The Poultry Leadership Podcast Transcript
Episode 6 Season 1
Attendees
Brandon Mulnix, Meredith Dawson
Transcript
This editable transcript was computer generated and might contain errors. People can also change the text after it was created.
Brandon Mulnix- Welcome to the Poultry Leadership Podcast
Brandon Mulnix: Meredith and I met many couple years ago at the poultry.
Meredith Dawson: Hey, thanks for having me Brandon.
Meredith Dawson: Yeah, I would love to my name is Meredith. I live in Opelika, Alabama, which is right next to Auburn Alabama where I went to school. I'm recently married and have two dogs both adopted. I love them. I grew up in north Alabama the town called Arab and was consistently a part of organizations like 4-H and FFA. So always love just being around agriculture. I ended up getting my undergraduate from Auburn University and meet science and then actually stayed on it Auburn to get my graduate degree in poultry. So after I graduated from that in 2018, I worked in the industry for two different companies until about 2021 and then in 2021 I decided I was ready for a change in found what and the rest is history.
Brandon Mulnix: What is Watt Publications?
Meredith Dawson: So Watt Publications as you already said in your intro is one of the most famous media companies in the poultry industry and I actually have the pleasure of being an editor of a couple of the briefings and magazines for that company, which has been such a joy and pleasure. I love my job.
Brandon Mulnix: So when you say what are the names of those Publications
Meredith Dawson: So my role involves a couple of different things the first four first and foremost, I'm the managing editor of AG industry insights. So air condition egg industry inside is a weekly briefing that covers news and events happening in the commercial AG industry. So, I'll cover anything from new construction to new research to company Acquisitions and everything in between. I also run my blog post in egg industry Insight. So all the editors at what actually get to have a Blog and they're all on what agnet.com mine's name is hins and Trends so, it's fun. yeah all the editors at what help blog. Like I said in our box, just give us
Meredith Dawson: The opportunity to cover topics related to the poultry industry that don't necessarily fit into everyday news. for example, I've covered things like how Taylor Swift potentially impacted egg prices or tiktok Trends involving eggs, or Advice for women who are wanting to start a career in the poultry industry. So lots of fun topics that don't exactly fall into the everyday is for the poultry industry.
Brandon Mulnix: So you're not gonna see those on USA Today as much as you might see them on. what Publications?
Meredith Dawson: No, no. Yeah, unfortunately, you won't find them but I still think they're really interesting. so I'm actually almost also one of editors for one of our most popular magazines called what poultr Y industry and it actually reaches a global audience. So it's pretty big. It covers turkey and Broiler Health Nutrition marketing husband dream processing welfare and a lot more.
00:05:00
Meredith Dawson: It also features our annual top Broiler and turkey companies review which is a fun thing that we put together every year. we send a survey to all the top companies in the US and then we use those answers to put together valuable information for the industry. So we get to package it all up and put a bow on it and say this is all the information that we collected in our survey and do what you will with it.
Brandon Mulnix: I know I get the layer side of that one and I just saw a preview of it for the upcoming release and that information is so important to me as a vendor to understand, what the size and scope and the changes of what's going on at the different Farms this year on the layer side through a lot of Acquisitions and just seeing how those numbers change and for an industry like the poultry industry, Gathering that information. Do you get a pretty good response on your surveys?
Meredith Dawson: yeah, we get a pretty good response. and we're not just asking, the standard objective questions. how many layers do you have? Even though we do ask those we get to ask more subjective questions as well. what do you think the industry will be like in 2040 what percentage of it will be cage free and those kinds of questions and that's really valuable information that we get to see, come across our laptops And then we get to put it together and graphs and hearts that people like you in the industry can look at it a quick glance and say okay. That's what the industry things were headed.
Brandon Mulnix: Very interesting, for us it helps us identify our market share, we can look at the customers go. Yeah, we do business with them and that we do business with that farm over there and we look at the list and see who's not on the list anymore through the acquisition side of it and…
Meredith Dawson: Mm-hmm
Brandon Mulnix: we missed that farm, but at least we get to still work with, the people that work there when they were acquired by, x y z company in the industry, so really appreciate that work because without it, I don't know how much of us would gather that information. So they're more forthcoming with you when it comes to answering a survey then probably answering all of our calls. So really appreciate that work. really serving industry
Meredith Dawson: Yeah. Yeah, it's a unique data set that we get the privilege to put together and it's fun as well. We get to talk to a lot of different people, but the other side of my job is that I'm also the editor for a magazine that we produce called poultry in.
Meredith Dawson: So it provides a large source of data compiled into one place. So I'm actually the person that gets to collect all of this data which can be quite tedious but it's pretty cool. So I collect all this data from sources like the food and agriculture organization or the oecd or the usda's monthly reports the European commission all of these different places. I'm plucking out data and information that's an interest to our readers and then I compile it into easy to read graphs and charts and yeah, I get to put that together and get that out and it usually goes over pretty well, so
Brandon Mulnix: So I imagine I'm a farm manager and I'm not the owner. why should I that issue of the magazine. what should I glean from that?
Meredith Dawson: this magazine is different from some of our other magazines because the majority of it is graphs and charts. So I'm plucking out all of this important information from these 300 plus page reports that people in the industry aren't gonna have a ton of time to pick through and say what do I need to know out of here the report's important it comes out every year but I don't have time to read it. So that's where this magazine kind of bridges that Gap and I spend that time, getting that important information for readers and our Professionals in the industry and telling you what you need to know so
Brandon Mulnix: steer so you're giving me the Meredith note version instead of the cliff note version of the report then is that correct?
Meredith Dawson: Yeah, the Meredith meat and…
Meredith Dawson: potatoes. Yeah.
Brandon Mulnix: You're smart enough to be able to digest it and…
Brandon Mulnix: so far, I trust what you have to say and I'm not sure I say that about all media. So no problem there.
Meredith Dawson: Yeah, I appreciate that.
00:10:00
Brandon Mulnix: So, okay, so there's other Publications what Publications might be valuable for that farm manager then
Meredith Dawson: So we have a few different things that walk puts together. We have the magazines that I've already mentioned what poultry in
Meredith Dawson: poultry in
Brandon Mulnix: I can speak for the poultry. I Said earlier you're looking in the future and it's exciting because the folks there are sometimes a small companies looking for an opportunity to break in the market, but the customers that are there are also some of the best understanding the industry and what's going to work and what's not going to work in the industry. And so Lively conversations that happen at that event. They're Priceless. I mean for us what great feedback on some of our new technology that we're trying to release the industry then folks that are there that are
Brandon Mulnix: In that mindset, so, it's just a great event. I would encourage all customers to be represented there in some way just because of the information that's being provided. It's great and it's not a sales formats and the educational format. really good on that. So, how is what Publications using technology to reach the farm managers?
Meredith Dawson: so I have Two different answers for this question. Number one, what is always looking for new technology that will help our audience do their jobs better,…
Brandon Mulnix: something
Meredith Dawson: That's the name of the game one example is our event that we just talked about poultry. I
Meredith Dawson: people to get to present And then they get to present their new technology and why it's gonna have an impact on the poultry industry. And then in addition to the time that those presenters are getting on stage at the event. We also provide written Comfort written coverage of their presentations to distribute to our Global audience. So that's where I come in. I'm the one writing up along with one of my colleagues. We're the ones writing up all of that information to get it out on a digital platform. So another example what has it similar to that is our feed mill the future conference that we actually hold at ippe. It's organized by Watts feed Brands which are feeding green and feed strategy. And it gives feed industry experts and opportunity to learn about new technologies or innovations that will impact the animal feed industry. So
Brandon Mulnix: Sounds like a great conference and if it's anything like the tech Summit, it will be an outstanding event. You'll have some great speakers there.
Meredith Dawson: Mm- the second side of the question, about technology is how is what using new technology to impact our own operations? Right? And what are we using day to day? So one of the big ways is through, artificial intelligence and I think we'll artificial intelligence. It's funny. We have to remind ourselves if we've been using it for some time now without really realizing it right. So, we're using transcription software and that helps us, get our articles out in the timely manner and that's powered by artificial intelligence or you go to a website that has a chat bot and that's artificial intelligence, right, but
00:15:00
Brandon Mulnix: and right
Meredith Dawson: anyways Watson the process of figuring out how artificial intelligence is gonna best suit our needs now and in the future and we don't really use generative AI that much, when you're creating newer original content, but we're finding ways to use it to look at our own information rather than pulling things from the internet because you have to be careful in that regard because not everything on the internet is true. Yeah, no.
Brandon Mulnix: there's a Wikipedia for it. It's got to be true.
Meredith Dawson: Yeah, That's so yeah, we have to be really careful in that regard. But we're looking at new stuff all the time Microsoft just released its co-pilot feature, which is an artificial intelligence tool and it's pretty cool. So I think we're figuring out how we could use something like that to improve our process. We don't really do this a ton. But some media companies are using ad tools to write articles for them, right? I'm still here, so we're not doing that.
Meredith Dawson: So we play around, with chat GPT and find ways that we can use stuff like that is maybe a personal assistant or something to that capacity. So, I may be used chat GPT once once every week or two weeks or so and the main thing I would use it for is if I need to for example interview someone on a topic that I'm not familiar with So if I do have to do that, I can ask at gpg GPT. Excuse me to help me put together interview questions on that topic and guide me in the right direction on something that I don't have much knowledge on. so Yeah,…
Brandon Mulnix: Wow.
Meredith Dawson: so what does have ideas and we're working through it. We don't exactly know where we're going with technology, but we do know that as things pop up and they make sense to our process. We're willing to try it.
Brandon Mulnix: I'm glad I'm at the only one that gets a list of interview questions out of Chad GPT because starting this podcast had everything to do with from naming it all the way through asking questions was okay. How do I do this? And of course Chad reach GPT have a lot of answers and now I switched to some more of the Google in it integrated tools but you can find Automated intelligent tools and a lot of software that's being released because that's what brings value people. Whether it's problem solving and a help desk. Hey, look over my problems and figure out, we've documented the problems we document the recommend solutions for me and then help me create the documents that actually provide the answer to the help desk person little things like that and
Brandon Mulnix: There's really positive ways to we use our prism controls for counting eggs, technology that had been perfected in a lot of other areas and then just utilize it to round objects in a Dusty environment, very cool. So What if you mentioned AI being a new technology something that you're still trying to figure out what are some of the other challenging aspects of being a journalist at what publication?
Meredith Dawson: I've been with what for two and a half coming up on three years. So I would say, I've had enough experience to
Meredith Dawson: Figure out what's rewarding about my job and what's challenging about it and maybe how I can improve it in the future. what's really rewarding for me is someone telling me that they enjoyed something that I wrote or that it had an impact on their day-to-day life or an impact on their process or helped them do their job better. as far as a challenge, I would say the opposite someone telling me that they didn't enjoy something that I wrote which has happened a few times at least but that aspects just comes with a job. that we report what's going on in the industry and it's not always positive news, but we're here to tell the story and convey the message and figure out how to move forward from those things. But I have had people tell me they didn't like what I wrote.
Brandon Mulnix: Don't worry this podcast that I started is only five episodes in and I've already gotten negative feedback as well. So it's anytime you put yourself out there in your creator. Somebody's gonna maybe not agree with that in some way. Do you find you're able to?
Meredith Dawson: That's right.
Brandon Mulnix: Help with change as a journalist Even in our industry affect change.
00:20:00
Meredith Dawson: I do I mean I think I mentioned earlier. I have all kinds of information coming across my inbox and my email people across the world sharing new research new innovation and there's so much, good stuff to put out there and I'm thankful that I get to help tell the good story of the poultry industry and share all these good things with people who don't know it That's basically what my job is I get to share things with people who haven't heard it yet. So, Yeah, I think that that does impact, the industry and in both change.
Brandon Mulnix: In why? I mean I talk about change and one of our passions here at prison controls is about not after edit this out.
Brandon Mulnix: One of our passions in the industry is to help farmers through technology. And when we look at problems like fire in the industry. if we can keep A farmer from losing a flock or losing a barn. We know we're making a difference. for all the years that environmental controls have been around,…
Meredith Dawson: right
Brandon Mulnix: you take for granted the comfort of the animal. And it's so important for us the conversation that you and I have had about them and other things is we're able to send a message to the industry that there is change that is possible.
Brandon Mulnix: And how that change gets communicated because this is such a llabor Product that's going to save all Farms money eventually as the insurance companies accept it is getting it out there and there's no better way than just to share the story and…
Meredith Dawson: right
Brandon Mulnix: I believe you've been key to helping us share that story and get that change and it's not for the prophesied of it. It's for the benefit of the farmer is share the good news. This is available across the industry and it's something that They're not reading the USA Today. They're not reading the New York Times. The reason why Publications so getting that information and being critical to say I keep hearing about this. These good stories are happening about it. I can Implement that in my business it kind of builds Trust. So that's really cool that I do see where you're affecting change in the industry. That way is by sharing those stories and positive and negative.
Meredith Dawson: Yeah. Yeah, that's what being an editor is share the good news and share the regular news. Maybe no bad news, but share the good news and it causes change in the industry and the work that I've done with you and with prism controls is a perfect example of creating change and getting to share this technology that could reduce form fires say birds say producers money, all around good products, so
Brandon Mulnix: So besides having other news feeds like local paper or Google. I'm assuming you have Google searches on a lot of the industry businesses stuff like that. Just share when something happens in the industry that made the local news so to speak how do you get most of your new stories?
Meredith Dawson: Yeah, the way I get leads for articles is actually probably the most common question. I get people are really interested and how I figure out what I'm gonna write about and I was actually a little confused about it as well when I first started at what but the answer is all kinds of ways Google Alerts like you just said industry contacts people emailing me, press releases. But as you establish yourself in the editor role and make connections that live events people begin to know you and will forward you all kinds of information. So, gaining the trust of the public and gaining the trust of the connections that you make at conferences and Live Events and other things is really key to getting that information to get to your inbox as quickly as possible. So all kinds of ways is the answer
Brandon Mulnix: And I'm assuming you have so much content. You need to produce on a regular basis. I mean, that's why you have your own needs to get articles. And so, would you encourage people to? share that news with you so that way, make your job a little easier to
Meredith Dawson: Always yeah. Yeah, sharing your story with me no matter if you think it's important or not or you think that it's of interest to you to watch readers or to the world in general, send it anyways and you never know what I've seen come across my inbox in the last week or month and how all of that can connect and it might be the piece to a story that I need. it could be more important that you think and pictures is another thing pictures are so important to convey a story if there's something that you'd like to talk about, having me right up into an article pictures help convey the story to readers and feeling fill in the gaps that words can't really do so.
00:25:00
Brandon Mulnix: I'm sure there's plenty of pictures on people's phones that you just wish you could have to help tell that story because there's people
Meredith Dawson: Yeah, yeah exactly.
Brandon Mulnix: usually pictures worth 1,000 words in that case, So…
Meredith Dawson: Exactly exactly.
Brandon Mulnix: if I'm just getting started out in the poultry industry, what advice would you have for me?
Meredith Dawson: gosh so much advice. Probably the biggest thing I would say is there so many more jobs that touch the poultry industry, then you could ever even imagine positions and digital marketing Market Communications Market intelligence. Product management media like me, the list goes on is absolutely insane. Actually. This topic is kind of what I did one of my blog posts about it was actually specifically for women. It was about advice for women starting careers in the poultry industry. And one of the points in it is to go to LinkedIn and see if anyone that has any of these titles that you're interested in and the poultry industry and just reach out to them and ask what kind of job they have and how they got into it.
Meredith Dawson: so many students and poultry I
Brandon Mulnix: yeah, I'm gonna have you share that blog post with me and I'll put it in the notes so that way people can find that article that so
Meredith Dawson: I would love to yeah.
Brandon Mulnix: we talked about. what you enjoy writing about. But what are you most passionate about when it comes to the poultry industry?
Meredith Dawson: That's a good question. like I mentioned early on in the beginning, I've always wanted to be a part of agriculture in some way. I did 4-H. I did all the judging and all of that good stuff and got my undergrad and meet science got my masters and poultry. who I am and that's what I want to do. But I love being a part of an industry that is able to feed the world sustainably. with inexpensive protein That's the key sustainably with inexpensive proteins. So every year, poultry industry and…
Brandon Mulnix: right
Meredith Dawson: it's always gonna have different kinds of jobs to offer young adults. So I think that makes it really appealing
Brandon Mulnix: Yeah, ultimately, the number of chickens have not gone down. As the population as exports go up. the ability to feed not only the us but the world takes a lot of people.
Meredith Dawson: It does it does.
Brandon Mulnix: Yeah, we talk about consolidation. But yet the number of farms Know of too many farms that have ever been shuttered…
Meredith Dawson: right
Brandon Mulnix: because of not needing the eggs or the birds that they produce. So that's cool.
Meredith Dawson: Yeah. Yeah,…
Brandon Mulnix: Definitely. definitely
Meredith Dawson: and we talked about earlier all this new innovation. That's probably up in the industry. it's popping up along right side of that is new jobs new positions for all of these young people coming up that want to be involved in technology and want to go that route and want to be involved in new product Innovation and those kind of Realms and there's so many things that Poultry industry offers, it's hard not to like it.
00:30:00
Brandon Mulnix: We were talking today at lunch about. How technology and finding interns is a challenge for the pope for our industry or for us as a company let alone the industry because of the scale of things, but once we get them in the door, and they realize what they're doing and how much effect they have on the world. They don't leave.
Meredith Dawson: Right, right exactly.
Brandon Mulnix: Okay, they stay whether they're an intern or they're an employee very rarely. Have we ever seen anybody leave the poultry industry or leave our company and then leave the poultry industry. They tend to stay there's something about it. And that's really cool. I'm asking how you're helping the poultry industry, but how can the poultry industry help you?
Meredith Dawson: So that's an interesting question with someone in my position. like I said, my position is to report the good news about what's going on and in the poultry industry all good news bad news, obviously, but people in the industry can really help me by continuing to forward me information of what's going on. continue to form forward me information about what you want to convey to the industry and we'll see what we can do I'm gonna pump position because like I said I get Much information across my email about what's going on in poultry.
Meredith Dawson: in
Brandon Mulnix: And I'm sure A lot of people have to be careful about the images. They send the message the company permission all of those things,…
Meredith Dawson: of course.
Brandon Mulnix: but I mean, there's so many great things that happen. When I do read about publications, it's not about the bad stuff. Yeah, there's hpai but the way it's covered or the way it's talked about. It's like hey, we're not just gonna talk We know about the problem. We know how many birds are dying. What's the solution? What can we work together on and that's where you're bringing and uniting voices because someone may have that idea to form and Iowa and they realize wait, that idea is still going so it gives them confidence in the idea that they can then push through their company to Hey remember this idea on biosecurity that's being done over Nebraska at this farm and they learned it because I learned that because I read an article on what about it? Can we look into that? so Really does kind of pick you off an island and…
Meredith Dawson: right
Brandon Mulnix: give you some Vision as to what's going on in the industry, which is really cool. With any leader.
Meredith Dawson: exactly
Brandon Mulnix: They've had to overcome something in their career. And we're all human we've all struggled with things. What's one thing that you've overcome in your journey?
Meredith Dawson: probably just finding my place and where I fit in the poultry industry has been The biggest thing I've probably overcame, I liked working in agriculture. I know I wanted to do it the poultry industry is great. And I love what I do. And when I worked, in the industry, after graduation and before I came to why I gained a lot of valuable knowledge that I never would have gotten otherwise and I'm thankful for that. But I know I wasn't gonna stay there long-term and I know it wasn't for me and coming to that conclusion seems simple when I say it but it was hard in the moment because even then I didn't know the options available to me in the industry. I just didn't know where I fitted because I didn't know all the options right hindsides 2020.
Meredith Dawson: So, that's why it's important to really explore what jobs are available in the industry and have the confidence to put yourself out there and have conversations with poultry.
Brandon Mulnix: so as a woman in the industry. you mentioned in your mention blog post about how to be successful. What is advice you have for women in this industry?
Meredith Dawson: That's the advice that I have for you. It sounds weird. But when I graduated from school, it didn't really feel like I was in control of my future. I just had to go where the open job was no matter if I liked it or not. But you have to look out for yourself because no one's gonna look out for you better than you will right and with all the new technology that keeps popping up, there's all different kinds of job opportunities out there. There's some that I don't know and you don't know right now.
00:35:00
Meredith Dawson: It's absolutely insane.
Brandon Mulnix: Absolutely.
Meredith Dawson: How many job opportunities there are out there for all different kinds of people of all ages and it may take a difficult conversation to get you with where you want to go but the earlier on in your career that you learn to have those difficult conversations and you get good at it and you have to confidence to confront them. The closer you are to success. So you got to take control of your path in your future and Define your environment because like I said, if you don't know what you want and no one else can tell you
Brandon Mulnix: Yeah, that's great Created advice to the women in this industry. I mean as someone who I get a chance to go around to a lot of farms and see women in roles that probably just 10 15 20 years ago were predominantly male driven. There's a need. for technology mechanical it's not whether you're a man or woman if you've got skills and you can understand how to make things And fix stuff or run a shop or leave people you're needed in the industry. And that's so exciting to see the industry and I've met some great great Farm.
Brandon Mulnix: Farm managers that came up through the ranks and they took control of their career and they learned the things that they needed to learn to better themselves in the industry. They didn't just stop and wait and say hey, what's my boss gonna teach me this week? They took control and said hey, these are the areas that I want to learn and I want to grow in and there's a need in our company for someone to understand the USDA requirements the mechanical side. I don't want to make anything sound there's so many needs and so much lack of, opportunities in this industry that I definitely Echo your statement of Take control of what you want and go after it because there's probably an opportunity in the industry and probably an opportunity with your own company. All you got to do is ask
Meredith Dawson: exactly
Brandon Mulnix: you to talk to your boss and say Hey, these are some of the areas I want to grow. And can I do that here?
Meredith Dawson: exactly
Brandon Mulnix: It would impress your most managers. You're gonna impress to the point of going. Hey, that person doesn't want to do the job doesn't want to continue or Plateau at the level. they've got so many bigger Visions Let's help them do that and that's exciting to say about this industry ing this industry it's great. So. Is there any question I didn't ask that I should have asked you that you want to chair.
Meredith Dawson:
Meredith Dawson: Let me think
Meredith Dawson: I think we covered everything I mean. we talked about all of our events and I guess we didn't really talk about what's history. I'm not sure if you want to touch on that.
Brandon Mulnix: Yeah, let's talk about what's history. Tell me about that.
Meredith Dawson: I Yeah, What is a lot of family own company, which is awesome the CEO and president. His name is Greg Watt. Hence what Global he's the fourth generation presidency CEO and he's a really great guy the company started in 1917 with his great-grandfather. So it's been in his family forever. And he does a really great job at leading his employees and I'm really thankful to be a part of it. But our corporate is And Rockford, Illinois, we actually have staff located through the US and 17 different states the UK the Netherlands in China, so we have full coverage. I would say
Brandon Mulnix: No, Google.
Meredith Dawson: Global if you will yeah, and what's role in the industry is really important and we talked about it multiple times deliver industry data and information to the Global Pet Food poultry in very cool
Brandon Mulnix: If that's definitely want Global at that point.
00:40:00
Meredith Dawson: Exactly what Global hence the name? So it's been a great journey. I'm excited to continue on with what and I'm ready for the rides. So
Brandon Mulnix: How would somebody connect with you?
Meredith Dawson: Sorry, is there more to the question or did you in the question?
Brandon Mulnix: The question didn't really come across. let me know we're crazy.
Meredith Dawson: I'm so sorry.
Brandon Mulnix: So no problem. How would someone connect with you? If they want to reach out and ask questions about different things that want or have news to share with you. How would they connect with you?
Meredith Dawson: my email is the best way to connect with me. That is that I'm checking it all day. I'm looking at it all day that that's where I receive all my information from forward me something. I would love to see it.
Brandon Mulnix: And I'll include her email address in the show notes here. So you have that or if you want to give it out to the audience.
Meredith Dawson: Yeah, it's mdawson@wattglobal.com
Brandon Mulnix: Meredith, I can't think you enough for the amount of time that you spent with us today and the value that you're gonna bring to the poultry.
Meredith Dawson: Yeah, I appreciate it. Thank you for having me. This has been really fun and I hope it reaches your listeners your audience and results in more good conversations, so
Brandon Mulnix: I hit the Subscribe button. So Tuesday Wednesday mornings, whenever this thing's released. It's the first thing in your podcast feed. We really appreciate feedback. If you want to be a guest on the show. Feel free to email me be mulnix at prism controls.com. I'm always looking for other people that have a heart for leadership in this industry. There's many great stories and I want to share them all with you. So if you have an idea something you'd like to share, please don't hesitate to reach out to me. Thank you again for being a listener of the poultry.
Meeting ended after 00:42:38 👋