Over the past few months, walking into a store and heading to the toiletry aisle only to find bare shelves has been the normal for many Americans. Even ordering toilet paper and “essential” needs online has been a defeating task due to the implications of COVID-19. While the meaning of “why” consumers flocked to overstock paper products in their homes may remain an unsolved mystery, the need for other items in similarity has also put stress on market balance.  

The topic of “toilet paper” can seem somewhat comical when it comes to reasons for an economic wave within a semi-secured industry, but it doesn’t just come down to that single product. When referring to paper products, the generic consumer mostly thinks about their own needs. In fact, that’s generally how the market works considering supply and demand. However, many consumers are ironically unaware of the medical demand for paper products needed to care for patients, even among the “make your own mask” call to action.

“I have said many times before, our industry is often overlooked and misunderstood,” says Elizabeth Hill, Executive Director for Maryland Forests Association, Inc. “Many people don’t get why wood is essential. After all, it isn’t the first thing you think of when looking at the food supply chain.”

A Movement towards Imbalance 

“The pandemic has had a significant impact on forest communities and businesses, just like many other communities and sectors,” comments Nick Smith, Executive Director for Healthy Forests, Healthy Communities. “Early on, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security identified the forest sector as an essential critical infrastructure workforce as the nation responds to COVID-19. Those who harvest, manufacture, and transport wood-based products are helping to ensure our medical professionals, first responders, and the rest of us have the essentials we need to weather the crisis.”

A consumer might gaze into the wall of empty shelving at the local grocery store, and the thought process may be to assume that all ends of the forest-products industry is in the safe zone, economically speaking. Feedback from struggling businesses suggests that having to shift supplies into toilet paper needs has negatively impacted the production of other lumber-based products.

“While the pandemic – and resulting quarantines – elevated demand for products like toilet paper, the resulting economic recession temporarily reduced demand for other wood products, such as lumber,” shares Smith. “The reduced demand has forced some forest-product manufacturers to curtail or temporarily close their operations, which impacts the whole forest-products supply chain. This has created imbalances in the markets, though there are signs the markets have bottomed-out and are very slowly beginning to recover.”

Hill explains, “While we no longer have a paper mill here in Maryland, our wood is used to feed plants in surrounding states. Toilet paper seems to be one item on everyone’s minds these days, but these plants produce a variety of products used to package both food and medical supplies.”

"TOILET PAPER SEEMS TO BE ONE ITEM ON EVERYONE’S MINDS THESE DAYS, BUT THESE PLANTS PRODUCE A VARIETY OF PRODUCTS USED TO PACKAGE BOTH FOOD AND MEDICAL SUPPLIES."

She further adds, “Factories are designed to accommodate large users – restaurants and institutions.” This dip in demand has temporary induced layoffs of employees, shutting off production lines. “Mills are also stepping production down and placing loggers on quotas because they aren’t able to move some of their most valuable grades of lumber due to lack of exports and construction,” says Hill. “These conditions are leading to too much wood in the pipeline, and it will likely be a slow recovery, but we are resilient.”

Cause and Effect within the Industry

As businesses are adjusting to new plans-of-action, Americans are slowly recovering from the aftermath of pandemic life, easing up slightly on heavy demands of medical and household goods. This is a positive move that affects consumers of forest by-products. “If there is a reduced demand for lumber, then manufacturers are processing fewer sawlogs,” explains Smith. “This can result in less residual material available for other products, which in turn drive up the cost for things like animal bedding.”

The Mid-Atlantic region has always been striving to make progress to strengthen its resources and markets. Smith expresses, “The key is having strong markets across the forest sector, because everyone benefits, from the landowner to the end consumer.”

Tom Johnson, President of Eastern Shore Forest Products based in Salisbury, Maryland, announced last August an expansion to meet growing local and national demands in pet bedding and high-quality poultry bedding. He stated in the announcement provided by the Maryland Forests Association, Inc., “A healthy forest is a healthy Chesapeake Bay. We believe that our continuous effort to create new markets for Delmarva-produced forest products will go a long way in ensuring that current forests are sustainably managed for future forests.” Johnson updates, “The expansion is well on its way to completion. We expect to start making new product in mid-July of this year. The first phase of our expansion will see our need for wood increase by about 60,000 tons per year.”

Smith shares, “An important takeaway is that the forest sector is diverse, but interconnected. For example, we can’t have paper, tissue, and hygiene products without raw logs and lumber. It all starts with the demand for logs and the harvesting of timber.” Landowners are encouraged to keep their forests as healthy forests, and incentive is put into place to actively manage their own lands. “Demand for lumber, such as for home construction, is necessary to keep our sawmills open. And pulp and paper manufacturers rely on chips and other residual products from the sawmills to power their own mills, and produce our everyday paper, tissue, and hygiene products,” he shares.

A Second Look

When reaching for that bath tissue, consider the process it takes to create it. Two sources start the ball rolling: virgin pulp from trees or pulp generated from recycled paper that is reprocessed and turned into pulp. A representative from Proctor & Gamble Co. explains, “In essence, pulp is delivered to paper mills that are dried and flattened, turning it into large rolls of paper sometimes considered ‘parent rolls’. The thinner sheets of paper are embossed with a pattern or brand logo to create more thickness and promote absorbency. The last stage is to cut them into toilet paper and roll onto tubes for consumer use.”

The word, “essential” can be defined by many different organizations, but the forest product industry has proven itself to be highly needed in times of both normalcy and crisis. The notation of a forest “people chain”, brought forth by author Wendy A. Farrand, is vital to sustainable forest management. “The pandemic should give us an appreciation for wood-products supply chain and the basic resources we depend on – and those who provide them,” concludes Smith.

Hopefully soon, we can safely return to less concerning days, debating if the toilet paper roll should be installed “over or under”.

Agriculture is cyclical – it always has been and likely always will be. At Farm Credit, we talk a lot about the good and bad times that farmers face in the industry and our constant commitment to serving you through those times. On Delmarva, poultry farmers are most definitely facing their fair share of challenges right now, and long layouts are at the forefront.

So, how can you manage your operation and its finances with fewer flocks and less income per year? There’s certainly not a black and white answer, but here are a few quick tips that can help keep you on the right track:

1. TALK TO YOUR LENDER.

Your lender is a partner in your business; we’re on your side and want you to succeed. Don’t fear letting us know you are facing difficult times – the sooner we can get ahead of the situation, the better we can serve your account. Lenders can help you evaluate current and future debt, provide additional financing, or even consider restructuring options. Providing accurate and up to date financial statements, tax returns, profit and loss statements, and flock settlement sheets will be important to your lender in order to evaluate your entire financial situation and determine how they can help.

2. PRIORITIZE NEEDS VERSUS WANTS.

As income becomes tighter, there comes a time when it may be necessary to reevaluate your lifestyle. Creating a monthly budget will help you visualize how much money is coming in and where it is going. With this, you’ll be able to prioritize things that you need, versus what could be cut back on. Budgeting allows you to evaluate your spending and find ways to save on necessities such as groceries and gas, but also luxuries like recreational vehicles or equipment that could be sold to reduce monthly payments.

3. BE PROACTIVE IN YOUR HOUSES.

With long layouts, unfortunately there is downtime between flocks, but you can capitalize on this as an opportunity to be proactive in your poultry houses. Utilize this time to make repairs and replacements, as well as clean fans, reflector shields on radiant heaters, or other areas to improve efficiency. Ask your flock supervisor about things you could do in the downtime to make sure your houses are ready to go when birds are available to be placed.

4. EVALUATE YOUR BUSINESS PLAN.

Every operation should have a business plan full of past results, current statistics, market opportunities, and long and short term goals. If you don’t have a business plan, we have a template we can provide to get you started. Consider your options: Can you diversify your operation or increase profits/production in other areas? Is there anyone involved in your operation who could pick up part-time or full-time employment off the farm that doesn’t take away from the success of the operation? Are there any areas of your operation where your expenses are outweighing your profits and you should cut back? The list could go on and on, but it’s crucial to have these difficult conversations with your family or business partners.

5. TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF.

Financial struggles can be the cause of many arguments, stress, and even depression. Do you ever find yourself so focused on taking care of others and your operation, that you don’t make taking care of yourself a priority? It’s important to step back and take time for yourself. You could relax and de-stress by taking a walk, reading a book, enjoying a hobby, or anything else that can help clear your mind for a bit. If you are feeling stressed or need someone to talk to, there are many free resources that your lender can help direct you to.

In a time of uncertainty and change, it can be difficult to remain positive and keep stress levels low. You are not alone – and others are here to help you through both good times and bad, including your lender! To help you manage your financial changes during periods of long layouts, be sure to communicate with your lender, create budgets to monitor income and expenses, utilize downtime to improve your houses, take a look at your current business plan, and make time for self-care. These five steps aren’t the full solution, but they will help guide you in the right direction.

To those who know Salisbury loan officer Zach Evans, his new title as the 2018 Agriculture Ambassador of the Year likely comes as no surprise - especially if you’ve seen his rap sheet. From discovering his impact in LEAD MD to helping re-create what is today the Wicomico County Fair, and wearing many other hats in between, Zach has definitely earned this award and recognition.

For context, Zach grew up in Linthicum, Maryland, in Anne Arundel County - much further from the farm than he is today. With no background in agriculture, he didn’t know anything about Farm Credit until he started as a marketing intern in April 2009 while completing his Bachelors of Science in Marketing at Salisbury University. In October 2010, Zach began serving our association and the ag community as a loan officer, building relationships with his customers. He elaborates, “My work in the ag community really stems from a deep appreciation and respect for what our farmers do and their commitment to the lifestyle.”

From 2012 until 2014, Zach sat on the board of the Wicomico Farm & Home Show (WFHS), creating the educational programming for kids at the event through partnerships with the local library and groups like “Scales and Tails”. If you ask him why education is important, he’ll be quick to tell you, “Ag advocacy and awareness has to start with children. When you’re raised outside of ag, the idea of having chickens or operating a tractor seems so out of reach.”

The 2014 event brought a new set of challenges to their leadership that the group faced head on, but later caused a lot of discussion about what would come next. Amidst low event attendance, WFHS faced uncertainty with no succession plan or strategy for the future.

Zach and the group at WFHS made the decision to join forces with the Salisbury Area Chamber of Commerce to merge events that would continue to celebrate the culture of the Eastern Shore and its deep roots in agriculture, creating the first Wicomico County Fair in 2015. Zach and his group of leaders took the fair from 5,000 attendees to over 17,000 in just four years, providing three days of free ag-oriented programming for the local community.

But that’s not all. Zach also holds the Agricultural Banking Seat for Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE), in addition to serving on their executive committee and administrative council. He is a LEAD MD Fellow (Class IX), serves on the Salisbury Area Chamber of Commerce voting council, and helps to plan the National Folk Festival.

We asked Zach how he manages to balance all of this responsibility, and you can tell that he’s truly passionate about the greater mission: “People aren’t aware of all the opportunities that agriculture provides – you don’t have to be a farmer to contribute to this industry. I do this because I believe it’s the right thing. People need food and it’s going to get harder to grow it and meet consumer demands. The doors to this industry can sometimes feel closed, but they’re not. I believe it’s our job to keep them open.”

Not many things can stand the test of time, especially for over 100 years! At Farm Credit, we celebrated our 100th anniversary in 2016 and are excited to help the Delaware State Fair ring in their own centennial this year. Although a lot of things have changed over the past 100 years, one thing remains the same – both of our roots are in agriculture.

Did you know that the Delaware State Fair, formerly known as the Kent and Sussex Fair, began with the sole purpose of promoting agriculture in the First State? This was a time to celebrate the accomplishments of our agriculture community through competition and showmanship of crops and livestock – and that tradition remains the same.

The Delaware State Fair has grown to be the state’s single largest annual gathering of people and livestock, drawing an estimated 300,000 patrons each year. For anyone who didn’t grow up immersed in the agricultural community, their first thought when it comes to the fair may be concerts, carnival rides, games, and the many varieties of famous fried fair foods. But to the rest of us, we value that the Delaware State Fair continues to showcase Delaware’s leading industry each year – agriculture.

Walking through the fairgrounds, you’ll find proof that Delaware agriculture has indeed stood the test of time. In the Centre Ice Rink, you’ll discover 4-H and FFA exhibits that display the talent and future of agriculture throughout the state. In the Delaware Department of Agriculture Commodities building, you’ll find educational displays from various agricultural organizations, including recipes for local commodities, cooking demonstrations, and even an opportunity for children to milk “LuLu the Cow” at the Delaware Ag Museum booth. All over the fairgrounds, you’ll be able to stroll through livestock and horse barns where exhibitors are showcasing their finest animals hoping to take home the blue ribbon and be deemed first in the state.

I love working for a company that is rooted in agriculture and enjoys the Delaware State Fair and its roots as much as I do! The Delaware State Fair runs this year from July 18-27 and will surely be 10 days of fun. We hope you’ll visit the fair on Wednesday, July 24 for Farm Credit Day and see everything Delaware agriculture has to celebrate. Be sure to keep an eye out for some familiar faces from your local office who will be volunteering throughout the fair all day.

Just like the Delaware State Fair, Farm Credit is rooted in agriculture. So whether you’re a beginning farmer, looking to expand your operation, or just ready to relax in a rural setting, we are here to help. For more information about financing opportunities, give us a call at 888.339.3334 or visit mafc.com.

 

LISTEN TO AMY'S EPISODE HERE OR FIND US ON YOUR FAVORITE PODCAST LISTENING APP!

 

In this episode, we chat with Amy Cawley, the Farm to Food Bank Coordinator for the Maryland Food Bank, and learn ways to support Hunger Action Month in September. Hear how Amy transitioned her career from exercise science and education, to agriculture and local produce.

Katie Ward:

Welcome back to the Farm Credit AgVocates podcast. I'm your host, Katie Ward, the marketing specialist here at Horizon Farm Credit. I'm so excited to introduce today's guests to you guys, Amy Cawley, the Farm to Food Bank Coordinator for the Maryland Food Bank. She serves as a liaison between growers and the food bank securing fresh edible produce with an extensive background in agriculture and a passion for service. Amy has helped to procure over 8 million pounds of produce from farmers on the Eastern shore of Maryland alone. She realized her love for local produce over 24 summers of working at Clayton Farms and assisting her parents with their Christmas tree farm, both located in Denton, Maryland. We're very happy to have you join us today, Amy.

Amy Cawley:

 Thanks for having me. It's a pleasure to be on here.

Katie Ward:  

I've had the pleasure of knowing you and your family for many years, growing up in Denton, Maryland. And I know that you've got really deep roots in agriculture.

CAN YOU TAKE US BACK TO WHERE IT ALL STARTED FOR YOU?

Amy Cawley:

Sure. I would say Ag runs deep in Cawley blood. I don't know how else to put it. My late grandfather was Mr. Wayne A. Cawley. He was a grain farmer when my dad was a child, they had hogs and steers. He was a banker in the town of Denton. And then from 1979 - 1991, he was actually Maryland Secretary of Agriculture. So I've got some pretty big shoes to fill when you look at that aspect. And then my father is Charlie Cawley. He is also a grain farmer. I had to get out of it for a little while with the high interest rates in the eighties. Now he's since gotten back into it. He has about 70 acres that he farms around his house and grain corn and soybeans. And then he has about 12 acres of Christmas trees.

When I was 16, I took my first job at a produce farm, Clayton Farms, which is a local produce stand. They are wholesale and retail. That's where I learned a lot about produce from what's grown in the fields to what it's in season, when it's out of season, how to harvest it, how long it lasts. So I took that at 16. I went off to college and dad kind of encouraged me to get away from the farm. Said the farm would always be there if I ever wanted to come back. So I went way to college in Gaffney, South Carolina got a bachelor of science in physical education teacher certification and got a masters in exercise, sports science. I ended up teaching for seven years at a private all girls high school and Winston Salem. I wasn't a 100% happy there.

Then I went to a Garden Webb University, taught there for two years, and that was a temporary teaching position. And from 2010 to 2011, I had six years of education, nine years of teaching experience and could not find a full time job. So I ended up moving back home and not knowing what was going to happen at that point in time, which leads into your second question.

What led me to work at the Maryland Food Bank? My sister in law was going through a program called Lead Maryland. It's an agricultural leadership development program two years and she had traveled to Baltimore. And so 2011 in April, they visited the Maryland Food Bank in Baltimore. And they were talking to her group about how they wanted to start getting donations of produce from Maryland farmers. So I had come home for Easter in April of 2011 and she was telling me about it. And I said, Hannah, that that would be a great program. Having again, worked at Clayton Farms for so many years, I had seen that there's produce that gets left in the field, not intentionally, it's just the nature of the business. So when I got done doing all my odds and ends jobs in North Carolina, I moved home in May of 2011. And Hannah said that the position was still available. She gave me the name of number of a guy named George Butch Langenfelder. He goes by Butch and he traveled over to Denton and interviewed me at mom and dad's house. And here we are nine years later and I'm still with the Maryland Food Bank.

Katie Ward:

Wow, talk about good timing.

Amy Cawley:

Yeah. 2010 to 2011 was probably the most depressing year of my life, not having a full time job. And when I was going through that, I thought I'm not going to sit on the couch. I'm not going to take any unemployment or anything. I'm going to go do what I can. So I worked a bunch of jobs from Adjunct at Salem College in Winston, Salem, teaching some classes there and you get, I don't know, maybe a thousand dollars for a three hour credit course to overseeing the fitness center to helping to coach the basketball team to driving the high school athletics around to working at the produce section of the fresh market. It was a tough year, but in retrospect, at all prepared me for the Maryland Food Bank. Because like you said, the timing was impeccable, so it all worked out great.

Katie Ward: 

Wow. You were definitely busy.

Amy Cawley:

That’s for sure.

Katie Ward:

YOU ALSO PARTICIPATED IN THE LEAD MARYLAND PROGRAM, IS THAT CORRECT?

Amy Cawley:

I did. So I got the job with the Maryland Food Bank in June of 2011 and I went down to the Farm Bureau convention and Butch was with me and he introduced me to Debbie Stanley at the time that was her last name. And she's one of the program directors for LEAD Maryland. And we talked about it and then I think the next class was to start in 2013. So I applied for it and got accepted. And I ended up doing that for two years, which was really, really beneficial for me at the Maryland Food Bank, because having been away from Maryland for 16 years, I really didn't know how much in my eyes agriculture had changed while I was away. Now, when I was a kid, dad put all his eggs in the grain farming business, so to speak and that didn't work out too well. And so to see how much farmers have to diversify now across the state to make ends meet was eye opening for me. And of course it opened a lot of doors with, with knowing people across the state and that helps with food bank as well. And it also really helped my confidence being new back to Maryland. So LEAD Maryland's been tremendous in my life and I can never thank them enough.

Katie Ward:

 I could not agree with you more. I'm currently in class 11 with LEAD Maryland and with working at Horizon Farm Credit, I have a lot of connections, but this has really opened the door to me for a lot of other opportunity in the agriculture industry, as far as being able to help out and get involved.

Amy Cawley:

Yeah. It just lets you know, what's going on in other areas and get you out of your little bubble for a while.

Katie Ward:

Exactly.

CAN YOU GIVE OUR LISTENERS A LITTLE BIT MORE BACKGROUND ON YOUR CURRENT POSITION AS FARM TO FOOD BANK COORDINATOR?

Amy Cawley:

Sure. So when I was hired with the Maryland Food Bank, I really didn't know much about the Maryland Food Bank. The Maryland Food Bank is a nonprofit organization working to feed hungry people all across the state of Maryland. We cover every County except for Prince George's and Montgomery County. Not because we don't like them, but because the Capital Area Food Bank has that territory, right. We have three branches. Baltimore is our big facility. Then we have a site in Salisbury and a smaller site out in Hagerstown. So we work with a network of partners to provide food to those in need all across the state. With the exception of the two counties I previously named. My role in all of that is to source produce for the Maryland Food Bank, Baltimore Salisbury and Hagerstown.

 I do that in a, in a number of ways. One farmers will contact me when they have excess on hand. It may be a cantaloupe for example, that's leftover from the weekend and the stand didn't sell as many as they thought they would. So we'll go to that farm on Monday and pick up, you know, the excess cantaloupes or corn or whatever it may be. So they donate excess. Number two, a way farm to food bank works is that I go into farmer's fields and gets a glean produce that's being left behind in the fields. I didn't know what gleaning was when I took this job with the food bank. You can first find the gleaning term mentioned in the Book of Ruth in the Old Testament. If anybody wants to check that out, but basically we're going in a farmer's fields. I use volunteers and/or Maryland State Department of Corrections Pre-release inmates. I have not been able to use them this year because they're not allowed out with COVID, but I do supervise them when they can come out to, to get produce that’s going to waste in farmer's field. So we glean cucumbers, pickling cucumbers, sweetcorn, quite a bit of sweet corn. We do some tomatoes, cantaloupes, sweet potatoes. We've done some fall squash. We do some apples, peaches. We did plumes one time. And then one time we did these things called aronia Berry. So that's the most strange thing I've ever gleaned. And then the third way to farm the food bank program works for the Maryland Food Bank. Is that it, when we have money I'm able to purchase produce from Maryland farmers. So farmers are raising food for profit. They're not raising the food for it to sit in the field. We can't rely 100% on donations. So this buying power really helps us ensure a more steady flow of Maryland grown produce into the Maryland Food Bank. So that's my three main ways of getting produce into the food bank.

One of the common questions I get, is what do I do in the off season when it's, when the produce isn't coming in?  I'm always looking for new farmers. I'm always looking for new volunteers, educating and promoting the Maryland Food Bank and formed a food bank program. There's a tax credit program in Maryland. Now it's in its second year. So I keep track of donations and submit that paperwork to the Maryland department of Ag. So the farmer can take advantage of those tax credits and then I do whatever else is needed. When, when COVID hit, I found myself commuting to Baltimore twice a week to help out over there and marketplace to help facilitate produce. For example, we have a local hydroponic tomato farm here, and we have local hydroponic lettuce operation here in Caroline County. And, and when they call out, I'll generally go pick up that produce and take it to our partners, our partners and partners are our churches, neighborhood service center or St. Vincent DePaul schools. And then the last thing I guess I do, or maybe not the last thing, but one of the other things I do is give talks like what we're doing right now. Sometimes the food bank has me write blogs that they post on their website. And then I'm very active, I think I am on my personal social media, Facebook page to promote what farmers and volunteers are doing across the state of Maryland.

Katie Ward:

Speaking of your social media, I love following all of your From the Field video series.

CAN YOU GIVE A LITTLE BACKGROUND ON HOW [FROM THE FIELD VIDEO SERIES] STARTED?

Amy Cawley:

I'm not exactly sure how that whole thing started. I may have done a video or something last year. I think last year in a red potato field, I was so excited with what was going on with, with Black Gold Farms having planted those three acres of potatoes and the volunteer response to come out and harvest those potatoes that I just did a quick video instead of pictures and a post. So the food bank this year, the marketing department asked me if there was anything I could do video wise from farms across the state. And I think about Black Golden Potatoes they raised, a guy in Baltimore County who raised sweet corn for the food bank and down in Southern Maryland,  Swan Farms who raised sweet corn for the Maryland Food Bank.

It's just a collaboration with the marketing department. So I give them some video footage for them to use as they need it. And sometimes when I feel brave, I'll post those on my own Facebook page. I don't really like seeing myself in video.

Katie Ward:

Yeah, no, I completely understand that. And I've seen them on YouTube as well, I believe.

Amy Cawley:

Oh, so yes, we do have a YouTube channel and they did send out a videographer last year and did a video with Steve up at Mason Farms Produce in Centerville. So yeah, sometimes they get real professional.

Katie Ward:

 I think they're a great way to connect with the public and give a little more background onto how the food at the food bank actually arrives.

Amy Cawley:

It’s fun, but like I said, I just don’t like seeing myself personally in video, but I’m glad to hear people like you enjoy them.

Katie Ward:

Yes, definitely. So I heard you mentioned a minute ago about how some of your job entails working with partners and you mentioned local schools.

CAN YOU TALK A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT HOW THE FOOD BANK AND YOUR ROLE WITH THE PROGRAM HELPS OUT WITH SCHOOLS?

Amy Cawley:

Well, with the schools, it's more shelf stable products, I guess you could say. So they don't necessarily get a lot of the fresh produce from the Farm-to-Food Bank program. There's backpack programs like here in Caroline County, they have volunteers that pack items into these black plastic bags for the kids. There's shelf stable milk. There was some cereal, crackers, soups, Mac and cheese, peanut butter. Those things go into those bags. But when you're talking about produce, it's hard to put those into the backpack program. Now I did take some watermelons a few weeks ago to think it was called the Empowerment Center in Cambridge. I think that's where there were some students they're learning and they all came out and grabbed a watermelon and they were going to take it home. And, and that was really cool because I don't necessarily work with the partners. There's other people in the Maryland Food Bank who that's their job is to get the orders out to the partners. But when it's a short turnaround time, you know, I do that. And to see those kids grab those watermelons was really, really cool. That's what it's all about is getting the food to those in need.

Katie Ward:

So nine seasons with the food bank, I'm sure you've got a lot of really great memories and your position allows you to really serve, which is your passion.

 SO DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE MEMORY OF WORKING THERE SO FAR?

Amy Cawley:

One thing that always sticks out in my mind was back in 2014, I worked with, with a local farmer and he won't want to be identified, but he had watermelons and there was no market really in 2014 for watermelons. Farmers couldn't really give them away.  I worked with the Maryland Department of Corrections pre-release inmates almost every day, Monday through Friday. And those guys gleaned about 450,000 pounds of watermelons from this one farmer back in 2014. And one of my main goals every year with the Maryland Food Bank from Eastern shore farmers is to get a million pounds of produce. And so I was getting ready to go to a LEAD Maryland seminar. And that morning we hit the million pound mark with those watermelons, that's always a highlight. But I tell you, Katie, every gleaning that we have on farmers’ fields, I just always leave feeling so jacked up, like to see the kids out there. I had an 18 month old girl. This always sticks out in my mind that came out about five or six years ago, sitting in the middle of the cucumber field. Just not go in, not knowing what's going on. And then there's a thing she's six or seven now and, and has been gleaning and cucumber since.

Katie Ward:

Wow, that's awesome.

Amy Cawley:

Seeing the community come together and seeing the farmers like the other day, for example, it's September and I know one of the things you want to talk about as Hunger Action Month, this guy, this farmer, is a grain farmer up in Baltimore County. He won't want to be identified either. I'll call him Farmer Glenn. We won't use his last name, but Farmer Glenn raises corn, wheat, soybeans and some green beans. And he contacted me back in April or May and wanted to know if there was anything he could do for the Maryland Food Bank and was thinking about raising sweetcorn. And I said, Farmer Glenn that would be great. And so just this past Tuesday, I had at least 30 people come out. He had 22 rows planted and 30 or so people came out and harvested that sweet corn and packed it in a banana boxes. And then we took it over to the Reisterstown Community Crisis Center. So I mean, how can you not be jacked up after something like that? So those things always leave you feeling good.

Katie Ward:

I definitely understand. And I know I helped glean last fall. I believe it was pumpkin's over at University of Maryland’s Wye Research Farm in Queenstown. You know pumpkins are a little heavier, kind of on the same line as watermelon, as far as weight. So it's really neat when the total numbers come in later that evening or the next day and to realize the little impact that one person can have. But when the whole team of volunteers comes out together and I believe those pumpkins were going to, was it an elementary school for the kids to paint?

Amy Cawley:

I think there was a school in Cambridge that one of them, some pumpkins and then a Frederick Rescue Mission, I would assume Frederick County, and they always look for four to six bins of pumpkins. So some of them went out there. So yeah, the produce, they could come off the Eastern shore, but it could still go statewide or vice versa, come off the Western shore and come over here.

Katie Ward:

AND THEN ARE THERE ANY OPPORTUNITIES COMING UP WITHIN THE NEXT TWO MONTHS FOR VOLUNTEERS TO GLEAN? I'M SURE YOU'VE GOT A LOT OF FALL VEGETABLES COMING UP TOO.

Amy Cawley:

I think I've got September 21st or September 28th is a Monday. The Baltimore Country Club has these old Apple trees on their golf course that they don't want to take out because of their age. They still produce apples. So one of those two days we will go there. I'll be looking for volunteers, maybe a dozen or so volunteers to help clean those apples. I've got a retired doctor in Stevensville. I think you might've been there too, Katie. He’s got a beautiful residence overlooking the Chesapeake Bay. He has maybe a half acre of apple trees that we'll gean. I don't have any dates set for that, but there'll usually be in the evenings. I think the date to serve starts maybe September 11th and then it goes into October. And I think Maryland usually gives 4 hour’s paid volunteer time. So there'll be some opportunities there in Stevensville to glean apples. And then I'm hoping that the Wye Research and Education Center again, will have some pumpkins that they can let us go in and clean and get out statewide.

Katie Ward:

That's so cool that there are people who are willing to let the food bank come and glean their produce, even though it's not traditional.

Amy Cawley:

This year with COVID, I've had a number of people would just with their backyard gardens wanting to donate produce. So what I tried to do is go on our website and click the fine food tab and find partners local to them that they can take their produce to. So yes, it doesn't have to be a big, large scale farmer for Maryland. It can be a backyard person or a doctor or a golf course who knew.

Katie Ward:

Yeah, that's amazing. I love hearing stories like that. And at the end of the podcast, we will make sure that we cover how to volunteer and how to be alerted when Amy's got some gleaning opportunities in your area.

SO YOU MENTIONED THE HUNGER ACTION MONTH IS IN SEPTEMBER. THIS IS PRETTY TIMELY. SO IF YOU WANT TO GO AHEAD AND LET OUR LISTENERS KNOW WHAT HUNGER ACTION MONTH IS AND HOW THE MARYLAND FOOD BANK SUPPORTS THAT.

Amy Cawley:

Hunger Action Month occurs every September of the year. It goes just like it says all month long, and it encourages people to get involved and learn about the food insecurity that's going on in your area. I didn't talk about that in the beginning, but food insecurity basically means that people don't know where their next meal is going to come from, or they don't have the funds to sustain healthy, nutritious meals. So Hunger Action Month,  we really try to get that out on our social media channels and, and talk to our stakeholders or statewide leaders, talk to our partners and, and do what we can to get that word out, to let folks know that, that there are so many food insecure.

Before COVID, I think over 600,000 were food insecure. But since COVID, I think the number has spiked to over a million. So getting some of those things out on social media is important. We used to do some things with larger groups, but with COVID, I haven't seen any of those events scheduled. I think we used to work with the Maryland State Police, for example, and State Highway Administration to do food drives. COVID has shut that stuff down, but ways people can get involved in September with helping fight food insecurity across our state or wherever your listeners are: They can go to their food bank organization, in our case, its MDfoodbank.org and you can make a donation online or mail a check. We have a better purchasing power than any of us have listening to this podcast. $1 at the Maryland Food Bank can provide three meals.

Other ways people can get involved during Hunger Action Month is to volunteer. You know, we've got the warehouse in Baltimore, we've got the Farm-to-Food Bank program. We've got a branch down in Salisbury. There's a branch out in Hagerstown. If you're not close to any of those three places, you can go to our website and click on that fine food tab and find partners near you where you could potentially volunteer. You could host use our website to host a virtual food drive to help get food to the Maryland Food Bank. Donations are down significantly right now at the Maryland Food Bank. Individuals could share our social media posts, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. We have a YouTube channel. LinkedIn; share those to get the word out. I mean, there's a, you can do that just from the comfort of your own chair at home or couch. And then just advocate. I think one of the focuses of this podcast is to advocate or AGvocate. In this case, we are going to advocate for the Maryland Food Bank and tell officials about hunger and, and how we need more funding for the SNAP Program. And we need to help the military family. So just to advocate for the Maryland Food Bank, as much as you can.

Katie Ward:

Yes, 100%. And I know, like you said, COVID did have a huge impact in everyone's lives, no matter what way you look at it. And unfortunately with hunger kids don't have as much access to food if they're not in school. So it is more important this year than ever to help support the food bank and to show awareness for Hunger Action Month in any way you can.

Amy Cawley:

So with COVID, the need for food increased dramatically. We went from having to spend not as much money to spend a tremendous amount of money monthly. For example, July saw 140% uptick in just the number of pounds of food that we distributed and a 432% increase in the amount of money we spent. So if you look at July, 2019, the numbers that we were emailed, we spent 508,000 in food purchases in July, 2019, fast forward to July, 2020. And we've spent 2.7 million on food.

Katie Ward:

Yeah. Big difference. And I know you mentioned earlier that you don't have access to some of the Maryland State Inmates for gleaning because of COVID.

SO ARE THERE ANY OTHER WAYS THAT THE PANDEMIC HAS IMPACTED THE FOOD BANK?

Amy Cawley:

Well, just the financially it's put a tremendous financial burden on us. And from our partner’s standpoint, as some partners closed down for fear of COVID and trying to prevent the spread of it. So the partners that did stay open, you know, if you think about people getting food, usually you picture people standing in line. Well, we had to eliminate that because the lines are so long and they probably go for a mile or more literally with 200-300 families coming through. So we've had to shift from a lot of people standing in line and going into the church or partner to having mobile distributions where the people stay in their car, the volunteer of course with masks gloves; the client opens their trunk or tailgate of their truck, and we put the food in the trunk or the bed of the truck. So our food distribution model has had to shift because of COVID. So financial burden and the method of distribution have both been affected.

Katie Ward:

Yeah. But it seems like it's kind of never ending.

Amy Cawley:

My boss, my supervisor, I just met with him the other day. He said, you know, when you go through a natural disaster or something of that effect, you can usually see an end in sight, but COVID, they said, we've been going through this for five or six months and there's just no end in sight. So we need money more than ever. So like I said, a dollar provides three meals, so people can give $5 and that's 15 meals for the Maryland Food Bank.

Katie Ward:

I think a lot of people are kind of starting to embrace that this is a new normal. So it's something that we might unfortunately have to get used to.

IF WE WERE PUTTING COVID ASIDE AND JUST WANTING TO TALK ABOUT THE FOOD BANK IN GENERAL, MAYBE PRE-COVID, WHAT OTHER CHALLENGES HAVE YOU FACED, ESPECIALLY IN YOUR ROLE AS THE FARM-TO-FOOD BANK COORDINATOR?

Amy Cawley:

So I can't purchase produce without funds to do so. Thankfully we've gotten funding from the State of Maryland to be able to purchase produce, and we also get some grants. So funding is always a challenge with any aspect or any program within the Maryland Food Bank. But when you're talking about produce some of the challenges I face, I would say, as far as gleanings notification is short, it may be 24 hours or it may be the morning of that a farmer wants me to get into his field. So then short notice notifications is a challenge. And then in turn, getting volunteers to show up on short notification, and then you've got to get the logistics worked out quickly with getting the truck to the farm, to pick up the produce. We don't ask farmers to take their produce to the Maryland Food Bank. Farmers are too busy. I try to make it as simple as possible. So getting the produce from the farm to the Maryland Food Bank and then from the Maryland Food Bank to those in need, that's the challenge.

If you're talking about farming and any farmer, listen to this podcast, they know that weather is a challenge every year. This summer went from hot and dry in July to, it seems like it rains one to three inches every day, somewhere. We just got to three inches last night. So Mother Nature’s a challenge every year.

Katie Ward:

Sounds like you all face similar challenges to all the regions farmers in our area.

Amy Cawley:

Correct. What's good for one farmer is not good for another three inches of rain may be good for the grain farmer, but the watermelon farmers crying, because now he's got the diseases come through the field and wipe out his watermelons. One watermelon farmer started late this season and ended early. And it's just frustrating. Usually he's ending now at Labor Day and he ended two weeks ago.

Katie Ward:

Yeah. It's definitely been a crazy summer and weather aspects, including a little bit more back into your background with working at Clayton Farms and with your family's business.

DO YOU STILL WORK THERE NOW OR ARE YOU STRICTLY WITH THE FOOD BANK?

Amy Cawley:

Strictly with the Maryland Food Bank. Now I tried to work out at the produce farm as much as I could for a while on the weekends, but it just got too hectic. So I gave that up. I do because produce slows down going into the Christmas season and Thanksgiving that I am able to help dad with selling Christmas trees and making wreaths and trying to keep his Facebook page going and trying to email our webmaster guy updates on what we need on the website. I try to help dad as much as I can on the Christmas tree farm.

Katie Ward:

Yeah. I have memories as a kid going there and that's where we would get our family tree from.

Amy Cawley:

So I think our slogan has experienced the family tradition because as kids now, I'm the oldest of three, I've got two younger brothers and for a while I was the tallest. So we'd always get a tree that was my height. We definitely have lots of fond memories of picking out the family Christmas tree. So it's nice that dad does that. There's a lot of challenges with raising Christmas trees, but the end result of, of seeing the family go home with a tree that makes them happy is very rewarding.

Katie Ward:

And I know as well, your busy season with the food bank is also the same busy season as most of the farmers and especially Clayton's Farm Produce, so it makes sense that it would just be way too much. But it sounds like that's where you really got your passion and love for local produce.

Amy Cawley:

Yes. One of my best friend in high school, her mom would give me a hard time about working out at Clayton Farms – “Why are you working at that produce farm? That's not going to help you do anything in life.”  And now I just kind of laugh because I think I was there for 24 summers, which is crazy to believe.  I told them they need to give me a gold watch for working there for so long. Never got it, but definitely, owe Linda out there a tremendous amount, you know, just to thank her so much for what she told me taught me out in the field and for taking me out in the field. When I was 16, I was shy and quiet. Would have jumped through the roof when you said boo. So I'm thankful that they didn't get rid of me at such a young age and kept me around for a long time because, without a doubt, my experience at Clayton Farms prepared me for this job that I 100% love and will keep doing. As long as the Maryland Food Bank will have me. And as long as my aging back will let me do what I do.

Katie Ward:

That's awesome. And I think you're a true Testament to the fact that what you study in school and what your first job may be out of college doesn't necessarily have to define your career.

Amy Cawley:

Yeah. And it's funny. I used to, I say that often, Katie, my phys-ed teacher in college, the professor rather, he'd say, you know, you'll probably change jobs five times in your career. And I thought this guy is nuts. I'm going to school to be a teacher. Why would I leave teaching? But you know, I think things work out as they're supposed to. I think Jenny said on a previous podcast, things happen for a reason. So I couldn't find a job for a reason. It was all in God's hands. And you know, that experience in 2010 to 2011, when I couldn't find a full time job was totally preparing me also for the Maryland Food Bank, because I used to think why don't these lazy people just get off the couch and go get a job. I got off the couch, I went and got a job. I could not support myself working all those part time jobs. And without that experience, I wouldn't appreciate the work of the Maryland Food Bank like I do now.

 Most of us are a paycheck away from struggle and accident away and illness away. And we take things for granted. So we're here when, when things, when life may not go as well and to help pick the pieces back up so people can move forward.

Katie Ward:

It's very important for the food bank and all of its employees and volunteers to not only realize that, but to make sure that they keep providing for those in need, especially now with Hunger Action Month.

Amy Cawley:

Correct. Yep. And anything anybody can do would be appreciated.

Katie Ward:

Well, one final question that we like to end all of our podcasts with, is

WHAT DO YOU ADVOCATE FOR IN AGRICULTURE?

Amy Cawley:

AGvocate - So I work for the Maryland Food Bank, the Maryland Food Bank doesn't know a whole lot about farming. So I would say in my nine years with the food bank, I've always AGvocated for produce farmers and the struggles that they face from Mother Nature, the growing seasons when things are in season. So just an advocate for produce farming in general. And advocating for the farmer, when we're purchasing produce and making sure that they're getting paid because they're working so hard and then getting their product in and out of the door fast. And then advocating for healthy food for consumers, I would say are things I fight for.  And then as a side note, my grandfather, Wayne Cawley helped start the Maryland Ag Education Foundation. And I always ask my friends if they don't have an ag tag, why they don't have an ag tag. And then of course, you know, you heard me advocate a little bit earlier for Lead Maryland and how great of a program that is. And advocate for live Christmas trees.

Katie Ward:

 Yes, that’s a lot of advocating you’ve got going on there.

Amy Cawley:

Oh, thanks, I try. I use social media as best I can. I am definitely not as good as some people I follow, but do the best I can to get through that to.

Katie Ward:

 You've got a great following, so speaking of social media, you can find the Maryland Food Bank on Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube @MarylandFoodBank. And you can find them on Instagram and Twitter at @MDFoodBank. And if you go online to MDfood bank.org, you can learn more about the food bank and you can sign up for volunteer information while you're on that subject.

Amy Cawley:

One of the questions you asked me earlier was how people could get involved with they want you on the farm with the gleaning. They can send me an email if they want to be on, on my personal email list. I list volunteers by County so they can shoot me an email with where, what county they live in, for the listeners here in Maryland at ACAWLEY@mdfoodbank.org, they can sign up as a volunteer through MD food bank.org/volunteer, click on volunteer in Baltimore. And that will actually list the farm to feed bank gleaning opportunities. And then lastly, to get involved with volunteering, for farm to food bank program, they can like me on my personal Facebook page, which is @AmyCawley.

Katie Ward:

Awesome. Thank you. Well, Amy, we really appreciate you talking with us today and I know that our listeners will enjoy it as well. So we hope you have a very safe and healthy fall harvest season.

Amy Cawley:

Thank you, Katie. It's been a pleasure to be on here. I appreciate it a lot.

Katie Ward:

Thank you so much. So make sure when you're done listening to this podcast that you rate review, subscribe and share it with a friend. You can get podcasts notes and subscribe to email alerts at mafc.com/podcast. And remember to send any topic or guest suggestions to podcast@mafc.com. Thanks for listening everyone.

Coronavirus. COVID-19. Social distancing.

A few weeks ago, these were foreign terms, and likely not words you were discussing with your children. In the blink of an eye, parenting changed and created conversations and home-life situations that no one was prepared for.

Like many of you, I had to struggle to figure it all out. While I am still navigating these choppy waters, there are a few things I have learned that has made life a little easier. Although nothing is perfect right now, I hope some of these lessons learned will help make your day-to-day run a little smoother:

1. Take a deep breath. You may be waking up every morning feeling like it is Groundhog’s Day and the stress hits as soon as you hear your first “Mommmmmmmyyyyyy”, before you’ve even had your first sip of coffee. Take a deep breath, count to 10 and then do it again. And then again. And then one more time. Start your day focused, calm and ready to tackle it all: working, teaching, parenting, and surviving. Deep breaths. You got this!  

2. Be flexible and adapt. You don’t have to follow the same school, meals, or even bedtime routine every day. Do what works best for you and your family. Don’t feel like you have to stick with what you “used” to do.  We are dealing with a lot of unknowns and uncertainties right now. Times are confusing, but this is our time to be flexible and go with the flow to get through each day.

3. Pick your battles. As Queen Elsa once said, “Let it go.” With everyone on top of each other 24/7, emotions and stressors are high. Set limits and expectations, but be flexible on the rules. If their bed isn’t made or all of their toys aren’t put away, take a deep breath and walk away. There is no sense in fighting and getting frustrated when the mess will be there again tomorrow.  

4. Get outside. Go for a walk, take a hike, ride bikes, do a scavenger hunt, blow bubbles, and/or have a picnic in your back yard. While social distancing is closing many local parks and playgrounds, getting outside can be as simple as riding your bike up and down the driveway, or taking a walk around the neighborhood. Make breakfast or lunch time fun and have a picnic. Fresh air is great for the mind, body and soul, and also a perfect way to burn off energy.

5. Screen time. Do not beat yourself up if your child is spending “too much” time in front of a screen right now. In an era of technology, possibilities are endless to keeping everyone connected: video chatting with friends and family, informational videos from zoos and museums all over the country, learning to draw your favorite characters with YouTube videos, and having dance parties with DJ’s steaming family-friendly music. Many sites are posting these videos free or incredibly discounted to make them accessible to as many people as possible. With a quick Google search, the possibilities of education and fun you can bring in through your screen are truly endless. So for now, embrace screen time and find creative ways to use it.

In case you need some inspiration, here are a few virtual learning resources my family is loving right now:

• Cincinnati Zoo home Safari
• Local Homestead, Farm to Film video series
• Maryland Zoo: Live cams & feeds, meet the animals and Q & A’s on their Instagram page
• National Aquarium in Baltimore: Live cams & feeds, meet the animals and Q & A’s on their Instagram page
• Art for Kids Hub: https://www.artforkidshub.com/ / https://www.youtube.com/user/ArtforKidsHub
• Disney Magic, live streaming of the Magic Kingdom Fireworks
• Disney Family singalong Volume II is airing May 10th (Happy Mother’s Day)
• Yoga for Kids: https://www.cosmickids.com/ / https://www.youtube.com/user/CosmicKidsYoga
• Yoga for Adults
• American Dairy Association North East 
• American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture 
• PA Friends of Agriculture Foundation  
• Maryland Agricultural Education Foundation

6. Homeschool. Many parents found themselves in a position of being an instant teacher and mourned the loss of sending our children to school. The reality is, you are likely not going to be able to fill an entire eight hour school day at home, nor do your children really want that. Many teachers I have spoken to have suggested one to three hours (depending on age) of school time a day. There are many creative ways to embrace school at home:

• Gym class. Get outside, talk a walk or ride a bike. Every hour try and get your kiddos (and you) moving for 10 minutes.
• Art class. Paint rocks, color your driveway with chalk, and learn to draw with YouTube videos.
• Math class. Bake a cake to practice counting and measurements. Go on a scavenger hunt to find various shapes in and around your house. Write math facts in chalk on your driveway.  
• Reading. Tape words and sentences all over your house and have your child find them, or blast them with a nerf gun or point to them.  Family reading time is also great time to be together and you can also extend the fun with FaceTime and reading a book to family or friends.
• Resources. Between your child’s school, social media, and Google, don’t hesitate to reach out for more resources to help make this transition to home schooling better. Remember something is better than nothing, so do not be too hard on yourself. Children all across the country are all in the same boat. Teachers are amazing and they will pick right back up with your children when they return to the classroom.  

7. Quality time for comfort and connection. During this quarantine, perhaps the most important thing we can give our children is quality time for comfort and connection.  The novelty of being home from school has likely worn off and your children are really missing their friends, social circle, extracurricular activities, and all the milestones they are missing. Check in with your child to see how they are feeling, if there is anything they need and if you can help them in anyway. Quality time and connecting as family will be a priceless memory that you all will remember from this time.

8. Take care of yourself. In order to take care of your children, you need to take care of yourself. Take a few extra minutes in the shower, enjoy an extra cookie or two (when the kids go to bed of course), read a book and if possible, try and get in some exercise. Parenting 24/7 doesn’t leave much time to yourself, but if you can carve out a few minutes a day for yourself, it will help make you a better parent.

Remember, as a parent during this pandemic, emotions and stress levels are high. There will be ups and downs as you navigate them with your family. There is no rule book on how to parent during a pandemic, so I promise you, whatever you are doing, you are doing right. Take a deep breath, enjoy your time together.

This summer, more than 34 Milford FFA members worked, studied and practiced in preparation for the 2018 Delaware State Fair. The fair brings a time for members to compete as a chapter, with a team, or as individuals in a variety of competitions, some displayed at the Centre Ice rink and some held behind the scenes.

Milford FFA received the prestigious Gold Chapter rating from the State of Delaware FFA. This award recognizes Milford FFA as being a top tier chapter based upon our Program of Activities for the entire year. This award will go on to the National level of FFA to represent the Milford FFA Chapter.

As a chapter, Milford FFA members built three chapter displays that were recognized by judges: Educational Display, with the theme of “Biotechnology; Landscape Display, where the chapter must landscape an area of 8’ x 16’, reflecting the theme of the Delaware State Fair, placed 5th; and Delaware Agriculture Products, with a title of “Delaware Agriculture, Lighting the Way.

FFA members began working on these displays the end of May and came in to school over the summer to finish them up and get them to the fair on time. Nineteen members represented the Milford FFA chapter in a wide variety of Career Development Events at the fair. In order to prepare for these competitions, students spend hours both in and out of the classroom during the summer studying a range of topics from judging livestock, through identifying weeds, seeds, and plant disorders commonly found in local agronomic crops.

The Milford FFA Food Science team placed 4th in the state. Team members were Emily Morgan (8th individually), Emilee Mills (10th individually), Anis Lopez, and Hazen Leighty. The food science contest includes creating/marketing a food based product, identifying different scents/tastes/and products. Students also had to determine chemical, physical, and biological hazards in the food industry.

The Milford FFA Dairy Cattle Evaluation team placed 2nd in the state. Team members were Taylor Wessel (2nd individually), Jacob Smith (3rd individually), Miranda Walker (8th individually) and Ashlyn Welch. Dairy cattle evaluation includes judging six classes of dairy cows or heifers, presenting oral reasons, evaluating cows based on their linear evaluation, and a team activity. The team will travel to Springfield, Massachusetts to represent Delaware FFA at the Eastern States Exposition.

The Milford FFA Livestock Evaluation team placed 2nd in the state. Team members were Alison Nordberg (4th individually), Julia Adams (5th individually), Harley Lardner (6th individually) and Allie Davis. Livestock evaluation includes judging beef, sheep, swine, and goats, presenting oral reasons, and grading cattle. The team will travel to Springfield, Massachusetts to represent Delaware FFA at the Eastern States Exposition.

Milford FFA member Brianna Reynolds placed 11th in the Dairy Handler Activity. She was judged based on her ability to present a dairy cow to the judge in a manner that enhances the animal’s good points, while covering any faults the animal may have.

The Milford FFA Agronomy Team placed 3rd in the state. Team members were Kaitlyn Schafer (7th individually), Curtis Sharp (10th individually), Brendan Outten, and Megan Davenport. The agronomy contest includes judging grains, hays, silage, vegetables, identifying crops, weeds, insects, plant disorders, and a team activity.

The Milford FFA Tractor Team consisted of Dalton Nordberg (3rd individually) and Shannon Wilt (10th individually). Students had to drive a two wheeled trailer course, four wheel wagon course, front end loader tractor course, and a skid steer course safely. Students also had to complete a parts identification, tractor safety walk around, and a written test.

Milford FFA members earned over 50 ribbons at the Delaware State Fair this year for their individual entries. Attached is a complete list of ribbons and placings.

The Milford FFA Livestock Show Team consisted of eleven students. The following students made up the team: Goat Showman- Victoria Donovan- Showmanship 13th place, Market 10th place, Hali Sapp- Showmanship 7th place, Market 5th place, Ashlynn Freeman- Showmanship 6th place, Market 10th place. Dairy Showman- Brianna Reynolds- Showmanship 11th place, Breed 19th place, Julie Walls- Showmanship 10th place, Julia Adams- Breed 2nd place, Harley Lardner- Breed 1st place. Swine Showman- Sarah Stevenson- Showmanship 5th place, Market 4th place, Harley Lardner- Showmanship 2nd place, Market 5th place, Julia Adams- Showmanship 3rd place, Market 2nd place, Julie Walls- Showmanship 1st place, Market 3rd place.

The Milford FFA chapter is led by Chris Stahl, Caitlin Walton, and Aaron Rill. All of the advisors are very proud of all of our members and their placings at fair. The students represented Milford FFA with outstanding service and effort through their many hours of hard work throughout the Delaware State Fair. We would also like to thank all of the parents and supporters that helped make our Summer/State Fair Program a success.

Milford FFA – Delaware State Fair Results 2018

National Chapter Award: Milford FFA received the prestigious Gold Chapter Rating from the State of Delaware FFA. This award recognizes Milford FFA as being a top tier chapter based upon our Program of Activities for the entire year.  This award will go on to the National level of FFA to represent the Milford FFA Chapter.

Career Development Event Results

• Food Science CDE: 4th place team
• Emily Morgan- 8th place individually
• Emilee Mills- 10th place individually
• Anis Lopez
• Hazen Leighty
• Dairy Cattle Evaluation CDE: 2nd place team
• Taylor Wessel – 2nd place individually
• Jacob Smith – 3rd place individually
• Miranda Walker – 8th place individually
• Ashlyn Welch
• Livestock Evaluation CDE: 2nd place team
• Alison Nordberg – 4th place individually
• Julia Adams – 5th place individually
• Harley Lardner – 6th place individually 
• Allie Davis
• Dairy Handler Activity:
• Brianna Reynolds – 11th place
• Agronomy CDE: 3rd place team
• Kaitlyn Schafer- 7th place individually
• Curtis Sharp- 10th place individually
• Brendan Outten
• Megan Davenport
• Tractor Driving CDE
• Dalton Nordberg- 3rd place individually
• Shannon Wilt- 10th place individually
• FFA Department Results
• Shannon Wilt – 4th place- Best Toolbox 24” and over 
  • 5th place- Large Interior Woodworking
• Autumn Justice- 5th place- Dozen Brown Eggs
  • 5th place- Best 4 Potatoes
• Brendan Outten- 5th place- Best Container Garden 12” or less
  • 4th place- Best 12 Red Cherry Tomatoes w/out stems
• Ashlyn Welch- 3rd place- Best Small Welding
  • 2nd place- Best Pad Orchard Grass
• Alison Nordberg- 2nd place- Best Watermelon 2” stem
  • 1st place- Best Watermelon 2” stem icebox
  • 4th place- Best Head of Cabbage
  • 3rd place- Best 5 Round Radishes
  • 6th place- Best 3 Ears White Sweet Corn w/Husk
  • 4th place- Best 3 Ears Bi-Colored Sweet Corn w/Husk
  • 3rd place- Best Dozen Green String Beans in Pod
  • 5th place- Best 3 Yellow Squash Straight Neck
  • 6th place- Best Eggplant
  • 5th place- Best 6 Any Other Hot Peppers Other Than Cherry
  • 2nd place- Best 4 Red Slicing Type Tomatoes w/out Stems
  • 5th place- Barley Best Gallon
  • 1st place- Best Gallon Corn Silage
  • 4th place- Best Growing Soybeans w/Roots
  • 5th place- Best Single Stalk Corn
• Carissa Justice- 3rd place- Best 3 Ears White Sweet Corn w/Husk
  • 1st place- Best 6 Any Other Hot Peppers Other Than Cherry
  • 5th place- Best 6 Red Sauce/Italian Tomatoes w/out Stems
• Kaitlyn Schafer- 2nd place- Best 12 Red Cherry Tomatoes w/out Stems
• Jacob Smith- 3rd place- Best Pad Orchard Grass
• Milford FFA- 5th place- Best Chapter Landscape Display
  • Best Delaware Agriculture Products Display
  • Best Educational Display

Livestock Showteam Results

Goat Showman: 

• Victoria Donovan – Showmanship 13th place Market 10th place
• Hali Sapp – Showmanship 7th place Market 5th place
• Ashlynn Freeman – Showmanship 6th place Market 10th place

Dairy Showman:

• Brianna Reynolds – Showmanship 11th place Breed 19th place
• Julie Walls – Showmanship 10th place
• Julia Adams – Breed 2nd place
• Harley Lardner – Breed 1st place

Swine Showman:

• Sarah Stevenson – Showmanship 5th place Market 4th place
• Harley Lardner – Showmanship 2nd place Market 5th place
• Julia Adams – Showmanship 3rd place Market 2nd place
• Julie Walls – Showmanship 1st place Market 3rd place

Special thank you to Bender Farms and Vikki and Noah Gesford for leasing dairy heifers to Milford FFA members. Also thank you to Southern States of Milford and Horizon Farm Credit for purchasing Milford FFA member’s hogs during the Junior Livestock Auction.

Important:

We recorded this prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. We’ve been working remotely for the past several weeks to be able to share them with you while you have a little more time at home. These uncertain times have altered the way we’re all doing business right now, but that isn’t keep us from doing whatever we can to support our membership and communities. Head to mafc.com/update for resources related to your cooperative and the pandemic. From all of your friends at MAFC, stay healthy and safe. Thank you.

LISTEN TO MEAG'S EPISODE HERE OR FIND US ON YOUR FAVORITE PODCAST APP!

Jenny:

I'm very excited to introduce our guest today, though I might be a little biased. She is a team member of mine, Meghan Malinowski. She works in our Salisbury, Maryland, office as a digital marketing specialist. She's been with our association for about five years. She started out as an intern and has stuck with us since. We're happy to say that she's really been growing in this area of expertise and has been investing a lot more time and money and energy into digital channels to help us. You recognize new digital opportunities that will allow us to expand our reach. So in this episode, we're gonna talk about why it's important to take control of your brand digitally and how to do that in a few simple steps, while also discussing best practices on how to easily and clearly tell your farm story.

COULD YOU GIVE OUR AUDIENCE A LITTLE BIT OF BACKGROUND ABOUT YOU AND YOUR BACKGROUND IN AGRICULTURE ON AND ALSO WHAT DIGITAL MARKETING SPECIALIST MEANS AND WHAT YOU DO IN MIDATLANTIC?

Meag:

I graduated from Salisbury University on the shore, back in 2014 and before I came to MidAtlantic, I really didn't have a whole lot of background in agriculture. One of my cousins lived on a small homestead farm up in northern Baltimore County, and I would spend a lot of my time in the summer going up and chasing the chickens around. And she taught me how to ride her horse, and that was fun. It was more of a how to hold on, more than anything. But it was always fun, riding four wheelers and pal’ing around on the on the acreage and that was really fun. But that was really my only experience with agriculture. So, when I heard about Farm Credit and I started working with Farm Credit, I really had a very limited knowledge. But, I feel like I learn something new every day, and it's pretty cool.

Jenny:

CAN YOU DEFINE FOR US WHAT DIGITAL MARKETING IS AND HOW YOU IMPLEMENT OUR DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGY AT MIDATLANTIC?

Meag:

I've had so much fun with my job just because I feel like it's always something new and always something different; trying new things and experimenting. But our digital world, and the things that I do every day really revolve around our digital messaging. That includes the emails that we send out to our customers or prospects; what kinds of content we have on our website; downloadable e-books. I try to put those together, and work with the rest of the team at Farm Credit - a lot of our sales staff, help me out with that. In addition, we've been doing a lot of videos and I do all of the shooting for those. And we have our awesome intern, Morgan, who does the photography. We use all of that media to really craft messages around how we're able to help farmers be successful in their operations and how our programs and services are conducive to that. So I really work on the digital side of that, mostly in website and social media.

Jenny:

Yeah, you mentioned trying new things and this podcast being one of them. This was definitely something that was a passion project of our teams. And I'm super excited to be able to do this and hopefully provide another avenue for education and advocating with our with our customer base.

Meag:

Yeah, I have to agree. I subscribe to so many podcasts, and I know you and I share them a lot back and forth. But, it's really nice to have something to listen to when you can't be actively reading or looking for something.

Jenny:

You touched on what digital marketing is, and there's a big gap to some about what digital marketing is versus the information age.

WHAT ARE SOME THINGS OR TRENDS THAT ARE HAPPENING [IN THE DIGITAL SPACE] RIGHT NOW?

Meag:

I see the digital landscape just getting bigger and bigger, and we really try to encourage people to get active and take control of their brand online because we have shifted to more of an information searching kind of consumer. They want to do their research before they call us or they want to visit us online before they decide to come into the branch or even give us a call. I read on Forbes a couple of days ago that 90% of people actually go and try to find a brand online before they visit them in person. And so it's really important for people to have their information there and be available to answer questions or really clarify you know what, what kind of services and products they offer.

I would say the trend is that more and more people are gravitating towards the digital world and really being there, and they're starting to see the value in it. I think we're only going to have more information coming to us in the future, which is really neat, and it comes in all different forms. Some of the trends that that are very popular right now, a lot of social platforms are experimenting with video and different kinds of video. You know, Instagram TV, Facebook Live things like that. So I think we're kind of shifting away from the traditional, marketing messaging and the fluffy content. Even though I love a pun, we're shifting away from the punny kind of things and to being direct and to the point and really showing our authenticity through our digital messaging.

Jenny:

I remember when digital was strictly social media and, you know, that's one thing to get a grasp of. But digital's continuously evolving and getting a lot bigger. So I think for some people who might not be in that space yet, it could be quite daunting.

WHAT IS A COMMON MISCONCEPTION ABOUT DIGITAL MARKETING THAT YOU HEAR?

Meag:

I think the biggest misconception with digital marketing among most people is that it's just for advertising. I see a lot of a lot of companies and brands that are so new to it, and they think that it's just a platform for them to yell their message at. And I would say that is definitely not what it is. And when you think about it, it seems so simple that social media was created to be social. Our networks are so much bigger now than they were 10 years ago. And we had MySpace 10 years. We're all in a different world where we could meet just about anybody. If you go on LinkedIn, you can see different connections and you might know a CEO of a company that is in your state, but you're only removed by two person connections. So you know somebody who knows somebody.

I think that the biggest misconception is that it's just for advertising, and that's all it's really good for. But it's not. It's a whole lot more than that. It's a really great opportunity to meet your customers and meet your prospects and meet the people that actually use your products and services. It’s about finding your community.

Jenny:

It's a whole community out there of connections and people just waiting to find people like you and trying to learn new things. So again, for those who might not be in that space yet but they know it's important. They know they need to be there for that exact reason to find their find their community and connect with consumers.

WHERE'S A GOOD PLACE TO START IF YOU'RE NOT ALREADY [ON SOCIAL MEDIA] OR GETTING COMFORTABLE IN THAT SPACE?

Meag:

If somebody is wanting to get into playing around with digital marketing and really starting to explore things, the hardest part is just getting started and being willing to make mistakes and learn from them as we go along. As long as we have good intentions as we start into these new journeys, it seems like a lot at one time, but if you pick one thing, say, you don't have a Facebook page for your operation, but you'd like to start one, a really great way to get started before you create a page for that, is to be on there personally. Start connecting with your own networks and talking to people and using the platform for what it's really made for. Seeing what kinds of posts your friends like to see, and then kind of replicating that over time.

I think it's really good to just get started and go ahead and create that page for your business. Fill out the profile to the fullest extent with everything. There so many opportunities to learn, just like what we're doing here, trying to educate whoever's listening. They’re looking for this information and using your resource and what is already out there. You can go on YouTube and find all kinds of tutorials to start things or just googling. If you know what your question is about marketing, there's so many resources that I think a lot of times people make it more difficult than it has to be. It's really just a matter of reading a couple articles and saying, “You know what? I'm gonna try it. I'm gonna give it a go.”

Jenny:

SO SAY THEY MAKE THE FACEBOOK PAGE. THEY MAKE THE INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT. MAYBE THEY EVEN HAVE A WEBSITE OR A BLOG, BUT THEY DON'T THINK THEY HAVE ANYTHING TO SAY. WHAT WOULD YOU TELL THEM?

Meag:

I would tell them to put themselves in their customer’s shoes and think about why their customer is actually coming to them. So, if you operate a farm market on the side of Route 50, that's my favorite example because I drive by so many all the time, put yourself in your customer's shoes and say, “What are they coming to me for?” And once you start thinking about the journey that they're going on, you can start figuring out what kind of content they're looking for. One of my other favorite examples, I love the idea of CSAs or community supported agriculture. When I do research on these things. I see all kinds of interesting vegetables that I would never buy outright. But there's one, kohlrabi I've never tried before. I don't even know if I'm saying it right. Telling people how to cook that because that's not a common staple. You go into the grocery store and you pick up tomatoes and bananas and we know where they come from. And we know how to cook them because they're just classic staples. That's what everybody eats. Really starting with your customer and saying, “what kinds of questions are they going to be asking as they use my product and service? What can I answer for them before they even have to come to me and ask?” So definitely putting out content that educates your customers and even people that aren't your customers yet. They're going to be asking questions, and if you're there to answer it for them, they're going to remember you later when they have to go and buy something. That's a great place to start with content.

And another important piece of that, too, is sharing your story about your business and why you're in that business. How you started and giving people a background and something for them to be a part of and to decide, “ I'm making a good consumer decision.” People have very strong opinions about what kinds of fruits and vegetables they should buy or what kind of meat they should buy. Paint that picture for them and tell that story about how you started and how important it is to you, and let them see themselves in that picture, and see how much they have in common with you and your business.

Jenny:

And my favorite brands are the ones that I feel like I'm a part of. I love that analogy of inviting your consumers into your story, whatever that may be. And everyone's is different. I think we were reading an article not too long ago about how consumers today are bombarded with 4,000 commercial messages a day. How can we differentiate ourselves from those other messages?

Meag

There's always a different reason. I think that's one of my favorite things about agriculture is that there are not two farms that are the same. I mean every one of them is different, and the people that run them are different, and what they believe in is different. And it's a very cool thing to be a part of that story and hearing those stories. I think we're all storytellers.

Jenny:

Yeah, storytelling really is the oldest form of communication. And it's one that definitely compels human action from a strategy perspective, I think that's a really great place to start and going back to your earlier point about providing that value and educating. I just think, as a consumer myself of roadside stands on Rt 50, and farmers markets. You know what? I do Google, And it is things like how to cook kohlrabi or how to make broccoli casserole Exactly those you don't want to know how to do things to best way possible.

Jenny

What are some best practices when telling a story? You mentioned the content, but, aside from content writing,

WHAT ARE SOME OTHER WAYS THAT FARMS CAN TELL THEIR STORY?

Meag:

Today's consumer is not only information driven, but visually driven. Sharing compelling images, even if you don't think it's compelling, it's going to be compelling to somebody who wants to learn more but doesn't know where to start. Just sharing your day to day routine with your customers on your Facebook page or your Instagram, that's a great place to start telling your story. Again, you have to fill out the whole profile: make sure your address is on there, what your hours are. If you're running a farm stand, you should mention if your cash only or if you work with PayPal. You know all those details that people are going to want to know. You want to make sure they understand how to do business with you and how to how to come and buy your product. That’s a good place to start, making sure your information is good and being consistent with sharing the messaging.

A lot of people like are like myself and don't have an agricultural background, but we want to know where our food come from, and really what goes into it. You know, the blood, sweat and tears that have to come from generations of families that are growing it. Sharing whatever feels most comfortable and most authentic to you - snap that picture and post it and say what's happening today. Ask, “What do you guys think?” or “what is your biggest question?” Asking questions is always a great place to start too - telling a part of the story and then saying, “What do you think about this?” People will always interact;  they want they want that that excuse to have a conversation, especially about their food.

Jenny:

And going back to the community point you made earlier. You know, it's a great way to engage with your consumers out there and give them that immediate feedback and ongoing conversation.

Meag:

Exactly. And other people will see that too, and see how responsive you are. Seeing how you really care about having conversations with your customers and that just puts a good taste in people's mouth. It's It's really just a good place to start.

Jenny:

One thing I think we do a good job of, just to brag a bit, and one thing that drives me crazy with brands I follow, is them not being responsive.

Meag:

That’s one of the worst things you can do. Social media and digital channels were made to be interacted with, Facebook was made so that we could connect with people. I feel like the world has gotten so much smaller because of social media, but it's such a good thing because it's connecting people that wouldn't typically meet or have the opportunity to talk. That's all part of the information age. But it's also super important that if you're going to be there, that you need to engage with people and find different ways. to make a conversation. That's what people are there for. So that's what you want to give them, right? Nobody likes to say hello to somebody and then hear crickets. Nobody wants to be ignored if they're trying to engage. Responsiveness is important when [the feedback] is great and responsiveness is even more important when [the feedback is] not good. That's something that I think drives me nuts, is when I see other brands getting comments from people that that might disagree with something that they do or have had a bad experience and writing a bad review and nobody acknowledges it. And it's like, well, you're not giving them an opportunity to explain themselves and you're not opening it up for a conversation.

Jenny:

WHAT DO YOU ADVOCATE FOR IN AGRICULTURE?

Meag:

This is my favorite question, I've been waiting for and I don't want to get on my soap box too much. I think, for us working in marketing at MidAtlantic, it's very important that we appeal to all kinds of agriculture. It doesn't matter what you believe. We want to support agriculture and rural America. And I think the most important part of agriculture is that there is an option for everybody.

No matter what you believe in as a consumer, you have a choice. If you don't want to eat meat, you don't have to eat meat. If you don't want to eat leaves, you don't have to eat leaves. You should, because I think it's good for you, but my point is that everybody has a choice. I think that a more educated consumer is really a good trend for agriculture because we all have choices, and agriculture gives us that choice of how to support them. We really are able to show that through the products that we buy and the farms that we that we get our food from. I advocate for an educated consumer and being able to make your own choice when it comes to food.

LISTEN TO Jim's EPISODE HERE OR FIND US ON YOUR FAVORITE PODCAST LISTENING APP!

 

Summary

On this episode of the Farm Credit AgVocates podcast, Jenny Kreisher interviews Jim Brown, the Assistant Manager of Creamery Operations at Penn State University’s Berkey Creamery. You’ll learn about the Creamery’s start, how it’s evolved over the years, and it’s place in Penn State’s culture today. And, for all you wondering, the most popular flavor is not Peachy Paterno!

Jenny Kreisher:

Welcome back to the Farm Credit AgVocates podcast. I'm your host Jenny Kreisher, Director of Communications at Horizon Farm Credit. I'm excited about our guest today for a few reasons. One of which is because I'm a proud Penn State Alum and if you were to ask me what one of my favorite parts of Penn State was and still is, today's guest’s sure plays a critical role in my answer.

Jim Brown is the Assistant Manager of Operations at Penn State's Berkey Creamery, home of what I truly do believe is the best ice cream on the planet. Jim has a 33 year career in sales and the dairy industry and started at the Creamery in 2005.

Today, Jim oversees the retail, wholesale and e-commerce aspects of the Creamery, as well as the media and public relations, product development and packaging, and marketing and advertising of the Creamery and its products. Without further ado, let's dive right in and get the scoop. Welcome to the podcast Jim, thanks for joining me today.

Jim Brown:

You're welcome. Thank you for having me Jenny.

Jenny Kreisher:

Could you tell our audience a little bit about yourself and maybe just walk us through your resume a little bit?

Jim Brown:

Sure. Well, you already presented some of the present things on my resume. Let’s start with I was born and raised in central Pennsylvania, so very close to Penn State. I've been a country boy all my life and have always been involved with hunting, fishing, agriculture, and the landscape around beautiful Pennsylvania.

I went to college here locally, studied business management and spent the first part of my career as an officer in the military. Then, as you said, I've worked the last 30 years in the retail and dairy business focusing on sales, marketing, customer relations and customer service. I've been doing that most of my life.

WHAT LED JIM TO THE CREAMERY

Jenny Kreisher:

That's fascinating that you were in the military and came back and started working there.

What was it that brought you to the Creamery and how did you find out about that position? What made you pursue that career path when you returned?

Jim Brown:

I would have to say that when working in the local dairy industry, I worked in close partnership with the Creamery on many occasions supplying supplemental cream and other products. Over the years, I got to know the people here at the Creamery and at Penn State.

When the position came open, it was something that I've always thought about.  I knew the creamer for many years and got to learn specifically what they wanted and how they wanted to drive forward and move the Creamery forward. It definitely looked like a possibility that would fit me perfectly.

THE CREAMERY'S HISTORY

Jenny Kreisher:

That's awesome.

For those who might be listening that haven't been to Penn State or is not an Alumni of Penn State, could you give us a little bit of background on the Creamery and the role it plays on campus today?

Jim Brown:

Sure. The Creamery is more than 156 years old. It started in 1865 out of a barn where present-day Old Main is. It wasn't until 1889 that they built this first standalone Creamery.  In 1901, they moved to the Patterson building and in 1931 moved to Borland and the store was on the second floor. It wasn't until 1961 that we built a first floor store.

In 2006, we moved into what I still call the new Food Science building, even though it's 15 years old and that's where we have been ever since. We operate what everybody knows the Creamery as a store, but we also provide wholesale delivery all across campus to all of the Penn State eateries and the dining halls. We support athletics here on campus, and we're just a staple in the community.

Jenny Kreisher:

That's for sure. I remember the move, I remember the smaller building you were in and the line would be wrapped around with students and faculty waiting to get their scoop. That’s a beautiful new building that you mentioned is not so new, but it's a beautiful building.

Jim Brown:

Well thank you. You remember Borland, the store itself was 1700 square feet. Now our building that we have right now is 3,700 square feet, so it's two and a half times the size of what it used to be in. As you said, because of the excitement and the amount of people that came around so often, we had to have a larger location to accommodate everybody.

THE CREAMERY AND COLLEGE OF AG

Jenny Kreisher:

Oh yeah that line still wraps around. If it’s a football weekend, you’ll be waiting there for a while. Many people actually don't know that Penn State's a very prominent agriculture school. It actually was founded as the Farmers College.

How does the Creamery work with the College of Ag Science today?

Jim Brown:

Well, the creamery actually works directly with the Food Science department and the College of Ag. We do that by supporting the teaching research and outreach programs of both units by assisting in short courses and student classroom projects.

We help out with the pasteurization and sanitation workshops they have. They also have the Ice Cream Short course and the Frozen Dessert course. All of the courses that they offer at Penn State from an outreach standpoint for people that come from the industry, our location and our employees assist with them.

PENN STATE'S FOOD SCIENCE PROGRAM

Jenny Kreisher:

That’s something I wish I knew when I was a student. That’s a class that I definitely wish I was able to take when I was there.

Would you mind elaborating a little bit on the Food Science program at Penn State? I know that they've been involved in several innovative projects over the years. If you could give our audience a little insight on the impact that they're making on the campus and even beyond that?

Jim Brown:

Oh, it's tremendous what the Food Science department educates students for. It promotes food safety and food quality for positions in labs, development, education, training, safety and quality. They basically work to promote and improve the food safety and food quality in our society. They do this not only through the developmental programs in the graduate and undergraduate programs, but also through outreach programs and short courses by training the industry.

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT IN THE CREAMERY

Jenny Kreisher:

That's great.

Switching gears a little bit, one part of your job description that I have to ask you about is product development. I'm sure you get this question a lot with the Creamery having a ton of staple ice cream flavors and I know you’re always innovating and trying new combinations. The grilled stickies is one of my favorites.

How do you and your team go about exploring these flavors and what's that process like?

Jim Brown:

Well Jenny, we used to have 152 ice cream flavors. Over the years a lot of things have changed at the Creamery and a lot of things have changed in product development.

In the early years, it seemed like the Creamery was looking for new products and new flavors to develop. However, since we already have so many products and we've noticed that as we grew in popularity, our space is very limited, so our recent product development focuses more on the product we currently have and how to continually develop them into a higher quality product.

I think we've spent the last four years looking at our processes, ingredients and our procedures to improve the quality of the products that we currently make. However, when we are looking at making new flavors of ice cream, I think it comes from two different ways; someone comes to us with a name or a flavor idea.

If either of those are appealing or unique, then we look into that with our product development team. A lot of times our product development team involves graduate or undergraduate students that are studying in the Food Science department. We have a team that we put together and we start evaluating potential flavors or potential ingredients that would go into those.

Jenny Kreisher:

What's the most popular flavor at the creamery?

Jim Brown:

Well I would say from a sales standpoint, it is Death by Chocolate. It's a chocolate ice cream, we call the triple chocolate.

Over the last five years, we've had a flavor madness contest trying to mirror the March Madness basketball tournament and in every year Death by Chocolate has won. Not only is it the most popular flavor by the amount of sales, but also the most popular vote online.

CREAMERY CHEESES

Jenny Kreisher:

Oh, wow. That's fun that you guys do that.  Aside from ice cream, the Creamery is also known for its cheese. Actually my coworker Johanna fell in love with the Nittany Cheddar.

When was this added to the creamery's product list?

Jim Brown:

Well, ironically cheddar cheese has been here as long as I can remember. I've been here 16 years and way before my time the cheddar cheese has been around.

However, recently in the last few years we've worked pretty diligently in the industry by asking many professionals to run our cheese through multiple tests to continue to improve the quality. We began closely evaluating the salt levels, moisture contents, and the aging process to try to obtain a more premium type of cheddar.

I think that these improvements have really changed our cheddar cheese and it's developed into a premium product and because of that, it was worth renaming. Actually just in the recent year and a half, we renamed our cheddar cheeses into the Nittany Cheddar line for a catchier name that correlates not only to the creamery, but to Penn State as well.

Jenny Kreisher:

I love that and it makes a great holiday gift.

Are all the products made on campus?

Jim Brown:

All Creamery products are made on campus. When you talk about dairy products from our cheddar cheeses, cultured products to the fluid milk in fluid juices and teas, and of course our ice cream, yes, they're all made here at our facility

FACING COVID-19 CHALLENGES

Jenny Kreisher:

Pre COVID, did you all offer tours to students and the public?

Jim Brown:

Yes, pre-COVID as we call it, and hopefully it will return to normal after COVID, physical tours were conducted. The crazy part is that our success has been measured in the amount of people that have come and visited here, and that has become our biggest challenge during COVID.

All those face-to-face customer relations and customer service interactions that we're very proud of, we've had to eliminate that. However, during COVID we found that we could adjust.

I think our biggest challenge was that if we can't do things face-to-face, then how can we bring the Creamery to the customers instead of the customers coming to us? That is what we ended up doing with the podcasts, webinars, and virtual speaking programs. With Zoom, anything's possible so we've transitioned lot of our physical tours into virtual tours.

MUST KNOW ABOUT THE CREAMERY

Jenny Kreisher:

That's great. That's a great way to pivot, for lack of a better term, to meet that need.

I know the Creamery is out very prominently in the State College community, what are the most important aspects of the Creamery story that you want to make sure are told? What is it that you want people to know?

Jim Brown:

Well, I think that the Creamery is much more than a store, we're a diversified operation and we have a full manufacturing plant. We distribute our products on campus, we're a wholesaler, and we operate an e-commerce site. We provide academic support to the Food Science department of the College of Ag.

We do all of this while probably being one of the most iconic stops on campus. I think just over the years, we've become more than a store, we've become a meeting place for many generations. It's kind of crazy that I've been here long enough that students that used to work for me are now bringing their children here.

We've become a stop between classes, a study location, and a vacation destination. We've become a visitation spot to impress business colleagues if you work here. We have a little bit of everything that anybody could enjoy.

STAYING INVOLVED IN THE PENN STATE COMMUNITY

Jenny Kreisher:

I can attest to that.

How do you all interact with those around the State College community? What kind of events do you partake in throughout the year? Do you work with students at State College High School? What kind of events and community outreach do you do?

Jim Brown:

I'll tell you that the Art Fest has always been tremendous and we missed it last year and this year, but we've done Arts Fest for many years. We provided a tent down there for the entire community.

I think our partnership begins with the many businesses on and off campus. You know how Penn State says “We are,” well here at the Creamery we believe that we all are Penn State. Not only the surrounding community and State College, but the businesses on campus too.

We try to partner with them and help them sell their products too. We sell eggs from on-campus, meats from the meats lab, honey and bagels from local businesses, and the popular State College grilled stickies. We sell items that are made from the Penn State bakery. We try to promote local businesses and local growing by partnering with them and getting everybody to know not only the Creamery, but all the businesses around the community.

Jenny Kreisher:

Absolutely. You recently added the ability to purchase creamery ice cream at Beaver Stadium, which was fantastic news.

Where are you guys headed next?

Jim Brown:

It's not that we are heading anywhere next, but that we've already planted ourselves and put roots down in a lot of locations. We now provide ice cream to the local Commonwealth Campuses too.

Not only can you get creamery ice cream and products at University Park, but you can at the majority of the Penn State Community Commonwealth campuses and at the Bryce Jordan Center. When events come to the Bryce Jordan Center, you can get our ice cream.

Now we partner with the College of Agricultural Sciences Meats Lab. They have a store where they sell meat and other products that they developed and smoke. They now also sell our cheeses and in turn we sell their meats here on campus. We continue to expand on a lot of different Penn State entities.

CREAMERY E-COMMERCE

Jenny Kreisher:

That's great. I had no idea that you were in the satellite campuses now. That's fantastic. It's kind of along those same lines that Penn State does have Alumni all over the world. I believe at one time, if it's not still the largest alumni network in the country. As I mentioned before, on any given weekend, especially football weekends, that line is just out the door and around the building.

How much do you sell online? Where’s the furthest that you've shipped Creamery products?

Jim Brown:

Well, our e-commerce site services and ships to the 48 continental United States. We do not ship to Hawaii and Alaska. We have attempted to do so and we've done it successfully in the past. What we found is that since we have to rely on FedEx to get the shipments, we have to utilize dry ice. It is a hazardous material, and there's only so much dry ice that you can put in a shipment if we're using an airplane through FedEx rules, so we keep it to the 48 States.

The furthest we normally ship would be California. When you ask about our e-commerce business, since the pandemic it has increased threefold. We probably ship 20,000 to 50,000 half gallons a year and of course we ship a lot of other products.

We ship pints of ice cream, small minis, cheeses, coffees and a lot of different memorabilia items. We do e-cards and gift cards and soon to come, our famous ice cream cookie sandwiches where the cookies come from the bakery. We're partnering with them, so we'll be doing that pretty soon.

QUICK FIRE ROUND

Jenny Kreisher:

Oh, that's great. I'll definitely keep an eye out for those, they sound delicious.

Jim, I have a couple of quick fire questions for you before we get to our final one today.

Out of these three, which do you prefer, a milkshake, cup or a cone?

Jim Brown:

A cone.

Jenny Kreisher:

Okay. What’s your go-to flavor?

Jim Brown:

Death by Chocolate of course.

Jenny Kreisher:

Of course, you talked about that flavor before.

Do you have any new flavors or products on the horizon that you're willing to spill on this episode today?

Jim Brown:

We do not have any ice cream flavors, but we are looking at a different type of cheese curd. We have a cheddar cheese curd and we're looking at trying to develop a buffalo cheddar cheese curd.

We are looking into a non-dairy ice cream flavor to develop because we do have customers that are intolerant and can't actually consume dairy. We've been doing a lot of work with the natural ingredients to see if we can come up with a non-dairy option to satisfy those customers.

WHAT DO YOU ADVOCATE FOR IN AG?

Jenny Kreisher:

That's great. Well, Jim, I really appreciate your time today.

The final question that we ask every guest that we have on this podcast, is what is it that you advocate for in agriculture?

Jim Brown:

I think one of the most important things is that being that I'm a country boy from Pennsylvania, everybody needs to realize what we have around us. We need to take care of our surroundings for generations and generations to come, to be able to enjoy the same thing, not only from the dairy aspect, but overall how beautiful everything is. I think I advocate to that fact and just have everybody enjoy their surroundings and keep everything natural.

Jenny Kreisher:

I like that. Thank you so much Jim for your time today.

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2021 was a unique year in many aspects. Despite all of the obstacles that popped up over the last 12 months, it turned out to be a memorable one for most grain farmers in the Mid-Atlantic region. Many areas experienced relatively high yields while commodity prices approached levels that had not been seen in nearly a decade, leading to a profitable year for many growers. Now that 2021 is behind us, it is time to focus on 2022.

As many row crop farmers are aware, direct input costs have increased across the board since last year. While some inputs such as lime and seed have only gone up slightly, commercial fertilizer and some chemicals have seen more substantial price increases.

As of December 2021, commercial fertilizer prices on primary nutrients (N, P, and K) have doubled or even tripled from what they were this time last year. Prices could go even higher in season as fertilizer demand increases.  

The same can be said for some of the more widely used herbicides. Glyphosate price increases lead the way, currently being nearly triple what they were a year ago. Prices on paraquat (Gramoxone), glufosinate (Liberty), and atrazine have nearly doubled while 2, 4-D is up close to 25 percent over last year.

Along with the price increases are concerns about product availability, especially surrounding glyphosate and atrazine. With the current supply constraints, it may be beneficial to reach out to your ag retailer to develop a herbicide program for 2022. Having solutions in place now can help alleviate some of the pressure in season and provide peace of mind knowing that you will have the tools available to keep your fields clean.

One possible solution could be using pre-mixed herbicides rather than more traditional programs where individual chemicals are used. Another alternative might be replacing a glyphosate trip across the field with a different mode of action in your burn down.

Another key to having a profitable grain farming year in 2022 is to remain focused on grain marketing. Commodity prices fluctuated significantly in 2021 and could continue to do so through the coming months. Watching the markets daily (including during planting season) can help ensure getting the best price possible for the grain that is harvested. This can in part offset the input price increases that are being experienced.

The answer may be different for each farmer, but your crop advisor will be able to guide you through the process and help you make the decisions that will make 2022 a successful year.

Here at Farm Credit, we understand the challenges facing all farmers. It is our mission to stand beside our members and the entire agriculture community during good, bad, and uncertain times.