Telling the story of agriculture: A co-op member discussion with Land O’Lakes, CEO Beth Ford

The annual Mid-Year meeting at Land O’Lakes brings farmers and thought leaders together to discuss the future and current state of agriculture. In this episode we’re pulling back the curtain on what is typically a closed door discussion. 

Land O’Lakes, Inc. CEO Beth Ford moderates a discussion with three farmers to talk about the importance of telling their stories to consumers, policy makers and community leaders. 

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Transcript

 Hey, it's Kim. We're approaching our 30th episode of the podcast. If you've been with us from the beginning, you know we've changed the name to Rooted in Tomorrow. It's a small nod to our investment in the future of farming in rural communities. If you're listening in Apple Podcasts, write a quick review or leave a rating.

Enjoy the episode.

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.

We're gonna take a different approach on this episode. Instead of bringing on a guest, we're going to walk you through a discussion we recently had with a few of our member owners about telling their stories with Land O'Lakes, CEO Beth Ford, telling the story of agriculture, telling the story of, of rural communities and things.

It is so necessary. So here we have Lukas Frickie, Jeff Troike, and Amber Horn, Leiterman. We have three guests in our discussion. Lucas Frickey is a sixth generation farmer from Nebraska and a member of his local co-ops Central Valley Ag. He runs the farm with his mom and his brother and is a leader in his space for sustainable ag.

He was also a guest on the podcast earlier this year. He's got a new fiance who's in the room. Raise your hand right there, Katie. Katie. Stand up. Not that you had an old fiance. Yeah. No. Right. You have a fiance? Yes. Yes. Amber Horn Leaderman, another guest on the podcast earlier this year. She's a mom, a Wisconsin dairy farmer, and also serves on the board of directors of the Cooperative Network.

What do you have? Four sons trying to get 'em all ready for. School. School starts on Monday, football practice today for both varsity. Jeff Troike is the third member in our discussion. Yeah, Jeff is the president and CEO of Ceres Solutions in Crawfordsville, Indiana. It is also a 100% farmer-owned cooperative.

Our co-op is like a mu bunch of us. We're getting to be a hundred years old. These are the rural businesses that help farmers be more productive, sustainable, and profitable, and sometimes act as a coffee shop coop. I mean, that's the other thing about great about co-ops we're it's a gossip factory, but I mean, I like that.

And these local co-ops are the lifeblood of many rural communities. That's just funny. Our discussion took place at our recent mid-year elected leadership meeting in Minnesota. Now, you've heard this over and over if you listen to this podcast, we're a cooperative, and the way our farmers and growers connect with consumers, policy makers, legislators, or community leaders, is by sharing their stories.

These stories can help push lawmakers to help fund ag programs that are good for the environment. They can eliminate a problem, poor internet, for example, to help connect the countryside. Or let's say you walk into the grocery store and wanna know the farm families who make your food. Those stories can connect us.

They break down barriers and help us find common ground so we can all move together.

We've had podcasts. We're talking about videos, we're talking about interviews, and the efforts aren't just about kind of generating likes. It's on social media. Look at this, it feels good. Um, that's terrific. It's also focused on tangible outcomes for partners, for farmers, for their communities. Um, for example, Amber, you spoke, um, to national media.

During the pandemic about raising, um, your, your children, homeschooling them and running your farm, and it really highlighted, um, the digital divide. Why don't you talk a little bit about that? It was a very interesting conversation actually happened around this time, back in 2020. At that point, I had three kids that had to be virtually homeschooled and I shouldn't say homeschooled, I should say virtually schooled, which is, was difficult.

Um, anyone or your grandchildren, your children, whatever, that was difficult. I don't want to go back to that ever. Um, and our biggest thing was we couldn't get online and have that steady stream. We actually ended up having to get a hotspot from our high, from our schools in order to maintain those lessons and have that connection to the outside world because contrary to Poppy belief, there is too much family time.

Um, if the pandemic has taught us anything. Um, a hundred percent there. Yeah, there's, that was a lot of family time. I loved it because there was nothing else to do and you really got to concentrate on making those meals and, and buying those groceries and all that sort of stuff. Um, but the big divide was they would be stuck in space and that another region where they couldn't connect, they couldn't have that connection.

And that translated back to our farm too. If we couldn't have our internet connectors. My dad is here, so he'll tell you if we don't have an internet connection, we know fast. Whether it's in the shop, whether it's in our milking system, whether wherever it is, it is great to have data and tools, but if you don't have access to that data and tools, you can't make timely decisions.

I think you just had a whole panel about that, uh, before we came up here. So that was what led to a good conversation with a legislative aid from, um, Chuck Schumer's office. Uh, and really getting that message out there saying we don't have the access or the availability to access other people do. Why? Um, it comes back to if we wanna be a part of that.

Not that I wanna live in a city and have that instant internet because, uh, it's problems too. The reason why I can't be on TikTok, it's just a, it's addictive. They don't like cows in the city, right? Yeah. They don't like cows in the city. They frown upon that smell. So connections can be made through these stories, and it's not just about impressions on social media, it's about real world change.

Let's jump back into the discussion. I talk to a tech company, CEO, and they'll say. If you, we have this great application and the, the farmer could use it to get a better solution. I said it, it doesn't really work that way. I mean, that's great that you have an insight, but it's an ecosystem like who's helping them on the farm?

Who, who are they having a conversation with or a good gossip with? Right. Who knows their farm, their family, et et cetera. It's an ecosystem. It's a community. It's all of that tied together.

Lucas, you participated in at the House and Senate briefings on climate sustainability issues. Um, you were with Tru Tera and with Microsoft. Um, and then months later, you, we leverage your story to help pass the bipartisan, bipartisan growing Climate Act. Uh, solutions act by a 94 to eight, um, uh, margin during that time.

And you're kind of in there telling this story. I mean, I think sometimes you feel like you're shouting into the wind. I'm telling this story. I'm gonna tell it again. Now I'm gonna tell it again. What was your thought process? What was the most interesting moment, and then when you saw that move to the finish line, same thing on the infrastructure bill.

What was your emotion? I think I was really excited that finally something was happening for all the work that has been done. I think like everybody, you finally see that completion of it, but I think more off it was. Actually describing the process in which we use, and you know, in agriculture we, we wanted to say, yeah, terms and facts and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

But just literally saying, because we're tilling less, we're helping out the environment and explaining that process and then all of a sudden seeing those light bulbs go on, being like, oh, so it's like this. And having, having that realization moment and then saying, okay, now they're engaged, now they're clicked in, and then we can build off of that, I think is the really exciting part.

Now we see these legislative pieces getting completed, uh, because we've had that engagement. Mm-hmm. And I think it's kind of like, I always thought of the example, like one person could stomp their foot. It's gonna make a really small sound. You're this person in this case. And then when you and I start stomping our foot, it's a little bit louder, but then when the entire room starts stomping their foot, then something actually is her.

And that's just what it kind of takes. So it takes that collective. People mm-hmm. To get something done. Um, you know, similarly, you know, Jeff, you've done a lot. You hosted a round table with Senator Young at, uh, one of your member farms to discuss the need for reliable ag workforce. It feels like that's one of those ones we're all shouting into the wind, the conversation highlighted the lack of available workers.

Um, and we've been using that to press senators. What was your takeaway? I mean, do you feel like they understand that? Yeah, my takeaway and, you know, we, we do go to Washington a little bit and, and you host a couple of the farm discussions. You know, with like, at least with Senator Young, he understands the need.

So yeah. Are you preaching to the, the choir or not? Um, they know something needs to be done. It just seems so dysfunctional in Washington DC that they can't get it. But, you know, the area that we have that we hosted him is an area that has a lot of, uh, specialty crops. So they have a lot of migrant workers there.

And just to be able to impress the need on them that our workforce we're gonna have to have the labor, uh, you know, they understand it. They go back and work on it. Hopefully someday we tell 'em enough that they can get it done. You know, interestingly on immigration, I've had, I don't know how many conversations with both sides of the aisle.

It's not a Democrat or a Republican, every one of them. And I don't care the state. Agrees that there is a need for, um, immigration reform and especially around farm worker, farm worker monetization act that's already passed. The house has passed a couple times and there's no reason other than everybody says we need border security because of political hot potato.

And every, I said, I don't know anybody who doesn't want a strong border. I don't, you know, you also recognize that populations are declining here in the United States and you look at, um, workforce participation because we don't have immigration. Um, and that's going to be a continued problem In this example, and here we brought a couple of successful situations, things that passed immigration, continuing to require work.

And I, my note in my mind is you can't get, even when you're tired, you can't give up. You have to continue to tell the story. And, and a lot of people in this room have went to Washington DC and lobbied, or lobbied locally, and, and at times you wonder if you're making a difference, but. As Beth says, the more times you talk to 'em, the more times you, uh, reiterate your stance.

You do say something once in a while. They go, oh, you make 'em. Think of it differently. They probably already support your position. But there's somebody else in their ear trying to get 'em not to support your position. And if you do it long enough, next thing you know, they call you every once in a while.

Mm-hmm. Uh, for your opinion. And they also call you for a donation. Yeah. No. I guess I would wonder, do you have any of you, um, had a backlash from your, from being more visible, um, and from your efforts? No. Not on, not on the political aspect of it. No. They're all, everyone's looking for that story. Everyone's looking to connect back to a constituent of some level.

You know? I do. If I'm in front of people, I do tell 'em I've spent some time in Washington. Mm-hmm. I, I lobby on behalf of Land O'Lakes on behalf of you. We need to take you some time. You know, I keep talking. We're gonna take a group of young farmers, or my board to Washington, DC and the only one negative I have, and I won't go into it too much, but it was after an event.

You might want, you probably guess what event it was, but, uh, in Washington DC and I did have one farmer call me and I would've never dreamt in a million years I would've got the call. And the question was the Siri solutions, who do they support politically? And if they did not, were they were involved in this issue, what are you gonna do about it?

And fortunately, I can say Siri Solutions does not write a check to anybody. Mm-hmm. And okay, I'm just checking with all my vendors and all my partners. If, if they support people, I don't want 'EM support. Then I'm not gonna support you. And would've never guessed that. Yeah. Now, now that is, I mean, let's be realist here because everything has become politicized.

Mm-hmm. And I say frequently 'cause of course I get some energetic feedback. Um, and, and really that's polite. I know. It's a shocker. I like that. Energetic. It's a shocker. But what I say is we don't talk politics. I talk policy. We are all about policy that enables the farmer, the local retailer, their families, their communities, and I will talk to both sides of the aisle.

Anybody who has an interest in helping, remember 35 house seats tied to rural and agriculture for out of 435. We need others on board with us. Could you point to like, this has the been the biggest benefit of my advocacy or my being more. You know, what do you think? It's like, ugh. Boy, I can't believe that.

Probably the biggest thing is seeing my kids, seeing me comfortable. Talking about growing up and living on a farm and what we do on the farm. Comfortable with those conversations about GMO, comfortable talking to media comfort and 'cause they know mom is nervous. They, I'll tell them, I'm like, oh, this is gonna be interesting.

Um, who knows what's gonna come outta my mouth? Uh, they know mom is nervous and I think showing them that even though you're nervous when you're talking about something you know about. You don't have to be nervous about it. What I do on a daily basis is so interesting to so many people, maybe not them or the chores I assign them, or my husband when I come home like, Hey, we did this.

You know, it's maybe not interesting to them, but it's interesting to other people. Um, they wanna know what is affecting you and how it's affecting you. So setting that example for them is very important to me as they're getting older. Um, like my parents were very adamant that we always vote. My dad will call or text to make sure we vote.

That it was one thing that was very important to my parents. You know, each of you, um, really advocate, uh, for the cooperative system as well. Maybe starting with you, Lucas. Why? Because we get to work together and I think there's a lot of power in that because of the network of people. Very prime example, I had a little bit of an issue out in my field.

I was able to call, say, Hey, I got this problem. Something's binding up when we're doing some chemistry here. I had four people out there figuring it out. That's the power of the cooperative because we have that network. We have those resources. Resources to get it done. Um, the thing. And this is gonna be very, very specific.

You're gonna be very happy from this comment, Matt. Um, especially I wanna support a company that's going to continue to invest in infrastructure to get me that product. So when I buy Ultra Lock now that's very on brand. Uh, John, you'll be happy. Um, I'm using that product because I know it's gonna do the best job on my field, but at the same time, I'm supporting the company that's going to advance for the next product because I'm reinvesting in myself and for the supply chain that I'm gonna be able to get so I can continue to go grow corn and soybean.

That's, that's why I like the cooperative system because it's a continued reinvestment in the products. I can, I, I'm not gonna make interlock on my farm, but I am gonna be able to buy it from my local retailer. Mm-hmm. So that's, that's why I use the cooperative system because of the, of the network and the infrastructure for it.

Mm-hmm. Some of it is advocacy and some of it's leadership, you know, Jeff, why, what's the why for you, the cooperative system? I mean, you're the CEO of a local cooperative and you're the CEO or the board, uh, director here. Why the cooperative system? I'm not sure I know any better. No, seriously. When I, you know, my dad was a board member on the local co-op.

I started sharecropping some acreage at probably fif 14 or 15 and bought from the co-op I got outta school. There wasn't enough room for old Jeff at the farm. Went to work for the co-op. I've been very blessed with it. The co-op is owned by, we all know this, right? It is nothing new. We're owned by the, the members.

We work for the members. We're not looking for quarterly results. We're thinking long term. I was setting, you know, instead of listening to the question and answer, thinking a little bit about that question and, and you know, I've been in the business a long time. Wasn't there a commercial before? They did away with the Oldsmobile.

I'm not your father's Oldsmobile anymore. Well, they did not make it. Well. We're not our fathers, our grandfather's co-op anymore. We are adding value. We're coming up with new things and you know, we give back to the communities, we pay the patrons back to the members, that that earnings goes back. We're operating a lot different, and I'm a firm believer without a cooperative system.

We supply discipline to the marketplace. Mm-hmm. Do you, do you have any concern about the level of engagement for young producers, young farmers in their local. Cooperative or in the cooperative system? Yeah, I, you know, we, we were really starting that series to work on that how do we engage younger farmers because, uh, you know, I tell the story, it was probably 20 years ago, Dave Downey from, from Purdue brought some New Zealand cooperative operators to tour our facility and, and when we got talking.

And they're like, what do you mean not your members don't all buy from you, or they don't buy a hundred percent from you? Uh, I don't understand that. And it hit me, they're on their second generation of ownership. Mm-hmm. So there was still the voice in the ear. I know what it was like without my co-op. You are gonna use your co-op.

You are gonna buy from 'em. You're gonna sell from 'em. We're on about the fourth generation now. So there is that drawback and, um, we need to tell our story better. We'd say we need to tell agriculture story better. We have to sell our membership. We have to involve our younger members on why it's important.

And they're like, you, they're running a farm. They got four kids. They got, somebody wants 'em to do 18 different activities. Where do they focus it? Um, you know, Amber sounds like you're. You're very connected to your co-op, but as well, you're kind of encouraging your, your sons, uh, down that same path. I think as part of the cooperative, the why a little bit Jeff said, I, I really don't know another way.

Uh, but one thing that does come up on the cooperative level is the fact that the next generation is used to getting on their phone and taking care of business. They're used to buying what they wanna buy, when they wanna buy it, and how they wanna get it, how fast they're gonna get it, when it's going to arrive.

They know down to the minute that blockchain they know down to the minute when they're gonna receive it. And how do we, as a co-op, how do you respond to that? And that's me talking as a, a board member on a egg supply, um, situation. How are we gonna provide that value added service? How are we gonna provide the tools or the engagement level for them to get that?

So we maintain that relationship. Um, for the next a hundred years and on the Land O'Lakes, I, I mean, and, and on the, on the, the dairy side of it, it really is the same situation, a little bit different. How are we going to help my sons or my nieces or nephews, what are we going to provide them to make sure that that farm is still operating in a capacity, that they can come back to it and that there's room for it.

How are we going to provide, uh, risk management? How are we gonna make sure that we are receiving the price we need to receive, to implement some of these projects that are gonna be, make sure our sustainability is still there. Um, those are on the forefront, mind and forefront of my mind. And it's, it's, it's always on the co-op level.

I mean, you're, you're always thinking of that, but they want the end all, be all They want the Amazon of the co-op world.

You know, the center of the community oftentimes is the local, they are the job creator. I always think of 'em as the substitute teacher. They're the ambulance driver, they're the firemen. They're investing in the, um, softball team. All of those. Things. And so the center of the community, same thing for for farmers.

The cooperative system has always been a leader in supporting farmers and local communities. And we're playing a central role in overcoming challenges in areas like supply chain disruptions, climate change, and global food shortages. You'll continue to hear a mantra out in the country and in, um, uh, media about global food shortages and, um, the work that farmers do.

Interestingly. I've had a number of inquiries where I go on different news shows or CBS or something like that to talk about it and food inflation, and I said, well, it's a little bit more complex. Than one particular item. So if there's enough time to explain it, well then I certainly am interested in doing that.

Um, but I wanna make clear that that food inflation isn't because farmers or local retailer are overcharging in that value chain of the. The whole value chain that has been disrupted and has increased costs. So I wanna make sure we're very careful with whatever the narrative is.

We all eat. I mean, it's that simple. Most of us care about what we put into our bodies, and we wanna know where it comes from, who made it, and whether they care as well. As a consumer that isn't too much to ask. The way we help connect the dots are through stories about the people, their products, and the places.

They call home

the cooperative puts money back in the community and I think that that's a central stabilizer. You know, we've only got about a few minutes left, I guess. Any words of encouragement from each of you, for the audience, for, you know, why should they be engaged? What are the, the things that they might think about?

It's a conversation that's really we, people don't want to be talked at. They wanna be talked with. That's why this is so great. Like we're all having a conversation right now. So it's easy, even if you tell one person that's gonna make a difference because they could sign up for, uh, Tru Tera, and then all of a sudden we're selling a heck of a lot of bushels, um, and we're getting sustainable premiums for it because it takes a cooperative spirit to get that done.

It's true. I think we've all been conditioned to be involved with Land O'Lakes. If we don't tell the story who's, who's going to and who's the story to, I think sometimes we get, uh, uh, uh, consumed with that. Well, we gotta tell the consumer. We gotta tell the consumer, well, we gotta tell our employees, we gotta tell our customers.

You know, it's for hiring, it's for retention of customers. It's for being a good steward. Telling the story of agriculture, I. Used back, back when I started doing leadership training or leadership development stuff. Um, with Land O'Lakes, it was so scary, uh, because you were always so nervous and you never knew if you were gonna say the right thing and you wanted to make sure you didn't use the.

Bad, not bad words. Yeah. You know, the words you're supposed to, you know, stay away from, um, the, nobody trained me on that. No one trained you 'cause you're a star from the beginning. You're, yeah, you were a star right outta the gate there. It is powerful. It is necessary. So thank you. Thank you all of you.

We know that less than 1% feed 100% of us. That's just incredible. Farmers are incredible. Those are the stories we need to be telling. The connections that break down barriers no matter where you live. Check out some of these stories at land O'Lakes dot com slash rooted in tomorrow. We have stories of farmers products, food production, and the people behind all of it.

We'll catch you back here next month for a new episode of Rooted In Tomorrow. In the meantime, review and rate the episode on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.