Cultivating a Healthy Company Culture in Agribusiness
April 21, 2025 In late January, I attended Agri-Access’ (formlerly Compeer Financial) inaugural AgTech Forum. CEO Jase Wagner focused on company culture for his opening remarks, including lessons learned from the 2017 merger with two other Farm Credit cooperatives.
Honestly, I wasn’t expecting this to be Wagner’s topic of choice given the theme of the event and the current farm economy, so he had my attention from the start.
Wagner started with the organization’s philosophy around culture and its commitment to nurture it. He then gave real world examples that demonstrated the benefits of a healthy culture, from team member performance to client satisfaction.
“Organizational culture is the foundation for how you work,” said Wagner. “We believe that having good people who are focused on the right things and have the client in mind really help drive performance in any environment.”
Creating a warm and friendly environment is great for employee morale, but what about when business gets tough?
Wagner explained that in a difficult environment, a healthy culture leads to people pulling together, working hard, focusing on the client and doing the right thing.
Meanwhile, “In better times, people are able to scale themselves, stretch, and really use that momentum in the overall market to deliver an outsized performance,” he said. “Culture is a major driver in your ability to perform, in good times and difficult times, and that’s why we spend time on it consistently.”
I asked him about the impact on company culture when folks retire or resign, particularly if they are taking with them that all important “tribal knowledge.”
Developing and putting to use a leadership culture to assure that tribal knowledge and decision-making authority is shared and distributed among team members helps mitigate a potential gap when folks leave an organization, he explained.
Not only that, but Wagner pointed out that leaders are typically the first ones who other team members consult when a concern or problem arises. Their knowledge and experience are valuable, but so too is their attitude and behavior, which sets the tone and a positive model for others to emulate.
We also talked about remote employees and how to make sure they’re contributing and benefiting from the company culture.
Many of Compeer’s team members work with clients on the farm, so “a hybrid model has always been part of our culture,” said Wagner.
For that reason, every summer the company brings all its team members and their guests together for some fun and to let them know how much they are appreciated. It’s another way to impart the Agri-Access culture.
Wagner also shared some advice for other companies.
“First, I would encourage every organization to write down the culture you want to have. This creates the right type of dialogue within your organization and within your executive team. It also answers the questions: Is this right? Is this how we really feel?”
While you can get a consultant to help with the execution, “start with the dialogue,” said Wagner. “It’s relatively inexpensive, but it’s what creates most of the value.”
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