Dr. Jill LongThompson

Dr. Jill Long Thompson was named Chair and CEO of the Farm Credit Administration in November, after serving on the FCA Board since March. Ms. Long Thompson has many years of leadership experience, representing northeast Indiana as a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives and as Chair of the Rural Caucus. From 1995 to 2001, she served as Under Secretary for Rural Development in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, where she oversaw an annual budget of $10 billion and a staff of 7,000 employees. In this week's Open Mic, she discusses the oversight requirements of the FCA and the financial health of the Farm Credit System and agriculture, in general. With skyrocketing farmland prices, she describes the differences between the current agricultural economy and the last extended era of agriculultural prosperity in the 1970's.Jill Long Thompson