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MN Farm Service Agency Executive Director, Whitney Place, joins the OG3 to discuss the multitude of programs and opportunities available to farmers in Minnesota. Thank you for listening!
Hosted by members of the University of Minnesota Extension Beef and Dairy Teams, The Moos Room discusses relevant topics to help beef and dairy producers be more successful. The information is evidence-based and presented as an informal conversation between the hosts and guests.
[music]
Emily: Welcome everybody to the Moos Room. OG3 is here, and we have a very, very special guest today. Someone that I am very excited to have on the podcast and a regular listener of the Moos Room as well. We have the Minnesota State Executive Director for the Farm Service Agency, Whitney Place here today. Hey, Whitney.
Whitney: Hi. Thank you so much for having me. I feel like I'm a first-time caller, a long-time listener of the pod. Thank you.
Emily: Well, we are really excited to have you here, and I'm really excited for our conversation today. Before we get into that, we do have our super secret questions but of course, our guests sometimes listen to the podcast. The questions aren't so secret. Question one for you, Whitney, what is your favorite breed of dairy cattle?
Whitney: I knew this was coming and I know it's a basic answer but I'm going to say Holstein.
Emily: [laughs]. Yay.
Whitney: [laughs]. Sorry, Joe.
Joe: Awful.
Emily: For Joe or Bradley?
Bradley: I think you just bias the guests. You bias the guests.
Joe: I agree.
Emily: I don't bias the guests. I just get guests that are smart [laughs].
Joe: Holsteins are at 19, Jerseys at 13, brown Swiss at 6, Montb�liarde at 3, Dutch belted at 3, Normande at 2, milking shorthorn at 1, Ayrshire at 1, and 1 Guernsey named Taffy.
Emily: Shout out to Taffy. Holsteins have really pulled ahead here. One away from hitting 20. That's too bad for you, Joe, and Bradley [laughs]. All right. Moving on. Super secret question number two. What is your favorite breed of beef cattle?
Whitney: My favorite breed of beef cattle are Scottish highlanders. I'll just say that I'm a plant girl. You guys shouldn't really take anything I say too seriously. In high school, my dad was my ag teacher and sometimes I would have to fill in on the general livestock teams, and I would always pick the cows that were the cutest. Scottish highlanders are just beautiful. That's why.
Joe: Well, you failed that on the dairy side. We will allow it.
Bradley: We will accept it today. We will accept that answer today.
Joe: All right. Black Angus at 14, Harford's at 8, black baldy at 4, now Scottish highlanders also at 4, belted Galloway at 2, red Angus at 2, and all with one. Stabiliser, Gelbvieh, brown and [unintelligible 00:02:44], [unintelligible 00:02:44] Simmental, [unintelligible 00:02:45], Jersey, Normande, shorthorn, Belgian blue, Brangus, and Piedmontese.
Emily: Oh, I forgot we had Piedmontese now. Not our first Scottish highlander, Whitney.
Whitney: It bumps that up a little bit.
Emily: Scottish highlanders are on the upward trajectory [laughs]. Now that we got all the important business out of the way, we can get to the other stuff here. Like I mentioned, Whitney is with Farm Service Agency. She's the executive director for the state of Minnesota but this is still a, I would say, relatively new role for you. Can you maybe just briefly run us through what you've been doing previously and then just the nuts and bolts of what you do now as executive director?
Whitney: Sure. I'm originally from Okabena, Minnesota which is down in Jackson County. My dad still farms corn and soybeans down there. Very rural ag community. I'm a University of Minnesota girl, came up to the St. Paul campus for agronomy and plant genetics degree. Worked in research for a little while and decided to transition more into the policy world. I started working at the Minnesota Department of Agriculture on Conservation and Water quality programs and worked my way through the agency into the commissioner's office and got more into the government relations roles most recently serving as our assistant commissioner over some of our regulatory programs, which those are very challenging and difficult issues to deal with.
Now I'm so happy to be at FSA [laughs] where there's no regulatory programs and really we're here to help farmers. I am on month five here at Minnesota FSA and it's been a huge learning curve for me. We cover a lot of ground. We have a lot of programs. We have a lot of staff to manage throughout the state, but it's an exciting role for me because it's really the only government agency that has a touchpoint with every ag producer in the state. Our mission is to equitably serve all of our farmers with these ag programs that can help them be successful and help agriculture be successful.
Emily: In short, you are a busy woman. I just have to digress briefly to share. I have always really looked up to Whitney and been very inspired by her. We've talked on this podcast in the past about women in agriculture and some of the challenges that they may face, or some people think women in agriculture only belong in certain roles. For me to have somebody like Whitney as a colleague and a friend and now somebody in a really important position in Minnesota agriculture is just really great. I just need to say, I'm so proud of you, Whitney. I'm so proud that you chose to be on our podcast and that I can call you a friend. It's just really exciting to watch the women take over [laughs].
Whitney: We're taking over a little bit. Thank you. That means so much. I respect the hell out of you and all of the work that you've done. Obviously, you're great on the livestock side but the mental health initiative that you took in Minnesota was really transformative and such important work. Thank you. Just on that front, most of our FSA employees in Minnesota are women, and most of the women at FSA are the ones directly serving our producers. They just do incredible work and provide incredible service to our farmers. Women in ag, we're doing it
Emily: Five months in. You already said steep learning curve. I know there's a lot of things happening. When a producer comes up to you and they go, "Oh yes, I've been to the FSA. I go in every year to turn in X, Y, and Z paperwork for X, Y, and Z programs." If they ask you, what else are you doing? What does the FSA do? I think we all have touchpoints with really specific programs that FSA runs. On the dairy side, I'm really, really familiar with Dairy Margin Coverage and that kind of thing. Maybe run us through some of the programs that our dairy and beef producers listening to the show might not be as aware of.
Whitney: Well, in terms of, what does FSA do, we are implementing the programs that are outlined in the Farm Bill. Now with all of the constant, disasters, the pandemic, there's this ongoing set of ad-hoc programs that get thrown our way too. When a producer comes to an FSA office, they're usually pretty familiar with the ongoing Farm Bill programs that we have for at least four or five years. These ad hoc programs that keep getting added are the ones that we need to be doing outreach to make sure that they're aware because oftentimes there's a short turnaround at signup and it's something that they haven't dealt with before. I'll also say, especially on the livestock side, I think the FSA programs for crop farmers are really well-established and everyone knows how they work.
They get their acres in. They sign up for ARC or PLC. On the livestock side, historically we haven't had as many programs or opportunities for livestock producers. Our administrator of FSA is a rancher himself. I know that's been a priority for him in this administration. Also just because of the disasters that we've been facing, livestock producers have hurt a lot in the last year, especially with the drought, finding forage. We do have some ongoing programs, the Emergency Livestock Relief Program for producers who have lost livestock, who need to transport livestock to different feed sources, who need to transport feed to livestock. That's been a big one.
We have the Livestock Forege Disaster Program. Any feed sources that were impacted by a disaster, there are payments for that. Most recently we have the Emergency Livestock Relief Program. That was something that was passed by Congress this fall and we're implementing now. I'm looking at my notes here, so far livestock producers in Minnesota have received $11.4 million in ELRP payments. With that program, we're really trying to tie it to data that we already have on producers. This is if they've already participated in the Livestock Forage Program, we're going to use that data. They qualify for this program and we're just going to make the payments.
There are certainly producers who have not participated in FSA programs before who also still qualify for this program. There'll be another phase and they'll be able to apply for it. I don't know that we have a full gamut of programs for livestock producers that are all needed at the moment. I think we're moving in that direction with some of these ad hoc programs. I guess my message for livestock producers right now would be, if you haven't worked with FSA before, it's probably a good idea to come into your office, talk through your operation.
The way that you can qualify for a lot of these programs is by keeping records. If you know your mortality rates, if you know where all your pasture is, and that's all recorded with FSA, once these ad hoc programs come down the pipe, we know all that information and you're really inserted into the system already.
Emily: I'm really glad you mentioned that, Whitney, because that is something that I've learned about FSA through my time in extension is you guys tried to make it easy as possible for people to get the support that they need. Just like you said, oh, if you're already in this program, then we can pull that data and use it for these other things. I think that that's something I'd like to emphasize because in my time talking with producers and all of that, sometimes it's like, "Oh, FSA, it's a government agency. It means this, that, and the other thing."
Like you said at the very beginning, the cool thing about FSA is its main function is to help producers. I think that that's a message I really want to [laughs] broadcast out loud and clear that FSA really does a lot to help their farmers. If you haven't been, stop by your office and they can walk you through what's available to you, what your options are. I think that it's such a great tool for all producers to have.
Joe: This is another plug for records too. We harp on it all the time, all the time. They're so valuable in all these different ways and turns out someone will pay you for them without you really having to do a whole lot except get in the system to start. That's always good to hear that we have one more reason to keep records on everything which I really, really like. I have a question for Bradley quick before we move on. Brad, do we participate in a lot of these programs as well and are we eligible?
Bradley: No. The university is not eligible for a lot of the programs because it's like the government paying the government. We have never received, especially livestock payments and stuff from any program administered. It's unfortunate actually but that's what the law says. We abide by the law.
Emily: Can you maybe explain a little bit, Whitney? I know you mentioned that Farm Service Agency really helps mobilize the money from the Farm Bill. Tell us a little more, how that works, where that money comes from, where it goes in the simplest of terms. I like to say to people, explain it to me like I'm five because I don't have a great grasp on all the government interworkings.
Whitney: Well, I'll be honest, I don't have a great grasp on it either. USCA is a big ship. I don't think I realized how large of an agency USCA is until I got here. We have teams for all different program areas, both at the state level here in the state office and then at the national level. There is a series and just tentacles of technology and software programs that are used to implement all of our Farm Bill programs. Some of that software is pretty old. There's room for modernization at USCA for sure. Basically, we input the applications, the reports, whatever according to the program standards.
That money that's appropriated from Congress to USCA gets distributed through our technology systems and oftentimes now just directly in farmers' farm accounts. It works pretty slick I think, especially relatively compared to how things have been done in the past, but certainly room for some technology improvements in how we implement. That I know will be a big part of the discussion for the next farm bill.
Joe: That's good to hear. That's good to hear. I think we all struggle with technology that is aged and there's only one person that knows how to run it anymore or make fixes. That's a huge struggle. One of the questions I had for you, Whitney, and I thought about this for a while is, on the livestock side, which program do you see the most value in that you see the least amount of people taking advantage of that you really think people should know more about, be more aware of and really get on the bandwagon a little more?
Whitney: The Emergency Assistance for Livestock Honeybees and Farm-Raised Fish program, which we don't have a lot of that in Minnesota or ELAP, is a program that I think was really utilized this year, especially with the dry year last year, the blizzards this winter and then the late wet spring. A lot of people couldn't get out to their pastures. There were just a lot of issues and I think ELAP came in handy for a lot of people who, again, might not have participated in our programs before. That's the program. I think that if you are interested in FSA, get into your county office because that's how we will calculate your losses, make sure we know where all of your pasture is.
That's why we need your records and your information in the system. That's a really good program to do all of that work, which could be the basis for future programs.
Joe: Once a farmer experiences a loss and they're not sure, well, first of all, they have to make sure it qualifies. How do they do that? How do they make sure it qualifies? What's the best way to do that?
Whitney: Call your local county office. They will absolutely know. Specifically with this program, and we did have a couple of problems with it this year, you need to report those losses within 30 days of that event. Of course, our natural disasters don't always fit within the policies that we write. Drought of course happened for much longer than 30 days and it was really hard to pinpoint when that event was. The best advice I can give is just be in contact with your county office as things like that are happening because you don't want to miss a deadline, you don't want to miss those 30 days and they'll make sure to help walk you through the process.
Joe: What else do producers need? I know you're probably going to tell me to call my county office again, but I've written letters as a vet when I was in practice for these programs, especially when we saw blizzards in the spring and things like that. Is there something really standard, okay, every case needs this to be able to pay out?
Whitney: It probably depends on the program and it probably depends on the event. I think any documentation from a vet, if you lost some livestock, cause of death, all of that information is certainly useful. I think the most useful thing is that ongoing record of your herd that will help show you're a good producer. You didn't just lose this livestock because of mismanagement or any of these other things. You can really pinpoint it to that disaster. Just that ongoing record-keeping is ideal. Of course, if you're just starting out, things like those vet letters or any other documentation that you have can help make the case.
Emily: We're talking about vets and of course, Joe, means veterinarian, but I want to switch to the other vet really quickly and that's veterans. I know that USCA, I think there's always been something to support veterans, but it seems like they've really been kicking that up a gear. We know we have a lot of producers that have served in our armed forces. Are there specific programs from FSA for veterans?
Whitney: Yes. We want to always support our veteran farmers. We have different categories including socially disadvantaged people like women farmers, farmers of color, and veterans also fall into that category. We don't have a specific this program is for veterans, but we do have different priority areas within our existing programs that veterans can take advantage of. One case that's probably the most prominent is through our loans. Veterans can find different benefits through our loan programs.
It's super cool. I was out in a county office, I think it was in Bemidji and just a farmer happened to come in, a beginning veteran farmer, and he was going to buy, I don't know, probably 40 acres of pasture from his dad and start his own herd. It was so great to walk from the beginning of that process all the way through. It's just a normal loan application for any other farmer, but then there are these different questions for veterans to help get them different benefits through the program. That's how we implement that promotion of veterans in agriculture.
Joe: I think a lot of people know I didn't grow up on a farm, but I love to hunt and fish and do these things. The thing that comes to mind right away is CRP land, and that's what was my introduction to FSA with CRP. First of all, let's give you a second to explain what CRP is and then I can get into the weeds.
Whitney: Thank you for bringing-- Oh, sorry, I didn't laugh on cue [laughs]. I can see it's awkward..
Emily: Joe is a dad. He always makes dad jokes when he can.
Whitney: Well, thank you for bringing up CRP. CRP is one of the reasons why I really wanted this job. I come from a conservation water quality background and CRP has just been so important in that. CRP is the Conservation Reserve program. It's been around since 1985. It is a voluntary program for farmers to set aside marginal lands, put them into conservation, and then receive rental payments for those environmental benefits. It's a great program. In Minnesota, we have a million acres of CRP and we have a really active conservation community that partners with farmers and we're doing some really good things on that front. That's just really exciting to be a part of and to be able to implement that option for farmers.
Joe: With CRP, when I first learned about it, when I first heard about it, it was just CRP. Of course, it feels like there's now 20 different kinds of CRP. Can you highlight just a few? We don't have to go through them one by one but highlight a few that come to mind, especially I guess we'll talk grassland CRP as well.
Whitney: There are now many flavors of CRP, and this is what I'm talking about with the steep learning curve. There's the program and then there's all the details of the programs. One I'll highlight is Minnesota's lucky to be a pilot for CLEAR30. I don't know if I'm going to get this acronym. It's the Clean Lakes Estuaries and Rivers version of CRP. That's an option that farmers have to set aside land for 30 years. The focus of that one is really water quality. We're targeting areas that could impact water quality for a longer time period. We have grasslands. That's a specific practice in specific areas that will focus on the grassland.
We have practices around pollinators. We have SAFE which is focused on wildlife habitat. Organizations like Pheasants Forever are very interested in that component. There's lots of different options and all those options have different contracts, requirements, different signup periods. If farmers are interested, again, it's really good to get into your office and just talk through what can work for your operation.
Joe: I think some of my points is that with CRP, because there's so many different flavors as you said now, I think the original bias against CRP might've been just, "Okay, that just means that I have all this land locked up that I'm not going to be able to use for a really long time." There's compromises now where we can say okay, we're going to take CRP, but we're going to put it just in a certain area for a specific purpose. There's a lot of ways to fit it into your day-to-day life and not have it impact your farm in a huge way.
Whitney: Absolutely. It's for those problem acres for those areas that are up against a body of water. I was on a farm a couple of weeks ago and it was tough for them to make a certain turn and so they just put part of it into CRP. From the livestock perspective also, I think we've made strides in the management in CRP to allow for grazing as a management tool. I think we still have some work to do with some of the issues that came up last year with the drought and people being able to access some of that hay that was out there. I know that's going to be a priority in the Farm Bill to have that conversation. I think that there's these multiple benefits from CRP, even from a livestock standpoint that I think have shown it to be successful over time.
Joe: Well, I'm glad you opened that can of worms about the drought last year and maybe some of the nesting dates that we need to look at and things like that. I'm glad that you're thinking about that already because that is not going to be an easy change and there's a lot of conversation that still needs to happen about that. What I'm interested in and I think this is something that that comes back to some of the goals that NCBA have set for environmental sustainability around cattle production is how some of the CRP fits into climate mitigation. There's an opportunity there and there's a lot of land like we said with all these different flavors that could apply and help with that. Is that on the right track that I'm thinking?
Whitney: Absolutely. When I talk about climate change from an FSA perspective, I absolutely talk about CRP. At the national level we're having all these conversations about carbon markets and ecosystem services and all of this. I think CRP is the original model for some of those conversations. Landowners and farmers are providing this public benefit of environmental services and the public is paying them for that benefit. Initially, it didn't start out as carbon sequestration obviously but now as we have those conversations, I think it fits right in.
Joe: That conversation got ignored in the wave of, "Well this is actually for pollinators and wildlife and things like that." It's really also land that we're setting aside to help the environment in a lot of different ways, not just for the animals that live on it. I'm glad that that's in the conversation now.
Whitney: I think it's hard when we have these specific conservation practices that do target like, this is a pollinator planting and we're using a pollinator seed mix. I think we need to account for that multi-functional system and those multi-benefits that are being provided.
Joe: To get away from plants for just a second. We might come back, don't worry. Some of the things that you guys provide are loan programs. What makes this really, really interesting is that they are, obviously, there's targets for emergencies and everything else, but there's also operating loans which we all know are tough to get as a farm, and then youth loans as well. Walk me through that program.
Whitney: We have a variety of loan programs at different levels. We have loans for beginning farmers, which is great because they don't necessarily have the credit history and the resources that some of our long-term farmers have. FSA is often a really good option if you're just starting out because we can get them financing that they might not be able to get commercially. We have a microloan option. This is for some of our smaller, maybe more emerging farmers who might just need to buy a tractor or might just need to get a hoop house set up. Those are max out at $50,000. Those are really quick application processes that we can move quickly through.
We have operating loans and then farm operating loans. Those are the bigger loan processes for oftentimes bigger grain farms to make sure that they can get the financing they need to get through the season and get all their inputs purchased for the next year. Our loan programs are really, really well done in Minnesota and really utilized both. We have direct loans that we make to farmers from FSA and then we also have guaranteed loans that we partner with local lenders on. Anyone in ag credit like Compeer or AgCountry or a lot of local lenders in farming communities across the state. There's lots of options for people who want to get into agriculture who need access to that capital.
Sometimes the messaging with FSA has been FSA is for those beginning farmers or those people who don't have credit to get in and then we'll graduate you into the commercial lending industry. Our administrator has taken a different approach. He wants FSA to be an option for everyone ongoing. I think that's really needed. I think it's good to have that public option for farmers. Obviously, there's great products out there in the private sector that farmers utilize all the time. I think we can do more on that front of making sure that we're available across the gamut.
Joe: We didn't talk DMC.
Whitney: The dairy program is where I think we have appropriate risk management coverage for farmers. I feel like that's where we have the safety net. I think in a lot of our crop programs, that's what we talk about. That's our safety net. You sign up and if prices go down or if your yields are bad, you get that margin. The Dairy Margin Coverage program is like that where you can get coverage at different levels depending on where the price of milk is and the price of feed is, and then your margins are covered.
I was just with our administrator on Tuesday and he was talking about how we need to build out more programs like this for the beef sector and for other livestock producers so that there is more of that safety net rather than just this ongoing ad hoc, "Oh, there's a drought, we're going to appropriate money for that." The DMC has been around now for a while. I think farmers are familiar with it. We have really good enrollment in Minnesota and part of that was we partnered with the Minnesota Department of Agriculture when it first started to provide incentive payments. I think it was 2018 when dairy prices were really low. Farmers received a payment if they signed up for the DMC program.
I think that's really helped our enrollment in Minnesota. Other states aren't at that level. Kudos to the milk producers for pushing that and for pushing enrollment in the program. I think it's really good. I'm sure there will be slight changes in the next Farm Bill discussion. In general, I think that's the risk management model that we strive for in some of our programs.
Joe: I'm curious about some of the organic programs that FSA has. I know there's some organic farmers that listen to our podcast. How might FSA be a benefit to the organic farmers?
Whitney: We have some organic programs. We have a program that provides cost-share for transition for organics. Those programs are actually implemented through the Minnesota Department of Agriculture. That's our touchpoint with organics. It's a really good partnership for us because it's difficult for us to manage all of these different programs, and MDA really has a good list of our organic producers and the contacts and relationships with them. That's how that program is implemented. It's cost-share to get farmers to transition for those three years as they transition to organic.
Similarly, we just got a food safety program that was announced that's cost share, to help assist with some of the food safety regulations that produce farmers are subject to. That's going to be a similar program to the organic cost-share where it'll be, I think it's 75% cost share for the training and for some of the equipment that's needed to wash vegetables. Those two might be of interest to some of the organic producers.
Joe: One of the common themes I'm hearing from you is that we have all these benefits, we have all these great programs that you can sign up for, but you're implying that a lot of people still don't sign up. What is it? Why not? What do you see is the barrier? Because it seems like a no-brainer to me. I know cattlemen are goofy, and sometimes they don't like sharing information, but what is it
Whitney: I think that at this moment, our crop programs, ARC and PLC, almost every crop farmer in Minnesota is signed up, they have coverage, and it just makes sense to do that. I think we're so established on the crop side that it's just a no-brainer. With livestock, it's coming along. I feel like some people might not want to deal with the government, and that's just fine. I don't know that we have had much to offer in the past, and I think we're just trying to build that up right now. On the organic side and some of the other diversified agriculture that we have in Minnesota, we have a lot of work to do, frankly.
Our vegetable growers, grape growers, fruit producers, we do have certain programs that have certain levels of coverage for them, but it's nothing like we have for the commodity ag products. I'm really interested in that because I know a lot of our emerging farmers are growing some of those crops, and we just don't have that much to offer. I meet with stakeholders all the time, try to identify their needs, and certainly send all of that up to the national office so hopefully we can start crafting programs that make sense.
The programs that work got a lot of participation, but I think we really need to build that up in some of the other sectors that we might not have served as well in the past.
Joe: One of the things that I hear about all the time when we're talking about, especially these disaster assistance programs, especially when they're ad hoc. I know you're talking about trying to figure out how to not have them be so spontaneous. There seems to be two ways they go, they're either graduated based on size or spread out their relief based on size of operation or no matter what size you are, everyone gets the same amount of money. Can you explain the decision behind trying to do one or the other, or why haven't we just picked one?
I think it's really frustrating for a lot of farmers to say, "I have 500 cows and I lost this many and my neighbor has 25 cows, the minimum for that requirement to be qualified, and we're getting the same amount of money." Maybe you want to answer, maybe don't. It's up to you.
Whitney: For one thing I'll say in the ad hoc programs, sometimes politics plays a role, and a lot of these are just coming down from Congress. Sometimes there are stipulations that are passed in the bill that may or may not make sense, but we got to get the money out, and so we're going to do it. I know that's really frustrating when you come into the office and things don't exactly make sense, but sometimes that's just the way legislation works. In terms of this size question, I think that's obviously a problem, and it's even more difficult with some of these super complicated calculations like we're making with the emergency relief program that's based on all of these different actuarial science, the crop insurance, purchases that the farmers made.
When a farmer sits down and compares their ERP payment to their neighbors, it could be wildly different, and they might not know why. The goal, at least in my head, for disaster programs, would be to build a really robust risk management system for all sectors, including livestock like we're just mentioning so that we do have those records, we do know, okay, these are definitively livestock that were lost because of this specific disaster. Then the payments can all make sense. Sometimes the disasters just work in a way where we can't pinpoint things. I think that's where people just make those decisions like, "Oh, we're just going to make this payment, and it's going to be X payment."
I know that's frustrating because the losses are not equal. I think it's just a mix of things, of politics, of policy, us not having that system set up so that it does flow with all of the different numbers and calculations.
Joe: I like that you're looking at the solution rather than just putting out fires, which is this building a risk management system rather than having to continue to just try to put out fires with the tools that we have. That to me is the absolute best way to go.
Emily: Proactive versus reactive.
Joe: Prevention.
Emily: Yes, all about prevention here. I want to close out, Whitney, with maybe some more fun-type questions. I know that you are traveling the state all the time. I follow Whitney on Twitter, and she is always somewhere. You must teleport, I swear. In the five months you've been with FSA, what has been a place that you've visited that you really enjoyed making that site visit, something you learned from it, something that you think other people might like to know?
Whitney: This is probably not going to be super interesting for your listenership, but honestly my favorite part of this job so far has been getting out to my county offices and meeting with my county office staff. We've been directed to visit every county office. We have 72 offices in Minnesota. I've only been the 21 of them so far, but those conversations are just so great. Our staff is so dedicated to their producers that they serve, and just getting to hear their feedback and hopefully come back and try to make life a little bit better for them is just one of the best parts of my job.
That's not necessarily an external on-the-farm thing, but I really hope everyone appreciates their local FSA staff and treats them well, because they do just so much work on behalf of our farmers.
Emily: I feel like we need to make buttons and bumper stickers that are like, "Have you thanked your FSA person today?" Oh, I think that will be great. Honestly, I think that that's the perfect place to wrap this episode. Whitney, do you have any final words you'd like to share?
Whitney: No. Thank you so much for the invite to be on. This was totally the highlight of my life, and excited to get to talk to all of you.
Emily: Aww. We're so happy to hear that. I just want to echo what Whitney has said repeatedly throughout this episode, and that is, visit your local FSA office. Whether you are a long-time FSA customer or have never worked with them, stop by your office. Whitney is not wrong, the staff there are always ready to help, always willing to help. Everybody there really loves what they do, and so I would encourage you to do that. If you have any questions, comments, or scathing rebuttals about today's episode of the Moos Room, you can email those to themoosroom@umn.edu.
Joe: That's T-H-E-M-O-O-S-R-O-O-M-@-U-M-N.E-D-U.
Emily: If you have a question that you would like us to answer on a future episode of the Moos Room, you can call and leave us a voicemail. That number is 612-624-3610. You can also find us on Twitter, @UmnFarmSafety, and @UmnMoosRoom. If you want to learn more about FSA and their many programs, you can simply just get online on your favorite search engine and search for FSA Minnesota, and the website should pop up there. Again, Whitney, thank you for joining us. Thank you for listening, and we will talk to you all next week. Bye.
Joe: Bye.
Bradley: Bye.
[00:39:51] [END OF AUDIO]
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