Joel Wahling farms 700 acres of corn and soybeans at Mellow Acres in Neola, Iowa — a family operation he sees as his to preserve and improve. Working with Dickinson & Clark CPAs, he has brought the same progressive thinking to the farm's finances as to its ground.
Mellow Acres is 700 acres of corn and soybeans outside Neola, Iowa, farmed by Joel Wahling. The family's history in farming is something he is openly proud of — and he is clear that the pride has two halves.
The question agriculture struggles to answer
For Joel, the difficulty was never the farming. It was knowing where the business actually stood.
“How can we know our finances? It's an area where agriculture often is missing what we see in other areas of business.”
Dickinson & Clark CPAs has advised farm businesses in the area since 1991, when Ron Dickinson and Francis Clark merged their practices to build a locally owned firm covering individual, corporate and farm accounting. J.R. Woltemath, a shareholder since 2019, saw what Figured could do the first time he looked at it — it immediately struck him as the solution the firm had been looking for.
A more true number
What changed for Joel was less about reporting than about trusting the figure in front of him.
“With Figured, I'm now able to have more peace of mind and be able to get a more true number that was something we really didn't see before in our operation.”
For J.R., that sits inside a wider point about where farming is heading: taking advantage of technology and data, as he puts it, is the best way for farmers to be progressive.
Preserving it for the next generation
Joel frames the whole thing as custodianship rather than change for its own sake.
“I am proud of our family having progressive history in farming. And part of that goes to the financial side, not just the dirt side. This is something that's been built. You know, it's my job to preserve and maintain it for the next generation therein and to make it better.”
For the farm's adviser, that is the shift worth naming — the kind of financial clarity farmers once only hoped for is now simply available.
Transcript
Joel: How can we know our finances? It's an area where agriculture often is missing what we see in other areas of business.
J.R.: You know, it, it immediately just made me say, okay, this can be the solution we're looking for.
Joel: With Figured, I'm now able to have more peace of mind and be able to get a more true number that was something we really didn't see before in our operation.
J.R.: Being able to take advantage of technology and data is the best way that farmers can be progressive.
Joel: I am proud of our family having progressive history in farming. And part of that goes to the financial side, not just the dirt side. This is something that's been built. You know, it's my job to preserve and maintain it for the next generation therein and to make it better.
J.R.: Now this isn't just a dream, it's a reality. We have to use tools such as Figured.