We are LIVE from Land O'Lakes HQ: Leadership lessons from decades in agriculture with guest, Pete Kappelman

A special Tuesday release as we kick off season six of Rooted In Tomorrow. 

Recorded live at Land O’Lakes headquarters, this special episode features Senior VP and lifelong dairy farmer Pete Kappelman as he explores today’s farm economy, cooperative resilience, and the future of U.S. agriculture. From surviving barn fires to navigating market volatility, Pete shares powerful insights on rural community strength, ag policy, and the economic forces shaping dairy and grain farming in 2025.

Check out Rootedintomorrow.com for more stories of incredible farmers!

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Transcript

 You know, historically farmers have done a tremendous amount for the environment. You don't get to have eight generations of farming the same piece of land if you don't invest the time and resources to protect it. Um, you're in agriculture because it's your life. You're in agriculture probably because you're not the first generation to be in it.

Um, it's been passed down and it's a legacy that you wanna pass down. How can we reinvest in our community and keep building that economic driver and that engine and just keep this thing, keep this thing going and, and have, have a vibrant business within the community. And, and I think that that is, that is just huge for these rural communites.

Tomorrow. It's never a guarantee unless we take care of today. We are a cooperative, grounded in 100 years of forward thinking ever since our beginning in 1921. It's the pursuit of a reliable food supply, a sustainable future, and vibrant communities for all of us. Rooted in the promise. Of a brighter future.

This is rooted in Tomorrow, the podcast by Land O'Lakes, Inc. Join us for stories of innovators, change makers, and the modern entrepreneurs who work the land.

All right. So I wanna welcome our listeners to the latest episode of, um, rooted in Tomorrow podcast. We're excited to be here and spoiler alert, we have a live audience today. So audience, let's hear from you.

Hi. We are so excited. To be able to, um, be recording this in front of our, uh, employees here at headquarters. And we are excited about our guest, uh, Mr. Pete Cappleman. I am going to tell you all about Pete, who is our Senior Vice President of Member and Government Relations, and we're going to celebrate national co-op month by really talking to someone who lives and breathes it.

But before we do that, this isn't on your briefing, Pete. Um, let's do a little pop culture warmup. You ready? Sure. All right. So this is easy stuff. Um, what is your favorite song on life of a showgirl? I, Alite. Alite. Okay. Yeah, I knew that would be it. I just knew it. Um, dancing with the Stars. Nothing. Do you think it's wrong that Whitney is a trained dancer?

Probably, yes. Probably. I would say yes, for sure. That's the right answer, not knowing anything about it. Yes, that's the right answer. Um, well, this is, this is your second, uh, visit to the podcast, and the first time you joined us was way back in 2019, right? Mm-hmm. Yep. So we had just started February.

February of 2019 probably. So I, I would not be surprised. Um, so your term on the board of directors was coming to an end at that time. Uh, very different time pre COVID. Um, and, you know, lots of interesting things going on. So how long after that did you start with us? I had, uh, one week of free agency finished my board term on, I don't know, at the annual meeting and started like March 9th or something, about a week later of 2019.

Mm-hmm. So you got one year under your belt before COVID hit us. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Oh my goodness. A lot of, uh, a lot of things that, um, changed in that period of time. So, um, I'm gonna just read a few, um, things that people should know about you. I have a list. Are you worried? Could I be? Yeah. Pete and I have spent a lot of time together, so I, I'm just gonna keep some things close to the vest.

Um, so you are still involved in your family farm, uh, Meadowbrook Dairy Farm in Wisconsin. Yep. Um, your family's been a long time member of Land O'Lakes and named Wisconsin Dairy Firm Family of the Year in 1995. Mm-hmm. Very cool. Uh, you joined Land O'Lakes Board of Directors in 1995. Yes. So you won Farm Family of the Year and they said, Hey man, come on over.

Yeah. Stuff happens in bunches. Something like that. Right? My grandma used to say in threes, um, you were elected board chairman in 2004. Mm-hmm. And Dairyman of the year at the World Dairy Expo in 2018. So you guys can clap for that.

That's quite a resume and we haven't even gotten into it yet. So I don't say all this to embarrass you, um, but a little bit I do 'cause it's fun. Uh, but it tells a powerful story that you've devoted really your life to farming and agriculture and family and rural communities. So I think you embody a lot of what we talk about, um, here at Land O'Lakes.

Uh. But really when it all began, you're on a family farm. Is that really what you wanted to be when you grew up? So first of all, your questions about pop culture, they should have included more areas around agriculture. Uh, famous cooperative leaders, you know, stuff like that. Right? Famous cooperative leaders taking a note that is, um.

I mean, it's, I was born number five of seven. Okay. So, um, yeah. And you, you became, you were loved as a child, but you're a part of a system. Right. And it was a team, it was a process and um, and it was just the way. The way things were. Yeah, just I, so it's interesting 'cause um, our CEO Beth Ford is number five of eight.

So I was gonna guess where you were in the birth order. 'cause you don't give me first child energy, but you also don't give me baby energy. Okay. I, I was guessing four. So I was, I was close in my, uh, in my guess. Um. That's a full house. I've got, uh, I raised three kids and I thought that was something, but now I'm a little sheepish about my accomplishments.

Um, what, broad question. Um, so you're born into the system. What does your parents teach you? And were there like life lessons? I, I, I picture out on the farm with that many kids, um, parents teaching all the time and life lessons that you're picking up. Yeah, yeah, of course. Right. I mean, hard work was. Number one.

Um, my mother always had this bible quote on the, on her past it, on a refrigerator of all places that if one would not work, neither should they eat right. So, oh, she kept that on her refrigerator. Yeah. That's a message. So hard work was, was a big one. And I think something, um, I learned from my dad was, I would call it, um, I've now titled it inspired determination.

I like that. Uh, some people would call it grit. Uh, as kids, we just said he was stubborn. Right? And because sometimes it takes that along with alongside of your passion to really push, push an idea or concept through. Gotta just keep swinging, keep going at it, keep going, keep going. I like that inspired determination.

Um, the first time you were on the podcast, you were kind of in your, uh, farm philosopher era. That's a Taylor Swift reference. Okay. Um, you shared a George Washington quote with us. Uh, and I don't know if you'll remember this, but it was, agriculture is the most healthful, most useful and most, most noble employment of man.

So after all the years of farming, do you still believe that? Well, I do and I think, and I think the work we do as a cooperative embodies that just our, our our, um, taglines. Rooted in tomorrow. Right. And feeding human progress. That just, it speaks to the profession and the, the, I'll call it the nobility of our mission.

Mm-hmm. That we have, that all of us have in agriculture. Not just farmers, but everyone who's part. Everyone here. Everyone who's part of the ag supply chain. I believe that. And, and there's, uh, what's interesting is, um, I knew you were gonna ask the question about, you know, the George Washington quote. So there's a Harry s Truman quote, or 33rd president who, who took office right after, uh, world War ii.

Was, was, oh, I, I know. I'm from Missouri. Okay. My grandma didn't like him because he said, damn in public. Okay. But I bet he has some good things to say about ag. Well, his quote was. I want to look down and make sure I get it right. Yeah. Prosperous farmers make for a prosperous nation and when the farmers are in trouble, the nation is in trouble.

Hmm. And I think that's really appropriate for the time we're living in right now. Yeah, for sure. And it's also interesting that under his administration, the Marshall plan was put in place, which really took food aid and development opportunities to war torn Europe. Right. They, they. Their economies, their farms were destroyed and we saw it as our mission and purpose.

Now, granted, we committed a lot of resources in the US to the war, but the battles weren't fought in our fields, right? Yeah. I can't imagine as a farmer getting up in the morning and going out to your pasture and your cows are shot or dead or run over or whatever, right? So, so what's interesting is that under currently, we're kind of walking back from that mentality of.

Of helping, helping those around the world. So, so I think the quote on prosperous farmers is very applicable today. Yeah. Very, very relevant. Um, so let me kinda circle back to your family farm and we've got some pictures up here for our listeners here in the room. Um, I have a note here that you shared a room with three of your brothers.

Right. Would, would you mind sharing what your siblings names were? That just always fast? So, uh, John and David and Rob are my brothers. Yeah. And my sisters are Carla and Kathy and Sarah. And my parents had boy, girl, boy, girl, boy, girl, boy. Oh. And it was two years. Two years. Two years. Four years. Four years.

Really? Yeah, that's some planning right there. Well planning. But my parents also, when, when my wife and I first got married, I remember going over for, for dinner after chores one night, and of course they were asking about, you know, when are the grandkids coming? Right? Yeah. And, and I'm like, well, so did you really plan seven kids?

And they're like, yeah, we're gonna have three. You missed that one by the way. They needed more people in the system. That's awesome. That's awesome. Are you, you have, you know, you talk about how they had you working on the farm and you're kind of born into the system. Um, did you enjoy that or did you see it just as work at a young age or what's, what's that like?

Well, you know, um. We, we didn't have to work. I wouldn't say that, um, there was an alternative and that would've been probably living in the woods and fending for yourself. But, um, we did get rewarded. We got paid for working. Now you could argue whether the wages were appropriate or not from the beginning, or did you?

Yeah. I remember getting a nickel a day when I was in like first grade really going out and doing. Yeah. And sometimes I didn't earn it. Wow, you were cute in first grade. Come on. So, yeah, it was, I, I would say, um, but I guess, you know, my dad always assumed we would all farm all. Yeah. You know, and, uh, and I, I didn't always assume that.

Um, yeah. So I went and got a, instead of just going to the technical AG training, technical dairy training, I got a four year degree, which, mm-hmm. Which I thought, you know, someday. Might open doors and opportunities for me. Where's your degree from? From University of Wisconsin Madison. So I'm a, I'm a badger.

Yay. Come on. As I sit here and go for drinking my water, we now have our, so our kids are now the, uh, fourth generation badgers. 'cause my dad and. Um, my grandfather both went to the, the farm short course in Madison, so Oh, very cool. A legacy there too. Um, speaking of legacy, I've been told your grandmother was kind of tough.

She, you know, you know, for, um, for a lot of generations, um, a farm was titled usually to the, to the male, to the family, but I can't. I can't hardly think of a farm where it was not a group effort. Right. And my, my grandmother could do everything on the farm. I, I distinctly remember that. And, and then she did extra, right?

I mean, 'cause she did more of the stuff in the house than my grandfather ever would've done. Now he had some, he had some health, health issues, but yeah. And it was, um, I think that's an area where agriculture, um, I don't know that. We discriminate very much because it doesn't matter how old you are. Yeah.

It doesn't matter what gender you are, it didn't matter. And I remember my kids saying that, you know, it, it's, it's like this was not a, this was not a, a male female thing. It was if you were old enough, smart enough, strong enough, big enough to do the job, you did it right. Yeah. And, and that's, and it, and we had over, I would say over 50.

Farm interns that came from around the world that worked on our farm over really 75 years. So it didn't matter whether you're from Africa or South America or Central America or Sweden or Germany or Holland. Um, agriculture. Is that common language, that common purpose in Michigan mission? Yeah. That, um, just kind of.

Transcends all of those barriers, brings it all together. Some people see as barriers. Yeah. A very, uh, a very, um, I love the way you talk about how it brings everybody together. You know, everybody eats, everybody's gotta have some sort of ag. Um, shifting gears a little bit, uh, you've been a Land O' Lake member for 38 years, but in reality, your family's co-op is even, uh, older than that.

The Land O'Lakes history. So we, um, and this is part of the story, part of the purpose. Part of the mission. Yeah. Um, dairy farmers in northeast Wisconsin were being taken advantage of the private milk. In what way? Private milk buyers. So the cheese factories primarily in our area. Um, department of Justice was now doing their work and there was price fixing going on, and the farmers in our county in 1947.

We're receiving, I'm kind of making this up, but about 20% less than the state average for milk price. Oh, wow. So they, they were organized by our county agent. Who became the CEO of Lake to lake dairy co-op. And I, I saw the lake to lake sign on the previous slide. Um, but he organized these farmers to say, Hey, look, um, you deserve truth in pricing and by uniting we will get you the the fair marketplace price.

And so in 1949, or I think in 47 or 48, they went together and formed the co-op 49. They built the, what is now the. The Keel CH cheddar plant that belongs to the Land O'Lakes. Oh, really? System. Oh. And so our milk has been going into the Keel Plant for 76 years now, every day. Oh my goodness. That that is a long time.

So people ask me, how long you been with Land O'Lakes? And I'm like, Hmm. What do you mean by that? Right before I was born. Is it 38 years as a member, or 76 years as a, as a family farm? Or is it six years in this role or, you know? Yeah, all of it. All of it. I think. Um, a and where do you think the co-op plays a role in like US farming?

If you take it back a step and look broadly, um, where do you think the co-op. Plays Well, you know, there's a, there's a reason that, um, organizations like ours have been around for a long time because they're fulfilling a purpose and a mission Yeah. Of achieve helping farmers achieve something together that they couldn't on their own.

And it's so important to Reremember to keep that front of mind because it, in a way, it'll, you know, if I, if I come back and we do the. 26th season of the podcast. Yes. And we look at what Land O'Lakes, I'm sure you, and I'll still be here doing that. Might be, I'm getting paid more than a nickel, but I, when I'll be retiring.

But, um, so I, I don't know exactly what Land O'Lakes will be doing, but if we keep our eyes on the prize of what can we accomplish better together, yeah. We'll be providing that for members and, and we'll be helping. Them be more successful. So the member focus, it's, it's interesting to me your, your role is unique in heading member and government relations, and as you talk about your history with Land O'Lakes, um, you have a unique perspective as a leader here, uh, a different profile than almost anyone here.

Um, how does that perspective affect how you lead? So it just, it just kind of. Becomes, it is part of who I am, right? Yeah. So sometimes I have to think about how is what I'm going to say going to be received by those who I'm speaking with, right? Yeah. Or working with, right. Because that, that, um, perspective of someone who, um, still gets out in the barn, still gets in a tractor, um.

I tell people I have 35 years of experience in AI and they're like, wow. 35 years. Yeah. I said artificial insemination has been around for a long time. So in fact, it's digital experience. But um, it's, um, I would say that farm on-farm experience in combination with a, a board member's perspective. Yeah. And the board member's perspective that I always tried to.

Embody within our board was noses in fingers out. Right? These are all managers on that board who run businesses and they run co-ops or they run farms and their job is to be a problem solver. So they show up in the boardroom and what do they want to do? Solve a problem. Nope. Noses in, fingers out, huh? And uh, now as a staff member, I get to get my fingers in, right?

Yeah. So, so it's kind of an interesting journey to. From that, I'm, I'm kind of living still, right? Is um, to have that perspective across. Yeah. Well, and, and very effective. Um, so let's, let's move on and talk a little bit about the industry, the evolution of agriculture. Um, kind of going back to your Truman quote, um, times are, are challenging and complicated right now, um, for farmers.

Um. People challenges, industry challenges, and let's talk about some of that change. Um, we have a, uh, a time op-ed that our CEO Beth Ford recently shared in that op-ed. She had a couple of interesting kind of statistics. One was that there are 24,000 dairy farmers and 400,000 growers in the US and of them 28% of farms that exist today.

Were not, um, we're here 90 years ago, so about a fourth of the farms. At that number were here 90 years ago, including your family's farm. Right? So, um, in the same piece, she mentions how grain farmers in particular are facing the most challenging economics since 2009. Um, and the speed at which everything that they're facing is, um, challenging in and of itself.

It's, you know, we often see around here, it's not one thing, it's all the things. Um. How are you thinking about all of that change that is affecting our members? So, you know, that we are, especially for crop farmers, um, we're in a tough cycle right now. Yeah. Um, dairy and, uh, livestock, not so much. Right.

Dairy's been good the last few years. I think what we need to always keep in mind is the long-term perspective that farmers have. Yeah. Right. You get the saying, the old saying goes, you get 40 chances, right? You get 40 years, 40 different opportunities to change your breeding or your crop strategy, right?

Mm-hmm. Um, one thing that I think long-term successful farmers keep in front of them is that in order to be resilient, and I'm looking at a picture on the, on the deck here of, of, uh, one of our employees that decided to. To go a little farther than he should have gone. And, and we had to be resilient and pull that tractor out of the mud.

But, um, it's a tractor deep, uh, wheels deep in mud. Well, he almost couldn't get outta the cab is the problem. Right. Um, but being resilient in a way that you can take advantage of the opportunities. Right. Yeah. And it's our job to help farmers in the. In the place to take advantage of opportunities. And also as an organization, we can do that.

And I, I learned that from different people. Right. Maybe some of my business, um, class training at, at Madison or, or from Ron Osby. A name from the past who was the Chief financial officer here at Land O'Lakes. Three CFOs ago. Huh? And Ron always said, you know, the good days are for putting money in the bank Yeah.

And building your balance sheet because when the tough days come, because in agriculture the tough days come now you've got the strength of a balance sheet to go take advantage of a situation. And Land O'Lakes right now has a, a building and a strong balance sheet to take advantage of opportunities to grow and move forward.

And I think smart farmers do the same thing. Yeah. They, they don't live out on the, on the. Way out on the limb. Right. They say going out on a limb as a phrase, well, going out out on a limb can be dangerous. 'cause on a windy day that limb, that branch moves a lot. Yeah. So if you're in closer to the tree trunk and you're on, you know, you've got better footing.

Um, I think it's, um, it gives you the advantage to, or it gives you an opportunity to take advantage of tough times. 'cause there will be opportunities for farmers going forward. And I, I think we agree that the cooperative really gives a foundational support, um, whether it's for tough economic times or tough community times.

I mean, we've, we've talked a lot about, um, when members have, uh, challenges pop up in their communities. I'm sure you have. All kinds of stories about communities coming together. Do you wanna share one or two of those? You know, um, several instances come to mind. Um, one, uh, memory of my dad, we had, uh, I was probably in high school and my dad had, uh, one of our neighbors, um, who was a Land O'Lakes member, or lake to lake at the time.

Um, he had an unfortunate circumstance at his farm and he lost all of his yearling heifers. In one afternoon. Gosh. And, um, so he, and they were not gonna be covered by insurance, right? So he was gonna be missing that one year of replacements. So I remember my dad owned at night talking to fellow Land O'Lakes members asking if they could give one heifer, could you donate one heifer?

And they re they, they got like 35 farms too. Wow. Come together, donate a heifer. They lined up all the trailers, delivered 'em all in one morning. Right. And, uh, that farmer was just overwhelmed. Right. And yeah. Um, so another story from, uh, when I was, I think seven, I think I was in second grade, uh, we had our barn burned down.

We had now that, that was fairly common, I, I won't think it was common for the barns to burn down. Well, they were wood. Yeah. It kind of was barn fires were, they were all made up wood. Yeah. And people stored dry hay in the mile of the barn, and sometimes the hay wasn't always as dry as it should have been.

Oh. And it would combust spontaneously combust. Oh. And in fact, the night before we loaded up the car to go watch the neighbor's barn burn, and my dad recalled that he had put hay in the barn that same day. And the next day by 11 o'clock, our barn was burning. Oh, no. Uh, I do, I don't remember a lot 'cause I was seven and I think they just wanted us out of the way.

So I think I was made to go to bed by like six o'clock in the evening. But of course they didn't want us getting, you know, in endangered in any way. Yeah. Um, but the, the house was filled with food and people and the driveways were lined with cars and trucks and neighbors stayed until. Two o'clock they could, we had a milking parlor at the time.

We were one of the early Yeah. Adopters. And they could get the hay off of the top of the, uh, of the milking parlor and. And get that cleaned out and get power back to it. And by two o'clock they were milking in the morning, two o'clock in the morning, they were doing the night milking. Oh my God. But there were still 40 farmers left at two o'clock in the morning to help.

And this is in Wisconsin. Uh, I am trying to get a feel for it geographically. So, um, Wisconsin population, about 30,000. And kind of between Francis Creek. Mm-hmm. Which is population. Everyone knows 670. Yeah. 670 people. They live there. We were talking earlier about who says Creek and who says Creek? Pizza Creek.

I'm a creek. So we have all of our bases covered. Um. So the community came out and it did your um, neighbor's reaction. Ha has that carried through? Well, so I think it's a story you remember. Think it really impacted Yeah, it really impacted, uh, my parents, obviously they made the decision to rebuild and when the fires in September, you don't have a whole lot of chance.

'cause we didn't lose any cows. So you didn't have a whole lot of chance to decide, right? Yeah. You couldn't sit on this forever. I think within like, well knowing my dad probably. He already knew he was gonna rebuild. Right. But um, so that was kind of a tough year, a challenging year. But so as fires occurred in the neighborhood, I remember, well three of 'em, um, 'cause they occurred when I was in high school and college.

And, um, and instantly my dad said, what can we do? Right? Yeah. And so. All three times those cows ended up in our, on our farm. Right. And we were Oh. And as a high school kid, you know, I was just trying to get outta the barn so I could go to town and do something, you know? Yeah. And so this wasn't necessarily in my, in my, on my agenda.

Right. Not good news for you. Instead of getting done at eight o'clock, I was getting done at nine 30. And, um, but it, I think made a big impression on me that look as community, as family and neighbors and friends. This is what you do for each other. Yeah. And it's that, it's that backbone and foundation that gives, um, people strength and gives them something to build off of.

Yeah. So, um, you and I are people of a certain age. Um, we were babies in the eighties, but there was a farm crisis in the eighties mm-hmm. That, uh, we both lived through. Do you, is what you're seeing now, um, similar to the how that. Felt and, and looked or, or do you think this is something completely different?

So, uh, one of my older brothers is a recently retired AG lender. He was, uh, senior vice president in that, uh, of the ag portfolio at a bank. And, um, he and I have been talking about this on and off for the last couple years. Yeah. And, uh, and he actually entered the. Banking, ag banking world in the eighties.

So he, he as a banker, lived through that. And as much as he said, there are comparisons, there are also differences which may make all the difference in the world. And one of those is the value of farmland. Yeah. Um, despite falling pr, and we haven't seen good commodity corn bean prices for a few years now.

Several years. Years, some time. And, uh, so despite that, we still see pretty strong. Farmland prices. And he said, if that fundamental holds true, and it could be because there's a concern, a worry about the stock market, right? How does Yep. Yep. How does inflation and trade and, and the whole world economic picture, how does that play into my portfolio?

So farmland is attracting investment as a safe haven. Yeah. And if there's that underlying strength of farmland prices, that makes all the difference in the world. In the eighties, our, the land that my father had purchased, my parents had purchased for $1,800 an acre, all of a sudden, three years later, was worth $600 an acre.

And the bank who was lending based on net worth, just saw the net worth of the farm, dropped by more than 50% and said, well, you gotta pay more of this back. And we're like. What? And so that's what created the eighties crisis, right? Yeah. So we were, we were stretched pretty thin back then. And so for me it was a little bit like living through the depression, not gonna make that mistake, right?

So, so many of our grandparents or whoever that lived through the depression Yep. Uh, like, you know, my grandfather straightened nails after he pulled it out of a piece of wood. Right. And because you did what it took to survive another. Opportunity like that, which is where I get my strength of balance sheet from.

Yeah. Right. So yeah, so while I see some similarities, I know that most farmers don't live year to year. Right. There's some cushion there and there's a belief that, look, the world needs food. It's not like we're right. It's not like we're producing hula hoops or something that you don't need to buy, right?

Yeah. We're, we're producing food fundamentally. It's something everybody needs. Yeah. Uh, the consumers should think of us three times a day, I hope. I would hope so. Uh, inspired determination. Yep. That's, that's what I'm taking away. Um, alright, so I have one last thing to, to wrap us up 'cause uh, my team is trying to kill me.

Um, so we have cooperative truth or dare. Okay. You ready for that? Yep. Are you worried? Nope. Because I, I can come up with some great dares. Go bring me something off of Beth Ford's desk. Oh, okay. Or go hold the hand of the bronze statue out front of the farmer for an hour. Or no, in February. In February, yes.

With a wet hand. Yeah. See, you're better at this scenario. I love it. Um, so the, the premise is, uh, if you pick truth, uh, you have to share something about farming or co-ops you don't think anyone is paying attention to, and they really should. If you choose dare, you can tell us what challenge the ag industry, um, has to do or where we need to go in the future.

Up to you. Okay. Um, so I'm gonna pick Dare, although it kind of, that's where its office is right down here. Kind of relates to truth in a way because my DARE is for all of all of our family, right? Our cooperative family. That includes employees, it includes our member owners. And the DARE is that, look, we've been around for 104 years.

Mm-hmm. What we do now, there are some things that are fundamentally the same, but ultimately what we do is provide that opportunity for farmers to accomplish more together than they could individually. Yeah, and I think there's sometimes a tendency with large farms. Seem a little invincible, and yet there's still things they cannot do better on their own than they can do together.

So my challenge to all of us is to make sure we're finding that opportunity to do more together than we can separately. 'cause in 20 years, I don't know what we'll be selling or providing or doing for our members. But I bet we're gonna be here. So the dare is to make sure we identify that, keep thinking about where those opportunities lie, because none of us is as smart as all of us, and if we win as a team, but we'll be successful individually.

I love that. None of us is as smart as all of us.

We know the farm economy is difficult right now. But Pete's optimism, deep experience in agriculture and personal stories of resilience. Hopefully inspired and shed some light on our forward thinking vision. We thank Pete for being our guest and our live audience at our corporate headquarters. We'll catch you back here soon.

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