By: April Tutor

It’s no surprise that this year is a challenging year for many farmers, and more people are looking for ways to stretch every dollar. In a challenging season, Nutrien Financial helped a young, eighth generation farmer in North Carolina access the capital he needed to alleviate the financial pressures that so many farmers face, so he could remain focused on what he loves – being in the field.

Growing up on the farm

Like many young farmers, 31-year-old Brent Ginn wanted to farm for as long as he can remember. “It’s all I’ve ever known. It’s in my blood,” Brent says.

Brent grew up on the farm, so his entire upbringing was a kind of on-the-job training. “From day one, when I was little, all I wanted to do was ride with my dad in the tractor, and I wanted to have cotton,” Brent says. “I started at an early age. I remember sitting on the back of the transplanter at 10 years old. My feet wouldn’t even reach the foot pegs.”

Brent grows corn, soybeans, peanuts and cotton. To him, it’s a dream job.

“There is nothing I love more than growing a crop,” Brent says. “You put a seed in the ground, and you carry it all the way to harvest, whether it’s corn or peanuts or cotton. It seems like the harder the crop is, the more I love it.” 

Farming with family

The family farm in LaGrange, NC, is at least eight generations deep (at least that’s as far back as Grandma could trace it). Farming with family has been a big help for Brent, especially since he’s still a younger grower. “My dad is a real salt-of-the-earth kind of guy,” Brent says. “I often joke that he’s so honest you can play cards with him over the phone. He’s really shaped me into the man I am today, and I wouldn’t be where I am without him.”

Brent farms with both his dad, brother and his uncle. They share equipment and some costs but operate independently, and they all pitch in to help each other out. “We all farm together but separate,” Brent says. “If a tractor breaks down, we all work on it. It’s a setup that has worked well for us.”

Addressing challenges

Brent loves what he does, but it hasn’t been an easy year. “We’ve been in a terrible dry spell and we just got our fi rst rain in over a month. Our corn is burnt slam up,” Brent says. “I was riding by one of the fields the other day almost in tears. I was sitting out there looking at it and was thinking about all the time and preparation and thought that went into it. We worked hard, and it felt almost like we did all of that for nothing.”

Brent has grit in spades, so this year’s rough crop won’t bring him down.

“After I saw the field, I got to my sprayer and I said a prayer and got my cooler and went to work ,” Brent says. “I think that’s what the American farmer does: they just keep going. God threw everything in us but to quit. We don’t quit.”

Operating in the current market

Many young farmers like Brent don’t have the fi nancial backing to recover from a year like this, and they’re one bad crop away from going out of business. Luckily, Brent knew going into it that farming was hard, so he takes things one year at a time and has his dad and uncle to mentor him. “When I signed up for this, I knew I was going to be fighting to keep everything I had year in and year out,” Brent says. “I still chose it and I choose it again every day.”

While a 5-year or 10-year plan would be nice, Brent just wants to do well enough that he can plant another crop next year. And then hopefully the next and the next. While he loves the hands-on aspect of farming, he admits the business side of things isn’t his favorite. “The margins are so tight, there is no room for error,” Brent says. “You have to crunch every single number and pinch every penny. You can’t stand to lose anything.”

Programs like the input financing Nutrien Financial offers have made it possible for Brent to have some assurance that he can make it to next year. “The amount of money that it takes to operate even a small farm for a year is absolutely unreal,” Brent says. “I am thankful for Nutrien Financial right now because it has saved me.”

Brent has been using Nutrien Financial for over a year now, and he’s particularly glad he signed on this year. “As a beginning farmer, cash is not an option,” Brent says. “I do business with my local bank as well, and they’ve helped me out, but since the interest rate hike, Nutrien Financial has been a better option for me, and has helped me to spread my risk.”

Working with a team of experts

Brent works with his crop consultant to make sure he’s taking advantage of the best offers Nutrien Financial has, and to ensure his financing plan lines up with his agronomic plan.

“The biggest thing we are dealing with right now is the cost to grow an acre of any crop is increasing,” says Jordan Elmore, a crop consultant with Nutrien Ag Solutions in Snow Hill. “The growing cost has accelerated past the commodity price. The labor and equipment costs are eating farmers alive right now. If a grower can finance their inputs and keep that off their operating line, they’re then free to use them for other things like equipment, fuel and repairs. Anything that we can take off their plate is game changing for an operation of any size.”

Operating in the current market is difficult, but Brent has come to rely on partners like Nutrien Financial to help him keep his operation going year after year. “Nutrien Financial has definitely helped. It has given me more opportunities. It has freed up my operating loan for other things,” Brent says. “There is peace of mind knowing that Nutrien Financial will help me get through the season, and then it’s up to me to figure out how to pay it back.”

Creating opportunity for future generations

While Brent and his dad, brother and uncle will keep to their “independent but together” approach to family farming, he hopes his three young daughters might one day show an interest in the family business. “If they want to do something else, I’ll stand behind them 100%,” Brent says. “But if they want to farm, it’s my goal to make sure they have that opportunity. If nothing else, I want to leave them the opportunity.”

Interested in more stories like Brent’s? Check out our Nutrien Financial blog stories page.