You're not wrong.  In a perfect world bankers want the 5 C's.  Character, Capacity (Cash flow), Collateral, Capital, and Conditions. (I had to look them up to refresh my memory!).  When times are good it's easy to get all 5.  When times are tough a lender with an established relationship should keep you on with only 4 of those conditions.

I'll give you the story of my learning example from when I was a lender.  The first gentlemen that was teaching me was very much a cash flow lender and if the cash flow didn't work out for a year he was trying to find a way to end the relationship.  That made for some tough renewals.  I loved him (and still do) but he moved on and I got some new bosses.  They brought a different mentality of trying to keep relationships and keep guys in business.  I had to learn to look at the entire financial statement differently.  The cash flow was still important, but as I stated in my first post, there are going to be years in farming when it flat out doesn't work but you still need to figure out a way to keep working with them.  Do they have working capital?  If so, is that working capital enough to absorb a year or two of tough times?  If working capital is wearing thin to they have equity in M&E or real estate?  If so, how can it be accessed?  Do you need to put some sort of term loan in place that injects some working capital back into the operation?

Lenders are no doubt going to have some tough renewals this winter.  Many producers are going to find out which lenders want to build and grow relationships.  I had a conversation with an acquaintance who currently borrows from Farm Credit.  He has working capital, collateral, balance sheet equity, and character.  Cash flow stinks.  He is currently questioning whether the cheaper interest rate is worth it.  There is no real relationship with his lender and he is considering moving his business back to a local lender.

Does this make more sense?