Episode 20: Six Tips for Young, Beginning and Starting Farmers

As president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, Zippy Duvall has helped shape a new farm bill, defeated misguided regulations, shepherded new trade agreements, and ensured farmers and ranchers are supported through natural disasters and the ongoing impacts of the COVID 19 pandemic. Podcast hosts, Libby Wixtead and Phil Young had the opportunity to interview President Duvall to kick off the first episode of season 2 of AgCredit Said It.

In this episode, President Duvall shares his background in agriculture, from growing up on a dairy farm to his career path leading to American Farm Bureau where he plays an important role in advocating for and promoting American agriculture. Along with sharing some of the top issues facing agriculture right now, President Duvall also gives some of his top advice for young farmers.

Here are the six tips President Duvall shared:

1. Diversify

“My first decade farming was during the eighties,” says Duvall. “Back then, the secret to me staying in business was being able to be diverse.”

Duvall says diversification still holds true for today’s young farmers. Thinking outside of the box can take your business to the next level.

As creatures of habit, Duvall explains that it’s easy for young farmers to want to do what their fathers and grandfathers did. “We can’t do that anymore and survive,” says Duvall.

2. Own a piece of equipment with another farmer

As a first-generation farmer, availability of land is one challenge, and if you’re just starting out, availability of credit is another.

Borrowing money to purchase equipment may not be an option, but partnering with a neighbor to own a piece of equipment together is one of the ways Duvall says young farmers can combat the challenges that face them when beginning to farm.

3. Get involved

President Duvall also stresses the importance of budgeting some time to be involved in a membership organization, such as commodity groups and local farm bureaus.

“We need current policy [in Washington D.C.],” says Duvall.

Without young farmer involvement, Duvall explains that their voice wouldn’t be heard when it comes to important agriculture topics they want to advocate for.

4. Take care of yourself

Young farmers are busy on and off the farm and we’ve seen growing concern for mental health in agriculture across the country.

“Stay focused, take care of your family, take care of yourself,” says Duvall.

5. Find a mentor

“Go find someone that’s already tried that, that’s got a little experience, and pick his brain,” says Duvall.

Building a relationship with an experienced farmer is a valuable asset to have to continue to learn and grow.

6. Bring added value back to the farm

Many young people are coming back to the farm after college and they can bring added value with them.

In order to make a career out of coming back to the farm, Duvall says to “find something in their education that they could bring back to the farm so that farm could afford to have them there.”

Here’s a glance at this episode:

• [01:32] President Duvall explains his background in agriculture growing up on a dairy farm and his career path leading to American Farm Bureau.
• [04:56] President Duvall shares what his job role is and what a typical day in Washington D.C. looks like for him.
• [06:22] Discussing some of the top issues in agriculture right now, President Duvall shares some of the main topics American Farm Bureau is focusing on, including input costs and labor.
• [08:30] President Duvall explains how American Farm Bureau serves as a “watchdog for American agriculture.”
• [11:03] Having the ability to communicate like never before, is one of the top ways President Duvall feels that agriculture has changed.
• [12:11] President Duvall explains why there is value for young farmers in belonging to a membership organization.
• [14:59] Giving advice for young farmers, President Duvall explains some of the challenges they face.
• [22:10] Farmers and non-farmers are encouraged to get involved with their local Farm Bureau and help promote the future of American agriculture.

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Bios

Guest Zippy Duvall

Zippy Duvall is the current president of The American Farm Bureau Federation. He is a 3^rd generation poultry, cattle and hay producer from Georgia and has been president of AFBF since 2016. Through his leadership as AFBF president, he has helped share a new farm bill, defeat misguided regulations, shepherd new trade agreements and ensure farmers and ranchers are supported through natural disasters and the ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

Host Phil Young

Phil is an account officer for AgCredit serving Van Wert County. He’s been in ag lending for over four years but his agricultural background goes back much farther. He grew up on his family’s farm where his father raised a large herd of sheep. Currently, he helps with the family farm raising corn, soybeans and wheat. Phil likes working at AgCredit because he can help people achieve their goals. Whether that is purchasing a new piece of farm ground, updating a piece of equipment, or helping a borrower understand their financials, helping his clients succeed is always his goal.

Host Libby Wixtead

Libby has been an account officer for eight years serving AgCredit members in Marion County. She grew up on a 200-acre grain farm and was very active in 4-H and FFA. Today, Libby and her husband operate a 2,400-head swine finishing barn. Her favorite part about working at AgCredit is working with local farmers from the same area where she grew up and seeing their operations thrive. She loves working in agriculture and helping her customers be successful year after year.

Transcription

Voiceover (00:08):

Welcome to AgCredit Said It. In each episode, our hosts sit down with experts from all parts of the agriculture industry to bring you insights and must have information on all things from farming to finances and everything in between.

Phil Young (00:27):Hello everyone and welcome back to season two of AgCredit Said It. I'm Phil Young, along with Libby Wixtead. We're excited to be back at it and have a great lineup of speakers coming over the next few months.

Libby Wixtead (00:37):We are keeping the same format and bringing you episodes twice a month on the first and the third Monday. Be sure to subscribe so you never miss a new episode.

Phil Young (00:45):Today we are kicking off season two with a nationally known farm advocate, Zippy Duvall, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation. He's a third generation poultry, cattle, and hay producer from Georgia and has been president of the American Farm Bureau Federation since 2016.

Libby Wixtead (01:00):Through his leadership as AFBF president, he has helped shape a new farm bill, defeated misguided regulations, shepherded new trade agreements, and ensured farmers and ranchers are supported through natural disasters in the ongoing impacts of the COVID 19 pandemic.

Phil Young (01:17):All right, so let's kick off season two and bring on President Duvall.

Phil Young (01:20):Welcome President Duvall. Thank you for joining us today. To start off, could you tell us a little bit about your background in agriculture, what American Farm Bureau does and the path that brought you to the American Farm Bureau Federation?

Zippy Duvall (01:32):Sure. I don't mind doing that. It's a long path. After all these years, that path has become longer and longer, but basically I grew up on a dairy farm and spent my life dairying and just actually loved the cows. You put me on tractor and I'd beat you back to the house to go to the barn. But I was one of those guys who just enjoyed the cows. I'm one of the few dairymen that got out of the dairy business that would go back in it tomorrow if I could, and if I knew I could make some money. Most of them don't want to have anything to do with it.

Libby Wixtead (02:03):Yes.

Zippy Duvall (02:06):But during that time, I remember complaining to my father and mother at the breakfast table, after I took over the dairy, about regulation and the cost and the price of milk and all that. And I remember my daddy leaning back in his chair and saying, "Well, son, if you want to make a difference in that area of your business, you're going to have to get outside the fence rows." Meaning that I had to get involved in farm policy.

Zippy Duvall (02:32):And so he took me to a Farm Bureau meeting. I got elected president or chairman of the Young Farmer Committee in my county and I served there several years. And then they recruited me to go to Washington with the State Young Farmer Committee and I ended up serving on the State Young Farmer Committee, became chair, and then I was nominated to be on the National Young Farmer Committee and served there on the National Young Farmer Committee as chair in 1987 and a long time ago, probably before y'all were born.

Libby Wixtead (03:01):Yeah.

Zippy Duvall (03:08):But from there, I came home after retiring as the Young Farmer Chairman with a goal of winning the legislative award for my county in Farm Bureau, because they give one award on the state level. And it took us several years. And then I got involved with county commissioners, rural EMC, served on their boards, and then I just worked my way through all those 30 years of milking cows. And I ran for a seat on the state board directors of Georgia Farm Bureau, served there four years, ran as full president, served there nine years as president and then ran for this position. I've been here six years.

Zippy Duvall (03:47):So I tell young people, if God opens up a door, stick your toe in it and look through it, pray about it a little bit and see if you need to go through it.

Phil Young (03:54):That's awesome.

Zippy Duvall (03:56):And I found the right ones to go through to get here. It's been a long trail. It wasn't a goal in my life to be President of American Farm Bureau, but it surely has been a honor and a privilege to do that.

Libby Wixtead (04:08):Yeah. It's gosh, it's hard to believe you've been there six years in that position. Time has flown by.

Zippy Duvall (04:16):It has. Time goes by when you having fun.

Libby Wixtead (04:17):Yeah, that's right. That's right.

Phil Young (04:21):Our podcast is focused on young beginning farmers. And so, can you paint a picture of what American Farm Bureau is, what your job is, and what the organization does in a 50,000-foot view way?

Zippy Duvall (04:34):Sure. My job is to build relationships with the people here in Washington, whether they be an elected official, whether they are working at USDA or whether they are at EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) or Interior (Department of the Interior). My job is also to build relationships with other commodity groups so that we're all working together, not fighting against each other.

Zippy Duvall (04:56):And then it's also my job along with all the wonderful staff I have up and down the hall here at American Farm Bureau to push our farmers' policies forward. And that policy starts at the grassroots and a lot of people brag about the grassroots and they'll brag about their policy development process, but there is no policy development process as thorough as ours is, and it comes straight from the farm. And we take a lot of pride in that. And a lot of the people on Capitol Hill realize that, and that's why they see the value and trust that they have in Farm Bureau when it comes to an issue. So today I was sitting in front of the GOP representatives on the house side, talking about the farm bill. And two weeks ago, I was in the oval office of President Biden talking about the Ocean Shipping Reform Act and had the privilege to introduce him when he signed that. So I could be in USDA tomorrow, but I think tomorrow I'm going to be with Senator Boozman. So that's what I do every day.

Phil Young (06:03):Nice.

Libby Wixtead (06:03):Yeah, thanks. Well, speaking of, you were talking about farm policy and the farm bill, can you share with us a few of the top issues that you guys are currently advocating for which I'm assuming with the farm bill coming up, that's one of them, but can you share what your top three would be?

Zippy Duvall (06:22):Yeah. Well, the top one right now is trying to find ways to bring input costs down. And of course-

Libby Wixtead (06:27):Absolutely.

Zippy Duvall (06:29):That is an absolute, one of the main discussion topics out in agriculture. I just came back from a trip over in Indiana, listening to those farmers. And we have worked with USTR (United States Trade Represenatives). We've worked with USDA. We've worked with everyone that we can work with to try to make sure that there's no tariffs in the way, that we encourage more production here in the United States to try to tear down some regulations that are preventing some of that from being developed.

Zippy Duvall (07:06):So we're all over the place trying to do whatever we can. Of course we can't stop a war from American Farm Bureau. We wish we could for those people first and second, that we could release some of those nutrients that they have over there.

Zippy Duvall (07:19):There's so many things that are affecting it from lack of workforce, truckers, shipping issues, tariffs, and the war, and basically the supply chain in general, that's causing a lot of that. So we're focused on that.

Zippy Duvall (07:36):Labor. We're focused on working with the Senate to try to refine their farm labor bill, to make sure that it takes care of all of our farmer's labor needs and not just part of them. We have some issues with the bill that came out the house. We don't want to put any more liability on our farmers with some of the issues that's in that bill. We want to make sure that we can take care of the people that's been here for years and years and years with some type of adjustment of status that will allow them to stay here and work and come out of the shadows. And we'd love to see something done with the AEWR (Adverse Effect Wage Rate) wage rate formula so it can be more fair to workers and to farmers.

Zippy Duvall (08:16):So we're keyed in on trying to bring that to a point. And that is a very difficult political issue to talk about. There are many more I could go on and on and on.

Phil Young (08:27):I know you’re busy guy.

Zippy Duvall (08:30):Yeah. I guess the last one I would tell you, and a lot of people don't know about it, is we serve as a watchdog for American agriculture. We're looking at everything that the administration and other organizations around this town are putting out.

Zippy Duvall (08:42):So the SEC put out a ruling, and in that ruling, their intent was to take the big companies that were being traded on the Exchange to be able to prove their promises in the climate area. In other words, you hear these companies say we're going to be carbon neutral by 2030. Well, the Exchange wants to make them prove that so the investors could understand that they're really going to meet those goals. Well, in doing that, they're going to make them trace the carbon footprint all the way back to the raw material, it's just about everything off our farm is a raw material for something that's sold by those companies.

Zippy Duvall (09:25):So we immediately sounded the alarm. We hired a really good attorney to put our comments together, because they had a comment period on that rule. I called Secretary Vilsack and said, I know this is not under USDA, but you need to understand and the President needs to understand this is an issue for us. Could be as big as Waters of the U.S. to us. And so he said he'd try to help us get a seat at the table. And the next week, the chairman of the SEC called me. We had a great conversation and he's promised me a seat at the table to be able to try to work that out. Because he said that was not his intent, but I told him whether it was your intent or not, if you do this and you don't change something, it's going to in a roundabout way affect the farmers. And they really have no authority to regulate agriculture. Those are big ones and you stop me because I could go on and on. I'll stop.

Phil Young (10:21):I'll stop you. Yeah, no. Yeah. One of the questions I'm curious about is obviously you joined Farm Bureau at a really young age and fast forward to 2022. What's changed from when you were young, just starting out with Farm Bureau to today? And agriculture itself, how do you see that change happening and where do you see Farm Bureau in the future?

Zippy Duvall (10:46):I got older. I don't know the guy in the mirror when I wake in the morning. I like him, but I don't know him.

Zippy Duvall (11:03):On a serious note, what really has changed in a good way, and some in a bad, is we have the ability to communicate like never before. With social media and phones on our hips. And I mean, just think about it, we got more computer power in our pocket than the man had when they went to the moon the first time. I mean, that's almost like, wow. But we can send out a leadership alert to every Farm Bureau member that states allow us to touch and ask them to respond to an issue on the Hill, and we can get it done in a matter of minutes.

Zippy Duvall (11:42):A good example, we sounded an alarm on the SEC ruling, we had 4,000 emails go to the SEC. Matter of fact, the chairman says, What am I getting all these emails from Farm Bureau members for?

Zippy Duvall (11:58):So we didn't have that ability back when I started. Back when I started, you had to sit down and write a letter or make a phone call and you may or may not get them. Mostly you met them at the town hall meeting and that's where you did your business.

Zippy Duvall (12:11):But I would challenge young people today that we are having a hard time getting them to understand there's still value in a membership organization. We're still relevant. We're just as relevant today as we were 102 years ago when we were created. And they're going to be on the farm, working hard, taking care of the family, going to church, going to softball, baseball games, and all the things that go on with raising a young family. Let us be your watchdog, but be prepared to attack when we ask you to attack and we'll save you all that time and energy.

Zippy Duvall (12:45):And yes, of course, there are great materials on our website with market intel, white papers that they can read and keep the knowledge level up on all the issues that we're working with each and every day, but be ready to attack when we ask them to respond because the power of our organization is in the farmers and ranchers on the farm that are engaged. If they respond, when we ask them to, we can make things happen here and make things not happen. That's just as important as making things happen.

Zippy Duvall (13:17):And I would say in the atmosphere that we're in today, we have better than average relationships with this administration. We have good contacts. I have good relationships with them. We have a seat at the table. We have had the opportunity to keep a lot of things from falling off the cliff. We've kind of pulled them back up off the cliff and kept the worst of all situations from happening. Is that what we want to do? No, we want to win, win, win, but in this environment that is a win because our country's so divided, democrats and republicans are so divided. So if we can just keep things from going off the cliff, we've actually done our job and protected American agriculture.

Zippy Duvall (14:00):But we need active members and no one is better at it than young people. If we can just get them to understand the value that they can bring just in sending a text from a leadership alert that we send out.

Phil Young (14:15):That's encouraging. I mean, half the battle's just getting to the table and being heard.

Zippy Duvall (14:19):Yeah.

Phil Young (14:20):Getting a seat. Yeah. So that's awesome.

Libby Wixtead (14:22):And it's just so simple when you do get those text alerts. I mean, for whatever organization that you're part of just to hit it and send it and you know you did your duty. If you truly believe in what that alert is for and the organization that you're with. And like you said, technology is amazing now that you can just do that. So, I guess along with encouraging people to be involved in Farm Bureau and following through those action alerts and things like that, what is your best advice that you could share with young farmers other than being involved and advocating?

Zippy Duvall (14:59):Well, I started farming and my first decade in farming was during the eighties. And y'all are way too young to remember the eighties, but they were very, very difficult times and I know you've heard about them and read about it. Back then, the secret to me staying in business was being able to diversify. And not everyone has the ability to do that, but just to think out of the box a little bit, to see how you can take your business to the next level, whether it be diversification or delivering straight to the consumer, or partnering with a neighbor to own one piece of equipment together. I mean, there are just so many variations of how you might have a business plan to make sure that your future is secure. And that is a hard thing to do.

Zippy Duvall (15:57):It is really a hard thing to do because we are creatures of habit. We want to do the same thing that we've been doing. We want to do what our fathers and grandfathers did. We can't do that anymore and survive. Of course, I tell young people that even though they're busy on the farm, with their families and church and everything, they still need to budget a little bit of time to be part of the commodity group and the Farm Bureau so that we make sure that…

Zippy Duvall (16:24):We need current policy here. And it only comes from the farm so that we make sure that we're advocating what they want us to advocate for. And we can't do it without their involvement. And I promise them, none of that is a waste of time. It is time well used and you just got to pay attention to your business. Stay focused, take care of your family, take care of yourself. We have a lot of mental health issues across the country. Take care of yourself, and just work hard. Working hard has gotten me to a lot of places in this world, including being here.

Libby Wixtead (17:02):Yeah. I love working with young beginning farmers just because when you're talking about diversification, there is no box with a lot of them and they're always thinking about new ideas. And I know we've heard about a tractor Uber that could be coming down in the future of people sharing tractors and not owning them, which I think a lot of young farmers are interested in. Because if you have a first generation farmer, they can't buy all that equipment, so they are borrowing. And so I'm glad to hear you say that because I think we're encouraging guys to do that, guys and girls, I should say as well.

Zippy Duvall (17:39):And the real issues facing them are availability of land. That is an issue. Availability of credit. We're here with Farm Credit, which by the way, I got a whole story of Farm Credit; I spent my whole life with Farm Credit, borrowing so much money from them and they've been so good to me, but having credit, having the availability of land. And then the one that a lot of them don't think about is a mentor. Go find someone that's already tried that, that's got a little experience, and pick his brain or work with him, work for him or share something with him or bring something to the table that is good for him. And I promise you, he'll give you a lot back.

Zippy Duvall (18:27):And I try to do that on my own farm. I got a young farm manager helping me, now, what I want to accomplish in my later years as a farm owner is to make sure that he's set up for the rest of his life to be able to continue the farm. And my son too.

Libby Wixtead (18:44):Yeah, that's what, I don't know about you Phil, but I encourage a lot of young farmers who find an experienced farmer that doesn't have anybody to pass the farm down to, to build that relationship with them to continue to grow. And like you said, to help their future. And with that accessibility that young farmers don't have to land and where some of the experienced farmers do. I mean, that is key. And we have a mentorship program at AgCredit here. So I know how valuable that piece is to have that mentor and that person to bounce ideas off of and try different things with.

Phil Young (19:24):And you hit it, I mean just never stop learning, never stop asking questions. And one of the things I enjoy is I enjoy going to your guys' website and just reading articles, seeing what's in the news, seeing what issues are out there. And I encourage anyone that's listening to go check out the website. One of the cool things that's out there is you also do a podcast, I saw.

Zippy Duvall (19:44):Farmside Chat.

Phil Young (19:45):Farmside Chat, yeah. And so I've been listening to a few of those and I was curious, one of the questions I had for you is you've done quite a few of those. And I think there's quite a few blog articles on there too, I guess, is there a topic that in an interview that you've done that was really interesting to you or that you wanted to share at all?

Zippy Duvall (20:02):Yeah. I've done several here lately that had to do with young people coming back to the farm, going off to college, and finding something in their education that they could bring added value back to the farm so that farm could afford to have them there. And I've had several that really hadn't been put out yet that you'll hear in the future. Just some fantastic young people. I can bring this to the farm and I'm going to add this much value and I want to make my career here. And that's really a good way to do it because it's hard to bring somebody back in with the same amount of cows, the same amount of chickens or the same amount of acres that you're planting and just bring a whole family back in, everybody still make a living off of it. It's almost impossible.

Zippy Duvall (20:52):So those are good. But now the one that people have really liked is the one about the farm dog of the year. We've had so many people that liked that one and had enjoyed my conversation with the owner of the farm dog of the year. And that one was fun to do, but I enjoy every one of them. They're all kind of unique and you'd be surprised, but most of the people that listen to my podcast are urban people.

Phil Young (21:21):Really?

Libby Wixtead (21:21):Really?

Zippy Duvall (21:22):Yeah. Yeah. So it has given me the opportunity to share the farm stories across, that I see and hear every day when I'm traveling, to groups of people who would otherwise never get that opportunity.

Libby Wixtead (21:35):Yeah. That's fantastic. That is a great way to get the message out there about agriculture. That is absolutely fantastic. So we have heard, I guess this kind of goes back to with, I guess the urban people, because they can be Farm Bureau members as well at different levels. But how can, if somebody is not Farm Bureau member, what can they do to become a member and how can they get involved at their local or state level with Farm Bureau?

Zippy Duvall (22:10):Well, if you're a farmer, all your county farm bureaus across America are looking for people that are willing to give their time to promote and help the future of American agriculture, especially in their community. If you're a non-farmer, we would love for you to just come and be part of our organization, learn where your food comes from and share it with other people and get them interested in it.

Zippy Duvall (22:35):We need people that are willing to open up their farms. And the perfect situation was me opening up my farm, but having someone that really doesn't farm, be standing there with me and help support the issue. And bringing, not just citizens and children and parents that want to see what's on the farm, but bringing staff members or congressmen and senators there to teach them what really goes on in farming. If you stay inside this Beltway here in Washington, DC, you will lose reality. You have to go back outside the Beltway and touch base with the rural part of this country to stay in contact with them. That's the reason I spend about half my time on the road, talking to farmers.

Phil Young (23:21):Well, good. Any other last thoughts or anything else you want to share about Farm Bureau or yourself?

Zippy Duvall (23:26):Well, I want to say one thing, I want to thank the Farm Credit system. I don't know where my farm would've been without the Farm Credit system. And you didn't ask me to do this. I want to do it anyway. When I was in the dairy business I didn't have time to go sit down at the bank. My wife did all the paperwork and everything and my lending agent would come to my house to my breakfast table. And my wife would call me on the phone and say, ‘Ricky's here, and the papers are ready, we need your signature.’ And it was that painless for me. It might not be painless for my wife, but it was painless for me. And I don't know that I could have ever found anyone, any institution that would have given me that kind of service. So I'll always be indebted to the Farm Credit system and Ricky Cochran, who was my lending agent. He's become one of my best friends. He's retired now. And he introduced me to my new wife.

Phil Young (24:29):Nice.

Zippy Duvall (24:34):But as far as Farm Bureau, I want everyone out there, young, old, I don't care where, what background you are, what gender you are. I don't care. We need people involved that are in agriculture and not in agriculture, involved in Farm Bureau. We need every voice of every farmer represented in this organization so our policy stays balanced so that when we go out and speak, we're speaking with one united voice.

Zippy Duvall (25:04):I promise you. I know it doesn't sound correct to a lot of young people, but there is value in a membership organization still today. We are still relevant after 102 years. And if you come down, sit down here with me, I can tell you issue after issue after issue that's just happened in my six years that would have turned out a lot different, had it not been for Farm Bureau and the strength of the grassroots of this organization.

Zippy Duvall (25:33):And as far as me, I love doing my job. I work for the best people in the world, the salt of the earth of the world and that's the American farmer. I love going to their farms and hearing their stories and talking to them about their successes and their failures. And I get up every morning and everybody in this organization does get up every morning, hoping that we can do something that day that will change someone's life for the betterment. And that's what our goal is. And I'd love to do this for a long time, as long as they and my health are good, then I like the job I'm doing, I'm enjoying doing it.

Zippy Duvall (26:09):And I do miss my farm. There are sacrifices in everything. When you serve, there's always a sacrifice and my sacrifice is being away from my farm a lot, but I feel like God's got me where he wants me to be.

Libby Wixtead (26:22):Yeah, everybody has a purpose. And that purpose is very fulfilling when you know where you're supposed to be, I feel like. And I know I will say too, just a lot of my personal trips that I've gone out to DC have been with Ohio Farm Bureau and have been some of my favorite trips. And as a young person, that is so neat to be able to sit down at the table with congressmen and women and have that conversation about agriculture and how it is affecting us as young people. And so we thank you guys for that support, because we came into, as we toured your guys' office, which if you have not been to their office, it is worth a visit. After all, it is a very neat office to visit.

Libby Wixtead (27:03):And President Duvall, we thank you for all that you guys do at American Farm Bureau. And we appreciate you sharing what you guys do. And hope this podcast will encourage people to be involved in Farm Bureau or if they aren't involved to become a member and then also advocate for what they believe in in agriculture. So thank you again. We'll see you around.

Phil Young (27:28):President Duvall, appreciate it.

Zippy Duvall (27:31):It's kind of like that old saying that they used to have Uncle Sam pointing to, we need you. And I leave you with this favorite Bible verse, Colossians 3:23. “Whatever you do in life do with all your heart, as though you were doing it for the Lord, not for man.” And I think if we get up every morning, have that goal in life that everything's going to be okay at the end of the day. We're here watching your back. We're here being the watchdog for American agriculture and we take a lot of pride. Thank you, God bless you.

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