Financial Stress In a recent Ag News & Views article, I extended an offer (actually this is a standing offer) to help you assess your options if you were in difficulty as a result of our recent drought. That letter generated one request direct to me from a producer who is experiencing financial difficulty and wanted help in assessing his situation so he could stay in business through these difficult times.
There are probably many producers who are under financial strain because of drought, high hay cost, low cattle prices and low crop prices. Our advice would be to address your problem head-on. Admit you need help and go get it. If you need help from us, please call and let us know. Decisions delayed usually only worsen the problem. The same thing goes if you need to visit your banker for help in restructuring your debts. The longer you wait, the less likely they are to work with you. Please give us a call if you need help. We have excellent staff who are compassionate and confidential. We are here to help.
Cooperator Survey If you are a cooperator, you have probably already returned the survey form we sent you to help us assess your needs and provide suggestions for ways we might improve our service to you. This is the first time we have used an outside firm to develop a survey tool that will help us categorize your responses by factors such as herd size, farm/ranch size, gross market value, etc. We will diligently review these responses to help better "target" our assistance. I will report the results of these analyses in future Ag News & Views articles.
