needs.
Evaluating your ag financing needs is a constant exercise, but annual reviews of your budget, production and financing options can help align your production capacity with current and near-future consumer trends.
HOMEBANK can provide individual recommendations based on your industry and production needs with a comprehensive evaluation of ag financing options that can better prepare you for the year ahead.
Contact HOMEBANK today or make an appointment to discuss your ag financing options. We provide personal banking and business banking solutions tailored to meet your needs.
