If you’re a farmer, you may be focused on the crops you currently have in the ground. But, it’s not too early to start thinking ahead about the crops you’ll plan on having next year.
Sarah Lucas is a Financial Officer with Farm Credit Mid-America. She recommends having those conversations now with your seed, chemical, and fertilizer sales representatives about pricing for 2025.
“Figure out what are those early pay or cash discounts that are available,” she says. “Since we’re in the middle of a growing season one might think, ‘How do we take advantage of those?’”
She says if companies offer a pay-in-full discount, you may consider a Farm Operating Loan from Farm Credit Mid-America.
“With that, not only could they have access to the credit, but we also offer some savings there as well,” she says. “Every dollar counts—especially in a time like we’re experiencing now with lower commodity prices.”
Sarah says you can manage your finances through Farm Credit Mid-America from anywhere at anytime on your phone or mobile device.
“My favorite feature is somebody that can just be sitting in the cab of their truck or combine and take a picture of a $400,000 grain check, and they can direct deposit the money into their account the same day and they don’t even have to get out of the cab!”
She adds that another advantage of Farm Credit Mid-America is their patronage program.
“Historically, we’ve been averaging around 1.75 percent back on the average daily balance of that line of credit. That is tremendous savings—and that is money back into the customer’s pocket,” she says.
For more information about the options available from Farm Credit Mid-America, visit fcma.com.