Call the specialist
RBC Royal Bank sector specialists offer what today’s producers want – in-depth knowledge and passion to spare.
In the 1960s, RBC Royal Bank was the first Canadian bank to offer the specialized services of account managers who were educated and trained in agriculture. The 1980s saw the rise of RBC Agricultural Business Banking Centres across Canada, where clients could access the specialized expertise of Farm Finance Professionals. Today, with all farm sectors becoming more technically complex, RBC has nurtured a group of specialists who focus on the needs of individual farm sectors.
These specialists offer a high level of what Canadian farmers want in a bank: industryspecific expertise with an understanding of the cyclical nature of the business.
“There’s a lot going on in the dairy industry at the moment, and for our clients, it helps to be able to get the advice of someone who’s deeply involved in the industry,” says Janice Tait, an RBC account manager in Sussex, N.B., who works with dairy clients almost exclusively.
Tait serves clients within a 120 km radius of Sussex, which is considered to be the dairy centre of New Brunswick. As one of the longer-serving RBC business bankers in the Atlantic region, she also mentors new agribusiness bankers.
Dairy from day one
Tait grew up in the Sussex area, on the family dairy farm that’s now run by her father and brother. After 18 years away from home, for university and her early career, Tait returned to Sussex in 1996 to work in the region and the industry in which she was raised. Among many other agriculture-related activities, she led her former 4-H club, and her daughter is now a member.
“For dairy families in this area, it’s very important that their banker or prospective banker is active within the industry,” says Tait. “Even before they deal with you professionally, people can see your performance and your interest through your committee work, and they can tell when your passion for the industry is genuine.”
As a long-time industry participant, Tait helps her clients understand and respond to a range of policy issues. Late in 2006, she was part of a Dairy Farmers of New Brunswick delegation that travelled to Quebec to explore the possibilities of organic production and robotic milking systems.
Looking back on 10 years as a dairy specialist, Tait is proud of the work she’s done for clients. She fondly tells the story of an early client who had recently immigrated to New Brunswick from Holland. Apart from the task of learning English and getting acclimatized in a new country, the producer faced a learning curve regarding the Canadian dairy industry. With a little help, he found his stride in remarkably short order.
“Today, he’s considered one of the top producers in the province,” says Tait with a smile. “I’m happy to say I’ve been dairy since day one, and I really do love the industry.”
In cyclical markets, expertise and experience count
Since the U.S. border reopened to live Canadian cattle in July 2005, Steve Craig’s clients have steadily been re-establishing normal operating conditions. More recent challenges have included rising feed grain prices. As an industry insider as well as a banker, he understands the cyclical challenges faced by his clients.
“In September 2006, feed barley was selling for $110 per tonne,” says Craig, an RBC account manager based in Lethbridge, Alta., who works with feedlot operators located between Calgary and the Montana border. “Near the end of 2006, it was $165 per tonne, or an increase of about 50 per cent in one year.”
Craig’s clients count on the expertise he’s refined by virtue of being entirely dedicated to the feedlot sector. It’s allowed him to move beyond being a provider of banking solutions to become a trusted advisor on business and financial matters. As someone who’s made the time to understand the industry and get to know its players in depth, he’s often called upon to provide counsel on a range of issues.
“If the client is looking for something – like the best production software or an accountant or production consultant who really knows the feedlot business – if you can help them find it, you’re adding a lot of value,” says Craig, who grew up farming in southern Saskatchewan. “At a time when margins might be a bit thin, anything you can do to help their business means a lot.”
Over the past five years, the Canadian feedlot sector has seen more challenge and change than many sectors do in 20 years. Craig relishes the opportunity he’s had to help his clients adapt and thrive within a fast-moving business environment. Like Janice Tait in New Brunswick, he’s working in an industry he loves.
Says Craig: “I enjoy the feedlot sector because of the complexity of the decisions that producers make every day, from basis to exchange rates, to futures and hedging. We have an excellent group of producers who are also great people to work with. To my mind, this is the Cadillac sector to be involved in.”
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