Setting Next Year's Operating Line Before the Books Close
December 18, 2026 | Finance | Ag Lending Group Team
December feels like a strange time to think about next year's operating line — this year's crop is sold or in the bin, and next spring feels a long way off. But it's actually the best window we get all year, because you've got this year's real numbers in hand and enough runway before spring input purchases to actually plan instead of scramble.
Start With This Year's Actuals, Not a Guess
Pull your actual input costs, actual cash rent, actual equipment payments, and actual family living draws from this year, then adjust for anything you know is changing — more acres, a new equipment payment, an input cost increase you're already hearing about from your supplier. This gives you a far more accurate starting point than estimating next year's line from scratch or just rolling over last year's number without checking whether it still fits.
Build In a Cushion, Not Just a Minimum
A line sized to your bare minimum projected needs leaves no room for a wet spring that delays planting and compresses your input purchase window, or a repair bill that hits before harvest revenue starts coming in. We generally suggest building in a cushion above your projected need, structured so you're not paying interest on funds you don't draw, but with the room available if conditions don't cooperate.
Reassess Your Collateral Position Too
Land values, grain inventory, and equipment values all shift year to year, and your operating line's collateral position should get revisited alongside the credit line itself. If your collateral position has strengthened, that's sometimes an opportunity to negotiate better terms on the line, not just renew it as-is out of habit.
Loop In Any Changes to the Operation Early
If you're adding acres, bringing on a family member, adding a new enterprise, or making any structural change to the operation next year, tell us about it now rather than waiting until you need funds drawn. Structural changes affect how a line should be sized and sometimes how it should be structured, and there's more flexibility to get that right when we're planning ahead instead of reacting.
Why This Beats Waiting Until March
Operating lines set up or renewed in December and January move through underwriting with far less time pressure than ones rushed through right before spring input purchases are due. You also have more negotiating room when you're not racing a planting deadline.
If you haven't started thinking about next year's line yet, let's get that conversation going before the holidays. It's a lot easier to build a plan in a quiet December than to react to a tight one in April.