We had a fantastic session today about a topic we have been curious about for some time: the ties between the energy and farming/food sectors. To help us dig in, we had the pleasure of hosting Greg Horstmeier, Editor-in-Chief, and Russ Quinn, Staff Reporter, with The Progressive Farmer magazine. Greg has an extensive career in agricultural journalism with a focus on crops, chemicals, and technology. Russ's areas of focus are fertilizer and equipment which we concentrate on in our session (Russ has been writing a weekly fertilizer update since 2008). It was fascinating to hear their perspectives from the heart of America's farmland. 

The Progressive Farmer is based in Omaha, Nebraska and was founded with a mission of providing farmers with the instant information they need to run successful businesses. A few of the items we discussed include fertilizer prices and availability, broader farming economics, crop prices, diesel prices, long term farming outlook, the pressure for farmers to consolidate, how farming is impacted by the rise in natural gas prices, the effects of the war in Ukraine, and the challenges farming will face in the years to come. As we learned, the number one focus for farming is land and farmers are now competing for land with investment firms, urban sprawl, and wind and solar expansion. Russ also provided an overview of fertilizer prices and what has happened since the price last shot up in 2008. It was an eye-opener to the world of farming and we learned a lot in one hour. We are huge fans of Greg and Russ and appreciate them shedding light on these topics and look forward to staying connected with them. As you will hear, we are already discussing a potential additional show with Progressive Farmer's weather experts. 

To start the show, Mike Bradley highlighted a few notable events from the past week including Aramco's rise to the largest market cap in the world, beating Apple. He then teed us up for our discussion with a look at agriculture-related stock performance. Colin Fenton shared a few insights on inflation and risk and the likelihood that the US coastal states are most at risk of recession vs. mid-continent states. 

Thanks to you all. We hope you enjoy! Stay tuned for a Special Edition with Associated Electric Cooperative Incorporated later this week.