Climate friendly isn't always cost effective: Removing risk for farmers to be part of the climate change solution.

Sustainable farming practices are essential for modern farmers to adopt on their land. However, changing an on-farm practice can cost a family farm a fortune or, put their crops and profits at risk. Doing the right thing for the environment also means not doing the wrong thing to ensure their family farm survives. 

In this episode, Brett Bruggeman, President of Winfield United joins us to talk about how Land O’Lakes is creating markets for farmers to invest in sustainable farming practices consumers care about. All while ensuring the economics make sense. 

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Transcript

 We have an opportunity to feed the world like we never have, but it won't be the same way. And I think we're gonna have to do more with less, whether it's sustainability and climate or if it's stretching the acre. And so when you think about Land O'Lakes is, and our retail owners. We're in a really good spot, um, to do that and to do it in a way that is differential and I think fits the grower of tomorrow.

Tomorrow. It's never a guarantee unless we take care of today. We are a cooperative, grounded in 100 years of forward thinking ever since our beginning in 1921. It's the pursuit of a reliable food supply, a sustainable future, and vibrant communities for all of us. Rooted in the promise. Of a brighter future.

This is rooted in Tomorrow, the podcast by Land O'Lakes, Inc. I'm your host, Kim Olson. Join us for stories of innovators, change makers, and the modern entrepreneurs who work the land.

You have one shot, only one. You're not an Olympian. You're not Tom Brady in the Super Bowl. Although to be fair, he had nine chances you are a farmer. Farmers have one shot every year to plant their crops. Sometimes it's hundreds of acres, sometimes it's thousands. Those acres mean food for them, food for their animals, money for their kids, their families, their local communities.

The stakes are high sustainable farming practices that are good for the environment. Well, it's the right thing, but for family farmers doing the right thing needs to be done the right way so they don't miss their shot. Sustainability can cost money, which is why we're working to ensure farmers have more incentives to focus on sustainable farming practices.

On the pod today, we have Brett. Brueggeman President of Winfield United, which is our crop protection business that's helping farmers find a way towards sustainable practices while still making money.

Hi Brett. Good morning. How are you? Good. It's so good to see you. I really appreciate you taking time to do this now. Last time you were on the podcast, it was three years ago. Wow. I know, right? Three years. So 2019. Um, and we talked a lot about Winfield and as I was looking through my notes, I cannot believe the difference in the business today from the business when we talked three years ago.

But I am, I. I'm getting way ahead of myself. So let's, let's just kind of, um, talk a little bit to start with, um, you know, uh, what's up with, with Winfield United? What's new? What have you been up to? Gimme a, gimme a status report. Well, number one, thank you. Oh, that sounds boring. No, no. We'll, we'll make it exciting and, and, um, number one, thanks for the opportunity.

You bet. You know, this, this timing is about as perfect 'cause we're wrapping up 2022 crop year and kicking off 2023 crop year. So timing couldn't be better. And, and, you know, what's new, I would say is it starts and ends with our, our local retail owner. Mm-hmm. Um, they have just. Put us in a position of relevance like never before.

Mm-hmm. Um, we're up almost a billion dollars again as a system. And, um, it comes from a lot of hard work and a lot of things that the, the teams have done together, but our owners front and center and, you know, you think about. That type of performance in a year where we had about 450 allocated products.

Um, the amount of price moves in season. I think we had like 30 some price moves. Um, different price moves from different manufacturers that came to us. Um, and then just making sure that we dial in the value proposition of our commodities and our value add products, um, for an $8 billion portfolio. And then obviously making sure we execute.

Um, we couldn't be more. Uh, humbled and we couldn't be more privileged to serve our, our models. So we feel very fortunate, um, that we needed to make sure that we continue the momentum, momentum on growth. And you'll, you'll hear us talk about the future of growth, but probably what we're most excited about is the continued focus on growth around products, but then.

Are also expansion of both services and connections, um, that also anchor right back to our model into a total enterprise approach that I'm sure we'll get into in a little bit later. But yeah, we're very fortunate and um, you know, we always said there are two types of people. Right. Yeah. Those that are humble and those are about to be humbled.

Uh, we wanna stay, stay humble. That sounds like that probably came right from your dad. Yeah, he did. And, uh, and we wanna stay humble, but we want to grow, grow, grow. So, um, yeah. We'll keep our model rolling. Well, I, I love the way you talk about product services and connections and when I think back to 2019, um.

It was more complicated and less complicated. Yeah. Than that. So one of the things that we didn't talk about then, but we're talking about a lot now, is Carbon. Yeah. And carbon markets. So, you know, maybe as kind of an example, um, can we talk a little bit about carbon markets and, and what kind of differentiates, uh, Winfield in those spaces?

You bet. And, and I would first say, you know, our partnership with Tru Tera continues to get. Better and better, um, every day, every week, every month. And for sure we don't have all the answers, but you, as you know, we always go strategy, structure, staff. Yeah. And from a strategy standpoint, we said, listen, we're gonna get out in front of this market and help shape an unstructured market in a way that, um, not that we are going to.

To always be right. But we believe in the next year, two, three years, there's a market here. It might be carbon, it might be water, it might be low carbon grain. Mm-hmm. We're gonna be out in front of it and in helping create that market. And so what's different, and I think what's been so good about, um, our introduction and our learnings within the carbon market is number one.

We're all about science and data, and I was actually in a conversation in Kansas yesterday and somebody said, boy, this market and carbon's really cluttered and it's really cluttered with a lot of noise in what we would call junk pr. Yeah, it's not very, oh, now you're speaking my language, but yeah, junk.

Junk pr. Junk PR and and, but it's not cluttered when it comes to science and data. Yeah. And um, what's happened is, uh, we basically have structurally made the change to bring Leah and Brandon and that whole team of agronomic leadership in to help create this market and lead with science and data and, um, that part of it.

Has been fantastic. I think the other part that's a huge differential and almost everybody else in the market has also missed this. The administration work and the trust and the data doesn't happen without the retail owner. Mm-hmm. And um, and so the retail owner network that we have is just something that is a differential part of it.

Um, and then I would say the third thing is the enterprise. Yeah. We're part of a food company. Yeah. And, um, anytime we can use our Land O'Lakes brand. It opens the doors, whether it's with food companies like Nestle or even our Microsoft piece. Sure. Um. We play to our strengths and with the grain infrastructure we have, uh, in the retail side of thing, it's just compliments it.

So. Mm-hmm. And we'll continue to get better to tell our story, uh, but we're not gonna question our credibility. Yeah. Well, I think part of. Telling a story is getting, um, others to, to tell the story for you. And, um, when you look at junk pr, which I love, I, Brett, is for our listeners, Brett is known for some, uh, history of memorable phrases, I will say.

So I'm adding that one to my, my catalog. But I, I think that some of the differentiation, um, for, for you all and for us is that, uh, we are having great experience after great experience and. Um, when those folks who have been interacting with us, um. Tell their stories. Mm-hmm. Um, much more powerful, I think, than us telling, telling it ourselves.

Um, so this seems kind of like a carbon seems kind of like a no brainer to me. Right, right. But, um, I, I read and listen and, uh, there's some skepticism out there. Um, and I, I'm not sure why, uh, but I, I'd like your take on it. Yeah. I think there is a lot and of what I would say, um. Lack of education. Mm-hmm. I think is the right term.

And, and growing up on a farm and being in the farming background, and obviously being ag deep today, I think it goes back to, you know, time is your most limiting resource, right? Mm-hmm. On the farm, it just really is next to top soil. Yes. And so it's funny we're talking about both of those areas, but, um, I think there's been so much noise in the marketplace that.

The grower right now is confused. Yeah. And they're trying to say, he or she are trying to say, okay, help me with the facts. Help me understand this part of it. Um, and the other part of it is with commodity prices where they're at, they're wanting to say, is the juice worth the squeeze? Yeah, sure. And, and I think that's the piece where sometimes we get fixated on a 20 or $25 an acre or ton, um, credit.

Which is important and we all work for, for money and those types of things. But the real value in this proposition, value proposition around carbon is really going back to soil health. Yeah. And eventually going to an outcome based trait that either has sustainability stamped on it, and that's a large continuum, um mm-hmm.

To talk through and make sure that people understand. So there's just a lot of confusion there. Um. But I, I think that's one of the areas. I think the other area that is, is true is it takes work. Yeah. Uh, right. Yeah. Because you have to collect the data. Yes. And I would anchor that back to our retail owners are used to doing that with point of sale information and trade information.

Um, they're set up to do that. And again. They're not gonna do that for nothing. Sure. Um, it has to be a, a value proposition that's tight, but I think that's probably the second area around it is data. Mm-hmm. And then the third area is, is just how the offers have been built. Now we've been really successful with our true terra carbon offer.

Yeah. Um, backward looking. Yeah. But we haven't really cracked the code on forward looking approach. So I think those are kind of the three reasons why. Yeah. Well, and I, I would say no one has a, uh, more sensitive BS meter than, than a grower. Right, right. And when you're trying to weigh the, what little time you have, um, you wanna make sure that it's, uh, gonna be profitable or it's gonna bring some sustainability to your, to your property, right?

Absolutely, absolutely. And. I think when you back up and, and have that conversation with your grower, that's such a great comment. Yeah. It's really about making their land worth more. Yeah. And it's really about putting them front and center as being the solution Yeah. To this climate piece, not the problem.

Yeah. And so, um, you. Sometimes you hear people say, well, I'm gonna reduce my carbon footprint and I'm just gonna sell carbon credits to do that. Well, that, you know, that doesn't sound good to a farmer that thinks in decades and generations, right? They want long term credibility of pieces. So, um, that's, that's right now, I think holding that piece up.

Now, I would say this, as much as it's hold it held up, the reality is, is we wrote checks for 4 million. Dollars. Really? Yeah. So that's a lot of money. That's a lot of money. And for a first year that was about 180,000 acres, I think Jason and team would say, or 200,000 acres. We look to double that. Yeah. So, you know, whenever I go out and talk to customers or talk to reps and people say, well, people really interested, yeah, there are a lot of people really interested.

Sure. But you have to really segment. The right people you want to talk to. 'cause not everybody's interested. Yeah. And it's, you know, it's a different type of conversation. Yeah. And I would say that's okay. Right. It's perfect. You want the folks that really want to engage and um, have the. Uh, ability and, and bandwidth to do that.

But it's interesting 'cause the bandwidth is not as wide as you think. No, it's an investment. It is an investment. It's an investment. Um, in, like I said, probably their number one asset, their, their land. But I also know this, the most progressive retail sellers. Um. They're figuring it out because they're having the conversation with that grower and it's not about dollars and cents.

Yeah. Always. Supply allocations and that sort of thing are a necessary evil. Now it's starting about how do I look at the total acre and how do I look at the value of that farm? And that's a true, trusted advisor conversation. Yeah. So, um. I think we're learning along the way. Yeah. Yeah. Well, tell me about that, because there is a bit of a conversation around risk mitigation and we've talked a little bit about how we do that, but, um, can you give me a little more detail, um, about the conversation that, that, that they might have with their trusted advisor?

Yeah. I think that the, the conversation starts with, and, and I should say, you know, part of the things that we're trying to do is, is with risk mitigation, is making sure that. We have our message, uh, aligned with the segment of retailers that want to be part of this market shaping and market creation.

Okay. So as you know, we, um, we serve 800 customers and all 800 are darn important. Yeah. Um, they serve up to $8 billion and help us grow. But not all 800 want to go to market the same way. Not all are created the same way. And so what we've done, again, with Jason's help and their team is to talk about segmentation, to say which retailers are in.

Are in the position that they want to take this to market. Um, so I think that's the first thing. Then I think the second thing is, is the offer that we've built, and I'll talk about the backward looking offer and then the forward looking offer, and Jason can kind of come in and correct me on both. But I, I look at it very simple and I, and I think it happens for this reason.

The backward offer is very simple. It's, it's so much a ton or an innate. A ton of $25 a ton for that. Yeah. Mm-hmm. And, and it basically rewards that grower for practices they did in 2021 fall or 2022 spring. Mm-hmm. It's very quantifiable. It's very easy to, to go after. Um. And it's something that is simple.

Now looking forward, we're saying, let's sign up for $2 an acre. And it's not the $2 an acre, it's about what's to come. Yeah. Looking forward. And so, you know, again, a conversation I've had these last couple, two weeks. When people say, what's really gonna take this market and, and move it, what's gonna make this market come alive?

I would say three things. Mm-hmm. And Jason's team has been all over this, along with Leah's team. Number one is the carbon registry piece. Mm-hmm. Um, can you tell me what that is exactly? For our, yeah. For our, you know, our listen listeners that are going Oh, I'll explain it the way, um, because you know, my dad listens.

Yeah. And he's not gonna know what that is. So a carbon registry Thank you is basically the validation. Of that carbon credit, but we think we can have what we would have a gold standard, um, registry, either if a partnership or in joint with a partnership, and we should have that in the middle of 2023.

Mm-hmm. So that's not very far away. Yeah. Right. Yeah. The second thing is a concept we've been working on in combination with the insights tool and also with our R seven is around Acre Navigator, and it gives us the opportunity to say, what is the. Potential of that grower's farm for carbon sequestration based on all the different variables, their practices, their, their organic matter, their soil health, I should say.

Um, and that's one that's gonna be tough. It's gonna take us a year to get there, but we need to make sure that we take the Tru Terra Insights engine, not overcomplicate it, but also compliment it with a decision ag tool to really understand the potential of that. And here's probably the third area. Um.

It's how do we look at carbon credits based on yield? And the majority of the carbon credits, like I said in the past, have been based on overall cover crops or um, no-till. But if you truly look at what yield does, and Randy Brown will be much better in explaining this, but the yield of 15 bushels of grain builds a biomass under the ground of organic matter like.

A lot. Yeah. And I can't quantify it, but it, it basically, when I say I can't quantify, I don't know the actual details, but we're working on that piece of it to say, would 15 bushels of yield be as equal to a credit? Of cover crop and that's forward looking. Wow. So that would be revolutionary. That would be revolutionary.

Yeah. And it would have to be based on science. Yeah. And it would have to be based on DA data, which is all about our enterprise and our system and our retail owners. Um, and I think that's the piece that will unlock the true potential of this market. Hmm. Um. Versus looking backwards and only being based on no-till or only being based on a cover crop piece.

At the same time, I wanna be really clear. We still have a lot of people that wanna play in that cover till and no-till area that we have not tapped out. Yeah. So we're, we're not done harvesting those opportunities. And I think Jason would say that he has a lot of companies like Microsoft and others that also want to come to us with carbon credits or buy carbon credits from us.

So, um, yeah, a, a lot of opportunity, um, but. Yeah. Again, it's not what is exactly here today. We're shaping and creating a market going forward. Yeah. That's exciting. Yeah. Um, so tell me about it. There's, you know, I'm familiar with our kind of prescription program and, um, there's a component of that that's kind of a warranty component that, that sort of fascinates me.

Um, can you talk a little bit about that? Because I think this plays nicely into, uh, a grower's. Mentality and the way they're, that they're approaching our offer. Yeah. I'm glad you're excited 'cause we're excited too. It's, um, it's really about our vision of expanding our business strategy from products, services, and connections.

Okay. And I wanna be really clear, we're gonna be really good at our core mm-hmm. Of delivering that $8 billion of products. But there are two areas around, um, services in particular, and one is risk management. Mm-hmm. How do we make sure the grower of tomorrow is all about risk management? Risk management.

Risk management. Yeah. And it kind of goes back to your original question of what are they afraid of? They don't want loss yield. From that standpoint, they'll try new things, but they want some sort of a safety blanket, some sort of a, a insurance assurance type approach. And what we've done with this advanced acre, and it's been brilliant based on a lot of people taking the agronomic leadership that Mike Van Lott and others started with the answer plots a long time ago.

Yeah. Looking at a total acre approach, um, to say if you put a total acre approach on that acre around placement, which is what we're good, and we've always been great at placement of seed and placement of adjuvants, but we're talking now about a total acre placement because we think that's where the next level of yield is gonna come from.

And what we've done is we've put together our data. Actuary type tables that say if you put this total acre approach together and for some reason you don't get the yield. Mm-hmm. And particularly the yield of 105% of your, um, actual proven A PH. Mm-hmm. Then we'll refund back the product part portion of that.

So we're not refunding, we're not, geez. Yeah. We're not, um, guaranteeing yield. Yeah. What we're doing is assuring the product warranty of that. Okay. To encourage people to say, I. We're pretty confident based on all the data and all the studies that we've done with r and d companies upstream, that you're gonna get a bump in yield, uh, and if you try this approach and it doesn't happen, then we will get back the warranty on the products that go in there.

Wow. Yeah. For a consumer, it's easier to make a decision at the grocery store based on eco-friendly packaging, environmentally friendly land management. Or sustainably sourced food, but the providers, the farmers, that might take years to make a shift. It can be a risk. We're talking farm machinery, hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Soil adjustments maybe on thousands of acres or major investments that will eventually pay off, but are tough to swallow in a difficult market, which is why we are taking on some of that risk.

If a grower is in the carbon program and nitrogen is a factor, you're gonna give them a warranty. We have a program that Jamie and Brandt are working on. Yeah. Um, and I was coached very heavily this morning to say, you can't launch that program until it's done. I said, well, I'm gonna talk about it as a pilot.

Um, it's a teaser. Yeah, it's teaser. It's a teaser. That's right. Um, but it'll be underneath the Advanced Acre RX umbrella. And so, yeah. And, and you'll see us have multiple offers in there, but one will be around nitrogen that we are gonna, we're gonna learn more and yeah. And go from there. That's, that's exciting.

Yeah. Um, so tell me, uh. Let's, let's go back to what we talked about a little bit earlier with, um, data and, um, data can be intimidating, it can be personal. Mm-hmm. Um, and you know, I wanna just kind of talk about a little bit, um, the issue of data and, uh, and the issue of time because it is a time investment as well.

It's, uh, very personal information and. I just would like to hear how we're working to leverage the digital tools, you know, drive efficiencies to save time. I, I love the way you talk about the total acre. Mm-hmm. Um, how, how does the digital tool play into that? You know, it's, it's an investment I guess is probably the first thing that I would say.

Mm-hmm. And, and we used to have digital off to the side, and it used to be a pilot and an experiment. And if you really look at our strategy, it's woven within. Every single part of our business, all five imperatives from segmentation to supply chain optimization. Um, and our investment is substantially larger than our competitors in that way.

And we believe that's probably why we're a number one or number two player Yeah. In each of the segments is it's really enabling and driving our business. Back to your original question. Um, one of the things fundamentally that the teams have done extremely well is to say this is about a, a, a pace and a speed standpoint.

How do we get data to be our enabler and, and do it better in a way to accelerate either efficiency or effectiveness along the way. We look at it really in three different areas. The first area that we look at is there needs to be connectivity. Mm-hmm. The gathering of the data. So to make this more tangible, this is why we did the Alliance with Farm Mobile and why we did the Alliance with Ag Vent.

Mm-hmm. Farm Mobile is a lot like climate and it's, it's the ability for us to have a puck regardless of the color, of paint, of that equipment, to help that information. Come in. Okay. Okay. And, and get visibility to it. AG Van is one part of that collecting part, and it's really about accelerating our retail owner's ERP system.

Oh. So their electronic invoicing system, their accounting system. You need to have that connectivity to make sure that the retailer can connect to the grower. So I always back up a little bit and say, you know, it's always great to have all these cool screens and everything, but if you don't have the connectivity piece Yeah.

You're not gonna get the use of the data. So, um, we work with our ERP companies along with, like I said, farm Mobile and also with Ag Vent to really get that data. That's been a game changer this year. Yeah. And it really has. Now the second part, or the second phase of that is once you get it in there, you have to protect it and organize it.

Mm-hmm. And that's the piece where you find people like Microsoft that can really help us in that area. They're kind of, um, brand agnostic to data, right? Yeah. They just use data and they know how to organize it and protect it and, um, and Teddy and team has have helped us do that. Okay. Then the third thing is to actually turn the data into insights and action.

Mm-hmm. And there are three areas right now that are being used, um, to do that. The first one is around Evolve and it's around supply chain efficiency. Um, and I think we have roughly about 60% of our business going through the, um. Order entry part of that for supply chain. Hmm. And it's really enabled us, along with Yoni's team to say, how do we take a million miles out of our supply chain, uh, infrastructure.

Yeah. And we've had a ton of savings because it's not people touching those orders and doing duplication. It's about streamlining that order. Yeah. Um, then we have another area called grower opportunities, and that used to be what people would call acre. And I don't know if you remember a A CR. I do remember that.

Yeah. Um, and really what that is, is helping that retail seller. Take an offer to their grower Yeah. That fits them Okay. Just like they do to you and I on Amazon. Um, and, you know, based on our behaviors and that part of it, um, has helped us with our seed sprints and, and a lot of in season type activity.

And then our third one is around, um, decision ag, and that's around R seven and the insights tools. So, yeah. The alliances have been a great piece. I think we have an ecosystem now, um, that allows us to offer it to our retail owner depending on their capabilities. That's the second thing. Um, they all have a little different ERP system.

They all have a little different approach to the market, and quite frankly, that's part of our sizzle. Yeah, we like that. Yeah. But we also have to make sure we have our value proposition lined up where if they want that there's a fee for service. Right subscription. Um, and it seems to be working well that way, but in that scenario, we think there's.

It, there's probably literally not a combo of those things that you haven't seen or dealt with, which has to be helpful a as you're, you know, addressing problems and, um, conflicts and places to, um, maximize investment for the grower. Right. Yeah. I think if we were to start a new retail business today. What do we need to run that retail business back office.

Yeah. And what do we need to run at front office? And that's kind of how we've set that whole ecosystem up. Um, and you know, I can, I can just tell you again, I feel like we've harvested from efficiencies, new acres, and now we'll be using that same investment back to creating. New acres around carbon.

Mm-hmm. Around the advanced acre. Mm-hmm. Um, and we haven't even talked about connections yet. Well, let's, let's do it. Yeah. Let's talk about connections. I, you know, carbon is fantastic. Yeah. Um, product's, great. Services. Amazing. More robust than even I think we could have dreamt when we talked three years ago.

Uh, let's talk about connections. Um. How does that piece play in? So connections, you know, basically is an opportunity that says, let's look at agronomic leadership and how do we use agronomic leadership to affect the quality of a product. Yeah. Like either higher protein mm-hmm. Higher starch. Um. Or how do we affect the consistency of a product?

Mm-hmm. Or how do we affect the sustainability of a product? Hmm. And so, let me use an example. So many factors. Yeah. So many factors and so many new revenue streams. Yeah. But we're looking at a project right now in wheat in particular. Okay. And the project has some different pieces, but what happened is, is a company came to us and said to make a loaf of bread, it takes 4 cents of wheat, it takes 18 cents.

Of additives, and it happens to be a lot of those additives are gluten additives. Yeah. Um, to make the consistency in that loaf of bread and, and you're going, well, that's just the way it is. Well, that's just the way it is because that's what's happened with the Millers and the bakeries, is they've learned they need consistency.

And to get consistency, they have to put that 18 cents of filler in there with 4 cents a wheat. What we're working on is to say, how do we develop. That loaf of bread where we can displace that 18 cents of filler and actually put the value to the grower for delivering, uh, and the retailer for delivering a more consistent quality product that also is stamped with sustainability.

Wow. Yeah. And so if you look at that, you know, just use the 4 cents and 18 cents without adding any value on it, that 18 cents. Um. It could be, could go towards the channel. Mm-hmm. Because of the quality of that product. And that's exactly what we want to try to do. And from a grower perspective, we know today they get 14 cents of every dollar in egg.

Yeah. This is about expanding the pie and expanding their percentage of that pie. So the, tell me that stat again. I was unfamiliar with that grower. So 14 cents. Grower today, the estimated is for every dollar of food they get about 14 cents. And you think about all the risk and you think about all the stuff that they have.

It's pretty small. Yeah. Um, and I think actually it used to be 17 cents and what we're trying to do is reverse that to grow it from 14 cents to in some cases 20, 25% in there. Yeah. Um, but it has to be a tight value proposition and. Again, why we think we can do this is because of the agronomic leadership.

Sure. And because of our infrastructure and because we're part of an enterprise food company, so, you know, connections. Connections, yeah, that's right. Yeah. And, and so, but building these diversified revenue streams. On products, revenue, or excuse me, services and connections allows us not to be as dependent on rebates.

It allows us not even to be as dependent on commodity prices or weather. 'cause you're talking about creating markets that are very specialized and very customized. So, um, we have invested in our. Um, soil Health labs with SureTech. Yeah. And with those Soil health labs, with SureTech. We were also invested in food labs to actually test the quality.

So we're just going through this wheat project right now. We're gonna learn a lot. Um, I wanna make sure that everybody understands this is not a 2023. Yeah, it's, it's, uh, 2025 and beyond. But it's about building that, staying ahead, um, and making sure that we're market leaders for our locals. Yeah. So they have new markets.

I, I feel like, um, market leader is a, uh, term that we all hear for many different business industries. But what I'm hearing for you, for you and for Winfield and for Land O'Lakes broadly is market maker. Yeah. Better said, absolutely. We're, we're market makers and that's what our future looks like. And I, I know we were gonna talk just a little bit about, um, what's going to, this is wonderful for, um, long-term future and direction.

I mean, I am excited about, uh, about where we're going. Is there. Uh, some things you wanna hit on kind of, uh, right in the, in the headlights of 2023 as we started and talked about, um, crop year coming. What's what'll be different? Yeah, I think that's a really good question and, and, you know, as we try to, to make sure that we continue the momentum of growth.

Um. It feels really good. Right now we're out indexing every manufacturer and when we're meeting with the manufacturers, I just came from a, a manufacturer meeting. Um, they're wanting to grow with us and so that momentum I think will continue and that feels really strong and it is relevant. So you gotta have that.

I think the area that I'm. Thinking through the team is thinking through, is tapping the brakes on the inflationary cost increase. Yeah. Um, that part of it, the team and every American there you right now. Right? Yeah. And it's, it's something that I think we've had a lot of price appreciation in our sector, in our segment.

Mm-hmm. And. When, mm-hmm. Uh, you're gonna see us continue to grow, uh, on the momentum side with our manufacturer relationships and our retailers downstream, but you're gonna also see us be very clear to make sure that we steward our resources within the system. Right. Um, and we see these inflationary headwinds coming.

Yeah. Um, so brand ladder Yeah. Value, tight value proposition, making sure our, our commodity and value add prices are correct. Um, will be something that we continue to work on. I think, um, clearly the future is bright for Winfield and for Land O'Lakes. I'd be interested, we end all of these podcasts with just asking the question, how do you see the future of agriculture?

Yeah. It's an exciting time, um, to be in agriculture. We have an opportunity to feed the world like we never have. Yeah. But it won't be the same way, and I think we're gonna have to do more with less. Yeah. Whether it's sustainability and climate or if it's with stretching the acre. And so when you think about.

Where Land O'Lakes is and our retail owners, um, as strong as they are across the country and across the world, actually, when you think about Canada and Africa and other places where we have good bases of business, we're in a really good spot. Yeah. Um, to do that and to do it in a way that is differential and I think fits the grower of tomorrow.

And we wanna be relevant with scale, but we also wanna be relevant with influence. Wow. In making markets. I'm gonna use your quote. Yeah. Oh, I hope so. I hope so. I, I just appreciate you spending time with us. Thank you so much. Appreciate the comments and uh, I look forward to a bright future. Thank you.

Thanks. Appreciate the opportunity. You bet. So, if you like the content, give us a review and rating on Apple Podcasts. Stories are important to us and we know they are to you. So head to land O'Lakes inc.com. If you're looking for more, you might be surprised to see what we're capable of. Wherever you find your podcast, that's where you'll find us rooted in.

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