(light music) - Hello and welcome to Farm Connections.

I'm your host, Dan Hoffman.

On today's episode, we travel to the Hormel Institute where we talk to Andrew Brandt of the U.S.

Grains & BioProducts Council about trade policy.

Then we head to Byron for a COMET training seminar taught by Meg Moynihan, addressing mental health and mechanisms that can be used to help those in need.

All here today on Farm Connections.

(lively music) (lively music ends) - [Narrator] Welcome to Farm Connections, with your host, Dan Hoffman.

- [Announcer] Farm Connections' premier sponsor is Minnesota Corn.

- [Announcer 2] Programming supported by Minnesota Corn.

Working to identify and promote opportunities for corn growers, enhance quality of life, and help others understand the value and importance of corn production to America's economy.

(joyful music) - [Announcer] Additional support from the following sponsors.

- [Announcer 2] Programming supported by: R&S Grain Systems, a family-owned business serving its customers for 50 years with leading designs in the manufacturing of grain-handling equipment and grain storage systems.

You can call them for a quote today.

- [Announcer 3] Programming supported by EDP Renewables North America, owner-operator of Prairie Star and Pioneer Prairie wind farms in Minnesota and Iowa.

EDPR wind farms and solar parks provide income to farmers and help power rural economies across the continent.

- [Announcer 2] Mower County Farm Bureau Association, a KSMQ broadcast sponsor, advocates for agriculture based on the policies and beliefs of its members.

It's dedicated to making the voices of its members stronger.

You can learn more about membership benefits at fbmn.org.

- [Announcer] Program supported by employee-owned AgVantage Software, Rochester, Minnesota, celebrating their 50th year designing and developing agribusiness software for grain elevators, feed manufacturers, producers, fertilizer and chemical dealers, co-ops, seed companies, and fuel distributors.

- Welcome to Farm Connections.

I'm Dan Hoffman.

We traveled to Austin, Minnesota, at the Hormel Institute, and today we have a guest by the name of Andrew Brandt.

Andrew, welcome to Farm Connections.

- Thank you, Dan.

Great to be here.

- Well, what's happening today?

This is a neat event.

- Thank you.

So, what we are doing, I work for the U.S.

Grains & BioProducts Council, and we are here with our sister organization, the National Corn Growers Association, putting on what is called a Trade Policy Academy.

And so, we created these a couple of years ago in an effort to better educate people, especially at the grassroots level, hence we're out here in beautiful Austin, Minnesota, conducting this event to just kind of give people a chance to come in and hear from us.

So we provide some history of trade policy, talk about our organizations, and then, you know, also do kind of a deep dive in what is currently going on in trade policy to help our farmer leaders both with just to get them better educated on trade policies so they have the confidence, whether it's just talking to their fellow neighbor farmer or, you know, from time to time, engaging their elected officials, we want them to be well-versed and prepared so they can, you know, interact with confidence to advocate for their interest.

- Well, that's extremely important.

And Andrew, can you tell us why you think trade policy and knowing about policy is important?

- Certainly.

So, one of my favorite quotes about trade policy is, "Trade policy does not make the world go round, trade policy determines what goes around the world."

And so I think if we look at the globalized world we've been in, you know, trade policy, whether it's just a basic tariff level or some sort of SPS restriction, or a maximum residue level on a crop protection chemical that a country on the other side of the world might test for, these are very important things that impact our market access for, you know, corn and ethanol.

But I should say, at the Grains & BioProducts Council, we advocate 10 offices around the world for corn, the products we specifically advocate for are corn, sorghum, barley, and ethanol, and then all the byproducts.

So, trade policy is what enables or, in the case of no market access, does not allow us to sell these products in certain countries around the world.

And so with nearly one-third of whether it's corn, roughly one-third of whether it's corn, soy, whatever, of U.S.

production being exported, these trade policy matters, and certainly, Washington, D.C.

talks a lot about trade anymore.

These can have a very major impact on the bottom line of producers.

So getting into how much money they make year to year to, you know, first meet all their debt obligations, as well as have hopefully some surplus to, you know, enjoy the toils of their work and raise their family with and enjoy life, these policies can really impact those things.

- Farmers are definitely long-range thinkers and they need to plan ahead, both borrowing money, planning crops, animal reproductive cycles, and those kinds of things.

How does policy help them make good plans on their farm?

- So hopefully, you know, in the past, we see an agreement like NAFTA, which originally was 1992, and then it was updated as USMCA in 2018.

You know, that is a trade agreement that was in place for about 30 years, and is still in place, that opened up a new market with Mexico, which is currently our number one corn market by far.

So, that didn't all just happen the first year, but over time, we opened up that market.

And so from a corn farmer's perspective, you know, we are selling more corn into Mexico, which means a higher price here, which lends itself to, you know, being able to pay back that land note over, you know, 20, 30 years.

So maybe if you're a really good farmer, you could pull it off in 10.

But we are here to create additional value for the row crops that I mentioned, that ultimately gets back to the pocketbook of our farmers.

- You know, Andrew, unless I'm mistaken, you're beginning to sound an awful like a farmer.

Can you tell us more about your ag background?

- Yeah, so I actually grew up on a farm about an hour east of Kansas City, Missouri, in a little town called Concordia.

I still am involved with it.

I have an interest in some of the land and I get back there almost every, I've been in Washington about 20 years, and probably almost every year, I get back for planting and harvest.

Not quite every year, but I've probably gotten back for 18 out of the 20.

And so I, you know, grew up living this.

I love row crop farming.

And I'm kind of partial to cattle too.

But I, you know, grew up in the industry and have advocated for it ever since getting to Washington, D.C., working in Congress for various members.

But I take it very seriously, and I guess I would say, you know, I know the... I understand how much you can love the lifestyle of farming, but I also understand, you know, the downside and the trials and tribulations.

You know, my family, when I was a kid, we were in production hogs through the late '90s.

So I, you know, got to see the good and the joy, but also the challenges.

- You've been in Kansas as a production farmer, you've been in Washington, D.C., and of course, today you're in Minnesota, and you travel all around the United States.

What are the common things among farmers and ag business people, and then what are the things that are maybe not connected or as common around the regions?

- Great question.

I think the most common thing we just hear is, you know, farmers want more market access.

They know that we in the United States are blessed with an unbelievable ability to produce especially corn, soybeans.

They want market access for those products because they know if it, you know, if we keep producing at these rates and we don't have somewhere for it to go, the price goes down and that makes us all sad.

So, you know, that's, first and foremost, is just, you know, how can we keep the existing markets open, and then, you know, what other markets are there?

A lot of people talk about Africa, which I think there is opportunity in Africa, but Africa comes with a lot of challenges as well as basically a developing continent.

But that, you know, that is one of the major things we hear constantly is just, you know, how do we get more exports to help our farms be more profitable?

I would say that is the number one thing we hear.

And then there's also a lot of concern about just the rise of Brazil, which is a... it's not that US farmers did anything wrong, but all of a sudden, we have this, you know, new kid on the block who's a very formidable competitor who's, when we have to compete with them in the export market, you know, they're applying some pressure to us.

And so that's probably maybe the second most common question or thing I talk about, is the rise of Brazil and what that means for, you know, the 30-year mortgage I have on land I just bought.

And it's a very real question.

- Great comments.

The second part of that is, Andrew, as you traveled around, you told us about what farmers have in common.

What things do you see differ by region, say, comparing Kansas to Southern Minnesota where we are today, or Washington, D.C.?

- I would say there's definitely some cultural differences.

I used to work for a congressman from West Texas, so that was a lot of cotton basically in the middle of the Panhandle of Texas.

Then I worked for a senator from Iowa for several years.

I think the corn farmers are, you know, more concerned with ethanol and trade.

So there's definitely some cultural differences as you travel in different regions of the country.

I think by and large, a lot of farmers you'll find are very similar.

If you show up at a coffee shop in the Panhandle of Texas or the middle of Iowa or, you know, Western Kansas, Eastern Colorado, I think you would find a lot of farmers that could become fast friends with how they, you know, just how they are, quite frankly.

- Well, in the room today where you're teaching, there is people that produce corn, and there's people on the Minnesota Corn Growers Board and Grains Council.

What advice do you have to the young people in the room as they're learning about production ag and about trade and policy?

- Well, as someone who loves policy, I'm very partial to say young people should, you know, get versed on, you know, especially for farmers, not only the trade agreements, but also the farm bills, so whether that's Title I, crop insurance.

These policies, the RFS and ethanol, probably the biggest policy driver of wealth in rural America in the last 20 years.

These policies, it may sound boring and that's what Congress is for, but weighing in with your member and getting involved, if you don't do it, no one else will.

You know, a plumber is not going to call his congressman and say, "I want the RFS to help out the farmers."

That's a very unlikely thing to happen, so you have to.

A farmer is unlikely to call a congressman about some policy a plumber is worried about.

So it's very important to, you know, weigh in and become active.

If it was not for our farmers' voices and organization, we would not have gotten the RFS.

We probably wouldn't have gotten all these trade agreements that have opened up a lot of market access.

So, I know policy can be a slow and trudging area to work in, but the impact, going back to my initial statement of how it determines what goes where in the world, is extremely important.

And, you know, we see with a lot of these trade agreements, historically, you know, if you don't get it right, you may be stuck with this for 30, 50 years, or like the RFS.

You know, these policies, once they're set, they tend to stay there for quite a while, so it's important to get them right the first time if you can.

- RFS meaning renewable fuel standards?

- Correct.

- How did that help agriculture and our country?

- I mean, well, coming out of the '90s, we had a lot of corn that didn't have anywhere to go and it, you know, found a home for that, but more importantly, it replaced a carcinogen as the source of oxygen and fuel, which made it a cleaner burning.

So it was kind of a win-win.

It brought new jobs, new investment.

I mean, if we look at the farm bill and all the money we spend in Title I, you know, that can be helpful.

But what we saw with the RFS, which is not like a direct subsidy, but was a program that required the use of corn in our fuel system, and because oil companies are, you know, so willing to share, we kind of had to have it be a mandate so they'd actually put the ethanol in the gas.

But what we saw was actual job and wealth creation.

I mean, Title I does not create the number of jobs in rural America that the RFS did.

And so that along with just, if I had charts, I'd show you how the price of corn on average has gone up quite a bit, which, you know, translated on 200 bushels an acre of corn, you know, might have added $250, $300 an acre in revenue to a corn farmer's, you know, annual income.

It was one of the smartest ag policy.

It's an energy policy, but I would say it's probably the smartest ag policy I've seen the country do in my lifetime.

- And when you mentioned the extra profit per acre, when farmers have profit, what do they do with it?

- Most of them I know spend it.

I know on our farm, we don't run the newest equipment, but the years we have a little extra money in our pocket, we buy red paint of some kind usually, but it gets spent in the local community.

You know, farmers have to feed their family, that's grocery store dollars.

A lot of them drive pickup trucks, so that's the local car dealership.

Seed and fertilizer salesmen as well.

But the dollars you get to a farmer, they kind of support a lot of these local communities that, you know, I was born in the early '80s, but, you know, I've heard these rural communities have kind of transitioned.

And so a lot of them are very dependent on the farmers that are left there anymore.

And if we lose them, we may lose more of these communities, unfortunately.

- That standard has kept some families on the farm and increased their profitability, and probably filled up some school buildings, churches.

- I would agree.

- You mentioned Title I. Can you describe that just a little further, please?

- Oh, yeah.

So Title I is a little bit out of my purview here, but since I worked in Congress and helped write three farm bills, Title I is where the programs that are called currently ARC and PLC, ARC is ag-risk coverage, PLC is price loss coverage, which are kind of two of the major direct investments or some would just say direct subsidy programs the U.S.

government does as far as the ag safety net goes.

And so, like price loss coverage is basically a price floor.

I think the new PLC rate for corn is $4.10.

The marketing year average rate of corn drops below that, the government will send out a small check for that difference.

And so that's commonly called the ag safety net, which takes out the troughs of the bad years for farmers to, you know, if you've got a 30-year mortgage, you have two bad years consecutively in the 12th and 13th year of that mortgage, Title I kicks in, hopefully that allows you to get by so you don't lose your farm.

As opposed to crop insurance, which is also part of the safety net, but is kind of more just a year-to-year protection.

And farmers also have to buy crop insurance with their own money, so it's a little bit different.

I mean, they're related and they certainly both are the two biggest pieces of the farm safety net, but they work in kind of fundamentally different ways.

- Thank you, Andrew.

- Thank you.

It's been great to be here.

- Stay tuned for more on Farm Connections.

- Welcome to Farm Connections.

We traveled to rural Dodge County to learn more about rural mental health.

And with us today is Meg Moynihan from the Minnesota Department of Ag to help us do that.

Meg, welcome to Farm Connections.

- It is a pleasure to be here.

- Well, there's a lot of things going on in the world of rural mental health, and there's a lot of reasons to be worried.

What's going on?

- We live in stressful times, and I think at the best of times, farming is a stressful profession.

We have a lot of variables that we don't really have a lot of control over.

I work at the Minnesota Department of Agriculture and I'm a dairy farmer, so I see the world from different aspects, and different directions, but I definitely see the challenges that we face that include weather, unpredictable weather, we have weed influxes, we have animal diseases, we have interest rates we can't control, we have all kinds of things happening.

And right now, on top of that, we have some really strong financial and business headwinds that are causing a lot of anxiety.

- Those headwinds probably lead to poor profits or some financial anxiety?

- We know from the University of Minnesota and actually universities all over the country that profitability has been down for the last several years, and the outlook is pretty challenging right now.

- So, how does one engage with you in terms of professional mental health?

- Well, we take the position at the Department of Agriculture that different people need different things.

When you're in stress, sometimes you need a counselor, sometimes you need a pastor, sometimes you may need to make a visit to your doctor.

Sometimes you need a conversation with a good friend.

Sometimes you need a good night's sleep.

You know, different people need different things.

And so what we try to do is work with different groups and organizations across the state and make it as easy as possible to find the kind of help you need.

- So if someone in the audience right now wants a website or a phone number, what can you help us with?

- Oh, I've got an easy one for you, minnesotafarmstress.com.

And there, people will find links to resources like our Minnesota Farm and Rural Helpline, which is confidential and free and available 24 hours a day, and staffed by very compassionate, caring, but also trained people, who are good listeners, not judgmental at all, and they answer calls from all kinds of different parts of Minnesota, and they answer our line and do a great job with that.

They say we're one of their favorite lines.

They love to talk to farmers and people connected to agriculture.

A lot of family members call.

Sometimes a person who's struggling might reach out, but sometimes we're concerned about somebody in the family or in the neighborhood and we don't know quite what to do to help them, and so that is a place that people can call and say, "Hey, can you give me some pointers?

I'm worried about my husband."

And have a conversation about that.

- There's something very important there.

First, there's a person that's in crisis or we're worried about, but there's a secondary group around them that you're concerned about, the person that's maybe a caregiver.

- Person who's a caregiver, person who is a family member, and sometimes a call to the helpline is what you need, but sometimes you may need a little more than that.

And in Minnesota, we're really fortunate to have a special program of trained agricultural mental health providers.

We have three in the state.

They're funded by the Legislature, so there's nothing out of pocket.

Your insurance situation doesn't matter.

There's no clipboard, there's no intake.

These are just counselors who are familiar with agriculture, they are licensed professional counselors, and they do everything from marriage counseling to talking with clients who are struggling with anxiety, or depression, or thoughts of suicide, or whose family members are experiencing challenges.

Sometimes they do family counseling.

Kids may be struggling on the farm.

Kids may be struggling in school with anxiety.

Particularly, after the pandemic, we hear that a lot of kids have challenges, and sometimes that is a way into supporting the whole family.

- What are some signs of stress or possibly the need for help?

- I mentioned sleep before.

Some people need a good night's sleep.

Lack of sleep and an inability to sleep or waking up frequently is a sign.

Sleeping all the time is a sign, not being able to get off the couch or to get out of bed.

Intestinal digestive challenges, you know, ulcers and, you know, digestive tract issues.

Persistent headaches can be an issue.

Frequent illnesses.

We know that stress contributes quite a lot to illness in our bodies.

And our brains are part of our body, so that makes sense, but frequent illnesses and low immunity, that can come from stress.

So really important, and that's sometimes where the doctor comes in, is to help you check out and find out, is this an organism causing you illness or is it stress?

And if it's stress, you know, what can we do about that medically?

- And so we look for changes of what might have been normal in somebody's life?

- We do.

We look for changes.

We look for people not where they're supposed to be.

I have a counselor friend who gives the example of church, and you know that Dan sits in the third pew on the left every Sunday, and all of a sudden, Dan's gone for three weeks.

Well, that's abnormal.

And so maybe Dan is out of town in the Bahamas, but maybe Dan is struggling with something and we need to check on him.

Different changes in personality.

So, maybe somebody outgoing becomes very introverted and quiet and is not coming out and doing things, or is silent at gatherings and just isn't their jolly normal self.

Or maybe somebody who is somewhat an introvert, all of a sudden, starts being, you know, wild and tossing back beers and being very extroverted and using risky behaviors.

So really, we're looking for changes.

Changes in appearance, you know, somebody who's always put together, farm's very tidy, if some of those become disheveled, that may be a clue that they're struggling.

- So if a person identifies changes or concerns, what should they do about it?

- They should talk to the person who's struggling.

We believe that we, in our communities, we can help each other.

And you and I have just been through a COMET session.

We're doing some of those, and I hope you'll have an opportunity to talk to somebody else in a little more depth about that, but really it's noticing what's happening to the people we care about, the people around us.

Probing, asking how they are, talking very genuinely about what may be going on with them, and most importantly, listening to what they have to say.

So, trying to speak with somebody and encourage them to open up and rely on us as a trusted confidant.

And sometimes they need to have a conversation, either with us, with the help line, with a counselor, and sometimes they need more assistance, and we may be in a position to help them find that.

- Excellent.

Listening is sometimes difficult.

Do you have any tips on how can I be a better listener?

- I think the important thing is to focus on them and not on yourself.

Many times in conversation, we're racing ahead in our own heads, thinking about how will I respond to this, what will I say that sounds clever and prescient and wonderful, but really, it's about the other person.

And so to be a good listener, you have to be generous and put yourself in the back and make the other person your focus.

And I think you probably, as an interviewer, understand what it takes to get somebody to open up and share their experiences and thoughts with you.

And you could probably answer this as well as I do, but it is about patience and time and listening, and also listening for the emotions that they're going through.

Sometimes the facts of what is happening are less important than how that person is feeling about things.

And so helping them come to grips with what that is can be a real benefit and a release.

We know some people get caught in thoughts that race around in their head, you know, like a little hamster in a wheel, and you just keep chewing on the same problem over and over and over again.

And if you're in a caring conversation with somebody and you have the opportunity to open up and talk about it, that maybe the first time you've heard that out loud, the first time you've heard yourself explain the situation out loud.

And just that simple act can really change your perspective and your understanding of what the problem is.

- Powerful.

Thank you.

- Thanks a lot, Dan.

- That does it for now.

I'm Dan Hoffman.

Thanks for joining us here on Farm Connections.

(lively music) - [Announcer] Farm Connections' premier sponsor is Minnesota Corn.

- [Announcer 2] Programming supported by Minnesota Corn.

Working to identify and promote opportunities for corn growers, enhance quality of life, and help others understand the value and importance of corn production to America's economy.

(joyful music) - [Announcer] Additional support from the following sponsors.

- [Announcer 2] Programming supported by: R&S Grain Systems, a family-owned business serving its customers for 50 years with leading designs in the manufacturing of grain-handling equipment and grain storage systems.

You can call them for a quote today.

- [Announcer 3] Programming supported by EDP Renewables North America, owner-operator of Prairie Star and Pioneer Prairie wind farms in Minnesota and Iowa.

EDPR wind farms and solar parks provide income to farmers and help power rural economies across the continent.

- [Announcer] Mower County Farm Bureau Association, a KSMQ broadcast sponsor, advocates for agriculture based on the policies and beliefs of its members.

It's dedicated to making the voices of its members stronger.

You can learn more about membership benefits at fbmn.org.

- [Announcer] Program supported by employee-owned AgVantage Software, Rochester, Minnesota, celebrating their 50th year designing and developing agribusiness software for grain elevators, feed manufacturers, producers, fertilizer and chemical dealers, co-ops, seed companies, and fuel distributors.

(light music)