AUGUST 2021
Message from the President If your family is like ours, you are finding yourself much busier this summer compared to last. We are seeing our calendar fill up quickly, and the days of juggling schedules to attend various family and other events have returned. Adding to the busyness is the additional days of vacation scheduled this year since we did not do much vacationing last year. I will admit I do miss last year’s slower pace. BRIAN RICKER
Here at AgCredit, we are thankful for a number of things, including seeing the return of many of the events that were canceled in 2020. One event coming back is our participation with youth swine showmanship (Pee Wee Showmanship) at several of the area fairs. We are very excited to help out with these shows again. Those early years of showing livestock at the fair are wonderful memories for so many of us. The opportunity to host appreciation events across the association is also possible again. We are looking forward to seeing our members at the area fairs and other AgCredit events this summer. Our AgCredit team and Board of Directors are now gathering for in-person meetings with no restrictions, and our employees recently got together for a picnic, where they enjoyed meeting new team members in person and catching up with one other. In November, a group of us are planning to travel to Washington, D.C. to attend the Farm Credit National Fly-In. The event is an opportunity to visit with our members of Congress and demonstrate Farm Credit’s impact on rural communities and the important role we play in supporting farmers, ranchers and rural infrastructure. One of the highlights of the fly-in is the Farm Credit Marketplace reception. The reception is extremely popular with members of Congress, their staff and members of the administration due to all the incredible farm products that are
on display. AgCredit is planning to showcase a number of products produced by our members during the reception. Despite these positive developments, we recognize the pandemic continues to affect our lives and our economy in various ways. Many businesses in need of workers are experiencing challenges finding the help they need. It is commonplace to see “help wanted” signs as you drive by many businesses. There are many factors causing the labor issues, and we believe these issues, while frustrating, will soon be resolved. Inflationary pressures brought on by an array of events, such as record government stimulus, increased and prolonged unemployment benefits and a variety of global supply chain issues, are some of the main forces behind higher inflation. Automobiles, farm equipment, fuel and more have increased in price. Producers raising cash grain commodities, including corn, soybeans and wheat, have experienced some favorable tailwinds with some significant increase in grain prices. For those in agriculture who raise livestock to produce eggs, meat and milk, prices have not increased at the same level as the grain prices, which is resulting in some potential margin pressure. Our nursery and greenhouse operations have also experienced some favorable tailwinds with increasing demand and revenues for their products. We are definitely in a period of economic adjustment as the tail of the pandemic continues to impact some industries more favorably than others. No one could have predicted a year ago that we would be having record-high commodity prices, inflation would be a concern and the need for labor would be so widespread. I share this because things can change very quickly, and a year from now, the impact and concerns will more than likely be different than what we are experiencing today. Similar to the many issues we dealt with last year when meat processing plants were temporarily shut down, ethanol plants were shuttered and many other negative events were being experienced, this too shall pass. It will simply take some time.