(country music) - Hello, and welcome to Farm Connections.

I'm your host Dan Hoffman.

On today's program, we talk to Midwest Dairy CEO, Molly Pelzer about innovations in the dairy industry.

State representative, Jeanne Poppe, joins us to discuss the ever-growing need for broadband access in rural communities.

And the University of Minnesota extension brings us a new Best Practices segment, all today on Farm Connections.

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- Welcome to Farm Connections.

We're delighted to have the CEO of Midwest Dairy, Molly Pelzer, with us today.

Welcome Molly.

- Good morning, Dan, it's great to be with you.

- Well, it's great to have you.

What exactly happens in Midwest Dairy?

- Midwest Dairy is the checkoff organization for the farmers in the 10 States in the Midwest.

Our job is to build trust and sales for dairy on behalf of our dairy farm families.

- Well, I know you work hard at it.

We've been at the State Fair before with Farm Connections.

We've watched people line up for a long distance, trying to get all the milk that can drink at the booth.

Is that one of your features?

- That all you can drink milk stand is one of the highlights of the Minnesota State Fair for us.

And we know that's been paused for this year, but we are certainly looking forward to 2021 when we can resume our all you can drink milk stand.

- And, of course, our consumers can get that same wonderful product at the grocery store, right?

- That's true, they could do a home challenge of all you can drink milk stand.

Good idea, Dan.

- Well, you referenced the State Fair not happening this year.

And of course, it's no secret that we have a pandemic going on and it's changed some of our behaviors.

How has Midwest Dairy and USCO adapted, been resilient and offered support?

- Well, the pandemic has given us an opportunity as well as challenge, but we're seeing that the consumer of today is eating at home more and that's translated to good news for dairy.

The dairy sales at retail are outpacing store sales.

As people return to wholesome foods that have great taste, bandtastic value and offer comfort as well.

- Well, that's really great.

It seems like it's full circle.

As a farm youth, I grew up on a farm that had dairy and we were still in a time where we had a cream separator.

So we also pasteurized our own milk.

So we were no stranger to having wholesome products on the food table, thanks to mom and thanks to dad and at the dairy farm.

So there's a resurgence, what's driving that?

Why?

- You know, I think that the nutritional value and the affordability of dairy is really important as consumers think about their own health during these challenging times.

But they also know that having dairy in the kitchen is helpful for meal planning, whether it's breakfast or snacks.

We know that the increase in dairy consumption, our research is telling us is with breakfast and snacks.

So we've been talking a lot about yogurt for breakfast and cheese for snacks, but now we're encouraging consumers to think even beyond the traditional milk and cereal or pizza as a snack, but to think about dairy as a meal solution.

- Well, you mentioned research, Molly, and you mentioned some of the things that you found in the research.

Can you expand on that a little more?

- Sure.

It's very interesting to think about today's consumers and what's happening in their lives and how we can meet consumers where they are.

And we know that online grocery purchasing has really soared during the pandemic.

That has been fascinating for us to watch targets that we thought would meet in maybe five years, being met in the last three months.

So how do we maintain dairy's role in those online grocery shopping experiences, whether it's delivered to your door or whether you pick it up at the store?

We wanna make sure that milk, cheese, yogurt, butter, even ice cream are part of that online service.

So we're working with retailers to make sure dairy remains front and center as folks look at the website to make their grocery selections.

- Has the research and innovation led to new labeling or product descriptions?

- You know, we're working on making sure that products that consumers want are there when they want them.

Prior to the pandemic, there was a lot of on the go food selection.

So you could eat it on the bus or in your car, on your walk from the parking lot to the office.

But now with the in home, we're trying to provide consumers with the shelf life that they're interested in their products.

Many shoppers are trying to limit the number of grocery store shops they have.

So what can we do to have milk, cheese, yogurt, and other dairy available that has that shelf life they'd like to receive?

- Exciting things.

How about professional development and training?

- You know, for professional development and training, we found that a lot of our conferences that we were planning to participate in live, to share dairy story, are now going virtually.

And oftentimes, what a surprise we're actually getting more attendees.

Everyone is at home.

They're able to phone in to these webinars and conferences, and we're excited to be able to reach today's professionals, whether they're healthcare professionals, retailers, anywhere in the supply chain with the good news about dairy.

- What about the in school programs that used to be?

What are we doing with that now?

- You know, we did have a lot of spring time farm visits planned, and we had to think differently and be creative in our approach.

We found a great opportunity to do virtual farm tours.

So, with mom and dad were teachers at home or teachers were organizing classrooms differently with the virtual education or children just curious.

We have a great list of online virtual dairy tours from across our region so that you can visit more than one dairy farm.

Some of them with lesson plans that make for a great experience for teachers, as well as parents and students to learn about where their food comes from, which is a big interest after the pandemic for adults and students alike.

- Wow, that's fantastic.

Molly, can you give us a website or some way for parents and teachers to access that virtual tours.

The virtual tours you speak, I should say.

- [Molly] Yeah.

Our website is midwestdairy.com, and you'll find a nice landing page that will direct you to those virtual tours.

They're so popular.

We wanted to make it very easy to find.

- You visited a little bit about retail partnerships in terms of a restaurant.

What other kind of retail partnerships could we look for in the future?

- Now, we had a great partnership with Coborn's that happened during National Dairy Month.

We were so proud to work with that Minnesota based company to share the story about milk being local and made by dairy farmers.

We were excited to work with them, with their kids cooking program, as well as information in their circular ads and in store as well.

Consumers who were in the store were able to remember to pick up dairy with all the other ingredients that they had on their list, especially as we tied into the baking that's happening more at home.

So that was a fantastic opportunity to use the Coborn's loyalty plan to incent them to purchase baking materials and to receive a free gallon of milk.

- As you speak about marketing and economics, it makes me think about when I go through communities that have a livestock base, particularly dairy, that community often looks different to me.

There's more activity on main street, there's farm equipment dealerships, there's equipment dealers that service milking equipment, there's veterinarians, there's feed nutritionists, there's feed supply companies.

There's a whole host of industry support people in a dairy community, and also other livestock industries too.

But it's something special because we can keep more of that dollar inside of that community rather than just shipping a commodity down a river or around the world.

Any reflections from you on that?

- Well, we always talk about dairy being good for communities and certainly the economic stimulus in a community that has dairy surrounding, it is very powerful indeed.

As well as the dairy farmers' interest in making their communities better places to live.

And we've done a lot of work in that with the food insecurity and the hunger issues during the pandemic.

- Thank you, Molly.

Just as you were speaking, it made me think about those dairy farmers, they're so busy.

There are so intensely involved in their operation, managing it and operating it.

Oftentimes, they don't travel a great distance from their farm when they're doing business, they really support their local people.

And anybody that can provide for them in a timely manner are heroes to them.

Isn't that correct?

- That is so correct.

And you know, during the pandemic, there were challenges in the food supply chain that impacted our dairy farmers, and what an inspiration for all of us to think about how the dairy farmers thought about their communities by providing refrigeration grants to their local food pantry, so that the milk, cheese and yogurt were kept cold, and their local schools to make sure that the milk was chilled and available for the students.

So, not thinking about themselves, but thinking about their community and how they can contribute to better everyone.

- And those impacts and outcomes are longterm.

Think about a child drinking soda pop with acid, with sugar, compared to a milk product and the impact on their dental health and their physical health, and ultimately, their emotional and psychological health.

I mean, if you don't have health and a good fuel going into your body, we've got problems, right?

- There, you're speaking my language.

I'm trained as a registered dietician.

So there's absolutely a need to have those three servings of dairy a day.

And we like to say, as the American Academy of Pediatrics, make milk your mealtime beverage.

You know, it works well for children, but it's good advice for adults as well.

- And, Molly Pelzer, thank you so much.

Take care, stay tuned for more on Farm Connections.

(country music) - [Announcer] Farm Connections, Best Practices, brought to you by.

(upbeat country music) - Hello folks, my name is Debalin Sarangi.

I'm the extension weed specialist with the University of Minnesota.

So welcome to today's Best Practices segment.

And today we'll talk about Many Little Hammers as a concept for weed management.

So, relying on single management tactics, for example, applying roundup on your soybean or corn may select the registered bio-type in a population.

So, we need to diversify our management tactics.

For that, you have several tools like, you have a narrow row planting, you have cover crops, you have tillage.

So those are little hammers that you can use.

But these tactics may not give you a satisfactory control alone.

But when you combine one or two of them, it may give you bigger control or satisfactory control.

So that's why it is called Many Little Hammers.

But our goal is not to replace the big hammer, which is the herbicide.

It is to steward the finite herbicide options because, you know, with all the widespread weed resistance issues, we have limited options for the herbicides.

So we have to keep that option viable for longer period of time.

So we need to supplement that option with something else, which could be your cover crop planting or could be rotating your crops like growing corn one year, next year growing with some something else.

So diversifying your management tactics may make your weed management more sustainable, and you may delay the evolution of herbicide resistance on your farm.

Again, thank you for listening.

My name is Debalin Sarangi.

I'm the extension specialist at the University of Minnesota.

- Today, we're so delighted to have representative Jeanne Poppe.

Welcome Jeanne.

- Hello, how are you, Dan?

- Good, it's so great that you took some time out to share with Farm Connections.

And today's topic is about broadband in rural Minnesota.

What is it and why do we need it?

- Well, broadband is the opportunity to connect to people through the technology.

Obviously, we do things now through Zoom and through other means like that.

So video connection, audio connection, electronic connection, when we're doing email.

So it's really a broadband of technology that allows us to be able to have that connection, and that allows us to do schoolwork and business work and meetings and communication on all levels.

So, obviously, in the last few months, many of us have experienced a number of new ways of communicating virtually.

And some of us have discovered when it's been successful and when it's been less than successful.

- And those things become very glaring when you need it.

Right?

- That's very true.

You know, we all have embarrassing moments when things will happen with kids or animals or other activity happens in our house while we're on a zoom meeting, but also just the drop-off.

And I've been on meetings with people from the governor's office or administration or other people throughout as we now expand, and are able to go to meetings that are not just within our 90 mile radius.

We're going to things that we have people from other states on Zoom meetings.

You know, when they drop off or they go very slow all of a sudden or different things happen, you know, you just really noticed how that has impacted, now so, the professionalism and the ability to have that steady communication, that steady and stable connection.

- Well, rural broadband or broadband anywhere once was considered kind of a luxury or a novelty, and maybe many people have equated it to rural electrification.

You know, we had kerosene lamps or gas lamps, and then rural wires or electrical wires in our co-ops took electricity to the farms and really lit up, literally, the countryside and gave us the ability to run motors, milking machines, lights, many things that made life easier for farms and farmers, but also more productive.

So the similarity seems to be true with broadband, at one time where that'd be nice, but then it became a central, especially with the pandemic that's staring us in the face and the social distancing, and also the distance between farms and other centers of commerce.

Are you seeing an incentive or really a growth in the need for broadband lately?

- [Jeanne] I would say definitely.

And you've described it very well.

Yes.

The rural electrification system and how that actually got finally to the people on the end of the line, where, you know, it happens more frequently in larger metropolitan areas, and then it grows out and, you know, more suburban and regional centers and other areas.

But when it gets to the last person on the line and the last person on the road, then we know that we have been able to hit everybody.

And I think it's been obviously much more highlighted because people had been feeling it when they were doing business and trying to be more in the global markets and do different things along those lines.

But actually when we had to have a different distance learning for our school systems and for our students getting educated, so when teachers had to go into school in order to be able to connect with their kids, but then they weren't able to, so now how did they do that from home?

Where are the hotspots in the small town or rural area?

Now, people that have become much more familiar with the terminology, with the need.

And like you said, the necessity, the essentialness of this, this is not something that is a luxury.

This is something that we now require for things to be able to continue to be productive and to continue a process.

- And of course, in a democracy or the type of government we wish for, we wish to be equal and give everyone opportunity, no matter how far they are from a major metropolitan area.

How is the state of Minnesota making that happen?

- Well, we've been doing some things, you know, putting money toward broadband expansion.

And to some degree we would do it based on who's ready for it and what would they like to do.

Sometimes the controversy is whether or not you do it so that some people get to the highest level, or do you bring everybody online to get a base level.

And so, for many people they're saying, you know, we have dialogue, we have a very slow system, we need to at least get into a system that has some cable connection, or it has, you know, other kinds of connections.

While others are saying, you know, we wanna be at the top speed and we wanna have the right bandwidth and all of those things.

So we're now trying to figure out how do we get everybody to get into that base so that we make sure that we have a number of people?

Again, the end of the road, how do we get to everybody?

But then, as we do that, then what are some other things that we can do to enhance that and build that up?

And that's where we're at.

We're trying to make sure that we are advancing it so that, as you said, everyone can be on the same, have the same access.

Not necessarily it's going to be equivalent across the state, at least initially, but at least we have to get everybody to have some access.

- What incentives does the state have and how can we empower rural leaders, as you say, towards the end of the line, to engage in cooperative and use synergy to make things better for their community in their area?

- Well, we have been doing some things by offering more money.

Certainly, as you talked about the REA, you know, the co-op system, to have co-ops who can come forward and say, yes, we will do that.

You know, whatever business that is in the internet or broadband kind of business, they need to sometimes be incentivized to be able to say, yes, we are gonna go to the furthest person on the line or the most remote area, because the cost per person per mile is much higher than if you're in an urban setting and you're able to connect to a number of people in the neighborhood for that same cost.

So, trying to give some money to those companies that are willing to go further out, you know, the telecom companies that are saying, you know, we will do this, we have done this, we've done this with phone lines in the past, so now we're going to do it with internet.

So, we're trying to make sure we have that.

We also look to the federal government.

I mean, that's really where we're at right now, is trying to look to the federal government and through the CARES Act to get some additional dollars.

And when we get those dollars, we can then make sure that our schools, again, a very important aspect of what we have in Minnesota, the school system, who many are going to be doing things at distance learning and remotely, they need to be as up to speed as they can.

So giving them the dollars.

And hopefully, getting those that are at the lowest level up to a minimum and maybe above that level, so that they can have somewhat, at least the, maybe not the best quality, but enough of a quality of service that allows them to be able to do what they need to do.

- It sounds like, Representative Poppy, that you believe the role of government is, and also their responsibility is, to minimize or close that digital divide.

- Dan, I think you've said that well, yes, I do think that government does have a role.

You know, some people maybe argue at times when they feel that it doesn't have a role in things.

But I think that this is one of those areas.

When you look at the need for the internet and broadband and the resource connection that you need to have, it is like a highway system.

You know, you need to have interstate highways, you need to have a state highway, you need to have township roads, you need to have all of those.

That's a part of the transportation system.

This is another system like that, where you need to have the ability for a person on farm in a rural area to be able to connect because they are in a global market when they come to now selling their beans, or they are wanting their kids to get the education that they need.

And the school, it might be eight miles away, but they need to be able to have that connection.

So, yes, I would say the digital divide is there, but we can do some things that help to diminish that.

- As you mentioned that, I'm thinking, what if we would have never invested in the infrastructure many years ago?

When this pandemic hit, we'd be at a severe disadvantage.

So at least we have the basics and we can use it.

So we need to build that bridge to the future.

And as I think about young people starting careers in rural Minnesota, or deciding where they'll live, we're hearing from real estate agents and others, that there's a wave of people saying, hey, I can work someplace other than a big tower in a big town and I can still be connected to my workers.

Have you heard some of that as well?

- Absolutely, Dan, I think that's a great point.

I believe that there are a number of people that are choosing perhaps to exit the large cities, metropolitan areas.

This has been, again, the pandemic has created a new reality for people.

If they're stuck inside their either apartment, complex, or they're able to maybe not go to their job, but they're able to work from home, they can now do that while sitting in their backyard in a beautiful setting, in any part of the state.

And that's important, I think, for people to start appreciating that life has a different meaning these days for all of us, but also that maybe how you want to live your life, where you want to live your life, has probably changed for a number of people.

- Wonderful interview.

Thank you, Representative Poppe.

- Thank you, Dan, it was a pleasure.

(upbeat country music) - Ideas need cultivation.

The ability to innovate provides us the opportunity for growth.

And it's our responsibility to ensure that we give fertile minds every opportunity to flourish, so that we may look forward to a brighter future.

I'm Dan Hoffman.

Thanks for watching Farm Connections.

(upbeat country music) (theme music)