Jeremy Doetch joins Ag View Solutions

Shay: Welcome back, everyone, to another episode of the Ag View Pitch. Today we have a special interview with a new consultant with Ag View Solutions. Jeremy Dutch, how are you today?

Jeremy

Doetch: I'm great today, Shay. Glad to be a part of it. You know, my life's just changed and changed for the better.

Shay: That's awesome. We're going to get into some, some, you know, more detailed outlook of your role here with Ag View. But where I'd really like to start, Jeremy, is just give the listeners, you know, a 2-minute overview of who are you, where are you located, and we'll go from there.

Jeremy

Doetch: Sounds good. Well, I, I'm located in Northern Illinois. Poplar Grove, Illinois is the actual zip code. But there was a little town where I grew up by the name of Blaine. And so, you know, it's not even a map dot anymore. It doesn't have a zip code anymore. But I guess the Stagecoach Trail went through there. So, you know, from nostalgia purposes, sometimes I like to say I'm from Blaine, Illinois, and see how many people, you know, raise their eyebrows and go, where the heck is that? But it sits up in a little pocket kind of north, northeast of Rockford. I farm about 2 miles from the Wisconsin state line. So, you know, you could almost, you could almost call me a cheesehead, but I'm not really quite a cheesehead. But we're on a grain farm here. Our farm's been through quite a few different changes. I'm third generation.

My grandparents moved up here from Southern Illinois and started this farm. My dad took it over in the mid-'90s when my grandfather passed with a heart attack. I've come back into the farm. One of the great things that, you know, Ag View has allowed me to do is to, you know, be a part of the farm and be a part of something that, You know, I've built a career on building on the finance side. And so I'm blessed on doing that. But my dad, you know, he's, he's getting to the point where he's slowing down, third generation's coming in. The fourth generation, my oldest son is, is, you know, going to be a senior at UW-Platteville and wants to come back to the farm. So we're excited to keep the farm going. Like I said, it's a, it's a grain farm, we do a lot of row crops, just mainly soybeans and corn, a little bit of wheat every now and then. When it makes sense for us.

Sometimes it doesn't always make sense. Right. But we've, we do that. And then we've got a hog finishing business where we finish hogs for an integrator. And, you know, that's, that's really the farm. We've been bigger, we've been smaller, we're in a little bit of a transition period at this point in time. But that's, that's kind of my role on the farm on, on how to take it to the next direction. And I'm just, I'm lucky to be a part of Ag View because, you know, prior to being on the farm, I've been 20, 23 or 24 years in the finance world, where I started off after I graduated from college, I started off in the investment world, and then changed, went into the banking world. And I've been really a, you know, agricultural lender, you know, and doing that for probably 20 of those 23 years. So Last Friday was my last day at the bank. I can officially say I'm a recovering banker.

I know it's been, you know, time that, you know, I've been on the Ag View Pitch before and have worked with a couple people on how to, you know, position themselves with their bank or getting another set of eyes on some financials. And I'm looking forward to be a part of that with, with Ag View and bring that perspective and just really glad and, and blessed that you guys have, you've been open to it. Married with 2 kids. I've been married, shoot, I've, you know, she's gonna kill me if she listens to this. Uh, it'd be 23. Yeah, 23 years of marriage. Um, I get a heck of a heck of a wife. She's a teacher, uh, men's basketball coach, a heck of an athlete. I mean, she's just my best friend. And 2 boys. I've mentioned Will, the older one that's coming back, and then Chris. He's actually gonna be a sophomore at, uh, Platteville this year coming up. Um, wants to be a fireman.

So, uh, really cool. Uh, you You know, I just, I can't believe that I'm blessed this much. So that's a little bit of a, I don't know if I took more than 2 minutes or not, but that's a pretty big, I guess, an overview of who I am.

Shay: Well, it sounds like you got a beautiful family there and lots of great opportunities. I want to go to the moving into the investment and finance world. If you could just give us a little insight to, you know, your dad was second generation, you're third generation, but maybe there was some time away.

Jeremy

Doetch: Were you farming at the same time or what kind of led you into that space? Yeah. So, um, what ended up happening, um, my parents, I came along and forced the issue of my parents getting married and, you know, and they've been, you know, they've been married 46 years. So it, it wasn't like I, you know, they woke up one day and like, oh gosh, we got to do this. I think it was a planned thing. But as a result of that, Shay, you know, one of the things is, is that my dad never ended up finishing his degree. He was actually, uh, going to be, um, uh, get a crop science degree at UW-Platteville. Jacksonville as well. His junior year, he came back into the farm. My mom ended up going back to school, getting her degree, and ended up being a teacher. She retired from teaching last year.

And what they stressed on me, you know, at that point, I think because of that experience, was go get a degree, you know. All I wanted to ever do was be a farmer. And, you know, I, I don't know if I was a really good athlete, but I was in my area a fairly good athlete. And so I was getting you know, looked at a little bit for football and baseball, ended up going to college, you know, and in my mind at 18 was just to play, you know, continue to play college sports and quickly transitioned into, okay, there's, there's things that I do need to do besides just sports. Um, and so that impression of get your, get your degree, do something off the farm because the farm can always come, you know, you can always come back to the farm. You know, there was two things that they wanted.

They wanted me to have a degree and they didn't want me to have any resentment that, you know, that the farm held me back or, or kept me in here. I'm not doing or experiencing something that I wanted to. And so when I graduated college, that's actually where I met my wife Beth. And she was from the Wheaton area. She had gotten a teaching area, a teaching degree from the high school that she had graduated from. And so we stayed in that area for a while. And when I was in the investment world, I was we were handling a lot of, you know, like 401 rollovers, retirement planning. A lot of it was mutual fund-based or some form of, you know, managed money type deal rather than any stocks, bonds, or anything like that.

Shay: So this is maybe 2003, 2004 timeframe?

Jeremy

Doetch: Correct. 2000— actually, it was 2000— you know, when I got to think about 2002. Sorry, Shane. Yep. And so I spent 2 years in the investment world in a suburb of Chicago called Villa Park. And I was living in the Naperville area with, with my wife. We had just had our first son. And so at that time, I was really, you know, at that time, that was where I was kind of just, you know, stretching my wings, learning a little bit more. I was, you know, I was coming back on the weekends during planting and harvesting season, but it wasn't full time. And I remember at the— I had kind of a 2-year agreement with this investment rep. And he said at the end of the 2 years, you know, I could be a rep myself, which was full commission. And, you know, I was a little bit nervous about that just because I just was starting my family, you know, and that type of thing.

So I ended up getting an offer to move into banking. And that's, that's how I made the transition from the investment world into the banking world is that, you know, my 2 years were up and no hard feelings actually. But the guy that him and I talk, you know,, you know, a lot throughout the year at times. Um, really good dude, uh, that, that gave me a lot of, you know, um, kind of marketing and selling experience. And I'm, I'm really grateful for the opportunity there, but it just didn't work out. You know, it, my wife and I felt like it didn't work out at the time. So it made sense to move into banking, a little bit more of a steady income, get, get our feet, you know, get a foundation built and that type of thing. So I moved into that. Really found, uh, that right away I just connected with business owners.

Um, and I, I attribute that, and I think it was really because of my farming background. You know, I had a lot of entrepreneurial, you know, sense to me. And, uh, you know, just, it was just, it felt like the right thing to do. And so there was about, um, I would say 5 years, 5, 6 years that, that I was in the, um, in the banking lending area in the Chicago area. I spent a little bit of time downtown in the Loop doing some stuff with real estate and different manufacturers and service divisions. And then I moved out into the rural area in around 2006 and 2007. And that's where, you know, I started to get introduced to the ag lending side of things. And that's where I just, I really found my niche and I was like, this is the right thing.

Shay: I mean, I've got the farming background.

Jeremy

Doetch: I understand farmers, they understand me. We didn't have to bridge the gap of what, you know, a cow versus a heifer and a, you know, a sow versus a gilt and a boar and all that. I mean, I just knew all that stuff. And so, you know, we really hit the ground running and I was at a really good ag bank for a long time. And I was getting more involved with the farm, but it was still more of a weekend type thing. We ended up having our second son. So I was really busy with family life and and that type of stuff. And then, um, at one point right before my, um, my oldest son was going into kindergarten, you know, I really came to my wife and I just said, hey, you know, I love what I'm doing, but I miss the farm. I miss being a part of it. I miss being home. Um, and, you know, I'd really, if you're open to moving, I'd really like to do it before the kids get into school.

And let's figure out where our roots are. And thankfully, she was along for the ride. You know, she loves the family and, you know, a very strong family person. Her family's great. So she understood all that, why it made sense to me. And so in 2008, 2009, we moved back to the farm. And since then I've been, you know, a part of the farm. Not always been full-time because of the role within AgLand. But have always been, you know, part of the farm. And then just recently, like I said, last Friday, which was May 16th, was my last day where I kind of hung up the, you know, the banker cleats and I've transitioned to the farm business owner and associate with Ag View. So, you know, I don't know if that's enough background for you, you know, Shay, for you and the listeners, but hopefully it frames up a little bit about who I am, where I've been, and where we're trying to go.

Shay: Well, and it's a, it's a great, it's a great background of your expertise and the experience outside, because I think the external perspective, not only to a farm operation, like your parents were hoping, you know, the farm will always be there, you can come back. It gave you a lot of outside perspective and experience, it provided value back to the farm. I do need to ask you though, 2008, You know, were you working bank, quote unquote, banker hours when you came to your wife and said, hey, by the way, I'd like to farm too? And now all of a sudden, you know, like you said, you got, you got one in kindergarten or starting school there. You're making a move and now you're going to be working a bunch more hours. That seems like a pretty big jump.

Jeremy

Doetch: Was it? Oh my God, it was huge. Because you're right, I was banker hours. I mean, I was living in the suburbs. You know, I did. I didn't have a, you know, another, you know, I guess job operation or anything like that that was, you know, calling me. And so when we moved out, um, it was kind of funny. So when we moved out, my wife, uh, she didn't get a teaching job right away. So she ended up doing, um, she's a heck of an athlete. She went, you know, went overseas and played for Team USA and, and got hooked up with, uh, a guy that owned a, uh, pitching and hitting, um, lessons, you know, for like softball girls. And, uh, they were in the Aurora, uh, Aurora, Illinois area, and we were living outside Rockford. So she was driving back at nights, uh, to go give softball lessons.

And I was, you know, I was back trying to— after I got done with, um, uh, you know, with my day job, I was, you know, putting on anhydrous, planting beans, you know, doing all that kind of stuff. And so there was a period where You know, I think we both were looking at each other and going, we had a pretty good life. You know, what did we decide to— yeah, why did we do this? Um, and it all came at a time, you know, where, you know, kids got in school, there was activities in the afternoon. And so there was a period of time where it was an adjustment and, uh, there was a lot of growth. There was a lot of, you know, a lot of times where we didn't see each other, you know, it was ships passing in the night type of thing.

But, uh, you know, it's brought us to the place we are today and You know, we've looked back at it and, you know, we were just talking, you know, Sunday night about how, you know, how we've grown as people, how we've grown in our marriage and, you know, just how happy we are. And so, you know, it was all for a reason and it was all good, but you're 100% right. It's funny you picked up on that, Shay, because at the time it was a major change and, and, and, uh, a major thing for us to adapt to.

Shay: So when you came back then to the farm or, or back full full-time, uh, as you got started there, uh, obviously you were farming with your dad. Was your grandpa still around then?

Jeremy

Doetch: No, he, he had actually, um, he had passed, uh, when I was, uh, a junior in high school. Okay. And yeah, so, um, I guess a little quick backstory, um, he had passed, uh, this— I'll never forget this— it was the first time we had planted wheat in Oh gosh, probably about 15 years. And he passed away right before the wheat harvest was done. It was ready to go. And, you know, we had a worn out combine, so we had to change rasp bars, you know, on the cylinder and the concave and all that kind of stuff. We had the feeder house tore apart and he ended up passing before we ended up putting all that back together. And I remember when the dust settled and, you know, all the family and everybody left, you know, Dad and I walked back in the shop again. We thought, we're never going to get this combine together. You know, how the heck are we going to do this.

And, you know, we ended up doing it, ended up working okay, and got it together. It was a great, you know, great harvest. And, you know, it was kind of his way of moving forward. But then he took the farm from, you know, from 1995 up to where it is today. And he was the main player. And he did a lot of expansion, did quite a lot of things, moved into a trucking company where we hauled quite a bit. And at that time, he just— he did— he expanded our seedbean project, built built the building to do the hog finishing and that type of stuff. So he was trying to diversify and was trying to set, you know, just different types of income streams and profit centers from some of the lessons he learned from the '80s. So when I came in, in 2008, 2009, you know, was about the height of his, you know, growth and sustainability. And the farm was rocking and rolling at that time.

You know, we were And he just needed help. You know, we were, you know, with everything that we had going on, he needed somebody to be able to put on anhydrous and plant. At that time we were doing no-till beans, you know, and so somebody to kind of handle that. And it was, those two were a good, you know, they were good applications that I could do. You know, I could knock off at 4 o'clock in the afternoon with the bank job and go plant, you know, till 8 o'clock at night or go put on anhydrous till 11 at night. So it was a nice fit for both of us. I was able to come in and do some of the projects that, you know, you kind of needed a person that knew what they were doing. But it was also flexible enough roles within the farm that helped me, you know, keep my bank job and be a part of the farm. So I was really lucky that that came around.

Shay: And I bet that was such a huge relief for him because, you know, my wife and I were just talking the other day, to find someone that you can trust to go do an application or to go plant until 8 o'clock, 11 o'clock, because you got to be, man, one, they're few and far between. So if you can bring back a family member to be a part of that is huge. But also just having that confidence that when something goes wrong, the operator is going to stop, you know, going to just keep going. And that's all the difference in the world. You know, you would, I'm sure, stop. Hey, this needs fixed. Hey, we need to do something. Let's put a pause on it tonight and Yep. Man, that was probably a huge, well, I, I guess I'd call it breath of fresh air with everything else that sounds like your dad had going on too.

Jeremy

Doetch: Yeah, it, yeah, I think it really was. My wife and her, her mom, my mother-in-law, which my, I'm, I just got lucky. She's a heck of a mother-in-law. They used to joke and, you know, cause I would say they probably didn't. And I guess my point to this, Shay, is that they didn't see as that a huge, probably right away, a huge breath of fresh air as my dad did, you know, cause I was gone so much. They used to joke and say, Man, that damn, that damn Anne Hydrus, she's, she's always taking your time, you know? And so they were, they were joking about that. And I think it was their, you know, it was, you know, my wife's way of saying I miss you and that kind of thing when she was, you know, she was going, gosh, Anne Hydrus is taking your night again tonight.

Shay: So thanks, Anne.

Jeremy

Doetch: Yeah, that's, yeah, I like that. I'm gonna have to use that.

Shay: Yeah. Well, okay. So I don't want to just skip 17 years because there's a lot of important stuff there. So from 2008 to 2025, you're helping in the evenings doing, you know, I'm I'm sure the operation's growing, changing, shrinking, you know, whatever, whatever's happening over that period of time. But, you know, you get in pretty deep to the, the ag lending side, it sounds like, um, with the bank that you're involved with there. Was it the same bank for those 17 years, or was there a switch?

Jeremy

Doetch: There was a couple moves. And, um, so when I started, um, when I came back in 2009, actually, I taken a job in 2008, we, we moved the family, bought a house in 2009. And so there was a period of time where I was commuting from roughly the Yorkville area to Rockford before we moved back to the Poplar Grove area. And the bank I started off there was a bank by the name of Amcor Bank. And they were, they had an ag division, but I wasn't hired into the ag division. I was hired into the commercial division. And that at the time that bank was going through just a little bit of struggles. They, they had, they had made the choice to be into a lot of the developer type projects. And as you, everybody probably remembers, you know, the housing market crashed, a lot of things that happened.

And so there was, you know, a lot of those businesses that were upside down, similar to how farms can get, you know, a lot of it's no different. And so at the time there, I spent 2 years at that bank. Working through that. And it was one of the best experiences that I had had just from a lender perspective, because, you know, you see where things go wrong and you see how a bank, how they react to that. And so you get just— it's just a wonderful experience. I attribute it to it. It's kind of like, you know, you've got a bunch of these ag lenders that either have retired or near retirement right now that talk about the '80s. You know, that was my version of the '80s. You know, I got to see that. It wasn't with ag, but it was with the investment world in construction.

And it was very similar in a lot of ways to what we dealt with in the '80s, you know, where asset values weren't worth what they were, you know, cash wasn't coming in. It was a very similar type scenario. And so I got that experience. The bank actually ended up being sold to a larger regional bank that ended up being absorbed into its parent company from Canada. And I just, I really missed ag lending. You know, I was doing a little bit of ag lending prior to that, in the, in the town that we had moved from in the Yorkville area. So I wanted to get back into ag lending. So I moved to a bank that was doing more ag lending, and I was there for about 3, 4 years. And then the bank that had absorbed this, Amcor Bank, called me back and said, hey, we'd like you to be an ag lender for us and build a market. And so I went back and tried to do that That was in the timeframe of about 2013.

So we were just coming off of that supercycle. You know, the bank was saying, hey, we really want to be into row crop lending. And, and we just got off that supercycle and it was tough. I felt, you know, at the time, you know, I got into lending because I really wanted to help people and I just couldn't help people. And I wasn't— the bank, even though they had an ag presence. They were more in the dairy side of it. It was really a Wisconsin-type division. And so they, in my mind, I don't know if this is 100% what had happened, but in my mind, you know, they were very proficient with dairy because, you know, it was, it was recurring monthly income that came in. You know, they struggled to get their arms around the, the operating cycle of row crops. And then during a time where row crop farming was coming off of its supercycle and it was a slow burn at that point in time.

And so I just felt like I couldn't really help people. And so I ended up moving to a bank that was really known in the area for row crop production. And I was there for a couple years and really liked it. And then they ended up selling to another bank. And so, you know, I moved about 3, 4 banks in that timeframe, Shay. And some of it was, you know, just due to acquisitions, just change in, you know, I don't want to say leadership, but direction of what, you know, type of lending that they wanted to do. And so as I sought out ag lending, I kind of moved in a couple of different areas to some banks that I thought were still within ag lending and still where I could help some farmers. And the latest bank I was at, I've been at for 6 years, started in 2019.

Ended up building a little market in Boone County where I'm from, and was thankful that a lot of people followed me over from the bank I was at before. And we built a nice little market here in Northern Illinois with a good bank, and they're still in existence today, still do a lot of ag lending. You know, they were very, you know, gracious for me and understanding of moving and transition into the farm. So, you know, to answer your question, there's about 3, 4 banks in there that I did move to, but it was either due to some form of acquisition or temperature check where I just, I wanted to stay in ag lending and continue to help farmers.

Shay: Yeah, I got a couple questions out of that. So you mentioned working more on the, you know, commercial business side there for a little while. I think the viewers might get some value out of your perspective on the differences in ag and ag lending versus a, you know, say a construction company that you had referenced there because they both have complexities. But I think we also, you know, think sometimes or get caught in a rut that agriculture is special, you know, we're some special kind of business. And maybe that's true for various reasons, but some people view it as a lifestyle. You know, you have different cycles. You're 12 to 18 months on a turnaround from an operating cycle standpoint.

What's your observation on maybe some key differences or some key lessons that a farm might take away from what you observed in, say, a construction or a different commercial business versus an ag business?

Jeremy

Doetch: Yeah, and I think, you know, this is corny as this sounds, you know, we've talked about this a couple of times on a podcast, but, you know, the similarities You know, profit, whether it's in, you know, in, in any business, profit, you know, making money and not losing it is, is huge. And then in the times where you do lose it, you know, having your however much working capital or, you know, cash, however you want to call what working capital is, but, but working capital, it doesn't matter whether you're in a farm, a construction company, manufacturer, or anything, but working capital is the key to helping you weather those downturns.

And, you know, I think those are the two biggest similarities is that, you know, business structure and how you make— how you take, you know, top-line sales growth into all the way down into net income that ends up turning to working capital, whether you're in farming, construction, you know, whether you're a manufacturer or service company. Those are, I think, are the most similar things between any of those industries. Now, some key differences, obviously, you had alluded to it, the business cycles are different. So how fast you can make adjustments or how fast you can turn and react to those market changes, you know, is really what varies and what makes ag special, I think, is that, you know, we plant a crop. I'm going to talk Northern Illinois, Illinois, you know, Big I states, because that's what, you know, where you and I are from.

But I mean, you plant a crop in that, you know, late, late April, early May timeframe. And, you know, it could be, you know, 18 months after that before you end up receiving and really knowing kind of, you know, where your cash position is on that crop where, you know, if you're a manufacturer, it could be 60 days later. So your ability to react. And to change your business model with the market takes a lot longer in ag than it does, you know, in some other industries, which I think is what makes ag a little bit more special that way. And then you could get into some of the nuances of, you know, just cost control, what you can and can't do with your end user, that type of thing. But I think those are some of the key differences and key similarities.

Shay: Do you think farmers knowing that they have a longer cycle makes them slower to change when they do take time to evaluate what's going on? You know, and what I mean by that is maybe seeing that your working capital is burning or that there's an issue either on the cost of production side or on your marketing outlook and saying, well, we, we need more time, or maybe, maybe we're not having a knee-jerk reaction. Maybe we're a little bit slower to react. Because we're in this longer cycle, or is that, or is that not true?

Jeremy

Doetch: You know, I, I think that the, yeah, I, I think yes. I mean, it's, um, you know, I think humans, you know, for the most part, sometimes we're, you know, it's, it's a daunting task at times to plan and stick to a plan, you know. I mean, it takes a little effort. And not to say that, you know, I don't want to make that sound like conceded to the audience or anything, but you know, every day things get in the way of, of, of working on your business rather than in your business. And I think that, you know, one of the things that you, if you're a, if you're owner of a manufacturing company, I mean, you, you know, every, every month, if you're looking at your, you know, your, your, uh, reconciled P&L reports, you're seeing that result so much faster. Than if you're doing that same thing as of 12/31 on the farm side and you're seeing it one time, you know.

So, you know, there's that saying, you know, uh, plan, uh, fail, fail to plan, you might as well plan to fail type thing. You know, I think it's just human nature that, that, you know, we all would much rather go out and, you know, do something fun in a tractor, be outside in the sun, than sit in the office and plan and look at numbers. Um, and so I think the difference of seeing the results of those numbers and how many times a year you see that probably is what gives you a false sense of security that like, okay, well, I'm still on track, I could still make this work, you know, that type of thing, um, where you get a little sidetracked. And then there's some guys that I'm, you know, do it really well. I mean, we, you know, we work with some people that, I mean, they're looking at that all the time.

So I, I think that it's just a human nature thing, um, the perceived time and the time to fix any kind of mistake or the time that you have to make up for what's going on, you know. A lot of— I've heard people say that, you know, farmers don't like to go, uh, um, to Vegas and spend their money because, you know, we're speculative all the time. You know, there's probably just a little bit of that too. So, you know, who knows? But you're right. I mean, that you, you get— you can get loads of sleep at certain times of the growing season, um, where if you're a manufacturer, you're seeing results every single month, you know.

Shay: So let's bring us up to speed to today. You were with the bank that you were at before for the last 6 years. Last, last week you took the leap, moved out into the consulting space. You know, you're back in the farm operation, have a drone business involved on the seed side of things. I think maybe— are the hogs still around as well?

Jeremy

Doetch: Yep. Yep. The hogs are still around for right now. Yeah, we, yeah, we've got about So we built that building in '95 and, you know, everybody's just, you know, I guess the standard, it kind of says, you know, you've got roughly 30 years on the slats, you know, it's a confinement finishing building. And so we've got a major decision ahead of us here at some point in time. The building is, you know, really good shape for its age. We've, we've, you know, kept up with it. But when the slats need to be replaced, you know, I think that's when we're going to have to make a major decision as to Do we want to pay the, you know, do we want to go through the expense of redoing this building? Does it make sense to do that plus build another one? Or does it make sense to, you know, figure out a different profit center?

The thing that's tough with the hogs, and I'm sure any hog producer that's listening to this right now, you know, will be able to assimilate to this, is that, you know, the costs have gone up to do all of this, you know, whether it's to build a building, to feed, the labor, you know, everything's gone up, but we're at the same, you know, basically the same margin. And so, you know, your return on investment— when we built that building in '95, I think the return on investment was like 7 years, uh, somewhere between 5 and 7 years. And if you look at, you know, what integrators are paying for space along with what your, you know, your outlay of capital is to get a building built, you know, that's closer to 15, 20 years with a, you know, 30-year lifespan on the slats. And so You know, we'll have to make that decision at some point whether we still want to be in it.

But I know those are a little bit tougher decisions now today than they were in '95.

Shay: For the hog producers listening, and this is, hopefully this isn't too forward of me, Jeremy, but if anybody has any outlook on that as you guys make the decision, I'm sure, you know, any insight from people listening would probably be welcome there.

Jeremy

Doetch: And I would also—

Shay: Absolutely. I would also use this point to mention too. So Jeremy, you know, you do have an Ag View Solutions email, so it's jeremy@agviewsolutions.com. So, you know, whether it's reaching out on the hog side of things, if you just want to make an introduction as a listener to Jeremy, welcome him to the team. Or if you think from listening to what we're going to talk about here next, your perspective on the banking or financial outlook for the business, or if you think Jeremy is a fit for working with you in your operation, just, just reach out, shoot Jeremy an email, if nothing else. And that's kind of where I wanted to steer us here is as you join the team, obviously, there's a lot of value with your background and experience, as well as just knowing how Ag View Solution works, your familiarity and use of Profit Manager.

And then your outlook on your experience with the ag lending, what do you feel that, you know, I know, but what do you feel is what's going to bring the most value to the Ag View Solutions clients, to people that we work with, people on the podcast as we move forward here? What does Jeremy bring to the table that is going to bring massive value to the audience?

Jeremy

Doetch: Yeah, great question, Shane. I think that easiest answer is that, you know, I think I can be, you know, that recovering banker that anybody can ask questions to a recovering banker that they don't want to ask their real banker, you know. And, and, you know, I think that's the biggest value, or the, the easiest way to summarize that big value is to say, you know, there's a lot of times where, you know, you go to the banker— I, I have even felt this way too with my bankers— that, you know, you go in there and you're like, gosh, you it seems like it's such a, you know, almost like a job interview process or, you know, kind of, you know, courting, you know, you're, you know, dating, you know, that you're like, gosh, I don't always want to show my true cards because, you know, I don't know how that, that person is going to perceive that.

And I think that, you know, we can talk all about, you know, the business and the financials and we can run, you know, debt service coverage ratios and debt-to-asset ratios. But I think I think that the biggest thing is that it can be— that I bring is that it's a non-threatening environment to ask a banker all the questions that you're afraid to ask your banker. And then how to propose and, you know, to go through all those concerns and questions and how to tee that up the right way so that you get your point across to your current banker, you know. And I think that That's probably some of the things that I think I bring to the table because, you know, all of us that are in Ag View, I think we're all really strong, you know, from a financial perspective, from a, you know, income statement, balance sheet, cash flow, planning, you know, all of that team health.

I mean, I think we're all pretty proficient in that area. And so we all have our little things that we, that we, you know, little niches we have. And I think that's my niche is that, you know, ask me the questions you're afraid to ask your banker, and we'll figure out how to put those into right light for the, for the, the real banker that you're going to go see.

Shay: That's a great summary. And for clarity, you're not continuing on the ag lending side or banking. No, no. This is an excellent outlook. And I would tell all the listeners, too, you know, I'm not afraid of my banker. So if he's listening, I'm not afraid of my banker. But I did— I personally approached you 2 months ago with a decision that we're looking to make in our operation, which is is, you know, a little bit, a little bit out there. It's kind of a different way to approach it. And just to run through this scenario that I had in my head and say, hey, Jeremy, is this— do you— what do you think of this? What's your honest opinion? And so many of you listening have multiple businesses that you're running. We have tight margins. You're looking to grow the operation at a time period when it feels damn it, I don't know if I should be growing right now.

Yeah, having another set of eyes is pretty crucial on that. So I agree 100%, you know, for anybody listening that feels, you know, that outside perspective would bring value to operation would be huge. And I, and I also think too, just from knowing the numbers inside and out and the, you know, the number of balance sheets and cash flows or lack thereof that you've seen over the years probably provides an excellent perspective. I know you're working with a lot of people on Profit Manager as well, getting cost of production dialed in, helping people feel comfortable with that side of things.

I think there's just tremendous potential that when I look at the Ag View Solutions team, and this is one of the coolest things for, you know, whether you've worked with us or thinking about working with us or just have listened to the podcast for a long time, our, our background and our foundation between the 5 of us now, Joe and Andy, you, Jeremy, and Chris and I, there's someone that has an answer to the question that you have or has experienced it, whether it's the transition or how do we reintegrate or where do we go for additional cash flow into the business. And I think I know you're a huge asset to what that looks like moving forward. And, you know, I would say too that maybe the different area that you would provide is we will be doing a lot of, you know, meetings together. Yeah. From the consulting point, this has kind of happened organically.

I don't think Chris and I really anticipated this as we added Joe and Andy and you as associates, but the interaction of you guys working together with clients is now—

Jeremy

Doetch: Yeah.

Shay: 5 times the value to that client than even just one of us working together. And there's situations where, you know, maybe it's transition planning or business structuring that one person does make sense in those less complex scenarios. But there's also huge value to having two people there, even if one is virtual, to provide perspective. It gives a backup to clients that, hey, if Shea gets hit by a beer truck, Jeremy's there to step in. And help coach through, consult through what you have going on in your operation. So I don't know, I said a lot there, but I just think, I just think I'm excited for what that could be with the collaboration amongst us internally in the team to continue to provide value. And I would hope, again, I don't want to be too forward here.

I would hope you would be open to doing more of these podcasts as we move forward and just having conversations around kind of what you're seeing as you work with people as well as, hey, it's, it's July 15th. What do I need to be thinking about from a cash perspective or from a business planning perspective?

Jeremy

Doetch: Yeah, no, absolutely. You know, I, I've been a part of, you know, Ag View Solutions does the peer groups and, you know, if you haven't experienced that, you really need to because it's extremely powerful. We all say like you can't hardly describe it, you know, but I think that between the 5 of us now, it's almost like a mini peer group, you know, the different perspective that you get of a peer group. We've got on a little bit smaller organic scale of just the Ag View team. So that's kind of how I look at it with that is that, you know, we've got so many different experiences that You're right. There's somebody that can find, you know, either an answer or a similar situation that's happened with a client, borrower, friend, neighbor, something that we can, we can apply to your business.

Shay: And as always, not, not just with the consulting side, but with the podcast, our purpose is to provide value and perspective to your business. And at the end of the day, that's, that's what we're here for. That's why we bring value to to your farm operation, to your agricultural business, whatever you have going on. We want to provide value through the tools and resources and experience that we have and a background and some perspective. But just to be able to pick up the phone and, you know, maybe, maybe someone's working with me or someone's working with Chris, but they're like, hey, I have a question for Jeremy. Can I give Jeremy a call? Yeah, absolutely. That's, that's what we're here for.

Jeremy

Doetch: Yep, absolutely.

Shay: All right. Anything else that I didn't hit on or, you know, that you're really excited about that we should have been talking on? You know, what's on your mind as we close out here, Jeremy?

Jeremy

Doetch: Well, I'll tell you this. You know, what's on my mind is I'm just excited to be a part of the Ag View team. You know, I told Chris this and I really feel this. I got to go to about not quite a year ago. I got to go to a consulting meeting and when I got done with that meeting, I just said to Chris, I said, you know, it's really exciting to be on the other side of the table rather than be the banker. And I'm not saying that all banks are pessimistic, but there's a little bit of, is that going to work? And, you know, the consulting meetings are so much more in Ag View is so much more about how do we make this work? This can work. We're optimistic. How can we make this work? And You know, between you, Andy, Joe, Chris, um, and anybody that I've worked with, you know, within the Ag View team, it's just a breath of fresh air to be on that side of optimism.

And I'm just excited to be a part of it. So, you know, you got the Ag View family is a heck of a family and I'm just honored to be a part of it. So thank you, Shay. Absolutely.

Shay: And, uh, you know, like we said, Jeremy, it's, it's jeremy@agviewsolutions.com. You're on the website now. We got your beautiful headshot up there. And you're going to be hearing a lot more, Jeremy. For those of you that will be working with this summer on summer meetings, Jeremy is going to be tagging along to quite a few of those. And yeah, just again, grateful to have you on the team, Jeremy. So thank you so much for giving us an introduction to who you are and looking forward to the years ahead.

Jeremy

Doetch: Likewise. Thanks a lot. I appreciate it, Jay.

Shay: And thank you everyone for listening to another episode of the Ag View Pitch. We will catch you next time.