Bushel Expands Platform with Interest-Bearing Accounts, Digital Wallets

Bushel, a farm management software company, has announced an expanded platform with enhanced financial tools for farmers and agribusinesses. 

Starting this spring, Bushel Farm will include a digital wallet, providing an all-in-one platform to manage farm operations and finances. This integration offers the opportunity to simplify both financial and operational management for farmers. 

Jake Joraanstad, CEO of Bushel, explained the benefit, comparing it to Venmo or PayPal. “We felt that the industry needed something similar for the farm and the facilities that they work with,” he explained. “Farmers care a lot about making sure that their capital i’s in a secure place. This account can be conveniently opened from home, offers up to $5 million in FDIC insurance, and pays interest on the cash you have in that account.”

“The industry is one of the few remaining spaces where a paper check is common,” Joraanstad said. “Post office delays post-COVID have shown that traditional methods are increasingly unreliable, and farmers deserve more efficient, secure, and accessible ways to handle their financial transactions.”

Updated Bushel Farm Experience

Key features of Bushel Farm, including field-level rainfall data, activity tracking, profit and loss reporting, and more, will continue to be available. The additional financial tools that will be available to farmers include:

Interest-bearing business account: These business accounts will offer competitive interest rates (currently 3.43%) and FDIC insurance up to $5 million through sweep program banks. Sweep program banks distribute large deposits across multiple partner banks to extend FDIC coverage beyond the standard $250,000 limit, ensuring enhanced protection for account holders.

Farmers and agribusinesses will gain access to a Bushel business account, offered by The Bancorp Bank, N.A. (“The Bancorp”), a member of the FDIC.

Send and Request Payments: Farmers and agribusinesses can send and request payments directly through the platform, streamlining transactions. 

Access and Repay Lines of Credit: Farmers can easily manage lines of credit within Bushel Farm, providing easy access to necessary funding.

“We partner with quite a few farm credit organizations,”Joraanstad said. “Our goal is to make it easy for the farmer to attach a loan or a line of credit to this service, making it convenient to pay loans off and even utilize loans on the operating line.”

Future Features in 2025: Upcoming enhancements include high-limit mobile check deposits for grain settlement checks, online bill pay, and debit card access.

“The feature I’m most  excited about is the mobile check deposit for all those paper checks you’re still getting,” Joraanstad said. “For example, you’ll be able to scan a $150,000 grain settlement check and upload it right to the bank account.”

The package of digital financial tools continues to strengthen business relationships between farmers and agribusinesses, said Joraanstand. “When a farmer can immediately begin earning interest on their grain settlement, that’s meaningful to the bottom line. When a retailer can collect payments online with lower fees and ensure on-time payment, that is meaningful to the bottom line.”

Addressing Industry Challenges

The U.S. Postal Service has advised customers to increase diligence when mailing checks due to security concerns, while the U.S. Treasury Department reported that check fraud has increased 385% since the COVID-19 pandemic. Compounding these issues are mailing delays, particularly in rural areas, which can disrupt cash flow and lead to delayed payments.