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Tractor Zoom CEO and founder Kyle McMahon has been appointed to a two-year term on an advisory council with the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.

The appointment is to the Chicago Fed's Small Business, Community and Economic Development, Agriculture and Labor Advisory Council. In this role, McMahon will help advise the bank on developments and issues affecting the agriculture industry by serving on the Small Business, Agriculture, and Labor Sub-Council.

"It's the council's job to bring more of a boots-on-the-ground perspective, to (Charles L. Evans), the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago," McMahon tells DTN/Progressive Farmer. "We (will) bring that more real-life perspective, what we're seeing in the market, outside of the bank."

McMahon recognizes these are challenging times for small businesses and especially agriculture. "This is certainly a unique time to serve on this council given today's inflation rates, geopolitics, supply chain challenges, and food shortages," he says.

Council members serve a two-year term and meet biannually to share their views on current business conditions. Input from council members on regional economic conditions not only informs the Chicago Fed about how people and businesses are doing across the Seventh District (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, and Wisconsin) but also helps to influence national monetary policy decisions.

McMahon, who owns a 600-acre corn and soybean farm in southern Iowa, founded Tractor Zoom in 2017. Today, Tractor Zoom advertises over $10 billion worth of farm equipment and leverages that data to help Farm Credit Associations, Farm Service Agencies, banks, equipment dealerships, auctioneers, and farmers understand real-time equipment values.

McMahon says his experiences as the CEO of Tractor Zoom and as a farmer will bring an important point of view to the Chicago Fed. "I think, more importantly, what I can bring is my actual (experience) as a farmer," McMahon says. "I can show my costs, I can tell you to the exact percentile how much my fertilizer is going up. The Federal Reserve is saying inflation rates are 7.8%. But we're seeing much higher numbers in agriculture, especially in fertilizer and chemicals."

For more information about Tractor Zoom, visit www.tractorzoom.com.

Dan Miller can be reached at dan.miller@dtn.com

Follow him on Twitter @DMillerPF

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