Unscrambling the Dynamics of Egg Pricing with Market Reporter Karyn Rispoli, Urner Barry

Unlock the secrets of the egg industry as Karyn Rispoli, an undeniable force in agricultural market reporting, joins us for an insightful discussion on what really goes into the price of your morning scramble. With her unique blend of New Jersey charisma and an unexpected passion for college rugby, Karyn sheds light on the cyclical dance of egg economics, drawing laughter with a nod to cultural meme phenomenons. Together, we peel back the layers of Urner Barry's crucial role in price reporting and dissect the cultural influence of names like "Brandon" and "Karyn" that have taken hold of the public's imagination.

The conversation gets even richer as we crack into the factors that sway the cost of eggs, from seasonal trends to the ebb and flow of demand. The comparison of eggs to oil might surprise some, but the parallels are uncanny when you consider the global impact of supply chains. If you're tiptoeing into the industry or are a familiar face in the egg aisle, our exchange serves as a roadmap to navigate the often-underestimated complexity of this staple commodity. Hear how sustainability and innovation are not just buzzwords, but the future trajectory for egg producers, and pick up tips on making informed choices the next time you're faced with the vast array of egg options.

But this episode isn't just about the business of eggs; it's a celebration of personal journeys and the strength we discover in ourselves when faced with adversity. Sharing tales of resilience and adaptability, learn how embracing change, much like the egg industry itself, can reveal new horizons in both professional and personal landscapes. Karyn and I reflect on those pivotal moments that define us, drawing analogies to Eleanor Roosevelt's metaphor of strength, and proving that, like a tea bag, we're often stronger than we think. Join us for a conversation that goes beyond the shell, offering both wisdom and inspiration for anyone looking to sprout wings in their own endeavors.

Hosted by Brandon Mulnix - Director of Commercial Accounts - Prism Controls
The Poultry Leadership Podcast is only possible because of its sponsor, Prism Controls
Find out more about them at www.prismcontrols.com

Transcript

Brandon Mulnix: 0:27

Welcome to the Poultury Leader Podcast, the podcast for growing poultry industry professionals and leaders like yourself. I am your host, Brandon Mulnix, and I am looking forward to today's episode. Today we're going to talk egg price. I'm pleased to have Karyn RIspoli on the show today to teach us how egg prices work and, specifically, why egg price reporting matters to you. Welcome to the show, Karyn.

Karyn Rispoli: 0:51

Thanks, brandon. Thanks for having me. It's fun to be here, always happy to talk with people in the industry about my take on the world and my expertise. It's funny how interesting the topic of eggs can be to one person.

Brandon Mulnix: 1:09

Yeah, when I googled you to set up this show, it was awesome. We've got a famous person on the show. She's been quoted in CBS CNN. She's also appeared on the CBS Nightly News. This is quite a different year from last year, I guess.

Karyn Rispoli: 1:27

Yeah, it's cyclical. I feel like it was a little bit quiet for a few months and then the news cycle has started to kick up again, definitely been making headlines a little bit more recently as prices have been rising. It's always, like I said, interesting and fun to talk to people about what we're seeing in the egg industry.

Brandon Mulnix: 1:47

Audience. I have the pleasure of seeing Karyn on what I call the egg circuit out there. It's where all this allied folk get together. I go back to the time I met Karyn. We're down in South Carolina at the United Egg Producers event. I'm walking through downtown and I see all these t-shirts that say let's go, brandon. I walk into this allied event. The first person I run into is this gal named Karyn. I'm like how do I introduce myself to this gal? I'm like you know she's a bad force. I'm like, hey, you've got to have a pretty rough over the last couple of weeks. And you're like what I said? My name's on every t-shirt down in the store down there. I didn't see one with your name on it.

Karyn Rispoli: 2:30

Yeah, it's not been a great time in history to be Karyn, that is for sure. The one thing that saves me is that my spelling is slightly different. I always like to caveat my way out of being a Karyn with that, but it's been fun.

Brandon Mulnix: 2:44

Oh yeah, well, you seem to have a pretty good sense of humor about it and met and chatted and now you say hi every time you run into me. So you know, made a pretty good impression on that one. So, Karyn, can you tell the audience a little bit about yourself, when you grew up?

Karyn Rispoli: 2:59

Yeah, absolutely. I have been told that my accent is fairly undetectable, so it might surprise you to learn that I am from New Jersey. I was born in bread at the Jersey Shore, which is where I still live today with my husband and our two dogs. I'm actually just a couple towns over from where Bruce Springsteen got his start. From a view boss fans out there I always say I know there's a lot of negative stereotypes associated with New Jersey, but I honestly love living here. I feel like we're a bit of a well-kept secret. I'm just a couple of miles from some of the most beautiful beaches on the eastern seaboard and yet I can be in Manhattan in under an hour, so there's always something fun to do. I actually just snag tickets last week. As a matter of fact, I go see David Gray next month in the city, which I'm really excited about.

Karyn Rispoli: 3:44

Then, professionally speaking, I'm relatively new to the agricultural scene. I've been at Ertobarry for just about five years now, but I'm a bit of a veteran, I would say, when it comes to market reporting. So my first job at a college was working for a company called Energy Argus as a power market reporter, and I've pretty much stayed in that market reporting lane, ever since I spent a good number of years working for Bloomberg News and then later for Opus, which is a Dow Jones company covering everything from gasoline to distillate fuels to crude oil. And then I would say lastly, a fun fact about me is that I played Rumbi in college. Yeah, that usually takes people a little by surprise.

Karyn Rispoli: 4:25

I began the rush process when I was in college, but then I quickly realized sorority life was not really my vibe. But I did want to stay active and meet new people. So I figured I'd give that a try which no pun intended for any of you ruggers out there and I loved it. It was fun, I was meeting new people and there's actually a local rugby club here in New Jersey. I've thought about joining but I don't think my aging bones could handle it anymore. But I do try to stay active. I'm no ultra marathoner like you ran in, but I did manage to conquer and have marathon, but I don't see ultra marathon.

Brandon Mulnix: 5:06

Well, you are the second guest on the podcast that is a rugby player. So yes, brian, a buddy of mine, business coach, he's got his big college start in rugby as well. Oh, that's awesome, great Love to find that out about you. I think in Jersey, being from Michigan, all I could see is TV episodes of Jersey Shore, that I skip over on the TEs.

Karyn Rispoli: 5:31

Exactly. I feel like that's people's usual limited perspective, as either the reality show or what they see when they land at Newark Airport, which does not really say much about the state of New Jersey. But believe me, there's a lot more here than that.

Brandon Mulnix: 5:46

I can say Jersey is beautiful. I spent eight weeks on the beach at Cape Main, new Jersey, in the Coast Guard.

Karyn Rispoli: 5:53

So very nice that was a good camp. Very nice, so you lived it, you know.

Brandon Mulnix: 6:00

I didn't call it the Jersey Shore life, though. Yeah, far from Jersey Shore life. Yeah, all right. Well, can you tell us about Erner Berry?

Karyn Rispoli: 6:10

Yeah, absolutely so. Erner Berry is what's known as a price reporting agency, or a PRA, and we fulfill a role within the food and agricultural industry by basically bringing transparency to markets that might otherwise lack clarity. So, through this process of what we call price discovery, we gather spot market data that sheds light on current market conditions for various center of the plate proteins so that's poultry meat, seafood and, of course, eggs and by establishing these fair market values, we create benchmark prices that serve as an accurate, unbiased starting point for trade negotiations between various stakeholders, and that transparency, of course, allows both buyers and sellers to have confidence in the pricing structure, which ultimately facilitates fair an efficient trading within the industry.

Brandon Mulnix: 7:01

Wow that's a mouthful. That's a lot of information. Yeah, so if you were to say that to a group of first graders, yeah, yeah, right, okay, maybe I should.

Karyn Rispoli: 7:14

maybe I should slow it down. All right, if we're talking to first graders. Basically, what we do and I do it as it relates specifically to eggs, but what we do for various proteins is collect trade information that occurs in the spot market and then we use that information to establish market prices and then buyers and sellers use those prices to negotiate their contracts. They realize that we are a third party with no dog in the fight, so to speak. We have no stake. We're just here to bring you unbiased, reliable information and, again, it provides fair market value. Both sides can trust that we've done our due diligence and in fact, they don't have to just trust us. We also go through a process called IOSCO assurance, which we get audited by a third party overseer of the industry. That just makes sure that our methodologies are properly aligned and that we're doing what we're supposed to to keep in alignment with them.

Brandon Mulnix: 8:19

Okay, yes, I learned a lot in that, learned a lot, and so I guess I've been misspeaking for quite a while and I always said that it's a Karyn that sets the egg prices, but it's actually the Karyn that reports prices.

Karyn Rispoli: 8:32

Oh my gosh. So this is funny and I feel like I'm jumping ahead, but I know that you had mentioned, oh, I'm ready to ask you and that's literally something that I was going to make a point of when we got to that hey, what else can you add here? And I was gonna say one of the things that people will often say is like oh, talk to her, she sets the egg market, and the reality is, I don't set the market, I reflect the market, and not just I, I should say my team. We're actually a group of four now. I lead the team, but there are four of us, and so, yeah, we're basically reporting on events that have already happened. You can't report on something that's occurring in the future. So if you see our quotations doing something, it's because that's where the market is or is headed.

Brandon Mulnix: 9:18

Gotcha. Well, I'll correct myself in the future and say it it's a group of Kerens that we talked about.

Karyn Rispoli: 9:24

Yeah, A group of Kerens? That sounds scary yeah.

Brandon Mulnix: 9:29

Mm-hmm. So okay, so you described kind of what Uriner Berry does and what your role is there. If I'm a consumer, I'm at the store. How does egg prices work?

Karyn Rispoli: 9:41

Yeah. So it's a good question, and I mean again, if we're going to the first, if I'm talking to a first-grader audience versus people in the industry, there could probably be a couple of different answers here. I mean the sort of like more technical explanation of how egg prices work. It's a little bit more involved, as you might imagine. So eggs trade at various stages of the processing chain. So you've got nest-run eggs, meaning like ungraded eggs that are just on paper or plastic flats, and then you've got all the way up to like an egg that's already, you know, graded, washed, cleaned in a carton, packed and ready to go. And all of these types of eggs and there's a few that are in between as well and all of these types of eggs trade in the spot market. And so our job is to basically evaluate all these various trades that are occurring at different levels within the market and bring them to one common point, using what we call trade relationships, and that allows us to gather as much transactional information as we can, which, of course, results in a more accurate and robust quote. That's the sort of like more technical version of it, but when you're talking about how spot markets even if it's not eggs.

Karyn Rispoli: 10:55

Just spot markets in general work. A spot market is basically where people that trade commodities go to address their long and short positions. And I don't have the technical breakdown on what the percentages are, but the general school of thought is that about 10% of what trades in the spot market sets the price for the other 90%. So that spot market price, where people are, you know, addressing their longs and shorts is a true test of the market. That's where the commodity value lies and that's the price that we try to uncover and again, that's the price that then becomes the basis for negotiation. So if you're a producer and you're supplying retail chains or you're a retailer and you're buying from producers, you both look at that price that Erner Barry puts out because you trust that we have done our due diligence in capturing the true market value and that becomes the basis for your negotiation.

Brandon Mulnix: 11:52

All right, all I can see in my head is a bunch of grocery store owners and farmers sitting in a stock market throwing up you know, I've got eggs for $1.50,. No, no, no, I want to buy eggs for $1.49. Okay, I'll sell those eggs for $1.49. All right, today's eggs are $1.49.

Karyn Rispoli: 12:10

Yeah, a little different than that.

Brandon Mulnix: 12:12

Okay.

Karyn Rispoli: 12:12

Yeah, a little bit.

Brandon Mulnix: 12:13

All right, you mentioned watching the markets. Where do you get this information from? I mean, do people email this information to you? I mean, is this just something that's like a stock market to watch?

Karyn Rispoli: 12:24

It's a little bit of everything. So you know, people will actually sometimes ask I don't even understand what the purpose at Erner Barry serves, because there's ECI, which, for those of you who may not know, is Egg Clearinghouse, an online trading platform for the egg industry and the answer to that is because not everything no-transcript trades is publicly available. In fact, quite a lot of it is not. While ECI is a fantastic platform, they provide a great amount of transparency, but it rarely paints the entire picture, and that's where we come in. So we do the work of gathering information that isn't being posted publicly on these trading platforms, that's bids, offers, trades, inventory positions, market sentiment, those sorts of things, and that helps us to establish these daily quotations.

Karyn Rispoli: 13:12

I will say we observe a hierarchy of priority when we do establish our quotes. Obviously, a high offer I always say a high offer is simply wishful thinking until someone just demonstrates a willingness to step up and pay that price. So we put the greatest amount of stock into bona fide trades. But this information comes from various sources and various ways. We're talking of producers, brokers, traders, distributors, retailers, food service operators basically anyone that operates in this space, and a lot of it is by phone. I mean, we're hammering the phones day in, day out, but a lot of it is also just emailing, text messaging, smoke signals maybe not the smoke signal so much, but no, we try to cover it from every angle we can to gather as much information as we can in each day's window.

Brandon Mulnix: 14:01

That sounds like a lot of work, but now this isn't on a daily occurrence. This is typically weekly, correct?

Karyn Rispoli: 14:08

No, this is every day, five days a week.

Brandon Mulnix: 14:11

Okay.

Karyn Rispoli: 14:11

Yeah, every day, and we quote various. Obviously, there's different angst. You've got different colors, different sizes. We're trying to shift and adapt to changes within the industry and so, yeah, we're always adding new things as it becomes warranted.

Brandon Mulnix: 14:36

If I'm a farm manager, why would these prices be important to me? Or watching your guys' website and seeing the current value of eggs, why is that important to me as a farm manager who I'm not even the salesman selling the egg?

Karyn Rispoli: 14:51

Yeah, I would say that as a farm manager as a producer I mean egg prices are going to have a direct and significant potentially impact on your operations and profitability. When egg prices are high, you of course stand to generate more income from selling your eggs, potentially leading to higher profits. On the flip side, if egg prices are low, your revenue may decrease, which impacts your farm's profitability, and it also affects your farm's cost management. Fluctuations in egg prices can influence the cost of inputs such as feed, labor, equipment. During periods of low egg prices, it becomes crucial, I think, for farm managers and planners to manage costs to maintain profitability and sustainability. And then the other thing is that egg prices reflect market supply and demand dynamic, as well as competition from other producers. Understanding and monitoring what's going on with the egg market allows you to assess your farm's competitiveness within the market and make informed decisions about production levels and pricing strategies and marketing efforts to stay competitive.

Brandon Mulnix: 15:57

Okay, that all makes sense. What are some of the different factors that affect egg prices?

Karyn Rispoli: 16:03

This is a good question. It's funny, as I said, I came from the world of oil and the way that oil traded not that you asked, but the way that oil traded was obviously have the NIMEX futures market for oil.

Karyn Rispoli: 16:18

Gasoline, for instance, would trade at a differential to the NYMEX futures market, and so the price of the commodity, the spot market, would often be directly tied to global geopolitical factors and things like that Anything. There's an inverse relationship between the value of the dollar and oil. With eggs it's a lot more fundamental than that. I think it really comes down to the economic principle of supply and demand. Now, of course, you can break it down further from there. There are all kinds of things that are going to impact both the supply and the demand side. On the supply side, you've got fluctuations in production, seasonal flock rotations, flock planning, expansion within the industry. One of the things that we saw in recent years, for example, was cage free becoming more broadly integrated on both a state level and among different grocers and food services and establishments throughout the country. In order to meet those increased needs, farmers had to, of course, put in catery bars, but the consumer preference at that time was still mostly for a conventional egg, and so you can't necessarily take all of that out, and so sometimes you find yourself in these situations where there's not great balance between supply and demand, like in that case, and we saw some of the lowest prices in modern history, as a matter of fact, until they figured out OK, how do we offset? We know we have to put in this much amount of cage free production, but we're going to have to compensate by removing X amount on the conventional side.

Karyn Rispoli: 17:57

And then, on the demand side, a lot of it comes down to seasonality. Obviously, times like Easter, thanksgiving, christmas see a lot more demand for eggs, while the summer tends to be more of a shoulder season where demand drops off because people are just not as likely to eat hot breakfast at that time. They're taking advantage of fresh fruits and things like that. And then, in the midst of all of this, of course, you have the various X factor, that's, things like export interest and animal disease, as we have seen over the past two years with the bird flu. And then, of course, you have pricing strategies, which have been, honestly, more and more of an impact in recent years.

Karyn Rispoli: 18:36

The reality is that just because wholesale prices are rising doesn't mean that consumers are always going to see that impact. And there is a price mechanism in the marketplace whereby, basically, high prices are meant to cure high prices by slowing consumer demand. If retailers are offering eggs as a loss leader, as many of them are doing currently, then consumers aren't seeing the need to slow down in their consumption. In fact, they're feeling inspired to buy more, even though there is a constraint on the supply side. So I would say those are the primary factors that really tend to affect egg prices.

Brandon Mulnix: 19:12

Well, I mean in an industry that's been affected by a cage-free conversion, at the same time as you have AI, at the same time you have labor inflation and all the other aspects that go into just doing business. It is interesting because they have their own effects, and then to see how it affects on the consumer side is that's good information. I appreciate you sharing that with us.

Karyn Rispoli: 19:35

Absolutely.

Brandon Mulnix: 19:37

You're not allowed to tell me what the egg prices are going to be like tomorrow. That's not your job and you just report on it. But what do you see the future of egg production looking like?

Karyn Rispoli: 19:45

Yeah. So I mean, I'm no soothsayer by any means, but I think the future of egg production, like a lot of the world around us now, is going to be shaped by key trends and advancements revolving around consumer preferences, technological innovations and sustainability. I think sustainability will continue to be a driving force in egg production, with a growing emphasis on environmentally friendly practices, animal welfare, resource efficiency. We've seen this, as I just said, with the adoption of cage-free production in many states here in the US and in Europe. We actually provide benchmark pricing in Europe as well. Over there we actually quote your traditional cage market cage-free as well as free range. I suspect that in time that could be the direction that the US moves in as well. I'm not seeing any indications that we're there just yet, but again, I think there is a growing emphasis on environmentally friendly practices and that certainly could be one direction that it heads in. And then I think again, the integration of technology into production and processing will become increasingly prevalent, which naturally enhances efficiency and productivity. And I think, too, that consumers are showing a lot more interest in traceability and transparency, so that's going to be an ongoing topic of conversation. They're more conscious than ever about where their food comes, how it's produced, and so I suspect there will be greater focus on that throughout the supply chain.

Karyn Rispoli: 21:15

One of the things that people often ask me and this isn't necessarily pertaining to the way eggs are priced, but people will say when they find out what I do for a living, well, which egg should I buy? Right, because you stand in that egg case and that aisle and you look and you have more choices than ever before, and for me it almost invariably is just your conventional white large egg. I think it's because it's what my mom most often bought, so I don't know if that's part of it. But also in being in this industry and talking to producers and being in farms and seeing them, for me that speaks to what matters to me most I like I mean, I'm not knocking cage reproduction. I think it's great, but I like the fact that the birds in a cage have a steady diet of food, feed and water.

Karyn Rispoli: 22:03

I know that there's a lot of concern with animal rights groups and whatnot about. Oh, they need space, but if you've ever been in a barn, as I'm sure you have, there's a reason. We say birds of a feather flock together. They like to be together. There actually are gregarious animals. So if it's me, I'm picking a conventional white large egg. But I mean you can't go wrong with any of them. They're nutritious, they're versatile and you can't have cake without them.

Brandon Mulnix: 22:28

Wow, you just got my favorite subject dessert. I mean, if you're asking me the same question, which eggs would I buy? It's whatever my wife tells me to. There you go, and it's usually through. A family member got some chickens that they have in their backyard that they're trying to raise, and I love to sport the industry, so I eat a lot of egg McMuffins. Nice Plug out to McDonald's there. So Very nice and I do know where those eggs come from here with East of the Mississippi and so yes.

Brandon Mulnix: 22:58

I spend. I don't cook a lot. I'm not gonna say I'm not supporting the egg industry and my cooking so much. You've gotten to your point as a managing editor by you know. You've shown leadership qualities. So what advice do you have for someone just starting in the poultry industry, whether it comes to leadership or just adapting to it? Five years ago you were the. You were new Right Five years ago. You know what advice do you have for someone just get started in the end.

Karyn Rispoli: 23:23

Yeah. So my advice for someone, or really in this industry, or any industry, would be to focus on three things really Continuous learning, networking, perseverance. First and foremost, I think, prioritize continuous learning. The egg industry is dynamic. It's ever changing, so it's important to stay curious and committed to expanding your knowledge base, whether it's through publications, seminars, networking events, all that sort of thing. And then the other thing I would say here is use your newness to your advantage. People tend to want to help newcomers, so use that window of opportunity to extract as much information you can from the people who are willing to share their time with you. And then, secondly, invest in building strong networks and relationships. Connect with mentors, peers, industry leaders that can offer, you know, guidance, support and insight from their own experience. Networking obviously not only opens doors to new opportunities, but it also, you know, fosters collaboration and idea sharing. I mean, as you said, you know, at the start of our conversation here. I mean, networking led us to this podcast here today, just, you know, being in a room, so I can't emphasize how important that is to get out there and make sure that you're meeting people. And then, lastly, I would say, cultivate perseverance and resilience.

Karyn Rispoli: 24:40

The egg industry, like any other, may present challenges and setbacks, whether it's navigating market fluctuations, regulatory changes or, you know, any unforeseen crisis. Maintaining a positive attitude is critical. Stay committed to your goals, remain agile and admittedly, this is a hard one for me, but try not to take things too personal. I you know people have strong opinions about the egg market and it's and it would be really easy to kind of let it knock you down. But you know, just because someone doesn't like your idea or what it is, that you know that you've had to do with the market, for example, doesn't mean they don't like you or that they won't like your next idea. So just just keep moving.

Brandon Mulnix: 25:21

You could have write a book with all that information you provided there and I think you shared enough in five minutes to write a book. So excellent information there. Is there anything that you've done to develop into the leader that you are? Any resources?

Karyn Rispoli: 25:35

Yeah, so well. As I mentioned with respect to newcomers, you know how I think it's important to prioritize learning. That's really what I've tried to do. I read a lot of articles on the internet, you know, about industry-related topics. I'm always looking for, you know, personal development books to help me with. You know, whether it's organizational skills or leadership skills, I follow various thought leaders on LinkedIn and other social platforms just to kind of get a peek into their thoughts and their ideas.

Karyn Rispoli: 26:06

And then, lastly, I would say, listen to podcasts. I mean, those are, there's so much. Well, obviously, we're recording one now, so I would have to say there's a lot of great information to be found in podcasts. I actually recently signed up for Masterclass. I don't know if you've ever heard of it, but it's been great. It's basically an app that curates all these different classes taught by experts within various disciplines, so you can learn about anything from how to build a startup, to think like an FBI profiler, to mastering, you know, the art of navigating change, and it's from people that you never heard of to Martha Stewart. I mean, there's a little something in there for everyone, but it's been interesting and it's just for me. It's a nice way to absorb new information and burn a few minutes when I'm driving and that sort of thing.

Brandon Mulnix: 26:53

Yeah, I've recently learned about that one, and there's so many podcasts. I listen to Edmai Let. So many great, great podcasts. And again, it depends on what mood I'm in, what I need to be working on, the type of resources I listen to. I've done most of my learning in the last 10 years just from audio books as well. If there's a new topic and, hey, I want to learn about the use of artificial intelligence in business, yeah, there's a podcast, a book, an audio book. I don't do as much reading, you know, blog stuff like that, right, because it takes so much time and, as you mentioned earlier, I spend a lot of time running and so that's the best time to, you know, fill my head at 5.30 in the morning, 6 o'clock in the morning, when I'm out running.

Karyn Rispoli: 27:36

Yeah.

Brandon Mulnix: 27:36

A great way to grow, for sure. It's a great way to grow and taking ideas from other industries. I mean, you have all that oil price and experience and then bringing that into the industry. That's the important part. Don't just believe that, hey, I was a line cook at McDonald's and anything I learned there is not applicable to the next job. Wrong, absolutely. You can learn a lot in any position you're in, absolutely, and bring it in here next career. One of the hard questions I like to ask, just because I find that you know all leaders overcome tough things. What is one thing that you've overcome in your personal or career that you're willing to share with the audience today?

Karyn Rispoli: 28:13

Yeah, I like this question. This is a good one. There's actually a lot I could say here, because life hasn't always been easy, I mean, for a lot of people. You know I'm not unique in that way, but one thing I've overcome that I feel particularly proud of actually happened during my time at Uruguay. I began working here in 2019. And then, one year later, there was this little thing called COVID that hit. That sent us all to our respective homes for the foreseeable future.

Karyn Rispoli: 28:43

Now, when it comes to learning markets, a lot of that happens through what I loosely refer to as osmosis. It's being in the room with the other market reporters, hearing what they're saying, learning the right questions to ask, you know, and hearing their conversations, which lead to you know, more in-depth conversation, and that's where the learning comes from. That's what helps in your own development. But after my first year, that part of the process pretty much halted because we were all working from our homes. So it kind of forced me to sidestep a lot of that and figure out some of these things on my own.

Karyn Rispoli: 29:18

And then, when we finally went back to the office full time, I guess gosh, it must have been a year, year and a half later, the person who was in the role that I'm in now had taken a new job opportunity. Wish came as a bit of a surprise, and I remember thinking at that time holy cow, how am I going to do this? Because now this is my role and I'm not ready. I've only had, you know, a little bit of time to learn all of this. But there's this quote that I've always loved from Eleanor Roosevelt A woman is a lot like a teabag you never know how strong it is until it's in hot water, and I really feel like I lived and learned that in the last few years. I figured I was going to sort of be like, you know, the sidekick you know for a while, and then, before long, I was in the lead role, and so that absolutely has shaped, I think, who I am now honestly.

Brandon Mulnix: 30:12

That's a great thing to overcome. I mean, covid really changed the world. I started here and COVID hit just shortly after I arrived at Prism Controls, pmsi then and I was in a brand new role as well that they'd never experienced. And here I was to learn the egg industry and oh, by the way, there's this thing called biosecurity as well, and in avian influenza, and when farmers don't know who you are, the last thing they want to do is invite you onto their farm and so just that combination. That's tough to start a career in. But so many people I've talked to actually had career changes around that same time and I guess maybe I only talked to a lot of successful people. But they seem to figured it out and ride through that situation and I try to surround myself with great, high energy people that love to thrive and love to grow, and that's you know, in our conversations, just learning from you about what you do and the industry. It really helped me, help me grow during that period.

Karyn Rispoli: 31:08

Thank you, great. Yeah, absolutely my pleasure.

Brandon Mulnix: 31:10

So is there anything else that I didn't ask that you'd like to share about yourself or earn a berry with the podcast listeners?

Karyn Rispoli: 31:18

I don't, nothing that I can think of. I feel like we touched on. The one thing that I was going to drive home, which I guess I'll just reiterate, is that you know, the important thing is to remember, at the end of the day, we're market reporters, which means we're reporting on things that have already happened. You know, we're not market setters. We reflect the market and any adjustment that people are seeing in quotations are a direct reflection of what's already occurred. So if you're seeing increased volatility in the egg market, that's because there's already increased volatility in the marketplace, and you know we try to we stay a little bit behind it.

Karyn Rispoli: 31:55

We're always a lagging indicator, so that it sort of gives us room to pivot and adjust with. You know whatever changes might be coming, you know in the next day or two, but I think that's, you know, that's really the important piece. And then the other thing I would say is you know we're only as good as the information we get. So I always like to encourage people. If you have thoughts on the market, if you have information to share, if you're a distributor or producer you know in food service and you want to be a part of the conversation, just know that we are extremely receptive. We always want to be talking to as many people as we possibly can, so I would certainly encourage and welcome.

Brandon Mulnix: 32:29

And how can our listeners reach out and connect with you?

Karyn Rispoli: 32:32

Yeah, absolutely. So I would say email is the easiest, which is krispoli-r-i-s-p-o-l-i-at earnerbarrycom.

Brandon Mulnix: 32:41

Excellent. Thank you Well. Poultry leadership podcast listeners, I am grateful that Karyn joined us today. This is a topic that seems like it really wouldn't apply much, but the more I learn, the more I realize that it does affect the industry, affects everybody, allied farmers, everything Just because it is a good piece of information to know and watch as now I'm going to have to probably put a favorites on their website so I can watch what that looks like. So thank you for your time today, Karyn.

Karyn Rispoli: 33:10

Absolutely Thanks for having me. This was fun.

Brandon Mulnix: 33:12

Well, audience. I can't stop and end this podcast without thanking our sponsors, prism Controls, and I just want to put a plug in for their new egg counter. It's called egg site and egg flow is so important to making sure that product makes it to market. One of the things that matters to egg flow most is acre counting, so the control systems can appropriately adjust the speed to make that eggs journey from the barn all the way to the grater or the breaker as smooth as possible. With the new egg site product by Prism Controls we've brought that accuracy up to a whole new level. And if you have any questions about the new vision egg counters system at Prism Controls, please don't hesitate to reach out to that prismcontrolcom or reach out to myself. I can get you in contact with some of our team and just appreciate you listening. Thank you Please like. Share rate this podcast. It does help others find this podcast organically on their search or their podcast app. So thank you very much and have a great day.