Dad's wisdom with Bill Northey

Chris: Welcome everybody to another episode of the Ag View Pitch, and today we've got a special guest with us for a dad's wisdom. We've got Bill Northey, who is the Iowa Secretary of Agriculture, the Undersecretary of Agriculture, and currently a consultant. And so Bill, how's it going today?

Bill

Northey: It's great, great to be with you, Chris.

Unknown: Well, good.

Chris: It's awesome to have you. I, as soon as you got online here with me, I was like, wow, that cornfield in the background there looks pretty awesome. And so I think there's a lot of producers up in the north, in the North Dakota area, and a few, few areas that would really like their cornfield to look like that.

Bill

Northey: So absolutely. And actually, this is a few years ago, so it doesn't even look that good this year. Yeah, although this is a low field, so it's looking better in the dry areas of northwest Iowa. The low fields are looking a little bit better. They're needing a little bit more rain.

Chris: Yeah, the, the fields do. They look pretty awesome. And, uh, in the picture, but talk a little bit about, as we record this on this, the 20th of July, as we record this here, this Dad's Wisdom, um, how's the crops looking in western Iowa that everybody's hearing about, you know, how dry things are and stuff? What's your perspective and what are things looking like?

Bill

Northey: You know, those spots that have caught some showers are holding on, uh, they still need some more rain to be able to, uh, to make it. Other places have just flat out missed them, and so there are some places that they're, they're going backwards, not as bad as Dakotas and western Minnesota and some of that area, and then as you work your way south and east, more of the areas have caught moisture, although I still run into somebody over in eastern Iowa the other day who I thought had gotten all kinds of moisture and said they've missed everything and, and are, uh, really needing something serious right now.

Unknown: Yeah. It's, it's crazy. It sure is hit and miss. I was over in Illinois yesterday and was in Indiana the week before. And, and there's just slivers of really heavy stuff and slivers of nothing. It's just amazing how, how it's, uh, been hit and miss, you know, this year. So, well, let, let's transition over, you know, we wanna, we wanna get to, uh, dad's wisdom with you and talk a little bit about, some of the things that, you know, you have experienced. You've had a, a pretty interesting career path here, um, as a farmer and as a business person and seen a lot of things. And so we're really excited to have you on here to kind of give us some perspective.

So what I'd like to have you do is, is, uh, go back a little bit and talk about, you know, where you grew up as, as a kid on the farm and and kind of what that looked like with your family and your dad and some of the things that influenced you. And, uh, and just start giving us a little, a little history, a little background, and then we'll kind of go from there with some more questions.

Bill

Northey: Sounds great. So home was northwest Iowa, Spirit Lake, um, and my dad farmed up there and farmed, um, kind of on and off with my grandfather who was right nearby as well, his dad. Um, corn, soybeans, uh, we also fed cattle, so we had oats and hay and hauled a lot of manure as a kid, uh, growing up. And, and always lots to do on the farm. Um, and it just, just, um, you know, Dad was, was, uh, aggressive in, in being able to add some more cattle. And, you know, cattle feeding is a tough business, and he figured out a way to be able to make it work. Was a smart guy, really appreciated him. Hard worker, almost scared me how hard a worker he was. I didn't know that I wanted to do that. So, um, when I went off to school, I wasn't sure that I wanted to come back home to farm. Um, and then my grandfather came to me when I was in college and said, would you come farm with me?

Um, and I think that helped my dad's and my relationship. Um, and I farmed with my grandfather for about 7 years. He was in his 80s just a few miles down the road. Just a great experience to gather that wisdom from him. You know, when you, when, when you're sharing a crop with a landlord, the landlord gets a first load, and if you end up with an odd number of loads, you don't short the landlord. And, and just, uh, as we look across the fence, he'd tell me what he liked and didn't like about what other people did, and I'd learn and absorb those. And I appreciate those You know, more now probably than I did at that time. Yeah, just really great things.

Chris: Interesting. So it is interesting how a lot of times, and we see this with a lot of our clients, that, you know, sometimes it's easier for son or daughter that's coming into the operation to get along more so rather with the parents than with the grandparents. You know, uh, you know, the grandparents' relationship with kids sometimes always just seems a little smoother for whatever reason. And so, yeah, um, Is there any, any, um, specific stories or specific things you can remember that was like, you know, this was that key thing that I learned from my grandpa, you know, that, that really has probably helped me, um, in business and in agriculture?

Bill

Northey: You know, it was probably more by example. I had two grandfathers. My grandfather on my dad's side, uh, was the one that I farmed with. Um, he, uh, he He left home after 6th grade and went out on his own and worked as a hired man until he got a down payment on a farm and lost a couple of them before he ended up, you know, with 4 or 5 farms by the time he retired. My grandfather on my mom's side was president of Iowa Farm Bureau, so very active off the farm in addition to being successful on the farm. And so just two great examples. He graduated from college. And you put those two side by side, and you couldn't tell which was a college graduate and which was the guy who only graduated from 6th grade. Both well-read, both good business people, both humble, and really friendly with folks. And I think absorbing that for me was being part of a community, engaging, always learning.

That was just, just a great experience. I don't even know that I realized at the time I was learning by example.

Chris: Yeah, so it sounds like rather than telling you this is the way it is and this is what you need to do, it's, it's just let's go work and, and you absorbed by, by being there and working through. That's awesome. So with your dad, you know, the relationship being a little different there, how did, how did that go and how did that transition as you, you said you farmed with your your grandpa for, for that number of years, and how was— what the transition looked like as you progressed further into the operation?

Bill

Northey: You know, it was great, um, working, you know, around my dad, but we had separate operations. And my brother-in-law and sister came back, uh, and farmed with my dad, and he's still there today. Um, he and she are still there farming today. And actually, when I went off to D.C., I rented them the land that I owned and they rented the land that I farmed because I had to leave the farm at that point. Right. So it's just been a really great relationship, you know, true kind of family business, although separate. But we talk all the time about what's going on and engage. But it really worked out well to not be in the same business, I think.

And my brother-in-law is just a great farmer, done a great job, grew a lot more than I did., through that as I was spending time off the farm, and my attention was other places in addition to, to farming more as it kind of graduated to weekends almost.

Unknown: Right.

Chris: So talk a little bit about your family then as, as your kids grew up. Tell us a little bit about your family and, and their, some of their experiences and some of the things that, that you would relate as a dad, as you know, as you're raising your kids.

Bill

Northey: We had 3 girls, um, and, uh, they're all in their 30s now. Um, and, uh, um, we've got now 5 grandkids, um, from, uh, from those 3 marriages and, and, uh, just fun to be able to get together. You know, I think I really appreciated being able to raise them on the farm. They weren't out all the time with me. Um, as far as farm girls, but they were around the farm. They were separated from town and they found their own fun. And, and, uh, um, we, uh, they got a chance to show pigs at, at the county fair and do the kinds of things that made them farm kids. And before I, I ended up running for Secretary of Agriculture back in 2006, and that's while they youngest was finishing up her high school time. So I was around during all that time.

And other thing I consciously thought of too, I had gotten a business degree or an ag business degree at Iowa State back right after high school, back graduated in 1981. And Then in the early 2000s, decided I really wanted to get some extra education. Didn't know what that was going to look like and had an opportunity to be able to take a master's in business administration that came to my community, 2.5 years worth of Saturdays and missed a lot of Iowa State football games, but it was a great experience. I grew a lot in it. I got some good friends. That were part of that cohort.

But I also looked at it as an opportunity to share how important education was with my girls who were all in middle school, high school, old enough to know that I was committing a lot of time, getting off the combine in some cases, to be able to go into class and learn all day and get back on the combine when I get back home again. And all three girls end up with master's and they all appreciate education. And I just think that was one of those things about kind of constant growing, learning, engaging well after high school and four years of college. There's lots of opportunities to learn and grow and meet meet new people.

Unknown: Right, right. Well, that's awesome because that, that experience as a dad and doing, um, multiple things, right, you know, that multitasking throughout the day, throughout the month, throughout the year of doing, you know, things in agriculture and trying to enhance and help other people and do things, I said, I think says a lot and really shows a lot to the to your family. So talk a little bit about, um, your next steps then as you progress through your career as a dad. And then I'm going to get to some more specific questions and, and ask you some, some things as a, as a dad, what that meant and how that's kind of influenced your family as well. But give us a little bit more background here on as your career developed, you know, into Secretary of Ag in that area.

Bill

Northey: So back, actually I was still in my 20s and the girls were really little when I went on the Iowa Corn Growers Association Board of Directors. Uh, just a set of circumstances there, again somebody giving me a chance to be on that board and learn from others as well. Um, and then progressed through the chairs there, became president of Iowa Corn Growers, president of National Corn Growers, in my 30s, being able to take our girls to Washington, D.C. when we'd have meetings, to Phoenix, to our national meeting, be able to get them on the road, see some other things. Also realize that there's things away and people in other places that are interesting to engage in that sometimes you need to stretch yourself.

I remember one really good lesson that, that, uh, that I share with, with young people a lot is I had a good friend that, uh, at Corn Growers who really encouraged me to do things, and it was somebody I completely trusted. He helped me so much in kind of learning what was going on, and I remember there were times I didn't think I was ready for something, but he knew better than I that I was ready. I didn't have to be as good as the person that was leaving. I would grow into it, and I would just say, certainly have encouraged my girls to allow yourself to be encouraged to do things sometimes that are a stretch to you. Hopefully we're all humble. We all have lots of reasons to be humble. We know our inadequacies and we can certainly see somebody else is so much better at what they're doing than I could ever be.

But somewhere along the way, this guy could see that I could grow into making a contribution and I wasn't ever going to be perfect at it. And he caused me to do some things I would not have done on my own. And that caused me to be able to step into those chairs to grow personally. Then in 2006, as I mentioned, I ran for Secretary of Agriculture in Iowa. It's an elected office. I did not have other elected office before that. So, when— had decided kind of at the end of that Master's of Business Administration to look for other kinds of things, and that's one of the things I'd looked at. And so, I ran, really close election, barely won, but was elected. And just a great experience as Secretary of Agriculture in Iowa. Was re-elected twice after that.

Travel around the state, get to know the issues, get to know Iowa better than I ever did before, get to know other pieces of agriculture, and again, get a chance to be able to do some things that really stretch me beyond what I would have thought that I was ready to be able to do.

Chris: Wow.

Unknown: And then, you know, back as a dad too, you know, your, your daughters are watching that. How did, how did your involvement in stretching yourself and, and doing those other things, how'd that influence your family?

Bill

Northey: You know, I think they, they saw that, that there were interesting things to be involved in. We took them, uh, places that, that, you know, probably we wouldn't have gone had I not been involved. Whether it was— I would often take one of the girls with me when I traveled to a Washington, D.C. meeting, and she probably enjoyed hanging in the room as much as anything, you know, having time and watching TV, doing other stuff in the room. But then she'd also get to choose what she wanted to see in the city. And so we'd stay 2 more days, and she'd decide whether we wanted to go to a play, whether we wanted to to go to see other things in town, which Smithsonian to go to. It just— and so they got a chance to be able to study, learn things. We got a chance to do it together. It just— it was great stuff.

And then we did do— we certainly wanted to be able to have them have an opportunity opportunity to be able to see some things. We took them overseas on a trip as well to be able to, to see places again, see some people that we knew in other places as well, but get a chance to be able to, to, you know, say they've been to Europe and be able to, to know some of the cities that they see on the news. And then they'll decide whether they want to continue to travel or they, where they want to live and those kinds of things. Give them the opportunity to be able to see little pieces of it and be aware of it, put a context to it.

Unknown: Right.

Chris: And I think that's interesting how that kind of ties back to— you talked about both of your grandfathers, their educational differences, you know, the school of education in college versus the school of education in real life. And that combination of the two, or either or, are both really good. And I always admire a lot of the clients that we see that do as you were just describing, you know, that take the family out and eliminate what we call backyarditis, where, you know, you stay in your little comfort zone, maybe too much. And sometimes we don't see the bigger picture, even internally, when we don't expand ourselves out to see other things. To, you know, that helps me every year when, when we got to go out and see clients, you know, this time of year and get around and see everything. It starts to eliminate backyarditis just to get out and see things.

So talk a little bit, um, also about your next, um, steps. You know, you're, uh, Undersecretary of Agriculture too. Talk just briefly about that experience, any key things that you learned there that are applicable here too?

Bill

Northey: Yeah, you know, you think of each of these steps. So I was running a farm with one employee and became Secretary of Agriculture in Iowa with 350 employees. That seemed like a crazy step and certainly plenty of people around to help. And then at USDA, once Secretary Perdue, before he was Secretary, called, we sat down and talked and we realized that we were could certainly spend some time around each other and liked each other, and I certainly liked the kind of message and the theme that he was bringing. And so I agreed to, to, to be nominated. You've got to go through a Senate confirmation and those kinds of things. And the area that I was responsible for was farm programs, conservation programs, and crop insurance. It's called Farm Production and Conservation.

Again, a combination the Secretary put together, which I think was a really good vision, but it was 22,000 people, Chris, in that area. You know, how in the world does this farm kid with, you know, 600 acres of farm end up, you know, responsible for that kind of an area? But it's a combination of things. You grow, you stretch, You certainly find yourself in unusual circumstances. You don't do them all right, but you, you continue to engage. You also, I would say, one of those things that I, I didn't realize from my, my folks and, and my grandparents that I've learned is everybody still puts their pants on one pant leg at a time. You know, they're still regular folks..

And we were exposed to political leaders when I was young that were, you know, leaders, whether it was meeting a governor, meeting a congressman, or other kinds of folks like that, such that I wasn't intimidated by folks actively involved. Get to know President of Iowa State University and get to know others. And so When you're not intimidated by that, then you're able to actively make a contribution and be engaged and say yes and say hi and have a conversation and learn about some things that where you could contribute. Right. And all those girls did that too. They got engaged and that's certainly something that I had additional opportunities to be able to demonstrate as well as talk about with those girls that, frankly, some of the folks involved in politics have plenty of reasons to be humble but aren't, you know, sometimes. And an awful lot of them are just salt of the earth.

They just don't know everything like the rest of us, right? Put me in front of a a plastic-making factory, I wouldn't begin to know where to start. Actually, throw me down at a potato farm in northern Maine, which I love to visit, I still couldn't make a living up there. I could drive a tractor, but I couldn't tell you when to do it or what to do. We all know our stuff in ways that we shouldn't be intimidated that we don't know others. Let's ask, let's engage, let's have conversations.

Unknown: Right.

Chris: So as, as you went through that experience, what's, what's like one or two key things that you got out of that that gave you some perspective that you otherwise would have never had, or something that you could bring back to the farm or tell some of our listeners, you know, this, this is a perspective that I got that I, I think is good for all of us to be aware of?

Bill

Northey: Well, probably, um, you One of those things that my dad was somebody who really engaged with folks, loved to talk with folks. I didn't like it when I was growing up and we'd end up, we wouldn't go to a restaurant very often, but invariably he'd run into somebody and have a great 15-minute conversation as we're trying to leave. Sometimes it was just on the way to the bathroom and he met somebody new. And I've turned into that same thing. It's about people. People are the most interesting thing that we can be involved in, but not about sharing our experiences, but learning about theirs and engaging with them. And I remember as Iowa Secretary of Ag, I'd visit every county every year. We have 99 of them in Iowa and run into folks in different places and think this is This is just a check-the-box kind of meeting because I need to get to that county. There's nothing going to be there.

And I come back from that and go, I had the best conversation with somebody that taught me, on top of the other conversations I've had, really important things. Engage. There's always somebody nearby you can have a good conversation with and learn from. And Certainly it's one of the most enjoyable things. I love connecting folks right now, um, from, from different parts of my life, uh, with others that, that they can benefit from having a connection with. Um, and I love keeping track of what's going on. So this engagement with people was not something many of us as farmers that love spending our time just in our own machine shed and on our own tractor really, really model very well, but I had some opportunities to be able to do that. I think my girls all engage more than they would have naturally as well because of that.

Certainly get the sense that, that I value it highly and it's been an important part of our lives. One of the reasons that I can have, you know, over 10,000 folks in a, in my connection pool here of, of just folks that I've run into and had reason to be in contact with and really enjoy.

Chris: That's awesome. So if I'm going to ask you a question that we ask often when we do these, uh, sort of Dad's Wisdom conversations, and yours is a little unique with an interesting career path that's a little different than our typical Dad's Wisdom, but what I'd like to do is ask you this question of if you were to go back and talk to your 25-year-old self knowing what you know now? Because it's, you know, it's easy when we're 25, we think we know a lot of things. There's a lot of stuff we don't know, we don't know. And so, if you were able to go back to your 25-year-old self something, what would that be based on what you have experienced so far in your life?

Bill

Northey: Good question. I, you know, I think my my farming business, um, was affected by the fact that I started in the early '80s and I had some friends that really struggled and I watched some others that struggled and it really caused me to be less aggressive on the farming side than I should have been. Now, if I'd been more aggressive, would I have lost some of these other opportunities? I might have. You know, because I was aggressive off the farm in getting involved in activities, but on the farm, buying land, growing, I, I was, I wasn't as aggressive as I should have been. I should have found ways. I mean, I, we all can look back and, and know, I'm sure glad I didn't buy that $2,500 an acre 200-acre farm next to me in the early 1980s, but I sure wish I would have bought that quarter that sold for $600 about 4 years later. Yeah.

And, and we've got to in some ways continue to, you know, go against some norm. We got to do that in marketing. You know, everybody's bullish, be careful. Everybody's bearish, don't jump on that bandwagon. Be careful, but certainly think about being willing to go against that tide. And I wish I would have had more of that to be able to grow that farming business early on. But we are a function of where we're at. And you have to be careful that— that would have been my backyarditis. I could see some of the tough stuff that was happening and I kind of lost our sense of time that tough times do happen. That wasn't unique to us. But also tough times don't last forever either. Figure out what you're gonna do on the other side of it. And it took me a long time to get to the other side of it. The rest of society had moved to that. And I still was not very aggressive on the farming side.

Unknown: What's interesting after a number of decades, how much more wisdom shows up, right?

Bill

Northey: Absolutely, Chris.

Unknown: If you get the advantage to look back, it's amazing how much, how much we know, but But with that said, you know, one of the things when we sit down with our clients, one of the first things that we ask them always is, in your operation, and I would encourage the listeners to think about this question as well as I ask you this, Bill, is, you know, how do you define growth?

Chris: Okay, and so I'm going to ask you that not only as, as a dad, but as a business person, you know, what, what, how do you define growth? Because, you know, for every farm operation, it's different. It might be more acres, as you were just alluding to, it might be, you know, more family time, it might be more education, it might be more, you know, business development. So, it's different for everybody. But how do you define growth? And what's your perspective that you would advise fathers on and dads on as they define growth in their operation for their family?

Bill

Northey: Yeah, great question. So, I would say within the farm, it was about doing progressive kinds of things. I went to strip till or ridge till and strip till and no-till and cover crops and yield monitor back in the '90s. It was on an older combine, but it was a new Ag Leader, uh-huh, that was thrown on it. And, and early in that process, got my first PC back. It was AT&T 6300 back in 1983, cost $3,000. But it was a lot of money, man. So, so it was about being progressive, uh, more so than adding those acres. And, um, I would say though, in the bigger point that you're making, it was also about personally growing, about learning, about having more connections, about understanding more of the world, about having some experiences. That I or the family could benefit from.

So it was about taking the girls to other places, knowing that— I remember when my oldest daughter turned 9 years old, it just like all of a sudden a light bulb went off and I thought, she's halfway to 18, Chris. And we, I mean, she's just a little girl, but we've already had her half the time before she goes off to college. And the second half, she's not around near as much. She's got school activities and other kinds of things. So let's make sure and take advantage of those times when they're young, maybe before you think they're ready, to be able to have those conversations in the pickup, to be able to give them experiences and other kinds of things. And, and so that— I really do think family is an important piece of that, uh, personally growing and having experience.

And for me, I had those experiences, whether it was association or being involved in, um, uh, as a Secretary of Ag or other kinds of experiences, getting all around the country in that role too and meeting new folks. So there's, there's lots of ways, as you say, to be able to measure that.

Chris: That's awesome. So one of the last questions as we get towards the end of the conversation here that I want to touch on a little bit too is— I, so I asked you if you're giving your 25-year-old self advice on growth, what perspective would you give the, the farmer listeners and, and business people that listen to this and would be hearing this with respect to, to growth and and their family, you know, because you've gotten a lot of perspective, you know, being on the farm and doing a lot of things that you've, you've gone through. And you've seen a lot of farm operations going from, you know, 1 employee on the farm to 22,000 employees. And, and that's a, that's a huge shift.

And, and just not only are dads and grandpas and sons trying to figure out how to work together, there's family dynamics when on the farm, and there's all kinds of different, you know, dynamics that affect growth both personally and professionally. And so any perspective that you would leave the listeners with on the farm that they need to maybe consider and think about to make sure that they do a good job, not only as dad but also as, as the leader of their organization, their business, their farm?

Bill

Northey: Life goes quickly. Have some patience, but take advantage of those— years are built out of days, and so continue to make progress, learn, grow. I remember somewhere along the way somebody had said the first 20 years of your career is really not about building success. It's about growing so that the second 20 years is when you really have an opportunity to be able to learn those lessons. And I had some really great stuff in my first 20 years, certainly with no idea what was coming after that. But you need to grow to be able to be ready for that next set. So, it's not just about the dollars in the bank. It's about, are you ready to handle the next opportunity that comes along? Have you grown? Do you have the people? Do you have the network? To have, have, are you ready to handle the stresses and the decision-making?

And if you put, you know, friends and teams together that can help walk you through those challenging situations, but certainly be challenged, be out there and be challenged. And whether that is, you know, it's, it's buying the farm or renting the farm, or whether it's going new places or whether it's getting on, Getting on a local school board when you don't want to stand in front of a group and speak. Continue to challenge yourself and good things will happen. Most of these are extremely forgiving for all of us that are inadequate at what we're all doing. We're just taking a role, but we grow in that too. We grow when we contribute to others, It's a very satisfying thing, but it also makes you— it gets you in a better place for other things you don't even know you're going to be involved with down the road. Right.

Chris: It's all about service, isn't it?

Unknown: It really is.

Chris: You get what I always tell people, you get what you give.

Unknown: You know, if you give it back.

Bill

Northey: You know, another one, Chris, was somewhere along the line I've used it too many times. My family's tired of it, certainly. It's that, you know, it's not all about us. It really isn't. Um, the world thinks everything revolves around whoever it is that's thinking about it. I remember somebody saying, when I was in my 20s, I used to worry what everybody thought. I got to my 40s, I didn't care anymore what everybody thought. Then I got to my 60s and I realized nobody was ever thinking of me anyway, you know. And that's really true. And that's how So when I was running again for Secretary of Agriculture, I had two re-elections to do. And you do that, you go out and you get name ID and figure out how many people know you and whether they like you or not as you're getting ready for that kind of race.

And I did very well in those races, but you realize after doing the job for 8 years and you're running again and you think everybody, everybody you know knows you, you, you run a name ID poll and 40% of the people never heard of you. Yeah. In the state of Iowa, they voted too, but they didn't hear about you. They don't remember you. And we got to remember that everybody's busy thinking about their own life. They're really not spending that much time thinking about yours. Right. So don't make it all about you. Make it about others and engage with others. Certainly you need to take care of of your life, but don't think everybody's just worrying about whether you're dressed right at this event or not. My very first meeting, Corn Growers meeting I went to, brand new guy, I knew one guy on the Corn Growers board.

I just about turned around and went back home because I realized I left my tie at home. I'd driven 4 hours across the state. Everybody wears a tie. Here's this new kid coming. You know, and I don't have the right clothes on. And I walked in, and I'm sure not a single one of them even realized I was wearing attire— wasn't— they couldn't tell you now. I can remember it like it was yesterday. I darn near turned around and left as if it was about what I was wearing. It wasn't. It was about going and being there and engaging. But I could have blown off a lot of opportunities by just saying, you know what, I left that tie at home. That's a sign I shouldn't be, uh, showing up at that board meeting.

Unknown: Yeah.

Chris: Yeah. And that's analogous to, to the crops or different things. You know, we, you know, as, as a farmer, it seems like if I make a mistake, it's right by the highway.

Bill

Northey: Amen.

Chris: Right where everybody can see it. You know, I never do that stuff in the back of the field. And so, you know, it's just like—

Bill

Northey: I sometimes did it back there too, but it really didn't bother me like it did along the highway. Yeah. And I could never drive as straight as my grandpa. My grandfather, you could— I mean, before, before parallel swathing, you couldn't tell where the edge of the planter was. I could, I could drive all across the end of that field with a combine and pick out, pick out the right rows to get on because— right, right where to turn in. Yes.

Unknown: Awesome.

Chris: Hey, uh, Bill, this has been a great conversation. The last thing I want to wrap up with is is where you're at now. What's on your plate? What are you up to right now?

Bill

Northey: So I'm back in Iowa in the Des Moines area doing consulting for groups, doing some speaking. And so my organization is called WH Northey LLC, not very creative, but you can find me on LinkedIn and I don't even have a website. Before I got a website up, got busy doing stuff and, and really enjoying a lot of anything around ag, but, but a lot around sustainability, trying to understand how carbon fits in, certainly conservation, other kind of business growth, some ag tech stuff as well. And so just really enjoying that, a nice kind of combination of, of, you know, half a dozen to a dozen kind of organizations that I get to work with and and learn from, and a lot of folks that I've known a long time, and those experiences that, that have been great to build on but continue to learn, and that's a fun part of it.

Chris: Yeah, it's always about looking for what that next chapter is going to look like and being able to be that visionary that can say, okay, what's on the other side of that hill that we can get to? And so really appreciate your time, Bill. This has been an interesting Dad's wisdom where we were able to kind of go through your, um, your career path and, and how that you were influenced by your grandpas and bringing the daughters along and, and through all that. Any final comments or anything that you'd leave the listeners with and we'll wrap her up?

Bill

Northey: No, appreciate, certainly appreciate you reaching out, Chris. And, uh, you know, I think, uh, podcasts, certainly yours, there's others out there too, or another great way for for learning, and I read and listen and enjoy people either live or recorded via podcast in lots of different ways. And so just encourage folks, I love to be able to make connections, and if there's something that I can do to get you to somebody that, that can be helpful, I'd love to be able to do that for, for your listeners out there as well.

Unknown: That's great. Hey, Bill, thank you. Very much. Really appreciate your time today.

Bill

Northey: Appreciate it, Chris. Thank you.

Chris: You bet. And thanks everybody for listening to the Ag View Pitch, and we will catch you again next time.