Wednesday, January 18, 2017
It has been a gray, winter day. It’s not as cold as an average January day, but still the look is still gray and gloomy. About midday, I was at the WorkOne building on the Vincennes University campus to deliver a short talk to a group of bankers. The regional officials of Old National Bank (ONB) were assembled to discuss their 2017 strategy. Our banker, Steve Blinn of ONB, asked me to speak a while on the state of the ag economy, and our methodology for dealing with it. There were 18 individual bankers in the room, and I must say they were polite and attentive. After giving a brief description of this farm, , I talked a little bit about the positives and negatives of the economics of corn and soybean producers like us. I then shared with them what we are trying to do to make it through the current downturn. My list was quite typical for farms in the region, and would be reminiscent of the stuff that the universities and farm publications have been telling us. It boils down to finding ways to reduce our cost/bushel of production to a level below the average price of the commodity. I guess I did okay…even though I was on the agenda after lunch, no one went to sleep! I was honored that they’d ask me to participate in their meeting.
Brandon is delivering corn to market today. Ross has sold some more corn, both for the remainder of the 2016 crop, and fall deliveries of the new 2017 crop! Like the old Sonny and Cher song, “The beat goes on…”
This evening, Pat and I will assist in our church’s ministry to provide meals to folks in the community. Every Wednesday is “spaghetti night” in Wheatland. Any family who notifies WCC in advance receives a spaghetti dinner just by driving by and picking up the meals at our ‘front porch’. It has been surprising how this ministry is filling a need–I guess I was unaware how many families in the area find it challenging just to feed their children. It’s been an eye-opening experience.
Last night, I was able to sit down to watch the ILL@PUR basketball game. The team played pretty well, and it was fun for this Boilermaker to watch!
