(bright music) - Hello, I'm Dan Hoffman.

On this episode of "Farm Connections," we chat about cover crops and conservation practices, with T.J.

Kartes at the McNamara Farm during a Soil Health Day event, and we get legislative updates at a Minnesota Farmers Union gathering from director of government relations for the Minnesota Farmers Union, Stu Lourey, all here today on "Farm Connections."

(lighthearted music) - [Announcer Welcome to "Farm Connections," with your host, Dan Hoffman.

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

- [Announcer] 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.

- [Announcer] Additional support from the following sponsors.

- [Announcer] 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 'em for a quote today.

- [Announcer] 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.

(lighthearted music) - Welcome to "Farm Connections."

We're near Goodhue, Minnesota, on the Ed McNamara Farm for a very special day on soil health.

And one of the speakers today was Mr.

T.J.

Kartes, and he's gonna tell us a little more about what he talked about today.

Welcome to our show.

- Well, thanks, Dan, pleasure being here.

- You know, it was really interesting when you were talking about soil health, and you talked about plants and seeds.

What is your business anyway?

- So Saddle Butte Ag is based out of Shedd, Oregon.

I'm the Upper Midwest representative, so I live in Blooming Prairie, Minnesota.

I cover five states.

We sell cover-crop seed, 4-H seed.

Our primary goal in our business is to educate the producer why they're doing this, how to make it work, so it's very successful.

The seed sales is great, but we gotta educate first so everybody understands why they're doing this.

- Well, what is a cover crop?

- So a cover crop is planted before or after your cash crop or possibly in the cash crop and grows at the same time and goes dormant.

So a cover crop helps scavenge nutrients, helps with erosion, compaction alleviation.

It's doing everything that tillage used to do for us, but we think we can do a better job with a living plant and a living root.

Carbon sequestration, which is huge, all these things that are the buzzword in the industry right now is what our cover crops do for us.

- We're in the right place at the right time.

- Once in a while, you luck out, and I think we're lucking out right now.

- What was your takeaway from the soil health seminar today?

- I thought it was really good.

I thought everybody... It's kind of funny, Ed didn't know how to set us up, but I think he set us up to feed each other perfectly.

So the first two presenters talked about forage.

I came in and started talking about the cover crop and the seed selections and stuff like that.

Dale Victora came in and talked about planting the crop after or during it or whatever, and then the agronomist came in and wrapped it up.

So I really think it was a very good covering of everything that we work on in the ag industry with cover crops and soil health.

- We had farmers who were experts in their world.

We had seed experts.

We had agronomy experts.

We had soil experts, all coming together in one spot, sharing in the way that farm people do, right?

- Right, and I think that's a big part of this, but the one thing we need to talk about with soil health all the time is it's a profitability thing is what it is.

We're trying to make the producer more profitable 'cause without them, none of us have a job.

That's reality in ag.

If the producer isn't there buying our products, using them, we don't have a job.

The producer's trying to protect our most valuable asset in the world, is clean water and good soil.

That's what he's trying to do and make a living at it, and we're trying to work into that system with him.

- So on an average day, what does your day look like?

- Well, I always get up in the morning, wonder who's gonna make me mad first, and that's just a joke in our seed industry.

About our day is getting up, and we start moving seed.

We start working with producers.

We go to field days.

We go to trade seminars.

It depends on the day and depends what we're doing, but a lot of is interaction with producers or a deal like this.

We're doing an interview right now or being at a field day where we're constantly trying to educate and show why we're trying to do this.

Soil health is a great word, and it's just a word.

We're trying to show the matrix of how you're gonna make money doing this and make yourself more resilient to go to the future.

- T.J., what's your greatest success story in the work you do with soil health and farmers?

- I've gotten some farmers that were very strict full-tillage that had no interest in this.

And after three, four years of working, educating, spending time with them, got 'em to try some, and now most of 'em are full-blown.

They're into the covers.

They're reducing tillage.

They're no tilling.

They're vertical tilling.

They're doing stuff that 10 years ago, there's no way they would even thought of doing.

They thought it was ridiculous and kind of stupid in a way.

We have shown 'em how it's profitable for them and then all the economic benefits and then all the environmental benefits, clean water, soil not leaving.

I look at farms when we had these windstorms the other day.

If I paid 17,000 an acre for land, and it was blown across the road, I'd be sick to my stomach at that point.

We gotta keep it where it belongs.

The American public doesn't want it in the ditch.

We gotta keep it 'cause it's how you make money, and without the land, ag doesn't exist.

- It's our legacy and our heritage.

- Yes, it is, very much so.

- It's our health.

- It is.

So healthy soil, healthy cattle, healthy humans, it all ties together.

Clean water, you know, we keep talking about water and all the stuff that's in the waters in Southeastern Minnesota that we need to get out.

A cover crop helps do that.

Reducing tillage helps do that, extra crops.

There's a Forever Green seminar going up in the University of Minnesota right now talking about camelina, oats production, other crops that we can raise in this area, not just corn and beans.

- I love that.

Let's say we develop a crop or redevelop a crop, and we find a processor that can turn it into something.

We've got value added.

We've got jobs.

We've got food.

We've got a micro economy that gets good.

- Yep, so in Albert Lea, Minnesota right now, Dan was feeding into that perfectly.

We have an oat plant that's gonna be built down there called Green Mill, and they're gonna take oats out of this area, Southern Minnesota and Northern Iowa, process and sell to food users.

They want, the CPGs, the end users, want the story of the farmer, how he's no tilling, reducing tillage, cover crop, and nutrient management.

They wanna be able to put that on their label and say, "We work with these growers because of their practices."

I think that is just great.

It's a crop that we raised here.

Our ancestors raised oats.

We quit raising it.

Now we can go back to raising it again.

- Absolutely, my dad did a great job raising oats.

In his last crop, he raised 100 bushels and a lot of straw.

- Yeah.

- And that was decades ago.

- Right, now we're raising... Most of my growers right now, they're raising oats for about 120 to 150 bushels.

When you start getting 4 to $5 for that 150 bushels with a low-input crop that takes up a lot of nitrogen to keep the water clean, keeps the soil where it belongs, it's a win-win for everybody.

- I also noticed that your presentation and the others, they talked about the integration of crops, weather, livestock.

Can you expand on that some?

- So it all ties together, you know?

And we've seen it now.

We've seen these terrible dust storms the last few springs.

We've seen these terrible winds in the fall and erosion, wind erosion, being terrible.

If we keep a cover crop living on the ground, get the structure back in the soil, the next benefit is we're feeding cattle with this.

I mean, you talk about feeding cattle on a thimble full of money, which is great.

Cattle guys can make some money.

Dairy guys can make some money.

They make money.

They spend it back in the community really fast.

So the farmer's making money.

The community's making money.

But we keep the soil healthy, we keep the crops healthy, we keep the cattle healthy, we'll keep our human health happy.

I mean, it all ties together.

- Absolutely.

Recently I was walking across the field after a rain.

The soil is fluffy, full of air, full of organic matter, biology, and it was draining.

I looked across the fence, and I saw gullies, and I saw black.

I saw no organic matter.

It speaks to what you do.

- It does.

So you look at that, and I got a concrete guy I work with very closely, and he says, "Why do you wanna put a cover crop in?"

And I said, "Well, do you put rebar in your concrete when you pour it?"

And he goes, "Well, yeah, I gotta have structure."

I said, "That's what cover crops do in our soil.

It gives us structure."

So structure's there.

The water goes down like it's supposed to.

It doesn't blow away.

We build organic matter.

We put carbon in the soil.

That's a life form for all the soil biology.

We do all that naturally with a plant, not with tillage.

The guys that are washing and letting it go down the river, somebody has to clean that mess up.

The gulf doesn't need any more of our soil.

We need our soil to stay here.

We need our fertility to stay here.

I'm a great neighbor, but I don't wanna share any of that with my neighbor, I really don't, I'm sorry.

I got good neighbors, but I'm not giving it to 'em.

- I'm pretty certain you agree with me that most of our farmers really, really try.

They're the first conservationists probably that ever existed.

- Yes, absolutely.

So I never harp on a producer because if you look back the dawn of time, we plowed everything.

We plowed soybean stubble.

Now guys leave soybean stubble alone.

They might put in a header shank in there and put some anhydrous on the fall, work it the spring, plant corn.

Excellent, doing a great job, trying hard.

Leaving corn stalks, no tilling into it, great job, doing a good job.

But we can do a little extra.

We can do a little extra.

And the roots from the fall to the spring give you that better structure, give you that better infiltration of the soil or the water.

And that's what we need, is that growth that we don't grow a crop in.

There's a growing season that we're not raising a crop in.

- [Dan] It's challenging in Minnesota.

We need experts.

We need help.

Do you have a website or some place we can go for more information?

- Yep, so, Bio Till Cover Crops.

If you Google Bio Till Cover Crops, you'll find Saddle Butte website, and you'll find my picture on there.

They actually put it on there, Dan.

They let me be part of the website there.

Find my phone number on there.

Otherwise you can just look me up.

If you Google T.J.

Kartes on YouTube, you'll find a lot of these kind of things 'cause I've done a few of these.

And I enjoy talking to producers.

I've done it all my life.

I'm a producer myself.

It excites me going forward.

It excites me that my sons wanna be part of this.

- [Dan] Well, I was just gonna ask you, what do we do and what do we present to our young people to give them opportunities to move forward in agriculture?

- So I got to present at our local high school a couple years ago, and my son was a senior.

And I said, "Ag is the biggest explosion in the industry right now between tech, conservation, soil science, all of it."

And every producer, if you think of every producer has 30 to 40 people around him that makes him successful, we need those people, from NRCS, SWCD, to the machinery dealers.

We need technical people, and you don't have to grow up on a farm to come out and do this stuff.

I know kids in town that my son went to high school with, they're working at Kibble as tractor mechanics right now.

They love mechanics.

They love ag.

Great, come on in.

We're looking for you.

- T.J., thanks so much for joining us today.

- Thanks for having me on here, Dan.

- Stay tuned for more on "Farm Connections."

(lighthearted music) (lighthearted music continues) Welcome to "Farm Connections."

We traveled to Oronoco, Minnesota to the Two Sisters restaurant, where the Minnesota Farmers Union had an interesting meeting speaking about legislative updates.

And to help us with that today was their government relations director, Mr.

Stu Lourey.

Stu, welcome "to Farm Connections."

- Thanks, glad to be with you.

- Well, you certainly had a great meeting.

Any feedback from that meeting?

We had farmers.

We had agribusiness people.

We had community leaders.

- Absolutely, absolutely.

Well, for me, you know, my job is to represent Farmers Union members at the state capitol, right?

It's a job that I enjoy, that I take really seriously, and I can do it best when our members are holding us accountable, right?

So they set our policy platform.

I go do that work in partnership with them, but then we also need to come back and say, "Hey, here's what we got done," or, "Here's what we didn't," or, "Here's the conversations that legislators were having.

What's your feedback on that?

What's the new direction?"

Make sure we're on the right track.

I think from today, we're largely on the right track.

That's good job for me and my job security, but it's genuinely really important for the work that we do.

- Well, you referenced gathering information.

Let's think about the year, the calendar year.

How do you go about getting information from the producers, from the citizens, from the taxpayers, to take it to the next level?

- First and foremost, we're a general farm organization and a grassroots general farm organization, so our policy process starts at the county level.

Members get together at the Pizza Ranch or around a kitchen table or at Two Sisters Kitchen and Bar, talk about the issues that are facing their farms, their communities, their families.

They pass policy resolutions.

Those go on to be debated at a state convention where elected delegates from all those county conventions debate those issues.

I'll tell you, Dan, I always learn a lot from those debates.

And then that results in a policy document that's updated every year.

That is our bread and butter, our marching orders at the state capitol.

So first and foremost, as a grassroots farm organization, we get our direction through that process, but we also work to listen throughout the year, right?

So I always say whenever... We try to travel the state when we're not in session, go out and listen to folks, meetings like this, letting them know what we worked on at the state capitol, and then learning, you know, are we on the right track, right?

Was that what you intended when you passed this resolution?

Is this where we're at as an organization?

Is there more information that we can bring back to you as members?

That's really important.

I also always say to our members, you know, "I represent you at the capitol, right?"

No one cares what Stu Lourey thinks, you know, on farm issues, right?

They listen to Farmers Union like they listen to other groups because we represent a group of engaged folks who care about their community and have a vested interest in these decisions, right?

So when I come, I'm taking their voices, their intent, and sharing that with legislators.

In order to do that effectively and with accountability, we need to be able to hear from members.

So I always say, "This is a job I take seriously.

Here's my cell phone number.

Call me when you like what we're doing, but call me also when you don't like what you see Farmers Union doing too," because that's really important for us to understand and to make sure that we're accountable to our membership.

- Certainly, and when you say grassroots, I have a vision of alfalfa, turf, or corn roots.

We get down to the basic level, right?

And these are the people that feed, fuel, dress us, and a million other things.

Farmers really have a large responsibility.

So today you had something, and I was impressed with your title, "Voices Need to be Heard: People's Town Hall, A Report," and it's very interesting reading through it.

And certainly we heard some concerns from the group today.

As a government relations director, how do you advise people to approach legislators to make a difference when legislators are making policies and decisions that affect us hugely?

- Absolutely, absolutely.

So first and foremost is recognizing that it's their responsibility to represent you.

Whether you voted for them, you voted for someone else, or you didn't vote at all, you're a constituent, right?

We live in a democracy, and you have a representative.

It is their charge to the best of their ability to represent you at the body that they are engaging with, be that congress, state legislature, the county commission, right?

So it is your right to engage, right?

And, you know, I think I always tell members to, you know, first and foremost, show up.

Just do it, right, you know?

Come to the community meeting.

Join the tele-town hall.

Ask your representatives to go out and get coffee.

You'd be surprised how many times they'll just say, "Oh yeah, sounds great.

We'd be glad to hear your perspective," right?

So just do it.

Also, you know, be an expert in your own experience, right?

I think sometimes I find myself, certainly members I see, trying to or feeling like they need to master every fact and figure and counterpoint and point in order to have a conversation with an elected official when really what is most effective is understanding how a policy affects you, affects your family, the folks that you care about, and be able to communicate that effectively from your own experience, right, and so grounding yourself in that and having those conversations that matter.

Of course, calling your elected officials, sending emails, all hugely powerful.

Dan, I'll say we talked about in the meeting here, I have been working this week on some tax issues, right?

More than once in committee just this week, lawmakers said, "Hey, you know, I like this provision because I received an email from a constituent, and they said this, and I know they're a Farmers Union member."

And that is hugely powerful.

Legislators need to know when policies are affecting constituents.

Their job is to prioritize, and they can do that most effectively when they're hearing from folks.

- When I'm hearing you speak about this, I'm also thinking that you're saying what really matters is authentic.

- That's absolutely right.

I think that's true in good television and true in politics as well.

- So if someone is authentically a farmer that's talking about issues that impact their farm, that means a whole lot more than somebody that knows nothing about farming, right?

- Oh, absolutely, absolutely.

I mean, I say that all the time.

I mean, the most effective messengers that we have at the state capitol and Washington, DC are our members who are experiencing those issues on the ground.

That's who has that direct experience who can inform those decisions.

I also like to say, I mean, you know, whether we're talking about St.

Paul or Washington, DC, there are, you know, thousands of lobbyists with all the best facts and figures and points, counterpoints, right?

We've got plenty of that.

But when a farmer takes the time to drive up from Southern Minnesota to go to the capitol, you better bet that folks listen because they know that was an important issue to them, something that matters, and they need to pay attention.

- And beyond farmers, consumers, consumers, of course, care what happens to farms because their livelihood depends on it as well.

- Absolutely.

- Good, fresh, safe food, right?

So how do you encourage our consumers and average taxpayers to approach the legislature beyond just a farm family?

- Oh, absolutely, absolutely.

I mean, first, you know, we're strongest at Farmers Union when we have our big fights.

We've been talking about the farm bill, right?

How do we get farm bills passed, right?

We have a partnership with folks who care about feeding folks, right, which is agriculture, you know.

The nutrition title is a huge part of what allows the farm bill coalition to come around and unify around updating the farm bill ideally every five years with needed updates to our farm safety, net improvements to farm programs, funding, USDA and other related agencies, right?

So, you know, consumers, join us arm in arm, right?

We have the same interests, and we're stronger together.

I think also, I mean, the same principles apply, make your voice heard.

What you care about is important.

I'd also put a plug in that, you know, folks always think about communicating directly with their elected officials, right?

I think it's also powerful when Farmers Union members put on their Farmers Union hat and go speak at a community meeting hosted by another organization or come and listen to that community meeting, hear the concerns, bring those back to this conversation, and also speak up for our issues in that forum.

So, you know, just all those ways that we build community and connect with folks are really powerful for moving issues forward as well.

- So let's break this down into the basics.

If I'm a farm family, a small-business owner, a taxpayer, consumer, what's the best way for me to approach somebody listening to me to make policy in St.

Paul or Washington, DC?

Do I phone?

Do I walk in?

Do I email?

Do I write letters?

What's effective?

- Yeah, absolutely.

So first and foremost, I mean, if you are a farm family experiencing an issue, thinking about something that you want changed in policy, my first recommendation is self-serving.

Join Farmers Union, right?

Or join another organization that's working on these issues.

Find some folks who have common cause who want to join with you because at the end of the day, you're given representatives, right?

If you're talking about Minnesota, you have, one senator and one representative, right?

That's two people out of 201.

You need a couple more of 'em to move that along, right?

And so find some folks with common cause, and it doesn't need to be a lot of folks, right?

Join, you know, with an allied organization, meet some other people, and seven of you could make an amazing difference.

I've seen it done, right?

But then, you know, when you're going and talking to elected officials, you know, I think there's no wrong entry point, right?

Send an email or, you know, write a letter, make a phone call, schedule a meeting.

But all the best if you do all those things, right, you know?

And do it in a way that is establishing rapport, right?

I think the other really important piece that folks take for granted is following up, right?

So if you get a response, or you get a meeting, and you're gonna have a 15-minute meeting, right, 'cause folks are busy, they have things, you know, make sure to establish and say, "Hey, I'd really like to follow up with you on this.

And, you know, maybe it's not this year 'cause you seem really busy, but over the summer, can we get coffee and talk about this issue that's affecting me?"

right?

Establish that relationship.

And that's what's really gonna deliver change over the long run, is investing in that relationship and making sure that you're having ongoing communication, not just reaching out when there's the acute issue that you want action on.

- Well, our legislators are busy if they're doing what they're supposed to be doing.

So should we be disappointed if we can't get to them?

What's an alternative?

- Absolutely.

So first and foremost, they're your elected officials.

You should have a right to see them, right?

You know, I think that's just a fundamental, right?

They should be hosting community forums.

They should be meeting with you, groups that you're a part of.

I think that's something that's fair to expect in a democracy.

That said, they are busy, and they're not always able to accommodate every meeting in their schedule, right?

And I think then you'll meet with staff, and that's a really important relationship to invest in because staff are the ones who do a lot of the work.

And so if you can get them on your side, invested in your issue, I think that's really powerful.

Also, needless to say, and, you know, is important in so many different forms, but be kind to the staff too, right?

That's gonna be really important and something that everyone respects and really values.

- Great points.

And in summary, it sounds to me like you're saying be the expert, authentic person, the legislators go back to, and as you said, follow up with.

- Absolutely.

- Stu, wonderful advice.

Thank you for your time.

- Thank you, Dan.

Appreciate it.

- Well, that'll just about do it for today.

I'm Dan Hoffman.

Thanks for joining us on "Farm Connections."

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

- [Announcer] 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.

- [Announcer] Additional support from the following sponsors.

- [Announcer] 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] 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] Programs 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.

(bright music)