6 minute read
A Note from Michael Schmidt
Michael with his wife, Kara, and sons, David, Alec, Collin, and Owen.
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michael Schmidt President, Central Illinois Ag
Wow! Looking back, it is insane to think of all that has happened within the last several months. Just as we are gearing up to prepare for spring planting, the world gets flipped upside down with Coronavirus.
Being in the agriculture industry, especially at planting time, it is essential to continue working. Following the CDC guidelines and recommendations, we adjusted our business practice accordingly while still being able to be there for our customers.
Never did I think locking the doors to our dealership to limit face-to-face contact would occur, or encouraging employees to work remotely. The concern of ‘will we have enough hand sanitizer and toilet paper for employees’ crossed my mind, but let’s just sit back and think about that. What?! This is truly a time that none of us have ever encountered before. It has been a challenging ride, but our team at Central Illinois Ag has stuck together.
I am proud to say that amidst the pandemic, agriculture continues the day to day operations. We are a very hands-on dealership, and had to change how we do some things, but the communication between Central Illinois Ag and you, the customer, always will be our priority. We appreciate each of you. Your success is what we aim for each season.
Michael Schmidt mschmidt@centralilag.com President, Central Illinois Ag @MPSchmidtAg
Steven Ile, Michael Schmidt, and Lee Lakosky. On a fun note - you may also have noticed our CIA Outdoor focus. This journey began with our friends Don and Kandi Kisky from the Outdoor Channel television show, Whitetail Freaks. Over time we have built a friendship with Lee and Tiffany Lakosky, from the Crush TV on the Outdoor Channel. From food plots to farming and small to large acreage, equipment is needed for a variety of projects. We strive to show the many uses of our equipment and how to be the most efficient no matter the situation.
“We have reaped some rewards and suffered some hard-falls throughout the pandemic. Spring farmers markets were cancelled, and we lost nearly 100% of our restaurant sales. However, our Community Supported Agriculture program doubled in size; we are now delivering fresh produce to over 350 families in central Illinois over the next 24 weeks. Demand from our cooperative grocery stores and produce distributors in Chicago have also nearly doubled. The greatest thing has been the renewed interest in local food. We’ve got the skills, land, staff, and equipment to meet the emerging demand and are excited to do so.” -Katie Bishop, PrairiErth Farm
“Our work in community health completely stopped. We were redeployed and began doing other work for the hospital instead. This spring, District 27 schools were still sourcing food locally and providing meals for students. They are still providing the USDA free summer lunch program which provides kids with five healthy meals a week. Our farmers market business stayed the same even with social distancing guidelines. We think people are starting to realize that if we don’t support local producers now, they will not be here when we need them in the future.” -Angela Stoltzenburg and Angie Whiteman, Abraham Lincoln Memorial Hospital Community Health 5 · Central Illinois Ag · www.centralilag.com
“COVID-19 has showed us that agriculture is more essential than people realize. We farmers were already social distancing in tractor cabs, so we were allowed to continue to feed the world and get the crop in.” -Clint Liesman, farmer
“COVID-19 has affected our pork farm dramatically on the side of the business that involves shipping our hogs to large processors. Due to the backed-up supply of hogs, the large animal processors are taking in record-breaking profits while the farmers are struggling to make ends meet. With the local locker plants operating at full capacity with the earlier scarcity of meat scare, it has been impossible to get an appointment to have a hog processed until late fall or early winter and with some lockers, 2021. We have been selling hogs from the barns to people who are skilled at processing the animal themselves- that was an easier decision than euthanizing them. On the positive side, attending the farmers markets and supplying restaurants, institutions, and grocery stores has been a sustainable side of the business.” -Vicki Huelskoetter, pork producer
“Business for Degelman has been as usual because farmers have not stopped. I have been considerate of all the customers I am around, but farmers still want a handshake at the end of the day.” -Jim Kappel, Degelman
“Early in the year, milk prices at the farm level were showing promise of a nice upswing after several years of below break-even prices. Then when COVID-19 hit, our price dropped significantly despite an increase in fluid milk sales at the retail level. Here on the dairy farm though, life goes on as usual, nothing has changed. The cattle must be milked, fed, and cared for every day to the best of our ability.” -Steve Irwin, dairy farmer
“We were initially concerned, but our business never missed a beat. Industry sales have increased dramatically with people going back to the basics and coming to the realization of how important hunting and agriculture actually are. Hunting and farming are not necessarily group activities, so not much has changed. It is just Tiffany and I and our kids which is the way it has always been.” -Lee and Tiffany Lakosky, Crush TV
“The direct consumer beef business has increased substantially. We have sold more beef in a month and a half in 2020 than we did in all of 2019, and have appointments booked for 2021 already. With the opening of the Market on the Hill community-owned grocery store in Mt. Pulaski, we have high hopes for business, given the circumstances.” -Shaun Tyson, beef producer “Due to COVID-19, our sales have been through the roof. The demand has been hard to keep up with and things you’d never imagine would go out of stock have, such as plastic bottles due to the hand sanitizer demand. We have been visiting each store twice as much to keep the shelves stocked, and are sometimes the only honey on the shelves since we are local producers and other brands could not get their products shipped in. A whole new sector of the public has become aware of local ag and it has given local producers an opportunity to shine.” -Beth Sasse, Sasse’s Apiary
“COVID-19 gave us some time to collaborate and develop some great ideas which are in the works at the moment. It fortunately has not slowed down the construction equipment market or the construction industry. Construction is an essential part of the country which has been apparent during this pandemic. Takeuchi owners build and rebuild the infrastructures we use every day from sidewalks to the hospitals that keep us healthy.” -Jim Spicer, Takeuchi
“I have always had a rule that I don’t work on Sunday mornings, I go to church, but for the first time in my life, I watched church from the tractor cab while planting beans this spring.” -Mike Swaar, farmer
