The FCAC has a 5-year plan, the National Financial Literacy Strategy (2021-2026), that aims to reduce barriers to enable consumers to achieve financial resilience. The FCAC calls this plan “a call to action to make the financial ecosystem more accessible, inclusive, and effective for all Canadians.” As part of that 5-year plan, the FCAC wants to shine a light on financial topics that will help Canadians to strengthen their financial literacy, and this year’s theme is all about being vocal about your finances as a way to help one another get further along financially.

Farmers have a particularly keen interest in financial literacy because their livelihoods depend on their ability to make a profit from their crops.

With high interest rates, low commodity prices and an increase in the overall cost to operate a farm, financial literacy and resilience has become even more crucial to this group.

While farmers may not be known for discussing financial topics openly, there are several conversations that could positively impact an operation’s bottom line. Here are a few conversations you can start with:

• Crop advisor – have a conversation with your crop advisor to talk about payment options that align with your agronomic plan. Nutrien’s crop advisors are a good place to start. They can help align economics with your crop plan to ensure the numbers work out.
• Nutrien Financial – financing your inputs is a good capital management strategy that can help you free up capital for other uses, like emergencies or upgrades. Your local Nutrien representative can help get the ball rolling.
• Your lenders – being open and transparent with the lenders you work can help protect your credit and strengthen your borrowing power. If you’re feeling pressure and might have trouble meeting your obligations, it’s important to reach out to your lenders sooner rather than later, that way they can work with you to find a solution.
• Mentors – people who have been in your position before you are always a good resource. If you have a mentor, have conversations about your growth plans and your operation’s opportunities and challenges. Your mentors can provide valuable financial insights.
• Business partners – if you have business partners, whether they are part of your family or not, it’s important to have regular conversations about growth and investment opportunities. Take the time to make sure everyone is on the same page about what’s next for your operation and review finances together.
• Your family – it’s important that your family is aware of your finances and future plans for your operation. Talk about who would take over the operation when you can no longer work and make plans for what happens when it’s time to pass the farm to someone else. Your family, specifically your spouse, is also a good person to talk to about retirement goals and how you can best achieve those.

The FCAC is encouraging every Canadian to do one thing this month to boost their financial confidence.  

That one thing could be a conversation about your finances, it could be a review of your credit and lending opportunities, it could be solidifying a succession plan for your operation.

If you choose to focus on your credit, check out our 5Cs of credit blog post for tips about what matters the most when it comes to your credit. We also have information about how to be sure your cash flow is positive in this Cash Flow White Paper.

Everyone, whether they run a farm or not, can benefit from learning more about money management and financing. For this year’s Canadian Financial Literacy Month, let’s commit to taking the time to review our finances and taking the initiative to talk more about money matters.