HELP: Drawing equity out of land due to shitty year

[bgmb]

Are there any private lenders etc that aren't loan sharks? Not something like input cap. Where do you find them
I m in same boat more or less.

I think any private guy you will find will be way worse than the banks and maybe even worse than input capital. Best bet might be to sell some overpriced land and rent it back.

[macdon02]

Turn iron back before you turn back rented land. Jd credit will loan to a meth head. Lose the land you lose the gross $ you need to dig out.

[MBgrower]

Selling land should be last choice. Id keep all rented land, maybe drop under performing land, if you have newer iron, try sell it on kijji for a decent return, buy back cheaper equipment. For next year, grow common seed, skip the seed treatment, buy the cheapest canola seed, and nitrogen fertilize to average yiled expectations. If it is a crappy year you will have had minimized your input costs. If the year is looking good, u can top dress more nitrogen post emergent. Also agree you should talk to your lenders, farm debt review board still around?? Perhaps seek independent financial counciling to weigh your options.

Many of us had some hard times growing our farms, but if managed right, u can pull through.

[foragefarmer]

I'm just wondering why a few of you are saying not to give up rented land. Not to disagree with your suggestions to keep it, but what if the rent was negotiated a high rate and why not concentrate on your own land and do a good job ensuring inputs and management are superior. Hard to make a suggestion as who knows if there is rented land or what percentage it makes up the overall farming operation. Just curious is all, and not trying to distract from all the great comments!

[furrowtickler]

Guys here have turned to private loan sharks - none kept their farm. Some good advice from others here . But I know more than a few that dropped rented land in situations like this and turned things around. Hard pill to swallow but do what's right for you, check out all options

[may-be]

I agree with MBgrower. If you have some underperforming land take a serious look at that. I have sold some a few years back because I thought it was only helping to drag me down. Best decision I made was to get rid of it. Swimming against the current just tired me out.

[bgmb]

I'm just wondering why a few of you are saying not to give up rented land. Not to disagree with your suggestions to keep it, but what if the rent was negotiated a high rate and why not concentrate on your own land and do a good job ensuring inputs and management are superior. Hard to make a suggestion as who knows if there is rented land or what percentage it makes up the overall farming operation. Just curious is all, and not trying to distract from all the great comments!

Cause its hard to trim overhead. Dropping rented land probably makes costs per ac go up and profitability go down. Unless rent is crazy crazy high or the rented land is very shitty. Basically of you are breaking even on your rented land with all cash costs in plus equipment depreciation you should keep it because it is helping to cover your fixed expenses. Like one guy said above look to cut costs by using common seed and if you have a good fertilization history maybe cut nitrogen back %30 and phos i would cut back to 20lb actual.

[westernvicki]

You are not the first in this position and you will not be the last: get good advise, from more than one source, including a banker, analyze debt ratios, be ruthless when you define and protect the base, and once you figure it out take the solution to the bank. Some of us did not get to be old farmers because it was easy.

[blackpowder]

We dont know his term pmts per acre. Nor any of his other fixed costs. It would also make a difference where he his.
We dont know his ratios. Or his personal situation. Strengths and weaknesses.

Having said that. My bank (not a national, not fcc), was just fine with me assigning more morgt to some land. (Just last week) Also a once per term principal holiday on term debt. Land values up every year. Everyone here (my bank and agriville) knows I'm up to my nostrils and the why.
Not advice. Just saying the most important thing you can do is talk to your bank! Know your own shit. They'll assign their own damn ratings based on their system and who they think you are. I only own 2 pairs of shoes and they damn well know it!
Without any more info it sounds like a cash priblem (for now). Theyll give you more operating than you can imagine based on land values here.
And forget about a legacy (or a lifestyle) if thats a hangup. Your self employed. You can live on the same pay workin summer road crew for the county but its a shit job. Any more money than that and your laughin.

[Ache4Acres]

I am sure FCC would be happy to give you more $$$

I would pay off the other lenders that might be less flexible than Fcc.

Absolutely agree with everyone that said show them a solid business plan and they will drool
To give you moar munny!!!

[LEP]

After thinking about things abit and reading the other posts I have a couple more comments that may make the waters even muddied.

All of our posts have the unlying assumption that things will get better. But for some they won't. If you are a producer with higher costs there may not be enough margin available to make your situation work.

Also with your own situation you may have faced enough problems that you might be throwing good money after bad.

If you have good equity in land, you have a huge trump card but this may not be the best time to use it.

By consolidating you take all the risk that your creditors have and reduce it greatly while increasing your own. If you are upside down on a piece of equipment or have a large unsecured debt now may be the time to fix your problems.

Once you have consolidated, if there was a problem that wasn't addressed then you own it.

Anyway, my two cents worth.

[tweety]

Are you a corporation or sole proprietor?

[farmaholic]

Something that can really cause a lot of stress under these circumstances is if you're dealing with family/heritage land and emotions run deep. Rightfully so. There will be a solution for you and there is alot of good advice in this thread.

Best of luck, and take care.

[kato]

There's a lot of good advice here . As a survivor of the BSE disaster all I can add is that it's important to be proactive. Go to them before they come to you. Analyze your whole operation from top to bottom, and have a handle on it all. If you walk in to a lender armed with that they are more receptive.

Quite frankly, FCC saved us. Our former bank quit supporting us the first time we walked in to get some feed financed. They talked a big game as long as we didn't need money but that changed pretty quick. FCC saw the big picture and stuck with us.

[blackpowder]

For sure it can make a difference which bank. Read, drop anything east of Sask. Im in AB. I use atb.
LEP. I dont assume anything anymore. I will simply farm as long as I can. Paid experts dont understand that.