Check off dollars: what are they used for? IL Soy

Shay

Foulk: And it all comes down to this. Two on, two out, bottom of the ninth. The Farmers lead by one. Full count. Here comes the play at the plate, and it's the Ag View Pitch! Welcome back everyone to another episode of the Ag View Pitch. Today you have Shay Foulk joined with a couple of special guests, Linda and Emily. I'm going to give you 30 seconds or a minute just to go ahead and introduce yourselves. Really thankful you could join us here this morning. Linda, if you could tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do, I'd appreciate it.

Linda

Kull: Okay, thank you. Say, uh, good morning, and I'm really happy to join today. I'm Linda Kahl. I'm working with the Illinois Soybean Association, and I serve them as their Director of Ag Innovations. I've been with them for about 8 years and oversee programs like the Agribusiness Management Program, a quality program, farmer-facing events, and also new uses. So it's Very exciting these times, and enjoy working with the farmers in the association.

Shay

Foulk: And today that's what we're going to be talking a little bit more about is the Agribusiness Management Program. So really looking forward to it. Definitely talking to the right person here. How about you, Emily?

Emily

Carls: Yes. Hi, Shea. Thank you for having us today. My name is Emily Carls. I am a field staff with Illinois Farm Business Farm Management out of our Camp Point office over here in western Illinois. We are a not-for-profit organization that deal— that work with farmers across the state. We've got about 40 offices and 60 to 70 field staff across the state that work on farm record keeping, farm business analysis, farm tax planning, farm tax prep, and just general farm business consulting.

Shay

Foulk: That's great. And we actually work with FBFM on our farm operation, so I'm excited to have you on here today. I was hoping what we could do, you know, after we've had some introductions here, is talk a little bit about what is the Soybean Checkoff and As a little backstory to this, the farm operation that I run in Northwest Illinois, some of the listeners may be familiar with that, with my father-in-law. Here about 2 months ago, I got to asking Mark, I said, you know, what is the, what is the checkoff? Why are we paying this in? What are we using this for? How is the program maintained? What does it do for the seed business, the seed industry farmers out there? And so I got to dig in, and as mentioning here earlier, I don't exactly even remember how we got linked in, but I'm very happy that we did.

And, you know, just learning more about how these checkoff dollars are used in some of the programs that we have here in front of us moving into 2020 and beyond. I'm very excited about it. And I think it's a great use of the resources. So I was wondering if you guys could give just a little bit of a background of, of what is the checkoff, where did it come from and how is that being utilized here today?

Linda

Kull: Sure, Shay. Happy to help with that. For the checkoff and for other producer groups, most of the commodities have their, their associations and, and they look to support nearly everything that goes on in that industry. For the soybean checkoff in the state of Illinois, with each sale at the first point of sale, checkoff is generated. That's 0.5% of the sale of those beans, and that's remitted to the local or state checkoffs, and about half of that is then remitted to the National Checkoff, and then a portion of that can also go to the Regional Checkoffs. So you have actually 3 checkoff layers or groups in the

United

States: the State Checkoffs, and then the National Checkoff Board, and then regional groups too. And they serve in different ways, and they work very well together too. It's great to see all the support for our industry that's coming out of the checkoff dollars. In Illinois, we have 24 member board, farmer members is our leadership, and they direct the investment of the checkoff for Illinois, and it's very similar in other states too. And so for Illinois, we, the directors come together and, and to get right down into, you know, what do they do, well, how do we support the farm, and they come together in say 3 main committees or 3 main groups, and they look at market development and utilization and government relations. And look at programming to support those, those three areas. So through promotion, advocacy, and education, we're investing in the checkoff. Supermarket development.

It's important that all those beans that we produce in Illinois are utilized. So one of the goals is to increase Illinois soybean exports and build those domestic markets. That the utilization of those beans has a huge price on the price of beans. So it all ties together. You can produce a lot of beans, but unless they, unless we move that pile and those are utilized, the price of beans goes up or down depending. So we've seen some great things that are happening in the market lately with utilization and, and that carryover and what's going on on the global scale. So it does get rather layered and complicated, but growing the markets and market development is a key part of what our Illinois checkoff does. Also with government relations, there's a focus on advocacy. So much of what happens on the farm is tied to, is tied to government activities and relations.

So we're looking at deepening those relationships with our industry partners and other organizations and having a great presence here and support for the farmer at the state and the national level too with the advocacy programs and activities. And lastly, of those three focus areas, utilization. It's very important. So we're looking at some new things in Illinois. Uh, new uses of soy is something you'll hear in the news almost weekly now, uh, from adhesives, uh, to solvents, to, um, sealants, uh, lots of different uses for soy. And while none of them utilizes a huge amount, maybe biodiesel does, and the livestock industry is a huge consumer of soy. All the other diversities in that portfolio of utilization is really key to the market development and uses. So we identify new uses of soy, look at measuring conservation, sustainability and conservation is very key too.

Best management practices, either for agronomic or agribusiness, like we're going to talk about today. And also increasing uses like biodiesel demand. We hear about that quite a bit. And it's a big utilization of soy and sustainable sustainable bio-based utilization. So we try to cover a lot of bases, in fact all of them, with your checkoff and the programming and investment decisions that are, that your local representatives make.

Shay

Foulk: I love that you said you cover all bases there because as I'm listening to you go through the list that you just did, I'm thinking in my head we need to get you as a motivational speaker and put some music behind this and gets me pumped up to be a soybean farmer. This is, this is so great. Looking at how this is utilized. I did have a few questions out of, um, what you said there. So I want to talk briefly, uh, you mentioned looking at the actual domestic usage of products, and of course here on Wednesday we had the stock reports came out and had a big rally in the market looking at some of those things. Um, our specialty soybean crops, um, also part of the checkoff program, so your high oleics and things like that.

Linda

Kull: So yes, so to get traction for specialty projects takes a lot of, a lot of activity, and the checkoffs across the states, not just Illinois, but all the checkoffs are looking at and for any, for those value-add or those IP beans that are coming forward, how they are grown, how they are marketed, transportation, try to make it easy for that farmer to grow that specialty bean, and then get it to market. And then also it's very important that is there, you know, for the value add, can the farmer make a little bit more? Is there a premium? So all that comes into play. That's what comes into play for Hyolake beans.

Shay

Foulk: And how that ties into domestic production as well too. You hit on a key topic there of, you know, not being at the influence of global markets necessarily as we can develop those domestic markets here creates a little bit more stability for the farmers and then also just looking at utilizing the products right here where they're actually produced.

Linda

Kull: And it's important for farmers to know how those products can be utilized. For example, we see a lot of fleets using biodiesel, which is great. That takes advocacy, that takes a presence in, in helping our, our political representatives in our, our cities and the city planners understand the value of biodiesel, and it takes partnerships there. We're looking at a hyaluronic pilot in Moline, Illinois, working with USB and Iowa Swimming Association and some other folks there and the city planners for a— it's a new sealant that's used in asphalt, and they're looking at including that and utilizing that in some of the parking lots and other areas that utilize asphalt in Moline. And the cool thing about Hiaw Lake is that it's, one of its features is allows that asphalt to be reutilized from 17 to 30%.

And it's real important now to be able to recycle and reutilize a lot of these structural or infrastructural components. So it's really fantastic that Hiaw Lake oil lends its qualities to the asphalt industry. So that's, that's, you know, that's, that's just fun to watch and, and talk about, and it ties to soybeans and a bio-based sustainable solution.

Shay

Foulk: Now you're getting me all sorts of excited, and for the listeners on the Ag View Pitch here, I just, I'll say buckle up and stay tuned for more conversations on the Hyolake because you'll be hearing a little bit more about that. So the second question that I had out of your initial comments there is, how is Soy Checkoff working with other organizations? So obviously with FBFM here with Emily, and then also, you know, like the Farm Bureaus and the USB and some of those other programs out there. How does that look at the state level, and how much communication and collaboration is there among organizations?

Linda

Kull: Okay, so that's really key. You can't operate in a, you know, in a vacuum. If you have good ideas, it takes sharing those good ideas and those partners to make it work. Within the, within the ag industry in Illinois, it's important to find those partners even outside of that ag industry too. So working with farm business, farm management, and Emily can highlight the wonderful work they do and, you know, the farms and acres and numbers of farms that they touch on a weekly basis, and she'll get to that. But for looking at working with other producer groups, for working within the industry, working with the Farm Bureau. Our group, the Illinois Soybean Association, values those relationships, and they're continuing to garner and foster those relationships.

I mean, when you, when you look at our industry and soybeans, and our biggest utilization of soybeans is the livestock industry— over 70% of our beans are used within livestock feed— then also working with the poultry group and the swine group within our state and outside our state is, is key. All of our favorite people, our farmers, grow beans and wheat. So yes, we reach out and work with those other producer groups too, on a sustainability level, on an advocacy level. So yes, those partnerships are really key. And then when you think about the, the whole retailer industry, or look at the University of Illinois and all the, the innovation and, and, uh, and talent that's there. So yes, so, uh, we, the Illinois Living Association and our staff and our directors are looking at reaching out and maintaining relationships and also new relationships. Let me say one more thing.

When you think about networking and how important it is and say even agribusiness management and you look at say outside of the ag industry, those banking organizations or those insurance companies, they tie and their relationships with our farm, that ties to the bottom line too. So we're looking at building and fostering relationships with industries outside of just what you might think is the ag industry, farm business managers. And then look at the position you're in, a young person and coming back to the farm, reaching out to those young producer groups. Where are they? At the community colleges and helping them understand the value of the checkoff. And then for them and their activities coming back to the farm, how can we support? What are your questions? What are your concerns? What keeps you up at night?

So all of those are questions that require the networking and the partner building to solve.

Shay

Foulk: You answered my third question without me even having to ask it, so that's great. Looking at, you know, the other groups that are a part of this, and I think so much in agriculture is we tend to shout our messages at those that are the same as us, other farmers. And I like to hear that those checkoff is being used to other industry partners, those that are maybe not necessarily who you would think of as being traditionally involved in agriculture. Because when you get to the end market consumer, when you look at the folks that are going to the grocery store that have the pork that was, you know, fed the soybean meal or whatever else, however that looks in the industry, the consumers need to understand why it matters, why should they care. And so I'm so happy to see the truly comprehensive approach on that. So that's an awesome overview of the Soy Checkoff.

I'd like to move over to Emily and talk a little bit about FBFM's involvement in this as a partner organization and, and just maybe some comments that came up from the discussion that Linda had there.

Emily

Carls: Yeah, absolutely. FBFM's role in with ISA is we're partnering on the Agribusiness Management Program, the AMP program. We are just in the beginning of year 2 of a 3-year initiative. The first year really looked at just building industry relations, looking for good content for the topics that we think are very important to strategic farm planning in today's ag economy. I'm sure you're very familiar with, as well as most of the listeners on here today, the ag economy has been very variable. Just looking at Illinois FBFN's data, in 2012, the best year ever for net farm income was recorded in our database. 3 years later in 2015, we had the worst year ever recorded. So that just kind of shows, you know, how variable things have been and why we think that these topics are so important. So the AMP program really focuses on strategic farm business management.

A big piece of that that we've been having a lot of conversations about recently has been the transition piece of that. As we were talking earlier, there's a lot of unique transition pieces, and I won't touch on it too in-depth now, Maybe talk about that here in a little bit, but there's a lot of pieces to strategic— excuse me— to strategic farm management, and that's really what this program aims to look at, is what each operation needs to be successful and viable in the long term.

Shay

Foulk: I really like that you use the word strategic in there. One thing that Chris and I talk a lot about with consulting with operations is Who's on your strategic resource team? And it's a really fancy way of saying who has your back, who are your trusted input advisors, who's part of your advisory board, who are the folks that can help you with this? And I think FBFM's role in that, and specifically looking at the AMP program, can be really crucial to operations. And if nothing else, just, you know, how do we even get started? Because with that family transition, as we focus on this kind of in year 2 or some of these different steps in the strategic farm business management plan can be so crucial to operations.

Now, as you mentioned, with the, the real high income in 2012 and then the worst year in 2015, what we've seen with a lot of operations is they've been basically sideways here over the last 6 to 7 years, um, you know, hanging in there. And as we see these cycles in the markets, we'll hopefully see a change in that at some point. But, you know, that, that begs the question of what is normal and how do you maintain profitability and what does that look like. And with a lot of operations, we started to see the senior partners maybe decided in 2012, '13, and '14 that they, they liked making more money and maybe we're going to delay that transition process a little bit more. And then the last couple of years here, it's been so hard, um, transition looks more viable.

But a lot of times with transition planning, it's the last thing that you have on your mind when you're trying to get the crop in the ground and then spray and harvest and everything in between in your daily operations. It's really hard to do all of that at once. And they're maybe deciding that right now, uh, isn't as fun as it used to be. And, and where do you go, not only as a senior partner in that operation but as a junior partner in that operation, uh, to get the resources, to get the help that you need, and, and to find those people that are part of your strategic resource team? Um, so I love that FBFM has partnered on this program. I think that's fantastic. And And there's so many other good industry partners out there that are really helping. Any final comments on that part, Emily?

Emily

Carls: Yeah, I think what you just said there about, you know, making your team— we've had that conversation internally a lot between Linda and I and Jesse Schutman, also involved in the project. We talk about how operations need their team, you know, they need the subject matter experts, they need the experts in their fields to be able to navigate the ag economy as it is. We've had some government program payments that have really helped boost farm income the last couple of years, but we aren't sure how long those are going to continue moving forward. So we need to— we're trying to make sure that the operations we work with are as in good a financial condition as they can be to help out in those low margin years where the income isn't maybe as high and we maybe don't have government program payments coming in to help boost that.

Shay

Foulk: Exactly. And it's really interesting to, you know, talking about it boosting farm income, a lot of what we've seen with these government payments is it's actually basically just keeping producers afloat. So it's doing what the program was designed to do and making up whether it's a Market Facilitation Program or the CFAP, Coronavirus Food Assistance Program. It's actually done a pretty good job in most operations, maybe not adequate all the time to get back to whole, as we like to say, but it's certainly helped along that area. So What I'd like to do now is just give a brief overview of the AMP program. We've alluded to it a little bit. What's, what's the 30,000-foot view of it? And then we can dive into some specifics on the program here.

Linda

Kull: Okay, so yeah, happy to help with that. So we think, as Emily said, more things than ever impact a farmer's bottom line, and it changes year to year. In the last few years, we've seen some new things that impact farmers' bottom line. And we know that things, say on a micro scale, just what's going on per acre, to the macro scale is what's going on globally tied to a farmer's bottom line. So we're looking at developing resources and those resources, there's lots out there. There's lots out there for farmers to, farm families to listen to, but the key part of that is everybody's very busy, very busy. So looking at What can we do new in this area that can speak to that busy farm family? You know, what kind of programming can help them most? And that takes a lot of listening.

So even listening today to you, Shea, and how your farm is structured and the conversations that go on between the generations in your family are helpful. So listening is very important. So we, and we want to continue to listen, so we'd like for everybody that's what you're hearing today, that we're here and we've got our minds slammed open and we're listening. And we can develop programming around what you say is a concern. So we can do a 5-minute video and package that. So there's lots of flexibility here in how we can deliver helpful, actionable information. So when you, you know, when you look at What's going on? And some of the things say, you know, what's important. We've always said that the peace of mind is priceless. So what keeps you up at night? You know, what is it?

And when we've listened, some of the topics that have floated to the top, our first several conversation was that idea of succession and transition planning was a really hard topic. It's hard for anybody, but it's needed. You know, it's a needed topic. And we talk about you coming back to the farm. And that older generation that's leaving the farm, they need to have those conversations. Even when we listen to banks and ag lenders, some of the things that their farm managers are hearing is, we need a transition plan. How do we get started? You know, what does it take? You know, that family dynamic can be a challenge to overcome. So listening is really important. Some other topics that we've heard is, what are some of the tax implications of transition and say, for you as a younger person, what does that mean for you?

You know, you're looking at cash flow and risk management and tax implications of you coming back to the farm. And we're looking at creating short snippets, little videos, structuring resources that say, you had 5 minutes on your lunch hour, you can listen and it's actionable. It's a conversation piece. You can take it back to your, you know, to the other folks that you're working with in your family farm too. So, some of the topics here that we've heard are very critical in addition to succession transition planning, you know, that strategic farm management piece, you know, that CEO style of managing the farm. For example, instead of meeting at the kitchen table, why not go someplace more formal and call that, that business meeting, you know, and make it a little more formal activity which is just fantastic, you know, it's good to encourage that.

That can set up an environment, a network that this is a business and we need to run it, take the emotion out of it and run this family farm like a business. When we visited folks that do marketing and they ask their audience how many folks have a marketing plan, we're finding out that maybe 40-50% do, but there's that 40% that maybe don't, and it's very important. Do you know your break-even point? Well, how can we create a resource that causes a leader on their family farm to say, we need to talk about this, we need to know our break-even point. Every conversation, every decision we make ties to that bottom line. If we don't have that break-even point in our minds, all of us, then those decisions are harder to make. Sometimes you can't make a decision because you don't have enough information. You need more information.

Well, how can we provide that information so that it's, you know, it's really available? Or say the structure of the farm, you know, that acquisition, can we afford to buy that farm that's coming up in our neighborhood? Owning or leasing structure, what is that that's the most profitable, what's the best arrangement for us? Building partnerships is very important too. You know, when you think about, we've talked to folks in the banking industry and they wonder, do those, do that farm family, do they think about being, we hear the term bankable. You know, how are they looking at their operation like we are seeing their operation, you know, from the banker's perspective. And that's an easy thing to understand. They see an operation, a farm family from their perspective.

So when you talk about a team, you know, who's on your team, Well, maybe that, maybe that Ag lender needs to be considered proactively a team member on your farm. Or say for that insurance company, that insurance rep needs to be seen as a team member, that Ag lender. So we're looking at setting it up, as you said a little earlier, Shea and Emily, as a team and who's on your team. So again, listening is really important. Getting across the point that it's a business, take the emotion out of it, structure it so you've got that CEO business-like atmosphere going on. And then what's needed for that peace of mind for all those generations that are in the family farm.

Shay

Foulk: Linda, I can't tell you how much you just filled my soul with joy because everything that you hit on there, I imagine for any of the the current farm operations that we work with that are listening to this podcast today, they wouldn't believe that you and I have never met in person or talked before because you literally hit on, you know, 7 or 8 of the key pillars that we focus on in the consulting business. And, and I would— I just want to go back to the beginning there, talking about that listening. And this conversation that we're having here today on the podcast in the format for being able to bring these resources to the farmer and to the producer out there is being able to listen, to have that value and perspective added.

And so I think with the AMP program of being able to provide those resources, those 5-minute videos, the overview information, how do you tie to those resources and find the key people that can help benefit that operation is so crucial. I think it's fantastic that these checkoff dollars are being utilized for that, and that you're bringing in people from all over the industry. Because, you know, as I understand from what I've seen from the Summer Series— and we can talk about that a little bit— is there are people from universities and other organizations and private industry that are being capitalized on. And I think that's, that's such an awesome and unique perspective to be able to provide that to the farmer. I saw Emily's eyes light up when you started talking about you know, your breakeven and your bottom line and having a marketing plan.

And that's, that's awesome to hear from that standpoint as well. So Emily, do you have anything to add to what Linda hit on there for some of those key pillars?

Emily

Carls: Yeah, absolutely. I think breakeven analysis is something that, you know, we talk to our people we work with a lot. We are not in the marketing business, nor do we really want to be in the marketing business, but we do know what their cost numbers are. And we, you know, really encourage people to know what is your breakeven. And I think the last couple months with what's happened in the grain market is a key example of that. I mean, I know people who are really upset because they sold it, you know, $9 beans, and now they're at $10, $20, $30. And, and, and I understand the frustration there. But also knowing your breakeven, if you can make money at $9, then make money at $9 and and, you know, move on, and that's fine. So breakeven analysis is something we really preach a lot, as well as everything Linda just talked on.

Strategic farm management, it's more than just marketing, it's more than just managing your costs, it's really a whole farm business analysis, and there's a lot of pieces that go into that, and transition is one of those big pieces. And we talked a little bit earlier, you know, each generation has their own goals and their own restrictions. And Linda talked a little bit about, you know, some of the lenders and the banking institutions that we've talked with and just really making sure that all of the producers know what their options are as far as financing goes. You know, can you afford to buy that, that piece of ground across the road? Should you look at more of a 50/50 lease? These are all very important topics and all things that the people on your team can help you with.

So ensuring that you, you trust the people that are on your team and you have a good relationship with them and open communication with them as well. That was something that kind of surprised me as we started talking to some, some lenders in our area for some other projects was just an open line of communication with your lender can really go a long way. And I think that holds true for the other people on your team as well. Just constantly staying in communication with them and making sure that they know what's going on and And that'll provide a good environment to be successful together.

Shay

Foulk: For folks that are listening to this podcast or, you know, watching this video here, when you talk about all these different areas, you know, the taxes, professional, running the business as a professional, the marketing plan, the business structuring, the lender relations, most farmers have identified these issues. And especially as you look at the farmer that is more progressive and looks at the changes that are coming in agriculture, that they realize they need to be more of that person they might understand it, but it can be overwhelming, right? It's a lot at once. So I think having the resources just to start that conversation is crucial. And as we talked about offline here before the podcast is who do you have as a conduit for that?

And so just from our business perspective, you know, that's, that's a lot of what Chris and I do on the consulting side is just serve as a conduit. You don't have to have one person that's an answer to all of those questions. You just have to be the resource and the conduit to it. And also, you know, looking specifically on profit management, breakeven, you know, that's where we like to focus and help operations with. And it doesn't have to be us. There's so many great programs out there, there's so many great resources and people out there that help you do it at any level of comprehension that you want. I mean, you can get it dialed into the, the pennies on the bushel, or you can just look at it from a whole field perspective or a whole farm perspective and just making steps and progression in those areas. Is so crucial.

One thing that I want to ask about is how is AMP different or similar to what is already out there for resources, whether it's from the university, private industry. You know, I mentioned earlier that a lot of these resources and a lot of the people that are part of this conversation are being pulled from those pools. So, do you see the AMP as being different from those resources? Or just similar and as another way to share and spread the message? What are your thoughts there?

Linda

Kull: Thanks for asking that. So I'm gonna, I'm gonna step, make a step backwards here. And you know, we've talked about the Illinois Soybean Association. So associations, and say for the same for farm business, farm management, and our other partner is University of Illinois Farm Doc team. Fantastic team of talented folks that are rarely connected too, and they kick out information all the time. So when we're, when we're, when we're, we're looking at all of these organizations, the three main organizations that come together to make AMP, they're mission-driven, non-for-profit organizations. So we're looking at the Association, and your Tech Ops Association is, it's mission-driven, non-for-profit. We're offering services that are, say, free to the listener, which is important. And then we're listening and responding and building on what we hear is important.

So when we're visiting with, say, you, Shay, we're listening. We're going to have a conversation about what you've shared with us and what's going on on your farm. That can develop. We have the flexibility. That can develop into several assets that we can share. When we're listening to the Banking Association, where we can bring folks together, we've had webinars in which we've had a lawyer and an accountant and a banker having a conversation. And we've drawn from that and can build programming based on what we heard them just say. So we're very responsive to what we're hearing. So as we're building our programming and the 3 partners that we pull together, which is the farmer organization, the Association of Farm Business Farm Management, who visits with farm families as a living, that's what they do. They listen, they help manage, they're a farm management organization.

And then also the University of Illinois and the talented folks there. And Farm Doc, we can pull a lot of talent together pretty quickly, actually, and be very responsive. So I'll stop there and ask if you have any more questions. But I think one of the key things is we're not— it's not a program that's just all laid out in concrete. It is reflective, responsive, and we can deliver assets that the farm family will see is actionable, that works into their busy schedules. I think that's one of the key, the key assets that we have is that responsiveness, ability to listen, and it being— it's a mission-driven type of organization that's behind it.

Shay

Foulk: I appreciate that overview. And one thing that I think is really interesting, another organization that I'm a part of is the AgriSafe Network, and their mission is providing ag safety and health information that is critical at the time that it is happening. So for instance, they have a rough idea of what they want to talk about throughout the year, and you have your key seasons and everything else. But then when something like Hurricane Laura comes up, there's different topics that need to be focused on for ag safety and health. And from, you know, AMP looking at that overall, COVID-19 probably threw a wrench, as it did in every other operation and everything else out there, How do you become flexible, dynamic, and responsive to that?

So I really like that, um, that it's not a rigid structured program because as we see more and more today, especially looking at the market volatility and the, the changes as Emily was alluding to earlier, um, it changes truly hour to hour, day to day at the farm level. And so I think that's really, really crucial there. One thing that I want to talk about here is, you know, we've talked about the program. We've talked about how it's being utilized, the flexibility in it, how it's pertinent to the farmers, and they definitely need to go check it out. So how do they find AMP, and where, where does it live, and what, what resources, what outreach programs are there in order to deliver this to the farmers?

Linda

Kull: Okay, so thank you for asking for that. So where does it live? It's, it's, uh, we have a a website that's within the Illinois Soybean Association. So to, to check into any of the resources, to, to know, say, for webinars, what's coming up, to go to illsoyadvisor.com. That's I-L-S-O-Y-A-D-V-I-S-O-R, illsoyadvisor.com. And then you'll see the AMP link there, A-M-P. Click on that. There will be for what we have already presented, a webinar series, a very successful webinar series. Actually, we had an in-person event planned, and the team very quickly flexed, and it became a webinar series. It got very good attention. It's there too, and you can— and the listener, if you visit the website, you can listen to the speakers there.

Also, we have social media presence too, tweeting and blogging, and Emily and Jesse and the folks at Farm Doc, they help us repurpose and retweet and blog information that are coming out of their programs too. So we have a social presence too.

Shay

Foulk: Very good. Now, one thing that I want to hit on too is I touched briefly on that summer series that was run there. I think there were 7, 8, 9 different topics throughout the summer. What does this look like moving forward? What can, what can we expect coming out of AMP here? And either currently, I'm sure there's some stuff that's already been developed that'll be posted here, but also as we look into the rest of the year.

Linda

Kull: So our hope is that even though COVID has caused lots of groups to scramble and switch from those wonderful conferences and in-person meetings to a virtual alternative, We're looking at hopefully having an in-person meeting next summer, but you'll have to stay tuned for that. We're still— that's still hopeful. We will have webinars, we will have 5-minute videos that are coming out, we'll have a YouTube channel. So again, we're looking at what we can do in this COVID era and ready to do almost anything. So hoping to have that in-person conference. Or event, but still looking that we want to, we need to be able to have that virtual presence too. And the exciting thing here will be a YouTube channel. That's going to be very useful for those, those 5-minute videos that we're going to kick out.

Shay

Foulk: Any specific topics you can give the listeners a taste of as we move forward here?

Linda

Kull: We're definitely starting out with a series of, say, a module with a series of 5-minute videos on transition and succession planning and all the aspects that tie to that, tax implications, family dynamics in that. So we're looking at that being our first, I'll call it a module or educational piece that we're going to kick out is that transition planning. Planning and all the topics that go along with transitioning and succession planning.

Shay

Foulk: Great. Emily, I'm going to turn to you first here. What have I missed? What have I not asked? What else would you like to leave the listeners with as we kind of wrap up this discussion?

Emily

Carls: Yeah, I think just as, I mean, Linda said earlier, we're always listening, always wanting to know what those in production are looking What answers do you need and what ways can we help you? We talked about, you know, getting blog posts out there as well as those 5-minute YouTube videos. If there's anything specifically that, you know, people have questions on, we are happy to either develop the content ourselves or reach out to experts in the industry to help make those connections and get you, get the producers the answers they need. I will also say that the AMP Summer Webinar Series, all of those videos are posted on Illinois Soybeans Association's YouTube video, and there's also blog summaries posted on their website.

So that AMP Summer Webinar Series covered a range of topics including, you know, tax implications and working with farm managers and market updates and succession transition planning, talking about the legal aspects of things. So there's a whole array of topics on there that it would be a good place for people to start to see, you know, where's— what are some things I need to be thinking about, what am I missing in my operation.

Shay

Foulk: Very good. How about yourself, Linda? What do you think? What else is out there? What have we not asked?

Linda

Kull: So there's lots of good materials out there, and you know, go visit the website, listen to those topics, it'll spawn some conversation. But what I would like to leave you with is that for anyone that's a part of that farm family business that that many things start with a conversation. So just getting a conversation going, you can listen to a lot of resources, listen to any of the AMP resources, and just start that conversation. Because one of the pieces that we keep reminding folks that that peace of mind is priceless. You cannot put a price tag on that. It's very important. If there's something that's keeping you up at night, and you feel you need to talk to your, your, your colleagues in your farm business, start it with the conversation. Good things can come out of it.

Shay

Foulk: Yep, absolutely. And of course, if anybody has any questions or specific topics that they'd like to hear more of, they can reach out to myself. We love having that flexibility and the dynamic approach on podcast the of being able to respond to these specific topics as well. And so not only from our value of being able to provide that in a podcast format, but also to help Illinois Soybean Association produce these, these topics and have these discussions and the conversations as you highlighted there. How else can they contact Illinois Soybean Association if they have any questions here?

Linda

Kull: So again, you can call any of the staff. I'm, I'm, we're always available to listen. So call the Illinois Soybean Association office, uh, visit the website, contact us by email. You can reach out to Emily and Jesse and even Dr. Gary Schnittke at the University of Illinois. He's out there too. And all of those communications, uh, points can funnel into the AMP program. So, uh, then we, you know, like to have that conversation. So I can be reached at, uh, by email at lkull@illsoy.org. And please, please reach out. We're here.

Shay

Foulk: Very good. I think that is a great place to kind of wrap this up. One final comment that I want to have here is these resources are not just for for those who happen to live in Illinois, right? I'm an import to Illinois from Iowa, and we have producers that are listening to this podcast that are coast to coast, north, south, as far as you can go. And these resources are not specific to the Corn Belt. These are so crucial in family operations, farm operations, farm businesses, agribusinesses all across the country. So I would encourage anyone that's listening to this, go check out some of those webinars. Give it a listen, share that content with the family, with your team members, with your strategic resource team, and it all starts with a conversation. Linda and Emily, thank you so much for joining me today. I can't tell you how much I've truly enjoyed having this conversation.

Look forward to seeing where AMP goes in the future here and to having more discussions.

Emily

Carls: Yes, thank you so much, Shay, for the conversation today.

Shay

Foulk: And thank you everyone for listening. We will catch you next time on the Ag View Pitch.