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Chad F. Muegge

The State Exchange Bank
Chad F. Muegge, President
P.O. Box 7Lamont, OK 74643

November 21, 2005 T

Top ProducerTop Producer of the Year Committee
1818 Market Street, 31st Floor
Philadelphia, PA 19103-3654

Dear Top Producer of the Year Committee,

The world is full of �half-a-minders and gonna-doers�, of �wanna-bes and should�ve beens�. In production agriculture, there are those who would have been �producers of the year� if it had rained or if diesel wasn�t so high or if corn wasn�t so cheap. I want to introduce to you Chad Olsen, the �I AM� of American agriculture, the producer who gets it done, year after year, regardless of circumstances. Chad Olsen is worthy to be named Top Producer of the Year because of his ability to overcome the past, deal with the present, and plan for the future.

I first met Chad through a combine lease agreement in 1998. I was a young loan officer in a family-owned community bank in northern Oklahoma, but I also managed our own family farm. In our dealings, I was able to learn more about Chad�s custom harvest operation and farming operation, and I was very impressed. He, too, felt comfortable dealing with me, since I understood production agriculture better than any lender he had previously met. Because of our common goals, we formed a relationship that has been beneficial to both of us ever since.

Before I met Chad, he had a dairy barn burn to the ground and back-to-back crop failures due to early freezes near the Canadian border. Both financial blows would have caused most producers in their early 20s to cut and run. Bankruptcy and a job pumping diesel at the nearest truck stop would have been �Plan B� for most. But, Chad isn�t a quitter. With the help of an older farmer, he started a custom harvest business with one John Deere 7720 combine. After a short time, he was running two John Deere 9600s, which is standard for many operations. But, if you are �bent� on being the best, you don�t look around at others and say, �That�s good enough.� It�s a good thing Chad didn�t look at what others were doing or seek advice from his neighbors. They�ve laughed at him since he pulled out of town on his first harvest run. They still talk about Chad around Hendricks. Of course, when they�re at the bar with their buddies on Saturday night while Chad is out harvesting corn until 3 a.m. with his 12 combines and crew or hauling cattle with his 7 Peterbilts and team, Chad can�t hear them. Chad couldn�t hear his neighbors when they said more than two combines are too many. He couldn�t hear them when they called him a land hog when he increased his farming operation threefold over five years without asking for one acre. The smart ones were calling him. As they say, the rest is history.

Chad�s Kansas State University CHAMP records verify that he is one of the best in the business when it comes to operating a profitable custom harvest business. He has some of the best accounts in the country, including acres from Texas to the Canadian border. Furthermore, his crop operation is profitable because of his ability to be efficient with his equipment and labor. He keeps good records, and he is always searching for a better way to manage his time and assets.

Being an outstanding producer for a year or two is good, but what I have seen Chad do over the last seven years is stunning. His growth has been measured and carefully calculated, always mindful of the repercussions of growth on his cash flow. He has been wise to diversify into every aspect of agribusiness, knowing that there are years that the one �behind the plow� isn�t always profitable, but those who help the farmer are. His crop marketing plan is above-average, and his human resources skills are outstanding. People gravitate toward Chad. He is smart, honest, and hard-working, and he never asks an employee to put in one minute more than what he is willing to do himself. Chad doesn�t have an inheritance of land and money to save him from a disaster, and his parents don�t coach him on what varieties to plant, what chemicals to use, and what pieces of equipment to buy. His dad runs a lumber yard, not a farming operation. Who ever heard of that these days?!

Chad�s spiritual guide, home manager, best friend, and mother of their three beautiful daughters is his wife, Pam. She has a heart of gold, nerves of steel, and the patience of Job. You will not find a nicer woman. Pam, a member of a large family of nine children, was raised on a dairy farm, so long hours and hard work are nothing new. She is the wind beneath Chad�s wings. By the way, did I mention that she�s very pretty and a marathon runner, to boot?

This letter of recommendation sounds pretty fishy, doesn�t it? It�s not. Please do me a favor: Call Chad Olsen. Interview him. Learn for yourself what I�ve had the privilege of learning the past seven years. Chad Olsen is the best in the business, and I consider it one of my highest honors to be called his �banker.�

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Chad F. Muegge
President Chad F. Muegge
P.O. Box 7Lamont, OK 74643
(580) 388-4345 Office
(580) 532-5270
Mobilecmuegge@sebok.us