Your Fed, Your Voice Video Profile: Wade Litton
You know, sometimes rural America may feel like they’re left out of the conversation. But when it comes to the Fed, I think it’s important that people in the rural area understand that the Fed is listening and taking action. My name is Wade Litton. I'm president and CEO of Wade Incorporated, a John Deere dealer in northern Mississippi and central Indiana.
I’ve served on the St. Louis Fed Agribusiness Council since 2020. I focus on delivering the feedback that I’m getting from people in my community, what’s happening on the ground and the true sentiment that people are feeling, the pain points, the positive points, and being able to deliver that message to the Fed.
You can’t make good decisions sitting behind a desk. President Musalem travels across his area. He’s talking to real people, and it makes you feel good that decisions are being made based on feedback and discussions from people that are on the ground.
When you look and read The Beige Book that comes out, a lot of the excerpts that come out of these FOMC meetings, a lot of those things you recognize it because you’ve heard it. People should know that they’ve got business leaders in their communities that are there speaking for them, telling their story, and letting them know what’s happening on the ground, and their voice is heard.
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Wade Litton, President and CEO, Wade Inc.
In this Your Fed, Your Voice profile, Wade Litton, president and CEO of Wade Inc. and a member of the St. Louis Fed’s Agribusiness Industry Council, shares how the agribusiness sector’s challenges and opportunities reach Federal Reserve decision-makers and influence monetary policy.
“The Fed is listening and taking action,” Litton says, explaining why he believes getting out from behind the desk leads to better economic decisions for communities. For more than 100 years, Wade Inc. has been servicing the agricultural equipment needs of the Mississippi Delta and beyond. The Agribusiness Council brings together industry leaders like Litton to provide Federal Reserve officials with insights about market conditions, financing challenges and economic trends affecting food production, development and the farm economy.
Council members meet regularly with St. Louis Fed leadership to discuss commodity prices, supply chain disruptions, labor shortages, climate impacts on crop yields, access to credit for farming operations and agricultural lending conditions across the region. The Eighth District, served by the St. Louis Fed, encompasses all of Arkansas and parts of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee.