Strengthening its commitment to Working Together for a Planet of Plenty™, Alltech Crop Science has acquired Ideagro, based in Murcia, Spain. This partnership joins two leading platforms to accelerate soil and crop research, and to enhance biological and other microorganism-based offerings to Alltech Crop Science customers throughout the world.

“We are excited to announce that Ideagro has joined the Alltech Crop Science global team, providing us with a partner who shares our vision and significantly scaling our research capabilities,” said Andy Thomas, CEO of Alltech Crop Science. "This is the strengthening of a longstanding partnership. We have worked closely with the Ideagro team since their founding 11 years ago.”

Ideagro is a leader in agri-food research and development with a team of more than 20 scientists. It is committed to improving the productivity and profitability of agricultural systems. Its expertise in developing beneficial organisms for soil aids the growth of crops, reduces the impact of chemical inputs and helps plants to resist biotic and abiotic stress. Ideagro’s analytical capabilities, with special emphasis on in-vitro research, phytopathology, soil dynamics and microorganisms, further enable growers to identify microorganisms and quantify enzymatic activity in the soil.

“We are facing a great growth opportunity for Ideagro because we are going to have better means and more technological capacity to develop our research, which will now have a global projection,” said Pedro Palazón, CEO of Ideagro. “We will no longer only study the soils of the Iberian Peninsula, but we will work with soils from all over the world to achieve more sustainable and environmentally friendly agriculture.”

Ideagro has state-of-the-art laboratories and experimental research stations and fields for carrying out trials in Spain. To date, the company has researched more than 90 different crops and performed more than 10,000 physicochemical and biological analyses. This has led to the development of new agricultural strategies based on microorganisms.

Ideagro’s three laboratories are fully equipped with the latest technologies to focus on nutraceuticals, phytopathology, research and development and molecular biology. Its services include:

• Precise diagnoses, identification and semi-quantification of more than 290 microorganisms at the species level in different crops. Through the development of multispecific detection kits, it can simultaneously detect up to 40 pathogenic microorganisms in a single sample, with results in 24-48 hours.
• Molecular identification of microorganisms as well as genetic characterization of specific strains and determination of pathotypes of a pathogen.
• Analysis of nematodes.
• Design of specific probes for specific microorganisms. As a result, Ideagro is able to detect specific microorganisms in soil, water, plant material and biostimulants.
• Mycotoxin analyses. With more than 15,000 analyses carried out to date, Ideagro can identify and quantify the risks of aflatoxin B1, fumonisins, zearalenone and deoxynivalenol trichothecenes and T2 toxin. It provides monthly data on mycotoxin contamination in animal feed and in the main crops of the Spanish and European markets.

Ideagro is accredited by MAPAMA (EOR 82/13) and has ISO 9001:2015 certification. In June 2021, it was named a Reference Regional Laboratory by GLOSOLAN, the Global Soil Laboratory division of the FAO.

“The combination of the Ideagro expertise with the reach and scale of Alltech will allow us to extend world-leading understanding of the interface between soil, crop, animal and human health to the global market,” said Andy Thomas, CEO of Alltech Crop Science. “The potential implications of these insights cannot be understated as we endeavor to improve the vitality of our global food system, from the ground up.”

For more information about Alltech Crop Science, visit alltech.com/crop-science.

Following an extensive search, Alltech Crop Science has filled its newly created CEO position. Andrew Thomas has been appointed to lead the global team and further cultivate the strategic growth of Alltech Crop Science.

“We believe there is tremendous potential within global crop production to cultivate a more promising future,” said Dr. Mark Lyons, president and CEO of Alltech. “We felt it was essential to appoint a CEO to lead the charge, and we specifically sought someone with international experience, proven commercial success and a shared commitment to Working Together for a Planet of Plenty™. Andrew’s experience and passion reflect these qualities, and we are excited to welcome him to the team.”

Thomas brings to Alltech more than 30 years of global management experience in the agri-food and seed industries. Throughout his career, he has led innovation initiatives and launched various new products and businesses. Most recently, Thomas served as CEO of WISErg Corporation, a circular economy business based in Seattle, Washington, USA, that diverts waste streams to sustainable agricultural inputs.

Previously, Thomas served in executive management roles for the plant breeding and seed company Nuseed as the business successfully expanded both its geographic footprint — from its Australian base throughout the Americas, Oceania and Europe — and its pipeline of technologies and products across multiple crops.

“Alltech has a long history of providing sustainable solutions to the agriculture industry through scientific excellence and visionary innovation,” said Thomas. “I am thrilled to join the Alltech Crop Science team as we continue our commitment to helping producers optimize crop health and performance while protecting the environment.”

Supporting Thomas will be Steve Borst, vice president of Alltech Crop Science. Borst played a central role in the launch of a new partnership between Alltech Crop Science and HELM Agro in the U.S. and will continue collaborating with the HELM team to activate the commercial potential of the partnership. Borst and Thomas will work closely together with the Alltech Crop Science global team to advance a new era of sustainable growth.

Thomas currently resides in Chicago, Illinois, USA, but will transition to Alltech’s corporate headquarters in Nicholasville, Kentucky.

-Ends-

Photo download: https://photos.alltech.com/pf.tlx/oeEovAoRtg-u

Marianne Smith Edge is a food, agriculture and consumer insight strategist and founder of Agri NutritionEdge where she serves as a translator between the consumer and the ag space to bring more food transparency to the food chain and improve food perception with consumers. She shares her insights on building trust with consumers by providing the security of safe and healthy food. 

The following is an edited transcript of the Ag Future podcast episode with Marianne Smith Edge hosted by Tom Martin. Click below to hear the full audio or listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Tom:                          Welcome to Ag Future, presented by Alltech. Join us as we explore the challenges and opportunities facing the global food supply chain and speak with experts working to support a planet of plenty.

                                    I’m Tom Martin with the latest in our agri-food outlook series: a visit with food agriculture and consumer insight strategist Marianne Smith Edge.

                                    Marianne is a sixth-generation farm owner in Owensboro, Kentucky. She also is a registered dietician and founder of The AgriNutrition Edge, a food and agriculture communications consulting firm. Marianne advances science and nutrition thought leadership on her firm’s website, AgriNutritionEdge.com. And she joins us from Owensboro.

                                    Greetings, Marianne.

Marianne:                  Well, greetings and good morning to you.

Tom:                          Marianne, first, if you would, just tell us about your work as both a farmer and one who advises the ag community on matters of communication.

Marianne:                  Well, I grew up on a dairy farm in Northern Kentucky, so I definitely have strong roots in the dairy industry. And at this point, I don’t do day-to-day work in farming, but in the Owensboro area, my husband and I do own farmland, where soybean and corn are grown. So, I have definitely a vested interest and (am) very involved in the agricultural area.

I think, with that background, along with my (being) professionally trained as a registered dietician and having worked in consumer insights over the years, it really does allow me to interact across the food value chain on communications. And especially in the ag community, it’s so important to really remind and work with the ag community on understanding the need to communicate what is being done and has been done over the years on moving forward and preserving land and sustainability.

You know, to too many non-farm individuals, the perception of sustainability is almost viewed as a new concept, and even though we look at it in different lenses today, we know that, ultimately, we are where we are today because farming has always looked at the preservation of farmland for future generations.

Tom:                          Well, Marianne, this pandemic — it seems like we can’t talk about anything without talking about the pandemic. And, of course, it’s been with us long enough now for us as consumers to settle into some health and food consumption trends and habits. And I wonder: What’s your perspective on trends that have emerged from the conditions of the pandemic in 2020?

Marianne:                  Well, definitely, the emergence of returning to one’s own kitchen as a necessity, of course, has emerged. We saw, by the end of the last year, that over 80% of individuals said that they were cooking at home.

                                    But the good news is that we see that individuals say that, even though there is some cooking fatigue, is that they are continuing. And even though we were hearing about the “COVID 15” — somewhat like the college “freshman 15” game — is that over a third of consumers basically said that they were cooking more healthfully.

                                    From that, we saw that online shopping, of course, (which many people decided) to do through necessity, jumped at an all-time rate, at a much higher rate than any retail had ever anticipated. And as well as — when you’re looking at trends from food, we see that individuals definitely want to connect to more local sources — and many times, especially in produce, we saw a considerable jump in looking at organics.

Tom:                          Has this opened up opportunities or expanded the market for small farms, and particularly those that are involved in CSAs, in community-supported agriculture and, you know, the weekly order of greens and so forth that we’re able to get? Have you seen any increase in that area?

Marianne:                  Yes. We definitely have seen an increase in this particular area. And I can use a friend and a farm-to-consumer meat processing business in this area as an F1 example, and have written about it in some of my blogs, is that even though he had gained a good audience through farmer’s markets over the last few years, suddenly, that increase for wanting a locally produced and processed meat grew rapidly — especially in that April and May (period), when meat, all our meat consumption seemed to increase and availability wasn’t as prevalent. And the good news is that trend has continued.

So, again, folks really want to be able to connect to food and know where food comes from. And I think there’s also that sense of security and overall safety appeal — that if they know where their food comes from, there is an assurance that, one, it will always be there, and that it’s safe and I, you know, trust the person who is producing it.

Tom:                          Any other particular current active trends that are influencing food production?

Marianne:                  Well, the trend of sustainability will continue to increase — and sustainability, of course, can mean so many different things to individuals, but connecting the planet and personal health has continued to evolve, and it should. So, I think, many times, individuals are also seeing that, “If I eat locally, if I support my local producers, then I’m eating more sustainably.”

So, in that case, looking (at), as we move forward, on a global standpoint, sustainability and looking at food systems — even though it was an active trend, this whole global pandemic has really promoted more conversation. In fact, in September, there will be a UN Food Systems Summit in New York where, really, we’re looking at the whole concept of trends and regionalization, as well as global food systems. So, that will definitely continue the conversation.

Tom:                          Have transparency and the trust that it can engender, have those things taken on more importance among consumers these days?

Marianne:                  They have. And I think we have to recognize — and especially the agriculture community — is the importance of trust and transparency. The good news is that consumers do trust farmers, but sometimes, at the same time, there is a disconnect of communication and in transparency.

                                    We always have to realize that less than 2% of the population really has a direct connection to agriculture in these days. And so, therefore, it becomes imperative that the agriculture community really communicates what’s being done — you know, why are we doing what we are doing? Whether it’s using or not using antibiotics or how plants and animals are grown or whether or not we’re using gene editing or are genetically modifying individuals, explaining what it means to the farmer but also to the consumer is really important.

                                    And so, and we know the fact that if we’re not transparent (on our own), ultimately, we will be transparent, because of the amount of information that’s available on all levels. And so, it’s really important that you, (that) those who know, actually provide the information and open the area for those who don’t know to talk about it.

Tom:                          Well, perception can be everything in a lot of situations. And I noticed on your blog that you write about trust — and specifically, you cite a national poll conducted by the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future that finds that most people just don’t like industrial agriculture, but as you just mentioned, if just farmers are listed, the trust goes up. What are the dynamics behind these distinctions?

Marianne:                  Well, I do think, in many cases — and some of it is perceptions and what you hear, as well as in surveys — is that in some individuals’ minds, people imagine that farmers should be small, always small. And (they) give that illusion of kind of the “mom-and-pop” type of farmer.

                                    And so, unfortunately, sometimes, the label of industrial farm or factory farms are given to really large agriculture production (that) is still family-owned. And so, it is a misconception and (is) easily used by individuals who want to kind of frame that conversation, that big is not always good. And it seems like big food, big ag, gets a negative connotation, but at the same time, as consumers, we readily accept big technology and big food distribution systems.

                                    So, it is, it is a challenge. I think we constantly have to be able to distill the distinction and really talk about the percentage of (large) farms that are (family) owned and that farms, regardless of their size, you know, they have to be profitable if they’re going to be sustainable. And you know, larger — the larger the farm, sometimes, can actually be much more innovative in technology as well as sustainable practices. So, this is an area that we all need to continue to work on to break down some of those perceptions.

Tom:                          Well, continuing that perception thought, I wonder if it’s generally understood that to be a successful farmer, you have to be, in essence, a scientist. I mean, it can amaze the non-farmer to hear and read about what actually goes into the work of producing our sources of food. Do you think this “brain power” aspect could use a boost in the public dialogue?

Marianne:                  I do. I think, for some, the mental picture of farming is, many times — and, I, like anybody, love farmer’s markets, but you know, (with) the farmer’s markets, you get that close connection of food and individuals, and you — sometimes, you don’t always understand what goes into it, how much prep time and science has gone into it.

                                    I would say today, you know — and I can’t quote the exact numbers — but most in farming today definitely have a college education or (have) been involved in constant training.

                                    You know, my father was a dairy farmer over 51 years. And even though he was a World War II vet who did not go to college, you know, farming still — it was about his understanding the science. And so, I do think we forget that it’s very scientific, and if we really realize the technology and the science that has gone into farming over the last 50, 60 years, where we are able to only use the amount of, if needed, pesticides or chemicals or etc., based on a particular small area of the land, that we can really have an integrated pest management — we’re so much better at being able to control these inputs than, you know, than when I was growing up. And the amount of technology (and) computerization that goes into farming — to the average individual, I don’t think they do understand that, how much science goes into it. And especially as we continue to look at sustainability practices of reducing animal production or reducing greenhouse gas inputs, you know, we’re moving forward.

Looking at carbon farming, all the different technologies, it really does — it is about science and in knowing technology.         It’s a highly sophisticated profession that some, sometimes, individuals don’t regard it as such.

Tom:                          You’ve mentioned sustainability a couple of times. We hear so much about it now — even more so as the new Biden administration in Washington is rolling out its agenda. Where do you think agriculture will fit into that picture?

Marianne:                  I think agriculture is really the foundation of this picture. But the important thing — it’s going to be so important for agriculture to be at the table. I have been involved in some webinars, listening (as a) participant or discussing over the last couple of months, and globally as well as in the U.S.  And sometimes, during that conversation, people will say, “Well, yes, we need to have farmers involved.” And I am thinking, “Well, why aren’t they at the table?”

                                    So, I think it’s going to be really important that, you know, the basis of the whole concept of climate change and sustainability is that agriculture needs to make sure that we are inserted into the conversation early on. But it’s also important that we don’t keep just talking to ourselves. You know, we need to make sure that there’s an integration of conversations across the board, so those who might be making policy truly understand the unintended consequences, or also understand the positive solutions; either way.

                                    And so, agriculture, to me, is at the core of where we’re going — it’s just that we really need to be in the middle of the conversation now, not (only) when decisions are made.

Tom:                          I know that you’re involved in another conversation. You were named to the board of directors of the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky a couple of years ago. And I know that your background includes owning a strategic nutrition consulting firm for the food and healthcare industries. Why is it important that that insight and perspective about farming and food production have a seat at that particular table?

Marianne:                  Well, it’s — earlier this week, we actually had a discussion of really bringing a group of partners across healthcare and the workforce to really look at how we can start drilling in on particular focus areas within Kentucky, to really start turning around (and) making Kentucky a healthier population.

                                    The reality (is that) we are at the bottom — not at the total bottom, but definitely at the, at the lower percentage of being healthful. During COVID, it really, it has exposed an issue we already knew: that the issues of health equity and inequity and how COVID has affected those with the higher percentage of culpability, such as diabetes, heart disease, etc.

                                    So, with my background, I do lead the strategic planning evaluation committee, and so, you know, we have to think broad-base. What are the factors that are, really, have created this, you know? At the core, it really is food, as well as access to healthcare.

                                    So, I feel like my very background, as well as my work in strategic planning over the years, can really work side by side with all the other colleagues in the health and (food) workforce to be very focused on the fact that there’s never been a better time, and it’s really important that we move forward and really identify what’s at the core and how we can reverse our health status in Kentucky.

Tom:                          Marianne, an article on your blog is titled, “Antibiotics: Cure or Curse?” And you cite concerns about antibiotic overuse, resistance, and how the two may be intertwined and how, for some, the blame is on animal agriculture, while for others, it’s on human medicine.

                                    Do you anticipate movement toward more antibiotic-free and organic production in 2021?

Marianne:                  Yes, even though I do think we will see more of it. What’s interesting — in a recent survey that was just recently released by the International Food Information Council Foundation in Washington, D.C., which I have previously worked (for) — what was interesting is they were really looking at influences on animal protein and plant protein decision-making. And about 25% of the individuals said that if a product was labeled “no antibiotic,” that really influences their decision, more so than “organic.”

                                    And so, we see that that’s typically with those that might be under the age of 45 and (with a) higher income. But, again, individuals are connecting that as a safety issue, and with COVID, there’s also been concern that, “Okay, what’s in my food or what’s being given to animal protein that, you know, is there any” — even though we know it’s not really been, that’s not necessarily true — but there is some thought within the public of, “Is there connection of how my food is raised, especially animal protein, as related to disease states or future disease states?”

                                    So, I do think we will continue to see consumer influence on looking for products that have no antibiotics. I think there’s a lot of discussion out there (about) whether, does that — is it as good for human health as (it) is for animal welfare? But antibiotics — third shift is so important across the human and animal continuum.

                                    I served on one health board a few years ago when I worked with the International Food Information, and so this is one area that really, as a human and animal health connection, that needs to continue to be looked at over the way. And with organic, even though it’s still a small piece of the total purchases, what was interesting is, last year, to your point, with COVID, we saw a much more significant increase of individuals who (are) buying especially organic produce.

Tom:                          Hmm. Well, what is on your shortlist of things you hope to see happen in agriculture and food production this year, in 2021?

Marianne:                  Oh, my shortlist. So, world peace. [Laughs] I think, in the shortlist, I keep bringing back to it, but (on my) shortlist is really bringing this whole discussion around sustainable food systems, what does that look like? And that’s a really large topic, but I think, in 2021, is that my shortlist is: what have we learned about the food value chain, the whole distribution system, during 2020? How can we use these learnings to really start looking at what needs to change? You know, what have we learned, and how can we use those learnings to really improve not only the safety (of) the distribution system but also improve trust and transparency and take that and learn what we can do better?

                                    So, really, even though it’s a very large shortlist, I think taking those where — this should give us an opportunity to really put the consumer and the farmer, along the whole other food value chain, (to put these) individuals together to really realize that, if we are going to be able to continue with having the availability of food that we have been so fortunate (to have), that we all need to come together to create transparency and trust among each of us.

Tom:                          That’s food, agriculture and consumer insight strategist Marianne Smith Edge, talking with us from Owensboro, Kentucky. Thanks, Marianne.

Marianne:                  Thank you.

Tom:                          Coming up next in our agri-food outlook series: Minette Batters, president of the National Farmers Union of England and Wales. We’ll get her views on building a more sustainable agri-food industry, working with governments on ag and trade policies and what she expects from the industry after a tumultuous year.

                                    I’m Tom Martin. Thanks for listening.

                                    Join us for the rest of the series as we reflect on how the agriculture industry adapted in 2020 and speak with experts on what’s in store for agri-food in 2021.

                                    Thank you for joining us. Be sure to subscribe to Ag Future wherever you listen to podcasts.

The International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ) and Alltech have announced the call for nominations for the IFAJ-Alltech International Award for Leadership in Agricultural Journalism. The award will be presented during the Alltech ONE Virtual Experience in 2021. Now in its third year, this global award recognizes excellence and leadership demonstrated by young journalists within their IFAJ guilds.

The recognition honors Alltech’s late founder, Dr. Pearse Lyons, who was a passionate storyteller with a great respect for agricultural journalists. The award upholds this legacy while keeping an eye toward the future as it supports the next generation of leaders who connect agriculture to a global audience. It’s an endeavor that aligns with Alltech’s vision for a Planet of Plenty^TM, in which a world of abundance is made possible through the adoption of new technologies, better farm management practices and human ingenuity within agriculture.

“Producers throughout the food supply chain are implementing smarter, more sustainable solutions to positively impact plants, animals, people and the environment,” said Dr. Mark Lyons, president and CEO of Alltech. “However, progress does not end at implementation. We must also amplify the message that we are in the midst of a new era in agriculture led by science, data-driven decision making and a passionate dedication to farming with the future in mind.”

Journalists aged 40 years or younger by Dec. 31, 2020, can be nominated through their IFAJ guilds via the online application form. A global winner will be selected by an international committee based on their journalistic achievements and the leadership they demonstrate within their guild. The global winner receives complimentary registration to attend the Alltech ONE Virtual Experience and will be honored during a presentation.

“IFAJ shares our commitment to supporting journalists who give a voice to the farmers and producers, the innovators and change-makers, the scientists and scholars all working toward a Planet of Plenty,” continued Dr. Lyons. “We are excited to once again partner with IFAJ as we honor excellence in journalism and ensure that the stories of agriculture continue to be well-told.”

The two organizations have enjoyed a longstanding relationship, having also co-founded a young leader program in 2005 that continues today.

"Alltech's respect for agricultural journalists and commitment to cultivating leadership skills among young reporters has strengthened the profession around the world," said Lena Johansson, president of the IFAJ. "The company's emphasis on the importance of accurate reporting on science and agriculture is more important than ever, and Alltech's dedication has helped many talented journalists build their careers. It is a pleasure to work with them." 

The deadline for nominations is Dec. 18, 2020. For more information about the IFAJ-Alltech International Award for Leadership in Agricultural Journalism, contact press@alltech.com.

Alltech believes that inclusion cultivates creativity and drives innovation. Gender equality is not only a fundamental human right, but it is also essential to advancing society and the global agri-food industry. To gather real-world insights into the professional landscape for women in agriculture, Alltech has announced its support of the second annual Women in Food & Ag survey. Launching on Oct. 27, the survey aims to collect feedback that empowers the agri-food industry to create a more equitable environment.

The 2019 Women in Food & Ag survey results revealed specific barriers for women in agriculture and a gap between female and male perceptions but reflected an optimistic outlook overall. As 2020 ushered in unprecedented challenges for agriculture, new questions have been added to the survey to gauge potential inequalities exacerbated by COVID-19. To further globalize this effort and increase accessibility, the survey is available in six languages.

This initiative reflects Alltech’s commitment to the U.N. Global Compact and the U.N. Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) related to gender equality. The SDG recognizes gender equality as a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world.

“In order to achieve a Planet of PlentyTM, it is more important than ever for the agri-food industry to perform at its full potential,” said Dr. Mark Lyons, president and CEO of Alltech. “Human ingenuity is our Earth’s most valuable resource, and a diverse workforce is essential to building a more sustainable future.”

Women and men in all sectors of the food supply chain are encouraged to contribute to this important global conversation about gender equality in agriculture by taking the survey here.

The survey results will be published on Jan. 26 on the Alltech ONE Virtual Experience website.

In a recent study, the American Institute of Stress reported that 75% of today's employees believe that they have more on-the-job stress than a generation ago. This stress has been amplified within the past year, especially for those in agriculture, as they have worked hard to maintain the global food supply chain. Padraic Gilligan of Gilligan’s Farm in Roscommon County, Ireland, joins us on the podcast to discuss some specific solutions he has implemented on his farm to de-stress his operation.

The following is an edited transcript of the Ag Future podcast episode with Padraic Gilligan hosted by Brian Lawless. Click below to hear the full audio.

Brian:           Welcome to AgFuture, presented by Alltech. Join us as we explore the challenges and opportunities facing the global food supply chain and speak with experts working to support a Planet of Plenty.

                     Do you feel stress? Are there certain activities, either at work or at home, that bring up specific fears or concerns? In a recent study, the American Institute of Stress reported that 75% of today's employees believe that they have more on-the-job stress than a generation ago. This may be from a multitude of sources, but it begs the question: How do we reduce stress at work, especially as work continues from one generation to the next?

                     Well, today, we have an extremely helpful episode of the Ag Future podcast. I'm Brian Lawless, North American brand manager at Alltech, and I'm joined by Padraic Gilligan of Gilligan's Farm. Gilligan's Farm is an award-winning lamb and beef operation in Ireland with its own farm store and many customers throughout Dublin and the world. But like many of us, they feel stress both personally and in their business — yet within their family business, they’ve found multiple ways to reduce stress, and it's making a big difference. The question is: How, specifically, can Padraic and Gilligan's Farm work to de-stress their operation? What has this meant for their business? How can we take these lessons and apply them to de-stress our own lives and work? Padraic, welcome to the AgFuture Podcast.

Padraic:        Thanks for having me. It's a great opportunity. Thanks very much.

Brian:           I'm excited to have you. Before we dive into the topic of stress, which we'll get to, you've built a really fascinating business. Can you tell us a bit of the history of Gilligan's Farm and your role within the business?

Padraic:        Yeah, I suppose. Gilligan's (has been) in operation for over a hundred years. My father started it back in 1911, and (it) has proceeded on over the years with stops and starts, good and bad. I reared animals on the farm. We have a great love for animals. When I sold animals, whether it be in a mart or factory, I always felt like — I like to sell myself to the public, to have a product that you could feel proud of. That's how I started the farm.

                     The stress part of it, it's been very stressful for the last six or seven months, especially with the COVID. It's very depressing for our farmers, especially here in Ireland — people who have been living on their own. The pubs are closed. We can't go for pints, and that has a big bearing on how people live and how they live their lives. People need to have fun along with work.

Brian:           Yeah. Obviously, not being able to have a bite with some friends is no fun. Talking about your farm, what changes has Gilligan's Farm implemented to manage some of these new stresses with COVID-19? What's changed for you guys?

Padraic:        What has changed? Lots of things have changed. With stress, animals are no different than humans. They get stressed. Our philosophy in that is to play music to the animals and to see them as well. With people, people have to have an outlet, have a bit of fun, try to lessen the stress factor of everyday living and just get them down. You have to open the drawer and deal with it and just close it and move on to the next drawer. That's how we are dealing with it — or my way of dealing with it.

Brian:           Yeah. I do want to touch on the music for animals here in a bit. I guess you started talking about the business that you had. Your father started the farm. You've taken it over, and we're now moving on to the third generation, which would be your son, Alan. It seems like the first way you've looked to de-stress your business is just to have a proper succession plan. I guess, maybe, give us a little insight (into) how you've been preparing or maybe removing the stress for your son, Alan, to take over the business, or as he's been taking over the business.

Padraic:        Well, I suppose it's funny. Look, if you're in business, it's stress-related. In the succession plan that I have to hand it all over to my son, which is — he's running the business and he has full control of it now. I'm taking a backseat. It's stressful for him because I have been in the business over the years, and of course, business has moved on. You have to be on top of it at all times to deal with it. He's probably saying sometimes, "Why would you let yourself in for all this huge workload?" In running a business — we have 22 people employed, and it takes management to do that. It is stressful, but you have to deal with it and not bring it home with you. Customers can be demanding. Ninety percent of them are very easy to deal with, and you've got the 10% that would be very finicky, and you have to deal with them as well. Do you know what I mean?

Brian:           Yeah. I feel like you've touched on two really important things. It seems like you've actively taken a transition in your own job responsibilities, where you're now saying, "Hey, I was the one managing the farm. Now, I'm actively the one taking the backseat." I would assume, for Alan, that's made a world of difference, that it's not now having two people in charge. There's been a transition of responsibilities within the business. Then the second thing that I think you touched on was, in some ways, not taking what you do in your family life during the day, during business hours, and taking it home with you. I feel that that can just add to stress, when you have the same people that you could be dealing with at work that you're then at home with, and you're taking that stress from one place to the next.

Padraic:        Absolutely. When you go home in the evening, you need to be chilled out. There's nothing better than listening to music or having a chat with the wife. All that is very important.

Brian:           Yeah, sometimes it is. It's just those simple things. Maybe moving on, to the second way of de-stressing a business, really focusing on this concept of educating your customers in a very clear way. Some consumers are conscious about where their food comes from, but many aren't. I think that even applies to cuts of meat and to the opportunities that could be available to chefs. Gilligan's Farm prides itself on top-quality meat. If I understand correctly, you are a supplier to celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, and I read that you literally brought a lamb to him and showed him and his team the cuts. Now, I envision you walking into the restaurant with this entire lamb strapped to your back, but I'm guessing that's not the case. How did that relationship begin, and how did you educate Jamie and his team?

Padraic:        He's one of the guys that we deal with that's running a restaurant in Dublin. He's one of those people that is a perfectionist and really loves the products that we give him, and it's direct off the farm. He has a big thing about that. He said to me one day, "Would it be possible to take a lamb in here just to show the staff where all the cuts come from? We'd cook it and test it and we'll invite people in." I was meant to do it. Yeah, I thought it was a great idea. I brought the lamb and the saw and the knife and went to the restaurant. We had good fun. They found it very interesting. The staff then could relate to the customer of the lamb, where it came from, all the different cuts of the lamb, from the best to the worst. It's good education for people — especially people (who) live in the cities, (who) don’t understand animals.

Brian:           It seems like, within your business, there's this element of trust with the consumer. How important is consumer trust? How do you build that reputation and relationship with customers?

Padraic:        Well, it's funny you should say that. I find that fascinating, because when I deal with someone in a restaurant that's a Michelin-star restaurant, the first thing I'd say to them (is), "This is a marriage. This is going to be a marriage. You have trust in me, and I have trust in you." We take it from there, but I suppose you can bring in ten pieces of meat (that are) absolutely mouthwatering, and if you bring in the eleventh bit that's not as good, you're breaking the trust.

                     It's a matter of consistency in your product. You're not 100%, or there's nobody that's 100%, but you definitely have to be over 95% consistent with the product. That builds the trust. As the customer, when you have a meal or have a steak and you say, "Yeah, that was a lovely steak. Where did that come from?" All of that builds a relationship, and that's what you should be looking for.

                     To produce such a high-quality product is vital. I suppose Pearse Lyons was very fond of — when he'd come to Ireland, he'd always buy our meat for his conferences. That's how I got to know Alltech. Alltech has done huge work for us here on the farm. They are always at the end of the phone and would advise on different ways to treat animals, the feed for animals and all that. All that's important. All that is the link in the chain to the end customer. Does that make sense?

Brian:           Yeah. Speaking about links in the chain, I know Dr. Lyons was famous for wanting to (be able to) cut steaks with a spoon. Were you the man behind wanting to cut steaks with a spoon?

Padraic:        Yes, I am. To be truthful about it, there was a video here on the farm going back a number of years ago. They wanted me to cook a steak at seven o'clock in the morning. I said, “Yeah, we better cook it in the house.” I got my wife up anyway. My wife said she's not taking any part in cooking the steak, but I proceeded to cook it anyway. I was thinking to myself, “Well, how can I make this different?” I just got the brainwave: “Would it be possible to cut a steak with a spoon?” I tried it and it worked. I said, “Yeah, let's go for it.” It's on the video, cutting a steak with a spoon. That is, I suppose, a reflection on the product that we have. Tender and tasty, I suppose, is the slogan that we always used.

Brian:           Yeah, and Dr. Lyons was famous — he took that back to the U.S., and the late Dr. Pearse Lyons would show the quality of the steak by cutting it with a spoon. That's amazing.

                     Let's move into the third way to de-stress your business. You kind of touched on this a little bit when you talked about the animals and the music and just this theme of keeping your business fun and productive at the same time. I guess maybe my first question is — so, it's true that you constantly play music around the farm, and it's for the animals?

Padraic:        Yeah. We have a system in the farm to play the music. I suppose it goes back to animals being stressed. Animals can get spooked or stressed very easily. It's all about not stressing animals, and this is why I started playing music to them. My mother, when she'd be milking the cows years ago, when I was a kid, she'd milk the cows by hand, and she'd always sing to the cows, and they'd always give more milk, so I said, “Why not play music to the animals?” We started playing music to animals, I suppose, maybe 15 years ago.

                     There are particular songs that we play to them. Percy French was the greatest Roscommon man, a great Irishman, and he wrote lots of songs. Some of them would be "The Mountains of Mourne" and "McBreen's Heifer," all those. The lyrics in all those songs are absolutely class and really becoming of playing music to the animals. If you Google "Percy French," Brendan O'Dowda sang his songs. He has a lovely, soft voice, and animals really love it. It's amazing. We use it here in the abattoir when the animals are being slaughtered. We play the same music to them in the abattoir here, which is adjacent to the farm. The abattoir is on the farm. We have full facilities on the farm to do from slaughter to dispatch in whatever form the customer wants it. It really adds to, I suppose, the stress levels in the meat.

Brian:           Yeah. I peeked on the music charts in Ireland and there was one artist, Dermot Kennedy, that was very popular. There are also a bunch of global stars, like Justin Bieber, that are on the Irish charts right now. Have you found any music that the cows and the lambs do not like?

Padraic:        I suppose we just have this Brendan O'Dowda, Percy French's songs with Brendan O'Dowda, and it just continuously plays. There are about maybe 20 songs in the list, and they just keep playing. I suppose the animals get familiar with the sounds and the different — the voice is the same with Brendan O'Dowda. I wouldn't like to be changing to different artists because their voices can be sharp or different. I feel that the animals wouldn't get as attached to it, if you know what I mean. It's a particular type of music.

                     Now, young people might say, "You're silly. This is not for real," but it is actually. It is. We had RT on the farm here and we were slaughtering the animals, and they couldn't get over the animals, how relaxed they were in the abattoir just before they were killed. There was no stress. It's completely different. It's amazing. Over a period of months, they're familiar with it and it's not spooking them.

Brian:           Yeah, and it seems like this is something that has bled all the way into your relationships with the consumers and your customers, that there needs to be consistency of the final quality of the product and there needs to be consistency in the music or the rhythms for the animals themselves, to keep that going from beginning to end.

Padraic:        Absolutely. If I brought in different music, like rock music or whatever, it would spook the animals. It wouldn't be common for them.

Brian:           Yeah. Moving on to the fourth way to de-stress your business, it really revolves around taking care of your environment and, really, the whole supply chain. We know customers would like to be conscious of where their food comes from and not only how the animals are treated but the environment and how it can impact them. That's going to be a big challenge, and it's going to continue to be a big challenge, but I understand that Gilligan's Farm aims to be carbon neutral within ten years. Can you tell us a little bit about the plan? And probably just more importantly, why does this matter to you?

Padraic:        Well, it matters. I have grandchildren, and I'd love to see them in (the) environments where I grew up, going back 70 years ago, where things on farms were very simple. For instance, if you go out and plough the land, you can see the worms. They're there visually. You can see them in the ground. I feel, over the years, that was lost with different ways of getting rid of slurry and all that, spreading those in the wrong times of the year, when the worms are, I suppose, coming up in the springtime of the year now.

                     I remember, going back years and years ago, when slurry was a new thing, and when you spread it, you'd see seagulls in the field the following morning. My God, it's an awful sight to see, because you have worms killed by the thousands, which is frightening, really. I suppose, over the years, we always used straw bedding for animals. We're bringing that back out on the land, and it's actually good for the nutrients and it's good for the clay and to bring the worms back. If we plough a field now, we see hundreds of worms in a small area. It's very rewarding when you see that.

                     I suppose, going back to your point, the environment has to be minded, especially now, because with the climate, it has really changed in Ireland. We're getting periods of really dry weather and periods of really wet weather, and that is very stressful — especially on farmers with crops, saving crops and all that. So, we have to respect the environment. We have a program now where we grow trees, hectares and hectares of trees, to enhance the carbon.

Brian:           Yeah, so looking at the concept of how do we make sure we have nutrients in the soil, how do we make sure that we have even the basics, like worms in the soil, but then how do we look at things like planting trees and revitalizing or keeping carbon at the forefront of what's going on.

I really like what you said previously, though, because I think it wraps into this concept of succession that you're thinking of — "Hey, when I have my grandkids and my great-grandkids, I want to make sure the land works well for them." That's almost the first step in a succession plan where you're helping out your son, Alan, in his taking over of the business.

Padraic:        The land will always be there to feed the people, and to have it in good shape, I think, is very important.

Brian:           Yup. Finally, bringing this all to a close, I've been on your website. It's a beautiful website, by the way. The meat looks delicious. I saw just some of the cuts on there. It looks amazing. What website do people need to get to to buy the meat? How do they get access to this?

Padraic:        We have a click-and-collect. We also do a door-to-door delivery in Dublin. We started this about six months ago, when the lockdown came. People in Dublin would be ringing and wondering could they get meat, so we started this online shop. It's actually very successful. Our biggest problem is deliveries. I'd be a stickler on doing the job ourselves, so we deliver ourselves. I know it's time-consuming, but when people order meat and they pay for it online, we deliver to them, and we make sure that they get it when they're supposed to get it.

Brian:           Yeah. That's fantastic. Well, the website, I see here, is gilligansfarm.ie. You guys do deliver. You accept payment online. You do have an in-person store, but yeah, the challenge of delivery. COVID, in some ways, has really challenged us to be innovative, and it sounds like you guys are quickly adapting to the times and finding it challenging.

Padraic:        You just have to change with the times. People like Jamie Oliver in Dublin — we supply Chapter One, all those places where people would be going there to eat, (and) all those restaurants were closed. Suddenly, those people that love our meat were ringing, wondering: where could they get it? This is how that started.

Brian:           If there's an additional point of ways to de-stress, it certainly would be (to) change with the times. Be flexible. To sum up some of the things I've heard, I've heard, really, four specific ways to de-stress your business. The first would be have a succession plan, eliminating the fears of, "Does this all depend on me? What happens after I leave the business?" And you've put in that place with Alan, currently. The second thing seems to be (to) educate your customers clearly. If that means bringing the product to them, making sure they understand the value of it and how to handle it — particularly chefs and cooks — that's very important.

                     From the music end of things, the third way I heard to de-stress the business was keep your business fun and productive. It eliminates the concern of burnout. It keeps the animals consistent every day and keeps that consistent all the way from the farm to the fork, at the forefront of what's being done. Last but not least, de-stressing the business by taking care of your environment in the supply chain. You're just addressing concerns of, "Will there be enough resources? Can I look for my grandkids and great-grandkids to still have a good environment?" And just being part of the solution and not the problem.

Padraic:        Yeah, that's it. Just play your part as you go along. That's it.

Brian:           Padraic, you've given us a ton to think through. Really, I've been fascinated to talk to you and hear more about your business. Padraic, thank you for being on the AgFuture podcast.

Padraic:        Thank you very much, and thank you for having us. It's a pleasure.

Brian:           This has been Ag Future, presented by Alltech. Thank you for joining us. Be sure to subscribe to Ag Future wherever you listen to podcasts and leave a review if you enjoyed this episode.

As a futurist, Jack Bobo works to stay ahead of consumer trends by detecting the disruptors that trigger them. We spoke with him about the rapidly changing global food supply chain, what will impact future trends in agriculture and what he believes is in store for the future of food production and consumer habits.

The following is an edited transcript of the Ag Future podcast episode with Jack Bobo hosted by Tom Martin. Click below to hear the full audio.

Tom:            The agricultural landscape was rapidly changing even before the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the global food supply chain. The way we produce, distribute, and consume food will soon look very different. What lessons can we take away from this to guide how we feed the planet in the future?

                     As the CEO of Futurity, Jack Bobo makes it his business to stay ahead of the trends and detect the disruptors that trigger them. He joins us to share his insights on the challenges and opportunities awaiting us in the next era of agriculture. Welcome, Jack.

Jack:             Thank you for having me.

Tom:            First, if you would just help us calibrate our expectations. What is the role of a futurist?

Jack:             Yeah. Thank you. I appreciate that. Well, a lot of us think about the future, but we're not necessarily thinking about what's going to happen 10 or 20 years from now and what that's going to mean for our children and future generations. Part of what I try to do is to help people not just look ahead for next year, but how do you look around the corner of what's happening.

                     Sometimes, I describe it this way. Imagine you're in a car and you look in the rearview mirror. Well, that's what hindsight is, and then you look through the windshield. Well, that's foresight. You can see a certain distance down the road, but insight comes from the GPS because that's what tells us what's around the corners. For a futurist, that's what we try to do. We try to not just look at the trends that everybody else are talking about, but what are the forces that shape the trends. That's how you get ahead of a trend so you don't get run over by them.

Tom:            How do you identify those forces?

Jack:             Well, what we do is we look for signals. There's a science fiction writer named William Gibson and he would say, "The future is already here. It's just not widely distributed." So what we're doing is we're looking around at what are those innovations that have the opportunity to scale and have a broader impact. Once you do that then you want to try to figure out how do those signals connect to each other. Let me give you an example. Today, people think about robotics all the time and they think about things like AI, artificial intelligence. Well, when you take artificial intelligence and you put it together with a physical embodiment, well, that's what a robot is. You're putting together two ideas and forming something new.

                     Another way of thinking about it is people often worry about robotics taking away jobs and that's one order of magnitude separation, but what about the fact that we manufacture a lot of things in China because labor is cheap? Well, if robotics comes along and reduces the cost of labor, why are we even producing things in China anymore? Because then transportation becomes a much bigger part of the challenge. So why not bring all that production back to the United States or Ireland or other parts of the world?

                     What we're really trying to do is we're looking for those little things that other people are talking about and then we connect them in interesting ways and it gives us insights that we wouldn't have otherwise had if we try to follow that trend directly at the single line.

Tom:            This is fascinating, so you crunch data, you watch trends, you have all sorts of resources. Can you tell us what the trendscape, if you will, what it looked like as the world -- we're just beginning to come to grips with the meaning of the term "pandemic". What sorts of behaviors peculiar to such a crisis have you observed?

Jack:             Yeah. What I'm seeing is some trends are accelerating, some trends are decelerating, and some trends are being disrupted. An example of a trend that's being accelerated, well, we were already moving to online purchases of foods and other goods, but if you look at the month before the pandemic hit, only about 5% of Americans were purchasing their food online. A month or two later, 40% of people had tried purchasing food online. When it comes to things like online purchases, it's a huge barrier to get people to try that for the very first time. It's pretty easy to get them to try it again if they have a good experience. And so we actually just compressed five to ten years of growth in online food purchases into two months and that's something that's going to have a long-term impact. It changes the dynamics of where people purchase food. Of those purchases, nearly 50% of those people were purchasing online for the first time, and of those, Walmart captured about 60% of that opportunity. There are really interesting dynamics that are happening because of that and it's shifting the landscape.

                     If we look at food purchases before the pandemic, most people were beginning to eat food outside of the home, more than half of food purchases, but of course, after the pandemic, almost everybody's eating their food at home. This is a trend that has a potential of staying power and it shifts the direction that things were going and has moved them backwards to a different place. This is a trend that's going to have a long-term staying power because of the economic implications of the pandemic as well. Coming out of this, people aren't going to have as much disposable income, they're more likely to go back to basics, and this is going to have ripple effects through production, how we consume food, nutrition, and how we engage with food and culture as well.

Tom:            Let me pick up on that term "long-term consequences" because they're so fascinating to try to contemplate right now not only economic, not only social, but also mental and psychological. They're all linked to the myriad of changes that are being forced upon us by this outbreak. Do you see anything there of consequence?

Jack:             Yes. Well, it seems like every two weeks, there's a new sort of psychological aspect to this conversation. During the first couple of weeks, I was talking to people about panic buying and retail therapy, and then I started talking about are there food shortages happening, and then we were talking about food production squeezes. Now, we're beginning to look forward and say what are the longer term implications to our food supply and how we produce food that are going to come out of this, and so there are definitely consequences.

                     How people think about food, well, when you look at what people are purchasing, there's this trend back to basics. People are looking for foods that create comfort. Before the pandemic, big brands, big food was considered a bad thing. People were looking for small niche startups, things like that that were interesting and cool. Now, all of a sudden, the fact that you're buying brands that you were buying 20 years ago or when you were a child is bringing comfort to people, and so that's changing how they're thinking about the food brands that they buy.

Tom:            It's still very early in this crisis to be able to make definitive statements about what I'm about to ask, Jack, but I wonder if at this stage, you are already able to see what sorts of consequences are in store for Generation Z.

Jack:             I think people haven't quite wrapped their minds around the fact that this is the biggest economic impact since the Great Depression. Obviously, the Great Depression marked an entire generation of people who even today, their purchases and spending patterns are influenced by what happened to them back in the 1930s and early '40s. I don’t think most people grasp the fact that many young people today are going to have just as much of an impact on how they view the world.

                     For students who are at universities and are graduating this fall, but also for the next five or ten years, they're going to be entering the worst economic climate since the Depression in trying to find jobs. People were already struggling a little bit -- younger individuals -- to find jobs who've just been out of college, and so that's going to be dramatically more challenging for them. You have to remember that the income that you have in your first five or so years out of college really determines how much income you're going to have when you're retiring, so the impact on their financial well-being will reverberate through their entire lives.

Tom:            Okay. Let's turn to how COVID-19 is revealing some issues in the ways we get the right food to the right people at the right price. What have these disruptions shown us about our food systems?

Jack:             Well, I think they've definitely shown that there are some vulnerabilities in the way that we've been producing food. Historically, there has been an emphasis on the efficiency of our food supply and for really good reasons. If you go back 50 years, about a third of all the people in the world went to bed hungry every night. By 2020, only about 12% of the people on the planet were going to bed hungry, so efficiency has done an amazing job of raising people out of poverty and improving health and nutrition. On the other hand, that consolidation of our food supply system has an impact when there's a disruption to it.

                     If you have only a handful of companies that are producing the livestock products in the country and one facility is shut down, that can impact 5% of all production and then that becomes a bottleneck for the entire food system. A repercussion of that is that with that shortage then consumers end up paying more for their food, so just a 5% disruption can raise prices for the consumer.

                     On the other side of that equation though, livestock producers have fewer places to send their animals, and so all of a sudden, they're getting paid less money for each head of cattle. Think about that. Consumers are paying more and the people producing the food are getting paid less, and so that sends terrible signals to our market. It encourages people who produce food to produce less just at a time when we actually need more. So we're going to have to figure out how to maintain the efficiency of our system, which we need, but to add to it a resilience that's currently lacking.

Tom:            Is this what you're talking about when you described friction in our food systems or is that something else?

Jack:             Yes, that's one example of friction in our food system. Another would be when workers get sick, that's one example, but also drivers for transportation. If they're sick and they're not able to move the food from one place to another, the people that are working in the retail space are also a risk point or pressure point for this food system. Ports are also a place where there could be pressure, export markets, import markets. Each of these, if there's just a little bit of impact of the pandemic on them, just 1% or 2% then that has a ripple effect because it creates a friction that disrupts that entire chain from the farmer in Indonesia to your dinner plate.

Tom:            You touched on this just a few minutes ago, but I'm wondering if you could elaborate on it, how the consumer mindset has been changed and where you think it's going in regards to food trends.

Jack:             Well, one important outcome from this is that consumers are paying far more attention to our food systems than they ever had. Something that I often talk about is how consumers have never cared more nor known less how their food is produced. Well, that was true before the pandemic. Now, all of a sudden, people do have a better sense of how their food is produced, and because they're paying attention to that, that means that they're likely to ask for changes in that food system, so the relationship of the consumer to the food supply has been forever changed.

Tom:            Well, as a result of the stay-at-home imperative of the pandemic, farmers have been forced to euthanize millions of hogs and chickens, give away tons of unwanted potatoes or even plow them under, pour out enough milk to fill a small lake. Restaurants have closed of course all over the country that's thrown the food industry into chaos. It has convulsed the very specialized supply chains that are struggling to adjust. In light of all that, what does the future of farming and food production hold?

Jack:             Well, a lot of that goes to the question of the resilience and having diversified food systems so that if you're a farmer, you can sell not only to the retail market, but you can go to grocery stores or directly to the consumer. One outcome from this is that there are likely to be more direct consumer opportunities for farmers. That's a good thing because that gives farmers more opportunity to make a little bit more money when they're doing it, but it also helps them to explain to the consumer so that they can better understand how that food is produced. That's going to be a good connection that's coming out of all of this, but part of it is just the complexity of our food supply.

                     When we talk about having to euthanize animals, and pork industry is a good example of that, what people forget is that the animals that are going to slaughter this week, well, those sows were impregnated 300 days ago, and so the decisions that are being made today are decisions that really were being made 300 days ago. We need to keep that in mind because producers today have to decide, "Do I start to have the sows have a new litter today? Will there be a market for them a year from now?" People have to really think far into the future and that's just part of the complexity of our food supply, is people were thinking about this a year ago and now, we're seeing the benefits of their preparation, and what changes will they make though in this uncertain environment.

Tom:            Jack, at this early stage, who do you see coming out of this thing as winners and as losers?

Jack:             Well, I think that certainly online purchases are going to be big winners in all of this. The big food brands are coming out of this in a better position. Restaurants and small businesses are going to be hammered and that's going to be really unfortunate, and so I think we need to figure out ways of helping to maintain those smaller businesses because in many ways, small businesses are the engine of growth and it's going to be really impacted by all of this. I think the largest impact though still comes back to the financial implications for people that are going through such a massive financial challenge and that's going to again reverberate for a long time to come.

Tom:            Well, Jack, this is all so fascinating. I'd like to suggest that we revisit in about six months. Six months seems like another time zone for all of us. It's just incredible to think about what could happen in six months given all that's happened in only a few.

Jack:             Yes. Thank you. I really appreciate the conversation.

Tom:            Also, I have to imagine that going through life as a futurist must be pretty fascinating.

Jack:             Well, it's been a lot of fun because I get to work with a variety of organizations, associations, startups, big food brands, and I like to tell people that my personal mission is to de-escalate the tension in our food system so that we can all go about our business of saving the planet in our own way. I'm always excited to see what different organizations are doing in terms of their part of making the system better.

Tom:            Futurist and Futurity CEO, Jack Bobo. Thank you so much, Jack.

Jack:             Thank you.

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As people around the world adjust their lifestyles to social distancing restrictions, it’s more important than ever to keep our lives in balance and our health in check. As a registered dietician and director of human health initiatives at Alltech, Nikki Putnam-Badding is an expert on supporting immunity and well-being through nutrition. Join us as she shares her tips for eating healthy, shopping efficiently and maintaining a sense of normalcy during the pandemic.

Hosted by Michelle Michael

As lead video producer at Alltech, Michelle travels the globe for the company’s award-winning Planet of Plenty™ documentary series. Michelle spent a decade as a video producer/reporter in Germany, reporting from military hotspots at the height of the war on terrorism. The National Press Photographer's Association (NPPA) has twice recognized Michelle as their solo video journalist of the year.

Co-produced by Brandon Whitworth

As the senior media production specialist at Alltech, Brandon co-produces the company’s award-winning Planet of Plenty™ documentary series. Brandon is a two-time Emmy Award winning television news photojournalist and three-time nominee. He has received several regional awards from the National Press Photographers Association for excellence in visual storytelling.

The following is an edited transcript of Michelle Michael’s interview with Nikki Putnam-Badding. Click below to hear the full audio.

Michelle:       Hello! I'm Michelle Michael. In this special series of AgFuture, we're talking with those working along the food supply chain about the impact of COVID-19. My guest today is Nikki Putnam Badding, a registered dietician and, also, a colleague of mine. Nikki is the director of human initiatives at Alltech. Nikki, thank you so much for being with us today.

Nikki:              Thanks for having me, Michelle.

Michelle:       Let's talk about self-care. This pandemic, it can feel overwhelming. People are dealing with information overload, long work hours, caring for family during those work hours and a whole host of other things. It's important, though, I think, to pause for a moment, collect ourselves and just admit that this is, at times, a taxing situation and it can impact our well-being. Is that right?

Nikki:              Absolutely.

Michelle:       As a dietitian, what concerns you most about people during this experience?

Nikki:              Well, as you mentioned, Michelle, this is a really challenging time for everyone. I think it's really easy to let that self-care slip on occasion. We're trying to focus on our new roles, on working from home, maybe taking care of children and other family members at the same time. Really, what we want to focus on from a nutrition and health perspective is choosing a healthy lifestyle for the short and long term for your overall health and wellness — so following general good health guidelines is really one of the single best steps you can take for yourself and to keep your naturally functioning immune system strong and healthy.

                        Every part of our body, including our immune systems, functions better when bolstered by healthy living strategies — for example, trying to quit smoking, if you're a smoker; eating a diet high in whole foods, like lean meats, seafood, dairy, whole grains, fruits, vegetables and healthy fats; continuing to exercise regularly, which can be really tough during a time like this; maintaining a healthy weight; drinking alcohol in moderation, and that'd be one drink per day for women and two drinks per day for men; trying to get adequate sleep as much as we can; and also, trying to minimize our stress levels.

                        During this time, proper nutrition and hydration are absolutely vital. People who stay active, eat a well-balanced diet and take supplements as necessary tend to be healthier and have stronger immune systems, which is very important at a time like this, and (also have) a lower risk of chronic illnesses and infectious disease.

Michelle:       When you talk about strengthening our immune systems to fight off illness, can you talk a little bit more specifically about which nutrients or which foods we should be taking in to boost our immune system and stay well during this pandemic?

Nikki:              Sure thing. As I mentioned, good nutrition is essential to a strong immune system, and it may offer protection from seasonal illness and other health problems. Although no one food or supplement can prevent illness, you can actually help support your immune system by including some key nutrients in your overall eating plan on a regular basis. While, unfortunately, just eating one orange here or there won't do the trick, a truly healthy immune system depends on a balanced diet, normal sleep patterns and regular exercise.

                        A few nutrients that are known to help support a strong immune system are protein, interestingly enough, which plays a role in the body's immune system, especially for healing and recovery, and vitamin A, because it helps regulate the immune system and protect against infections by keeping our skin and the tissues in our mouth, stomach, intestines and respiratory system healthy. Vitamin C, the one we all know, supports the immune system by stimulating the formation of antibodies. Vitamin E works as an antioxidant and may support immune function as well. Vitamin D is in there; it promotes an immune response that helps defend your body against pathogens, and there's zinc, which helps the immune system work properly and can also help wounds heal. Finally, selenium, which has an absolutely crucial role in a wide variety of physiological processes, affecting immune response — and the immune system in general actually relies on adequate dietary selenium intake.

                        Though I usually tell people it's best to get most of your nutrition through food, a specific vitamin or mineral supplement may benefit your health and overall wellness in the instance that you're not reaching the recommended daily intake of a nutrient, or perhaps you're utilizing them as a part of a preventative health regimen.

Michelle:       And not just upping your nutrient intake, Nikki, but many of us are limiting the number of times that we would go to the supermarket to pick up fresh foods. What are some tips for healthy eating when we're minimizing our trips to the store or maybe even the selection is limited, in some cases, temporarily?

Nikki:              Yeah, that's a great point. I think purchasing, storing and cooking fresh food can be really challenging when we're advised to limit trips outside of the home, particularly to the supermarket, so my first recommendation would be to try to keep up as much as possible with that fruit and vegetable intake. Whenever it's possible to get ahold of fresh produce, do so, of course, but depending on where you live, what time of year it is and, now, as you've mentioned, the availability, due to interruptions in the supply chain or perhaps other people who are food hoarding, you can't always get your hands on high-quality, fresh produce, so the next best thing is frozen. Manufacturers most often freeze fruits and veggies at peak ripeness, which means they pack a similar nutritional value as their fresh counterparts. Just make sure you're choosing options without added sugar or sodium. You can also swap in healthy dried or canned alternatives when fresh or frozen are not available. Although canned vegetables and dried fruits do tend to be a bit lower in quantity of vitamins than fresh, they are a great fallback option when fresh produce or frozen are hard to come by.

                        I also like to mention that other canned items that are great to have on hand are canned beans, because they do provide an abundance of nutrients, and they can be stored for months, sometimes even years, and they can be included in meals in many ways. Same goes for canned fish, such as sardines, mackerel, salmon — they all provide great protein sources, omega-3 fatty acids and a range of vitamins and minerals — and then having some dried goods on hand is a good backup, like dried beans and grains. One last note on this front: I know it's really tempting to stock up on processed foods like ready-to-eat meals, packaged snacks and treats. They're often very high in saturated fats, sugars and salt and, at the same time, provide us with less nutrition. So, in that vein, also try to avoid sugary drinks as much as possible and, instead, drink lots of water and other low-calorie beverages.

Michelle:       I hear from you, certainly, that fresh is best, and I've talked to many growers or farmers who feel that perhaps people at this time are shying away from fresh produce because of a fear that COVID-19 can be spread through food. From you, from a dietitian — can you answer that question for us? Can this spread through food?

Nikki:              I'm really happy you asked that question, Michelle. First and foremost, I should note that, of course, I'm not an infectious disease expert, but following the basic guidelines of hygiene and food safety, it's very unlikely that the virus could be spread through food — but not entirely impossible, meaning that it's possible the virus can get onto or into food if someone who is infected coughs or sneezes on the food or has the virus on their hands and touches the food. But unlike bacteria that causes foodborne illnesses, coronavirus doesn't multiply on food. There's currently no evidence to suggest it can be transmitted through food or water systems, but a lot of experts are saying that sharing food and beverages during this time should be limited, and always continue proper home food safety.

Michelle:       Well, would it be safer, then, during this time, to — if you're buying fresh produce — would it be safer to cook it and consume it that way?

Nikki:              Potentially. I don't think consumers need to be fearful of eating fresh produce, raw fruits and vegetables, though it's possible that someone who is infected sneezed directly on a banana and you picked up that banana and touched your face. You could get infected, but you're much more likely to get infected by standing next to that person while shopping for that banana. That's why social distancing, putting at least that six feet of space between you and other people, is so important. Interestingly, about cooking, the World Health Organization has said that the virus is probably susceptible to normal cooking temperatures, so you don't need to cook food any differently than what you typically do for food safety. These experts are saying that cooking your food to the same temperatures required to kill pathogens that cause foodborne illness is also likely to kill COVID-19. That would be, as a reminder, 145°F for fresh pork, beef roast and fish; 160°F for egg dishes and other cuts of beef; and 165°F for poultry, ground beef, or reheating pre-cooked ham or leftovers or casseroles that might contain some of those pieces of fresh produce you mentioned.

Michelle:       If we are going to eat that raw produce, fruits and vegetables, are there certain precautions we need to take at this time — differently washing the fruits and vegetables than we would have before this pandemic?

Nikki:              At this time, many of the expert organizations are saying no, we don't need to take any different measures than we did before. Just make sure to thoroughly wash those fruits and vegetables when you get home.

I know there's a lot of questions out there, too, about (whether or not you can) pick up COVID-19 from food packaging. This is a question that the CDC actually addressed recently, and they're saying COVID-19 is primarily transmitted person to person through respiratory droplets, so currently, there is no evidence to support transmission of the virus through food. In general, because of the poor survivability of these viruses on surfaces, there is likely a very low risk of spread from food products or packaging, but that being said, if you touch something that has the virus on it — like a food package or produce or a package of meat — and then touch your nose, mouth or eyes, you could become infected. So, before preparing or eating food, it's important to always wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. Also, just making sure you're wiping down those surfaces when you get home after you've picked up your groceries. Make sure, when you unpack your food, you just wipe everything down. Make sure you're tossing away those disposable bags, if they came in that, or washing your reusable bags immediately when you get home.

Michelle:       Good advice. Nikki, when it comes to plants, processing plants, farmers — a lot of times, those vegetables, they're picked by hand. A lot of that is done by hand. I know that they're practicing social distancing, but should we be concerned about food coming from areas where there is a high risk of COVID-19?

Nikki:              Actually, according to the Department of Agriculture's recent updates on COVID-19, they're saying there's no evidence to support transmission of the virus with any of those foods that had been either imported or transported throughout the country. It's important to remember that, unlike bacteria that causes foodborne illness, the virus, as I mentioned before, doesn't multiply on or in foods, and the current research shows that it can only survive for a very limited time on most surfaces. Most often, even if a product or packaging were carrying the virus or it was handpicked by someone who was infected and maybe had the virus on their hands, it would most likely die during transport. I think that can put a lot of consumers' minds at ease — although, as I previously mentioned, it's always just a good idea to keep following that (guideline to) wash your fresh fruits and veggies when you get them home from the store and wipe down that food packaging, just for that final line of defense.

Michelle:       We keep hearing about the importance of supporting local businesses, especially restaurants, during this time, as the bulk of their business is gone. They're only doing takeout right now or curbside pickup or delivery, but is that safe? Is it actually safe to get takeout and delivery from restaurants during a pandemic like this?

Nikki:              Yes, it is. I'm happy to hear that you mentioned supporting local businesses, particularly restaurants right now, when we can't dine in. The takeout and delivery from restaurants can actually be a very good alternative to obtaining food because, unlike grocery shopping, it really does greatly reduce the need to interact with other people. Most restaurants have instituted contactless delivery or pickup practices that allow people to either pre-pay for food or receive it without coming close to another person, which we know is the biggest risk factor for the disease, interacting closely with other people. If you are worried about bringing those foods into your home, to further reduce your risk, just transfer that food, that takeout, to a plate when you get home, dispose of the containers and then, again, always wash your hands before you eat — but it is a very good and, typically, very safe way to obtain food.

Michelle:       We keep hearing about the 65-and-up population (being) at an increased risk of COVID-19 at this time. I wonder, from a dietary point of view, somebody in that age bracket — does the immune system change with age, and does that age group have to eat differently?

Nikki:              Yes. As we age, our immune response capability becomes reduced, which, in turn, may contribute to more infections. While some people age healthily, the conclusion of many studies is that, compared with younger people, elderly folks are more likely to contract infectious diseases and viruses and are more likely to die from them. Interestingly, there appears to be an even stronger connection between nutrition and immunity in the elderly. A form of malnutrition that's actually surprisingly common, even in affluent countries, is known as micronutrient malnutrition. Micronutrient malnutrition occurs when a person is deficient in some of the essential vitamins and trace minerals that are obtained through diet. Older people often tend to eat less, and they have less variety in their diets. One important question is, perhaps, whether dietary supplements may help older people maintain a healthier immune system — something to be discussed with their doctor or dietitian.

Michelle:       I wonder, Nikki, if you can talk about why, during this time, (when) everybody's schedules are just changed suddenly, everybody's lives are just uprooted and nothing is normal, why is it so easy to get off-track, and what can we do to try to maintain some sort of normalcy from a dietary perspective?

Nikki:              Yeah. As you've mentioned, Michelle, it's so easy to get off-track during this time because our schedules are changed, and many of us have been forced into this change without any prior warning — working from home, taking care of children and family members from home — and everything's just been thrown out of whack. Some really important things, and fairly easy things, that you can do is just try to keep yourself on a regular schedule. Go back to thinking about what was your schedule for eating, grocery shopping, working out, trying to stay active, sleep — what were your tactics for minimizing stress before this? Try to pull in as much of those tactics as you can, because many of those you know already worked for you, and then try to change that around and make it fit your new schedule.

                        Those people who have kiddos at home: I think a really nice way to entertain kids and keep them busy is to involve them in mealtimes. Have more discussions about food. This is a fantastic time to talk about where food comes from, how it nourishes their body, and get them really involved in planning and preparation of food, and then try to do more things either as a family or, if you don't have kiddos, just get outside when possible and where it's safe to spend some time moving around. There are also a lot of really great online resources where you can find at-home workouts. I recommend that to a lot of people, even if you do it for ten minutes a day. It's just a nice way to keep moving.

Try to stay to a normal work and sleep schedule. It can be very difficult while we're working from home to step away from our computers and close everything down like a normal eight-to-five or nine-to-five business, because our office is right there, so try to make sure you're stepping away for breakfast, lunch, dinner, maybe even snacks, if you can, just to get a break from the computer and a break from work, and try to go back to some normalcy.

Michelle:       If you've never had time to prepare your own meals, to fall in love with cooking, it seems like this might be a good opportunity, even.

Nikki:              Certainly. I've seen that there are a lot of YouTube channels that are jumping in popularity. There's one I really enjoy: it's Italian grandmothers making old Italian recipes and pasta. I've seen their viewership just skyrocket recently because people are taking a new interest in preparing things from scratch, or some of those YouTube channels that are showing people how to just start cooking from the very beginning. As you've mentioned, there's no better time than now to start learning.

Michelle:       Nikki, do you have any other recommendations for keeping our food and keeping our kitchens safe?

Nikki:              Yeah. First and foremost, when you're going out for food, just a reminder, wear a mask and gloves when you're going out for food, to get groceries or picking up takeaway meals, and if you do use reusable grocery bags, masks or gloves, make sure you wash them immediately upon returning home. That's really important — or use single-use bags or disposable protective equipment during this time. We can't stop hearing this, but wash your hands regularly, as recommended by countless international organizations, plus before preparing and eating food. Even if you picked up your phone while you're eating lunch, make sure you wash your hands again, because a lot of those viruses and contaminants can stay on phones and surfaces and the like for much longer than they would on food.

                        Try to keep your kitchen a safe zone by removing non-cooking items from countertops. I know many of us, myself included, often end up tossing daily items here without thinking twice, putting mail on the countertop. Don't put grocery bags or takeaway bags on your countertops. Also, try to clean them every time before you prepare a meal, and sanitize kitchen surfaces, including your refrigerator, stove handles, cupboard pulls and the like, on a regular basis.

Michelle:       It adds so much to grocery shopping and preparing food, but some very important advice. Nikki Putnam Badding, a registered dietitian with some really fabulous advice on taking care of ourselves during this time. Nikki, take care of yourself, and thank you so much for joining us today.

Nikki:              Thanks, Michelle.

Michelle:       For additional resources on COVID-19, visit alltech.com.

Click here for additional COVID-19 resources.

News stories and photos depict the difficult circumstances that many growers face in midst of COVID-19: fields full of fruits and vegetables that will never make it to market. What factors actually contribute to the loss of so much fresh, safe food? Terry Brebes, crop advisor for Simplot Grower Solutions, shares the realities of why it has been challenging for producers to sell or even donate their crops, and what it all means for the food supply.

This episode is part of a special AgFuture series on the impact of COVID-19 on the food supply chain. Join us to hear how those on the frontlines of the global pandemic are working to overcome adversity and feed the world.

Hosted by Michelle Michael

As lead video producer at Alltech, Michelle travels the globe for the company’s award-winning Planet of Plenty™ documentary series. Michelle spent a decade as a video producer/reporter in Germany, reporting from military hotspots at the height of the war on terrorism. The National Press Photographer’s Association (NPAA) has twice recognized Michelle as their solo video journalist of the year.

Co-produced by Brandon Whitworth

As the senior media production specialist at Alltech, Brandon co-produces the company’s award-winning Planet of Plenty™ documentary series. Brandon is a two-time Emmy Award winning television news photojournalist and three-time nominee. He has received several reginal awards from the National Press Photographers Association for excellence in visual storytelling.

The following is an edited transcript of Michelle Michael’s interview with Terry Brebes. Click below to hear the full audio.

Michelle:      Hello! I'm Michelle Michael. In this special series of AgFuture, we're talking with those working along the food supply chain about the impact of COVID-19. My guest today is Terry Brebes. Terry is a crop advisor for Simplot Grower Solutions based in the Guadalupe region in California. His day-to-day job is to advise growers on crop inputs and make recommendations to growers.

                     Terry, this pandemic is really testing our food supply chains around the globe. Americans are stuck at home. Lots of people around the world are stuck at home trying to curb the spread of the coronavirus. We live in some really strange times. People are hoarding items like toilet paper. Meanwhile, there's an abundance of leafy greens — in fact, so much that, where you are on the West Coast, growers are letting their crops die in the field, in some cases. That is unprecedented. What does the world look like through your eyes in California right now, and how is that different than it was before this pandemic?

Terry:            Well, it's a scary thing. We have businesses shut down. We have people having to stay home. Like you said, we have growers disking crops. There's just no movement of produce at this time, right now.

Michelle:      How tough is it? What does your world look like, and how is it different?

Terry:            Well, it's different than — as far as my job goes, it's different where growers are cutting back on things they wouldn't cut back from (normally). They don't even worry about looking to disk it. It's just a tough time in agriculture.

Michelle:      Let's talk about the future of food. In good times, normal times, the majority of lettuce and broccoli and such, they're actually sold to restaurants and schools, not necessarily to the supermarket. With the shutdown of those places, what's happening, Terry?

Terry:            Well, the lettuce and broccoli and the stuff that goes to the restaurant is cut in more than half. It's down to 30% to 40%, and it's a direct outcome of the schools and restaurants and institutions being shut down. Nothing's going there. They're not buying anything, the restaurant owners. The kids aren't in school. As far as the restaurants go, their businesses themselves are 20% to 30% of what they used to be.

Michelle:      Is that the case? Is half of it sold to restaurants, the other half sold to supermarkets? What is that breakdown?

Terry:            I don't know what exactly the breakdown is. On the retail side, I don't know, but there are companies that do nothing but bag stuff that goes to restaurants and schools, and they're moving absolutely nothing.

Michelle:      I want to talk about, maybe, some of the many things contributing to the situation that crop producers are facing. Let's just start with the basic nature of how the coronavirus spreads from person to person, through droplets from coughing and sneezing, and it's transferred on surfaces. Has the migrant workforce been impacted by COVID-19, and do you envision that being something of a problem in the future?

Terry:            Well, as far as migrants, our workers are always here. There are certain programs, like the H-2A programs, where they can visit us and work here for so long. Some of those people that are first-time coming over — the borders are closed now for them, but we've always had a shortage of work right now. We've always had a shortage of work here in our industry, but just trying to keep the workers safe is an issue. They're doing all they can to do that, but as far as finding people to work, it's always been an issue, so as far as COVID-19 affecting that, not really.

Michelle:      Broccoli, cauliflower, those things — most vegetables are harvested by hand. Are people afraid right now not just of working, but afraid that produce, at this time, is infected, and is that further hurting growers?

Terry:            Well, it is, because the markets are up and there's just no demand. They're not shipping anything out, and it's a perishable item, and people are afraid of it. You walk into the produce department and there's plenty of produce on the shelf — and there's nobody in the produce department. People touch it. People sneeze on it. People cough on it, so they're not taking it, and it's affecting the grower dramatically.

Michelle:      How much of an impact are we talking about, Terry? How much waste do you think is happening, where producers are being forced to just walk away from ripe vegetables?

Terry:            The leafy greens are really taking the hit. There was a time here, a week ago or two weeks ago, between here and the Salinas Valley, (when) we were disking between 120 to 150 acres of lettuce a week.

Michelle:      What does that look like now?

Terry:            It's starting to sustain a little bit. We're starting to harvest just for the reason that the markets are picking up and there is a little bit more movement, so we're not wasting as much right now as we were a couple of weeks ago.

Michelle:      In your mind, is this pandemic possibly going to mean the end for some growers? Can they maintain financially? Have you talked to any of them, and how are they holding up?

Terry:            Well, it will, because banks are nervous. The growers are nervous. I talked to a grower the other day and they had to replace a well, and the pump company that did their work wanted to be paid up-front. Everybody is just uncertain about what's going to happen. A grower? They can't stop farming. They have to put everything out there, and they don't know what they're going to get out of it.

Michelle:      Is that changing pricing? Is the pandemic driving pricing in a different direction?

Terry:            Yeah, it dropped to — for example, cauliflower and broccoli, they were four bucks, and you have to break even at six bucks, but now, the price of everything is starting to climb, except leafy greens, cauliflower, broccoli, stuff like that. The prices are starting to climb (in some areas, but in that sector,) there's just no movement. You just can't move it.

Michelle:      At the consumer level, should we be concerned at all that growers are — as they're walking away from their crops, should we worry that fresh produce soon might not be available in supermarkets?

Terry:            No, I don't think so. A grower can always overproduce, which they usually do anyway. Like we talked about, there are certain commodities that aren't available like other commodities because we're walking by them in the field, but as far as fresh produce, I don't think we'll have a shortage of it.

Michelle:      The impact — is it across the board, Terry, or is there a difference if you're a big grower versus if you're a smaller grower?

Terry:            It's a difference in how long you are going to hang on. Bigger growers, they have more assets than smaller growers, so they can hang on longer than a grower that just survives on cash. Bigger growers have more assets, so the bank will deal with them a little better.

Michelle:      I'm sure you've talked to smaller growers and larger growers during this time. What are the smaller growers saying right now? Are they afraid? Do they have fear? What is the biggest emotion that you get from them at this time?

Terry:            They're all afraid. Like I said, they can't stop growing. It has to be business as usual, as much as they can. They have to put everything out there, and they just don't know what their return is going to be, so everybody is a little bit nervous, in that sense.

Michelle:      Do you think, Terry, that this pandemic could potentially cause corporate farming to be the way of the future, if these smaller growers can't maintain financially?

Terry:            Well, I think it's going this way and that way anyway; it just might push it that way a little faster. For example, if you've got a huge corporate grower, especially with all the regulations in California that say we need to implement this new food safety program this year and it's going to cost us $1 million, a corporate grower or a bigger grower just goes out and says, "Well, we're going to need 1,000 more acres to farm to pay for this," and so they'll go out and buy another 1,000 acres and farm, where the smaller guys just can't do that.

Michelle:      Tell us more about what you see as the short- and the long-term implications of what's happening right now.

Terry:            The short-term is they're really taking a hit now. You've got packing sheds that are working at 30% of capacity. They're leaving products in the field. And the long-term, I don't think anybody knows right now. Everybody can speculate that, of course, this thing is going to turn around at some time, but it's just when, and how far are we going to take it.

Michelle:      Yeah, and certainly, everybody's trying to find their way right now. Terry, I'm wondering if you can add any perspective behind why a farmer, why a grower, can't simply harvest his or her fields and donate the produce somewhere? Why let it go to waste?

Terry:            That's what's happening now. I think I sent Steve an article about (how) Gulf Coast Farms is actually donating a lot of their cauliflower to some of these kids that can't afford lunches. They can still go to certain schools and pick up lunches. People are starting to do that now, too, but a lot of it is perishable, too, so they have a hard time with that, but there's a lot more. Plus, they have to pay (for) the labor, and when they donate it, they get nothing for it; they take a loss on it. But it's happening a lot more now that a lot of these guys are starting to — at least a portion of their fields that they might not harvest right now, they're harvesting and donating to food banks and churches and such like that.

Michelle:      Isn't it also true that you can't simply donate a literal ton of food to a food bank? Food goes bad. It's not like donating a couple of crates of broccoli; you're talking about truckloads of produce with nowhere to go. Is that right?

Terry:            Yes. We have a grower out here that just about all his lettuce goes to Taco Bell, and he can't get anybody to take it.

Michelle:      What's happening to him?

Terry:            Well, he's a pretty good-sized grower. He's pretty diversified. Right now, they're okay. Everybody is okay right now, but they don't know how long they're going to be okay for. Internally, it could be more than we know, but as (far as) we know right now, everybody is okay.

Michelle:      Terry, you deal with growers on a personal level regularly. How has your day-to-day as a crop advisor changed?

Terry:            Oh, you don't talk to anybody face-to-face. You don't go into anybody's office. Tempers are a little flared. People are a little bit more short with you. You go out into the field and it's like a ghost town. You don't see anybody. Business, right now, is all over the phone or all texting or emails. There's just no face-to-face business anymore.

Michelle:      Terry, you've made pretty good friends in some of these growers who are suffering terribly right now. What are you thinking as you see this all unfolding? Emotionally, how are you holding up, and how are the growers holding up?

Terry:            Well, everybody's trying to stay optimistic. There are guys that — it's like, in our business, anybody who tells you right now, "We're not going to work with you," well, they're not going to be your customer when this is over, and that's just what it is. It's a relationship. I feel for them. I feel for their families, and they feel for us, too. We're all in the same boat, but it's just a somber feeling. It's just all uncertain.

Michelle:      Terry, you've been doing this for a really long time. How many years?

Terry:            Simplot, nine years, but I (spent) 16 years before that with another company.

Michelle:      I want to know, from all the experience you have: have you ever seen anything like this? Growers face uncertainty year-round, but this — has there ever been anything like it?

Terry:            Never. I've never seen anything like this. This is new to me.

Michelle:      Farmers, of course, they're resilient. We know that. Is this a breaking point for them?

Terry:            I don't think so. I think most of them have the attitude that it's just a small setback. (In) farming, they have them all the time. It's a stressful world, the (world of) agriculture. We fight adversity every day, and this, I think, this is something most of us have never seen before, but we're going to get through it, and I think everybody has the same attitude.

Michelle:      A lot of times, you hear about crisis driving innovation. I wonder if, through this pandemic, do you see the potential for opportunities — even if it's a different way of doing business down the line?

Terry:            Yes. I think there's a lot of talk here, on the coast, about certain crops being harvested mechanically that aren't harvested mechanically now. A lot of people are working on things like that, and I think it's going to really speed things like that up so, if something like this happens again, we're not so dependent on field workers.

Michelle:      Terry, as a crop advisor, what's your biggest fear, your biggest concern, right now?

Terry:            My biggest (concern) is customers I have going out of business. If it goes that way, if these bigger farms start taking things over, there's just not enough work to go around for all of us. That's my biggest fear right now.

Michelle:      Do you feel that the world will perceive agriculture in a different way after this? Right now, it's up to growers. It's up to farmers. It's up to producers. Without them, there is no food at the supermarket. Do you think that they will be perceived differently — in a more positive light, maybe?

Terry:            Well, I sure hope so. I would like to think they would. I don't think that the impact of it has even hit yet, how much the farmer feeds the world. I really hope that people will see how much we are needed and just the issues that we face just to put something in the store or to put something on your plate.

Michelle:      You talked about some of the uncertainty and some of the hardships that farmers go through. When you look at your growers right now and you see what's on their face, how do you describe it?

Terry:            It's just uncertainty. Like I said, it's just a somber thing. You just listen to, "Man, we're running 30% today. We want to take how many pounds of spinach, and we're only able to take this many because we can't sell it.” A lot of it is, right now — because right now is usually a good time for the markets because it's a transition between the desert and the coast, so markets are usually good right now, and they're all missing out on that.

Michelle:      Terry, I hear a hint of what I would say is optimism in your voice. How are you staying so positive during this time?

Terry:            Well, you have to. You've got to keep going. You've got to keep moving on and do the best job you can for these guys, because they (have to) pay their bills. You have to right now or you're going to go crazy. When you've got to go straight from the field to home and to have to stay there, you've got to stay positive and just hope that we're going to get through this, or you're going to go nuts.

Michelle:      How do you see us coming back? When we turn back on the economy, how will growers respond?

Terry:            Well, I think it's going to take some time. I don't think markets are going to boom. I think they'll be steady for a while, but I think they're going to bounce back fine, and it'll be just business as usual when this is over.

Michelle:      Terry, I certainly appreciate hearing the positivity and the optimism in your voice. It's a great thing to hear during these uncertain times, and we really appreciate you being with us.

Terry:            No problem.

Michelle:      Terry Brebes, a crop advisor for Simplot Grower Solutions. Terry, stay safe and well, and again, thank you very much.

Terry:            No problem. You too.

Michelle:      For additional resources on COVID-19, visit alltech.com.

Click here for additional COVID-19 resources.

As part of Alltech’s effort to provide valuable resources to colleagues, customers and the global agricultural community confronting COVID-19, the company has created a special discussion series, Forging the Future of the Farm & Food Chain. Available online beginning today, this free, on-demand series features experts from around the world as they share their insights into how the global pandemic is affecting the agriculture industry’s present and future.

“Crises illuminate character, and COVID has highlighted the heroic work undertaken by the global agriculture community to ensure a secure food supply in the midst of such uncertainty,” said Dr. Mark Lyons, president and CEO of Alltech. “We created this series as an expression of our support for this community. In addition to offering valuable information and insights in the context of this COVID challenge, we hope to deliver inspiration — we have an opportunity in this moment to, together, shape the future of the farm and food chain.”

The series consists of presentations from Lyons and three panel discussions with experts including David McWilliams, economist and professor at Trinity College Dublin; Jessica Adelman, CEO of ESG Results and former executive at Kroger; Jack Bobo, futurist and CEO of Futurity; and Ryan Quarles, Kentucky Commissioner of Agriculture.

Forging the Future of the Farm & Food Chain, a special COVID-19 discussion series, includes:

• Cultivating Optimism & Opportunity: Leadership in Times of Crisis

In times of crisis, leadership becomes even more consequential. How can leaders bring certainty in a time of uncertainty? How can they help their teams think proactively in order to discover opportunity and drive innovation? 

Dr. Mark Lyons, president and CEO of Alltech, explores how a leader can shape a culture of resilience that empowers a team, even during times of turmoil.

• From the Frontlines of Food Production

The COVID-19 crisis has brought renewed attention to not only the critical importance of food production, but also to the people on the frontlines who work tirelessly to ensure we have food on the table. This panel discussion takes a first-hand look at the experiences of those working within the food/feed sector in the midst of COVID-19.

The panelists are global Alltech team members Matt Kwok, China operations manager; Sayed Aman, India managing director; Andrea Capitani, Italy business manager; and Alex Galipienso, Spain general manager. The panel is moderated by Michelle Michael, Alltech media producer.

• The Post-COVID Consumer: A Remaking of the Market?

Consumer trends are constantly evolving, but post-COVID, will the market see another seismic shift? This panel discussion features an investigation into the lasting impact COVID-19 could have on consumers and the global economy.

Moderating the panel is Damien McLoughlin, professor of marketing at University College Dublin, with panelists David McWilliams, economist and professor at Trinity College Dublin; Jessica Adelman, CEO at ESG Results and former executive at Kroger; and Jack Bobo, futurist and CEO at Futurity.

• Keep Calm & Carry On: The Essential Business of Agriculture

In this panel discussion, experts investigate how the current crisis is reshaping the agriculture sector. What permanent changes could COVID-19 create in how we source, produce and deliver food to market? Will there be a new appetite for automation and supply chain provenance?

Mary Shelman, former director of Harvard Business School's Agribusiness Program, moderates panelists John Young Simpson, president of Bluegrass Partners in Singapore; Ryan Quarles, Kentucky Commissioner of Agriculture; Mike Osborne, former president and CEO of Nutra Blend; and Kayla Price, technical manager of Alltech Canada.

• Planet of Plenty in a Post-COVID World

In the midst of this COVID crisis, the global agriculture community has carried on its essential work — rising with the sun no matter the circumstance. We have provided the security of certainty at a time of great uncertainty and, in doing so, have reshaped the perception of our industry and perhaps even the way we view ourselves. 

Dr. Mark Lyons, president and CEO of Alltech, shares his thoughts on how we can create a world of abundance post-COVID. How will we harness this renewed trust? Will the experiences of this time usher in a new approach to the ways in which we produce food, structure our supply chains and connect with consumers?

To access the Forging the Future of the Farm & Food Chain series on-demand, visit alltech.com/futurefarm. As Alltech has been closely monitoring the COVID-19 pandemic, an online COVID-19 resource portal has been created for customers and industry partners. 

This COVID-19 special series reflects the insightful, thought-provoking content that will be available as part of the Alltech ONE Virtual Experience beginning on May 18, 2020. The virtual program will include live-streamed keynote presentations and on-demand video content from some of the world's leading industry experts as they address the challenges and opportunities facing agriculture today. Learn more about the ONE Virtual Experience and register here.