This isn’t your grandfather’s working capital landscape. The fundamentals of today’s credit and underwriting ecosystem is shaking its earlier anchors to operating cash flow, becoming a function of how effectively firms can mobilize their balance sheets.
A new report from the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.), the agency’s 2026 Risk Review, highlights the ongoing reconfiguration of credit markets. Among other risks, the report flagged a growing shift across the agribusiness space from income-based lending to collateral-based lending, where credit solutions are supported less by profitability than by farmland and other assets.
And while some farmers are borrowing not because their operations are throwing off strong cash flow but because of weak income, others are taking advantage of new ways to structure their working capital.
For the rest of the B2B landscape, this could hold several implications. First, balance sheet composition matters more than ever. Assets that can be valued, pledged and monetized are becoming central to financial strategy. Second, the distinction between operating performance and financing capacity is widening.
A company can face short-term income pressure while still maintaining access to capital, provided its assets are strong.
See also: CFOs Turn Working Capital Into a Yield Strategy
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Agriculture’s Working Capital Lessons Beyond the Farm
As economic conditions become more variable and traditional indicators of borrower health less reliable, lenders are increasingly turning to assets as a source of stability.
For decades, enterprise working capital strategy focused on optimization, tightening receivables, stretching payables and managing inventory turns. That model assumes stable, predictable cash conversion. What’s emerging instead is a system where access to liquidity is increasingly contingent on asset optionality, or what can be pledged, securitized and structured into financing.
The agricultural data underscores that farmers facing weaker income are not necessarily losing access to credit. Instead, they are drawing on the value of their land to sustain operations and, in some cases, to restructure existing obligations. The FDIC noted that “ample farmland equity” has supported loan modifications even as operating losses have mounted.
What emerges from this shift is a more layered conception of working capital. Instead of a linear flow from revenue to cash, liquidity is assembled from multiple sources, many of which sit on the balance sheet rather than the income statement.
Land serves as the foundational asset for agribusinesses, enabling access to financing even when operational returns are under pressure. In other sectors, the equivalent assets are less tangible but no less significant. Receivables backed by strong counterparties, inventory with predictable demand and long-term customer contracts are all being used to support financing structures that extend beyond traditional bank lending.
The expansion of private credit markets has accelerated this trend. As the FDIC report highlights in its discussion of lending to nondepository financial institutions, credit is increasingly being extended through channels that are more flexible in how they evaluate collateral and structure risk.
These channels are often more willing to underwrite against asset pools rather than relying exclusively on income metrics.
Read also: Uncertainty Is Complicated, but Working Capital Strategies Should Be Simple
The New Working Capital Stack
The FDIC’s findings do not suggest that agriculture is in immediate crisis. Rather, they highlight a sector in transition, where the foundations of lending are being recalibrated. Income remains important, but it is no longer the sole determinant of financial capacity.
By leveraging their asset base, farmers are becoming increasingly able to optimize liquidity, manage timing mismatches between expenses and income, and position themselves for future opportunities. For these borrowers, collateral is not just a backstop; it is a tool.
In this context, working capital becomes a cross-functional capability rather than a narrow financial metric. It sits at the intersection of finance, operations and strategy. Firms that can access liquidity through multiple channels are better positioned to manage volatility, invest during downturns and respond to shifting market conditions.
The Growth Corporates Working Capital Index by PYMNTS Intelligence and Visa shows that 85% of middle market firms are using working capital solutions.
Ben Ellis, senior vice president and global head of large and middle markets at Visa Commercial Solutions, told PYMNTS in an interview published in March that, among low-performing firms that adopted AI for working capital management, cash flow unpredictability later dropped from 68% to 17%.
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