MFA's district meetings were held in March. The meetings once again provided a wonderful forum in which MFA management and customer/owners could discuss issues of importance. Two bylaw amendments addressed concerns raised by our corporate board of directors. Both passed by a large majority. But before I address those, I'd like to welcome Tim Lichte to MFA's corporate board of directors. Tim is the newly elected board member from MFA's district five. He row crops 1,200 acres and operates a 1,200-hog swine enterprise outside of Lexington in central Missouri. He was an outstanding candidate. We're looking forward to working with him. Tim replaces Ron Heins of Concordia who has served with distinction for 6 years. I would like to personally thank Ron for his wisdom and advice. He served all of us well during his tenure.

Business volume
The first bylaw amendment that went before the delegates concerned the volume of business a member must conduct at MFA to be eligible to run for the corporate board. Until the vote, the required volume was $1,000, the same volume required to be considered an MFA member. Almost 75 percent of MFA delegates during these district meetings voted to require that an individual do $10,000 worth of business annually at the cooperative to be eligible to serve on MFA's corporate board. It's important to note that this requirement has nothing to do with general membership or with serving on boards at individual stores. The change simply addresses the qualifications of someone serving on MFA's corporate board.

I also want to make clear that this amendment did not originate with MFA's corporate management. Our current corporate board saw it as a necessary step to strengthen the business operation of the cooperative. The amendment, according to our board of directors, is intended to make sure that only individuals who are actively using the cooperative have a hand in MFA's corporate strategy and business movement.

Term limits
The second bylaw amendment extended term limits for MFA's corporate board members from three 3-year terms to four 3-year terms. It, too, passed by a large majority. And it, too, was a topic developed and forwarded by our corporate board. Informally, over the course of the last few years, members of the corporate board and MFA executives have been asking member opinions on this subject. Most of those questioned understood the motivation for extending the number of terms a corporate board member can serve. Many of our members wanted to discontinue term limits entirely. But MFA's board decided not to propose that option.

The amendment was driven by simple arithmetic. As agriculture continues to consolidate, there are fewer qualified candidates. Fewer of them are willing to invest the time and effort required to serve on a board at this level of complexity in addition to meeting the needs of their own complex enterprises. But the number of institutions needing board members remains constant: FSA, rural electric, SWCD, NRCS, 4-H and extension, and all the civic obligations many farmers meet.

From my perspective, I'm glad our corporate board visited the issue. The older I get, the more I realize how quickly time flies. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the activities of our corporate board of directors. We've been fortunate over the years to have a highly qualified board of exemplary individuals. Still, just when we get a board of qualified individuals in place and functioning at capacity, we seem to run into a term-limit problem. That means someone with excellent insight and experience in decision-making has to drop out of the equation.

It can take several years to bring a bright, astute businessman up to speed on the complexities of MFA's structure before he's confidently making decisions that affect MFA's business operations. I do not mean to take anything away from the excellent directors who have served MFA so well. But their education takes time, effort and money. Most, if not all, of our board members (whether still on the board or retired from the board) agree with me on the basic time frames involved. Corporate board activities are time-consuming.

Insurance concerns
In general, MFA is off to a good start on our fiscal year. An open fall allowed us to move more plant foods than we had planned. In spite of that good start, I see a cause for concern that affects both MFA and our member/owners. Insurance. Premiums continue to rise. It's not just the costs of health insurance that outpace inflation. Now there's an additional cost-escalation--this time in property and casualty. The reason, I have been informed, is that most insurance companies have their reserves invested in the stock market. In view of the past 2 years of dismal stock market performance, insurance companies are seeing those reserves dwindle. They respond by raising premiums and by limiting liability. Many limit liability by backing away from industries like ours. That limits our options. Keep the issue on your radar screen. It won't go away soon.