37: Summer Lanier--From Farm Kid to Voice of NC Poultry

Meet Summer Lanier, the NC Poultry Federation's new Executive Director. While new to this role, Summer is no stranger to the poultry industry. 

 “I feel as if I have spent my life, up to this point, training for this position. Since the age of three, poultry has been the center of my home and professional life and coming to NCPF is a very natural progression in my career. I am thrilled for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take my passion for poultry to the next level and serve this great industry,” says Lanier in a NCPF press release. 

 Raised on a turkey farm, Summer holds bachelor's degrees in both Animal Science and Poultry Science as well as a master's degree in Poultry Science from North Carolina State University (NCSU). She also completed NCSU's Agricultural Leadership Development Program in 2014. Prior to joining NCPF, Summer spent 19 years working for Prestage Farms, Inc. in numerous roles, including Public Relations Director, and most recently, Antibiotic-Free Turkey Production Manager. She lives in Wallace, N.C. with her husband, Matt, and their two children, Cade, 10, and Maesie, 6. 

Mark your calendars for Pork Forward,the state’s premier swine and agronomy event, happening April 15th at the Sampson County Exposition Center in Clinton. Join more than a thousand producers, industry partners and experts for a full day of learning, innovation, and handson demonstrations. Explore the latest in animal health, equipment and production technology — all in one place. 

Visit SmithfieldFoods.com/Pork-Forward for more details.

Find us on Instagram @raisedonthefarm
Questions? Email us at raisedonthefarmpodcast@gmail.com 

Transcript

Welcome And Guest Introduction

Speaker 2 0:03

Hey there! Welcome back to another episode of Race on the Farm Podcast. We're so glad that you are joining us today. We have a special guest, Summer Lanier, who's executive director of the North Carolina Farming Federation. Summer has a long history of feathers in the state, serving in multiple different roles throughout her career. And it all started on the farm where she grew up and raised her kids. We're really excited to have her on, and we have a great conversation for you. Don't forget to hit subscribe and follow us so you don't miss any episodes. And without further ado, welcome, Summer.

Speaker 0:46

Well, Summer Lanier, welcome to Raise on the Farm Podcast. It's great to have you with us today.

Speaker 1 0:52

Thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here.

Speaker 0:55

Yeah, I've been excited about having you on. I was telling some folks at the port conference this week um that we were going to have you on, and and um everybody's like, I know Summer. So I mean it's it's I and I don't. So it's I'm looking forward to getting to know you a little better today.

Speaker 1 1:10

I've been around a while, a long while. I I earned my gray hair and my scrapes over here.

Speaker 1:16

So is that what a portrait business will do to you?

Speaker 1 1:19

I mean, I I claim both businesses. As I like to tell people, I do not like pigs, but I love pig people. They are my people. I just think animal people are the best. So yeah, I've and I work Yeah, and coming from a company that was dual species, you can't love one without the other. We just all go together. So I'm excited to be here.

Growing Up On A Big Farm

Speaker 1:39

Yeah. Awesome. Well, tell us a little bit about Summer Lanier is. Tell us about your family, uh, maybe a little bit about how you were raised. I know you were raised on a farm, so you're fitting for this podcast.

Speaker 1 1:51

Yeah, yeah. I was raised on a farm. So, and a big animal farm. We uh I grew up in Bladen County, um, in the far northwest corner in a little place called White Oak that's literally a crossroads. Um, everybody knows it because of Kane's Grill, the sister, you know, restaurant to Melbourne. So um that's where I grew up. Um we moved there when I was three. My parents bought the farm. And if anybody, if you know anything about our side of the river, you can't grow much there besides livestock pine trees and a few blueberries. And we didn't have blueberries, but we had a lot of livestock and pine trees. So our farm was the first poultry farm in Bladen County. Um, Mr. My Dad built turkey houses with Mr. Prestige, and he we were the largest farm in the company until my dad retired. So we had what was called four units, but it was essentially uh four brooder houses and eight grow outs, uh, twelve houses total. And then we had a very large beef herd for a very long time. Um we uh landlocked a sow farm over on a the road on one side of us, and so we did all the waste management, so pumping lagoons and um record keeping and all those things, but then uh of course we grew Bermuda grass for our cows and and hay, and then every now and then in the summertime we would grow some some silage because my dad ran between 750 and 800 mama cows at a time. Our farm was was big. Um, and then we sent uh several our cows in several different directions. So we would send winged calves um out to um a kosher plant, and then we would send uh yearlings to Oklahoma five loads a year out for feedlots. So um just we had a lot, a lot going on. It was a big farm, but I think uh excuse me, but I think it's important to note that big is not bad, right? Our farm was a family farm. It was there's four siblings, but it was really me, my oldest brother, and my dad that were the primary kind of participants, and we only ever had one hired hand, and we had the same hired hand essentially for 30 years. So um it really was kind of a family business. But then I went to college at NC State, I got an animal science, poultry science undergrad, and then uh my master's in poultry, and you know, I've been in the livestock business my whole career, and then now I live in Wallace with my husband and my two kids. I got um Kate is 11, my son is eleven, and my daughter Maisie is six. So busy time.

Speaker 4:26

Oh, that's really cool. Um tell me uh when were the barns built or the the poultry uh barns built that that you got started with? What year was that?

Speaker 1 4:37

Oh gosh, we built the first um when I was three in 1985, and then we did build the second set in 87, so uh in the 80s, and they were over 40 years old when my dad retired and shut the farm and shut that part of the farm down. So um is the farm still going in some aspect? No, my brother still does hay for the we still pump the waste for this what to for the sow farm that's still there, and then uh he does he has a hay business, but we he sold the cows, um, and then the poultry barns are slowly coming down what's not being used for storage. So yeah, it's a little hard to see it that way because it was you know, in its heyday it was something really to see, but you know, things evolve. That's just how it goes, right? Every generation makes it their own.

Speaker 5:22

Yeah, change is constant.

Speaker 1 5:25

Yeah.

Speaker 2 5:26

Do you know if uh do you was your was your dad a first generation? Was he um multi-generation?

Speaker 1 5:34

Oh, so we did buy that farm. Uh we bought the land and my dad built it from scratch. So it he was the first generation on that farm, but now my family's from Jackson County, way out in the western part of the state. So he grew up on his parents' farm, on his dad's farm, and Lord only knows how many generations had been on it, but um we did we did not settle there and and farm it. So he was the first generation on our farm, but he is not a first generation farm, if that makes sense.

Tractor Lessons And Turkey House Chores

Speaker 6:04

Yes. What what are some of your earliest childhood memories of being on a farm? And how old were you? Do you that how far back can you remember?

Speaker 1 6:12

Oh, I so one of the questions Marissa sent me was how old were you when you drove your first tractor? And this is a story I'm pretty famous for telling, but I used to get out of kindergarten to drive the tractor at pulp placements because you know the um they unload the pulp boxes on a trailer, and my daddy would put it in gear, and all I had to do was keep it between the posts. And then at the end, I just stood on the clutch until he came and took it out of gear. That was my job. And so that was my earliest memory of driving a tractor and kind of, but I loved the brooder house. I mean, Dr. Reese can tell you stories about me being barefooted in the brooder house and him going, Oh my god, she's gonna die. Um, but you know, I just loved it. I have I've always loved it. I don't really know. I think I really I I'm very blessed to know my calling. Um, but but this is it. So I can remember I can remember like going over in thunderstorms with my dad, and he had this little cot, and we would, you know, take naps and rest during thunderstorms at night, because at that time you always ran the lights at night, and if they flashed the birds, you know, got upset. And um, I can remember doing all that kind of stuff with my dad, but my earliest memory of driving memory of driving a tractor on the road by myself, I know I was eight. I was in second grade. So it's it was a different time.

Speaker 7:29

That's early summer.

Speaker 1 7:31

Yeah, it well, so where where our farm is, if you know where the Tar Hill processing plant is, we are literally directly across the river, like directly across the river. So as the crow flies, it's not two or three miles by road, it's like eight. But we are on River Road, which is the road that crosses the river to go over to the plant. And so I can remember before there were semi-trucks and our road was dirt. No joke, it was dirt. So like I was driving on the road, but the road was dirt.

Speaker 3 8:03

Right.

Speaker 1 8:04

So they paved the road, they shut it down to take to replace the bridge when the plant came. Um, and my parents were really supportive of that coming to our county because it's such an economic driver, and they recognized we couldn't stay dirt roads forever, right? So we were super excited while they were paving because we roller skated up and down the highway.

Speaker 2 8:24

Oh, fun.

Speaker 1 8:27

Yeah, before.

Speaker 2 8:29

I um I also would walk around barefoot on the farm, and I remember the extension agent um at the time coming to visit, and she was like, What are you doing?

Speaker 1 8:42

So yeah. My parents didn't think anything of it, but like the veterinarians going, This is probably not your best look. And so I started wearing flip-flops, I think, as if that was better, right? Like Yeah.

Speaker 8:55

That's funny. So all through high school, just working on the farm, just I did, yeah.

Speaker 1 9:01

So that's how we earned our allowance was watching turkey drinkers, and we got paid by the house. So you go after school and wash a house, because with 12 houses and they all got to be washed once a week, you gotta keep it moving, right? Um and you I mean, in the brooder house we washed them a lot more than that, but in the grow out, you know, once a week is the goal. So um I can remember when the turkeys were taller than me and they would snatch the sponge out of my hand, it'll make me so mad. Um yeah, that's how we earned our allowance. But hay cutting was by far my favorite. Um it was it's still, I tell everybody, my retirement job, I don't want to own the business. I just want you to say, cut this field, rake this field. Like that's that's all I want to do, is just get on. It was relaxing. I had the best suntan ever. I listened to a lot of audiobooks, you know. I mean, just I I loved it. I I still love it. It's just relaxing to me. But um the others were shores, but we did them. I also like the cows. I like working cows and feeding. Um, you can't make a living on that in eastern North Carolina, but if I could have, that would probably would have been what I did.

Speaker 2 10:06

So you um you obviously do a lot of farming and did in high school and stuff, and um, and you've been working ever since. Uh what do you do in your spare time? What do your hobbies look like?

Speaker 1 10:20

Oh, that's a great question. I am not at the stage of life where spare time is really a thing. Uh um that that is not, but when when I do, um, I really do like I like to read. I haven't been able to read a paper book in a number of years, but I burn audiobooks up. Um so I love to read. I like to I like to walk. Um, I think the best when I walk, I clear my head when I walk. I like to walk. Um, I like to put together puzzles. Those generally are kid puzzles these this uh this time at stage of life. So over um the snow this past year, we put together a thousand-piece puzzle that was all Lego minifigs. Completely. There's like a hundred on it. It was it was wild. Um and then other than that, because I don't get to I don't get a ton of spare time, I like to sit and watch the world go by. Whether that's on my patio or at the beach with waves or in the mountains with, you know, the sunrise, whatever that is, I like to sometimes just sit and watch the world go by. But if I had to say, it would probably reading and I like to I like to go for walks.

Speaker 11:30

When do you get your audiobooks in? Are you earbuds or are you just on when you're behind a windshield or oh yeah, and behind the windshield.

Speaker 1 11:38

I which I have a lot of windshield time. So um that started when I was servicing, you know, with with Prestige. I drove all day.

Speaker 3 11:45

So I could do that.

Speaker 1 11:47

Yeah.

Speaker 3 11:47

Yeah.

Speaker 1 11:48

I can't I'm not good at my brain doesn't work well enough anymore to do them while I'm doing something else I have to pay attention to. But if I say if after the kids go to bed I'm doing dishes or folding laundry, I'll do it then too. But for the most part, it's windshield time. Are you a fiction person or oh I'm not I am listening to a fiction book right now, but for the most part, this is so weird, y'all. I'm sorry. But I like I like World War II history. That is a very strange thing to be into. I totally understand that. But I go down, I think it started with the Holocaust, and after I visited the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC many years ago, and then that rolled into Nazis and the Hitler regime and understanding that time. And then it rolled into, I mean, you just keep going down rabbit holes. And so I'm probably 200 books in at this point.

Speaker 3 12:42

Oh wow.

Speaker 1 12:43

So um I really enjoy that. Our memories are short and we need to remember our past because we should have learned we should learn from it. But it's uh it's a just a very fascinating period of history for me. I would I would agree with that one.

Speaker 13:00

We don't want to make the same mistakes again, do we?

Speaker 1 13:03

Right. I mean, yeah, you you hope. Um but it is even beyond that, just life was so Yeah, there's just so much to it. All the spies and the the way they uh manipulated the war kind of pre-technology, you know, with information and just all the things. It was it's just there's just a lot of things, pieces and moving parts there. So there's lots of things to read about, but yeah, I enjoy it. So I do listen to some fiction, but not very much. For the most part, it's it's non yeah.

The Zigzag Path To Leadership

Speaker 13:37

Well, that's really cool. Um, so I guess recently you have been you know stepped into the role of executive director of the North Carolina Poultry Federation Federation. I know that was a um I know it's a natural progression from you for um for how some of your part of your career, but let's just talk about it a little bit.

Speaker 1 13:57

So my career path is a zigzag winding road. Um, and some of that I will lead into a question you asked later in the thing, but they kind of go together, so I'm gonna put it put it together in that way. But um I actually met uh Bob Ford, who is my predecessor, who retired, um, when I was in college, when he was actually still interim um at the Federation. So he was brought into the Federation during a time of turmoil and change and and restructuring and just he had his hands full. And they brought him in as interim, I think with the intention of um looking for somebody at the time, but it just it just worked out where he was the right fit and he had already retired from his other job and it was a great natural fit for them and him, and and he just stayed, right? And so I met him the first time, I think in spring of 2005, when I was finishing my masters, um and I was doing some 4-H poultry work at the state level, and I talked to him about the federation supporting barbecue competitions and that kind of thing. But what I really got out of the meeting was a career goal. I told my major professor from that meeting, I was like, I gotta do that. Like, that's the job. And he goes, Shuga, you're not qualified for that. And I was like, but I will be one day, right? And so I've always had this spot in my head as I move through all the things. And I was really fortunate to go to work for a company where I kind of joke and say it's the land of if you will do it, we'll let you do it. But I mean that in a positive way because it really allows you to expand your skill set in ways that being pigeonholed into this job or that one wouldn't. Um, the other thing about prestige is I I kind of describe it as being horizontally managed. There are prestiges. There are people like me who I reported to a prestige my entire career there. And then there's really everybody else. There's not a lot of layers in between, their doors are always open. So that means vertical upward mobility is a little harder in a company like that. But if you'll look left and look right, the opportunities are almost endless. And so I started with the company in um research and uh field service was always a part of it, but I did field research and um trials at the hatchery and that sort of thing. And then obviously I like to talk. We can debate about whether I'm good at it, but I do like to do it. Um and I started getting kind of pulled into projects like the website, the first website redo. And then um I was really invested because I had been an intern uh at Prestige and had a great experience and felt very strongly about paying that forward. And so when the opportunity came to start a turkey internship, I did that. And then when the person that was running the swine side left, I took that, and then I created a feed mill internship, and so that snowballed into a whole other part of a job that I didn't even wasn't even really in my description, but I kept doing it. I did it for a decade. And then that mushroomed into, oh, you need to talk full-time. So I became the public relations person, um, which snowballed into, oh, we're gonna build a plant in Iowa, go work with the government there and make that happen, you know, which again, all these skills, you know, kept expanding my horizon and kind of that my my my the breadth of what I was exposed to and able to do. And all of those things are things that translate directly into this job. And so um I just was very fortunate that Bob stayed in the position long enough to A, allow me to build my skill set, but B allow me to get to a spot in my own life with kids being with getting both kids in school and getting some other things, you know, caught up and done where I felt like I had them in a good spot to leave. Like everything just worked out timing-wise. It just couldn't have been any better. So I'm grateful across the board for the whole the whole experience.

Speaker 18:16

Wow. So it really was a natural progression. That's that's very interesting how that all played out. I mean, yeah. Um, wow, good for you.

Speaker 1 18:25

Yeah, I'm excited. I am very excited to be here. I I hope everybody else is excited, but I sure am.

Speaker 18:32

I think people are excited, uh, Summer, as I talk to folks about you very much so.

Speaker 2 18:37

And I I just appreciate your your forethought of you know, you had a goal in mind, and then you but you went after all these different opportunities and you were willing to learn and try new things so that you could be the right person for the job that you wanted.

Speaker 3 18:53

Yeah.

Speaker 1 18:53

Yeah, and and it wasn't anything I tried to hide. Like Scott and I had that conversation several times over the years, and then when it came up, I think I caught him off guard when it came up the last time, but he was like, Oh, that is you would be great. Let's do it. I mean, he was super duper, um, you know how he's so he's such a people guy, but he he he was very supportive, as was the whole family. And again, it's just one of those moments of gratitude where you look around and go, man, I got lucky. You know, I'm like Mr. President. It isn't about what I did. I just got lucky. I was in the right place at the right time. Um, but all the things that I got exposed to and got to do, even though it was all with one company, really set me up for success here, I think. So I'm I am I'm grateful and excited.

Federation Mission And Strategic Planning

Speaker 19:45

Awesome, awesome. Well, let's talk about the mission of the North Carolina Poultry Federation. What is it that you guys do? Um, and some of your objectives.

Speaker 1 19:57

So the mission is to create a favorable business environment for the poultry industry to thrive here in North Carolina. So that's the mission in a nutshell. We are currently starting, we're actually starting just this month um the strategic planning process because after COVID and um sort of over the last, I'm just gonna say several years, the Federation has been in a period of if not inactivity, a lot less activity. And I think the membership is um ready for a a new direction. I think we all want some change, but we don't all necessarily know what that change needs to look like. And so I one of my first things I wanted to start was strategic planning because as I told them, I need some bumpers on the bowling alley. I'll take it down the lane. I just need to know kind of where your guides are. And I don't know that any of us are truly ready to articulate that. And so we have we're starting the strategic planning process. We've picked a firm or we have a finalist for a firm. They're gonna come and present to the board in just a couple of weeks. And so we're kind of in a period of revitalization. If I had to sum up what my interpretation of that mission is and how my role affects that mission, is to make sure that the poultry industry is represented at every table that it needs representation at. So whether that's legislative, it's regulatory, it's at the university. Our impact, the Federation's impact, needs to match the industry's economic footprint. And that is a sizable ask because we're a big industry. Um, so my job I think is to make sure that we have a voice. Our voice doesn't have to be loud, but it needs to be strong. And so I think I think that's my job is to be our voice and make sure that we're All the places that we need to be to keep the industry strong and healthy.

Speaker 2 22:07

It sounds like you have a clear vision, but has it been daunting? It has.

Speaker 1 22:16

It has. Starting with this sounds great, but pick a starting point. You see one?

Speaker 22:26

Yeah.

Speaker 1 22:26

I don't. So and even if I said I'm going to start right here, well, then what direction are you going from here? It's it's really hard. Um so, which is part of my my motivation with strategic planning. But I do definitely have ideas and thoughts and things I'd like to see. But at the end of the day, my job can guide that vision, but it isn't Summers Federation. It's the Poultry Federation. My job is to execute their vision. So I can certainly express or lay out different options or, like I said, lead guide and direct, but it is not my job, I don't think, to make it my vision. My job is to make their vision come to life. And so I'm hoping that the strategic planning process helps us articulate that vision and and give me some guide rails so that I can. I'm already running pretty hard, but I so that I can run in the direction they want me to.

NC Poultry By The Numbers

Speaker 2 23:27

Right. Well, talk to us about, you know, you're representing a big industry, and you you mentioned that. Talk to us like a large picture. Give us a snapshot of the poultry industry in North Carolina.

Speaker 1 23:42

So we are the number one poultry producing state in the nation by a pretty wide margin. Um, we're the number one in broiler pounds, so you gotta be careful how you specify that. Um, because Georgia is number one, I think, in broiler production, but we grow heavier birds here. So we're number one in pounds. Same story with turkeys. We're number one in turkey pounds. I think Minnesota might grow more birds, but we grow more pounds of meat. We are number nine in egg production, and all of that comes together to be $44.9 billion to the state's economy in 2024. So I think we're yeah, 2024. Um, so of the, I think $112 billion is the number Commissioner Troxler likes to throw around for the farm economy. We're 40% of that all by ourselves, which is a pretty that's a big statement. Um we are 19 or 15 integrators with 19 different complexes across the state. 80% of that is broiler, about 18% of that is turkey, and 2% is egg. But I don't want to make it sound like our egg industry isn't pretty sizable because it is. It's just the egg industry is uh more condensed, I guess, birds per farm and that kind of thing and how they and how they do things. So still big industries. Um, you don't you don't get to be number nine in the nation with with two percent, it's just that brawlers are so big. Um, we have roughly 4,000 active farms that cover uh 70 plus counties across the state. So we have a very large footprint in almost every region of the state. Um it's really just your extreme west and your extreme you know outer banks counties that that don't uh house house production. Yeah. There's not a lot in between that doesn't have poultry.

Speaker 25:38

Yeah, you said complexes. What is a complex? Is that a processing facility? Is that what you're calling?

Speaker 1 25:44

So a complex would be um like Prestiges North Carolina complex is their hatchery, their feed mill, their the farms that support that operation and their processing plant, but all that comes together to be a complex. Um every integrator's complexes look a little different. There might be a hatchery that services multiple complexes or a processing plant that services multiple, but generally it's that integrated arm of that particular company that that services that. So I have integrators that have multiple complexes across the state in different regions.

Speaker 26:23

Right. You said there was 15 integrators and 19 complexes, is that correct?

Speaker 1 26:28

Yep.

One Federation, Three Species, Tough Tradeoffs

Speaker 2 26:30

So in contrast to say other industries, right? Like uh the pork, for example, we just have pigs and pigs are used for one thing essentially, right? But you have uh a more range of you know, eggs, turkeys, broilers. Does that change things for representation and voice and and that kind of thing? Or is it just it does feathers?

Speaker 1 26:56

Um I I am the feather lady, I represent all the feathers, but your voice does I do change um because the species don't always agree on policy. There's some underlying things like waste management and mortality disposal rendering that we're kind of all aligned with. But then there's some other things like high path AI vaccination that we are definitely not. It is a very split picture, and so that's a harder needle to thread with not only my members, but when you talk to regulators and and legislators about those topics, you still have to represent everybody, but you have to clarify who's in the majority on some of those types of issues. And so that's a little stickier wicket. Um, and I'll learn to navigate that I think better as time goes on, but it it does complicate things, whereas it's not just this one or just that one. There's three, and for the most part, we're aligned, but not on everything. And so you have to figure out where that balance is.

Speaker 2 28:05

That's really interesting. As so you're you um have more of a history in turkeys, is that correct?

Speaker 1 28:13

I do, I do, but I think it's important to note that integrated animal ag, whether it's a pig, a turkey, a chicken, it doesn't really matter. The wheel rolls the same. You take out a guilt and you put in a pullet, you take out a market hog and you put in a heavy turkey or a broiler, a roaster chicken, or whatever it is, the process is the same. So I'm learning chickens and kind of their specific challenges because the diseases are a little different and that sort of thing. But the wheel and the process and the production system is the same. And so I'm just now learning more of the nuances, you know, relating broilers to turkeys or layers. You know, layers is probably the most different in the process, but still one I'm familiar with. Um, and all of my education is in broilers until I got to my master's. They don't do a ton of um turkey or layer work, some, but not a ton in your undergrad stuff. So I certainly have chicken experience. It's just my boots on the ground experience is more turkey, but it's all so similar in terms of the production style and the regulations that affect the different pieces of production that I feel pretty well set up for for the discussion at least.

Pork Forward Invitation And Details

Speaker 2 29:33

Yeah. We want to invite you to Pork Forward. This is the state's premier swine and agronomy event. It's happening April 15th at the Sampson County Exposition Center in Clinton. Join more than a thousand producers, industry partners, and experts for a full day of learning, innovation, and hands-on demonstrations. You can also stop by our booth at Based on the Farm and say hi. You'll be able to explore the latest in animal health, equipment, and production technology all in one place. Oh, and there's a free barbecue for lunch. Don't miss this chance to connect, learn, and move the industry forward. For more information, you can visit SmithfieldFoods.com backslash pork forward for more details.

Speaker 30:20

Let's talk a little bit about uh where the product is being consumed at. I know uh with pork, I think about 30% of our uh product is exported and 70% is domestically consumed. So what is it with poultry? And I guess you got chicken and turkey in two separate groups, right?

Speaker 1 30:38

Oh, you do. Um, you do. And I I actually had to look this up. I'm glad that Marissa sent me this ahead of time because I actually had to look it up. But because as I visit complexes, which I'm trying really hard to do, is to meet my members and and learn their businesses. The the numbers vary a lot by complex and company, depending on what their uh business model is, right? So if you've got a company that is a branded product, they want their name in the grocery store, their export story is going to be different than a company that is servicing a grocery store's house brand or private label. So I got the numbers off the USDA so I could give them to you very generally, but know that a given company might export 40%, where another one might not export anything at all. So there's kind of everything in between. But according to the USDA in 2024, broilers exported 15 to 20 percent, uh depending on light birds, heavy bird, you know, numbers, turkeys exported around 10% and eggs around three. We don't export a ton of eggs, they're almost all consumed domestically. Um, but like I said, those things vary, at least with the meat birds, they vary a lot by the company. Um, the other thing to note is broilers chicken, there is no um country, area of the world, or religion that has prohibitions on poultry, which is pretty unique to this species, because you know, there's certain religions that don't eat pork, there's certain that don't eat beef, you know, there's prohibitions on those things depending on where you are in the world and your culture. Poultry doesn't have that. So chicken is consumed everywhere. The export market is huge. Um, turkeys are a little different because they I kind of like to joke and say they're a purely American commodity. They're one of the few animals that were domesticated here on this continent. Um, and so if you think about it, America is only 250 years old. So we've only been exporting turkeys for 250 years, where chicken developed in Asia and came all over the place. So Turkey taste for Turkey is expanding as we speak, and those markets are opening where chicken has a lot longer history. So if you think about our trading partners in the last 200 years, it's Western Europe, uh, Eastern Asia, and of course the Central and South America. So those are the most common turkey markets Mexico gets, the vast majority of our turkey exports. Whereas chicken has a much broader market. The problem with trade agreements at that point becomes they're all lumped together in the same definition. So it's difficult to separate them when you talk about trade. So that was a little sidebar.

Speaker 33:35

Well, you know, chicken per capita chicken consumption has basically tripled over the last 50 years, whereas pork, you know, we've struggled to get people to eat pork, and um now we're trying to get more people domestically eat pork. Our younger people are not eating as much pork as our our our older folks, so we're we're trying to target them. Um but what do you see going on for the next five? Is chicken consumption at a kind of a peak or is it leveled out, or you guys don't give us a chance to catch up or what?

Speaker 1 34:07

Obviously, wrote down pop, not a chance. No. Um, yeah, I I'll applaud your chart. You're trying, but it's not gonna happen. No, I hope it does. I hope everybody gets their market share. But no, if history's any indication, it'll continue to grow. Um chicken, I think I just said that there's really no background or culture that doesn't eat it. And it's also really, really affordable, right? It's it's super easy to cook. Um, and this goes for for all culture. I mean, think about all the things you can do with an egg, right? Um, I joke and say eggs are one of my desert island foods. If I'm gonna be stranded, I need a chicken, some peanut butter, and a potato, and I'd be great. Um, but chicken doesn't have those, so you can do anything with it. Oh, me too. I mean, I I'm like Bubba Gump and the shrimp. I I could name, I'd be sitting here for years if I tried to tell you all the things I want to do with an egg. But um, chicken's that way too, right? Like think of every you can make chicken fancy or you can make it very humble, like and everything in between. There's no socioeconomic strata of the economy that that can't and doesn't can't afford chicken and doesn't know how to cook it. So whether you're stir-frying it or putting it in a quesadilla or you're frying it in the cast iron, everybody eats it. And so that's not true of all the other proteins. Turk turkey struggles with that, some too. It's just a little harder to cook. Um, you know, people are a little more afraid of it because it's it's bigger, right? Pork falls into this category. You gotta know your cut and what you're gonna use it for, and that sort of thing. Chicken's not that way. You can fry a breast, you can fry a thigh, you can fry the wing, uh, you know, you can do anything with it. So I think it's um kind of the everybody protein. Um, I do think it's important to note though that turkey is the only animal-derived superfood on the like list of dietary things, like with blueberries and some of like kale, turkey's on that list because it's pure protein. Yep.

Speaker 36:13

Wow, that's interesting.

Speaker 1 36:15

I didn't know that.

Speaker 36:16

Yeah. Turkey to superfood.

Speaker 1 36:18

It is that's right. So I yeah, put that out there. But but poultry in general is just it's accessible, it's affordable, it's healthy, and they're just it's endless possibilities for what you can do with it. And so I think that will only continue to fuel its demand. Yeah, and certainly as the economic strata in the middle class expands across the world, healthy animal-derived protein kind of goes along with that trend. And so I just think poultry doesn't have anywhere to go but up. Right.

Speaker 2 36:51

Well, I think you nailed it on the head with you know, uh it's the simplification of it, right? It's it's simple, it is, you know, it's it serves a diverse group, and it doesn't have those barriers of culture that so many other and or I also think about you cook chicken, like you have to cook it to a certain degree, no matter what it is. Yeah, whereas steak or even pork, you can make it rare and you can make it not so rare, and people get really upset about it.

Speaker 1 37:21

Yeah, nobody wants rare chicken, it's not a thing.

Speaker 2 37:23

Nope. So it's served me good chicken, yeah.

Speaker 1 37:26

That's right, that's right. It is hard to mess up chicken, it just really is.

Speaker 3 37:32

Yes.

Speaker 2 37:34

Well, what do you uh consider special about North Carolina chicken? Like they're not chicken, but poultry industry. Like what makes North Carolina special?

Speaker 1 37:44

Oh, our size and scale for sure. Um, those get used against us a lot, but I I think it's remarkable. We truly are a modern marvel. Like there's a reason the History Channel makes documentaries about our business because it's really cool. And the fact that we do so much with so little, especially in a state where the the pressures for land and resources are are are more every day for all of our animal production, we are so efficient at what we do. And even if you look just at the turn of the century in the year 2000, you know, I say 26 years ago now, even from then to now, the progress we've seen with efficiency and sustainability and all of those things is just really cool. So to me, if I had to, when I was looking at your questions, narrowing it down, our size and scale is what really makes us special.

Speaker 38:45

Well, let's talk about some challenges with with poultry. What uh what do you see as some of your I mean, we hear about AI um and some stuff like disease challenges. What are those your biggest concerns, diseases, or is it is it production or is it farmland preservation? What are some of your bigger concerns?

Speaker 1 39:04

Here in North Carolina, I think nationally for sure, AI is on everybody's mind. Um especially right now, man. It is boy stuff. We had a new break this morning um here in North Carolina and then Pennsylvania, I think they've lost 150 million layers in the last month. I mean, it is something, watch your egg prices. Uh, it's it's fixing to hurt. But so AI, disease challenges, um, because anytime you concentrate production right, you concentrate your challenges. But I think for me in North Carolina, if I had to really narrow down the things that I worry the most about, it's it's kind of what I was telling Chad before we started recording. Uh Roy Lee hit on it yesterday with his panel of what happens when the right to farm meets development. Because North Carolina is one of the fastest growing states in the nation. I think we have something like 100,000 people a month coming here. I can't remember what Roy Lee said yesterday, but it's it's really remarkable how much the state is growing, but the pressure that growth puts on our farmers, and that's is not unique to poultry. This is swine, this is row crops, this is everybody, um, is is challenging because for my industry, you know, you got water resources, and then when you have processing plants that are either inside or next to municipalities, you have wastewater treatment capacity issues. And when those developments want to come, they also add to you know some of that water and wastewater issues that we're just going to be unintended consequences or victims of. And so for me, I think that urban, rural meat or the pressure that that development puts on the industry, and then all the various ramifications of that are the is the thing I worry the most about. It just is changing the landscape almost faster than we can keep pace with it.

Speaker 41:03

Yeah, we've been doing some some podcasts on farmland preservation. I don't know if you follow or seen some of the latest ones, but um it is it is really a complex issue. Um and it is we're gonna have to communicate clearly, um, and everybody's gonna have to be at the table. It's it's just um it's it's gonna be interesting to see how it how it goes over the next couple months and years, really.

Speaker 1 41:25

It really is because when you bring in people that are not from here, because even people that are from here, I don't know, realize how important agriculture is to the economy. They're just used to seeing the tractor on the road or they're used to seeing the pig truck or the turkey truck or whatever it is, but they don't necessarily understand that that is the economic driver of the state. Because I've even had people in agriculture say, really? It's not tech. I'm like, no, Suge, RTP is is this. We are, you know. Yeah. Um, and tech I don't even know is in the top five. It last time I looked, it was ag, the military tourism, and like the the next three or four don't, and you put them all together don't equal ag. I mean, we're we really are the the ruler of the economic roost, so to speak. So um it's gonna be a challenge. But the when you bring in people that aren't from here and aren't aware of that, even that communication piece becomes so important and educating them about, you know, our tax dollars pay your roads and pay a ride for your schools and you know, do your this program or that one and support pick your community program, but that education piece it will become more and more and more critical. Communication is key.

Speaker 42:46

Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 2 42:48

Do you find that when you're talking to farmers on the ground that that they are echoing those same challenges?

Commodity Partnerships And Unified Messaging

Speaker 1 42:57

You know, I think because I have a very soft spot for growers of all sorts of things, of course. I was raised by one and he was my favorite man ever. Um But I think they I think they're like a lot of us. They get they're in their bubble, and their bubble knows how important agriculture is. And we all, you know, we all everybody uses the preach to the choir. Everybody's good at talking to the choir. They're they're your primary audience, right? But we're not very good at turning around and talking to the congregation sometimes. And so I don't know that I see some growers do the ones that are in tune with boards or some of some wider agricultural groups and hearing some of those messages, but a lot of your everyday boots on the ground, growers, farmers, producers, pick your adjective, um are I think a little bit insulated from some of those challenges and maybe don't realize how important their voice is as. should be. And so I think that's another area where part of my job I think going forward will be helping to communicate that even to our own people. Yeah. They need their they need a summer. I don't know about that, but I want to I want to help I want to help the whole industry from the bottom to the top. And so I think if if one part of our industry is healthy, the health of one part it creates, you know, it's a web. It's a very interconnected. And so whether you're talking about allied industry or the production arm or integrators, if one's not healthy, it trickles down to the rest. And so we've all got to work together to make sure that that those efforts are being led in a a lockstep kind of way. Which is why I think Roy Lee's um speech about partnerships is really important.

Speaker 44:54

I I really feel good about um North Carolina's agriculture industry right now as far as everybody working together. I mean we've got um the Farm Bureau and the Port Council and now you at the Federation coming together to ag partnership. There's so many we all are in our own lanes going the same direction and I really I really feel good about it. How about you?

Speaker 1 45:18

I do I think um I think as there's been I don't want to say turnover as if that's a a good or a bad thing but I think as the trade association leaderships are turning over across the commodities there's been a real desire with we'll call it the New Guard to form those partnerships. So um myself pork, peanuts, corn, Christmas trees, sweet potatoes, eggs, everybody gets together quarterly now as an ag commodity leadership group and we discuss issues um kind of amongst ourselves to make sure that if there is a spot where we diverge we at least come out of the room with what is their messaging what is ours how where's our compromise what are we going to say or not say those sorts of things. And so I think there is a real desire among all the commodities to be much more unified than I think there there maybe has been in the past. And I think that'll be very important as some of these issues gain traction going forward. So yeah I I do feel very good about at least the unified the unification of the commodities because North Carolina is so diverse. I think we grow 98 different things like the third most diverse state in the nation it's it's pretty unbelievable how how neat our our industry is. So I do feel I do feel very good about that.

Speaker 2 46:51

Yeah I think that unification is such a good a good step and um and so important especially when we consider you know consumers they don't want to look at us bickering among ourselves or or you know that kind of thing. Like we need to be unified um and we need to be strong.

Leadership Program That Changed Her Thinking

Speaker 47:11

So yes agreed agreed well I tell you the poultry um what you've shared with us about the poultry federation and just the whole industry as a whole has been eye-opening to me. I knew it was big um but I've got some a better understanding of it after talking with you about it. I appreciate you bringing us up to speed there. I would like to go back and talk a little bit about the Tobacco Trust Fund uh agricultural leadership program. I know you were part of that we've had several of our guests uh have been a part of that program. Uh Dr. Collins is legendary right yes he is share with us how you got involved with that and just tell us a little bit about that program.

Speaker 1 47:54

Dr. Collins sucked me into that um and I could not be more grateful. Yeah I love him he is a legend yeah he is a legend I just you can't say enough good things about him as he would say he is locked and loaded and the checks in the mail. He so I was I was on the Ag Institute um board for NC State for I think a decade or more earlier in my career. I taught in the Ag Institute when I was in graduate school and just it's kind of near and dear to my heart. I think it's a great program. But I was on the board during their last uh accreditation and I actually chaired the curriculum committee and Dr. Collins came and sat in when I was doing a committee report out one day over at Brookhaven and at the end you know how he is he points and he says you you got to come talk to me I got something for you and I was like okay I have no idea who you are but all right let's do it and so I go out and he tells me that he's gonna come to Wallace he's gonna talk to my husband and that I'm going to do his program and I'm like okay and within I want to say just a couple of weeks of that we we literally had dinner with him and Miss Ann at the ad at the mad boar. So it it was pretty fast but it was um it was all Dr. Collins and that's another one of those opportunities that the prestiges gave me the opportunity to take advantage of but it's the single best personal and professional development thing I've ever done. Ray Starling gets upset when I tell this story but it is true. It's a very watershed moment on the very first day of of the program they put up a picture on the the big screen right and it was I'll just describe it so you can see the difference in my mind and Ray's but because it's there is a moral to this story. It was a a cornfield at sunset very field of dreams was a baseball field in the cornfield there's an old tractor um there's a sunset in the background in the foreground is a little boy on a seesaw that's very ratty with his golden retriever and like a I don't know if it's a slide or a swing set something over on the other side. So they said the prompt was something along the lines of tell us what you see or describe what you see in the picture. So I am if anybody's ever met me very list oriented I make lists for everything. Everything is a bullet pointed outline right so I literally make a list of what I see in the picture I see a cornfield I see a tractor I see a boy I see a seesaw you know the list goes on. Well I was sitting I'm a back row Baptist so I was sitting on the back row so I got to hear everybody else first and somewhere in the middle comes Ray. And if you've met Ray he can spin a tail out of dog poo I mean he just win a food right so Ray opens up with I see a boy contemplating his future he's looking out into and it just keeps going and in that moment he he's like Samurai I can't believe you keep telling this story but it truly was a moment where something shifted in my brain and I went he saw all that in the cornfield like I was amazed but what it did for me the shift was everybody doesn't see things the same way right and his perspective was so eye-opening mine is still important you need people that are that are detail oriented that make lists that are actionable but you need those kind of thinkers and you need all the people in between and those perspectives are very important. And I'm not gonna say I was narrow before I certainly didn't think of myself that way but that was the start of the program really developing active listening skills actionable turning those into actionable items and how you harness those perspectives for really positive change. And I tell that story because I can pinpoint when the shift happened it was right then and everything after that was just gravy right so if I could have stopped the first day and been a different person but it it just kept going. And then the exposure to people like Dr. Collins and Blake and Blake Brown and and those sorts of things only makes it better. And when you add the trips to Brazil and the other states it really gives you an appreciation for how global ag has become and how as much as it sounds great for us to be very insulated and stay to stay to in North America and all the things that isn't our reality we can't feed our animals we can't get you know the byproducts out where we need them to go we can't we can't function without the global economy and we are such an important part of that. I think the program does a fabulous job of helping you understand yourself helping you understand how yourself relates to other people and then how to make that a positive thing and I I think I think anybody that has the opportunity to go through it or executive farm management depending on you know your role in the economy should absolutely do it if they have the the time and resources those leadership programs are very invaluable.

Brazil, Global Ag, And Bigger Than Home

Speaker 53:19

And we're thinking about you know who's going to lead after us right or who's gonna be our next leaders uh developing those and it is is very important. And I tell you um I I was raised on a farm and I I I knew about pigs here but when I did um the port leadership institute and was able to travel overseas and see that international component uh it was eye-opening I mean it really was you and you can't quite grasp it until you go see it or I at least I couldn't um yeah so that's I mean I'm guessing you know and now the port council we're doing some port leadership in Carolina and I'm sure you're gonna have to start or maybe you already got some programs developed.

Speaker 1 54:01

So no we don't but it is definitely on summer's list.

Speaker 54:05

Now where that list makes it in strategic planning I don't know strategic plan yeah that's right it's gonna be in the strategic plan.

Speaker 1 54:12

Yeah but it's definitely on the list because I I I guess you you hear how like I'll use soybeans as the example because it was one of those things in Brazil where I went wait what? I was in leadership now I was the class of 2012 2014 so 12 to 14 years ago depending on your math but um when we went to Brazil so Prestige has two meals uh here in North Carolina they each have 900 000 bushels of storage at those mills there's some bigger some smaller of course but I'd say a million to two million bushels is pretty average for a feed mill here even the the really big ones we went to a single soybean farm there that had 9 million bushels of on-farm storage. We stood in a field that I am not kidding it was soybeans to the edge of the earth to the horizon so it I mean and it's not like in Iowa where there was even a break it was just soybeans as far as you could see and what stuck out with me there was they were developing we have it here now you'll remember this Chad um being and maybe Marissa too I don't know if your family had soybeans but soybean leaves used to be round right soybeans the leaves on the plant were a lot rounder even 12 or 14 years ago the reason they've gotten more like this is because it was developed in Brazil because the plants the the fields were so big they couldn't pollinate to the end the wind couldn't get all the way through them. So they developed a more aerodynamic leaf so that the pollination went all the way through their field. And now you see those things here but that was developed they so when you start thinking about how interconnected and like how where you know we develop this and they develop that and then it all becomes you just can't appreciate it until you see things like that. Yeah it's very cool. They've got some good soil down there too oh yeah they do I mean they're on the edge of the rainforest we could that's a whole nother discussion but yes it is it's magic.

Speaker 56:19

It's magic they can triple crop soybeans it's unbelievable wow we've been talking almost an hour now that's incredible isn't it I could probably go another hour. I told you I like to talk nobody sounds good at it but I sure do like to do it I like to learn I I really do it's been interesting.

Speaker 1 56:38

Anything uh summer that we think we maybe missed or um that you'd like to share with us I think the thing I always like to leave people with um if I had to share what makes things special for me or what I want people to understand about our business, it all comes back to our people and how dedicated they are and how many hands touched your food in some way shape form or fashion before it got to your plate. That was the the thing I always told interns I didn't bring you here to recruit you for a job I brought you here to send you out as a goodwill ambassador and to leave here knowing that A, we're doing what we say we're doing. We are taking care of our animals. We are making sure that they have what they need while they're here that we are raising them to be healthy, wholesome, affordable protein whether that's pigs, pork or pork, turkey, chicken, whatever it is and that everybody you met along that process, the hundreds of people it took to get this to your plate really cared and were dedicated to the process. And I think that's really the message at the end of the day is is the care and dedication that our people bring to production.

Speaker 57:58

It truly is about people I mean there's no question about it. Yeah.

Speaker 2 58:03

It is and I know I know there's a lot of people out there that are glad to have you on the team and as part of one of those people because your passion your passion really shines bright and your knowledge is incredible and yeah I just I'm excited to see you in this role and I know there's a lot of people also excited to see you in this role.

Speaker 1 58:23

Well I really appreciate that I think the the excitement is about change not as much about me but maybe the change that I represent and I'm here for that. I'm excited about it.

Speaker 58:33

So put me on the list uh sign me up I'm ready let's do it yeah well thank you Summer for joining us on Raise on the Farm Podcast I appreciate you so much.

Speaker 1 58:44

No I appreciate y'all having me and uh I hope to see you soon. Yeah.

Speaker 58:49

Yep.

Speaker 2 58:51

Well that wraps up another episode of Raise on the Farm Podcast where everything is on the table. Do us a favor and make sure you follow us on social media and hit subscribe wherever you're listening so you don't miss an episode. Market calendars for April 15th is for the foot forward event it's gonna be awesome if you don't want to miss it and until next time we'll also see you later