These are chaotic times in agriculture, with dramatic changes occurring at both the national and international levels. Virginia Tech Professor Emeritus Dr. David Kohl warns that current policy decisions could have unintended consequences. “For example, on our tariffs; it takes a long time to build up relationships and trust with other countries and it can be gone overnight.” Kohl was featured in the Bell Bank AgViews Live Conferences in North Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin. As farmers work through their financial statements, Kohl said working capital is most important.”If you’re in livestock right now, your whole goal should be to build that working capital while times are good. What’ll happen is you’ll have the income tax; don’t go out there and pay a dollar to save twenty cents on income tax, and then load yourself up with a bunch of debt,” said Kohl. “On the crop and grain side, it might be the lender that’s going to build your working capital through a refi, then your whole goal is to monitor it so you don’t burn through that working capital. What’s going to be your plan to get back up to even?” More than 250 people turned out for the Fargo event Monday. Listen to the RRFN interview.
