RE-RELEASE: For National Co-Op Month we're changing the rural narrative: from podunk to preferable.

We're re-releasing one of our most popular episodes of season five with Land O'Lakes member, Tyler Ribeiro, who you can find on Instagram @CADairyDad

Tyler Ribeiro is a fourth-generation farmer from Tulare, California. He’s amassed nearly 80,000 social media followers sharing life on the farm and daily moments in his rural community. He joins host Kim Olson to talk about the work being done in his community and beyond to break down rural stereotypes and keep small communities vibrant. 

Check out Rootedintomorrow.com for more stories of incredible farmers!

Follow Land O'Lakes Inc at:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/LandOLakesInc
Instagram: @LandOLakesInc
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/landolakesinc/

Follow along with our other businesses.
Dairy: www.landolakes.com
Animal Nutrition: www.purinamills.com
Crop Protection: www.winfieldunited.com
Sustainability: www.truterraag.com

authenci.com

Transcript

 I think a lot of people have this hallmark idea, this romantic idea of what a rural area is supposed to be. You know, you could say that the positive stereotypes for the rural area is, you know, people know each other and it's a small community and it's slow, and that's consequently the most negative stereotypes also is you know, everybody and, and you have to depend on everybody.

And it's slow and there's a lot of hard work out here to make things run you. You gotta rely on the people around you.

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. 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.

Go ask Chet, GPT. What are the biggest misconceptions about rural America? Within seconds, it spits out a list of 10 answers. There's economic stagnation, there's lack of education, technological, backwardness, uninformed. Even a lack of culture and recreational activities. Now, tell that last one to any kid who grew up on a farm, there is no shortage of things to do.

They're negative and not accurate. Of course, not everyone believes this, but there is a demonstrated rural urban divide with income access to healthcare and certainly broadband. The work being done to not only change perceptions, but to build infrastructure for the future in small towns across the country is happening.

Every day. Our farmers and cooperatives are part of that work, and it's changing perceptions and reality. My guest today is Tyler Rivero. His family has been California dairy farmers for more than 100 years. Tyler's involved with multiple boards, including the California Cattlemen's Council and California Dairy Board.

He's also quite visible on social media. He has nearly 80,000 followers on his channels. Putting on full display life on the farm and in his rural California town.

All right. So, um, I wanna get started on the podcast today. I can't tell, um, the listeners how excited I was to, um, have this conversation. Um, today I'm gonna get the, uh, the privilege and the treat, and you guys are gonna get the treat to listen to, um, a conversation with Tyler Rivero. Um, Tyler and I know each other a little bit.

Uh, we were, um, I had the privilege of, uh, going and. Filming at, um, his place and, uh, and his dad's and mom's. And, uh, that was 2019 and we were there to film 60 Minutes and we were just, you know, going over memory lane. I have a great picture of, uh, his young family, and you're telling me the, the baby is not, uh, is not a baby anymore.

Tell me, tell me again how many kids and how old. So I've got three kids. Uh, that baby is now five going on 13. Uh, then I've got two boys, uh, eight. He's gonna be nine here, um, in a little bit. And then my oldest is 10. So we are, we are moving. You are in it, you're now mine are old now, but, uh, I, I have three as well.

And um, I went the opposite way. Two girls and a boy. So I gotta tell you, I think, uh, my way was a little, little easier. Proms and dances. I was like, Ugh, girls, you know, we gotta do the hair. We. Figure out, you know, what you're gonna wear now. Then the boy comes and he's, I'm like, okay, it's prom this weekend.

What do we need to get done? He goes, oh, I think I'll shower. And that was about it. So you have just wait until that little cute peanut gets to, uh, gets to dances. Dad's not ready for that yet. I am. I am nowhere near ready to thinking about that. She's still my baby. You have much time. I'm much, much time.

I'm gonna hold onto that as long as I can. I think. I think you should. Well, and so you are well qualified to be, uh, California Dairy Dad, which, um, we, I wanna kind of start there. Uh, not everyone knows what that is, but you've amassed nearly 80,000 followers on. Facebook and Instagram and TikTok. Um, tell me a little bit about that.

California dairy Dad. Yeah, I've, I've talked about, you know, doing something for a while and I just, or I've had it talked to me about doing it and I, it was just nothing that I really wanted to do. And then for some reason I said, ah, what the heck? Yeah, I'll, I'll dip my toe in and see where it goes. And I promised myself that I'd only post when I was feeling like posting.

So sometimes I'll go a span without. Posting anything. And then sometimes it'll just be a ton of stuff all at one time. But I never wanted to post anything that wasn't, um, true or true to me or what I was feeling in the moment. I'm not, I wasn't gonna build content just for the sake of building content.

That's, that's not what I was about. It was about slowing down, appreciating the things that are around you, telling the story of what we do on our farm, honestly. And. Showcasing the lifestyle. 'cause it's, it's not just a job. I've got the kids around, I've got, I got friends and family around. It's, it's, it's all day, it's all night.

Um, there's a fantastic amount of freedom involved in it. Um, but it definitely, as long as you want to be up all day and all night, there's freedom in it, I guess. But it's, I dunno right though. We, I, I have the opportunity to have my kids out there with me, right? Yeah. So, uh, the boys and I were actually just talking about it, where during COVID was probably the best time that they've had ever during school because Oh, really?

They were, oh yeah. Because they had me as a teacher and we would knock out their homework and. Uh, a couple hours and then the rest of the day they'd be out with me on the ranch and they'd be working and we'd be talking and we'd be hanging out. They'd get to see all of the life that was going on, and I got to watch them as they got excited about stuff that I see every day.

And that, you know, part of that really fueled me to keep posting and, and doing that kind of stuff because it's those, those new eyes of a child. It's that same, it's that same energy I see in adults that see it for the first time. And I can't have everybody in the world come on the ranch. So how do I bring what we're doing to everybody?

And social media has really been a good way of doing that. And I like to make people laugh. So yes, um, adding some of that humor into the, some of the important stuff. And what we're doing is, is kind of the cocktail that I've kind of mixed together to send out. Well, and it, you know, it's an important, it's an important cocktail.

Um, 'cause if, uh, if you can believe this, and I know you know this, but our, our listeners, uh, may not all, um, California is the top dairy producing state in the United States. So, you know, you talk about your, uh, your place in, uh, and I've been out there. It's beautiful. Um, you are a fourth generation. Dairy farmer in Tula, California, which is about, uh, if, if I remember right, it's like three hours north of la.

Is that right? Um, so, uh, paint a, uh, a picture for us. Um, what's it like to live in Tula compared to like a big city? So we, we always joke, you know, being from a small town, when people come to Tulare, why Tulare? Why why'd you come here? You know, but in reality, we're all here for a reason. And it's, yeah, because it's, it's slower.

It's, it's more grounded. You don't have the hustle and bustle, um, of the big city. I can't stand la I, I can't. I really can't. And it's not that the, it, it, it's. I, I'd rather be stuck behind a tractor going 10 miles an hour on the road for 20 minutes than be stuck on the 4 0 5 with a thousand other people for 20 minutes.

Yeah. It's just, you know, it, uh, it just preference, but it's with a smaller rural area, you get to know people better. Mm-hmm. And you have to de depend on these people too, because you don't have, uh. A thousand mechanics that that work on diesel trucks, right? You have one in your town, one in the next town.

Um, and it's. You become dependent on everybody around you, and you rely on everybody around you. And their success is your success and vice versa, where, um, it, it breeds a completely different atmosphere than if you were in a bigger city. So does everyone, like, does everyone know each other in te. Let's just say our circles are very big out here, but it's impossible to know everybody.

It's this, this isn't Hallmark. Um, yes, but there's, there's a lot of thoughts. I mean, people that, um, aren't familiar with, uh, rural communities kind of, kind of think that, but the way you talk about. The connection and relying on each other is so important. Has it, has it changed much? I know you grew up, uh, on the farm there and now you've got, you know, as you said, your own three kids and raising them in the same place.

Um, is there a lot different from, from when you were growing up? There's a lot more houses. Yeah, there's, there's a lot more shopping centers. There's. A lot more infrastructure for people, I guess you could say. You know, different housing communities and new development is put on top of other farm land that I, we knew, we knew the farmers.

So a lot of that's changed now. Our roads are exactly the same. They haven't been touched for a hundred years, neither have ours in Minnesota. Just so, uh, just so you know. Yeah, yeah. Now, when people think of California though, uh, kind of outside the state, and as I said, we're, uh, we're headquartered in, um, in Minnesota, um.

When people are thinking of, uh, Tulare it, do you think it's what they envision or is, uh, do you think it's different than what they have in a picture of their mind? And and why is that? I think a lot of people have this hallmark idea, this romantic idea of what a rural area is supposed to be, and hallmark's done the best and the worst thing for us.

It's, it's really, really showcased what it, what it can be. Yeah. Um, but it's not always reality and there's a lot of hard work out here to make things run. Yeah. You gotta rely on the people around you. Um, with more land becomes more problems, more headache, more things to work on, there's more things depending on you with more animals.

They all depend on you. So yeah. The nice thing though is because I've been in St. Paul's, Minnesota. Yeah. I've been, been a few times and. What's always weird to me is that I can't see more than a mile out in front of me 'cause there's a building. Oh, interesting. Yeah. Where out here you can see for miles, you know, until you, the sky disappears or you see a mountain.

Yeah. Which, that, that part, I love that part. I love the wide openness and you know, the breeze that comes through, uh, compared to a big city. But there's definitely perks to that big city too. I love to visit. Yes, I love to visit. Yes, love to visit. Um, do you, so when you think about some of the, um, the stereotypes both positive and negative, and see now, now I can only think of a Hallmark movie.

You know, the, the girls coming back from the city and Oh yeah. Our future husband out there, you know. Doing some work and woodworking. Nel shirt, Uhhuh, always woodworking. Yeah. What is it with the wood, right? I don't know. And you know, those guys haven't touched a single saw in their life. You could just, no, you can smell the gel and the perfume on 'em.

Somebody show me how to work this. And while you do, would you fluff my hair a little bit? Yeah, no, I, I, I think you're right. Um, do you think there are. You know, either positive or negative stereotypes about rural America. And why do you think that is? That's a loaded question right there at the end. It's, um, you brought up Hallmark Tyler.

Yeah. Well, you know, I didn't think you were gonna go down on that. I, yeah, there's, there's definitely positive and negative stereotypes with, with the rural area, just like there is everything else. Mm-hmm. Um. You know, you could say that the positive stereotypes for the rural area is that, you know, people know each other and it's a small community and it's slow.

And that's consequently the most negative stereotypes also is you know, everybody and mm-hmm. And you have to depend on everybody and, and it's slow. Um, but. You know, you could say the same thing about big cities too, right? I mean, it's fast. There's a tons of people and, and you see a new person every single day.

Yeah. Which is great, you know? But, um, I think, I think people probably misunderstand what a rural commi community is at its heart. Mm-hmm. Um, because it's a lot of work. You know, hallmark makes it look easy, you know? Yes. Um. But it's, it's a lot of work. The, there's, there are people in our community that have been here for generations upon generations, upon generations.

My great grandfather works with, um, you know, the great grandparents, the people that I'm working with now. Um, or I'm walking alongside now that the most noticeable one right now is the, the family that trims our hooves, uh, the Hans, uh, mm-hmm. Art's Dad, Marty, he was trimming hooves, you know, before art was even born.

And he was trimming for us back before I was even born. And now art's. Art's taken over the business and he's, um, taken care of us just like his dad did. And he's taken that business and he is compounded on top of it, right? He took that old knowledge and that that way of treating people and, and all those, uh, those great morals and the techniques that his dad taught him and he.

He's learned new stuff and he's just like the rest of us have done, you know, we've taken that history and we haven't lost it. We've taken that knowledge and we've compounded upon it and made it even better, and we've got generations upon generations of people out here that we get to work with like that, and that's special.

Yeah, that's really, that's really neat. 'cause then we could, we could also go back and go, Hey, did your grandfather ever tell you about such and such? Did your dad ever see this? And we, that's, we get to compare stories too. So we got a lot of history here. And the depth of connection. I, I am always so impressed by kind of the depth of connection and it gives you, um, a way to really, uh, have a deeper relationship with each other, which is one of the things that, that you don't get when you don't have years and years and generations.

I now you have. A social media, uh, platform. And I love what you said at the beginning about, um, trying to reach folks in the same way that, uh, you reach your kids and seeing, um, seeing their, uh, wonder and their learning, um, is, is part of what you're doing, um, trying to, uh, tell the story, change some perceptions, or reinforce some good ones?

I'll tell you this, my main goal is to connect to people on a personal level. Make 'em, make 'em laugh. People go to social media to get away or to learn, um, to, to get away from whatever's going on, you know, in their physical life. And I just need a break, right? Or maybe it's, I wanna learn about this. So they get on and people think that.

Farmers or dairymen, they're this other pocket of people. Yeah. And they don't understand that we are the same bunch of carbon. I mean, we're, we're all meat So Sacks walking around, uh, there's just, what we do is different. Right. So it, if I'm able to showcase what I do. And people like it. That's great. You know, that's fantastic.

I don't, that's not, I don't go out there looking for attention. Mm-hmm. But if I get to tell a story about my dog, you know, there's a million other people that have a dog and there's a million other people that can probably relate to what my dog just did. You know, I. Dang dog got locked in the bathroom the other day and he ate his way out.

Oh. Um, I had to rehang a door. I had to, it was, I had to remodel the bathroom. Right. Um, that story still needs to come out, but, um, yes. I'm gonna look for that. What's your dog's name? Uh, Ringo. He was a stray German Shepherd That. Showed up at the house one morning and he just never left. And now he's, he's one of my good buddies.

So yeah, he's a a hundred pound lover and he also is a fur missile, so he, but it's stuff like that where it's, yeah, connecting on things that make us human. And you know what? I'm gonna add some dairy component to that too. 'cause that's my life. I'm gonna show what we do. Dairy is definitely what we do.

It's not a hundred percent of who I am, right? Um, it's my lifestyle. It's my entire world. It's entire, my entire life. But I'm Tyler Rivero. I'm a dad. I work hard for my, my kids, for my community. I take care of those around us, and I take care of our, our, our environment at the same time. That's who I am.

Yeah. I, I work on a dairy, my family owns a dairy. I take care of cows and that's, that's my job. And I love it. Don't get me wrong. I love it. Yeah. And that's my, that's one of my passions and I'm gonna share that passion. Yeah. But. We're all, we're all human. We all have these different life stories and, and we're, it's fun to share 'em 'cause there's so many similarities.

So if I'm able to do that through these pages and connect to people on a human basis, on a life basis, the dairy stuff is, is fun to share. Sure. And that's, that's how I've at least structured what I've done. People may not know that 87% of food comes from rural America. We work with more than 3000 members across the US who believe farming is their lifestyle and not just a job.

We featured Tula and Roberto in one of our rural vibrancy videos this year talking about the fabric of his rural community, the generations that called that part of California home, and how modern technology contributes to dairy farming. You can check it out on Rooted in tomorrow.com.

And one of the things that, um, we've done recently, land O'Lakes is doing a series of, uh, videos, um, highlighting communities and trying to talk about those communities. And, um, so many of the things that you've already mentioned, that connectivity, the reliance on each other, um, I think in some, you can even see miles and miles.

Uh, you were recently fa uh, featured in one of these videos. Um, how was that experience with you? You just, I, as I watched it, I could see so much, um, hometown pride. Um, how was that, how was the experience and were you, uh, able to articulate in the way you just did? Um, where the pride comes from? It, it's, there's, there's a lot that went into that.

That's that a, um, it was fun. To do because we had a good crew, we had good people. Um, and I've done, I've done quite a few things for Land O'Lakes and I've worked with quite a few crews, um, that were, uh, that Land O'Lakes has brought in. And this is the, this has been the best one yet. And that's, that's why, that's why it was fun to do.

That's why it was, it was easy to do. Um, when you're passionate about something, you're able to talk about it. Yeah. You're talk, you're able to talk about it easily and, but if you have the right people to talk to behind the camera, behind the mic, it makes that conversation flow so much easier. Mm-hmm. And to have that crew that was out and, gosh, I wish I remembered everybody's name, but.

It was that shock and awe of everything around them and, oh, that looks so cool. Oh, that looks real neat. Oh, can we get a video of that? And I'm going, yeah, yeah, yeah. Go, go, go for it. You know, I don't, I don't, I don't get it. I don't get it. And then when you see it all put together, I mean, it was. It gave me goosebumps.

Yeah. Because it was just the things that they saw and the way that they saw it. Um, how could you not be proud of, of those things? How could you not be proud of seeing that and seeing it through their eyes? Mm-hmm. You know, in that amazing way. That was, that was really cool. That was really cool. I'm so glad to hear that it's, I am always, you know, it's an art to um, film, something like that and I'm glad the experience was good.

And you know, one of the reasons, um. You need to keep doing what you're doing. We need to keep telling the stories because the global population is growing, so that means more food farmers are going to need to produce more of that food. Um, what are the, uh, on-farm challenges you face to kinda meet that demand and, you know, why should consumers care?

Um, other than the fact that everybody eats Yeah, well on farm. One of the neatest things that, that I love about this business is that everything is always changing, and I am a DD so much so it, it makes it really nice, um, that things continue to change. Um, the worst thing consequently is that everything is constantly changing and you have to flow with that and you have to make things work.

And the way our facility. The way my family has always ran. Our facility is always get better and I've, I've adopted this kind of mindset that I will be content, but I'll never be complacent. I love that. So be happy with, be happy with what you have, but always know that you can be better. Mm-hmm. And that's the way we've.

We've strived to be because things aren't getting easier. Nobody's sitting there going, Hey, guess what? The dairy industry is going to be like. It was in the sixties, in the seventies where you could milk into a can and drive it to the creamery and you can make a good living off of that and support a family.

You can't, those days are gone. Yeah. They used to say, if, if you couldn't milk, if you couldn't make money milking cows, you know, back when it was black and white, then you, you couldn't do anything. Nowadays, it's, it's not that way. And there's, whether it's economical, uh, or environmental or political, um, there's so many pressures right now that are making, not only doing business difficult, a lot more stringent, but the barriers to entry mm-hmm.

Are, are so high that we're not gonna see another dairy go in in California. Uh, it, I, I would say ever. I think, I think those days are gone. Um, and that's, that's kind of scary to think about because Yeah, sure is. Especially as, as much food as we produce here and how much we tie into the land around us. Um, you know, before I move too far, talking about not being able to put any more dairies in, there's a, there's a really big stress on being more and more efficient.

And, but it's, it's not pushing the cows to do something that they're not capable of doing, but it's feeding them and taking care of them to their genetic potential and trying to figure out what that is and how to do it. They're a puzzle, they're a mystery. Mm-hmm. And we have to do it. We've gotta do it because we're not able to add cows.

That, and the population continues to go up and we're, we're gonna get to a point where we're gonna start having to import. Food from other countries. Right. Which is kind of ironic because we're gonna, in a sense, we're pushing out the dairies in California because they don't fall under a certain standard.

Mm-hmm. But we're gonna, we're gonna truck in food from other countries that we have no control over their standards. Um, yeah. I dunno. But, um, when you think about dairies in California and, and around the us but I'm gonna stay in my lane here and talk about California. Mm-hmm. W everybody around us depends on each other.

And I know I've said that a multiple bunch of times, but 60% important, 60% of our diets, if not more, are byproducts. Mm-hmm. Those byproducts come from almond holes that are coming from the almonds that are around us, uh, citrus that are, that's around us. Cotton seeds that's around us. Um, you name it, there's, there's things all the way around us that if it weren't gonna go to dairies, where's it gonna go?

If you're not gonna go buy a bag of almonds and they're gonna give you a bag of holes to go with it, no. You don't get, you know, a bag, uh, of rinds with your orange juice. Um, right. We have such a unique ecosystem out here with all the other farms around us. If the dairy industry were to go away here, it wouldn't just disrupt the dairy industry or the milk supply.

Yeah. Everything's connected. Everything's connected. It's an ecosystem. Yeah. I, and do you think, um, understanding that ecosystem better, uh, will help you? We talk a lot about the divide between rural and urban America. Um, it seems like the bridge might be built of information, and I'm wondering if what you think of that.

I think we have a lot of information. Yeah. And I think it's how the story is told. Yeah, great point. People, people have accumulated data forever and we've got information to tell these stories and data to back it up, but people the majority of the time aren't gonna remember what you tell them. They're gonna remember how they, you made them feel.

Yeah. And if we're able to package good information with good feelings, then it'll set. Then you'll get, then you'll get that needle to move. Mm-hmm. But if we're incapable of providing those facts and providing the the story behind it in a way that's receptive that people find enjoyable or entertaining, then it doesn't matter how much data we have.

Right. Well, yeah, we've seen that over the years and, and I, I love all of the storytelling that you're doing. I'm gonna swing back around to that as, as we kinda wrap. So, um, let's, let's talk about some of the unique and fun stuff you're doing outside of farming. So you write a column for hoards, dairyman.

Can you tell me a little bit about the publication and, um, you know, what got you started there? What kind of stories are you sharing? What kind of feelings are you getting, uh, getting there? So there's a lot of that has happened in my life in the last couple years. Um, one of those things is I've had to put a pause on the, the hordes articles for just a tad bit.

Mm-hmm. Um, I'd love to get back into it again. It's, it was an, it was a great experience. Um, but time just didn't permit right now, unfortunately. And again, I'm not gonna justrite something or post something just to do it. Yeah. But what a, what a great way historically. Oh, it was fantastic. You know, it's an ag trade publication, so you've got a, um, audience that is more, um, informed, I would say.

And what a, what a great way to kind of build your skill, um, in this area. It's so much harder that way. It's so much harder to create content for people that know basically all the things that, you know. Yeah. And a point and just packaging it in a way that other people will understand. Uh, but it was, it was fun.

It was great. And I actually got that opportunity because, uh, the Holstein Associations Young Dairy Leader Institute program. Ah, okay. I went through the YDLI program. Oh shoot. Class nine, I believe. Yep. Yeah, it was class nine and I went through that class with, uh, Abby Bauer, who is, uh, an editor over there.

And it was interesting about a year or two afterwards, I just get an email from Abby. She goes, Hey. Do you wanna do this? And I had, she, she got me at a point that I was just so bent outta shape about so much stuff and I felt like, you know, I just, I wanted to share all these things that were in my head and there wasn't a good constructive outlet.

In doing so, I. She gave me that outlet and she was, she had been fantastic to me and hoards had been great to me and being able to foster that relationship and reach more audience members than I know I was able to do previously and think constructively. And how do I, how do I better the industry as a whole when I'm talking to the dairy community?

Yeah, it was, it was fun. It was a lot of fun and it's really helped the way I think now, and I, I'd love to get. Back into it again. But again, I'm not gonna do something or jump into something prematurely until I'm, I know. I'm a hundred percent. Well, and now you've got the TikTok, the Instagram, the Facebook, you've got the social media stuff.

Um, do you feel like it's made a difference? It, it has. I, I think it has. Um, I've seen. I've seen a lot more positive content and I say we all have, you know? Mm-hmm. We've got, um, a group of us, we'll say dairy influencers that, um, that talk and there's a lot more positive content showing up on the feeds than negative.

Um, we used to have negative comments all the time. We were always being attacked and they would dedicate an entire month. To attacking us, um, which was quite exhilarating. Um, but after a while I think we, I, I, I think we definitely moved the needle, especially there was one month or one day I woke up and it was during June Dairy month and um, that's when they loved to attack everybody.

Yeah. And I'd always told everybody, look, if they're gonna attack me. I'm not gonna unpublish my page. I'm not gonna go out quiet, you know, they're not gonna beat me. This isn't gonna happen. You know, they were all over my Facebook account, all over my Instagram account and I said, you know what? I said, let's do this.

Let's have a conversation. And so I, I posted, we're gonna go live. If we're gonna go live at such and such time, let's have a conversation. And that's exactly what I did, is I went live and I forget how many thousands of people showed up. And I took all the questions that I could. I mean, they were coming in faster than I could, than I could read 'em, that I could answer 'em.

And that was so constructive because it, it, it brought light to a lot, a lot on both sides. And what happened from that experience actually, is it. Almost doubled, I think, my following on one of the pages. Wow. Yeah, and I think that's about the time that everybody else went, Hey, maybe we should stop attacking these guys.

I haven't seen. Massive amounts of, uh, negative common sense. I'm not saying it was just me, but there's, there's, I think there's other people that have done the same thing going, no, um, I, I, I'll name drop. Uh, Derek Josie, he's, he is been one, you know, Tillamook dairy farmer. He, uh, he's the same way. He's not gonna back down from it.

I, I think it's pretty clear you've moved the needle and others that are, um. As you said, it's not just information, it's making people feel something and tell the stories. And I think a lot of times the negativity, uh, comes from just simply not knowing and, um, you're, you're doing such great work getting out there.

I I really appreciate the time you've spent with us, and I wanna end with, uh, the question that we ask all guests. And I have to say, I'm anxious to hear yours, uh, your answer. So just simply, how do you see the future of agriculture? You're not in agriculture because you're weak-minded. You're not in agriculture because you think it's an easy fallback job.

Um, you're in agriculture because it's your life. You're in agriculture probably because you're not the first generation to be in it. Um, it's been passed down and it's a legacy that you wanna pass down. And if you are the first generation, well by gosh, you're there. 'cause you want it, there are, there is a squeaky, there's some squeaky wheels out there that don't want to see us do what we do.

And that's sad. It's sad that those people, that small percentage of people are squeaking so loud. And spending spreading so much of misinformation that we have those fights. The community in agriculture is strong. And if I know anything about them, about us, we'll continue to fight. We'll continue to do what we think is right.

We'll continue to take care of our land, our animals, our community, and we're gonna be here for a while. What that looks like, I don't know, but by God, we're gonna be here. Well, Tyler, I, I am so happy that, um, you're here doing the work and telling this story. Thanks for spending time with us. Thanks for having me.

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.