One of the greatest challenges Wisconsin farmers face is obtaining loans. Northeast Wisconsin Technical College is offering a unique new class to help them beat the odds.
“Agriculture Finance Management” is the first class of its kind in Wisconsin. The class is designed to address one of the primary frustrations farmers and bankers encounter: the information agribusiness owners bring in isn’t quite what financial managers need for a loan.
Students who take this course will learn to create a completed balance sheet that makes sense to lenders.
“We met with a group of lenders and we asked them their opinion,” said NWTC Farm Business instructor and real estate agent Jon Bahrke. “They were wholeheartedly all in on it. They agreed that there was a really big need.”
The course is offered completely online, so busy farmers can take it anywhere in Wisconsin—and beyond. They can log in any time, day or night, as long as they complete weekly assignments.
Agriculture Finance management will provide a basic understanding of agriculture financial planning. As a project-based course, students will become proficient in developing a balance sheet, record keeping, documenting income and expenses, budgeting and understanding general loan concepts. Students will build a plan for their business to help them work with their lender to make informed financial decisions.
No one in the Wisconsin Technical College System has offered the course before, although NWTC has offered full agribusiness degree programs for many years.
In some cases, what students needed was much more basic, said Farm Business instructor Brian Niemuth. “We’re almost teaching too advanced in some respects. We wanted to go through some intro to finance topics like what is my principal on a loan? What’s my interest? What’s a 10-year vs. 30 year loan? How do you create a balance sheet? Lenders said they would love it if we would teach them.”
The hope is to help not just farmers, but people who own a few horses, growers who are looking to create a small business, hobbyists, orchard owners and other entrepreneurs.
Interested farmers and farm business owners can visit NWTC’s web site, nwtc.edu; click on “find a class,” then do a search for “balance sheet.”
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