HeartBeat Winter 2015 | Page 31

nivens’ notes Greetings from the Board Room: Another year soon to be in the books. Pleasantly surprising compared to what was anticipated a year ago. Modest growth, remarkable credit quality, and strong earnings. With the next couple of board meetings, the Association’s business plan for 2016 will be finalized. James Nivens, Chairman of the Board I imagine our members are doing some of the same calculations with their own operations. We all share the same issues. Weather is near the top of the list with crop and livestock prices. Real estate values are always part my grandmother to gather eggs. Typical “free range” of the equation. And not which way do interest rates go operation at the time. My grandparents maintained a but when and how much. Pretty much a repeat of our couple hundred hens and each Saturday delivered the concerns last year. eggs to the local exchange. Quite a contrast to Austin and Dustin’s operation of 20,000 he