University of Minnesota Extension, sponsored by Pine Country Bank, will be presenting their newest farm financial workshop ?ÄúTaking Charge of Your Finances: How to Survive and Thrive?Äù on Tuesday, Feb. 14. This four-hour workshop is filled with an interactive case study that provides information and strategies to help farm families be better prepared to make internal farm management decisions and also build stronger relationships with external partners.
In ?ÄúTaking Charge of Your Finances: How to Survive and Thrive,?Äù participants get a greater understanding of balance sheets, income statements, and cash flows. They will also be better equipped to utilize their farm financial records and will have a greater understanding of the financial tools that will assist them with making better financial management and financing decisions. As part of the workshop, participants will act as a loan review committee to analyze the credit worthiness of a case study farm. As a result, they will be better equipped to manage the finances of their own farming operation.
With the current volatility in the agricultural economy, producers are feeling financially pinched and unsure of how to manage their finances and assess the financial future of their operation. According to the 2015 FINBIN Report on Minnesota Farm Finances, published in April 2016, over 40-percent of Minnesota farms lost money in 2015. And there has been an 86-percent drop in Median Net Farm Income for Minnesota producers for the
four years from 2012 to 2015.
?ÄúTaking Charge of Your Finances: How to Survive and Thrive?Äù is scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 14, beginning at 10 a.m. at Pine Country Bank in Rice, located at 750 County Highway 21 in Rice. The workshop is free, but space is limited. Lunch will be provided. To pre-register for the workshop, contact Emily Wilmes at (320) 255-6169, extension 3. The workshop is jointly sponsored by Pine Country Bank in cooperation with University of Minnesota Extension.