Land O’Lakes CEO says American farmers are facing "devastation"

Land O’Lakes CEO Beth Ford, told the Fortune MPW Summit that American farmers and their communities are facing economic hardship.

Transcript

00:00What is happening right now is devastation, and that's not too strong of a word on some farms.

00:10Now, you've had land value increase over time, and that means they can collateralize operating

00:16loans, and so some of them can get loans, operating loans, to plant for next year,

00:21but some of them will be challenged, and they will move into a risk of bankruptcy.

00:27And it's not just what's happening on the farm.

00:30That means what's happening in their communities, right?

00:34What's happening at the hardware store, what's happening at the school, et cetera.

00:38And I think it's important that we all understand, rural America, 19% of the population, by the

00:44way, they comprise 44% of the military.

00:48Service is deeply embedded in these communities.

00:50And when you don't have income, when you don't have revenue, rural hospitals are shut down,

00:57rural banks are shut down.

00:5870% of the counties in America that indexes food insecure are in rural America, housing

01:04crisis, et cetera.

01:06And so when I'm out in the country, and I'm there quite frequently with farmers or in these

01:11communities, it's present that you have these conversations, and you try to understand what's

01:18going on with their families.

01:2090% of farms are still family-owned.

01:23These are families, many of whom could be considered hobby farmers because they have to work off the

01:29farm, drive in a truck, teach in school, in order to feed their own families.