Articles written by Ashley Hicks
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Basics of Leasing
An interview with Jeff Moser, Farm Credit Leasing What is a lease, when can leases be used, and how do they work? A leasing company allows the use of an item that they own, meaning the leasing company, while you pay a periodic lease or rental...
Farm Transition Plans
An interview with John Black, Farm Credit Business Consultant Transition planning is an important topic for farmers because a family business can have an emotional impact on the family structure. It’s hard to separate business and family in any...
PA Agriculture Mentor Program Launches
Pennsylvania’s agriculture industry has a new resource available to help farmers. The PA Agriculture Mentor Program includes five mentors with extensive agricultural backgrounds to assist beginning farmers, agribusiness entrepreneurs and farmers...
Know the Facts About Unsolicited Mail After a Loan
In this month’s Farm Credit Corner, we interview Emily Helman, AgChoice Customer Service Specialist, to learn about unsolicited mail following a loan closure. Why do customers experience an uptick in unsolicited mail and calls following a loan...
Building a Budget: Where to Start
Budgeting is purposefully reviewing and estimating our costs, income and overall cash operations for your farm or your business. If you're new to budgets, January is a great time to begin the...
A Real Christmas Tree is the Natural Choice
Each holiday season a difficult choice confronts shoppers: celebrate with a real tree or an artificial tree? Nathan Meiser, AgChoice loan officer who has worked in the forest products industry for...
Down Payment: What Is It, Why Is It Important?
One of the largest hurdles of purchasing a farm or rural property is a lender's down payment requirement. AgChoice Farm Credit lender Katie Epstein shares why down payments are important. In simple...
Fall Rural Roadway Safety Tips
This fall, during the busy harvest season, you may find yourself sharing the roadway with various forms of farm equipment. America’s rural roadways are often not equipped for accelerated speeds and can present several safety hazards, especially to...
Beginning a Farm. Where to Start?
Starting a farm can be daunting. What tips can you share for beginning farmers? First and foremost, I recommend beginning farmers connect to others. In some cases, a beginning farmer may be part of a family operation, so they already have a network....
The Soaring Costs of Land and Lumber
Rising real estate prices are all over the news, with reports of homes selling well above asking prices. A similar phenomenon is happening to farmland and timberland tracts, impacting many farmers...
AgChoice: Land Appraisal 101
This month, Nick Pease, chief appraiser with AgChoice Farm Credit, discusses appraisals and their role in the land buying process. Why are appraisals important and why are they needed for a loan? By definition, an appraisal is an opinion of value...
Home Construction Tips
After you've identified your future home site, you can begin planning for your home construction. Choose a reputable builder – There are many options for home construction and many different...
PPP Loans Reopen With Benefits for Self-Employed Farmers
With the latest Pandemic Relief Bill, signed into law on Dec. 27, 2020, sole-proprietor farmers gained an opportunity to participate or revise an existing loan in the Small Business Administration's...
The Hidden Cost of Prepayment Penalties
What is a prepayment penalty, and how does someone know if they have a prepayment penalty condition on their loan? A prepayment penalty is a clause in the mortgage contract that states the lender may...
Improve Farm Performance With Management Teams
No matter the name – profit team, management team, succession team, troubleshooting team – the team approach to investigating and solving farm problems has many benefits. Advantages remain...
Can I Buy Now and Build Later?
Is it a good approach to buy land now and later build a home on the property? Our team answers that common question and offers advice if a property purchase is in your future. Many people ask the question if they should buy land now to build their...
Five Steps for Beginning Farmers
Every year, thousands of aspiring farmers pursue their dreams of running their own agricultural enterprises. Agriculture supports one out of every 10 jobs in Pennsylvania. According to the 2017 Ag Cen...
How to Cultivate a Productive Mindset
Special thanks to Michigan State University Extension for these helpful tips as we all manage through challenging times. There are many factors in agriculture that farmers have no control over....
AgChoice Farm Credit
On March 18, 2020, and March 20, 2020, the Department of Treasury and the IRS issued Notices 2020-17 and 2020-18 effectively postponing the due date for both filing Federal income tax returns and...
AgChoice Farm Credit Report
Land is an asset that generally holds value and appreciates over time. While your land investment grows, you can enjoy its many unique benefits. In Pennsylvania, land provides investment...
2020 Risk Management Decisions
As we settle into January, we often reflect back on yet another year and our many blessings. We might also contemplate that if only we had 20-20 hindsight, we would have made better decisions the...
The Farm Credit Corner
Budgets are a valuable tool to help manage our financials and make decisions for the future. However, building a budget, whether it is for your home, farm or business, can be daunting. As our thoughts...
A Lesson in Cash Flow
Cash flow is a critical financial measure for business managers and lenders. Understanding how and when money is earned and spent is one of the best methods to spot potential problems in a business, a...
The Farm Credit Corner
Identity theft is defined as all crimes against individuals where personal and financial data is illegally obtained by fraud or deception, usually for financial gain. Once identity thieves steal your...
AgChoice Reviews the Dynamic Factors that Affect Land Value
Land, as an investment, has physical characteristics that distinguishes it from all other assets. Those characteristics include the following: 1. Land is unique in location – You may have heard it...
Ten Qualities to Look for in an Agriculture Lender: Ag Choice
The borrower-lender relationship is an important one, especially if you're in the agricultural industry. As you are looking for financing for that next tractor, piece of property or home on acreage,...
Why Benchmark?
Do you ever wonder how your peers are doing? Are they controlling their input costs better than you? Do they have greater outputs per unit? How do their gross margins compare? We all strive to have su...
The Dynamic Factors Affecting Land Value
Land, as an investment, has physical characteristics that distinguishes it from all other assets. Those characteristics include the following. Land is unique in location You may have heard it said...
For Farmers, Now is Time to Manage Risk Through Crop Insurance
By ASHLEY HICKS AgChoice Loan Officer Everyone has insurance – either you buy it from an insurance company or you insure yourself. When you self-insure, you are taking all of the risk. In today’s economic climate, that may not be the best risk...
Dairy Revenue Protection (Dairy-RP): Churning Innovation
What is all the hype about on Dairy Revenue Protection or Dairy-RP? What does this product offer for protection and how does this program work? Innovation, such as Dairy-RP, is often born through...
