View all past Braintrust Ag newsletters here.

Edition #42

August 31, 2024

Good morning and welcome to the Braintrust Ag newsletter. Where we douse you with the information you need to start, grow, and transition a successful ag operation.

A major note to begin:

• Braintrust Ag is one year old! Membership and Pro Provider prices are being updated on September 1… so if you want to join and/or become a Pro Provider and lock in the current one-time fees, you’ve got until tomorrow…

  • Membership: current one-time $149 membership fee becomes an annual $199 charge

  • Pro Provider: current one-time $500 cost becomes an annual $1,500 fee

• Here are the X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, and LinkedIn posts explaining the price update.

Alright, let’s get to the topics that will help you build & transition a strong, sustainable ag operation.

-Clint

Here’s what we have this week:

• 💸 Farm Income Statement

• 🌱 Seeds

• 🤝 Farms Helping Farms

• 📅 Happenings

• 📝 Personal Affairs Organizer

• 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Have The Talk

• and more…

THE BIG IDEA

BA Pro Manager Series

#9: The Income Statement

Owning assets is good; owning them with little to no debt against them is great; and having big income numbers from the sale of our commodities, products and services is awesome, but none of that truly matters if profitability isn’t there.

What is profit? Simply put, profit is revenue minus expenses.

So how do we track profit on our farm, ranch or other type of ag business?

We use the Income Statement.

Sometimes called the Profit & Loss Statement, it details all revenues and expenses over a set time period. It’s essential for evaluating profitability of an operation and can be a useful tool for understanding past, current, and future financial performance to base decision making on.

Click below to learn more about the importance of, and how to use, your income statement. Plus, there’s a downloadable template if you want to create your own.

Don’t want to read the post but still want to download the Braintrust Ag Income Statement Template? Click the button below.

SEEDS

• ✔️ Corporation owned farmland: Many family farm/ranch operations own land within a corporation. This poses significant transition & tax issues. Here’s an excellent article about how to best get farmland out of a corporation.

• 🔨 Land Buying Toolbox: A real hurdle for many young (and not young) folks in ag is how to buy land to start or expand an operation. There’s a new resource becoming available soon to help educate aspiring buyers on the ins & outs of how to accomplish farmland purchases. You can get signed up to receive that info here.

• 💲 Grant Opportunity: If you’re a small farm and/or food business in the center part of the US, you may qualify for a new grant opportunity. The Business Builder Grant is awarding between $5,000 and $50,000 to businesses that have less than $3 million in revenue and less than 50 employees.

• 📰 Headlines: A Braintrust Ag member has started a new online clearing house of ag news headlines. It’s a one-stop-shop for daily ag info. It’s called Tractor Report and it may just replace this Seeds section of our newsletter one day!

• 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cousin Camp: Here’s a wholesome concept for parents and grandparents to ditch the screens and double down on connecting with their grandkids. The Cousin Camp Guide is a complete handbook to a simulated summer camp to build better relationships with modern families. It was even featured by the TODAY Show.

FARM ENTITIES UNITE

There's a group of IA, NE, and MO farmers doing something truly remarkable... and I recently had the distinct pleasure of joining them to learn what they're up to.

About 8 yrs ago, a regional ag supply business convinced a dozen or so farming entities to meet quarterly to discuss various aspects of their farm businesses.

Complete with PowerPoint presentations, yield data, financial breakdowns, and summaries of the highs & lows of the previous quarter, these farm families gathered to support each other’s operations. Meeting costs were shared with the ag retail company & the meeting location bounced around throughout the region.

Fast-forward to today → 8 of those original entities still regularly meet for a 2 day “Peer Group” even though the original company no longer facilitates or sponsors it.

Here’s what I witnessed:

➡️ Each entity presents a report to the group

This outlines the good, the bad, and the advice sought from other members over the previous period.

Things like:

• Breakevens

• Land access

• Current struggles

• Marketing positions

• Succession planning

• Positive developments

• Equipment considerations

• And more…

➡️ They bring in an outsider (yours truly for this meeting) to present on a relevant topic

➡️The closest farm hosts a farm tour for the group

➡️Happy hour, delicious meals either catered or at the local bar/grill/restaurant, and plenty of down time to visit, learn, connect, and deepen relationships

What impressed me most was how committed each farm is to seeing the others succeed.

The generations spanned from semi-retired operators in their 60’s & 70’s to eager to learn young families in their 20’s & 30’s.

This quote from one of the ringleaders summed it up nicely:

I’m thankful I was included in their Peer Group gathering and I’m further inspired for the future of family farm businesses.

Become a member today for lifetime access to everything. It’s a small one-time cost with NO recurring subscription.

*UNTIL SUNDAY!!!

PEER GROUP HAPPENINGS

A few mentions on what Braintrust Ag members are up to:

1) Learn how to boost revenue per acre with agritourism

Taylor Moyer will be sharing with members about how to leverage owned or rented ground to supplement income through things like hunting, fishing, photo shoots, camping, etc.

2) Downloadable Tools are now much easier to access

We’ve spent the past month reorganizing the various tools & resources to make it easier and more effective for members to find what they need.

Access The Tools Library Here

3) Sunrise Sessions

Sunrise Sessions continue to be a meaningful way for members to connect on spiritual and personal development each Wednesday morning.

Here’s more info: Sunrise Sessions

Here’s the Event Calendar link to save the calendar invites so you don’t miss an upcoming session.

LAST WISHES

Organize your personal and financial affairs with our Personal Affairs Organizer.

This comprehensive tool not only consolidates all your important information in one place—making it easily accessible for your loved ones during times of crisis—but also guides your family through decision-making processes with clarity and ease.

Discover the benefits of being prepared by setting up and maintaining your own organizer. Start now and provide peace of mind for yourself and those you care about.

Click below to learn more about the Personal Affairs Organizer and why every family ought to utilize one.

Don’t want to read the post but still want to download the Braintrust Ag Personal Affairs Organizer? Click the button below.

If you get value from these newsletters, consider joining 300+ other ag people and become a member of Braintrust Ag. Your support makes this content possible.

HOW TO HAVE THE TALK

A farm son in his 30's is uncertain about his family's future involvement in his dad's farm. When the succession topic comes up, Dad gets defensive or avoids discussing it. How does Son approach that conversation?

Some version of this question is frequently asked in the ag world.

My advice is:

First, I don't have a silver bullet answer since each scenario is unique, but generally

1. Approach with humility & not entitlement

2. Explain you're planning for your family's future

3. Timing is key: avoid stressful seasons/times to discuss

Let's add some context to these...

1. Recognize & honor the farm has likely been your parents' life's work and it is theirs to do with as they choose.

The conversation is one of gratefulness for what they've built and you're not entitled to inherit/take over any part of it just because you share a last name.

2. Your young family is growing and you're trying to be a leader and provider for your husband/wife & kids.

Part of that role is to make plans for the financial and lifestyle future of your family. You'd love for those future plans to include building on the legacy and heritage your parents have built. Without knowing what will happen to the farm in the coming years, it makes it difficult for you to lay out your family's 5, 10, 15 yr plans. That's why this discussion is important to you and your parent's grandkids.

3. You've likely been helping on the farm, either as a full time hired hand or at a minimum during the peak busy seasons.

You've seen when Mom & Dad are stressed and when they're not. For the best outcomes, this succession conversation ought to be approached at a low-stress time where all the sides can think & respond level-headed and not with heightened emotions.

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If you've had that conversation, then you can take that info and plan for your family's future accordingly.

If that means taking over the farm, then you help get their transition plan documented in writing.

If it means things are up in the air, then make plans for your family assuming you'll not be inheriting/taking over the farm. If something changes down the road with their succession plan, consider it a windfall opportunity, but don't rely on it.

A few other tips:

• Consider mentioning there are advisors out there who help wrangle all the moving pieces of farm transition planning

• Consider writing your thoughts and motivations in a letter which your parents can review prior to discussions. This prevents them from being caught off guard and allows for time to formulate beneficial conversations

• Remember succession planning is easily procrastinated, but one thing we can all be sure of: nobody leaves this world alive. So don't give up after one attempt at having the conversation.

• Transition plans can change as family dynamics and farm business situations change. If there is a plan in place, ensure it's reviewed and updated occasionally.

Hopefully we can all work towards preserving as many family farms and ranches as possible through having these succession planning conversations.

PRO PROVIDER SPOTLIGHT

Pro Providers are pivotal to the Braintrust Ag community. These industry experts know their professional services niche and how they directly impact farmers, ranchers, and other ag business owners. They’re teachers first.

Since our last email update, we’ve had a number of new Pro Providers join the team.

These professionals know agriculture and are ready, willing, and able to help guide you through whatever needs you may have.

If you provide professional services to ag folks, consider applying to become a Braintrust Ag Pro Provider.

MEME OF THE WEEK

That’s a wrap, folks.

Until next week, thank you to everyone involved in ag.

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DISCLAIMER: All content, communications, and resources provided by Braintrust Ag, its principals, operators, or members is intended to merely be educational and entertaining. Nothing published by Braintrust Ag should be relied on as legal, financial, investment, or other professional advice. Investments and legal matters involve substantial risk and are not suitable for all individuals. It is recommended to enter into a client relationship with an ESP for obtaining professional advice.