Alan Grafton, Principal, Pinion, LLC
Alan Grafton directs the firm’s AgKnowledge services that provide farmers from coast to coast with CFO-level counsel and financial and accounting support of all levels. He cultivates operational growth by focusing on the business information and analytics to help today’s farmers reach maximum financial yields.
Knowing that producers need the deep analysis and number crunching that permit them to make sound business decisions, Alan also knows that most producers don’t have the time and energy to do this busywork themselves. When it comes to daily priorities, the actual farming task comes first–as it absolutely should. So he set out to build AgKnowledge.
With his experience in agriculture finance and credit management, futures and options trading, commodity risk management and economic analysis, crop insurance, and agricultural land sales and farm management, Alan built systems, processes, and a highly skilled team to decipher figures and facts.
Every single day, Alan and the AgKnowledge team enhance farmers’ profits. Most often it’s through providing information that drives big decisions like how much of what to plant next year. Sometimes it’s catching small errors that almost every farm has but never sees. Some recent examples include:
- Spotting an overcharge to a grower on seed and seed technology fees of $40,000 while conducting a seed analysis breakdown.
- Discovering a banking mistake through a monthly analysis of bank statements, resulting in a $7,800 error reimbursed to the farmer.
- Catching a billing mistake from a fuel company provider, saving the farmer $3,000.
- Uncovering inconsistent vendor prices during an analysis of input pricing costs, resulting in a $10,000 refund from mischarged invoices.
Alan first envisioned the need for a farm financial management company when working as an agriculture credit manager for seven years. He spent time in the field with farmers, saw their struggles, and helped them. It wasn’t long before he became deeply engrained as part of their businesses. Inspired by their dedication in providing food to the world through good and bad times, Alan decided to serve farmers with financial management guidance. Thus, his idea for AgKnowledge was born. Alan Grafton translates financial data into actionable information for ag business owners, serving as an advocate from planting to harvest.
