By Brian Hefty
Every year we talk about the importance of prepaying. The savings are big, and most dealers offer price protection on seed and pesticides if prices go down in-season. If you are holding on to your grain, leaving you a little short on cash, there are plenty of options so you can still get prepay prices. Most local banks are still very excited to work with you, especially on short-term loans. In addition, there are many 3rd party lenders willing to help.
One that we find especially appealing is the FMC Crop Protectant Finance Program through John Deere Financial. Most retailers offer this to their customers, as it’s very simple and easy to take advantage of. Unlike many of the other finance offers out there that require you to buy seed first or multiple crop protection products, you only need to purchase a minimum of one FMC product, and the interest rate is 0% due December 2017! The best part is there is no cost to you and no cost to your dealer. FMC is simply using this program to help grow their business, so they are funding it 100%. The only catch is you need to finance at least $5000 of FMC products in total, but virtually all of their products are eligible, including the Authority and Anthem brands, Capture LFR & VGR, Hero, Aim, Marvel, Solstice, and many more.
There are many other companies offering finance programs for 2017, including Monsanto, BASF, Bayer, and more, so before you decide not to prepay, take a look at all these offers. Sure, with many of these companies you can still get financing in the spring, but in most cases it costs nothing extra to finance your purchases now. By financing now, you will pay a lower net cost, as your dealer will receive the finance money today, meaning you’ll get prepay prices. If you wait to finance until spring, your net cost will be in-season pricing, as opposed to prepay pricing. It definitely pays to line this up early!