Top Producer Summit

When Risk in a Crisis Becomes a Turning Point: Lessons from Top Producers

Wed, 25 Feb 2026 21:51:25 GMT

In a volatile agricultural landscape, risk is a constant. Weather, markets, input costs, succession issues, cyberthreats and pandemics all push farm families into uncomfortable decisions. During the “When Taking Risk in Times of Crisis Pays Off” panel at Top Producer Conference, six producers shared how they’ve navigated those moments — and what they’ve learned when the stakes were highest.

The panel, moderated by Rena Striegel, president of Transition Point Business Advisors in West Des Moines, Iowa, included: Edward and Rebecca Dalton, of Dalton Farms, Wakeman, Ohio; Chris Payne of 3B Hay & Straw, Ontario, Ore.; Wendy Alsum Dykstra and Heidi Alsum Randall of Alsum Farms and Produce, Friesland, Wis.; and Ron Rabou of Rabou Farms, Albin, Wyo.

Their stories spanned family tragedy, ransomware, COVID-19 disruptions, organic transitions and bold expansion moves — offering a candid look at what it really means to take risk in agriculture.

Here are five key takeaways from the conversation:

1. Crisis as a Catalyst, Not a Dead End

For several panelists, a crisis didn’t just test their operations; it forced a complete re-evaluation.

The Daltons describe being emotionally exhausted and financially stuck before a Top Producer event pushed them to question everything.

“We were floundering in agriculture,” Rebecca says. “We were not making any money, really. We were just doing it to do it and to continue that legacy. And we were to the point where, like, ‘why are we doing this?’ You know, we only have so many days here. We only have so much time here.”

After a series of family tragedies and persistent unprofitability, they made a bold move to transition about half their acres to organic production. The shift brought much-needed profitability and renewed purpose.

“The risk was I was going to quit farming,” Edward explains. “We needed something and a spark and to just want to farm again.”

In Wyoming, Rabou’s turning point came after the sudden death of his father and the unraveling of a complex family ranch structure. Walking away from a fifth-generation operation was emotionally painful, but necessary.

“We did a lot of soul searching, and I kind of came to the conclusion that the risk for me for not doing something was much greater than actually doing something,” he says.

Rabou and his wife started essentially from scratch, building an organic grain operation and a hunting enterprise, borrowing heavily despite having grown up in a “never borrow” mindset.

2. Numbers Matter — But They Aren’t Everything

A recurring theme was the importance of knowing your numbers while recognizing data alone cannot drive every decision.

“Knowing our numbers is what really helped us,” Edward explains. “If you know your own data front and back, when you really get into those tight situations that you need to be able to think and move… sometimes you just have to move, whether you want to or not.”

Recently, the Daltons made a bold move back to conventional production. The Daltons’ choice to step out of organic was a conscious decision to go against what the spreadsheet said, in favor of their family and team.

“Right now, when I’m hauling $12 beans instead of $40 beans, like we were for a few years, I’m not really happy with that decision, but it was too much time,” Edward explains. “We were losing time with our boys, and that ultimately is why we went back, even though we were making more money per acre.”

Rabou emphasizes having a clear philosophy about leverage: “I have no problem borrowing money on appreciating assets, but I have to be very careful about borrowing money on assets that depreciate.”

For him, land and infrastructure are long-game investments, and he admits he more often regrets the risks he didn’t take than the ones he did.

“I’ve never looked back and said I shouldn’t have made that investment,” he says. “But I have looked back a multitude of times and said, ‘Wow, I wish I would have made that investment.’”

3. Fear vs. Action: Moving When the Window Opens

Panelists agree that fear is often the biggest barrier to seizing opportunity — especially when decisions must be made quickly.

Oregon onion grower and packer Payne describes how, in the middle of a tense meeting, he and another young partner were essentially challenged to buy out older shareholders in an onion packing facility. They had seconds, not months, to commit.

His broader advice to producers now: “Don’t get caught up in fear. If you let fear dominate your thought processes, you’re never going to succeed.”

Preparation helps in those “15-second” decision moments, Payne adds. Continually learning, attending conferences and thinking through scenarios ahead of time gives you a framework so you’re not starting from zero when opportunity knocks.

Edward adds, “You absolutely know how it’ll go if you don’t try. If you’re not willing to try, it’s not going to work. You can’t move forward if you don’t do something or try.”

4. Cyberattacks, COVID-19 and the Power of Systems

For Alsum Farms & Produce crisis came in very modern forms: a ransomware attack and then the COVID-19 pandemic.

“At 3 a.m. one morning in October, I got a call from our IT manager that we had been hit with ransomware,” Wendy explains.

She explains recovery from the attack required all hands on deck, multiple external experts and months of work to protect traceability and keep product moving. The aftermath included layered backups, new server and email security, user training and an ongoing relationship with cybersecurity and insurance professionals.

Just months later, COVID-19 hit. With 90% to 95% of their business retail-focused, the Alsum team quickly formed a COVID-19 response group, redesigning workflows to keep employees safe and shelves stocked.

The sisters say one key result from COVID-19 was when another supplier faltered, the Alsums were ready to step up for a major retailer — turning crisis into opportunity.

5. Relationships as a Strategic Asset

Beyond capital and land, the panel underscores the value of relationships — with peers, competitors and buyers.

Edward, Payne and Rabou maintain a group text, often used when one of them is wrestling with a big decision.

“Have people in an industry that you can trust and communicate with,” Edward stresses. “There’s been days they’ve literally had to walk me off a ledge when I’m trying to figure out how to make a decision.”

In the potato and produce world, Heidi says, competitors often become collaborators when the chips are down.

“The nice thing about the potato industry and the produce industry in general that we’ve experienced is that it’s been very collaborative,” she explains.
Rabou adds he sometimes sells grain below top price to maintain long-term relationships and outlet security.

“Those relationships to me are more important than making the dollar in the moment,” he explains.

His broader warning to producers is to stop comparing your operation to your neighbors’.

“You really have to determine what works good for you as an individual, you as a couple, you as a business,” he stresses. “Stop paying attention to what everyone else is doing.”

The Bottom Line from Top Producers

Across all their stories, the panelists echoed a few core principles:

Know your numbers but also know your values.
Act in crisis — don’t let fear make the choice for you.
Be willing to pivot, even away from something profitable, if it no longer fits your life or strategy.
Invest in appreciating assets and in relationships, both of which can pay off long after the crisis has passed.

In short, risk in times of crisis isn’t just something to endure; handled intentionally, it can be the turning point that reshapes a farm for the better.

44 Million Acres: The New Frontier of Farm Consolidation and Growth

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 18:01:17 GMT

At the 2026 Top Producer Summit , Farm Journal Intelligence unveiled new farmland insights derived from predictive modeling and deep-data analysis. The research focused on the shifting landscape of land acquisition, identifying which operations are at risk of consolidation, who is positioned for growth and where the most significant opportunities lie.

Here are the six primary findings for farm businesses:

1. Scale Does Not Immune Operations from Consolidation.

(Farm Journal)

While smaller operations face the highest risk — with 58% of small farms “at risk” for sale or acquisition before 2030 — size is not a complete safeguard. Research shows the risk of consolidation or ownership transfer never drops below 27%, even for the largest operations. Furthermore, crop diversity made minimal impact on these odds; the likelihood of transition remains constant whether a farm produces one crop or more than 11.

2. Geography Trumps Diversification.

(Farm Journal)

Regional location is increasingly becoming a primary driver of financial success, often outweighing the benefits of operational diversification. As regional market divides grow, farmers and ranchers are finding that local market conditions and individual circumstances dictate their trajectory more. State-level or even county-level effects are more indicative of their situation than national trends.

3. The 44-Million-Acre Transition.

(Farm Journal)

Nearly 15% of American cropland is projected to change hands within the next three years, driven by generational transfers, continued consolidation and economic pressures. Farm Journal data identifies the Midwest as the epicenter of this shift, with roughly 12 million acres likely to transition. Nationwide, that total reaches a staggering 44 million acres.

4. Mapping the “Sweet Spot” for Expansion.

(Farm Journal)

By plotting cost per cropland acre against the volume of land likely to transition, clear opportunities for expansion emerge. For producers looking to grow their footprint, the most viable opportunities are currently concentrated in Kansas, Texas, North Dakota, Missouri, and Oklahoma, according to this research.

5. Integrity Is the Top Currency in Rental Markets.

(Farm Journal)

When more than 400 landowners were surveyed about tenant selection, integrity ranked as the most critical factor. Interestingly, age was reported as the least important factor. For producers looking to secure rented ground, a reputation for character and experience outweighs both seniority and youth.

6. The “Willingness” Factor in Technology.

(Farm Journal)

Producers most inclined to expand share a common trait: a higher comfort level and rate of adoption with technology. Crucially, this is not necessarily tied to technical skill or existing expertise, but rather to mindset and action. The most growth-oriented producers are defined by their willingness to try new technologies rather than their current mastery of them.

Download the Full Report

Atlanta Fed Chair Bostic Recognizes Sectors of Agriculture Are in Crisis

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:19:59 GMT

Is an economic crisis brewing in farm country? That’s the question Raphael Bostic, outgoing president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, is watching as balance sheets carry over operating expenses into the 2026 season.

“There’s a lot of distress in agricultural marketplaces and in a lot of our agricultural enterprises,” Bostic says. “I do think there’s a significant crisis here.”

During a fireside chat at the 2026 Top Producer Summit , he recognized the challenges facing farmers in today’s financial environment.

“I get to talk to a lot of smaller family farms and I worry about them, especially because the big operations, they are so large scale, it gives you a diversity of possible strategies,” Bostic explains. “You can tap into different types of credit that can allow you to weather volatility a bit more readily, and we don’t see that for a lot of the smaller folks.”

To help, USDA is set to release $12 billion in “ Farmers Bridge Assistance ” payments toward the end of the month.

“This is a short-run patch on something that could be a long-run problem,” Bostic says.

Rising Expenses and the Growing Debt Burden

USDA is expecting net farm income to be $153.4 billion, which is down $4.1 billion from 2025. Economists say this year’s latest outlook continues to reflect declining receipts and an ongoing reliance on help from the government, which is expected to increase by 45% in 2026 alone.

“Total production expenses are forecast to increase almost $5 billion or 1%,” says USDA economist Carrie Litkowski. “On the farm sector balance sheet, assets, debt and equity are all forecast to increase.”

The latest Purdue University - CME Group Ag Economy Barometer in January found 21% of farmers surveyed expect their operating loan to increase over a year ago. Of those, a third say it’s because they’re carrying over unpaid operating debt from the prior year. In 2023 that number was only 5%.

“We know that input prices for a host of products are up,” Bostic says. “We know that competition at a global level is up. We know that the tariffs have put tremendous pressure on the competitiveness of American products overseas because of those dynamics, and we also know many commodity prices haven’t changed to offset these things. These are all incredibly challenging dynamics to wrestle with, and how we move forward is really an open question.”

Fed Policy: Why Patience is Required for Rate Cuts

The Fed’s primary mandate of stable prices and maximum employment provides an environment with predictable growth, giving people the opportunity to invest for the long haul without having to worry about where the economy will be in five to 10 years.

“First we have to diagnose the problem,” Bostic says. “Is this an issue with labor availability, an issue in new technology or shifting climate patterns, etc., and then we need to think about what strategies will work for all of these new things.”

That mandate requires patience in seeing how current monetary policy impacts the market. Bostic notes inflation remains above the Federal Reserve’s target of 2%, but economic growth has been and will continue to be robust. One thing he’s not advocating for is a continuation of interest rate cuts.

“The government shutdown actually prevented a lot of data from being produced, so it is actually going to make the numbers a bit choppier in the next several months,” Bostic explains. “The usual signals we would get from those [reports] are actually going to be weaker than they would be otherwise. For me, that’s another reason why I think we want to be cautious. We want to be patient, and I think that’ll be prudent.”

Patience ahead of additional rate cuts would allow the Federal Reserve to see how tax cuts and deregulation stimulate growth into 2026 before cutting rates, which could spur inflation even further above the Fed’s target.

At the 2026 Top Producer Summit, Raphael Bostic, president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, joins Bill Watts, Pro Farmer editor, to share insights into the economic forces shaping monetary policy and what that could mean for agriculture.

(Farm Journal )

The ag economy is seeing similar challenges to the economy as a whole. Bostic remarks while the top end of the economy is doing remarkably well, there is a growing number of U.S. consumers who are living paycheck to paycheck, evidenced by the increased rhetoric around a K-shaped economy. That has made itself evident in the ag economy by higher consolidation, with big farms getting bigger and smaller farms going out of business.

“This economy has continued to perform well at an aggregate level; consumers have continued to be resilient, and that’s a good thing,” Bostic says. “My outlook is that the resilience we’ve seen for much of 2025 will continue into 2026 and might even get a bit stronger, so we might actually see some of the tax benefits, some of the deregulation, those things could actually spur the economy to do even more than what it did last year.”

Consolidation and the Transformative Potential of AI

The latest red flag, a sluggish labor market has Bostic waiting on data and wondering if technology or AI are having an outsized role in the current new-hire economy.

“When you think about AI, for example, and those technologies, businesses are experimenting with ways to have AI introduced into their production processes to allow productivity that doesn’t require people,” Bostic admits. “You may have heard reports about a lot of entry-level hiring has happened at a much lower pace than it has in previous years. A lot of that is because the promise of AI has folks thinking, well, maybe I don’t need to do those hires, and I can get that same amount of productivity. That’s a structural change.”

From a farming perspective, those opportunities are also presenting themselves. Given the current challenges in agriculture, Bostic says it might be time to look at new ways to build toward the future.

“To the extent that work can be done, that is, generative, without necessarily needing a person to be there all the time, that’s potentially transformative,” Bostic says. “I know the day is long, seasons are hard, and if you can use technology to take two hours out of it that gives you space to do other things. The opportunity there is what do you do with that extra space?”

How the $15 Million Estate Tax Exemption Changes Your Farm Succession Strategy

Mon, 26 Jan 2026 20:05:13 GMT

The world of estate planning for farmers has changed dramatically after the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. This permanently increased the lifetime gift and estate tax exemption to $15 million indexed starting Jan. 1. With the federal estate tax exemption at historically high levels, most family farms are no longer at risk of paying federal estate tax. However, this shift has brought a new focus to income tax planning and the importance of preserving the step-up in basis at death.

Understand the Step-Up in Basis

When a person passes away, the value of their property is generally reset to its fair market value at the date of death. This is known as a “step-up in basis.” For farm families, this is a crucial benefit. Farmland and other agricultural assets often appreciate significantly over time. If heirs inherit these assets, they receive them at the new, higher value. This means that if they later sell the property, they will owe little or no income tax on the appreciation that occurred during the original owner’s lifetime.

Why Estate Tax Is Less of a Concern

With the current high exemption, only the largest farm estates face federal estate tax. For most families, the bigger risk is not estate tax; it’s the potential for large income taxes if the step-up in basis is lost. This can happen if assets are given away during the owner’s lifetime, rather than being passed on at death.

The Pitfalls of Lifetime Gifting

Many farmers consider making large gifts during their lifetime, worried that the estate tax exemption will drop in the future. While this can be a good strategy for very large estates, it can be costly for smaller farm operations. When assets are gifted during life, the recipient takes over the original owner’s basis, which is often much lower than today’s value.

If the recipient later sells the property, they could face a significant income tax bill. In contrast, if the property is inherited, the basis is stepped up to current value, minimizing or eliminating income tax.

Likely the best asset to gift during lifetime is farmland that will be retained in the family for multiple generations. The step-up in this case is not as valuable because we can’t depreciate farmland, and if it is not going to be sold, the heirs are not worse off. Plus, appreciation in farmland can be very volatile and could cause the farm couple to owe estate tax.

Hidden Cost of Gifting Negative Capital

Many farm operations are structured as a partnership for income tax purposes and farms with debt will typically create what is called a negative capital account and, in many cases, this can easily exceed $5 to $10 million for larger farm operations. Gifting any interest in these partnerships during a lifetime will create ordinary income to the farmer because the “debt” eliminated exceeds the basis in the partnership’s assets, which is typically zero. Whereas holding until death eliminates the tax for their heirs. However, a drawback is that the older generation might still be on the hook for the debt until they pass.

For the vast majority of farmers, estate tax planning is now about smart income tax planning. Preserving the step-up in basis at death can save heirs substantial taxes and help keep the family farm in the family. Careful planning today can help protect your family’s legacy for generations to come.

Paul Neiffer has been tracking the latest in tax policy and government programs. Learn more about what you should factor into your farm business and potential tax implications at Top Producer Summit, Feb. 9-11 in Nashville. View the agenda and register today !

Farm Journal Announces 2026 Top Producer Award Finalists

Tue, 16 Dec 2025 17:31:04 GMT

Farm Journal has announced three finalists for the prestigious 2026 Top Producer of the Year Award, honoring some of the most progressive and successful farm operations in the country. The winner and finalists will be formally recognized at the 2026 Top Producer Summit , agriculture’s premier executive-level conference for elite farmers and ranchers, which is set for Feb. 9-11 in Nashville, Tenn. Also presented at the event will be the Next Generation Award and Women in Agriculture Award.

“The Top Producer Awards celebrate operations that are building resilient, innovative and future-focused businesses,” said Margy Eckelkamp, brand leader of Top Producer. “These finalists and award winners represent the very best of modern agriculture: strong family leadership, diversification, technology adoption and an unwavering commitment to excellence.”

2026 Top Producer of the Year Award Finalists:

Alsum Farms, Friesland, Wis. – A multigenerational family operation producing potatoes, pumpkins, hay, alfalfa and other rotational crops across more than 3,600 acres. The business is fully vertically integrated, overseeing production, packing and marketing. Leadership spans generations with the founder serving as CEO since 1981 now working alongside his two daughters who hold leadership roles in the business.

Dalton Farms, Wakeman, Ohio – A seventh-generation family farm led by Rebecca and Edward Dalton. The operation includes 2,000 acres of corn and soybeans, a 400-head cattle herd with direct-to-consumer beef sales and a growing on-farm market offering locally-sourced chicken, pork and maple syrup. Their story reflects both diversification and successful generational transition following a family split in the 1990s.

Splitter Farms, Sterling, Kan. – Led by Matt and Janna Splitter, this Kansas row-crop operation spans 1,400 owned acres with nearly 18,500 acres farmed annually through cash rent and custom work. After the sudden passing of Matt’s father in 2010, the couple returned to the farm and scaled the business using data-driven decision-making, strong landowner relationships and disciplined business management. Notably, this marks the first time a previous Next Generation Award winner has advanced to a Top Producer of the Year finalist.

The 2026 Top Producer of the Year award is sponsored by BASF and Fendt.

2026 Next Generation Award Winner

Tim Nuss, El Dorado Hills/Lodi, Calif., is the 2026 Next Gen Award winner. Nuss farms garlic, tomatoes, peppers, melons, herbs, pumpkins, cucumbers and grains with his father and brother while also building a powerful off-farm ag influencing business. He serves as CFO of Nuss Farms. He’s also head of business development at Polaris Energy Services, an ag tech irrigation company, hosts the “Modern Acre” podcast, and recently co-launched AgList, an online biologicals review and ratings platform designed to bring transparency to the ag inputs marketplace.

The 2026 Next Generation Award is sponsored by Pioneer and Fendt.

2026 Women in Agriculture Award Winner

Helle Ruddenklau, Amity, Ore., is the 2026 Women in Ag Award winner. Ruddenklau Farms in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, growing grass seed, wheat, vegetables, peas and hazelnuts. Originally from Denmark, she immigrated to the U.S. at age 15, later meeting her husband, Bruce, while on an exchange program in New Zealand. In addition to serving as CFO of their farming operation, she is deeply involved in ag advocacy and economic development, working through organizations such as Oregon AgriWomen, AgLaunch and SEDCOR to strengthen regional agriculture through supplier and industry partnerships.

The 2026 Women in Agriculture Award is sponsored by Pro Farmer.

All finalists and award winners will be recognized on stage for their excellence in the business of farming at the 2026 Top Producer Summit, where the nation’s best producers gather to advance leadership, management, technology adoption and succession planning in agriculture. Learn more about Top Producer Summit and Top Producer of the Year awards at tpsummit.com.

Ag Lenders: Just Over Half of Farmers Will Be Profitable in 2024

Wed, 19 Nov 2025 19:13:57 GMT

The American Bankers Association (ABA) and the Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation (Farmer Mac) have released their joint 2024 Ag Lender Survey.

The big takeaway: lenders believe only 58% of farmer borrowers will be profitable in 2024. That’s down from 78% in the previous year’s study.

“The agricultural economy is inherently cyclical, and ag lenders are navigating the changing conditions across the sectors they serve,” said Jackson Takach, chief economist of Farmer Mac.

“While the responses highlight slowing land values and a profitability shift from crops toward animal proteins, ag lenders remain steadfast in leveraging their resources and relationships to guide producers through all parts of the cycle,” Takach says.

Profitability expectations did vary by region and commodity category. Optimism was greater for livestock producers over row crop farmers.

The two top concerns listed by lenders for agricultural producers are liquidity and farm income.

For lending institutions, the respondents said the biggest concern was credit quality along with agricultural loan deterioration in the next 12 months.

“Agricultural credit quality remained robust in 2024, but lenders expect deterioration in the coming year as farmers face a more challenging environment,” said Tyler Mondres, senior director of research at the American Bankers Association. “Lenders are taking prudent steps to manage risk such as tightening underwriting standards, and they remain committed to working with and supporting their borrowers.”

Demand for loans secured by farmland and agricultural production loans increased in 2024, and both categories of loans are expected to rise in the next year as well.

The ABA/Farmer Mac survey has been conducted for nine years, and this year’s responses included more than 450 ag lenders who represent institutions ranging from less than $50 million to more than $1 billion.

You can read the full report here

3 Consumer Trends Farmers Can’t Afford to Ignore

Fri, 21 Jul 2023 18:10:21 GMT

Consumer preferences can totter between fads and trends (think emus versus plant-based meat). For farmers to capitalize on consumer demands, they must be able to sort out what is an of the moment fad or a significant shift, says Rob Dongoski, Ernst & Young food and agriculture leader.

“This is a big challenge in agriculture, since it takes so much time to change course,” he says. “You really have to find the end market first.”

As a partner at Ernst & Young, Dongoski has over 20 years of experience serving clients in the food and agribusiness sectors. He works with a number of Fortune 500, Global 1000 and private companies in advisory and transaction capacities.

Dongoski will speak at the 2023 Top Producer Summit , which runs Jan. 23-25 in Nashville. Register now.

Listen to Rob Dongoski discuss food trends with AgriTalk’s Chip Flory:

In helping clients develop growth strategies, complete buy-side and sell-side transactions and lead significant enterprise transformations, Dongoski has his pulse on some key trends. Here are three he believes farmers should monitor.

Consumers want fresh and uncomplicated food. Overall, Dongoski says, consumers are starting to shift to diets with more fresh food and foods with limited ingredients. “These are things at the perimeter of the grocery store,” he says.
Food miles are becoming mainstream. Local has been thrown around frequently in the last decade in terms of consumer trends. Dongoski says it is now mainstream. “Consumers are tracking food miles, as in how far does it take for strawberry to get to my grocery store? You know, 1,800 miles doesn’t sound very local,” he says.
Younger generations are willing to pay more for food. Baby boomers and Generation X have different views on food than their younger counterparts, Dongoski says. While older generations are not willing to pay more for organic or regenerately grown food, Generation Z and Millennials are willing to do so.

How Farms Can Cash in On Trends

Dongoski says farms of all sizes can capitalize on their trends, but in different ways. Large farms have the ability to scale and work with large companies, while small farms can specialize and find niche markets.

The other big trend shaping the future of farming is the technology used to do it.

“There’s going to be folks who will continue to play a big role in the dirt and there’s going to be farmers who are going to play big roles probably under glass,” he says. “We’ve reached a point where greenhouses, vertical farms and aquaponics play a potential role in our in our food system.”

In either system, Dongoski says data will be key.

Learn more from Dongoski about the future of farming, consumer trends and more at the 2023 Top Producer Summit. Register now!

7 Essential Strategy Considerations

Mon, 08 Jan 2024 15:51:50 GMT

Mark Faust works with owners, CEOs and sales managers who want to grow their businesses.

He says strategy should be like a laser, which can become sharper, more intense, brighter and more effective. And he recommends business managers review their strategy on a quarterly basis.

“Routinely sharpening your strategy gives clarity to your vision to be intensified with greater detail,” Faust says. “What gives you competitive advantage, your points of divergence from the competitive alternatives, can be intensified as well.

How and where you invest your resources, your strategic focus, can be intensified by strategically abandoning weak markets, customers, products and practices and reallocating resources to areas with higher return.”

Faust says objectives must be set in seven key areas:
1. Marketing
2. Innovation
3. Culture
4. Resource requirements
5. Productivity
6. Community, industry and social responsibility
7. Profitability requirements

Semi-Annual Review of Role Focus

The frequency of the strategy recalibration is key, and it’s a must to involve your team.

“When recalibrating your business’s targets quarterly and setting new objectives, it should be done with your team,” he says. “The more this rhythm takes hold, the more your team will contribute innovations and improvements through new objectives.”

He suggests all managers should have one-on-one realignment meetings with each direct report semiannually.

“There are tools to help to illuminate constraints and opportunities for an organization’s management team as well as keep everyone focused on dedicating an appropriate amount of time and focus to the appropriate objectives, projects and priorities,” he says.

Accountability Tools
Faust says business leaders point to their boards, advisers and customers for input.

“We all have blind spots, and having growth advisers and some type of board sharpens your leadership, strategy and execution,” he says. “Quarterly in-depth interviews with customers are one of the most commonly missed steps involved in developing strategy. These interviews should be a requirement.”

Faust has seen how having a third-party interview a sample of customers every quarter brings innovation and new opportunities. He credits this idea to the founder of strategy, Peter Drucker, who said if you’re not listening to the customer regularly, then you’re not doing strategy.

Growth Is Relative
Not all businesses can experience exponential growth.

“But odds are you know right now what type of and how much potential growth your company could have if you execute accordingly,” Faust says. “The key is to use the best practices above and get all you can out of all you’ve got.”

He encourages farmers to see how executing strategy as a quarterly process within their teams will uncover more and more hidden opportunities that facilitate business growth.

Here more from Mark Faust at the upcoming Top Producer Summit. Click here to register.

Q&A With Jackie Applegate, Bayer President of North America Crop Science

Fri, 14 Apr 2023 18:04:11 GMT

Education: Bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Wright State University; Master’s degree from Rockhurst College; Doctorate in organic chemistry from Iowa State University

Career Journey: Applegate began her journey in 1992 as the only female chemist at a Bayer manufacturing facility in Kansas City, Mo. Since then, she’s held a variety of global roles. Currently she’s responsible for the largest business unit in the region.

Valuable book: “21 Laws of Irrefutable Leadership” by John C. Maxwell

Where is the Bayer North America business headed?

We should never forget North America is an essential food producer and exporter for the world. When we look at our reserves, they are not where they used to be — every increased yield farmers can get is essential. We have a responsibility to not only feed our own country but also to help others.

How do you work collaboratively?

At Bayer, we work together as one team and are fully integrated. We focus on the customer experience, the retail partner experience and the employee experience. We often ask: How are we working collaboratively across every function? Only by working in unison can we solve the greatest problems of the farmer.

How can leaders build culture within their teams?

When I was put in charge of the change and culture workstream during the Monsanto/Bayer integration, I learned three valuable behaviors build a strong culture:

Clarity: Leaders need to be clear about their organization’s mission and purpose and what they expect from themselves and others.
Heart: Good leaders show empathy and compassion, which is so important to creating an atmosphere of trust and respect. When people know you are genuinely concerned for their well-being, it fosters an environment in which interactions become open, honest and trusting.
Integrity: Good leaders do the right thing, no matter how difficult or uncomfortable.

What is a valuable piece of leadership advice?

You must stand up and have a voice. When you have a voice and you exercise it, you have the power to do great things for your industry, your team and your family.

Leadership Philosophy

At Top Producer Summit, Applegate shared the importance of OPTICS in leadership:

OPENNESS: When you are open to new things, you create a world of collaboration, connection and creativity.
PURPOSE: As leaders, we need to be engaging, inspiring and motivating people about why they add value to what they do.
TRUST: Some people give trust and some people have to earn it — this determines how you connect with people.
IMAGINATION: “Imagination is more important than knowledge (knowledge is limited).” This quote by Albert Einstein shows how imagination encircles the world.
CUSTOMER-CENTRICITY: Always ask: “Does this add value for a customer?”
SOFT SKILLS: Technical skills may get you to the top, but soft skills are the difference between success and failure. You influence people by how you make them feel.

Read more stories from the 2023 Top Producer Summit:

Preventative Maintenance for Your People: How to Reduce Turnover and Boost Morale

How to Run An Innovation Sprint on Your Farm

Nominate Outstanding Farmers for Awards from Top Producer

Take Time to Celebrate Accomplishments

5 Business Principles That Define Success

Farming Boom or Bust in the Decade Ahead? How to Manage Price Cycles

Be Inspired by Five Remarkable Farm Operations

Ideas Big and Small: Create a Culture of Creativity on Your Farm

The Untold Farmer Stories Of Ukraine: Q&A With Howard Buffett

Mon, 01 Apr 2024 17:15:15 GMT

As a farmer and global philanthropist, Howard Buffett and his namesake, The Howard G. Buffett Foundation, work where others can’t or won’t to address food insecurity, mitigate conflict, combat human trafficking and improve public safety.

After 10 trips to the front line in Ukraine (the first of which was April of 2022), Buffett shared key insights and takeaways to the attendees at the 2024 Top Producer Summit.

As Ukrainians are living day-by-day and the country’s farmers face instability in inputs, destruction of their infrastructure and the threat of landmines scattered in their fields, Buffett encourages U.S. farmers to see the threat to global food security and view this conflict through the eyes of a farmer.

Q: How do you describe your experience in Ukraine?
A: “It’s hard to imagine the amount of destruction. Many farmers lost everything they’ve had. Think about if you were to go home today and your machinery shed is completely shelled, all your equipment is burned, and you don’t know when you’re going to be able to go back in the field because there are hundreds of landmines.”

Q: How has the timing of this war affected global food security?
A: “If we didn’t have the largest corn crop we’ve ever harvested, a five-year high carryover in corn and a four-year high carryover in soybeans, and if South America didn’t have strong yields, the impact of Ukraine would be so much greater than it has been. The timing is such that we’ve avoided a serious crisis around the world with food insecurity so far, but that doesn’t mean it will stay that way.”

Q: How have you seen the support from the U.S. government show up in Ukraine?
A: “We have spent a majority of the money for Ukraine in this country in 31 states, 71 cities and 130 some production lines. We’re emptying out warehouses of ammunition that if we went to war with, we’d be surprised or disappointed with, and we’d be in trouble. I’ve been in a howitzer site, where 40% of the 155 shells firing came from the U.S. misfire, either because the ammunition is old or the electronics are corroded. We’re also replacing very old weapons systems with higher tech weapons systems, so we as the U.S. will be better prepared to fight if we have to fight.”

Q: How is the way this war is being fought different?
A: “Drones are the most important thing right now in this war. Ukraine is lacking air superiority, and that’s been a huge deficit for them and has caused a lot of casualties. The U.S. would not understand how critical drones are today if it weren’t for Ukraine. And I don’t think we’re just learning from a military standpoint; if you look at the resiliency and the commitment and the courage of Ukrainians, they’re teaching us something. After two years of the fight, sometimes you forget how it all started. This is Russia, who’s one of our biggest enemies. They would destroy America tomorrow if they could; they would take away your farm tomorrow if they could; they would take away our freedom and our democracy. They are our enemy, period.”

Q: What is the effort and timing of rebuilding?
A: “I have seen hundreds of villages in rural Ukraine that are completely leveled — there’s nothing left, there’s no families, no one can live there. They’re all mined, and you can’t even go into them. I learned a lesson in Afghanistan, seeing buildings get rebuilt, roads rebuilt in the middle of war. A Navy Seal told me, if you don’t rebuild while the war is still going on, people have no hope. If people cannot see to the future, if they cannot have any faith things are going to change, and they’re going to get better, they give up, and it gets hard to go on. So, in Ukraine, we are building schools, and we’re building police stations.”

Q: What do farmers need?
A: “As part of the Victory Harvest program, we have sent 74 combines, 84 tractors, drills and auger wagons. And so now we’ve helped get 260,000 acres of crops harvested and close to 160,000 acres planted. Some of you guys have had your own experiences with fertilizer shortages, but these farmers don’t get to buy fertilizer or walk into a bank and get an operating loan.”

There are a few groups Buffett recommends to farmers wanting to help other farmers. Farmerhood was started by a Ukrainian woman whose husband was fighting on the front line. Others include Save Ukraine and Super Humans .

Q: How can agricultural equipment be used for de-mining?
A: “There are hundreds of thousands of acres to de-mine. There are still farmers dying every week because of land mines. Our new project is to take what we know about equipment and apply it to de-mining with both verification and clearance. We’ve got about 11 acres and four bulldozers and four tractors dedicated to our testing — focused on using what we have and using GPS to map where we’ve run and verified where there are mines or not. The idea right now is to take a tracked John Deere 8360R, put a LaForge three point on it and build a protection plate with two rollers in the front and a big roller behind us. We are going to bring efficiency, safety and speed to this by taking technology and applying it in a completely different way.”

Q: What about the grain successfully grown and harvested in Ukraine?
A: “Of the wheat harvested in Ukraine this year, 28% of the crop is from occupied territories, which means Russia stole it. We’re putting out fires trying to figure out how to move grain out of the country. We’ve bought thousands of Ag Bags and are buying more. And we’re working toward structuring something to make it easier for Ukrainian farmers to move grain — but it’s not simple.”

Q: What are the consequences to U.S. agriculture if Russia wins?
A: “If Russia wins, they will export all the fertilizer and the crops they can as cheaply as they can to compete with us. And then worse than that, Russia will fuel all the conflicts so they are able to maintain control of the Black Sea.”

In his latest book , Howard Buffett documents the atrocities committed against Ukrainians, as well as their suffering, resilience and courage. “Courage of a Nation” documents the first two years of war in Ukraine following Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, and showcases a compilation of the thousands of images Buffett has captured over the 10 trips he has taken since the start of the war.

Business Skills for Young Farmers

Fri, 13 Nov 2020 05:57:03 GMT

The 2011 Tomorrow’s Top Producer program focused on business education to help farmers age 35 and under grow their businesses, manage employees and hone their marketing skills.

“I came for the education, but mostly I like talking to other top farmers and hearing their stories,” says Benjie Stranz of Westfield, Ill.

Stranz was among the 200 attendees who gathered in Chicago in late January on the eve of the Top Producer Seminar to network with young producers and learn from other farmers, market analysts and experts from across the nation.

Read the following highlights from the event and mark your calendar now for the Top Producer Summer Seminar, which will also include a Tomorrow’s Top Producer track. The event will be held June 7 and 8 at the Isle of Capri Conference Center in Bettendorf, Iowa.

Manage Like a CEO

Who is the boss on your farm? Does that person only “boss” others or does he or she manage them?

Dick Wittman of Wittman Consulting says the key to creating strong leadership for a farm or ranch is to clearly define goals, values, mission and vision for the operation.

“Not having a plan can be one of the most devastating things for most families,” Wittman explains.

Once everyone knows the direction the farm is headed, the right people can be empowered to work together as a team to lead the operation.

Wittman says that an ideal manager:

is a facilitator, not a boss;
empowers people and doesn’t micromanage;
focuses on people, resources, information and technology;
thinks strategically;
promotes teamwork, positive thinking and professionalism; and
is willing to be held accountable.

“Above all, you need to avoid bossing,” he advises.

Work On Your Business, Not Just In It

Farmers are known for their work ethic and tireless labor. But your farm will often benefit more from time spent working on your business, not just in it, says Darren Frye, president and CEO of Water Street Solutions.

Frye challenges young producers to recognize when they are playing the role of entrepreneur, manager or technician on the farm. He says technician jobs, such as planting, livestock chores and marketing, can be hired out, but a business owner must focus on building and communicating a business plan and vision for the future.

“If you want the farm to grow and advance, you have to move into a role on the farm that leads the business forward,” Frye explains.

Become the Go-To Farmer

You might be the best farmer to do business with in your area, but do other people know that?

Bret Oelke, an educator with University of Minnesota Extension, says that how you position yourself as a farmer will determine your success with buyers and suppliers.

“As a progressive ag business, you need a mission statement,” Oelke explains. “You need to have personal and professional missions, visions and goals.”

Oelke says you need to craft a positioning statement for your operation. The statement is a precursor to branding that will allow you to emphasize how you will interact with the businesses with which you will negotiate.

Ask yourself:

What do we do best?
Who is our target customer?
What needs do we fulfill for our customers?
Who is our competition?
What makes us different from our competitors?

“You need to know what sets you apart from your competitors,” Oelke says. “Your competition is anyone that farms around you.”

Once you create a positioning statement for your operation, Oelke says, you should commit it to memory. Be ready to recite it when you are negotiating input costs, lending rates and rental
agreements.

Louisiana Farmer Wins Sustainability Award

Today’s young producers must balance the financial, environmental and societal impacts of agriculture. In recognition of this responsibility, Ryan Kirby, a 3,500-acre farmer from Belcher, La., was named the winner of the 2011 Tomorrow’s Top Producer Sustainability Award, presented by Top Producer and sponsored by Bayer CropScience, at the Tomorrow’s Top Producer meeting on Jan. 25 in Chicago.

Kirby says his goal is to provide a stable farm income for his family while benefiting the environment. At 33, he shows a passion for agriculture and for growing cotton, corn, soybeans and wheat sustainably by using water-conserving irrigation systems, precision application of fertilizer and inputs and diversified crop rotations.

“Bayer CropScience and Top Producer recognize that the younger generation of growers will need to demonstrate sustainability to their buyers and the end consumer more than ever before,” says Nick Hamon, vice president and head of sustainability for Bayer CropScience. “We want to reward those producers who show sustainable practices in their farming operations today and who plan to grow sustainably in the future.”

In his application, Kirby defined sustainability in agriculture as “the ability of agriculture to feed the entire world population without sacrificing the long-term viability or health of anything that
agriculture affects, from the farmer to the consumer and the environment.”

Kirby received a Toughbook laptop computer and a scholarship to attend Farm Journal’s Corn College educational seminar this summer.

Build Flexibility into Marketing

The best thing young producers can do to enhance their marketing is to build flexibility into their marketing plan, says Chip Flory, editor of Pro Farmer. “Farmers do this by understanding futures and options,” he says. “Once you learn how to use futures and options, it gives you all kinds of flexibility in your planning and decision making.”

For example, if you make a bad decision and hedge corn at $5 and it goes to $5.60, using futures and options can get you out of that hedge, Flory says.

The other important thing to know in marketing is your local basis and how it can change. “When marketing your grain, you have to know your basis and how it compares to the three-year average,” Flory adds.

With this information, you can pick the right tool from your marketing toolbox.

Thank You to Our Tomorrow’s Top Producer 2011 Sponsors

Agrotain, Bayer CropScience, Cargill and Pioneer Hi-Bred

Tomorrow's Top Producer Sustainability Award

Fri, 13 Nov 2020 05:56:52 GMT

Are you a young producer who demonstrates excellence in business and environmental sustainability? Then apply today to win the Tomorrow’s Top Producer Sustainability Award.

Entrants are judged on entrepreneurial initative and new approaches to farming (50%), environmental and other on-farm sustainability efforts (30%) and economic stability and sustainability (20%). Any farmer or rancher age 35 and under who receives at least half of his or her income from farming and farm-related ventures may apply.

To apply, complete the entry form (below) and send a letter of reference from an accountant, banker, input dealer/representative or agribusiness leader.

First Place wins a new laptop computer and expense paid trips to the 2011 Tomorrow’s Top Producer Seminar in Chicago, Jan. 25, 2011 and Farm Journal Corn College during the summer of 2011.

Winners agree to be recognized in articles published in Top Producer magazine and online. Any financial information remains confidential unless entrants agree to its release.

Deadline: Jan. 3, 2011

Download the application form.

The award is sponsored by:

Learn about the 2011 Top Producer Seminar.

Making the Next Management Step

Fri, 23 Sep 2022 21:31:57 GMT

Farmers looking to grow their acreage are not uncommon. Those who are willing to do what it takes to get there, however, is another matter altogether, says Allen Lash, CEO of Family Farms LLC.

Lash, who presented at this week’s Top Producer Seminar on Thursday morning, says there are four basic principles farmers should embrace if they want to break through a management level that allows their farms to grow. For a typical Midwest corn and soybean operation, that is at an acreage level of 10,000 acres.

The four factors are:
· Organization Success
· Entity Structure Issues
· Capital Access
· Control Systems

Organization Structure. Developing a management attitude is often the most difficult task for many farmers to embrace. Why? Most farmers are used to doing the tasks of farming and not managing the people who do these tasks.

“This is not unique to agriculture,” Lash says. “It’s any business. And it’s not about managing the task doers, it’s about managing the people who manage the task doers.”

Those who don’t want to move to that level are often faced with hitting what Lash calls a glass ceiling on farm size. Delegating tasks to employees makes it possible for farmers to develop a sound entity structure.

Entity Structure Issues. Businesses need to consolidate their entities and coordinate activities across their entities.

Capital Access. As farms grow larger, financial partners must be evaluated and come to the realization that the same financial partners may not fit the needs of larger operations. At the same time, the information farms provide to these financial partners may not be adequate anymore. With higher financial requirements, the more information your financial health will be required.

Control Systems. This is a major concern for many farmers who grow to the point where they aren’t the task doers. By giving up the day-to-day work, they are losing control of the factors that drove them to their original success.

“You maintain the control by setting expectations and making sure there is follow up. People will do what you inspect, not what you expect.”

How to Reduce Time-Suckers on Your Farm

Fri, 23 Sep 2022 21:31:03 GMT

Reduce time-suckers on your farm to improve results

Which items on your to-do list do you dread? Do you delay a task because it’s harder than it needs to be? When tasks are too complex, you waste time and lose motivation, says Susan Hite of Hite Resources, a certified facilitator of complexity reduction for Bayer CropScience in the U.S.

In November, Hite spoke at the 2012 Executive Women in Agriculture conference in Chicago about the complexity reduction program that she developed for Bayer, based on the book From Complexity to Simplicity by Simon Collinson and Melvin Jay.

“Reducing complexity is a simple, yet profound way to reduce stress and increase profits on your farming operation,” Hite says. Below are nine behaviors that hinder progress. Once you identify which behaviors you or those within your farming operation exhibit, you can begin to eliminate unnecessary complexity.

Hite says the best way to start reducing complexity is to lead by example. “You have to model the way. Demonstrate your commitment to show you are always making things simpler yourself and improving your own behaviors.”

Also, realize that this is an ongoing process. “Continually challenging anything is not simple,” Hite says. “Keep asking: Is this the simplest way?”

TINKERING

This includes making minor changes that do not add up to something substantially better. Make sure you recognize when something is good enough, and stop trying to make it 100% perfect.

OVERANALYSIS

Do you make the decision-making process more intellectual than it needs to be? Determine which details are important, make a decision based on the facts and be ready to act.

REINVENTING

You can always improve a process or product. But creating a new way of doing something just for the sake of trying something new can be a waste of both time and energy. Determine what you do well enough and what needs improvement, and move on.

AVOIDANCE

When multiple people are involved in an operation, you might think you need to get everyone’s approval. Rather than confronting an issue directly, you focus on the politics. Don’t sweep big decisions under the rug.

MISTRUST

Trust is a huge motivator. Do you have processes in place to “manage” people rather than enable them to do the work? Remove these, then trust those around you to hold up their end of the task.

LACK OF FOCUS

The last time a meeting took twice as long as expected, what was the cause? Was it because the agenda was all over the place and you were focused on too many small projects or activities? Prioritize and focus your efforts on tasks that matter.

EMBELLISHING

In hopes of having the last word, we will often add more words, bigger words, more stages or more points to an already perfect plan. Or we might just repeat what the last person said. Cut the extra words and steps to equal more action. When you hear a good idea, go with it and don’t complicate it.

AIMLESSNESS

When you fail to set a clear direction from the start during a meeting or new project, discussion can quickly result in your wandering aimlessly in the wrong direction. Identify your objective and stick to it.

ADDING WITHOUT TAKING AWAY

How many irons do you have in the fire? Taking advantage of a new opportunity is great—just be sure to remove something less important from your responsibilities first.

See Through the Fog: 4 Economic Forces at Play

Tue, 25 Jul 2023 17:18:44 GMT

The global economy is facing numerous headwinds and tailwinds. Many of the forces at play will impact your farm.

“Fog is something we’ve been dealing with in all facets of the economy,” says Jackson Takach, chief economist and senior director of strategy, research and analytics at Farmer Mac .

At the 2022 Top Producer Summit, which takes place Feb. 14-16 in Nashville, Takach will present: Seeing Through the Fog: How Global Economic Forces Will Impact U.S. Ag in 2022

Listen in as Takach visits with AgriTalk Host Chip Flory:

What are the factors on Takach’s radar?

1. Consumer Demand

“For me, it all starts with demand,” he says. “What are consumers demanding and how healthy is the economy in our top trading partners? As much as I never want to say COVID again in my entire life, it’s still hanging around. We have to talk about how it will impact some of the recoveries that we’re seeing in foreign markets.”

2. China’s Economic Growth

After seeing dramatic growth, China’s economy has cooled. What will the near-term future hold?

“It’s not going to be the same sort of recovery that it experienced in 2021,” Takach says. “Most economists are looking at something like a 4% to 5% GDP.”

While that is solid growth, especially during the aftermath of COVID, it is down significantly from the 8%, 9% or 10% GDP China posted just a few years ago.

3. U.S. Inflation and Interest Rates

The all-items consumer price index (CPI) for January was up 7.5% from a year ago, according to the Department of Commerce. In December, the CPI rose 7%. Minus food and energy prices, the core CPI rose 6%, the largest 12-month change since August 1982.

These dramatic jumps in inflation hit the farmgate in several ways, Takach says. Anything related to energy, including fertilizer, is up significantly.

Related, he is watching the forecast for interest rate hikes.

“The market is betting 100% there’s going to be a raise in March,” he says. “The question is how much. Increases to short-term rates will directly add to the cost of operating expenses.”

While most banks have probably locked in or priced their operating loans to farmers for this year, there will likely be upward pressure for next year.

“The good news is there is still some time to do some balance sheet management,” Takach says. “Farmers can maybe fix their interest rate costs and restructure to take advantage of very low interest rates.”

4. Farmland Values

Last year brought record after record in farmland values. Takach says he’s keeping an eye on how higher farmland values impact cash rental rates.

“Typically, we see a sort of snowball into higher rental rates,” he says. “It doesn’t happen right away, but as land values go up, it’s going to drive up the rental rates too. So that’s another step towards those higher input prices.”

Register for the Top Producer Summit!

From Feb. 14-16, Top Producer is bringing together more than 40 speakers in Nashville. Take time away from the farm to discover business opportunities, gain invaluable insights and increase your competitive advantage.

Can’t make it to Nashville?

Join Top Producer the following week (Feb. 22-23) for exclusive content and some recordings from the in-person event.

Read More

Meet 6 Cutting-Edge and Farmer-Focused Companies

Is Your Farm Ready for a CTO?

12 Must-Attend Online Top Producer Summit Sessions

Learn and Network at the 2022 Top Producer Summit

5 Transformations Happening in China That Will Affect Your Farm

Tue, 25 Jul 2023 14:17:49 GMT

China contains the largest population of any country in the world. All those mouths drive demand across the globe and for your farm’s products.

“Chinese domestic policies have consequences for the global market,” says Wendong Zhang , Iowa State University Extension economist.

Zhang grew up in rural northeast China (his rural county was home to more than 1 million people and more than 100 million people across the globe share his last name). To set the stage for what farmers should know about China to understand the trade war, he provides a few key facts.

Mainland China and the continental U.S. are about the same size and cover similar latitude ranges.

The U.S. is home to 329 million people, while China is home to 1.4 billion.
The U.S. has around 17% of all the arable land in the world, with 4% of global population. China has nearly 20% of the population and 11% of the world’s arable land.

During the online Top Producer Summit, Wendong Zhang presented “5 Transformations Happening in China That Will Affect Your Farm.” Learn more here .

Zhang says farmers should understand these facts and trends about China.

Transformation 1: Exports to China Are Losing Steam

While the sheer size of China’s population drives the global economy, Zhang predicts these trends will slow the country’s food demand from key trade partners, such as the U.S.

“Exports to China are very consequential; they’re actually one of the key factors why we started seeing $5 and $6 corn since the fall of 2020,” Zhang says.

China committed to purchases nearly $40 billion per year of U.S. agricultural products for the first two years (2020 and 2021) of the phase one agreement , which was signed on Jan. 15, 2020.

“Even though China has substantially increased their ag purchases they are still behind the very ambitious target of the phase one deal,” Zhang says. “The phase one deal left enough leeway to say purchases are contingent on market prices.”

Due in part to the COVID-19 pandemic and related impacts on global demand, China missed its commitment by about 30%.

In 2020, U.S. agricultural exports to China totaled $26.4 billion, up $12.6 billion from 2019. In 2021, ag exports hit a record $33 billion — up 25% from 2020.

“A lot of people would only attribute this increase to the phase one deal,” Zhang says. “But the bigger force is related to the hog recovery and rebuilding following African swine fever in China. As they were rebuilding, they needed more feed grain. So, they bought record amounts of corn from the United States. They were also having protein gaps, so they bought a lot more pork and beef, especially in the latter half of 2020 and early 2021.”

Transformation 2: China is Diversifying Its Trading Partners

Even though China has increased its business with the U.S. in terms of ag goods, the country is also building more trade linkages with competitors of the U.S., Zhang says. One key way is through tariffs.

“The average tariff on U.S. products rose from 8% in 2018 to an average of 20% today,” he says. “Likewise, U.S. tariffs on Chinese products rose from 3% in 2018 to today’s 19%.”

But, at the same time, China actually lowered tariffs for competitors of the U.S. The average tariff for other countries decreased from 8% to 6%.

(Farm Journal)

Zhang says China has also shown greater interest in expanding trade deals: “In a way this is China’s way of saying it embraces free trade.”

Transformation 3: China’s Population is Aging and Growing Richer

In 2020, China’s population hit 1.41 billion, with an average annual growth rate of 0.053% since 2010 (the lowest 10-year growth rate since its first population census in 1953).

In addition, China’s population structure is changing, Zhang says. A growing share of residents are older than 65 and the birth rate is declining.

(Farm Journal)

“With an aging population and a declining fertility rate, China’s population pattern increasingly resembles developed countries,” he says. “China’s population shift and income growth will increase demand for consumer-oriented products such as meat and vegetables, dairy and wine products versus bulk and intermediate products. It’s the income, not necessarily the population, that really drives the quantity and the configuration of the exports.”

In addition, consumers in China are slowly trading up their protein choices. The transition from vegetable proteins to animal-based proteins is now including more beef , which is creating more demand and value for U.S. cattle.

“Chinese people eat on average less than 10 lb. per person per year,” Zhang says. “But when you have 1.4 billion in population, just 1 lb. more could still lead to a substantial increase in the global market.”

(Farm Journal)

Transformation 4: The Focus on High-Speed Transportation

The Belt and Road Initiative was partially put on hold due to the pandemic, Zhang says. But China is still focused on creating a more efficient transportation system for the country and connecting it to its Asian neighbors.

Recently a high-speed railway was completed between Kunming and Loas. The project took around five years to complete, and it cut travel time from two days to three hours.

When Zhang left China in 2009 to attend college in the U.S., not a single mile of high-speed rail existed in country. Today China is home to15,500 miles of high-speed track — the largest high-speed railway in the world.

(Farm Journal)

Zhang says China is also improving its trucking system with cold-chain technologies and equipment so they can transport meat versus live animals.

Transformation 5: U.S. and Chinese Politics Will be Key in 2022

This year China and the U.S. will hold midterm elections around the same time, Zhang says. President Xi Jinping will likely earn his third term.

“A lot of the analysts will say that it’s the president, Xi probably will be here for at least a decade, if not more,” Zhang says. “The room for collaboration probably become narrower because of the upcoming elections.”

Zhang points out Xi and President Biden had their first meeting (which was virtual) last November.

“Because U.S. and China relations are so important the first meeting typically happens within the first two or three months of when a new U.S. president in office — not almost a year later,” he says. “When you look broadly at the U.S. and Chinese political relationship, were probably expecting a bumpy relationship for the next decade.”

If you want to learn more about China, Zhang recommends these three books:

“The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom” by John Pomfret
“China’s Economy” by Arthur R. Kroeber
“Invisible China: How the Urban-Rural Divide Threatens China’s Rise” by Scott Rozelle and Natalie Hell

Visit Iowa State University’s China Ag Center

Read More
Why China’s Taste for Beef Is Growing

Population Peak: How China’s Demographics Could Impact U.S. Agriculture

Eyes Wide Shut? US Agriculture Faces China Reckoning

While America Slept, China Stole the Farm

You can still register for the Online Top Producer Summit , which gives you access to content through March 31. Use the code “VIRTUAL” to take 50% off your registration fee.

Read more coverage of the Top Producer Summit .

5 Ways to Ready Your Farm and Family for a Successful Succession

Fri, 18 Feb 2022 21:53:19 GMT

If you want to see your farm succeed with the next generation of family members, make sure you have the right structure in place – and set it up sooner than later.

There can be huge costs if you don’t set up the structure correctly, say Paul Neiffer, CPA and principal with CliftonLarsonAllen, and Rena Striegel, owner of Transition Point Business Advisors. They hosted a session on farm succession planning during the 2022 Top Producer Summit in Nashville.

Here are five takeaways from their presentation and discussion on AgriTalk.

1. Take into consideration the financial side of the business.

On the financial side, Neiffer says farmers can relieve much of the stress they encounter by having real-time data at their fingertips to monitor their progress and results. That sounds obvious, but too many farmers are still unable to do that.

Accrual financial statements can help you know your costs and monitor your actual costs against a budget, so you can adjust accordingly.

“If you adopt accrual accounting, you will be so much better off,” Neiffer says. “Too many farmers today still aren’t using it.”

If you don’t understand how to implement accrual accounting practices, you’re not alone. Reach out to a farm CPA in your area or online and learn how to put it into practice.

2. Start the succession process while the next generation of farmers is still young.

“The farms that have done succession the best start when the kids are learning the tough stuff – how to pick up rocks and pull weeds,” Striegel says. “You’re stamping out entitlement at a very young age.”

In the process, Striegel says you are teaching the next generation about the psychological ownership of a farm.

“They learn that the farm is theirs to care for and not that it’s theirs to simply benefit and draw (a paycheck) from,” Striegel says. “The next generation needs to understand how to care for the farm, the people and everything around that operation – from the family relationships, to employees, the livestock and the crops.”

3. Give the next generation a combination of responsibility and accountability.

Often, the older generation has a difficult time delegating jobs and tasks to the younger generation. “Often it’s because there’s a lack of trust that the job will be done the way the current generation wants it done,” Striegel says.

But delegate you must, in order for the next generation to be equipped for succession when the time comes to formally transition the farming operation.

Start with small steps and build upon them, she advises.

“Set expectations and know what you’re going to do when they aren’t accountable,” she recommends. “If you can get that level of openness in your conversations when your kids are younger, by the time you get to a transition conversation or a succession discussion, it is so much easier, because you’re used to talking to each other. You’ve already had some tough conversations about behavior or performance.”

Accountability isn’t about keeping your thumb on the person, micro-managing their every move, Neiffer adds.

“It’s being clear about what you expect and saying how you’ll determine whether the expectation is met,” he says. “It can prevent a lot of frustration in the operation and be a real positive.”

4. Play to people’s strengths, even while they’re still youngsters.

If the operation has more than one family member that you expect to take over the farm reins in the future, consider how to equip each person according to their talents and abilities.

Along the way, provide training and coaching.

Neiffer relates his personal experiences about how he and his brother have different aptitudes and that their parents understood that so both boys could succeed.

“In my family, I was the financial person from an early age,” he recalls. “Growing up, I was dealing with the finances with my mother because she had the math brain. My brother did more of the production and learned from my dad. I can drive a combine, but I’m still better with spreadsheets, and that’s OK.”

The important thing is, help your children embrace what they’re good at and emphasize those abilities and skills for their personal development and for the farm.

5. Understand that a succession plan is not linear. Adapt accordingly.

Anticipate that there will be changes on the road to succession for your farm, so adopt an attitude of flexibility, Striegel says.

With a plan in place you have a tool that you can modify to fit what your family and farm need over time.

“Having a plan in place can help alleviate stress, even if things change,” Neiffer says. “Keep in mind that farming is a dynamic business and your plan needs to be, too.”

Hear the complete discussion between Striegel and Neiffer on AgriTalk here:

The Three C’s of Succession Planning

Is My Grantor Trust Safe?

Top Producer Summit: Succession Planning: From ‘Grunt’ to CEO

Nominate Outstanding Farmers for Top Honors

Fri, 28 Jul 2023 14:31:07 GMT

The 2023 Top Producer Summit will be held Jan. 23–25 in Nashville. During the Summit, Top Producer will recognize remarkable farmers who have taken risks, built thriving businesses and given back to their communities.

The entry deadline for each award is Sept. 30.

2023 Top Producer of the Year

The award honors three producers whose operations are at the forefront of agriculture and crowns one winner. Entrants are judged on entrepreneurial originality (50%), financial and business progress (30%) and industry or community leadership (20%). All three finalists receive trips to the Summit, CEO coaching sessions and other prizes. The winner also receives a lease of a Case IH tractor. Learn more.

2023 Tomorrow’s Top Producer Horizon Award

The award recognizes farmers 35 and under who represent the next generation of esteemed farm leaders. Entrants are judged on entrepreneurial originality (50%), financial and business progress (30%) and leadership (20%). The winner receives a trip to the Summit, a drone and other prizes. Learn more.

2023 EWA Trailblazer Award

This award is given to a female producer who is a shining example for her peers. Entrants are judged on agricultural advocacy (50%), farm business innovation (30%) and industry or community leadership (20%). The winner receives a trip to the Summit and leadership or succession planning consulting sessions. Learn more.

30 Minutes With Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins In Her First Week On the Job

Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:23:17 GMT

Since Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024 , Brooke Rollins has been focused on how to build the teams and the plans that impact the trajectory of agriculture and rural America. On that day, while en route with her husband and four teenagers in their motor home to Auburn, Ala., for the Texas A&M football game, she got a call from now President Donald Trump. The purpose of his call: She was his top choice to fill his final significant cabinet position, Secretary of Agriculture.

Obviously, she had to wait for confirmation, which came last week on Feb.13 when the Senate overwhelmingly confirmed her as the 33^rd Secretary of Agriculture , but since that Saturday before Thanksgiving, she’s been on the go with an accelerated enthusiasm to understand the significant challenges facing rural communities that lost 147,000 family farms between 2017 and 2022 and why the cost of inputs are up 30% as exports are down $37 billion this year and likely to fall further in the months to come.

“This is a crisis, and this is something that I understand inherently,” Rollins said to kick off Top Producer Summit in Kansas City on Tuesday. “My promise to you is this, and my commitment will never waver, that every minute of every day for the next four years I will do everything within my power, with hopefully God’s hand on all of us and our work, to ensure we are not just entering the golden age for America, as my boss, President Trump, likes to say, but we are entering the golden age for agriculture.”

What Has Rollins Been Up to the Past Four Years?
Secretary Rollins and President Trump have worked together for almost eight years. She was in the West Wing with him for years two, three and four of his first term running his domestic policy agenda.

“This real estate guy from New York City brought that vision to life, and then in the last term, was able to really do some remarkable things,” Rollins said in regard to President Trump returning power to the people who just want a chance at the American dream. “I call it the great pause, the four years in between term one and term two. But I think the great pause allowed very intentional planning. It allowed a courageous and bold leader in President Trump to become a fearless leader and to do everything he can to bring America back to greatness.”

In the “dark days of January 2021,” as she described, Secretary Rollins helped launch the America First Policy Institute, a think tank established by former Trump officials to promote conservative policies. The idea was that those policies that made America great in Trump’s first term would continue indefinitely, not just for a second term, but for four years, eight years or 36 years, Rollins described.

First Week On the Job
Since being confirmed last week, Secretary Rollins has been in the Washington, D.C., USDA office for a few hours, but most of her time has been spent in Kentucky at National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville and Gallrein Farms and in Kansas visiting Finney’s County Feeder, High Plains Ponderosa Dairy and the National Beef Packing Plant .

Describing herself as “a reader and a studier,” Rollins seems adamant to hear firsthand from farmers and ranchers. She referenced her visits to the dairy farm and National Beef facility as inspiring, in a good way but also in a way that helps her understand the real challenges at hand.

Speaking to the crowd at Top Producer Summit, she shared her appreciation for the “entrepreneurial American game changers” who are doing their part to feed the world.

“It is so inspiring and a reminder of the very beginning of our country.” Rollins said. “Our revolution was fought by farmers, our Founding Fathers, like Thomas Jefferson and George Washington. The backbone of the great American experiment is this community.”

Thank you @topproducermag for hosting @RogerMarshallMD and me in Kansas City, Missouri, with 1,000 of the Top Producers from across the US to talk about issues like expanding trade access and cutting regulatory red tape for farmers.

Biden’s ZERO trade deals and inflationary… pic.twitter.com/ejMxKxkRMG
— Secretary Brooke Rollins (@SecRollins) February 19, 2025

Farmer Q&A
Watch and listen to what Secretary Rollins, as well as Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas, had to say on stage at Top Producer Summit about these 7 topics:

Trade and tariffs — “ Let’s go barnstorm the world , and let’s go find some more trade partners and access [to market opportunities],” Rollins said.
Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) efforts and modernizing USDA — “DOGE is a very valid and important effort across all government. The stories of waste and abuse were really just, not USDA specific but across government, beginning,” Rollins said.
Federal programs, such as CSP and EQIP — “Our commitment is that if there have been commitments made, those will be honored. Getting our arms around all of that right now is really, really, important. Again, going back to the President’s heart and commitment to our farmers, I feel confident we will be able to solve any issues that are in front of our ag community, that are potentially being compromised by the DOGE effort, while at the same time recognizing how very, very important it is,” Rollins said.
Future of USDA — “There’s no question USDA needs some modernization. I’m just beginning to lean into that as well,” Rollins said. USDA has 106,000 employees and 29 departments. “The Secretary is taking over a department where only 6% of the [D.C.] people work in the office,” Marshall added.
Renewable fuels — Prior to President Trump’s first term, he was “the first major candidate to support biofuels, and I think that carried him through Iowa in many ways. … We’ve got E15 year-round. I think that gives us some certainty as well. … The President is supporting that. I think we’re trying to figure out how to save 45Z, but we can’t let China benefit from it. Right now, China is benefiting more from [45Z] than my farmers and ranchers are, so we’ve got to fix that,” Marshall says.
Immigration policies and availability of long-term labor — “I have a full-bodied understanding of the challenges within the labor market, and I believe the President does too. … I believe that we will very soon be talking about it again. Clearly, the H-2A program needs significant reform, and Lori Chavez-DeRemer, she’s going through the [confirmation] process right now. … Hopefully she’ll get her vote very soon. We’ve got a lot of work to do,” Rollins said.
Trump’s cabinet members — “Our cabinet is comprised of people that have been working together and have been friends and colleagues for years, with a few exceptions. Bobby Kennedy is a new friend, but Lee Zeldin and I worked together in America First Works and America First Policy Institute for the last almost four years, Linda McMahon in education and John Brooks — these are our people,” Rollins said.

Stabenow Finally Releases Full Text of Senate Farm Bill; Here's What It Means for Agriculture

Stabenow unveiled 1,397-page details of her long-awaited farm bill Monday morning. This comes as early Sunday evening Pro Farmer broke the news that Senate Ag Chairwoman (D-Mich.) had briefed Democrats but not Republicans on her coming farm bill text, which was expected to be released Monday.

Stabenow said in a news release and summary of the bill , “The foundation of every successful farm bill is built on holding together the broad, bipartisan farm bill coalition. This is a strong bill that invests in all of agriculture, helps families put food on the table, supports rural prosperity, and holds that coalition together.”

BREAKING: Chairwoman @SenStabenow Introduces Rural Prosperity and Food Security Acthttps://t.co/qRunZlk6zj
— Senate Ag, Nutrition, & Forestry Committee Dems (@SenateAgDems) November 18, 2024

The Rural Prosperity and Food Security Act includes $39 billion in new resources “to keep farmers farming, families fed, and rural communities strong.” The bill builds on the proposal Stabenow released in May by investing new resources and including innovative, new ideas to deliver the assistance farmers need faster.

It provides farmers with the certainty of a 5-year farm bill and the immediate help they need to manage the urgent needs of the present. It doubles down on our commitment to rural communities, ensures that the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) keeps up with the realities of American life, and brings the historic investments in climate-smart conservation practices into the farm bill. These new investments include:

$20 billion to strengthen the farm safety net to support all of agriculture and establishes a permanent structure for disaster assistance so emergency relief reaches farmers faster;
$8.5 billion to help families make ends meet, put food on the table, and improve access to nutrition assistance;
$4.3 billion to improve quality of life in the rural communities that millions of Americans call home.”

Farm CPA Paul Neiffer has already combed through the bill, and says, “This is our first preview of the Senate Farm Bill Proposal. There appears to be some benefit to production Ag, however, many of the proposals seem to penalize production ag such as the following:

Very limited increase in base acres
Restriction on payments due to ownership of farmland by higher AGI individuals or entities
Reduction in AGI limits
No change to definition of farm income
Possible limit on PLC payments
Items that may benefit production ag include:
Permanent ERP (although this is a very messy program)
Partial advance payments of ARC and PLC
Automatic 2023 and 2024 ARC or PLC decisions”

Senate GOP Ag Committee Ranking Member Reacts

Senate Ag Committee ranking member John Boozman (R-Ark.) on X wrote: “An 11th hour partisan proposal released 415 days after the expiration of the current farm bill is insulting. America’s farmers deserve better.”

“An 11th hour partisan proposal released 415 days after the expiration of the current farm bill is insulting. America’s farmers deserve better.” RM @JohnBoozman
— Senate Ag Committee Republicans (@SenateAgGOP) November 18, 2024

Meanwhile, the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) issued the following statement:

“Though America’s pork producers appreciate Chairwoman Stabenow’s efforts to publish Farm Bill text, this is simply not a viable bill, as it fails to provide a solution to California Prop. 12,” said NPPC President Lori Stevermer, a pork producer from Easton, Minn. “Pork producers have continually spoken up about the negative impacts of this issue, and it is a shame these conversations were disregarded.”

In May, NPPC secured 100 percent of pork producers’ priorities in the House Agriculture Committee-passed bipartisan 2024 Farm Bill. In June, producers once again secured all policy priorities in Senate Agriculture Committee Ranking Member John Boozman’s 2024 Farm Bill framework.

NPPC said it urges both chambers of Congress to swiftly consider and pass a Farm Bill this year that includes a fix to California Proposition 12, a state law that places arbitrary housing standards on the pork industry, creating uncertainty for pork producers as they look to continue their operations to the next generation.

Additional Impact on Agriculture from Farm CPA

In a post this morning, Paul Neiffer of Farm CPA Report included a quick preview of the items that jumped out at him relative to the farm bill details released by Stabenow.

Reference Prices: The House proposal raised reference prices by approximately 10-20%. The Senate proposal appears to raise reference prices by a flat 5% (rounded). Although it appears that Cotton only went up by 4% instead of 5%.
Increase in Base Acres
- Only underserved and disadvantaged farmers may increase base acres
- Based on average of 2018-2022 plantings
- Includes prevent planted acres
- Maximum increase of 160 acres per farm
- If disadvantage farmer does not farm acres during 2025-2029, then increased base acres are eliminated
- Special 2023 and 2024 ARC/PLC election
- Automatic election to be paid the highest amount for 2023 and 2024 crop year even if the farmer originally elected ARC or PLC.

Limit on PLC Payment: The maximum amount of payment for PLC will be 15% of the effective reference price. As example, assume a farmer has a PLC yield of 200 bushels for corn and the effective reference price is $4.30 and the final corn harvest price is $3.50. Under the old PLC rules, the farmer could receive 200 bushels times 80 cents per bushel or $160. Under this proposal, the farmer is limited to 65 cents or $130 per acre.
Partial PLC Payments: Instead of waiting until after October 1 to collect a PLC payment, the farmer, in certain situations may elect to receive up to 50% of the crop beginning February 1. This is based on firm projections by USDA that the final harvest price will be below the effective reference price. If USDA pays too much, then the farmer must pay it back.
Agricultural Risk Coverage: As expected, the Bill increases the guarantee from the current 86% to 88%, less than the 90% in the House Bill. However, not expected, the Bill increases the maximum payment to 12.50% of benchmark revenue, matching the House Bill and makes this retroactive to the 2024 crop. 2023 crop remains at 10%.
Partial ARC Payments: Provides same mechanism for partial payments as under PLC.
Increase to Marketing Loan Rates: For 2025 crops and subsequent years, the loan rate will be the lesser of 110% of current loan rates or an adjustment based on current input costs versus a five-year average.
Sugar Program: Increase sugar cane payment to 24 cents per pound for 2025-2029. Sugar beet growers will receive 136.5% of sugar cane payment rate.
Permanent ERP: Emergency Relief Program would be made permanent (at least until next farm bill). Payment limits of $500,000 for specialty crops and $250,000 for all other crops.
Terms appear similar to old ERP programs, but it does not mandate how USDA will administer it, etc. Also, no extra payment limit if you can prove you are a farmer. This may still be messy for CPAs to help farmers calculate their claim. Also, requires farmers to insure all acres.
Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) limits: AGI limits dropped from $900,000 to $700,000.
- Increases AGI limits to $1.5 million for specialty and high-value crops.
- What happens if a farmer grows both? The Bill does not address this, other than likely leave it up to USDA to come up with rules.
- Waiver of AGI rules available to economically distressed producer.
- It appears that no payments will be allowed if the land is owned by someone or an entity whose AGI is over $700,000. This means that a farmer who is cash renting that ground will not qualify for any payment on that ground. Under current rules and the House Farm Bill proposal, any farmer who is cash renting the ground and their AGI is under the limit will qualify for a payment. This is a major change and will create the law of unintended consequences. They seem to want to not have an incentive for wealthier individuals to purchase land since their high AGI will not qualify them for any payments but under current rules they get no payment anyway.

Increase in CCC Scoring: Section 1708 indicates that for purposes of CBO scoring, the restrictions on utilizing CCC funds shall be $6.7 billion per year for 2024-2033. The last scoring by CBO was $400 million per year.

CRP Rentals Limit Increased to $125,000 from current $50,000

Crop Insurance Changes: Increases subsidies for beginning and veteran farmers and ranchers to essentially match House proposal.
- Increases SCO to allow for payment at 88% instead of 86% of guarantee. House was at 90%.
- Increases premium subsidies.
Makes improvements to Whole Farm and Micro Farm insurance plans.

Comments:

Several contacts, asked to respond to Stabenow’s late farm bill details, used the same words: “Wow, finally, but too late.” Stabenow is departing Congress after this session ends, and veteran farm bill watchers say this late-entry farm bill is not a positive chapter in her long career. Most are asking why she chose today in releasing the details, and why she took a partisan approach in briefing about the matter.