347. Farm Credit Mid-America's Natasha Cox on the speed of change + prioritizing smart bets for innovators and farmers alike

This is a podcast episode titled, 347. Farm Credit Mid-America's Natasha Cox on the speed of change + prioritizing smart bets for innovators and farmers alike. The summary for this episode is: New data from USDA shares that net cash farm income decreased roughly 3.5% from 2023 into 2024 and we’re looking at inflation adjusted numbers. But here’s the piece of the silver lining that may be untold: that number – net cash farm income – is still above average when we look at the last 20 years from USDA data. This week, Natasha Cox, Senior Vice President of Farm Credit Mid-America, joins us to help make sense of the numbers, what it means to producers and to the broader agbioscience economy. We get into:  <ul><li>The macro perspective on the health of farm balance sheets across the Midwest </li><li>Big trends that she’s looking at from a financial health standpoint of farms and agribusinesses </li><li>Consolidation – from both the farmer and innovator perspective – as a factor in the economic system of agriculture in the US </li><li>New investments being made on farm or within agribusinesses to better connect to the end market of food is health </li><li>Natasha’s perspective as a farmer and how she prioritizes where to place her bets for her operations </li><li>The criticality of surrounding yourself with good partners, knowing your options when it comes to strategic planning and investments and asking the right questions for your operations or business </li><li>The innovation she’s most excited about in 2025 </li></ul>