By Brad Barth, Board Chairman
2024 is now in the rearview mirror and the new year is upon us. Some constituents I have spoken with about 2024 had an average year while most others in our area will be glad to have the year behind us. Excessive rains during the planting and growing season and a super dry end of the season made it a challenging year. Like all the challenging years before, we will survive to farm again.
At Thanksgiving I concluded that, despite many challenges, I am sure we can all find many things to be thankful for. I reflect on every year as a learning experience, whether it was a good or poor year there is always something we can learn and take forward into the rest of our career.
MCIA will have its Annual Meeting on January 29, 2025, in St. Cloud. This will be a single-day event and will include all the things we have done in the past, just in a shortened version. I am excited to hear the speakers’ presentations as this is always a highlight of the meeting. There will be vendors to visit, and the MCIA staff will be there also. Please plan to attend as I am sure you will enjoy all the meeting has to offer.
I write this with a heavy heart as this will be my last correspondence with you. The Annual Meeting in January marks the end of my second and last term. To say that my time with MCIA was a great experience would be an understatement. To serve on this board was truly a fantastic experience.
The staff at MCIA are second to none. They have all the talent and people skills to carry this organization far into the future. A shout out to Jody Prudhomme, who is the most impressive office personnel I have ever met. The board members are quite a diverse set of super talented individuals, all here with one focus; that is, to steer this 100-plus-year-old organization down the path to the next 100-year benchmark.
I will miss meeting and conversing with my fellow board members and having a hand in guiding this organization. I encourage anyone interested in becoming a board member to take the challenge. You will not be disappointed.