Advocating for Agriculture: Emily Ellis Discusses Building Trust and Sustainable Practices in Animal Ag

Ever wondered how the voices of farmers are heard amidst the clamor of consumer demands and activism? Tune in to an eye-opening discussion with Emily Ellis from the Animal Agriculture Alliance, where we peel back the layers of what it truly means to advocate for agriculture. Emily, with her roots firmly planted in cattle raising and honed by her studies at the University of Maryland, joins me to explore the power of connections, the strength in unity, and the unwavering mission of agricultural organizations to foster the future of farming. Our conversation takes you from the pastures to the policies, giving a voice to those at the heart of animal agriculture.

2024 Stakeholders Summit - Ready Set Sove! May 7-9th - Click Here

Navigating the complex terrain of sustainability, we confront the thorny issue of environmental stewardship in farming. As restaurants and brands come under pressure to adopt eco-conscious practices, we underscore the crucial role of proactive engagement within our community. This episode isn't just about airing the challenges; it's a roadmap to building relationships and ensuring that the farmer's take on sustainable practices isn't overshadowed by misconception. Plus, get an exclusive preview of a keynote centered on cultivating trust in our food systems and those who sustain them.

Our dialogue culminates in an honest reflection on the synergies between different sectors of animal agriculture and the collective journey towards better preparedness and resilience. From overcoming imposter syndrome to embracing continuous learning, I share personal anecdotes that resonate with the need for a supportive network. We showcase the Animal Ag Allies program, reinforcing the idea that every conversation, whether at a community event or a casual brewery visit, can be a form of advocacy. A listener's testimonial rounds off the episode, highlighting how the podcast has widened horizons and forged connections, reminding us why these stories matter and deserve to be shared.

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Hosted by Brandon Mulnix - Director of Commercial Accounts - Prism Controls
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Transcript

Brandon Mulnix: 0:24

Welcome to the Poultry Leadership Podcast. I'm your host, Brandon Mulnix. I'm so glad that you're here with us today. I'm so glad to be introducing our guest today, Emily Ellis. Emily is a passionate advocate for agriculture. She does this through her role at the Animal Agriculture Alliance. I'll let her explain a little bit more about what she does there. Emily, welcome to the show.

Emily Ellis: 0:49

Hi Brandon, Thank you for having me.

Brandon Mulnix: 0:50

I hear this is your first podcast. I'm excited that we can kick you off with a new adventure here for you and the Animal Agriculture Alliance. That's cool.

Emily Ellis: 0:59

Yeah, I'm excited. I really like my comfort zone, but I also like to push myself, force myself out of my comfort zone too. This is a really great opportunity to try a new thing, learn a new skill. I'm excited to be here today.

Brandon Mulnix: 1:13

Well, I'm sure that our listeners are excited to learn who Emily is. Can you tell us a little bit about who you are?

Emily Ellis: 1:19

Yeah, as Brandon mentioned, I work for the Animal Agriculture Alliance as the manager of communications and content. I joined the team in May of 2020, so right knee deep in the COVID-19 pandemic. It's been a wild journey since then. There's been some big changes, living post-COVID, but super happy to be on the Alliance team. It's a great organization to work for.

Emily Ellis: 1:44

Originally, I grew up raising beef cattle. I didn't grow up on a farm, but my cousins did. I got involved with them through 4-H and everything like that. I thought it was the coolest thing in the world that you could feed an animal every single day. Then one day that animal would go on to feed people in your local community. That's really where I found my passion for animal agriculture. I wasn't exactly sure what I wanted to do when I went to college, but I knew I wanted to do something with livestock and poultry. I went to school, got my degree in animal science and somehow wound up in ag communications, which I'm super excited about.

Emily Ellis: 2:21

It was in college that I really found my passion for advocating for agriculture, because it was the first time I had been in an environment where I was surrounded by so many people that were so disconnected from the food supply, from the farm, from where their food came from. That was really when I started seeing trends like being vegan, eating only organic, which at the Alliance, we support consumer choice. It's everyone's own personal decision to choose whatever they feel is right for them and for their family. But there's just so much misinformation out there. I didn't start advocating the right way. I got into some Facebook arguments, disagreements, which is not the proper way of communicating and advocating for agriculture, but it's part of my story. I like to think I've refined my technique a little bit since then, but that's kind of how I ended up in the ag-com field is just. I really enjoyed having conversations about food, about agriculture, where our food comes from, and that's kind of how I got where I am today.

Brandon Mulnix: 3:23

That was at the University of Maryland right?

Emily Ellis: 3:26

Yes, yep, university of Maryland.

Brandon Mulnix: 3:28

Now, did you grow up on the East Coast, or why did you choose University of Maryland?

Emily Ellis: 3:33

Yes, I grew up in Maryland so it was my home college. My mom worked for Extension so that definitely helped out with tuition. My dream school was to go to Kentucky. That was where I really wanted to go to school, so you don't hear me claim Maryland very often, but that is where I went to school, got my education and what helped to get me where I am today.

Brandon Mulnix: 3:55

Maryland's a great school Great school so I'd be proud of that Looks like you've learned a few things in your life and it's cool that you're able to admit those things and grow from them and it kind of helps you tell a story today. How did you I mean you didn't just go from the University of Maryland to the Animal Agriculture Alliance, you had to stop in between. Where was that?

Emily Ellis: 4:17

I interned with the Alliance when I was in college. That was really where I got my feet wet in communications. I had my first real experience in that kind of field and then, immediately following that, I interned with Maryland Farm Bureau as their communications intern, got a little more experience under my belt and then I continued on with them full time as their communications manager. I was there for about I think, two and a half years, including my internship, before I was brought onto the Alliance team.

Brandon Mulnix: 4:49

Excellent Leaders. If you've learned anything just from that moment is really investing your interns. They'll stay with you full time and get good people that way.

Emily Ellis: 4:56

Absolutely. I loved my internship experiences. I loved working for the Alliance, but I also really enjoyed working for Farm Bureau. The good thing about my current job is that we're still very much connected with American Farm Bureau a lot of state Farm Bureau so I still get to have that connection directly with farmers and ranchers and the people that are producing our food and food products. That's a highlight. A benefit of this job is that I still get to stay connected because I think the people within Farm Bureau are really awesome.

Brandon Mulnix: 5:25

Yeah, that's cool. The Animal Ag Alliance I found your organization through the United Egg Producers, their sponsor of your upcoming event. Most of the listeners here are poultry folks and they're used to the United Egg Producers, american Egg Board, us Poultry and those groups. Tell us about your association.

Emily Ellis: 5:46

Yeah, US Poultry, I know, is one of our founding members and they're very supportive. They're also a stakeholder summit sponsor. For anyone that's not aware of the Animal Agriculture Alliance, we are a nonprofit organization. We're based just outside of Washington DC so we do have a lot of connections with a lot of those lobbying groups in DC across the Animal Ag spectrum beef, dairy poultry but the whole team works remote.

Emily Ellis: 6:14

The mission of our organization is to safeguard the future of animal agriculture and its value to society by bridging the communication gap between the farm and the food communities. Our motto is to connect, engage and protect. The connect side for us is about bringing together all of the different sectors of animal agriculture, all of the different links along the food supply chain, so that we can all get out of our silos a little bit. All come together, unify on issues that maybe just one species is facing but the other should be aware of, or maybe it's something that's cross-sector. A lot of different species groups are working on this and trying to figure out how can we come together to deal with this emerging issue in a unified way where we're not working against each other, we're working in collaboration with one another.

Emily Ellis: 7:03

The engage side of our motto is really focused on outreach to external audiences, so we do a lot of work with restaurant, retail, food service brands, as well as registered dietitians and others that play a role in consumer perceptions of where their food comes from.

Emily Ellis: 7:19

How did it get from farm to table? Was the steak that I'm eating, was the animal that produced this, well cared for on the farm? So we can provide ourselves as a resource on those things or connect them to members that might know a little bit more, be able to shed some light on some of the things that they might be fielding from customers or clients. And then, last but not least, is the protect side, where we are very much focused on monitoring adversarial voices, primarily animal rights groups, that are oftentimes spreading misinformation about animal agriculture and trying to sway perceptions of how are animals cared for on the farm, what does daily life on the farm really look like? And ultimately, their goal is that they want to eliminate animal agriculture and they want to remove those choices from the grocery store shelves. So we do a lot with trying to correct the narrative, correct that misinformation, so that people can eat confidently, no matter what they choose to purchase at the grocery store.

Brandon Mulnix: 8:21

I have to witness some of the disruption caused by activists. This week at a conference in San Francisco the animal tech summit was actually interrupted by some animal activists. That handled it very professionally and even what was interesting was some of the chatter afterwards where there were folks that engaged them outside in a conversation and the message they didn't want to engage in truth. And so having someone like you and having your association be able to be provide that truth and that message because in the poultry space and watching UEP and watching American Egg Board and watching those associations do the work of the collaboration of all of its members together and I think of the American Egg Board with, you know, the incredible edible egg taking egg from a product that was totally miscategorized as unhealthy and then turning that around to the point where they've been announced to eat it's healthy food and it's recognized as a healthy food right up there with soybeans or beans on the world health stage.

Brandon Mulnix: 9:24

That took associations, that took collaboration and that's the power I see in events like yours, especially as you guys bring them cross species. You're bringing the different proteins together and someone's got to advocate, someone's got to be that voice piece for that collaboration. That's really cool that you guys are doing. You guys have events. You got one coming up here. Can you tell us about your event coming up?

Emily Ellis: 9:45

Yeah, so we're preparing for our 2024 stakeholder summit, which is our annual conference. This year it's set for May 8th and 9th in Kansas City, missouri, so pretty central in the country. It's hopefully a good meeting location for a lot of different folks from a lot of different places. But it's Essentially this annual event is focused on bringing together all of the different links along the food supply chain. Like we've talked about, we've realized the importance of collaboration across sectors, across the supply chain, and it's very important that we're all connected, that we're all working in partnership again with one another and not conflicting with one another. So the summit is a really great event and I might be a little bit biased, but it is a really great event.

Emily Ellis: 10:33

If you're looking to build contacts from across the supply chain, we have people from farmers, ranchers, processors, all the way across, to representatives from restaurant, retail, food service brands, dietitians and kind of everything in between.

Emily Ellis: 10:48

So it's a great opportunity to have.

Emily Ellis: 10:50

It's kind of like this melting pot of a lot of different perspectives, a lot of different insights, and we try to provide that perspective on the stage as well.

Emily Ellis: 10:59

So when we're seeking speakers and kind of a agenda lineup for the event, every year we're trying to bring in all of those different perspectives because they are all stakeholders within food and farming and I think it's really helpful to hear and understand those different perspectives again, so that you are working in collaboration, you're not working in conflict with someone or another organization or other sector of its own. So that's kind of what the summit is is it just brings together those different people, those different ideas, different perspectives. This year the event is themed ready, set, solve advancing animal agriculture. So we're kind of tapping into the 2024 Olympics theme a little bit and discussing how can we get our goals across the finish line, how can we make progress, move the needle. So we have a number of different sessions kind of covering a lot of different topics, focused on bringing everyone together, engaging with those external audiences and then also safeguarding animal agriculture from those adversarial groups like animal rights extremists.

Brandon Mulnix: 12:07

Okay, you know, as a participant at events like this, it is so unique to be sitting there and looking at a Walmart, pepsi and farmers you have dairy farmers, you have steers, you have poultry all having an open dialogue, conversation. Because as a consumer or even as an allied folks where we're providing equipment to the industry, you don't realize we're all in it together trying to get the product from the farm to the people, have a common message, we all have common goals and it's interesting when they're working together to see the opportunities that Pepsi might have or Walmart might have in some type of technology event where you know, hey, we want a partner in these technology advances that will help get our consumers or our customers better product, and then that can translate all the way back but that farmer may not know about it because that farmer is that opportunity would be available unless they were at the table having that conversation.

Emily Ellis: 13:05

Yeah, we have one session set up this year called Building your Team, connecting Across the Supply Chain on Animal Welfare, and that one brings together kind of all of those different perspectives, like you had just mentioned, and the importance of partnerships and how they're working together. We had a similar session last year with representatives from Starbucks, I believe, danone, and then a farmer that was working with those organizations. That was kind of. The key is that you know you have to collaborate, you have to come together. They do share a common goal in this.

Emily Ellis: 13:37

In last year's session it was focused on sustainability, environmental stewardship, restaurants, food brands they're getting this pressure from either customers or a lot of times it's coming from animal rights groups that are really putting a lot of pressure on them to adopt certain policies or make certain changes, which are in turn going to trickle down and affect the farmers that are supplying these foods to them.

Emily Ellis: 14:01

So for them it was it was really interesting to hear about. You know, it's not just the farmer being set on producing things the way that he always has, when he was very much open to the idea of doing things a little bit differently, but he had support from other members of the supply chain that made it more feasible, and they were also very receptive to his feedback. If they gave them this plan and it wasn't working for some reason, they could tweak it and make it fit his farm. They realized that it's not a one size fits all approach. It's very unique to each farm and each farmer that you're working with. So I thought that was a really neat perspective but again just really highlights the importance of building those relationships across the supply chain, not just staying in your own little silo, making sure that you are building those relationships with other stakeholders that, like you mentioned, do share those same goals and same objectives.

Brandon Mulnix: 14:55

Yes, that sustainability topic is not going away. I mean, yesterday, you know, there were some new rules presented to agriculture and you know poultry specific where publicly traded companies have to report on tier one and tier two gas emissions and that's a big deal. It's a really, really big deal and so it's not going away. Right now it's publicly traded companies. What's next? It's ultimately the supply chain. So what if you're supplying to a publicly traded company, does that mean you? And it just keeps going and the trickle effect happens.

Brandon Mulnix: 15:25

But when you're having those conversations and collaboration, I can't speak for McDonald's.

Brandon Mulnix: 15:29

But if I'm on McDonald's and I've got a customer that's provided the eggs and that customer is in line with my sustainability goals, but in order to really align, I need to make some changes to my farm and that's going to increase the cost of my product.

Brandon Mulnix: 15:44

Now, if that cost can be communicated as hey, we did this to match the sustainability goals, and as a producer, you know, as a, you know like a McDonald's can hopefully look at it and say, okay, we can accept that cost difference instead of it just being a price increase. No, it actually is a price increase that actually helps us match our sustainability goals. That's just a, you know, made up example. So, mcdonald's, please don't sue me for that one, but the idea is there and that's so important that you're in that room having that conversation, whether you're a publicly traded company or not, to really truly understand why the walmarts of the world are asking, with what they're asking for around sustainability, why they're asking around messaging and trying to de-myth what are all these labels all about? You know what I mean trying to match that up so it works for everybody.

Emily Ellis: 16:31

Yeah, and I think from our perspective too, because of the work that we do with animal rights monitoring, you know we see a lot of times these brands make certain policies or commitments, again, because of that pressure that they're facing from animal rights groups. They might be releasing a quote, unquote undercover video that they allegedly took from a supplier farm and they're sending out action alerts to their supporters to call and just completely bombard this company with requests for whatever policy change it is that they're trying to make. So it's not necessarily the customer that's asking and the reason for a lot of these changes. A lot of times what we're seeing is it's these animal rights groups just being absolutely relentless with the pressure, which is one of their tactics. You know they've admitted that you need to be aggressive, it doesn't matter what form that takes, but you need to be aggressive until this item has been completed or this policy has been made.

Emily Ellis: 17:25

So if we're not engaging from the farm and food community, if we're not at the table, if we're not having those proactive conversations with those companies, like you mentioned it's, we're essentially just leading it up to these groups that are putting all of this pressure from their side and they're not hearing anything from our side. So I think that just really highlights, you know, the importance of these proactive conversations, proactive engagement, building those relationships so that, when these issues do arise, maybe they can look to you or, as someone in the agriculture community, like, what is this going to mean on the farm level, what is this going to mean for animal welfare, sustainability? And they have those, those, that perspective is at the table, which is really important.

Brandon Mulnix: 18:07

And I'm speaking also to the vendors, not just the producers, but the vendors that supply the producers is these regulations and this collaboration extends all the way through the supply chain of the producers. I mean so, when they're producing an egg, it takes cage equipment, it takes fans, it takes feed, immunizations, whatever it takes all of that. And so we have we have a seed at the table. We need to be attending these events because one it's a great opportunity for collaboration, but it's also a melting pot of innovation. Some of the best ideas I have come out of these events where, wow, okay, you know what we're here, we could solve for that, or we could maybe influence that, or provide a better product that addresses that, or label our product to address that, and so I encourage the listener group that's not just the producers but the ally to look into this event. I want to talk about one of the highlights that I saw right away in one of your topics is talk about trust in food.

Emily Ellis: 19:04

Yeah, so our opening keynote is titled Teeing Off Driving Trust in Farmers Trust in Food. It's essentially focused on not only looking at from the legislative perspective, not only looking at engaging with policymakers, but also engaging with voters directly, and I think this session really just highlights the importance. Again, like we've talked about proactive engagement and trying to reach. I mean, essentially our audience is everyone, but it's hard to reach everyone. That's why we do have target audiences.

Emily Ellis: 19:40

But Joel Leftwich he's with Kansas Farm Bureau he's the one that'll be doing the presentation. He'll be talking about the trust that people put in farmers and ranchers and the importance, or not even just farmers and ranchers, but people with their boots on the ground, actively involved in caring for animals, producing our food supply. There's a lot of trust in those people because they're the ones directly involved in again producing those food products. So talking about how those people can be a really great voice for the animal agriculture community. But also, again, just that importance of proactively engaging, specifically when it comes to, like legislation or voting. How can we better engage people who are voting as opposed to just solely focusing on legislators?

Brandon Mulnix: 20:29

Okay, and that message I mean definitely needs to be conveyed all the way down to the people working the farm. We got to be saying a common message, because you never know when you're going to engage with somebody that doesn't know. I remember a really interesting conversation. I was on my way to Nebraska and I stopped in Omaha. I stopped in a little brewery there and I was engaged in the most incredible conversation about agriculture in the middle of where I thought everybody loved agriculture. But the questions I got as a being in the egg production of, you know, cage free and you know, isn't it so much better? And all of these questions from folks that I didn't expect to engage with.

Brandon Mulnix: 21:08

That day I was going on for poultry event and here I am sitting and having a conversation about the value of commercialized farming to the US and answering questions, and folks had no idea. No idea that that's. You know, whatever answers I was giving them and I still believe they're true even to this day, three years later. I educated them, I gave them an opportunity. It wasn't confrontational, I didn't call them an idiot. They didn't look at me like an idiot. They were curious and a lot of people are curious, and all we do is have to have a common message, and so your job is to help us provide that common message. So with that I mean what is one of the biggest misinformation pieces that you've noticed lately across agriculture?

Emily Ellis: 21:53

Yeah, for me, I think we touched on sustainability earlier. That's been, I think, the most relevant or most hot issue that we've been following. It's been the one that's been getting the most attention. At least since I've been on the Alliance team, that's been our primary focus. I think the biggest piece of misinformation related to that is that there's this perception that animal agriculture is a very large contributor to climate change and that the simple quote unquote simple solution to this is that we either need to reduce our consumption of meat, dairy poultry, eggs, or completely eliminate it and adopt a vegan diet. That's what we hear a lot of times. That's what animal rights groups are promoting as the obvious solution, and there's just so much misinformation tied up in that, especially in the US. Like we have such a good sustainability story to tell when it comes to animal agriculture in America. Globally, I think animal ag contributes like 14.5% or something like that the greenhouse gas emissions, but in the US it's a lot lower. It's around 4% for animal ag, which is just, I think, goes to show that we really are a global leader in sustainability initiatives and environmental stewardship efforts.

Emily Ellis: 23:14

There's a lot of work that both farmers, ranchers, industry, even, as you were saying people that provide equipment. There's a lot of different ways that we're innovating and advancing and making improvements to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions as it is, but this is not a new topic for us. This is not suddenly. People are paying attention to this. We'll get on board too. This is something that farmers and ranchers have been doing and all of us within agriculture have been doing over the last several decades to make the progress and the improvements that we've seen already.

Emily Ellis: 23:48

So I think that's a really great topic to talk about, to be aware of, because it is such a big issue.

Emily Ellis: 23:55

But also we have such a great story to tell and so much positive information to share that I think a lot of people would be surprised by if they heard our perspective, if they heard our side of the story to tell, because there is a lot of really great work being done. So I would say that's definitely probably the biggest piece of misinformation that we deal with. I do want to give a plug for anyone that's interested in kind of seeing this progress made across sectors. In animal agriculture, the Animal Agriculture Alliance, we do have a sustainability impact report. It's like a 40-page document that's broken down by species groups so you can see what the egg community is done, what the broiler chicken community is done to both improve animal welfare but also reduce our impact on the environment. So it's a really great resource that, I think, highlights a lot of those contributions that all of these different sectors have made and all of the work that they've done again over the last few decades to continuously reduce our environmental impact.

Brandon Mulnix: 24:58

If I'm talking with somebody, what's an easy way to talk about just that misinformation that you talked about in simple touch? What's the message that's easy to talk about there?

Emily Ellis: 25:07

Related to sustainability. I would probably highlight that sustainability is a continuous journey. It's not a destination. So, like I've said, we've made a lot of progress over the last few decades, but it's not that we've made this progress and now we're done. We're continuing across the industry, across the animal ag community. We're continuing to find new ways to innovate, new ways to make advancements, to continue furthering that decreased environmental impact. So I think you know, highlighting that this is continuous, we're all, everyone. It's kind of an all-hands-on-deck effort. Everyone is involved, everyone is is trying to do their part.

Emily Ellis: 25:49

I think that's a really great way to start with the conversation but also leading with values. I think it's partly that I have that animal science background is I love the statistics and I think a lot of people love the statistics, but that's just not what resonates with the public. They want to hear. They want to hear that you're concerned about this too. They want to hear that you know climate change is something that you're worried about. We all need to again be all hands-on-deck, doing our part to make those improvements. And that's kind of the segue for you to say this is what I'm doing on my farm specifically. So I think that's how I would kind of start that conversation and make sure that it resonates and that it's not just solely based on fact and science, because you do have to add in that emotional, value-oriented piece of the conversation as well when it comes to engaging with consumers or those outside of agriculture.

Brandon Mulnix: 26:45

Okay. So with your background and your focus is addressing animal activists, I mean, do you have any advice for someone that's, you know, interrupted by an animal activist, whether it's at your event or even around their farm? I mean, what advice would you have?

Emily Ellis: 27:01

Our first piece of advice and kind of going back to that event that you had mentioned recently that you had attended our first piece of advice across the board is to not engage. And I I again going back to my days on Facebook and arguing with random commenters. I think I've learned it a little bit there. There were some conversations where I would have online conversations, arguments that could be could go, that would have conversations and I would. I would get so fired up about it because this person was just. I felt like they were just so completely wrong. I'm sure they felt the very same way about me and you know, we can have a very long back and forth discussion about this item and because they're so steadfast in their beliefs and I was so steadfast in mine, we were not going to have a productive conversation. And it's the same thing with animal rights extremists. There's kind of a it's like a bell curve on the left hand side you might have. Those of us within agriculture were very pro agriculture, pro food. We know that it's safe, we know that it's nutritious, that it's the animals are well cared for. On the other side of the spectrum, that's where those antagonists, those people that are very adamantly opposed to consuming animal products. But then there's the movable middle, which is where the majority of people sit. They could be swayed either way based on the information that you're provided, but at these events or if an animal rights activist comes to your farm, you have to realize that they do have those very extreme views that are very opposite of yours and it doesn't really do you any benefit to engage with them, because you're not going to change their mind and they're not going to change yours. A lot of times what we see is that they enjoy the engagement because it's an opportunity for them. A lot of times we'll see them like recording or live streaming the farmer or someone from agriculture at an event. They want that footage, they want to put it on social media, they want to get you all riled up, they want to get a reaction out of you, because that makes that can make you look bad to the public, like they might think. Why is this farmer so defensive about what he's doing on the farm? So we always recommend don't engage with them. Let law enforcement or security deal with them. Be the ones to engage with them. So that's probably the biggest piece of advice, but also taking proactive measures to protect yourself proactively. So we do have a number of farm security and facility security measures on our website. This includes things like not letting unexpected visitors onto the farm. Maybe it's managing registrations for an event. If it is an event, making sure that you're not letting someone in that is from an animal rights organization. We also do.

Emily Ellis: 29:55

We have noticed here recently there's been a lot of targeting protests at events, at a number of different animal agriculture events. We've noticed a lot of these protests. A lot of them are very focused on poultry, specifically avian influenza, it seems like. So I would say you know, if you do have an event coming up, reach out to the alliance. We do do briefings. We do provide certain resources to members within animal agriculture that can help you.

Emily Ellis: 30:25

Again, be prepared, be proactive, not leave yourself up to chance, make yourself a harder target. But I'd say those are kind of my two recommendations. And then, third, if you do run into any activity, any protests, whatever it might be, suspicious activity, reach out to the alliance, let us know so that we can be there to support you, provide any guidance if you are kind of dealing with an ongoing issue. Avian influenza has been a big thing with these event protests, but it's also been a big thing with on farm targeting as well. Animal rights groups are looking for farms that are dealing with avian influenza. They want specifically the depopulation that comes along with it. They're targeting those farms and facilities. They want footage, they want to be able to blast it on social media and say all of these really terrible, negative things about farmers and ranchers, and they're happy to take any negative circumstance and use it against animal ag. So again, just being prepared, being proactive and reaching out if the alliance can support you in any way.

Brandon Mulnix: 31:28

So if you're new to the industry in any way and you're wondering why cameras and cell phones are so limited on farms, you can think anvil activists for that. There's a lot of junk on the internet that these folks have produced and they've even gotten jobs at farms just to record things. I mean there's so many cases out there because they've been criminally charged for what they've done, but yet all it takes is one picture, totally misconstrued, and it's now a media. You know someone's going to take that. I might put it on my social media and say it's National Poultry Day, but if it sheds one light of bad publicity, someone's going to take that. If you've got media folks, you know make sure you get their permission to ever, ever, ever do anything with the images. We deal with it when it comes to marketing pictures and stuff like that.

Brandon Mulnix: 32:15

or if we bet to an event because it's super, super sensitive and you know you don't want to be the person, yeah, known for taking that picture and getting that thing spread. That's not good social coverage. That's not. You know you're not an influencer at that point.

Emily Ellis: 32:29

Yeah, we've seen speaking of the undercover employment. I know we've seen like groups like Mercy for Animals will literally post a job posting on sites like Indeed for a quote unquote undercover investigator, like they're hiring someone usually with the sole purpose to gain employment at a target farm or facility so that they can conduct these quote unquote undercover investigations. And we will be covering that a little bit at our stakeholder summit this year. We do have a session on kind of vetting employees and making sure that you didn't accidentally hire like an undercover investigator, that you can trust the employees that you do have, because that is a very common tactic again that we see across the board.

Brandon Mulnix: 33:13

Yeah, but awareness is important. I mean, if you're not aware that these things are going on, your radar is going to be down and you're going to trust. You know that new person that just moved into the community that tells the perfect story and then, because of your, because you're a great person, you bring them into the farm, give them a job, and that person just turned into be used to you know, used against you. The Trojan horse yeah, you invited the Trojan horse in, and the fact that that's still even a topic after all these years soft commercial just the other day on a Trojan horse and I had to laugh. All right, so you're. The first guest that I have is from all species. I mean, most of our guests have been either business coaches or farmers within the poultry space. So tell me more of the collaboration between species.

Emily Ellis: 33:55

Yeah, I think we touched on this a little bit earlier. But we're stronger together when we're all collaborating. I think most of us within animal agriculture know that we're a pretty small community. It's a pretty small group of us, so it's really important that we are all sticking together and, as I mentioned previously, there's a lot to gain from hearing and understanding each other's differing views and perspectives.

Emily Ellis: 34:22

Just because maybe we do things a little bit differently doesn't mean that one of the other ways of doing something is wrong. Getting that outside perspective is very beneficial, but also from like the side of information sharing or awareness of new campaigns and narratives. So if chickens are dealing with an issue right now that maybe Dairy has dealt with previously, that's a. The poultry side doesn't have to recreate the wheel. If they have those connections and those inroads with other species groups and they can hear you know, maybe I've dealt with this before they can hear what they did to alleviate that issue without having to completely come up with something new on their own. And then also in the vein of animal rights monitoring, we do see that sometimes certain species are targeted. As I mentioned, avid influenza right now is a big deal, but whatever tactics are being used against poultry right now. We might see the same thing if there's an outbreak of swine fever. So it can definitely kind of transcend across the different species groups. So I think that's kind of the benefit of connecting with one another, working together it really does. It just makes us stronger.

Emily Ellis: 35:35

And one other point to that, too, is as it comes to, like, different production practices this isn't necessarily across species groups, but different production practices. We all need to be building up our food supply in general, like across the board. Instead of putting certain types of practices down, certain types of labels down, we need to just all together be building up our food choices, our food supply those within animal agriculture are doing. Because if you're not building up or if you're putting down certain sectors or certain production practices, ultimately you're just kind of playing into that and building on that fear that people might already have. So I think it's all of our responsibility to make sure that we are building up. Whether they choose to eat chicken or eggs or pork, every protein has its role, every production practice, every label has its role and I think ultimately, consumers should know that they can leave the grocery store with a good choice, no matter what it is that they choose to purchase.

Brandon Mulnix: 36:35

You're absolutely right there, and there's a lot of ways that the proteins can be collaborating. I just got back from an insurance summit and they don't view the poultry as its own market. They don't view cows as its own market. They see it as agriculture, and that means a peanut farmer and a horse farmer and a chicken farmer and a beef farmer are all within the same category. Well, what can we work together to do to reduce our risk? We're under similar building codes. We're under similar things. What can we work together on? What have you guys learned over there with employee topics? What have you learned with Workman's Top? What have you learned about hiring people and immigration and all these things? Those are collaborative issues as well. As how do we talk about the industry? You know, my favorite food would be probably a hamburger with bacon and an egg on it. I mean, that is the true collaboration of agriculture right there.

Emily Ellis: 37:27

That's true. They collaborate on the plate. They should collaborate in meetings as well.

Brandon Mulnix: 37:32

Absolutely. We must not forget those cream growers, too, that grew that bread, that flour for the bread. All right, so let's switch gears just again. You've come out of college, you've gotten into your career. What's one of the bigger challenges that you've overcome?

Emily Ellis: 37:49

For me. I think it's been a little bit of imposter syndrome, just because, being the animal science major and ending up in ag communications, I think having that science background is it's beneficial because it's provided me knowledge that maybe I wouldn't have learned in like an ag communications class, knowledge about the industry, the more commercial side, because I kind of grew up with like a. It was like a hobby farm, it wasn't, it wasn't anything commercial that's going into our grocery stores or anything like that. So I think that animal science degree provided more of that commercial background, which is helpful. But I do definitely not as much now. But when I was starting out I definitely felt sometimes like that imposter syndrome was kind of creeping up a little bit.

Emily Ellis: 38:34

But for me, overcoming it, I think just you have to kind of fake it till you make it. As they say, you have to act confident even if you're not always confident. And I am kind of a lifelong learner, I would say I like opportunities to growth, my skills, learn a little bit more. That really helps me build my confidence and feel like I know what I'm doing, seeking out those opportunities. For instance, one of the things with my job is that I lead our outreach to registered dietitians and people within the nutrition community.

Emily Ellis: 39:06

So both personally and professionally, I was really interested in learning more about nutrition and animal proteins role in a healthy diet. So I got my nutrition certification about a year ago just to kind of learn more about what is a good, nutritious diet look like, and that was really helpful. So seeking out those opportunities so that I can feel more knowledgeable, that makes me build my confidence up quite a bit. But also, I think, being on the Alliance team. It's such a supportive team and we have a lot of really great rock star communicators on the team. So just having that supportive environment to kind of build you up and help you grow and develop your skills has been very helpful for me throughout my early part of my journey career journey, but very helpful nonetheless.

Brandon Mulnix: 39:54

Well, emily, you had me fooled. If you're an imposter, you had me fooled today, because you're doing an excellent job in communicating what the Alliance is about. Everything you've communicated has been just absolutely solid today, and so you should. And again it comes with time and trust. Because, you know, when I started this podcast, one of the biggest things I felt was why am I doing this? Not because I didn't want to. I mean, this was my passion. It was because I felt like that imposter and definitely the fake it till you make it learn the lingo. I mean, heck, I went to an insurance summit last week. What is a poultry guy that puts equipment together go into a stinking insurance summit. But it was amazing Now how much more I understand my customers needs and what their situation, that they're dealing with around the topic of it, of property insurance and the risk and the. I just have such a better understanding about it now and so many new connections that I would have never had. But it's taking that risk. It's okay to learn, it's okay to fail. I mean I could have written it was complete flop and I didn't learn dang thing. And yep, I spent the company's money to go learn something that I shouldn't know. But you know what, when you have the mentality like you have about life long learning is okay. I'm going in there for an opportunity to learn about one thing. What else can I learn about? There's five people I could meet that have might have nothing to do with this event, but it's people that one make me better as a person just by having experience to them or have them as a network connection, or is there, is there something I can help them with? It's and it was amazing.

Brandon Mulnix: 41:29

Going to this event and being the leprechaun at the event is it was based on St Patty's Day, but it was. People were curious, generously generally curious about what we did and just being able to share the story of agriculture to insurance folks who their customers are the farmers and I was able to give another voice to them about what agriculture is and some of the challenges around around fire and just the way the industry evolved, and it was just so incredible. But but had I not sought that out? Insane with you, as you, as you're looking for these new, whether it's podcasts or books or or just being a lifelong learner, that's so important. That's, that's my motto. I mean, I've constantly learned, always got a book or an audio book or podcasts, so that's awesome. So what advice would you have for someone that's, you know, fresh out of University of Maryland, just got her Ag degree and now is trying to seek the world? What advice do you have those folks?

Emily Ellis: 42:23

Yeah, why like flows perfectly was what you were just talking about. I think, taking experience from everything that you do. Or like every job, every role that you're involved in, even if it's your fresh out of college you didn't get your dream job yet, you know, maybe it's just like an entry level job and it might not be what you want to be doing long term, but every job, every role that you're in, provides some type of valuable experience if you make the most of it. So I think, having that, that mindset and realizing that you know you're still gaining skills, even if you're trying to get to X on this map of your life, I think you can find learning opportunities, you can find new experience that will prove valuable in the future.

Emily Ellis: 43:08

But also, I've kind of learned over the last few years that, like, goals change, plans change. When I was in college, maybe where I thought I wanted to be at the end of my career might look a little different than where it is now. So, realizing that it's not a straight path to get wherever you want to get, but it's kind of a windy road, you just have to take life as it comes, take changes in your career as it comes and, again, just make the most of it and find the value in what you're doing, because everything again has some value that you can put forward into future careers or opportunities.

Brandon Mulnix: 43:45

Listeners, I could have said it better myself. I really couldn't have she's, she nailed it. I could add to. I could probably, you know, say something, but it's not going to be as profound as what she just shared with you guys. So really, really want to thank you for that. Is there any topic that you know? As we went through here, you'd be remissed for not sharing with the audience, but here's your opportunity to share with the audience.

Emily Ellis: 44:06

I will just mention a big thing that we've talked about today is that proactive engagement reaching outside of the animal ag silo and trying to engage with external audiences, the Animal Agriculture Alliance. We do have an animal ag allies program, which is an online self paced module program that really gives food and ag professionals of a good background of all of the different species of animal agriculture, how to handle contentious issues like animal welfare, antibiotic use, sustainability, how to engage with people outside of animal agriculture and have productive conversations that they'll be receptive to. So it's a really great program for anyone wanting to just have a better, deeper understanding of animal ag as a whole, not necessarily just one species, but also, again, how to have those, those proactive conversations. We have classes every quarter, so our next class closes. You have to enroll by April 5th to be invited to the next class. But I do recommend, if you're interested in diving a little bit deeper and learning a little bit more, to definitely check out the Animal Ag allies program.

Brandon Mulnix: 45:21

Thank you for sharing that. That is something that, if you want to learn more, I'll put a link to that in the podcast to make sure that we we get that out to you guys and make it easy for you. If you're looking for that, go to the show notes, either on iTunes or your favorite podcast thing, click in. We'll have a link there and I'll also put Emily's LinkedIn profile there. So if you have any additional questions and registration for the summit, I'm sure she's going to provide me like a 50% off discount code or something like that.

Emily Ellis: 45:50

I'll see what you know.

Brandon Mulnix: 45:51

Okay, 50%, but no folks. Emily gave us her time today and sharing your passion, and if you're interested in all and understanding how you can be an advocate for the industry, I'm going to recommend you reach out to Emily. She's definitely on the forefront, has the resources available, a team around her that can honestly help us as an agriculture industry advocate for the industry. So so, thank you so much for your time today. Emily Means a lot to me and the listeners.

Emily Ellis: 46:18

If I can just mention one more thing, Absolutely.

Emily Ellis: 46:22

I think, too, if you are involved in, or interested in getting more involved in, these proactive conversations, I think a lot of people assume, when I say that or when anyone says that, that it has to be focused on social media.

Emily Ellis: 46:34

And I know social media isn't for everyone, like that's not something that everyone wants to do. But I think, especially like the animal ag allies program, it's not just for social media. That's a great way to reach a lot of people, but there's definitely other ways to engage with people as well. It can be, you know, maybe meeting someone in your local community. Maybe you're going to church on Sunday and strike up a conversation with somebody about what you do. So there's a lot of opportunities where you can be an advocate for agriculture. That doesn't have to necessarily mean social media, so I did just want to put that plug in there. If you are kind of on the fence thinking, it means you have to create an Instagram, twitter, facebook, tiktok, all of the things. It can be a lot more simplified than that, where you're still making an impact for the animal agriculture community.

Brandon Mulnix: 47:21

I think I'm going to continue in the route where I go to different breweries across the country and introduce these topics over some of the other agriculture products of beer and IPAs and stuff like that.

Emily Ellis: 47:34

You're doing your part. People that go to breweries they need to, they want to learn to do so. We appreciate your efforts.

Brandon Mulnix: 47:40

Well, thank you, emily, really appreciate you being on the show today. Thank you All right listeners. Before I go, I want to share a message I received from our audience. This really means a lot to me. I receive this via social media and this is the reason this show exists. I don't get paid anything extra to produce this show. In fact, I do a lot of the show voluntarily on the weekends, away from my family is kind of a just a way of keeping my time busy. So this is the kind of message that really meant a lot to me and I'm going to keep the person. I'll keep them anonymous for now, but here's the letter.

Brandon Mulnix: 48:16

I just want to thank you so much for everything you do with your podcast. It is so refreshing as an emerging leader to get to hear other perspectives on the industry that we all live and breathe. As someone who has been very blessed to have an extremely rapid career growth, I have relied heavily on the advice of others, and your podcast is one way I've been able to get the advice when I cannot spend all my time out networking in person. It has made so much more comfortable meeting these folks in person at events for the first time, knowing a little bit about them through your show. Thank you so much for what you do, folks, it means a lot to me to hear that we've made an impact to at least one person, and that's why it's so important for you, if you're a listener, to share this podcast with others.

Brandon Mulnix: 49:01

There are so many folks that don't have access to conferences and networking events and places where their career you know where they're going to be able to meet these folks and get that information, but our job is to help connect them and help them grow. So please, please, share, like, help me get this show out. We've hit most of the continents already. We've got a great subscriber base that started to listen to this show each and every week, and that's just because of you you sharing, putting it on your social medias and just helping us out.

Brandon Mulnix: 49:31

So thank you so much for what you do, and I can't go away without saying also thank you to Prism Controls for making this show possible. Yes, I work here, yes, it's my job to be on the commercial side, but you know what they've invested in you as well by allowing me to provide this show to you through hosting it on the website putting, allowing us to talk about it and allowing us to reach out and share this event at upcoming events like peak and the summit that we're going to be attending. So please, please, thank Prism Controls. Thank them for providing this show to the industry. Folks have a great day. Really appreciate you listening. I know you have choices, so thank you very much.