The second of the University of Minnesota’s Bob Bergland Lecture Series, honoring the late, great Ag Secretary, was held last week at the Crookston campus. Guest speaker and CHS President and CEO Jay Debertin spoke about the current state of U.S. agriculture and the upcoming planting season. “We are set. We’re ready; fertilizers are in good shape. Crop protection products are in excellent shape. Fuel is out there. We’re ready to go, and I think most farmers are too.” Tougher economic times mean farmers are fighting for every bushel. “It’s a tough economic landscape right now for certain. We have to make every bushel count. Commodity prices are very challenged and you’re seeing that in farm income data, especially before any government supplemental payments that were approved in December, and CHS is feeling that. We do better when the farmer does better, and when the farmer struggles that affects us as well. So, we’re facing a bit of a challenge this year, but we’ll find our way through it and do what’s necessary to come out on top.”
