A Message from FEMA’s EVP: Momentum Is Building
FEMA Members,
I just returned from the Farm Progress Show in Boone, Iowa.
I’ve been attending this show for the better part of 20 years, and I can honestly say this was one of the best shows I’ve experienced in a long time.
Not necessarily because of attendance. Not because of the weather. And certainly not because all of the challenges facing agriculture have suddenly disappeared.
They haven’t.
It was because of the conversations.
For what feels like a long time, much of our industry conversation has centered around the down market. Commodity prices. Interest rates. Input costs. Inventory. Farmer income. Uncertainty.
Those are real issues, and we’re certainly not out of the woods yet.
But something felt different in Boone this week.
People seemed ready to talk about opportunity again.
I heard positive conversations from manufacturers throughout the show. Several FEMA members talked about equipment selling right off their lots. Others told me orders were being written.
There was energy.
Maybe our industry is simply getting tired of talking about everything that’s wrong. Maybe companies are deciding it’s time to go find the opportunities that are still out there.
Whatever the reason, it was encouraging.
I’ve learned over the years to put a lot of value in what I hear when I’m standing in a booth talking to the people actually running these companies. And what I heard this week makes me optimistic about where we’re headed.
That same sense of momentum is happening inside FEMA.
Over the past several months, our staff has been working extremely hard to create excitement and, more importantly, value around our Fall Convention in New Orleans.
While walking the Farm Progress Show this week, one member stopped me and said something that made me smile:
鈥淲e’re getting your advertising. We promise we’re going to send a couple of people this year.鈥
This is a member company that hasn’t attended a FEMA convention in more than 10 years.
That’s what we’re trying to accomplish.
We don’t simply want to hold another conference.
We want to create an event our members feel they need to attend.
As I write this on September 3, more than 230 FEMA executives are already registered for New Orleans.
We’re approaching record territory 鈥 and we still have nearly two months to go.
That’s a tremendous testament to our staff and the work they’re putting into this event. But I think it’s an even bigger testament to all of you.
Our member companies are showing us that they see value in FEMA. You see value in being together. You see value in the relationships, education, conversations and opportunities that happen when this industry gets in the same place.
When we combine FEMA registration with our partners at EMDA, more than 300 equipment-industry executives are already registered to be in New Orleans.
And we’re not done!
I’d love to see FEMA attendance approach 300 by the time we arrive in October and our combined attendance with EMDA push beyond 400.
But we’re not chasing attendance simply for the sake of having a big number.
Our staff keeps asking a much more important question:
How do we create more value for our members once we get them there?
That’s why I’m so excited about what we’re building in New Orleans.
We have a wonderful lineup of educational sessions and industry conversations. We’re launching our first FEMA Startup Pitch Competition, bringing emerging companies and new ideas directly in front of leaders from the farm equipment industry.
We’re also bringing universities into the conversation through our new FEMA University initiative, creating opportunities for manufacturers, researchers, faculty and students to build relationships and explore ways our industry and academia can work together.
And we’re continuing to look for new relationships, resources and opportunities that can benefit FEMA members.
I sometimes describe our job at FEMA as turning over rocks for our members.
What’s underneath the next rock?
A new customer?
A new technology?
A university research partnership?
A solution to a problem?
A relationship that creates an opportunity five years from now?
We don’t always know.
Our job is to keep turning over rocks.
I’m not ready to declare that our industry is out of the woods. There are still real economic challenges ahead, and none of us knows exactly what the next 12 months will bring.
But after spending this week talking with manufacturers, suppliers and leaders from across agriculture, I came home encouraged.
It feels like the conversation is changing.
Less about waiting for the market to save us.
More about finding opportunities.
More about creating momentum.
More about getting back to doing what this industry has always done incredibly well:
Building things. Solving problems. Taking some risks. And moving forward.
I think that’s good for our industry.
And I think it’s very good for FEMA.
If you haven’t registered for New Orleans yet, there’s still time. Come join more than 230 of your fellow FEMA executives and be part of what we’re building.
I look forward to seeing you in New Orleans!
Joe Sampson
Executive Vice President
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