Farmers gather for Ag Outlook event in Riverside

RIVERSIDE — Hundreds of producers gathered at the Riverside Casino & Golf Resort Thursday for the 2025 Ag Outlook event, an annual conference sponsored by Hills Bank ahead of the planting season.

Attendees spent the day networking with one another and listening to talks from speakers about estate management, carbon sequestration, economic forecasts and other industry-relevant updates.

The lineup this year included Continuum Ag CEO and Founder of Mitchell Hora, market consultant Angie Setzer, a panel of experts on wealth and estate planning, and Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig.

“We’re all about educating our customers,” Hills Bank First Vice President of Marketing Communications Carrie Ebel said. “When they improve, we improve, so it’s a joint effort, and that’s one of the common things that we’re hosting these events for.”

The bank has put on the annual affair for over 20 years. Organizers said it was popular with many of the business’ customers.

“Ag is a huge part of Hills Bank, a lot of our lending to our customers is to ag,” said Hills Bank First Vice President of Commercial Banking Janelle Johnson. “Last year we had $67 million in agricultural lending across the bank. Each one of our local areas has a predominantly ag presence, so that’s why we feel it’s important.”

Farmers in attendance said they appreciated the get-together as well.

Longtime Fairfield area farmer Charles McKracken said it offered profound insight on current world events.

“You get the latest on the topics we’re dealing with today, there’s so many changes in a year’s time,” he said.

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Nathan Brinkman, a grain farmer from Clarion, said he also appreciated a presentation on the current political scene, and its implications for farmers.

“I go to maybe five or six meetings on similar topics a year,” he said. “I’ve been to this one and the last one … it’s good speakers, and a good event center to attend.”

Attendees of all ages said the function was useful, including a surprising number of younger professionals. Kirkwood Community College students filled a handful of tables on one side of the room, and other high school age agricultural aspirants could be seen around the room.

Josiah Beachy attended with his grandfather. He said he appreciated the insight from speakers, including those aimed at older producers, like a talk about succession planning and estate transfers.

“If I do decide to invest in the farm, it’s going to be an inevitable thing that I’ll have to be a part of,” he said. “It’s good to start to understand options, how things work, what you need to put into it in order to be successful.”

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Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com