Barn Talk - The Generational Crisis That Could Destroy the Family Farm

Episode Date: May 3, 2026

Welcome back to Barn Talk! In today’s episode, you'll get a front-row seat for a deep, honest conversation with Luke Schultz, a fifth-generation cattleman from the heart of Kansas and a seasoned ag lender at Conterra Ag. Known as the “Force of Nature,” Speaker A shares how his upbringing in the Flint Hills shaped his approach to both ranching and banking. Speaker B and Speaker C dig into everything from the evolving world of agricultural lending, to multi-generational farm transitions, to the state of the cattle market and creative ways producers are adapting in uncertain times. From stories of Mormons feeding gum to hard truths about land consolidation, succession planning, interest rates, and capitalizing on long bull runs in livestock, there’s wisdom for every listener, young or old, in or out of agriculture. Plus, you’ll hear candid thoughts on trades vs. college, the unintended effects of pop culture on rural life, and what it really takes for a farm family to thrive across generations. If you’re interested in the real stories, challenges, and innovations happening on America’s farms and ranches and want to hear it from folks who truly walk the walk this episode is for you. Pull up a seat and join the conversation! JOIN THE BARN TALK NEWSLETTER & GET LIVE EVENT ACCESS: We're on a mission to get 10,000 subscribers, and once we do, we're hosting a live event at the barn! Sign up to get exclusive access to tickets and details.👇🏻 Help us get there: https://www.joinbarntalk.com SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST ➱ https://bit.ly/3a7r3nR   SUBSCRIBE TO THIS’LL DO FARM ➱ https://bit.ly/2X8g45c  LISTEN ON: SPOTIFY ➱ https://open.spotify.com/show/3icVr4KWq4eUDl7Oy60YMY  APPLE ➱ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/barn-talk/id1574395049 Follow Behind The Scenes👇🏻 ● Barn Talk Instagram ➱ https://www.instagram.com/barntalkshow  ● Barn Talk TikTok ➱ https://bit.ly/3qciekS    ● Sawyer’s Instagram  ➱ https://bit.ly/3BtX0n4    ● Tork’s Instagram ➱ https://bit.ly/3LGZJxS ● Sawyer’s X ➱ https://x.com/SawyerWhisler  ● Tork’s X ➱ https://x.com/TorkWhisler       00:00 Promoting the Barn Talk newsletter 05:36 Banks exiting agricultural loans 12:15 Discovering a career in ag finance 19:09 Consumer demand for premium cattle 24:18 Cow-calf production cost dynamics 31:16 Conservative lending practices 34:58 Reflecting on modern farming comforts 43:07 Discussing Fed leadership stance 45:26 Understanding production and financials 51:58 Impact of Yellowstone on cowboy brands 57:27 Challenges in cooperative farming 01:01:31 Helping businesses avoid foreclosure 01:07:12 Parenting and career advice 01:12:52 Importance of family support ------------------------------- ⚠NO FINANCIAL ADVICE / DISCLAIMER⚠  The Information discussed and shared on Barn Talk is provided for educational, informational, and entertainment purposes only, without any express or implied warranty of any kind, including warranties of accuracy, completeness, or success for any particular purpose. The Information contained in or provided from or through this podcast is not intended to be and does not constitute financial advice, investment advice, trading advice, or any other advice. The Information on this podcast and provided from or through our content is general in nature and is not specific to you, the user or anyone else. You should not make any decision, financial, investment, trading or otherwise, based on any of the information presented on this podcast without undertaking independent due diligence and consultation with a professional, professional broker or financial advisory. Understand that you are using any and all Information available on or through this website at your own risk. RISK STATEMENT– The trading of Bitcoins, alternative cryptocurrencies, NFTs, individual stocks, etc. has potential rewards, and it also has potential risks involved. Trading may not be suitable for all people. Anyone wishing to invest should seek his or her own independent financial or professional advice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Visit BetMGM Casino and check out the newest exclusive. The Price is Right Fortune Pick. BetMGM and GameSense remind you to play responsibly. 19 plus to wager. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact connects Ontario at 1-866-531-2,600 to speak to an advisor.

Free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming Ontario. All of the food we eat in much of... the clothing we wear comes from plants and animals that are raised on farms. Farms are different in type, in size, and even in name. Welcome to Barn Talk. What happens at the barn stays in the barn, but not today. We're going to let it all out for you guys. Today is going to be a great guest episode. We got a lender coming from Contera that's also a cattle farmer, cattle rancher out in Kansas. So there's a lot of good stuff. I think we're going to talk about on this episode. I think

you're going to get some value and you're going to enjoy it. If you do get any value, all that we ask that you do to help us out here at Barn Talk is to share the show with the people that you know. The more that you guys do that, the more of this show grows, and it's kind of the ticket to admission to watch or listen to the show. We just found the best way to grow a podcast is through word of mouth and through you guys just sharing it with the people that you love. So we appreciate all you that do that. Another thing you can do to help us out here at Barn Talk is leave a review on Spotify or Apple. It takes you two seconds. It really helps our credibility as a show so we can get more credible guests to come to the podcast and have great conversations with us.

And the more of those reviews pile up, the better it makes our show look. So we appreciate you all that do that. Last thing you can do to support Barn Talk is to go sign up for our weekly newsletter at joinbarntalk.com. We're putting out a weekly newsletter all about agriculture, the trades, basically anything that's going on in rural America that we think's worth sharing and sharing our perspective on, we're talking about it on there. And we'd love to interact with you guys. You can reply to the newsletter. We have a goal right now that if we ever, when we reach 10,000 subscribers on that newsletter, we want to throw a live event right here on our farm at the barn and meet you guys, interact with you guys, have some great speakers come to the

farm to give some value and put on a pretty kick-ass event. Drink some bushlight, drink some bourbon, you know, all the good things. How are you doing? I'm doing good. And I just wanted to tell everybody, uh, we're not going to spam you when you sign up. Uh, I promise, I won't send you, uh, any of my pyramid schemes, you know, uh, it's just the newsletter. It doesn't cost you anything. No shirtless picks. You're not going to send any shirtless picks, right? No, no. That hasn't been as lucrative as I thought it was going to be anyway. I really thought that. Oh, I thought no feet picks either. or your hands. Well, I used to be a hand model until I smash that one finger

right there. It's a little crooked now. Yeah. Yeah, I had big things. And then, you know, my modeling career kind of went to hell when they shut down Abercrombie and Finch. Because that used to be me when you walked in there on the wall. That's still going. Abercomby's still going. They changed their marketing. I don't get royalties anymore. So, yeah, all I got

is this in the newsletter. So, you know, please feel sorry for me and support us. You shaved. I did shave. Yep. I don't know. The goatee was getting to be problematic. How so? It was very unruly and it was awfully, awfully white. Like it used to be a little white and then it got really white.

And I wouldn't mind the white if my hair would go white too, but it doesn't seem to want to go that route. So it'll be back, I'm sure. You don't want to look like Gandalf quite yet. From Lord of the Rings. Yeah, well, I'm all right. I mean, I really think that when the white starts coming, I'm growing that shit out.

Yeah, I'm not. It just doesn't look right. We're both kind of rocking two different looks. So I do, I do have hair. Yeah, you do. For those that you don't, that have never seen me not wear hat, I do have hair. So we really just wanted to spice things up today. No beard. Yeah.

I have hair and no hat on. We're just, we're just trying to really rock your world today. Yeah, well, your world's going to get rocked because our guest today, uh, he's, his nickname is the force of nature because, I mean, he's something else and he kind of calls it like he sees it he is from kansas uh cattle guy but he's a lender um got a lot of real world experience uh he's like that farmer's insurance ad you know when you've seen a lot you know a lot or whatever you want to say uh he's been through it and i think we're going to give you a lot of a lot of value and um just talk about kind of the state of lending the state of

agriculture, lots to talk about, and hopefully he'll give you some points that you may be a point of view that you hadn't thought about. And without any further ado, let's get into it. We're live, boys. So Luke Schultz, welcome to Barn Talk. Well, I'm glad to be here. Thanks for making the trip. Thanks for having me for sure. You're oh so welcome. I'm going to hit you with one right off the bat because we want to get your hot take on this. So, I, I, don't know whether they've updated this or not, but the FDIC reported that there's nearly 500 U.S. banks that were on their problem bank list at the end of 2025. You're in this business.

From the banking standpoint, is that these banks that are in trouble or banking in general, is it getting better? Is it getting worse? Are we headed for consolidation? What's your gut tell you. Well, history will tell you that yes, we're always on the verge of consolidation. I mean, all industries just face it all the time. From the credits perspective, which is what we do, and you know, we're not a bank, so I can't speak to that list specifically. But, you know, we do see our fair share of applications of problem loans that are needing to find a new home, banks wanting out of agriculture. And a lot of times when the banks are wanting out of agriculture,

you know, maybe they are in the middle of trying to want to merge and consolidate and they're merging with somebody bigger that's not ag, so they're trying to kind of shove the ag portfolio to the side. You know, and back to your point on the FDIC list of bad loans, you know, I mean, commodity prices have. led us to some problems there for sure and especially the oversupply in my opinion in the corn and soybean function of the of agriculture talk about growing up so growing up in the Flint hills is that correct correct how what was your upbringing like were you uh were you a farm kid were you a ranch

kid what what was it like sure so I am fifth generation uh ranch kid I say ranch we really didn't farm much because in the Flint Hills, you just don't farm much. You can farm a little bit in the valleys and most stuff that is farmables planted to hay because it's cattle country. Pretty rural. Grew up in a town of, say, 800 to 1,000, little old Alma, Kansas. My dad's a rancher, he also had a side job to, sold feed for Mormon's feed, but that was our way of life.

I guess if I had to describe it in one word, I would say rule. That's kind of what it was. Pure Brad operations, what I grew up with, raising registered gilvy cattle. And we showed a lot. Had a lot of commercial cows, too. And my entire family's cattle has been for all five generations.

My dad's brothers, everybody on my mom's side as well. Grandpa's, great grandpaws, everybody. It's just been cattle operation and that's what we did. Did you grow up with an endless supply of the little two pack of Mormon's gum? I love the Mormon's guy. I'm the youngest of three boys in my family and I'm probably the one that spent a lot of time on the road with my dad. He eventually was district sales manager for Mormons, but it's funny you brought that up because I'd have to go to the warehouse with my dad all the time. and I think the salesmen all went in there to fill out their order tickets in there.

And me as a little kid, I guess dad was babysitting me is what you would call it. But the manager of the warehouse would always entertain the young kids with the little blocks of Mormon's gum. Yep. Yep. That was the one feed salesman that as a kid you knew when the Mormons guy was going to show up because you get the little packs of gum. Nobody else had that game. They had the best swag to. Yeah.

They did. I mean, these groups now, we don't get custom gum packages. Well, it kind of goes back to your first topic on mergers and acquisitions. Mormons was one of like the elite ag companies back in the day until a merger happened and it got pulled under one of the big dogs and we'll just leave that name out. But, you know, things like that changed through mergers and acquisitions and consolidation. And margin. Sure.

I mean, a lot of people don't even today, that's a foreign, I don't even know if it exists, but most people fed concentrate back then. So feed came with the bean meal already in it. It was all blended, and then all you did was grind however much corn to put with it as far as the hog side goes. So they sold a concentrate product, and it was a lot of tonnage, and there was a lot of margin in it, which so you could afford the packs of gum and the hats and thermometers and you know all the stuff and then you know i've told this story before in washington iowa there was there was kent there was hubbard there was mormons there was golden sun there was vigor tone there was

u.s and i can't remember what the one where there was nixon's uh which was a local and they got consolidated out but a guy from Illinois came over here in the early 90s and it was Gringer from Illinois and they started selling premix and that was the first person had premix and it they just I mean it was a matter of it was a matter of maybe five years and there was no none of them guys nobody was selling concentrated. It was gone. And all your big boys got consolidated out. It was also the end of free gum and fancy hats and fishing trips and all that

because all the margin got sucked out of it. Sure. It's kind of a force of nature, basically. So your nickname, isn't it force of nature? Well, I think that's what he gave me. Growing up, I mean, I'm of the age where, you know, Duke's a hazard was pretty cool. So I got called Luke Duke a lot. Yeah.

Did you ever, if you ever shot an arrow with dynamite on it? I mean, you've, you shot an arrow, but not one with any dynamite on it. Maybe that was just Hollywood. I'm not sure you can do that or not. It would be pretty difficult to keep that true. And if you did, you probably wouldn't tell anybody you did anyway. Probably not. What?

So are you involved in the operation today still or, or no? Well, lending is my full-time job, but yes, so dad and I are still involved together. And we get plenty of help from my brother, the school, teacher and my nephew, he's an animal science grad and just recently out of college. Works for another operation, but we got his help too. He's the consultant. So what was the journey from growing up, being, following your dad all around the ranch

and going across the country to where you are today? Did you go to college? How did that all go? Well, you know, had an ag background and it was in my blood. You know, I would say in high school, you know, the work can kind of get the better of you. And it's, do I really want to do this? How much do I love it? And I would say maybe there was a few years in there where I'm like, I don't know how much I love it and what I want to do. But yes, I ended up, I went to K State, got a degree in animal science with a focus on business.

and then it just kind of hit me of I think I want to do something in the finance arena with agriculture and that's the path I took right then and I've never veered from it. I come up through the farm credit system, work for commercial bank, a larger regionally publicly traded bank, work for Rabo for a little bit and eventually come to Canterra, which really feels like home for me. I think I've been here six years now and just really love the people and what it represents and what we're able to do. I'm fortunate that I've of the four jobs that I kind of named, they all kind of have their nuances, the good, the bad. Maybe it just takes a little time to figure out right where you fit and I definitely found it here. Yeah, that's great.

So how big an area you cover today for Contara? Well, I think they title me as the Great Plains guy. That's kind of a loose term. I don't know. I'd have to count the states. I try to focus on Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Missouri, Wyoming, Oklahoma. And that's where a majority of my business is going to be. You know, they have a strategically located and everybody's got a

territory in the lower 48. But all of my peers, we're all big boys and the lines that we've drawn of what's our territory. They're pretty gray. And we all get along really good on that. Nice. What's some things that are similar about, like with all your experience and all the farms that you work with, what are some things that are common between the good

operations, the best operations, and what are some of the things that, some of the operations that you've discovered do poorly? Like what are some commonalities that you see between all the states you work through? Well, let's start with the good. Your good operators realize, or they've been forced to realize what they're good at. And what do I mean by that?

Well, you might be able to raise the highest bushel corn production of anybody around, and that's what you're good at. but you don't fill out your own tax returns. You still hire an agronomist and all that. So what I'm getting at is the good ones know how to focus on what they're best at and hire somebody to help them with the aspects that they're not or don't have the time for. And the biggest one there I would say is marketing and the paperwork, the financials, okay,

and keeping stuff timely. I mean, you guys know, especially on marketing, if you don't keep your head above water and watching it all the time, you can miss a target price that you're looking for that you want to sell your crop for or your cattle for. So you hire a professional. So I would say the good ones are hiring professionals for what they're not good at. They've learned that diversification is not just a buzzword. It means something. you know right now if you've got cattle in your portfolio in your operation it sure is helping subsidize other parts that aren't working so the diversification's good the hiring of professionals to do help you out of the things you're not good at helps um location helps too.

You know, the old adage and real estate of location, location, location. I mean, it does matter. You got to farm good dirt. You got to be places where it rains. And I think if you just take all that to the producer that's maybe struggling, they're missing that. So there's nothing else to explain. If you're doing those, things are going to work out. Are there going to be tough years?

Yeah. But that helps you fight through the troughs. and the peaks and be able to come out of it and still ready to charge your head with your operation when you come out of that valley and trying to come back to a peak. Speaking of the cattle market, I mean, it's near and dear to your heart. How do you, I mean, what have you thought about this whole bull run that we've been on in the cattle market, literally? I mean, well, I definitely think it's a different run that we're on.

And I guess what I mean by that is, you know, you used to be able to say that the peaks in the valleys, you know, were shorter in between. And this one is definitely one of the longest ones we've had. I think one of the, and to add to that, if you look back to, I think it was 2014 going into 2015 when the last time that we had a shortage of cows, because the shortage of cows is what's going to drive high calf prices. And that's where we're at today. I don't exactly know why, but in 14 or 15, we came out of that really fast. I think we were able to replenish the cow herd. The heifers got saved back, and we came out of that.

And it was more probably of a train wreck for the cattle guys then because I think they thought it was going to last longer than it did. And at the time, it's okay overpaying for cows right now because the calf's going to be worse so much more in 16 and 17, and then boom, it went right back down. Well, the difference in this one is we're on a longer run because the cowherds not getting replenished. You got a $2,500 weaned calf.

It's pretty hard to save back heifers. I get the mentality of send it to town. I want the check. So the run from the numbers, has made it longer. I also think all the work that's done in, has been done in genetics in cattle in the past 30 years is paying off. I mean,

when's the last time you can truly say that you ate a tough steak at a restaurant? 25, 30 years ago, I think it was a gamble of, well, had a steak, but it was tough. Yeah. Well,

it's just not anymore. You know, the cattle industry's figured that out of how to sell a premium product. And you look around the, even in a high inflation market that we've been in for a while for the last couple of administrations here, the lines at the stake lines on Friday and Saturday night in town, they're still there. And that tells you they're willing to pay for the premium product. So the genetics, the consumer demand, the supply herd on the cows, which leads to the production and the production. the calves, all that has helped extend this cattle market. And I can't see the end. And you can hear NCBA and Cattle facts talk about it, you know, that they're predicting that the end is quite a

few years out still. And the cattle market too, in fact, we were just talking about this yesterday and some credit writeups that we were working on for credit committee and, you know, talking about, well what's this particular operation going to be like when the cattle market comes back down and my thought is there the cattle market tends to make these highs and then when it comes back down it puts in a new plateau for a low and and i could be wrong on that but you know you can chart it and it it does it um i can remember fifty dollar fat cattle i think in oh one okay we never went back to fifty dollar fat cattle we never went back to fifty dollar fat cattle we haven't. I get skittish when that's my least favorite. I got to have my my corn grower hat on, but when corn was seven and eight dollars, that was how you knew it was about to end. When every economist and article that was written in any farm publication started to say, you know, we're never going back to $3 corn. We've hit a new plateau. Within a year, we blew right through that plateau. The cattle deal, I think you're right, is different. I don't know why,

but corn and beans will do that, in my opinion, and cattle just don't. Well, I hope I'm not wrong here, but I haven't witnessed it. One thing that is truly amazing to me is that we have not seen demand destruction in the beef market, like a lot of people predicted. All the way up, people said, oh, there's a limit. The consumers under stress, they're not going to buy this product. And but the supply, we haven't grown the supply and we sure have not, we haven't hurt demand. I just think beef, it's like you said, they've done an excellent job. Yep. Everybody will still eat steak.

Everybody is eating ground beef. They will continue to do it. And I think this is a master class that every other commodity, well, there aren't that many, but the hog guys learned this the hard way because, they thought the answer in the future was that everybody was going to want cheap protein, and they tried to emulate the chicken. They tried to make pork into an economy product. The other white meat.

The other white meat, and it bit them in the ass so hard. And the cattle guys forever decided, nope, steak is king, and we are going to make a premium product. We're going to market it as a premium product. Hindsight would say, they're right the cow guys right what's your dad

what's your dad think like has he ever seen a run like like has he ever seen a run like this well he's in his 80s now so I'm always getting a new story from him of something you know that can't believe this you know you you got an old cow you take to town

that you know it wasn't too long ago was worth 50 cents on a gold cow market and now she's fattened up a little bit she might bring 3,000 bucks you know and it's just something you're wanting to get rid of So definitely excitement. And we always have a booth at NCBA and Contrera does.

And I mean, just the excitement there. And maybe not the excitement, the lack of negativity or the zero negative thoughts heard. It's just such a positive enlightening thing to be around. And especially with our clients, you know, because most of them are diversified. and we have a lot of cattle guys. So, you know, it helps on underwriting deals and seeing how good things are looking. So, I mean, it's helped with the positivity

around our joint as well. We'll go, we'll jump after this. But I wanted to ask, who in the cattle industry right now is really winning? And who, like, because everybody, I think, just broad brushes says, oh, everybody that's raising cattle right now is doing well. Well, is that necessarily the truth?

Or is there some people that are hurting and there's some people that are winning? Well, obviously closer to the pasture gates winning. I mean, and more specifically, the cowcalf guy's winning. He knows his investment right up front, generally knows his cost of production, because the variables are going to be less on cost of production annually on a cowcalf guy. So that's going to be where the most money is going to be made. and the next guys through the food chain are just playing the margin, you know, which leads to a lot of capital at risk,

the farther you get away from the farm gate if you are in the beef industry. Because what it took to operate three years ago, you can't operate on that today. It's probably double, at least, has to be, with just the initial purchase of a calf, a weaned calf, of what it's costing. Yeah, it's got to be, it's got to be. tough. Well, I don't know if that's the right word, but the guys

you're working with that are feeding out fat cattle you have got to be just your marketing plan's got to be you got to be working on that all the time. Because if anybody's going to get screwed when that market finally does turn

and you have all of that money invested in that animal growing it out, those are the first people to take the hit. And so how do you you counsel customers that are feeding fat cattle as far as knowing their numbers and having a marketing plan? Are there guys out there? I would imagine today the number of people that are in that business that don't have a firm grip on those numbers, probably few and far between. Most of them

have gotten weeded out. I mean, it just comes back to hedging your bets and there's plenty of tools to do that, whether you want to do it, you know, on the open market with futures and calls and options and puts and all that. And then, you know, for the middle guy, the backgrounder, I mean, the LRP that has been out now for, I don't know, 20, 25 years, you know, it's the government subsidized on the premium to insure price. I mean, I remember 10 years ago where hardly any of our clients would be using it. And now you just see everybody using it. It's just a cheap, affordable, available tool to hedge your bets with. So we're seeing a lot of people using that.

Let's shift gears a little bit. So Contera is a private lender. What separates Contera from other banks out there? That's a good question. So size on the deals we can do, we can go down to a relatively small deal. We like to maybe start at 500,000. Don't do a lot of those.

But then on the upper end, into the millions, the large millions amounts. We just don't have very many size constraints with our partners and our investors. So definitely the high side, the low side, we can kind of hit them all. Flexible. Well, anybody can use the word flexible. What's that mean? Well, you know, decisions are made in house with our investor money.

We've got a stake on credit committee, you know. And if we're behind something, we're going to get it shoved through and we're going to get an approval. We're flexible. I mean, we just are. And we've got guys strategically located across the United States in kind of all different aspects of agriculture. So we're able to understand from cattle in the Midwest to grapes and cow. California to cotton, you know, in the south, tree nuts, fruit, hogs, chicken. I mean, if I don't know it, I've got a peer that knows it or we get it to the right person to

handle it. So specialization on who knows what to do. And I always tell people, we're small, but we're big. Well, what's that mean? Well, we're big in numbers with a small amount of people handling it and it's a family affair. Everybody's got one another's backs. It's not a corporate feel. And when you call our numbers, we're going to answer. We don't have any automated numbers, you know, and people have my number directly and they call me and I promise I'm going to answer. or if I don't, it's because I'm on the phone with somebody else and I'll get you called back that day, probably within the hour.

So within the broad world ag that you guys play in, is the land, is land value increasing across all commodities? Or there are certain commodities that are lagging what we see in the Midwest or accelerating faster than what we're. see in the Midwest? Yeah, that is a pretty broad question. You know, one of the bigger things that we'll see is if you're in a state where water's a commodity.

In the Midwest, you know, water's not so much a commodity because it rains. Now, you know, Western Kansas in particular might be a little tougher. It's a little more arid climate. Everything's more irrigated. water's getting to be a commodity out there in regards to like the Ogillala. But, you know, more specifically, you know, states like California, Colorado, truly water is a commodity. We have seen some pullback and land values.

Throughout the Midwest, I don't really feel like we have, especially when you go back to the location, location, location, and soil types, you know, the premium stuff, is still continuing to edge up, especially when you got, you know, John Smith Farmer retiring, and everybody around him has just been waiting on that, and there's plenty of buyers for that.

When there's plenty of buyers, you're not going to see them go down. They're going to continue to go up, and they just, they have. So when you guys are trying to vow, when you're putting together a deal, real estate, how do you value this land in that setting in this Midwest corn and soy business you see these you see the prices but from a from a lender standpoint what you're going to loan on how do you how do you

value that well I mean we're still doing it the way that any other lender is going to do it we're getting a third party appraisal from a state certified state certified general appraiser And we're not just taking that report and calling that the gospel. We internally review it to make sure that we're in agreement from all the aspects that's in an appraisal from sales to cost to income, making sure we agree with it. But the biggest thing is how much you'll loan on a percent basis. there were times in the past where lenders would push the limit on that, whether it was a regulated limit or a theoretical limit. And Canterra's always taken a pretty conservative approach,

which at times can get you push back from certain clientele of, well, why won't you loan more against this? Well, we kind of like to stay steady so that when there's good times and bad times, you don't have to adjust that because of risk. So if we got this nice, steady line on what we're willing to loan on a certain percentage, we just kind of like to tow that line. And we'll go a little more here and a little less here,

and it kind of evens out, but we're generally not changing that percent up and down all the time and following the market. When you think about land values, you know, as a young guy that wants to get farming and buy some ground someday. make it cash flow. Do you think land's going to just keep going up and I'm like looking at this ground? I'm like, well, 20,000 an acre. Well, I better just buy it because I'll be glad I did. Or do you think it'll ever come back down? What's your what's your gut feeling say? Well, I mean, I can't speak to a black swan event and there's really no reason to talk about that because something like

that happens. It's going to it's going to change everything and everybody's going to say I never saw that coming. I would say the biggest thing I see is the generational change that is staring us in the face and how that's all going to transpire. I don't think ag as a whole has done a good job of wanting to get the next generation in. And there's a lot of factors at play for that. dads and grandpa's not wanting to turn over control for some reason you see that once in a while i don't see it all the time but i see it you know let's just keep the kid as the laborer and not let them in on decision making um but the operations that have been willing to embrace that i think they'll make it through this generational change um but i think that's the biggest thing ahead is how we're going to

transfer all this land um and if they're going to do it right and worry about what's the tax implications, what's the basis implication on all that. So if I had a crystal ball, I don't know what I would tell you on that. I think there, I think there are some challenges ahead when it comes to the transition of the land and getting the young people involved. You know, we talk about this a fair amount and there's a lot of different points of view and the the older generation gets beat up quite a bit about how that very thing of them not want to let go and uh i'm i'm in the middle of that i'm going to be 55 this year so i'm i'm kind of i'm probably closer to it than what i want to admit with that beard off you look

you look like you're 45 yeah yeah i look like a giant baby now but um you kind of got it i don't know i kind of look at it and it's like I don't I don't blame those guys at all because when I think about when I think about my dad and like my uncle all the years they spent plant and corn in an open cab tractor and you know wrenching on junk and if you're that guy and you finally made it to where you're out in an R you're in a 370 R with a 16 row planner and you're auto steering why would you why would you want to give that up because it's you've got the

you've got the best easiest time you've ever had farming is the most enjoyable it's ever been it's like why would you want to give that up and I mean obviously I know why I mean we need to do that but and then you got you know the younger generation that they feel like they're not

they're not being transitioned fast enough and one last thing I'll say about that is you're right ag has done a terrible job and uh people within the industries and people within the politics of rural america they need to realize that a kid that gets hired to work in the tire shop the rest of the year and then drive a floater in the spring that's not necessarily what we all mean by bringing another generation back in agriculture those are not the kind of jobs that sustainable. That's not somebody that's going to like, you're not going to put down roots and

raise a family being seasonal help. And we need to figure out how to how to get them involved. You think you think the government will have to step in on that as far as aid and young, giving programs out to young farmers or you think it's just free, the free market will kind of decide how that goes. I mean, well, FSA has always had the young beginning farmer, you know, products. And I'll steer people that. that way when that best fits their scenario. They haven't increased the limits in a long time and I think that really hurts because you know,

you start talking about $20,000 an acre Iowa ground. I mean, how is that gonna work for a 21 year old kid just graduating from Iowa State that wants to farm? You know, dad's gonna have to help. Grandpa's gonna have to help or there's gotta be a program that works for them. And that's where FSA comes in or you know, some guaranteed,

programs because even the commercial banks they've got lending limits and they've got rules on how much they can loan on stuff just like the rest of us do or want to do so yeah there has to be some programs for them yeah my only other dig on on the fSA stuff is you know a lot of young people because i saw this a lot doing hog billings guys would get a chunk by a chunk of ground to build a hog billing on And then they would find out that you can't use that collateral on anything else until that loan's completely paid for or you've got to refinance it to get it out of there. And that's kind of a BS deal, I think. I think they need to modify that. I mean, I think if you're over the hump on that, you ought to be able to actually use that equity because if you're not growing a little bit, you're probably going backwards and they need to update those programs.

You know, the best operations that we have, that I get to see how they work and what is successful and that they are bringing in the other generation and their other generations have interest. And a lot of them, you know, they'll stop and think, well, you know, I don't have room for XYZ kid to come back. Well, we're going to diversify. We're going to grow and we're going to let them work on, you know, where their interest is. And those are the successful operators. And I can point to them.

They're not regionalized to me necessarily. I mean, I can think of some in Colorado, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, for sure, where they've diversified. And they might have three kids that come back, plus maybe a son-in-law or a daughter-in-law. And they've just kind of branched out and made it work. But the biggest thing is letting them do what they're interested in, especially on the diversified operations if you got a kid that doesn't want a farm and just loves

cattle probably not going to want him planting corn in the spring yeah and i've seen that where when they're able to put them where their interests are at it seems to work good yeah the other ones that we've seen that work good is when the books are an open book to everybody that's working in the operation and it's not dad or grandpa closing the books and saying this is my business, you're just drawing a paycheck. No, it's everybody buying in, everybody helping on the decisions with maybe dad or grandpa just kind of overseeing it to eventually know that we're going to step out, we're going to let the younger generation make the hard decisions. Go talk to the bank. You know, do all the stuff that the main manager operator is doing. Bring them in as fast as possible.

Yeah, that's something I wish was more popular in Agus, the team mentality. I think there's a lot, like the amount of people that I feel like do that where they they don't bring the younger generation in or they don't have a boardroom meeting because we got to, they want to keep everything private and we're, I'm not going to share my, how we're going to transition this farm and I'm not going to like, that's not, that can't, that's not going to work anymore. It's becoming too competitive. The margins are getting squeezed. Like you got to, you got to work as a team, I think. You do. You do. And you got to be able to want to talk. talk about succession plan in the open.

You can't keep it private too. And all families have a mix of kids that are helping, kids that aren't, how's this going to get divided, learning the difference between fair and equitable, coming up with a plan, you know, and there's all ways to do it.

I've been trying to give Sawyer and Clay all my debt for a long time. Sounds fair. Sounds equitable. I've been a team player. I mean, I did just pay for a roof. Yeah, you did. Yeah, that was fun. We need to do more of that.

Yeah. Yep. Well, I'm here now, so I'm sure this is just the beginning. So get used to it. Let's talk about interest rates just quick. How are you feeling about interest rates? Do you think they're going to stay where they're at? They ever going to go back down to 3% or is there or are those days over?

Well, it's definitely a weird time as we speak today. I really didn't see the war coming and what's what's it been now about six weeks. So that's kind of got everything. I'm not going to use the word turmoil, but it's just got everything on edge. And maybe everybody from the top down just kind of wanting to set and have a stare down for a while. So we're fairly steady. you know the 2.95% rates we got them from some black swan events two major ones I would say we got them from 9-11 and we got them from the housing crisis in 08 yeah I mean we could we could have those again

but there's going to be some pain to get them and and maybe we're on the brink of one right now I don't I don't know. We also got the new Fed chair. I don't think they voted him in. No, but they... But they're working on it. They, what they, whatever the holdup was that somebody wouldn't vote for him, they got, oh, they dropped the charges against, they're not witch hunting Powell anymore.

And so the, whoever was holding out their vote agreed that they wouldn't hold it out. So I think he's going to get confirmed now. And then he's come out and publicly said that I'm not. going to bow down to what an administration tells me and not take the pressure. So that tells me that, I don't know, maybe he's trying to be tough from the get go. But, you know, basically what I'm saying is until we get a new guy in there with the Fed, we don't know how he's going to react and how he's going to respond and how he's going to view inflation. I think there should have been some more reductions in 25. I think the economy from an inflation standpoint was better than what Powell was

trying to say it was. And I'm going to side with the Trump administration basically in 25 on, I think there could have been two or three more reductions. We didn't get them. So we can't dwell on that. But for right now, I'm just going to hold steady and kind of watch what's happening globally to let you know or try to make a guesstimate. There's just, It's too volatile right now to see what's going to happen. Yeah, because if there's one thing the credit markets don't like is uncertainty. Right. And I don't see anything changing as long as there is uncertainty.

They can handle good news or bad news as long as they know what's coming. Sure. But when you don't know what the next 24-hour news cycle is going to look like, interest isn't going to, it's not going to move down at least. I mean, the good thing is in the 25 years I've been doing it, I've seen three and I've seen nine and I'm going to say we're at six today. So it's pretty hard to complain about that. I would love them to be lower.

It would make my job easier instead of fighting with clients that think that 6% is just sky high. When it's not, it's market. But I'm in a wait and hold pattern. This spring, denim gets a softer, lighter update. Introducing Old Navy's drapey denim wide leg. A new fit that moves with you. It's everything you want denim to feel like for summer. Easy, breathable, and effortlessly cool.

With a fit that creates natural movement and a wide leg that feels modern, not overwhelming. Plus, that signature, wait, for this price, moment. Old Navy's drapey denim wide leg. Right now, you know, two months ago, I would have probably told you different, but right now, wait and hold and see. Let's zoom out just a little bit, and you might have already answered this, but you see. tons of operations every year. You work with tons of farmers and ranchers. What do you think is the single biggest challenge face in agriculture today that doesn't get talked about enough? And you might already talked about it, but I figured I'd throw that out to you. I would say the biggest

challenge is knowing your numbers down to the production side from cost to production. And there are operators that will tell you they know their cost of production, but I'm talking the whole gamut, knowing exactly what your cost of production is. And trying to get that locked in and being as secure as possible and as early into the operating year to take the variables out of the operation is probably the biggest struggle. And then the second part of the numbers is aside from cost of production is knowing your numbers so that when you, your lender or your financial advisor needs them because you're making a request. It's not a hunt and fish to get this and to get that, which goes back to earlier what I talked

about of hiring a professional for something that you're not the best at. You know, and stand on top of it monthly. I mean, at a minimum, in my opinion, you know, especially the size of these operations these days that borrow millions. I mean, and we like to just throw that around to where, you know, it doesn't seem like a big number to anybody anymore. But at the end of the day, it still is millions of dollars borrowed. So you need to know your numbers and where you're coming in at. And then I would say third on that of what sets apart good from bad is open communication with your lender. If you do, if your operation requires a lender, keep them in the loop.

good communication I feel like we've I got something on that how many people do you think how many operators do you think have somebody professionally marketing their grain form versus them doing themselves in your experience

60 to 65% probably do yeah yeah because I think there's a lot of pride associated with that you know guys like to control their own destiny and market their own grain but I like asking that question because, you know, it's good to get people's perspective on it. We ask farmers that all the time.

And it seems like it might be the smart play to hire the professional. Seems like that might be the way to go. My best marketing year ever was the year that I thought I transferred my drying bin over to my big bin and I forgot. And we went to clean the bin out for fall and went to open the door. But the, damn it, we left corn in there. crawled up the ladder, the crawled all the way the top. Well, this son of a bitch is full.

That was the best marketing year I ever had because otherwise I would have sold it way earlier and the market just kept going up. So I don't know, maybe that's a sign that I should hire somebody. Maybe. Well, sometimes a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while. That's right. That's absolutely right.

Well, I feel like, hopefully somebody didn't just get confused and thought that that was their bin, and then they just put it in our bin. The question is, did the bank know that the corn was in the bin? No, they did, because I'd done, I'd given my,

I'd given my updated cash flow. So I think, I'm pretty sure that I didn't have any corn left. So it was a, it was a beautiful thing. No, I don't think anybody makes a mistake of putting corn in anybody else's been.

I think those days are gone. Well, I didn't know if there was just an old, old man driving a semi and just lost his way and somehow just happened. If there was, let's hope that he, you know, he keeps at that. That's a good plan. I'll leave the auger up. I don't think there's any use of really talking about the tariff deal. That ship is sailed and I don't, Trumpy, I don't think, I think with everything going on,

you know, there was a lot of talk with that court ruling that we were going to have to pay these tariffs back to all the people that we took them from. but there's no talk of that. I think the world has bigger problems. So I don't know what, at the end of the day, I don't know what's going to happen, but I don't think that I think it's gotten shoved to the bottom of the pile.

So when it comes to farmers, I don't think that tariffs have really affected this near as much as what people thought they might back when that was in the news. But what's the, when you have people that you're interacting coming to you first time, What's the biggest mistake that you see farmers make when they're searching out lending options? Not telling their story. That's the biggest thing that I see.

I think it's in their head and they think that, well, just come out here and you'll just see it. And that is a big point of boots on the ground, going and seeing what things look like, how things operate. but I really think you got to tell your story. I hate to go back to the beef industry, but I think it's also one of the good things they did with their product as a group was they told their story and they're continuing to tell their story. So that you want to make people want to be a part of your story. And if you're not willing to tell it, what opens the book to let them come into it?

So tell your story. And I'm not talking BS. I'm talking the good, the bad, the ugly. Just tell your story. And what your purpose is and what your drive is. Now the number still matter, but I want to know your story. You bring up a good point because another thing the beef industry did was if I had the choice and I could bring Sam Elliott to the bank to tell my story on my behalf, I would do that.

I would get that loan guaranteed. Anytime you could get Sam Elliott, like I'd like for him, I would have liked to had him call up my wife on the first time, you know, to get my date. You get that guy to talk for you. It's pretty much in the bag. That was a smart move on their part.

I would agree. And I actually, hopefully they're listening. I think it's time to bring him back. Taylor Sheridan. Right, because he's made, they made a name for himself again. They got him on a landman. Those two have done wonders for the beef industry.

And now everybody wants to be a cowboy too. So, yeah, that's for sure. Did you see, you might be able to speak to this. And I did not realize that this was a thing, but Taylor Sheridan talked about this, that for actual everyday cowboys, the notoriety and all of the hype that has been pumped out since the beginning of Yellowstone

and now through everything else, the cost for Levi's and for wranglers. And like brands that, you typically went to farm and fleet or to tractor supply and you bought the jeans that were 1995 apiece now then they're 80 bucks because they're cool and so all the people that actually use these brands every day that don't have this huge disposable income they're like they're pissed because it's like the brands that they grew up used every day are now then somehow become iconic and it's biting them in the ass because they got to pay well they want to use it

Well, we moved those brands into stores that they weren't in before, too. And it kind of started with all the Yellowstone apparel. You just see it everywhere. I think everybody either needed a rip hat or a Beth hat or a shirt or something. And, yeah, he fueled it. Yeah, he did. Yeah, you got to give them credit. I mean, I don't care.

My cowboy cut, Wranglers fit the best. And I'm not going away from them because find a pair of jeans that work. Gosh, that's a pain in the ass. That is a pain in the ass. I think my time is over. The best fashion trend for me was the skinny jeans because every pair of jeans that I ever bought were skinny. Don't do that. I made it look like skinny jeans.

So you set the trend is what you're telling us. Well, for some reason it wasn't a trend when I did it. But, you know, when it was in, it was like, well, that's what every pair of jeans look like when it puts on me. But. Mollets coming back. Yeah, it could do that if you wanted to. Boy, I don't know. I did have one hell of a perm mullet. We should find a picture of that.

Yeah. Yeah. It flowing, flowing out the window of my Z-28. Yeah. Glory days. On my way to get a party ball. Yep. What are, what are some of the most creative operations that you have seen out there right now that are doing some of those things like that are trying to control their own destiny maybe a little bit?

Or, you know, they're doing something different, but it's kind of, it's innovative and it's interesting for the future of ag. And, you know, I don't know. I just love hearing. hearing people doing stuff differently, you know? Yeah, I got, I got one in particular, and if he's listening, he's going to know I'm talking about him, but we won't spill any secrets. But the one in particular, basically relocated states, and I think he told me it was politically motivated.

He was in a state that was blue, and he didn't like the regs coming out. So he started moving more red and was always big in cattle. but I mean has moved into processed feed maybe some animals that are four-legged that aren't cattle to goats and horses buying up houses in a town where he knew data centers were coming and I'm talking about the same person I mean to me that's it's exciting to talk with somebody like that because because they're innovative. They see the market coming before it's there, and they're willing to capitalize on it,

and they're willing to bring in a lender and tell them their secrets and say, hey, do you want to be a part of this? Because I think this is going to work. How about you loan me some money to do this and make it work? So, you know, just some crazy stories like that. They're just fun to be a part of. Yeah. And see it work.

Yeah, I thought you mentioned there was somebody that's creating like a wheat, a bread business somewhere. They're getting a group of farmers together. Yeah, that's some guys that aren't clients of mine that I'm friends with. It's actually out in Goodland, Kansas, and they're basically starting their own co-op, which is to buy wheat, make flour, and sell the bread. So they're going to control the whole supply chain. Yeah, let's talk about co-ops. bit because you know i've talked about that on my personal tic-tok i put out a video about it and everybody

the dairy guys especially you know they've kind of they've kind of been in co-ops before and it's all great in the beginning but then they say eventually it gets harder and harder the more corporate the co-op gets what you got in the beginning doesn't stay that way and on paper like everybody like we all as farmers are like co-op yeah let's band together let's form a co-op let's go to the let's control our own but man it seems like it's a tougher it's a tougher road than what people initially think it's going to be and i i think that's the future of agriculture is banning together creating a product and going to the market going to grocery stores ourselves if you can work out that deal but how do you make it sustainable for the long run and a in a win-win for both the farmer and you know the corporate

side of it that's i don't know what's your thoughts on that Well, I mean, historically, the co-ops haven't made anybody rich. They have guaranteed a market and helped control that destiny more than anything. So they've served a good purpose there. But, you know, from the standard cooperative that we're talking of, you know, the more grain operated ones, we've seen a lot of consolidation in those and a few problems in that arena. So, you know, it kind of kind of come together. I think this one in particular is maybe a little bit different.

And I wish them the best, hope it works. And I know that they got some cattle guys money behind it too that realized that wheat doesn't compete with us. So maybe we should be invested in this. So yeah, I mean, and that's kind of the whole farm to table thing. and probably trying to cut down on a lot of trucking and knowing that their product is the best and telling their story and going to market with that. So I think that idea can work.

The struggle is probably going to be in the capital expenditures up front of what it's going to cost to do something like that. Yeah, I think in the food space, everybody screamed from the rooftops about ingredients. and you know you look around the grocery store there is a lot of legacy brands that need to be disrupted that are just have always been on the shelf and nobody has ever come to eat their lunch and i that's that's i think there's huge opportunity but you just have to find a way to make it all work and you got to have that capital probably to get there but and i think the consumer's begging

for it i mean i'll give you an example you know i live close to manhattan and there's a farmer's market every Saturday, downtown, and it's rain or shine, cold or hot, because I've been once and it was cold as hell that day. But man, it's packed. And it's the simpler things in life. It's the homemade bread. It's the steak right from the farm, maybe the sausage. The consumer's demanding that. I think they think it tastes better and it does. It's probably, healthier and they want it. So I've seen that popping up everywhere. And when the parking lot's full and the vendors keep coming back every week,

I mean, it's looking like success to me. Yeah. What about creative financing? I wanted to ask you this. What are some, is there a crazy creative financing story that you know? Or like, what's the craziest way somebody's like financed a deal? if you can spill it, putting you on the spot. Boy, you are putting me on the spot.

I thought we were going down the road of creative accounting. I can talk for hours about that. I love thinking out. I mean, we're kind of on the topic of thinking outside the box, so I thought throw that out there. Let me try to answer that maybe in the shortest way of the long way I can. With us being a private lender, we have different buckets of investors we go to. And that's my job when I get a new deal in is to try to pigeonhole it to what bucket it's going to fit in.

best, whether it be with our life insurance money, our wholesale bond products that we can get backdoor to some farmer Mac funds that we can get. And then another one we have is our alternative bucket. And that's for a more stressed operation that maybe struggled cash flow the last couple years. Maybe the bank's forcing them out. Well, we have a way to do that. In fact, they could even be in BK and we could pull them out of BK. Where another, lender would say, you got a BK on your record? We're, nope, we just can't even do it, either from, you know, an in-house reg and rule to, you know, a federal reg and rule, but we can do that. So, and I've done it before. And we have a very strong success rate on with those loans that we

put in that alternative bucket, because we put them on a short window. You know, if it, if it wasn't for us in the, in the situations that we've done, they would probably have been, for to have a fire sale and liquidate and get the bank paid off or worse yet they're going to get foreclosed on the bank's going to take it all back we've saved them from that put them on a short time frame with a written plan and here's what you're going to do in the next two to three years and if you do it great we're going to get your refied get you back to conventional finance and get you on down the road because you've made really big changes and fixed what you were doing wrong the past to move forward. Or if you don't, it's all been agreed upon up front to give you plenty

of time to liquidate and end it there. No hard feelings. We tried to help it didn't work. But our success rate on getting them out of that three, two to three year window and getting them into conventional financing, it's upwards of 90%. Wow. That's pretty good. That product is unique to us. You know, and we're not doing it every day and we don't have a ton of loans in there. We got a lot, but it's not the biggest portion of our portfolio, but it's something we pride ourselves in that we're able to help. Now, do we have some deals that are bad enough that show up that they don't even fit in that? Absolutely.

You know, every deal's different, not every deal is perfect and it doesn't always fit. But to me, I hope that answers your question because I feel like it's, It's pretty creative. I mean, it's not rocket science, but it's willing to take a risk on somebody that we believe in, especially if they've come to the conclusion of what I was doing over here in the past wasn't working and led me down this hole that was failing. I know what to do to change it. I just need a couple of years of breathing room, and we can give it to them.

Yeah. When you do a deal like that, what's the communication? look like? Is that a deal where you've got somebody within Contara that like you're talking to the, you're talking about the financials weekly, monthly, or how do you handle that? Because I imagine that it's like you want to make sure that things are progressing along that plan.

It's probably financials once or twice a year to help document the file and keep up. in the loop of what's going on, but it's at least a monthly phone call. And generally, it's not a problem getting a hold of them. And most of the time they're reaching out to you. Yeah. Because they've already been in that bad situation.

And maybe they were at fault for getting into that bad situation, whether it was poor performance, bad communication with their lender. And we're putting them into that program. We're just telling them up front of the problems. that they did or they caused, and here's how you don't do that again. And that's part of our underwriting process is, are they hearing us? Are they listening to us?

How are they going to act in the future? Sure, this person's a changed man. So we're willing to take the risk, you know, owning up to your problems. Let's put your ranch hat back on. I mean, do you want to carry the ranch onto the next generation? like what what's your what's your thoughts on where the ranch sits today and how do you want to how do you want to push it forward what do you want to do is it in your plan do you want to eventually retire out there like what where's your where's your head out on that probably not retire and

live out there but yes doing everything possible to keep it all together and we have as a family my brother and I and my dad and my mom, we've done a good job of planning. In fact, we've already kind of passed it on to my brother and I. We still tell dad it's all his, but I mean, it's technically ours. So we've already done that generational change. I've got a grandson that I hope wants it. I know I got a nephew that wants it. I got three daughters. Hopefully they've got some interest in it as well. Don't know. Can't guarantee that.

Got a son-in-law that I know wants to help keep it all together too as well. So, yeah. Most of the land that has the last name on it of ours has most all stayed in the family for five generations. There has been some that's come and gone, but the majority of it is still there between my dad and his brothers and some cousins and all of that. Yeah. So, but definitely, um, a strong tie to hold on to all of it. Legacy. Yeah. Yep. Sure. Um, putting your dad cap on now. What do you, how do you feel about the future of just where we sit today with AI? Like, what are you telling your, what are you telling your daughters? You know, what are you telling the next generation when they're thinking about going to school or, you know, going into the trades or, I mean, what.

What's your feeling about it all right now? It's kind of a crazy time. It's a great point. I got three daughters, so my answer's probably a little different in kind of two ways. Because I think if I had all boys, I would be definitely not forcing, but making them make the decision of,

is there a trade that you're good at and that interests you and you could see a career out of it, then go do it. Because it's quick training. and it's earning fast. And let's really consider the philosophy, college education, what are you going to do with that degree? Okay. But with the girls, you know, yeah, probably really encouraging the college and getting a more generalized degree if they're not specific.

But a generalized degree that can go multiple ways. my mental daughter be in college here in about a year and a half and she's kind of focused on the medical field. My youngest daughter, verdict's still out yet. I think she thinks she's going to Hollywood, but I'm not sure I'm going to allow that. She wants to be an influencer. But to answer your question, yes, I think trade is very important and quite honest. Where are the money that? I mean, just like we've said that the farmers are getting old and how.

is that generation going to transfer? Well, who's going to be the next plumber in 10 years? Who's going to be the next electrician in 10 years? And if them data centers keep going on like they're talking about, man, I don't know what kid in the world wouldn't want to be an electrician because with what they're getting paid and the way the work looks into the future, it's just it's there. It's nonstop.

Yeah. And I think any young person, I mean, my friends, anybody younger I talk to, all of us are thinking about picking their right career path right now so you don't get displaced. I mean, we might all get displaced by AI. It might happen, but trying to think about

hedge your bet so you can avoid getting displaced and you have a longer runway, I think all, I mean, a lot of young people, that's their big concern and that's what they're thinking about. And that's the thing about the trades

is robots aren't here yet. I don't know if they'll ever be here. I don't know if they'll ever be able to replace what an electrician can do, you know, but... Correct. You know, it's a serious... You got to consider it, that's for sure. That's for sure.

Let's talk about big game hunting. You're a big game hunting guy. Sure. So what's your best hunting story that you got... What's the most enjoyable hunt that you've had? Well, they're all enjoyable or I wouldn't do it when I do it. I guess most recent, last fall a buddy of mine, we went and hunted in the Teton wilderness,

which borders on the south side of Yellowstone. And it was a pack in with horses. The group that we were in, I was actually a client of mine has an outfitting business up there, and he took us in there. I think we packed in with 29 horses, and we were in there for nine days.

It was roughing it. We got fed good, and we went in at a good time of the year. It was late September, so there wasn't any snow. But it was still brisk mornings. And there were long days in the saddle. Saw a lot of game. Had some grizzly encounters.

It's grizzly country up there. I got one on the second to last day. Wasn't anything huge. We were elk hunting. Yeah. I'd always wanted to do that. I've done some other hunts that just aren't as in depth as that. But a horseback hunt in the Teton wilderness will, boy, it'll let you know

whether you're a man or not. I was going to ask, how did you feel by the end of that, how did you feel about your physical stamina? Did you feel like you had prepared for it? Oh, I know how I felt when we got back and I said never again, but I wouldn't tell you that today. I'd go right back in today. Our longest day in the saddle, we left at 5.30 in the morning and you leave in the dark and we got back at 10.15 at night. Oh, wow. That was almost 5.5. hours are riding back in the dark because we went a long ways from camp wow the good thing is them horses just see in the dark and they know how to get back home so you just give them the rain and let them go yeah was going was going a lot better than coming back yes because in the morning you're

climbing and your old rear ends just kind of sit in the back of the saddle and there's no real pressure on your body you're just climbing but at the end of the day camps down in the valley and you're coming straight down. So all the pressure's on your knees and the stirrups. And there's no way to get the pressure off your knees. So you just have to fight through the pain. Yeah. And you didn't complain because your guide, my guide flat out told us this.

He said, if you think my body doesn't hurt, as bad as yours does, you're lying to yourself. So just shut up, suck it up. We'll be back. And dinner will be ready hot on the fire when we get back. Was no complaining after that. No, no complaining. Yeah. You ate and you went to bed.

In Toronto, every arrival is a statement, and nothing says it better than this. Cadillac Optic was the number one selling luxury EV in Canada for 2025. Find your rhythm across a seamless 33-inch display and an immersive 19-speaker AKG surround audio system. This city demands agility, and Optic delivers with precision to make every drive extraordinary. Let's take the Cadillac.

Find out more at Cadillac Canada.ca. Luxury sales claim based on S&P Global Mobility, Canadian New Vehicle Total Registrations for calendar year 20, 2025 for the Cadillac definition of luxury. Wow, that's pretty good. We got a segment on here that we like to end the show with. It's called Tip of the Hat. And so who's somebody in your life or who's a brand

or what's something that you use on a daily basis that you want to tip your hat to and say, this is a damn good person, brand thing that I use and why? You know, that's a tough question. And I'll get you an answer because there's been so many good people in my life that have supported me and stuck with me through thick and thin, and I think I'll just nail it down to one answer in its family.

And that includes my wife and my kids and all my extended family and my mom and dad and my brother and all that. So I'm just going to say family. We're a close-knit family. You know, go to church together on Sunday. We attend everybody's sporting events. And we're just, it's a sporty group. and that's one of the reasons I like Canterra so much is because that's one of our core values at Cantera is family.

Yeah. So I just come back to that. If you don't have family, you don't have nothing. There's no reason to talk about your financial statement and all that. Yeah. And all of what we've talked about today, if you don't have family support and you, it'd be a boring time without family. Yeah. So I tip my hat to them.

Amen to that. Yeah. So we had a drink. I'd toast you to that. Where can people reach out to you if they want. want to get a hold of you and talk to you about their farm situation. We got a really good website, canteraag.com, and then we're on all the social media from LinkedIn to Facebook to Instagram.

But I always just tell people, if you want to talk to me, call me at my cell phone, which is 785 410, 8484, promise I'll answer. If you want to talk, whether it's about loans or just life in general, just give me a call. Well, Luke, we really appreciate you making the trip. I think it was a hell of a good episode. If you guys got any value, go check out what Contera is up to. Go check out their website, their socials, give them a follow. Give Luke a call if you want to work with them.

Share the show. We love you guys. We appreciate you. And we'll see it back here next week for another episode. Spotify. It's Jay Shetty. Are you one of those media strategy people? scrolling through spreadsheets, searching for an audience that pays twice as much attention to your ads

than they do on social, let me introduce you to fans. And they're here with me on Spotify. Trust me, I know fans. They don't skip, they stay for hours. They don't move on, they manifest. They're not a demographic group, they're fans. Spotify Advertising.

You're among fans.