Speaker 1 0:00

Welcome to the Si Farmer Podcast. Podcast, where we talk farm and marketing, business tactics, strategy. If it's farmer or marketing, we probably talk about it here on this podcast. And today's no different. I was recently in , uh, in Alabama at a , a family function and had a nephew who is a great kid, man, I like this kid. He's got lots of energy. He smiles all the time. I mean, he, he , he reminds me of my son at that age, but I was, I was at this function and he asked my wife, his aunt, he said, why does Uncle John carry a knife? And I carry a pocket knife on my belt, have little leather case for it. Been with on my belt for 20 plus years. Same, you know, same style of knife. I, and, you know, kind of caught my wife off guard, caught me off guard wall . Of course, she carries a knife farm , what are you , what are you , what are you talking about? And it, it got me to thinking that we, as you know, our society, we are so disconnected from our food and lots of other things as well, but we're so disconnected people don't understand because it's such a complicated, I mean, if , if you farm, you know, farming's complicated, but the supply chain of farming is even more complicated because most people don't know, don't know a farmer much less, don't know someone who knows someone who knows a farmer. I mean, it's kind of a , a disconnected thing. And we have a larger responsibility that we as farmers have to take on outside of marketing our own farms. So let's get into it.

Speaker 2 1:33

I have a love hate relationship to marketing. Really, I've gotta do what all I

Speaker 1 1:38

Wanna do is farm. Welcome to the Si Farmer podcast. If you wanna market your farm, farm-based business or craft food business directly to the consumer, this is the place for you. Welcome to the show. Today's podcast is sponsored by Little Tractor and Equipment Company. Now, I've worked with these guys for years. These are great guys, and they really care about the small farmer carry a lot of lines of products, tractors and lawnmowers and all kinds of stuff. But one of the things they carry that's really unique is they carry used coyote tractor parts. So if you run an older coyote and are looking for an engine or a transmission for , uh, an LB 1914 or something like that, check these guys out. Go to little tractor.com and click on the used parts tab. So, you know, when , when my nephew asked that, it kind of got me thinking, you know , I follow some YouTubers , uh, uh, these guys are are doing a great job of promoting agriculture. There's a , uh, I follow, you know, the millennial farmer, how farms work, our Wyoming life, New York Farm girls , the farm babe . I mean, lots of, lots of , uh, ag people influencing ag. And it is so important. But it also comes down to when we market our farms in our own local communities. So, you know, when we, like I said, we run a , a forage farm and a cattle ranch, small one. Uh , but when we're, when I'm talking to people about hay , I'm trying to promote the how hay is grown and how we do it to make sure that people understand where this, you know, where the hay for their Guinea pig and where the hay for their horses and how it's raised and how we care for it and all of this. And we, when we're marketing our beef, we have to market not only how we raise it and all this, but we're also promoting agriculture in general. And we have that larger responsibility. People are so disconnected from their food source. And like I said in the the beginning, you know, when you start farming, you're growing something. I mean, you're real hands-on and you get it because you're, you're so into the process. Most people, the vast majority of people don't. They, they, there's a disconnect between going to the grocery store and picking up your, your steak and how that cow is raised in the work and effort. And, you know , uh, everything goes into raising that. And it's a disconnect. And we as small farms have a responsibility to help educate people. Even in our own communities. We live in a farming community, and there's people around that I talk to that have no idea how their food is, gets to 'em. Because even in a a , a farming community, not everybody farms, not everybody farms. So there's a disconnect. Now, they're probably a little closer to the process than say somebody who lives in a major city. But there's still a disconnect. And we still have that responsibility to help educate people. I mean, I love seeing that when people are, are looking on YouTube, that farming videos are growing in popularity because it helps people understand the challenges that we as farmers face on a daily basis. So, you know, we have to look at things a little differently. Uh, we have to, you know, I mean, you farm, you know, we, we, you know, government regulations , uh, here's a big one. This one. You know, I know people that are afraid to market their farms because social media, because people, there are some people who are just loopy and raising a cow is the most evil thing in the world, and I don't want to denigrate their opinion. But, you know, there is a subsection of the population who I , I don't know what it is, but they seem to, you know, hate farmers think we're evil, we're not. Some of the, the, the, the most environmentally conscious people I have ever met are farmers. We make our money from the land. We have to make sure that land is in good, good shape. We have to make sure the soil is in good shape. And when you see people that are just hateful, I honestly believe it's cuz they don't understand. You know, people are, most people are empathetic or sympathetic and see, you know, they see a cow , uh, turn it into meat and, you know, they think, wow, that's evil. You know , where , you know, everybody's entitled to their opinion. And I would never, you know, want anybody, I never try to shut anybody's opinion out. But I think the more you understand the process and you more , the more you understand, maybe just maybe opinions change. And that's why I think as farmers, we have this responsibility to help educate people in the real world of farming. So we're, you know, when we market our farms, we're trying to put our, our products in the best light. I mean, who is it? Uh , Louis Lemore , you know, I quote Louis Lemore a lot, but you know, Louis Lemore wrote a , a , a book where a guy's trading horse . He says, you know what, I'm never gonna talk my horse down as a horse trader. I'm not gonna talk my horse down. But you know, we, we, we look as marketers, we, we look for competitive advantages. We look for what , uh, you know, I use big words from time , time , but differentiation. We want to see what is different about our product or service or from an or the way we farm or anything like that, that we can help use as a selling point for our products services. But we have a larger responsibility to educate people as to how we farm. How farming is done. You know, everybody has different opinions on farming. There are people who are certified organic. That's a process we go through and think that's, you know, if you're not certified organic, you don't deserve to farm. Well, doesn't always work. And when you break it down into its core certified organic or going an organic route or an all that , you know, the, the, the , the certification route is a market differentiator. So you sell your product differently than somebody who isn't an organic, hasn't gone through the certification you have, but it doesn't make you, it doesn't make that process. It's still farming. You still have this responsibility to educate people. Now maybe you use that to your advantage and you market differently than somebody who does not grow a certified organic product. But when we break it down into its core, it's a market differentiator. Doesn't mean there's not a place for everybody. I know people who are starting the planning process of going organic and they're looking at how to take their entire farm organic. It's, but you can't do it overnight. Um , last time I looked, it was a multiple year process to go organic. And so, you know, we have to support farms in such a way that they can do that. And you can't, you know, they still have to make a living and still have to be able to pay the bills during that transition. So we can't, you know , you can't look at a farm and say, oh, well they do it wrong. That's not what we're talking about in teaching people about agriculture. We want to teach them what it means to farm, why people farm. What are the processes that have to happen in order for a farm to be successful? Like I said, I follow a , uh, bunch of ag influencers, people who are trying to do this, and they do it in a very cool way. They, they take you along on, on videos of their day. And man, I love it. I I just love seeing them Guys like the millennial farmer, I mentioned him earlier. He does video a couple of man once or twice a week. I think he just takes you around on his day and they're a farm now. It's cool because it helps us understand the process and it helps people who have never farmed understand the process. There's a guy , um, the Stony Ridge farmer, another guy who is came out of corporate America, sort of like me and has taken you along his journey of building a little farm. And everybody's situation is different. So his situation is different from somebody like the millennial farmer and they're , neither one is better or worse than the other. It's just a different process. It's a different situation geographically, different financially, different land availability, differences, different climates, different, you know, everything. So, you know, you , you people have to understand this journey that, that people take in agriculture because it's not easy. There are a million easier ways to make money. There are, agriculture is not one of those easy ways. It is a hard, hard job. And the people who do it, most of the people that I know, the vast majority don't do it for the money. They do it cuz they love it. And we need people. We need more farmers. We need more people trying to get into agriculture and by teaching them, even if it's in our local communities, again, having know, have a farm day, just bring people out, show 'em how you run your farm. It's a great tool for a mar , it's a great tool to market, but it's also helps with the larger marketing problem. We have this larger, we have to educate people about agriculture. So , um, you know, another, well hold on , I'll just kind of jump into another point of this, which is, when we talk to people about our farm and how we farm, we have this, you know, I've talked about this larger responsibility. We have this, we have this opportunity to educate somebody on farming in general and supporting our other farmers and supporting this. So when we talked to somebody, for example, I had a customer the other day who just bought their first pony and they were looking for hay. Now they bought the , this , this pony for this little girl. Now if you're around horses, a lot ponies are the meanest critters ever made. But they had gotten a nice little pony, but they had no idea. They were new into this whole community of agriculture. And the, you know, they, they've got some land and they're, they've got their daughter a pony. Well, they had to buy hay. Sudden now you have to sort of understand how hay is grown, what types of hay is right for your horse, what type of hay is right for your, your situation. So I was able to talk to them and took them around and was able to talk about hay production. And the , the , the guy was cool. He was like, man, I never, I , I had no idea. Never knew. And it was a great opportunity for me to help not only promote my farm, but to promote all, you know, farming in general as well as, you know, some people would say, I promoted my competition as well. Cause I told him about other hay farmers in the area because unfortunately for the , for him, I'm outta hay. This year I sold everything that I have. And so it's a good thing for us. But, you know, I don't have any hay this year. I'll have some first cuttings coming up here in just a month or two. But let's get in, you know, let's make sure you know, people around here so you don't get caught in this position again. And I introduced him to another or sent him on his way to another hay farmer that we're, we , we know pretty well. And in doing that, I think, I believe opened his eyes up a little bit to this larger community that he has in a small way stepped into. Now when we talk to people about their food, it's the same thing. We have this opportunity to do a little bit, you know, at the end of the day, we have to market our business. Absolutely. Got it. But we also have this opportunity to give people a little education on how things are done. Let me , I've talked about it before, but you go to the grocery store in a big city, well, anywhere really doesn't matter. You go to a grocery store and you look at the packaging and you know, I , I do mar I'm a marketer. You look at the packaging, all the packaging has little red barns and cute little chickens. And most of those packages are from food processors and multi multinational conglomerates that make this, you know, pack . You know, they have a marketing company come in and make these packages up so people have this perfect little picture of a farm where their food is raised. The reality is that's not how it works. And we have this opportunity in selling food locally, in selling our products, educate people a little bit, help 'em out, give them a little bit of a taste of what it's like. You know, you might not wanna show 'em all the nitty gritty or how , you know, the days of, of , you know , scraping manure. They might not wanna see that, but helps to, helps to see it. We, we took a tour of a , of a large dairy, oh, a year or two ago , uh, shortly. It was right before the pandemic, I believe. And it was a great tour. We had gone up , my wife and I went up there, and this was a large, large, large facility. I wanna say it was like 36,000 acres , um, supporting a large dairy as well as several hog barns . Now this is commercial operation. This is not a small farm. But it was interesting to go in and see how, how the corporate side does things. And then I, I know people who run small dairies. And so having that understanding, I had never seen that such a huge operation from a, you know, the nitty gritty of it. And so it was interesting and I got an education, but they opened it up for the , the public. I thought it was great. People need to see how their , how their food is made. But on a smaller scale, when we start to market our, our , our products and services, we have this opportunity to give people little education. And I have, I believe little education and a little bit of involvement goes a long way. I mean, when people start to feel a connection, when they start to feel this , uh, thing that they have a little bit of knowledge, they can become some of your best ambassadors from a a marketing point of view. So, you know, you've done in helping educate people a little bit about your product or service. You have potentially done such a big thing in marketing your business because you've brought people in and shown them and they, they go and they tell their friends and they tell their friends and then, you know, it gets bigger and bigger. And hopefully that is a big step in marketing your business. But you have satisfied what I believe is a requirement of small farmers is educating people on how we do it. It's difficult. Um, you know, my kids recently when we, when they were growing up, not all the time were they happy to do chores. I was pretty fortunate. My kids never complained a lot. They never, you know, it was , it was just sort of what we did. But as they've gotten older, my son who's in the Navy right now, talked to me the other day and he said, dad, I wanted to thank you for teaching me that we had to work. I never in my life thought I'd hear, hear him say that, but he did because, and , and he's learned a , a valuable lesson makes him a productive member of society and all of these things. But it was also, now he sits with people and he says, yeah, I grew up on a farm, did this, this and this. And he's educating people about farming because just by talking about it, education doesn't always have to be in a classroom. It doesn't have to be, you know, structured. We learned by doing, by talking to people, getting out and experiencing. I think one of the, you know, had a friend come out and visit us a few years ago, never been on a farm. I don't think his wife had ever seen a cow other than maybe on TV or in a milk commercial learning. And, and now they buy their own beef. They buy, they buy the , they buy from a local farmer where they live. That little bit of education helped a lot in their process and it made them ambassadors for small farmers. I mean, they try to buy locally, they try to get their food locally . They are, you know, and that little bit of education, while it didn't directly help me, helped farming in general. And that's a big deal. And I believe honestly that we as farmers have a larger responsibility to agriculture in general. It is hard enough to get people to come in to go into agriculture land. There are so many barriers to becoming a farmer. And there's guys , um, like Joel Sellan , who's , uh, Polyface Farms. There are guys that can, that are teaching, trying to teach people how to do this in a way that you can actually step and you don't have to be a generational farmer. I'm not. I was, you know, I came out of a corporate background, came out of the entertainment and media industry and it's hard work. I mean, I grew up on, on on, I mean, I grew up coming out here to our farm. I was, you know, it's what I always wanted to do. I just kind of got sidetracked. But it doesn't always have to be this barrier. And we need to help agriculture in general become a little bit more palatable to people. Farms should not be afraid to market themselves because of the, because of social media, because of being afraid of the, the retaliation of people who not only don't understand where their food came from. They're, they're bitter about it. They're, they're, you know, don't think, I don't know , I guess they don't like to eat. So, you know, stand up, be proud of who you are and what you do. Try to educate people, help 'em out a little bit because we do have that larger responsibility. And with that, I will let you go. You guys have a wonderful day. Good luck and God bless.