Beat the blues of seasonal cash crunch

Jan 24, 2020

January can be a financially tough on the farm as the post-holiday crunch is a time of high expenses and tight income.

Holiday bills are arriving on top of operational expenses like heating and grain drying, livestock feed, seed and fertilizer.

For some, these statements come as grain remains unsold in the bin or still lying in fields.

Bridging the gap

Crop insurance can assist farmers with write-off crops, but plants that will still yield will have to be harvested before farmers can finalize their claims, notes Carol Kruck, BDO senior accountant.

If short on cash, farmer and chartered accountant Lance Stockbrugger strongly recommends the cash advance programs available to producers through commodity groups.

“Also get on top of the AgriStability filings and file an interim application to help get some funds as soon as possible,” Stockbrugger says.

The deadlines or criteria for AgriStability are different in all provinces, adds Kruck, and some deadlines for interim payments have passed. In those cases, farmers can only file the final application.

Stockbrugger says it’s also a good idea for producers to access the AgriInvest funds they might have saved up during better times.

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Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.