Every Farmer Refinanced in 2007. He Kept His ’76 4230 Paid Off for 2008 Crash

Ajouté : 2026-05-10

[00:00:00]Russell Halberstam is 67 years old. He farms 720 acres outside Sistna Park, Illinois on the same ground his father, Elden worked from 1958 until Elden passed in October of 1992.

[00:00:20]The tractor Russell drives every spring planting and every fall harvest is the 1976 John Deere 4 23.

[00:00:32]Oh, his father bought new in March of 1976 for $14,200 cash from the Lyman family Paxton dealership. 100 horsepower 6-cylinder 6404 T-turbo diesel quadrange 16-speed transmission.

[00:00:52]Elden paid for the 4230 in a single bank draft on March 14th, 1976.

[00:01:00]The tractor has been paid off ever since. The Halberam 720 acres were paid off in cash and an 8-year note in 1958.

[00:01:11]Elden paid the note off by 1966.

[00:01:16]The mortgage on the farmhouse was paid off in 1986.

[00:01:21]Russell inherited a paidoff farm, a paidoff tractor, and a paidoff house in 1992 with one rule from his father attached. Uh, never owe more than the tractor's worth in cash and never sign a paper you can't pay tomorrow morning. If this kind of story matters to you, the kind where the right call costs nothing the day you make it and pays for the next decade, we'd be honored if you subscribed.

[00:01:52]The Mid Illinois Farm Credit System held a refinancing seminar at the Irakcoy County Farm Bureau Hall in Wateka on Saturday morning, February 17th, 2007 at 9 a.m. sharp. The pitch cash out refinancing on paid off farm acres at 6.4% 4% for 30 years with the proceeds free for new equipment, an addition on the house, the kids college, or a Cadillac in the drive. 240 registered Irakcoy County farmers attended. By 11:42 a.m. Saturday morning, 184 of them had signed preliminary refinancing applications.

[00:02:39]Russell Halbersteam attended the seminar with his younger brother Wendell. They sat in the second row of folding chairs.

[00:02:48]Cassidy Tmaine, the 38-year-old Mid Illinois Farm Credit loan officer pitching the program, wore a pressed white dress shirt under a Navy Mid Illinois Farm Credit blazer. He stood at the wooden podium in front of a slide projector. The slide on screen at 10:14 a.m. read, "Your equity is your cash."

[00:03:13]"Mr. Halbastam," Cassidy said, pointing at Russell, "you own $720 paid off acres outside Sistna Park. At today's $7,400 per acre county valuation, your equity is $5.3 million. You're sitting on $5.3 million in cash you've never used.

[00:03:36]Cassidy, the acres aren't cash, Russell replied. Mr. Halstam, the acres are cash. If you let us refinance them, we'll write you a check for $1.84 million at 6.4% over 30 years. The payment is $11,400 a month. Your 720 acres throw $216,000 a year in net farm income at today's $4.40 corn cash price. The payment is comfortable.

[00:04:12]Cassidy, the payment is comfortable at $4.40 corn. The payment is foreclosure at $2.40 corn. Mr. Halbert Stam, corn isn't going to $2.40 40 cents in our lifetimes," Cassidy said with a small dismissive chuckle. The 2007 USDA outlook projects corn at $380 minimum through 2014.

[00:04:41]The Mid Illinois Farm Credit Underwriting Team is comfortable with the math. Cassidy. My father bought this farm in 1958 for $9,400 cash and a $24,000 note. He paid the note off by 1966.

[00:05:02]He bought the 4230 in cash in 1976.

[00:05:08]He bought the addition on the house in cash in 1984. He paid off the house mortgage in 1986.

[00:05:16]He died in 1992 owing zero dollars to anyone. He left me one rule. The rule is don't sign a paper you can't pay tomorrow morning. I'm not signing today.

[00:05:29]Mr. Halba Stam Cassidy, I appreciate the seminar. The Halaam 720 stays paid off.

[00:05:38]Wendell Halbastam signed the preliminary application at 11:14 a.m. that Saturday morning. Wendell pulled $940,000 in cash out of his 480 acres at 6.4% over 30 years. He bought a black $2,07 Cadillac Escalade in March. He paid off his daughter's $84,000 in student loans. He bought a new 2007 JD8430 tractor for $186,000.

[00:06:18]He put $38 of4,000 into a brokerage account at his Champagne banker's recommendation. He kept $200,000 in cash for what he called operating flexibility.

[00:06:34]Wendell felt smart all spring. If you're still here, subscribe. The numbers in this story are real, and so are the choices behind them. Russell drove the 1976 JD4230 home from the seminar that Saturday afternoon. Edy sat at the kitchen desk that evening with a cup of black coffee.

[00:06:59]Russell Wendle signed. Edy said Edy Wendell signed Russell. What was the pitch? Cassidy Tmaine offered us $1.84 million in cash at 6.4% over 30 years, Russell answered. $11,400 a month for 30 years. The math works at 4.4 corn. The math doesn't work at 2.4 corn.

[00:07:30]Russell, your father said never sign a paper you can't pay tomorrow morning.

[00:07:35]Edy, my father said never sign a paper I can't pay tomorrow morning. The Halberam 720 stays paid off. Russell Wendell took $940,000.

[00:07:48]80. Wendell took $940,000 to buy a Cadillac, pay off Bridget's College, buy a new 8430, and put $384,000 in a brokerage account at the recommendation of a man in Champagne who's never set foot on the Halba ground.

[00:08:10]Russell, what did your father say about brokerage accounts?

[00:08:15]Edie. My father said the only brokerage account he trusted was a mason jar in the kitchen cabinet.

[00:08:24]Russell. The kitchen cabinet.

[00:08:27]The kitchen cabinet. Edy. The 2007 corn crop sold at $4.84 a bushel. Cassidy Tmaine's underwriting math held through 2007.

[00:08:41]Russell finished spring planting on the 4230 in 12 days at $0 in equipment debt.

[00:08:50]Wendell finished spring planting on the new8430 in 8 days at $186,000 in equipment debt and $11,400 a month in mortgage payments. Wendell felt smarter than Russell through Harvest 2007.

[00:09:11]Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy on Monday, September 15th, 2008.

[00:09:18]The CME corn futures contract opened that morning at $5.84 a bushel. By Friday, December 5th, 2008, the same contract closed at $318.

[00:09:34]By Friday, March 6th, 2009, the same contract closed at $3.40.

[00:09:42]The Mid Illinois Farm Credit System tightened operating line covenants on March 14th uh 2009, calling 38 farms across Irakcoy County for accelerated repayment within 90 days. Wendell Halberstam was one of the 38 farms called the Wendell. 480 acres were 78% leveraged at 6.4%.

[00:10:12]The 2007 Cadillac Escalade was financed at 8.4%.

[00:10:18]The new 8430 was financed at 7.2%.

[00:10:25]The brokerage account was down 48%.

[00:10:29]Bridget's college was paid for. The numbers didn't add up. Russell drove the 4230 over to Wendell's place on Saturday afternoon, March 21st, 2009, in the faded green 2003 Chevy Silverado 2550.

[00:10:48]Wendell met him at the gravel drive in a faded blue Carheart jacket. Wendell's face had aged 8 years in the previous 6 months.

[00:10:58]Russell Mid Illinois called the line on Wednesday. Wendell said, Wendell, how much? Russell asked. Wendell owes $748,000 against $940,000 of original 2007 cash and another $186,000 against the 8430.

[00:11:21]Wendell replied, "Mid Illinois wants $324,000 in cash within 90 days or they'll foreclose on 320 of my 480 acres."

[00:11:34]Wendell, "The brokerage account?"

[00:11:36]Russell asked. Russell, "The brokerage account is at $200,000 against the original $384,000."

[00:11:46]Wendell said, "I sold the Cadillac on Tuesday for $48,000 against $84,000 still owed. I'm $124,000 short of the $324,000 Mid Illinois wants." "Wendall, what about the 8430?"

[00:12:07]Russell asked. Russell, the 8430 is worth $1 to24,000 on a private sale today against $186,000 still owed. Wendell replied, "I'd need to sell the new tractor at a $62,000 loss to be 50% of the way to the call."

[00:12:32]"Wendall, you'll lose the 320 acres," Russell said. Russell, I'll lose the 320 acres. Wendell replied, Wendell, our father said, never sign a paper you can't pay tomorrow morning. Russell, our father said it. I didn't listen. I signed in February of 2007 because Cassidy Tmaine made the math sound easy.

[00:13:01]Wendell, the math was easy at $4.40 corn.

[00:13:07]Russell, the math was foreclosure at $3.40 corn.

[00:13:12]Wendell, what do you need from me?

[00:13:15]Russell, I don't need money. Wendell said, I need you to be ready to buy the 320 acres back when Mid Illinois forecloses.

[00:13:26]I need them in halba stam hands. Don't let Cassidy sell them to a champagne hedge fund.

[00:13:34]Wendell, the 320 acres stay in Halba hands. Russell drove the 4230 over to the Cordis farmstead outside Buckley on the Saturday after Wendell got the call.

[00:13:47]March 28th, 2009.

[00:13:50]Adley Cordis met him at the gravel drive in a faded denim jacket. Earl Bradock was there, too, drinking coffee on the front porch.

[00:14:00]Russell. Earl Bradock Adley said you'd come by, Earl said. Earl, pleased to meet you, Russell replied. Russell, Adley walked me through the Halberam family situation, Earl said. Wendell's 320 and receiverhip mid Illinois Farm Credit calling 38 farms across the county. What's the trust position, Earl? The Halba Stam Family Trust holds $1.84 million in cash that my father set aside in 1985 for exactly this kind of week.

[00:14:37]Russell said he called it the Cassidy account in his trust language. He didn't know Cassidy Tmaine's name in 1985.

[00:14:48]He named it after the next salesman who would stand at a podium and offer easy cash for paid off acres.

[00:14:56]Russell, your father wrote a buyback into the trust? Earl asked. Earl, my father wrote a buyback clause into the trust on May 8th, 1985, the same day he paid off the house mortgage. The clause held the halba ground for any heir who needed to buy it back at the original 1958 cash equivalent price of $48 an acre.

[00:15:27]The trust was funded with the cash equivalent of one full Halba corn crop every year from 1985 through Elden's death in 1992.

[00:15:39]By 1992, the trust held $284,000.

[00:15:46]Edy and I added another $40,000 a year out of net farm income from 1992 through 2008.

[00:15:56]By March 2009, the trust held $1.84 million.

[00:16:02]Russell, that's $1.84 $84 million sitting against Wendle's $324,000 acceleration call. Earl, $1.84 million is enough to buy back Wendle's $320 acres at the receiverhip auction at $4,200 an acre and have $496,000 left for the next family member who needs it. Russell, your father knew the math.

[00:16:34]Earl, my father knew the math. Russell said he didn't know the year. He didn't know the salesman's name. He knew the next pitch was coming and he wrote the answer into the trust 22 years before the pitch happened.

[00:16:50]Russell, that's the kind of math an old farmer does.

[00:16:55]Earl, that's the kind of math my father did. Mid Illinois Farm Credit foreclosed on Wendle's 320 acres on Friday, May 14th, 2010.

[00:17:09]The bank held the acres in receiverhip until November 2011.

[00:17:15]By then, the 14 of 184 county farmers who'd signed the February 2007 preliminary refinancing applications had lost their land entirely.

[00:17:29]24 more had lost portions. The Irakcoy County Farm Bureau Hall sat empty for the 2009 and 2010 winter meetings. The Mid Illinois Farm Credit System receiverhip auction at the Irakcoy County Courthouse in Watka on Wednesday, November 16th, 2011 was scheduled for 100 p.m. sharp.

[00:17:56]Porter Kohli, the Irakcoy County Farm Bureau director, sat at the front of the auction room with a small wooden gavl.

[00:18:05]12 biders had registered. Two were Champagne hedge fund representatives.

[00:18:11]Three were land brokers from Decatur and Canki. Six were neighbors of the foreclosed Irakcoy County farms. Russell Halberstam was the 12th bidder. Lot 14.

[00:18:26]Porter said at 108 PM 320 acres of crop land outside Cna Park, formerly the Wendell Halberam Farm Reserve set at $3,800 per acre by Mid Illinois Farm Credit.

[00:18:43]Opening bid, please.

[00:18:45]Porter Russell Halberam Russell said $4,200 per acre. Russell Porter answered, "The opening bid is $4,200 per acre on 320 acres. Total 1,344,000.

[00:19:06]Any other bidders?"

[00:19:08]The two Champagne Hedge Fund representatives looked at each other across the auction room. One opened his mouth to bid, then closed it. The Decatur landbroker raised his bitter paddle to chest height, then lowered it.

[00:19:25]Russell sat in the front row with both hands clasped on his knees. Edy sat beside him. Going once at $4,200 per acre, Porter said. Going twice at $4,200 per acre. Sold to Russell Halberstam at $4,200 per acre. total $1,344,000.

[00:19:52]Russell wrote a single bank draft from the Halba family trust account at the Cisna Park branch of Irakcoy National Bank, the only bank Elden Halbastam had ever trusted. The draft cleared at 2:18 p.m. Wednesday afternoon.

[00:20:11]Wendell Halbastam sat in the audience with both hands clasped on his knees and a quiet stoic emotional expression. "The Acres returned to Halberstam ownership at 114 p.m. Wednesday afternoon."

[00:20:28]"Wendle, the 320 are back," Russell said as he walked down the audience aisle.

[00:20:34]"Russell, the 320 are back," Wendell replied. Wendell, the trust held the line. Russell, our father, wrote the line in 1985.

[00:20:45]Wendell, our father, wrote the line in 1985.

[00:20:49]Russell, the 320 acres are back. Wendell said, Wendell, the 320 acres are back.

[00:20:59]Russell, I don't farm the 320 anymore.

[00:21:03]Wendell, you farm the 320 as the operator on a 5050 crop share lease starting spring 2012. Russell replied, "Halbastam family ownership, Wendell Halbastam operator. The lease pays you 50% of net at no rent. You'll be back to break even by 2014.

[00:21:28]By 2018, you'll have the 320 acres in your name again at the buyback price our father wrote into the Halbastam family trust in 1985.

[00:21:41]Russell, father wrote the buyback into the trust.

[00:21:46]Wendell, father wrote the buyback into the trust on May 8th, 1985, the same day he paid off the house mortgage. He said, "The Halba Stam ground stays in Halberstam hands. The trust holds the acres for any heir who needs to buy them back at the original 1958 cash equivalent price."

[00:22:10]Russell, the original 1958 cash equivalent price. Wendell, $48 an acre. $15,360 to buy 320 acres back from the trust payable across 8 years interestf free out of the operator share. Russell father was thinking about 2010 in 1985.

[00:22:38]Wendell our father was thinking about Cassidy Tmaine in 1985 even if he didn't know Cassid's name. He was thinking about the next time a man at a podium would offer easy cash for paid off acres. Wendell bought the 320 acres back from the Halber Stam family trust between 2012 and 2019 at $48 per acre across eight years. $1,920 per year out of his operator share of the 5050 crop share lease. By the spring of 2020, Wendell owned his 320 acres outright. Again, the total cost of the 2007 refinancing decision. Wendell paid $124,000 in equipment depreciation and lost interest, plus 8 years of crop share to his brother. The Hala Stam Family Trust paid $1,344,000 in the 2011 receiverhip purchase against $15,360 in eventual buyback receipts.

[00:23:57]A net cost to the trust of 1,328,640 across the decade. The Halba ground stayed in Halba hands. Earl drove out to Russell's farmstead on a clear Saturday afternoon in late October 2024 in the silver Chevy Silverado 200500.

[00:24:23]Russell met him in the gravel drive in the dark tan Carheart chorecoat. Earl wore the olive green John Deere mesh cap, the dark tan carhe heart chore coat over the buffalo check flannel, the Wrangler jeans, and the Redwing Irish Setter boots. His steel blue eyes met Russell's "Russell, the 4230 ran clean through the 2024 fall harvest." Earl asked Earl 12,840 hours became 13,182 by the second week of November, Russell replied. The 4230 ran the 720 acres without a single fault. Wendell's 8430 retired in 2018 with 7,840 hours. The 4230 outlasted the 8430 by 10 years.

[00:25:22]Russell, the math your father wrote in 1985 outlasted Cassidy Tmaine's pitch in 2007.

[00:25:30]Earl, my father wrote the math in 1985.

[00:25:34]Russell said, "Cassidy pitched the math in 2007. Lehman crashed the math in 2008. My father's math held. Cassid's math foreclosed.

[00:25:47]Russell, what about Cassidy Tmaine? Earl Cassidy left Mid Illinois Farm Credit in 2011 after the foreclosure wave. He sells real estate in Champagne now. He sent me a Christmas card in 2018 apologizing for the 2007 pitch. Russell, did he mean it? Earl asked. Earl. He meant it the way a man means an apology 12 years later when his career has already collapsed under the weight of the choice he sold. Russell answered, "Cassidy doesn't pitch refinancing seminars anymore. He sells split level houses in West Champagne."

[00:26:30]"Russell, what did the Christmas card say?" Earl asked. "Earl, the card said one paragraph," Russell replied. Cassidy wrote, quote, "Mr. Halbastam, I think about the February 2007 seminar every December. I think about the 184 farmers who signed and the 14 who lost everything. I think about the one farmer in the second row who said no. I'm sorry I made the math sound easy. The math was never easy. I should have known." He signed it. Cassidy, no company name, no business pitch, just an apology 11 years late. Russell, the apology came 11 years late, Earl said. Earl, 11 years was the right amount of time, Russell replied.

[00:27:26]Cassidy needed 11 years to lose his mid Illinois career and watch the foreclosure wave clear his conscience.

[00:27:33]The apology arrives when it arrives.

[00:27:36]Russell, did you write back? Earl asked.

[00:27:39]Earl, I wrote back one paragraph, Russell said. I wrote, quote, Cassidy, my father told me in 1985 that the next salesman would come and offer easy cash for paid off acres. He didn't know your name. He wrote a buyback into the trust to undo whatever the next salesman convinced one of his sons to sign. The trust did the work.

[00:28:08]The Halberstam ground is in Halberstam hands. We're square. I signed it.

[00:28:14]Russell. Russell. That's the right letter. Earl said, "Earl, that's the only letter I had to write." Russell, your father knew. Earl, my father knew the next Cassidy was coming when he wrote the trust in 1985. He didn't know the man's name. He didn't know the year.

[00:28:35]He knew somebody would stand at a podium and offer easy cash for paid off ground.

[00:28:41]He wrote the buyback into the trust because he knew the next generation would have to undo what the next pitch convinced one hobstam to sign. Russell, that's the kind of math your father did.

[00:28:55]Earl, that's the kind of math my father did.

[00:28:59]Earl sat at his own kitchen table that evening at 8:00 p.m. with Ruth across from him. The white ceramic coffee pot sat between them. Earl, the Halbastam 320 acres came back through the 1985 trust at $48 an acre. Ruth said, "Ruth, the 320 acres came back at $48 an acre because Elden Halberam wrote the price in 1985 and held the line." Earl, what would have happened if Russell had signed in 2007?

[00:29:39]Ruth Russell would have lost 480 of his 720 acres in 2010.

[00:29:48]Earl said the $4,230 would have been sold at the receiverhip auction for $4,800.

[00:29:58]Wendell's 480 would still have been lost. Both Halberstam Farms would be under Champagne hedge fund ownership today. Cassidy Tmaine would still be at Mid Illinois Farm Credit pitching the next refinancing seminar. Earl, Elden's rule held the line. Ruth, Elden's rule held the line. Earl answered, "Never sign a paper you can't pay tomorrow morning. Never owe more than the tractor's worth in cash." Russell heard the rule for 30 years and made the right call in one Saturday morning in February 2007.

[00:30:39]Dale Voss came by the Bradock farmstead on a clear Tuesday morning in early November 2024 in his white GMC Yukon.

[00:30:51]Earl heard Russell Halba Stam still farms paid off. Dale said you heard.

[00:30:57]Earl said he left $1.84 million on the table in 2007.

[00:31:03]Dale Russell left $1.84 84 million in cash on a podium in February of 2007, Earl replied. The same $1.84 million would have been an $11,400 a month payment for closure call by March 2009.

[00:31:25]Russell's brother Wendell took $940,000 and lost 320 acres. Russell took zero and bought Wendle's 320 acres back at the receiverhip auction for the family trust to hold.

[00:31:43]You make it sound noble. I make it sound right, Dale. Earl said Elden Halbastam wrote a buyback clause into the family trust in 1985, the same day he paid off the house mortgage. The clause held the 320 acres for the next generation at $48 an acre.

[00:32:08]The clause was the safety net Cassidy Tmaine's pitch never counted for. Dale shook his head with a wide, smug, mocking smirk and a dismissive shake of his head and climbed back into the Yukon and drove off without another word. The 1976 John Deere 423 oh sat in the open machine shed of the Halbastam farmstead outside Sistna Park on the night of November 14th, 2024 with $14,200 of original 1976 purchase price still in her dark factory green paint. 13,182 hours on the meter. 0 in equipment debt across her entire 48-year working life and the original Elden Halberstam family trust document from 1985 back in the kitchen hutch where it had lived since the day Elden signed it. The 4230 had hauled clean. The trust had held the line. The halba stam ground stayed in halba stam hands.