It was one of those big posterboard checks. You know, the ones you see when someone wins the lottery and it is big enough to show all of the zeros behind the dollar sign. The $50,000 check was presented by a Walmart executive at the Illinois State Fair Ag Day festivities to the Illinois Ag In The Classroom program. Speeches, handshakes, photos, and backslapping ensued as the celebrants walked off the stage, and hundreds of Illinois agricultural leaders returned to their conversations.

In fact the Ag Day lunch at the Illinois State Fair will draw as many agricultural luminaries as will the Annual Meeting of the Illinois Farm Bureau, and maybe more, so it is important to be there and take in the conversations.

While uncountable issues were up for discussion, it seemed there were more people interested in talking about the farm economy than the news former IL Corn Growers Association President Doug Wilson was going to challenge incumbent President Phil Nelson of the Illinois Farm Bureau at December's IFB Annual Meeting. The money that was or was not going to be in farm business accounts at the end of the year seemed to be a real concern of the credit folks.

Part of the concern is the fact that the Illinois corn crop is in jeopardy of not maturing in a timely fashion and is threatened by even an average frost date. Part of the concern is the fact the Illinois soybean crop is showing Sudden Death Syndrome and white mold, and yield is deteriorating. Part of the fact is the record expense of planting the crop and the diminished prices that are being offered for it. Part of the fact is that livestock profitability continues to be written with red ink.

But in the past year, the financial dynamic for many farmers has taken a significant turn away from oversized checks in 2007 and 2008. Because of various international issues, the fertilizer that was applied to the 2009 corn crop had to be purchased in early 2008, with a check on the counter to guarantee delivery. With the new ACRE farm program, any payment earned from low prices or poor yield for the 2009 crop will not be received until October of 2010. Suddenly, the annual operating loan that many farmers receive from their community bank or the Farm Credit System has become a three year financial plan. There was not really any opportunity to jump from one year to two years. It was an immediate three year cash flow plan that farm enterprises are working with, like it or not.

For those 10% to 15% of farmers who are on an accrual accounting system, there is no problem with that issue. But for the vast majority of farmers who are on a cash basis accounting system, their bookwork is about as cluttered as the farmstead after the last Wednesday's storm blew across the hard road.

Mike Wakeland, Director of the Cultivate Illinois program for State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, was trying to piece those details together at the State Fair Ag Day. From his vantage point, the link deposit program was on an annual cycle, to provide money to rural lenders to help make farm loans. And from the vantage point of Don Olson, Executive Vice President of Farm Credit Services of Illinois, the operating loans are still annual, but he was quite cognizant that cash flow statements are showing a three year date at the top.

Farm loans will still be made and still be repaid, but today's multi-year crop financing plans will still be underway at next year's State Fair Ag Day when those big posterboard checks are held high for the promotional photo ops.