How Traction Ag Helped Me Make One of the Biggest Financial Decisions on Our Farm

If you know anything about farming, you know that timing and decision making is everything. Whether it’s planting, spraying, harvesting or making big financial decisions, you don’t always get the luxury of thinking about it for months. Sometimes you’ve got to act fast.

That’s exactly what happened to us this past fall. And honestly, without Traction Ag, I don’t think we would’ve been able to pull the trigger the way we did.

A Little About Our Operation

My dad and I farm together in South Dakota. We grow corn and soybeans, including some non-GMO beans, and we also run a cattle operation and a hay business. On top of that, I run an ag business and a non-ag business separately. So needless to say, we’ve got a lot of moving parts.

We use Traction for everything from field records and invoicing to accounting and financials. The only thing we don’t use is payroll because we only have one employee. If we have more employees in the future, Traction will be able to help us with a payroll add-on.

The Grain Bin Decision

Here’s the deal: In the past we only had storage for about half of our grain at harvest. The other half was sold right away (not great for basis) or went into commercial storage, where we’d rack up fees. Not ideal.

Last August, I was sitting with our banker talking about how brutal the basis was shaping up to be for fall. I made the comment, “It sure would be nice if we could just store everything ourselves. Even if we don’t sell it at the market high we can hold onto it until it and gain something from basis appreciation alone.”

He looked at me and said, “You should seriously think about that.”

Long story short, we were headed to Dakotafest and had a chance to talk to some bin builders. One of them had a 44,000-bushel bin ready to go, and not needing to wait six months for parts or crews was appealing. The opportunity was there. We just needed to know if we could afford it. That’s where Traction came in.

Traction Made It Crystal Clear

I sat down, pulled up both my books and Dad’s books in Traction Ag, and within 20 minutes I had my answer. Every storage expense we had paid to the elevator the year before was right there, neatly organized under crop storage.

When we added it all up using Traction, it was obvious. What we paid in commercial storage would cover the payments on the new bin. After three years, that bin would be an asset, not an expense.

I remember sitting with Dad looking at the numbers and our banker said, “Well, you really can’t afford not to do this.” He flat-out said, “You’d be crazy not to.”

Because we had all that information in Traction, we were able to move fast and buy the bin at the end of August. We were filling it with grain by the second week of October.

The Results

Already, just based on basis improvement alone, we’re on track to hit exactly what we projected. No surprises. We’re not shooting for the high of the market, we’re just taking advantage of having options instead of being forced to sell at harvest lows.

And none of it would’ve happened if we were still trying to dig through paper files, spreadsheets, or old receipts.

Why I Keep Using Traction Ag

At the end of the day, Traction saves me time, gives me confidence, and puts Dad and me in a position to make smart decisions faster.

It’s not just about tax time, although it makes Schedule F prep about a thousand times easier! It’s about knowing where we stand financially any day of the year, not just when the accountant asks for numbers.

If you’re farming today and you don’t know your numbers? You’re flying blind. Traction Ag empowers me to keep our books straight, so we can keep the farm moving forward.