This time of year, we usually look back and recap the previous year, recount our challenges, and celebrate our successes. For most of us, 2020 is the year we wish we could forget, and are glad it is almost behind us.  From COVID, to political unrest, 2020 showed many sides of our country - some very good, and others utterly despicable. Thankfully for most of us in agriculture, we saw the good locally, and the bad on TV.
 
As an essential industry during COVID, all levels of agriculture had to figure out ways to operate while doing our best to keep ourselves, our employees, and our customers safe. Because this was uncharted territory, we did a lot of learning as we went along, but in the end, I think we had tremendous success. We kept our food supply chains going, we fed record numbers of hungry people, and we learned to adapt to new ways of doing business. Despite the challenges, United Cooperative did have a successful year, while recognizing that many businesses struggled and some failed. Thankfully, agriculture in general did OK in 2020, and we are very thankful that your cooperative was able to weather the storm.
 
While it is easy to focus on all the bad parts of 2020, we should not overlook the good things that happened. As the old saying goes “Every Dark Cloud has a Silver Lining”. While 2020 was filled with dark clouds, I believe many of us found the silver linings:

1. Families re-discovered spending time together
2. New technologies were forced on us, and now will increase efficiencies long term.
3. Kids put down video games and discovered the great outdoors
4. Parents learned what their kids were being taught at school
5. Vaccines were developed in record time
6. Stock Market hits new highs
7. Interest Rates have stayed low
8. Gas prices fell under $2.00/gal
9. We did not runout of toilet paper
10. You can still “Rely on Us”

 
While these are only a few of the positives that came out of 2020, they do remind us that there is always good with the bad. As Winston Churchill once said “I am an optimist. It does not seem too much use being anything else.” I hope you too are optimistic as we prepare for 2021. No doubt there will be significant challenges, but there will most certainly be many reasons to be optimistic. Have a Merry Christmas and a safe, healthy, and prosperous New Year.