Plenty of Reasons to Smile this Thanksgiving

By CnAgri Print

BMO Harris Bank says there are plenty of reasons to smile when you look at your Thanksgiving meal this Thursday.

While many farmers faced brutal conditions that adversely affected crop production, with the beef herd taking the brunt of the drought effects, there was still positive news for many farmers.

"Not all the news is bad," said Sam Miller, managing director and group head, Agriculture, BMO Harris Bank. "Milk prices have improved, soybean yields were above expectations, and the wheat harvest was largely complete prior to the major impact of the drought."

Meanwhile, for consumers, there's even more reason to smile this Thanksgiving, as the average price of a Thanksgiving meal has actually decreased this year by 2.6% in Wisconsin (based on a survey conducted by the Wisconsin Farm Bureau, which surveyed the prices of traditional Thanksgiving food items such as turkey, cranberries and pumpkin pie).

"Overall, however, it was a challenging year for farmers, and my colleagues and I want to recognize their hard work and resilience," added Miller. "BMO Harris Bank initiated a Drought Relief program earlier in the year, and to those customers of ours that are still feeling the pain of the record drought this past year, I encourage you to talk to one of our Ag bankers about ways we can help."

Based in Chicago, BMO Harris Bank N.A. provides a broad range of personal banking products and solutions through over 600 branches and approximately 1,300 ATMs in Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, Minnesota, Nevada, Arizona and Florida. BMO Harris Bank is part of BMO Financial Group, a North American financial organization with 1,600 branches, and a retail deposit base of approximately $180 billion.