Answers · Comparing Your Options
Farm Credit vs. a private lender like Turnrow — which is right for me?
If you have clean tax returns and 60–90 days, Farm Credit wins — their long-term rates are subsidized by the cooperative system and Turnrow will not beat them. Private lending wins when you need to close in 2–4 weeks, cannot show two years of farm income, or hold title in a structure banks dislike.
Farm Credit associations are borrower-owned cooperatives with access to cheap GSE funding, patronage dividends that rebate part of your interest, and 15–30 year fixed products. For a long-term hold with documentable income, that combination is the best deal in agricultural finance, full stop. If you qualify and can wait, go there first.
The tradeoffs are time and documentation. Expect a full underwrite: 2–3 years of tax returns, balance sheets, projected cash flow, and committee approval. From application to funding, 45–90 days is normal. That timeline is fine for a planned refinance and fatal for a 1031 deadline, an auction purchase, or a seller who will not wait.
The honest framework: use private money to solve a timing or documentation problem, then refinance into Farm Credit for the long hold. A 12–36 month Turnrow bridge that captures the property, followed by a cooperative loan at leisure, often beats losing the deal while a committee deliberates.
The Turnrow angle
Turnrow prices "above subsidized farm credit, below hard money" — we are honest that we are the speed-and-simplicity option, not the cheapest 20-year money. Many of our best borrowers refinance into Farm Credit later, and we structure prepayment flexibly so that exit is easy.
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