Episode 1: Meet Your Hosts
Welcome to the first episode of AgCredit Said It! In this episode, we introduce our hosts so that you can put a voice to a name as you listen to upcoming episodes.
Our team of hosts, consisting of four ag lender professionals from AgCredit, will be pairing up on each episode to bring you insightful guest interviews with ag industry experts from across the industry.
But first, get to know who’s behind the microphones!
Host Brenna Finnegan
Brenna is an account officer who grew up on a family farm in Amherst, Ohio near Lake Erie. She attended The Ohio State University, taking the agricultural business route, and now raises a cow-calf herd of her own.
When asked about what she’s most looking forward to about the AgCredit Said It Podcast, Brenna shared, “There’s a lot changing on a daily basis in this world, and agriculture is no different. This is our opportunity to get that information out there to people and help them along the way.”
Host Matt Adams
Matt is an account officer at AgCredit’s newest location, the Paulding, Ohio branch. He considers himself the epitome of a first-generation farmer after purchasing his first farm ten years ago. He and his wife and children live in Mandale, Ohio where they farm corn, beans and wheat on about 400 acres and also raise a small cow-calf herd for production and show. Prior to joining AgCredit, Matt worked in equipment sales for 11 years.
“When we first started talking about doing a podcast, one of my goals for this was to answer questions that a member or non-member may be afraid to ask, or may not know how to ask,” said Matt. “I hope that we can answer those questions and also bring up topics that listeners never really thought of before… the more knowledge that we can put out there about our industry, it makes agriculture as a whole that much stronger.”
Host Libby Wixtead
Libby is an account officer with AgCredit, working from the Marion, Ohio branch. She’s been with AgCredit for seven years and currently lives on a 2,400-head hog farm operation with her husband and two “little redheads” as she likes to lovingly refer to her children. Libby graduated from The Ohio State University, majoring in ag business and applied economics. Sharing a fun fact about her time at Ohio State, Libby also chats about her experience as a manager for The Ohio State women’s basketball team.
“I am really excited about bringing in outside experts to our customers and potential customers, and also getting to talk to some of our internal people as well,” shared Libby. “And I'm just really excited to see what conversations we can have and how we can help our customers become educated on certain topics that they're wanting to learn more about.”
Host Phil Young
Along with “making loans and making dreams come true” as an account officer with AgCredit, Phil describes himself as a full-time dad outside of work. Raising three kids and helping out on his family’s farming operation keeps him busy. Before moving back to Ohio, Phil worked in finance while living in Indiana for ten years after graduating college there.
Phil said he is excited for listeners to get to know AgCredit. “When you think of a lender, you might think of somebody in a suit and tie clickety-clacking on their calculator all the time, saying yes or no to money,” described Phil. But Phil hopes that listeners can see AgCredit and its hosts as not only knowledgeable sources for ag information but as friends and neighbors, too.
Our hosts are passionate about bringing you insights and advice on all things rural living! To hear the full conversation with our hosts, check out AgCredit Said It Episode 1<link>.
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Transcription
Speaker 1 (00:02): Welcome to AgCredit Said It, the podcast for farm newbies and seasoned professionals alike. In each episode, our hosts sit down with experts from across the agriculture industry to bring you insights, advice, and must-have information on all things rural living, farming to finances, and everything in between. So let's get to it.
Phil Young (00:27): Hello and welcome to the first episode of AgCredit's new podcast, AgCredit Said It. I'm Phil Young, an account officer at AgCredit, and one of your four hosts you'll hear from on this podcast. In today's episode we're going to introduce you to our hosts and give you a little insight on what you can expect to hear on AgCredit Said It.
Phil Young (00:44): Here with me is Brenna Finnegan, Matt Adams, Libby Wixtead. We're going to jump in here. Season one. Episode one. We want to introduce each other and kind of see who's going to be on this podcast. Who's going to make some noise around here. Brenna, we're going to start with you.
Brenna Finnegan (00:58): Well, I'm Brenna Finnegan. I'm an account officer out of the Norwalk and the Wellington branches and grew up on a family farm. I have cattle, raised a couple show cows, or show calves, I should say. So a cow-calf herd, have five siblings, grew up on the family farm. Small family farm. Dad worked full-time. Mom worked full-time off the farm, of course. And then went to college, went to Ohio State, of course. The Ohio State University. Is there any other, right guys?
Phil Young (01:33): Of course.
Brenna Finnegan (01:35): And majored in ag education and minored in production agriculture. Didn't do the ag education route as far as teaching goes because I just figured a classroom full of kids, probably not for me. But did the business route. So pretty much learned how to create training programs and things like that for agricultural businesses. So that's sort of me in a nutshell.
Phil Young (02:03): Brenna, where's hometown for you?
Brenna Finnegan (02:05): It is actually, technically, Amherst, Ohio out in Lorain county. So I live six miles from Lake Erie. It's kind of really in the rural area of that up there. But then further east you go, you head right into Cleveland. So.
Phil Young (02:21): Are you big into fishing? Do you ever go to fishing on Lake Erie?
Brenna Finnegan (02:24): Shockingly, no.
Phil Young (02:25): No. Okay.
Brenna Finnegan (02:27): People ask that all the time and no, we don't go out on the lake. It's all the travelers do all that, I guess.
Phil Young (02:34): All right, Matt, you're up next. Matt Adams.
Matt Adams (02:37): Thanks, Phil. My name's Matt Adams. I am account officer at our newest location for AgCredit, the Paulding branch. We've been in our new office for almost a year now. I've been with AgCredit for almost three years. Prior to that I was in equipment sales for for 11 years before college. Not as good as Brenna. I was a graduate UNOH in Lima.
Matt Adams (03:00): I am probably what you would consider probably the epitome of a first-generation farmer. My family got out farming when I was very young. 10 years ago, I bought my first farm, started farming on my own. Right now farm about just under 400 acres, owned and rented. Have a wife, Tara. We've been married since 2011. Her dad's a farmer. Have two little ones with a third one on the way, probably a Thanksgiving baby, the way everything's going. So.
Matt Adams (03:29): But raise corn, beans, and wheat. Do have cattle. Just a small herd, about 20 head, raised for cow-calf production and some show. Live outside of the great huge town of 40 people of Mandale, Ohio. I tell people I'm on the upper south side of Mandale.
Phil Young (03:49): It is metropolis up there.
Matt Adams (03:50): It is. I mean there's no stoplight, no stop sign, but you get slow down for that curve. You know? It'll get ya.
Phil Young (03:55): It'll get you a for sure.
Matt Adams (03:56): Paulding County born and raised.
Phil Young (03:59): Now, Matt, you've almost completed the girl trifecta, right? You have two girls and your wife's pregnant. And there was some nervousness, or I guess some excitement, you could have three girls, but it's going to be a boy. Correct?
Matt Adams (04:10): It's going to be a boy. If you would have put money on it, I was going to say there's going to be girl number three. But yeah, there's going to be the actual first boy on my side of the family. So we've got one of the carry on the family name.
Phil Young (04:27): There you go.
Brenna Finnegan (04:27): No pressure, right?
Matt Adams (04:27): There's going to be no pressure on this boy at all. Believe me, you know. He's going to have to be sharing the toy tractors with his sisters. My girls are a hundred percent farm girls. They're out in the barn all the time. We've got from Barbies to toy tractors laying around. So it's quite the ensemble there.
Phil Young (04:47): Well, good. And Libby, your next. Libby Wixtead.
Libby Wixtead (04:50): Thank you, Phil. I am Libby Wixtead. I am from Marion County. I'm an account officer in our Marion branch. I have been at AgCredit for seven years, which is very hard to believe. I went to The Ohio State University, majored in ag business and applied economics with, I can't really say this, but it's true. I had a minor in ag comm and ag ed. I switched halfway through. And I also was a manager for The Ohio State women's basketball team when I was in college. So that's a little tidbit.
Libby Wixtead (05:21): I have been married to my husband for about five years and we have a 2,400 head hog barn and we grow with Hords. My husband also works for Hords as well. Obviously since I was a manager, I love basketball and ag. That's been my two loves since the beginning, since I was in 4H and FFA. And my kids are kind of into the same thing.
Libby Wixtead (05:47): So I have two little red heads, a boy and a girl, and they are definitely farm kids as well. My girl, we thought she would not want to play with tractors, but kind of like Phil's girls, she plays with tractors. And we just let our pigs out the other night and she loved it. So I think we'll have two little helpers in our pig barn here.
Phil Young (06:05): I guess I didn't realize you were big into basketball. So I mean, you've managed with the Ohio State teams then?
Libby Wixtead (06:11): Yeah. I was with the basketball team for about three years. We had a switch in coaches at that time and I graduated early. But yes, I love basketball and it was one of the best experiences that I could have in college, along with obviously my ag education.
Phil Young (06:27): Did you travel with the team and do the whole shebang?
Libby Wixtead (06:29): Yeah, absolutely. It was great. I got to travel everywhere. We flew charter almost everywhere. So that was great. I've been to all the Big 10 schools. And so yeah, it was a great experience and yeah, I loved it.
Phil Young (06:44): That's awesome. Yeah, we're learning. We work together, but I mean, we kind of work far apart, so we haven't really had a chance to kind of hang out in the same room a whole lot. So it's a good opportunity to just kind of get to know each other a little bit more, and share with you guys our thoughts and insights.
Phil Young (06:58): But again, my name is Phil Young. I actually work with Matt kind of in the same area around Van Wert, Paulding area. I'm an account officer as well. He and I actually started the same day, showed up to AgCredit the same day.
Matt Adams (07:12): We did onboarding and everything together. Shared that our first office together for a good amount of time too.
Phil Young (07:18): Yep. There's a large part of me that wishes we still had kind of our big command center. We had a good thing going.
Brenna Finnegan (07:26): Command center.
Phil Young (07:26): Yeah, if you've ever seen The Office, and I've quoted the office probably 10 times a year before we started talking, but a mega desk.
Matt Adams (07:32): Yes. We had a mega desks.
Phil Young (07:32): We had mega desks going and it was pretty great. But yeah, so I grew up on a family farm in Van Wert County. My dad raised sheep and we farmed about a thousand acres or so. So I moved away for about 10-ish years. I was over in the Hoosier state, so hopefully that won't get held against me at all. But was over there, worked for the university I graduated from, and did a lot. Some financial stuff over there, some admissions work. And then really had the itch to come back and help farm.
Phil Young (08:00): So along with making loans and making dreams come true, I farm on the side, help with our family farming operation. You know, one of the hobbies I have, I would describe I'm a full-time dad. I'm full-on dad mode. I really don't have time for hobbies or woodworking or anything like that. So making loans, farming, and being a dad. So I have three kids, I have a daughter and two boys. And so they're very much a full-time gig. And so, yeah, so that's me. So looking forward to starting the podcast.
Phil Young (08:30): So that's a quick snapshot of our hosts' backgrounds. Now that you're familiar with who we are, let's kind of do a round robin with our hosts and see what we're most excited about with this podcast. So let's switch it up. Why don't you go first, Libby, and see what you're looking forward to most on AgCredit Said It.
Libby Wixtead (08:46): I am really excited about bringing in some outside experts to our customers and potential customers to listen to, and also getting to talk to some of our internal people as well. I think when we work at AgCredit, I think all of you guys would agree, that it's the people we love. You know, we love to work with our customers and we love to talk to anybody in the agriculture industry. And I'm just really excited to see where this podcast goes and see what conversations we can have, discussions we can have, and help our customers become educated on certain topics that they're wanting to learn more about.
Phil Young (09:26): All right, Matt. Yeah.
Matt Adams (09:31): You know, when we first started talking about doing a podcast within the association, one of my goals on this was probably to answer those questions that maybe the member or a non-member are afraid to ask, or may not know how to ask. And with this, I hope that we can answer those questions and also bring up topics that you've never really thought of before. And that is one thing. Everything we do as an association is for our members and for our community, and the more knowledge that we can put out there about our industry, it just makes agriculture as a whole just that much stronger for us.
Phil Young (10:12): Yeah, agreed. Brenna.
Brenna Finnegan (10:14): Oh goodness. What am I looking forward to? Probably like everyone else's said helping get more words out or conversations out about agriculture, explaining exactly kind of what AgCredit does for our members along the way. I didn't necessarily see myself going into ag when I first started college, but of course I kind of strayed away sort of on purpose, but then came right back into it. Should have never left it in the first place.
Brenna Finnegan (10:46): So coming back and staying involved in the community and getting more information out there to people. There's a lot changing on it seems like any more a daily basis as to what's going on in this world, and agriculture's no different. So this was our opportunity to get that information out there to people and help people along the way, and kind of just be there and mesh the two worlds. Or not two worlds, but bring them all together into one spot. So.
Phil Young (11:17): Good. Yeah. I'm really excited about just kind of for you guys to get to know AgCredit. You think of a lender. You think of somebody kind of in a suit and a tie and just kind of clickety clacking on their calculator all the time and saying yes or no to money. I hope that you kind of see us a little bit more as your neighbors, as well as kind of a knowledge source for you guys to kind of learn more about ag finances. Kind of the whole gambit, what you guys have talked about. And just have fun. You know, we're lenders, but we're also people too. And we like to have fun. So we get to have some fun conversations and hopefully make fun of each other. Matt's really good at making fun of me. It usually happens on a daily basis.
Matt Adams (11:53): You know, I've been taking notes here. So I've got some ammunition for going forward with this.
Phil Young (11:57): Yeah. He's got a full clip usually, is what he starts the day with, of things to make fun of before. And there's a lot. There's a lot to make fun of me on. But no, yeah. Real excited. And yeah, so there you have it. We're going to do this biweekly. We'll kind of mix it up on who's on the microphone, but wanted at least to introduce you to all four of us today.
Phil Young (12:15): But there you have it. So if you can't already tell, we're excited to bring you guys insights and advice on all things rural living. And now that you're able to put a voice to a name, we hope you'll join us for our next official full episode. We'll be interviewing some of AgCredit's best. Talk to you soon.
Speaker 1 (12:29): Thank you for listening to AgCredit Said It. Want to talk ag in between episodes? Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @AgCredit. For more tips and resources, visit AgCredit.net and be sure to subscribe to the show in your favorite podcast player. Catch you next time.