How we make money: The Business Funding Club is a referral service, not a lender and not a broker. We refer businesses that ask for capital to ROK Financial. ROK and the lenders it matches you with make every funding decision. ROK pays us when a business we refer receives funding. It is free to you, and nothing here is an offer of credit. Read the full disclosure.
You buy the seed, fertilizer and fuel in spring. The check for the crop comes after harvest.
On a farm or ranch, most of the year's costs are paid long before the crop or the calves are sold. The Business Funding Club is a free referral club, not a lender. We send your request to ROK Financial. ROK and the lenders it matches you with review it and make every funding decision.
A referral club, free to apply. ROK Financial and its lenders review every request and make all funding decisions. How we’re compensated.
Prefer to go straight to the funder? You can apply on ROK's own site. It carries our referral ID.
The math
The math
WINTER TO SPRING
You spend
Seed, fertilizer, chemicals, fuel, cash rent and labor go out before anything is in the ground. In 2024, U.S. farms spent $27.4 billion on seeds and plants, $33.8 billion on fertilizer, lime and soil conditioners, and $15.4 billion on fuel[1].
SUMMER TO FALL
You grow and harvest
The crop is in the field and the bills keep coming: repairs, labor, drying and hauling. Nothing has sold yet.
FALL AND BEYOND
You get paid
Grain sells at harvest, or goes in the bin to sell later. On a cow-calf operation, most calves are born in spring and weaned at 3 to 7 months before they are sold or kept[2].
This is not a bad year. It is how farming works. The average U.S. farm spent $254,043 on production in 2024[1], and most of that is committed months before the crop or the animals sell. Financing the gap is how a well-run operation plants every acre it can farm, replaces the planter when the old one is done, or keeps calves through backgrounding instead of selling at weaning.
Livestock stretch the gap further. After weaning, calves may graze in a stocker program for 3 to 4 months, be backgrounded for 90 to 120 days, and spend 90 to 300 days in a feedlot[2]. Feed, labor and care are paid every one of those days, and the animal is sold at the end.
Borrowing to bridge this is normal in agriculture. USDA forecasts farm sector debt of $605.1 billion in 2026, including $206.1 billion of non-real-estate debt[3]. USDA also forecasts 2026 net farm income at $158.4 billion, down 2.6 percent from 2025, with crop farms expected to do better on average than animal operations[4].
Equipment: tractors, combines and the rest
A tractor, combine, sprayer or grain cart lasts many seasons. Paying for one out of a single season's operating money squeezes everything else. Equipment financing lets a business get equipment through a loan or a lease[5]. With a loan, you own the equipment once it is repaid. With a lease, the lender holds ownership until the lease ends[5].
For any equipment request, have the dealer or seller quote ready with the make, model, year, hours and serial number, and say what the machine replaces.
USDA FSA loans are a separate, public option
The USDA Farm Service Agency runs its own farm loan programs. FSA operating loans can be used to buy livestock, poultry, farm equipment, feed, seed, fuel, farm chemicals, insurance and other operating expenses[6]. To be eligible for FSA farm loans, a borrower generally must be unable to get credit elsewhere on reasonable terms[7]. FSA also backs loans that banks, Farm Credit System institutions and credit unions make and service[7].
ROK is not FSA
ROK Financial is a commercial funding marketplace. It does not run FSA programs, and neither does the Club. If an FSA loan fits, apply with FSA directly.
What ROK will want to see from a farm or ranch
ROK's partner application lists at least 4 months in business and $10,000 or more in monthly gross sales, which is $120,000 a year[8]. Farm sales come in bunches, so it helps to show a full year of statements. That lets a reviewer see the whole cycle, not one slow month.
Business bank statements, ideally covering a full crop or production year
Your most recent business tax returns
Acres farmed, owned versus rented, and what you grow or raise
How and when you sell: marketing contracts, elevator settlement sheets or sale barn receipts
Dealer or seller quotes for any equipment you plan to buy
A list of current debts, including equipment you already finance
These are what lenders commonly review. ROK and its lenders decide what they need for your request and whether to fund it.
Match the repayment to your calendar
Some financing is repaid from daily or weekly sales. That can be a poor match when most of your income arrives once or twice a year. Before you sign anything, ask how payments are collected, when they start, and what the total cost is.
Financing that fits this kind of gap
Which one fits your business, if any, is a conversation to have with ROK’s advisor once they have seen your file. These are the types that usually come up.
No. The Business Funding Club is a free referral club. We send your request to ROK Financial, a commercial funding marketplace. ROK and the lenders it matches you with review every request and make every funding decision. ROK pays Digital Solomon, which runs the Club, when a referred business is funded. You never pay the Club anything, and applying does not commit you to any offer.
Is this the same as an FSA loan?
No. FSA runs public farm loan programs, and to be eligible a borrower generally must be unable to get credit elsewhere on reasonable terms[7]. ROK is a commercial marketplace and has no connection to FSA. Some operators use both for different needs. If an FSA loan fits, apply with FSA directly.
Can I finance used farm equipment?
Ask ROK. It describes equipment financing as usable for almost any tangible business asset[5]. Whether a specific used tractor or combine works depends on the review. Have the seller's quote ready with the make, model, year, hours and serial number, plus photos, so the reviewer can see what the machine is and what condition it is in.
My income comes in once or twice a year. Does that matter?
Seasonal income is normal in farming, and it is one input among several in a review. What helps is showing the whole cycle: a full year of bank statements, how and when you sell, and what you plan to buy. ROK's partner application lists at least $10,000 in monthly gross sales, or $120,000 a year, as a minimum[8].
Do ranches and livestock operations fit too?
Yes. The Club refers ranches, dairies, poultry growers and other ag operations, not only crop farms. Livestock carry their own gap. Calves are usually weaned at 3 to 7 months, and stocker, backgrounding and feedlot time can add many months more before sale[2]. Feed, labor and care are paid the whole way.
Stated plainly so you don’t spend time on a form that isn’t built for your business yet. These are the minimums ROK lists on its partner application. Meeting them is the starting line, not a decision.
4 monthsminimum time in business
$10,000minimum monthly gross sales
U.S.based and operating
Credit history is one input among several. ROK reviews the whole picture: revenue, deposits, time in business, and what the money is for. What to have ready.
A referral club, free to apply. ROK Financial and its lenders review every request and make all funding decisions. How we’re compensated.
Prefer to go straight to the funder? You can apply on ROK's own site. It carries our referral ID.
Plainly
What we are, and what we are not.
We are a referral club. We introduce small businesses to ROK Financial. That's the whole service, and it's free to you.
We are not a lender and not a broker. We don't fund anything, we don't quote figures, and we don't negotiate on your behalf. If someone tells you what your financing will look like before ROK has reviewed your file, that person is guessing.
We are paid by ROK, not by you. When a business we refer gets funded, ROK compensates us. You are never charged a membership fee or an application fee, by us or by anyone acting for us. Full disclosure here.
