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Summary

On this episode of the AgVocates Podcast, Meaghan Webster interviews the VP of Sales, Marketing and Operations at C.P. Yeatman & Sons, Inc. and Mother Earth Organic Mushrooms, LLC. Meghan gives us a brief history on how the mushroom industry came to Pennsylvania and how her family has had a hand in several important milestones along the way, like establishing organic guidelines for growers. 

As a dedicated advocate for the industry, Meghan is also an active member of the American Mushroom Institute and the Mushroom Council and shares her perspective on the importance of getting active in commodity organizations as a farmer.

Meaghan Webster:

Welcome back to the Farm Credit AgVocates Podcast. I'm your host, Meaghan Webster, Content and Digital Marketing Strategist at MidAtlantic Farm Credit. I'll start off by saying that I am honored that you chose to listen to today's episode, mostly because the food item that we'll be talking about can be a bit divisive. You can go ahead and take one guess, and you probably nailed it, mushrooms. Personally, I have never understood the whole “is fungi fun or not” debate because I'm a huge fan. Make it a pizza topping, or a main dish, and I have never met a mushroom I didn't like.

Although I could talk all day about food, the rest of our episode we are going to talk about making connections as a farmer. Last month we hosted a three-part webinar series that focused on helping young, beginning, and small farmers get started.

One of the topics that we focused on was really centered on building a network, finding mentorship, and really creating your own resource team. I'll warn you that I was really excited to do this interview, mostly because mushroom farms are really my favorite farm to tour, so I was really excited to hear  Meghan Klotzbach's story about their family's mushroom farm.

After getting to know her a little bit, I am even more excited to talk about her involvement with the American Mushroom Institute and The Mushroom Council. Both of these groups do a ton of work for the mushroom industry, but each have very different missions. The American Mushroom Institute focuses on the legislative and policy aspects of how farmers are able to grow their commodity. The Mushroom Council, on the other hand, helps with the consumer education piece, which helps to sell more mushrooms.

In these organizations, they work together to make sure that as a whole, this industry has a voice in how their commodity is being grown. Without further ado, let's jump right in to our interview with Meghan Klotzbach.

Welcome to the podcast, Meghan. Thank you so much for joining me today. I'm really excited about this conversation. I was hoping we could kind of just jump right in, and you could tell us a little bit about yourself, and maybe your position with your family's farm, and some of your positions with the industry organizations that you're active in.

MEGHAN & THE MUSHROOM INDUSTRY

Meghan Klotzbach:

I'm a fifth generation family member with our family farm, C.P. Yeatman & Sons, Inc. Our brand is Mother Earth Organic Mushrooms as well as New Moon Mushroom, which we created a couple years ago to be our line of conventional produced mushrooms. We grow solely organic in our farms. The position that I hold within our family's farm right now is the VP of Sales, Marketing and Operations. I am mainly focused on our packing facility at the moment, but I've been in all areas throughout our company, whether it's growing, packing, or food safety.

Meaghan Webster:

I feel like that's a really big title, VP of Sales Marketing and Operation.

Meghan Klotzbach:

It sounds bigger than it is.

Meaghan Webster:

What kinds of things do you do on a day-to-day basis?

Meghan Klotzbach:

Like many family farms, there's really no one job that we focus on. We've got about 200 employees, so we need to make sure that we have a good group of management so that they can continuously run all those day-to-day things within our farms and our packing facility.

For us, it's really just kind of focusing on it all. We make sure that we're focusing on the HR side of things, and that things are going as they should be and that our customers are happy. We stay in touch with our sales manager, making sure every day, every minute that we know what's going on with that.

My focus is mainly in the packing facility, making sure that the operations of that are going smoothly, our employees are happy, being taken care of well and making sure that our policies are being pushed out correctly. I also focus a lot on the food safety program. I've been heavily involved in the food safety side of things since I started here a little over 10 years ago. That's always been a big push for me to make sure that we're selling a safe, quality food.

Meaghan Webster:

What would you say is your favorite part about it?

Meghan Klotzbach:

Honestly, I think my favorite part is the fact that I can pay attention to so many different areas, and I don't have to do the same thing every day. Even growing up or thinking about what job I wanted to do when I did grow up, I never wanted to sit behind a computer doing the same thing every day.

I like to be involved in different things and take on new projects, new tasks, new problems, and try to find solutions to them. I would definitely say that is my favorite part of my job is that I can really work with a lot of different people, a lot of different departments, and make sure we're running smoothly.

Meaghan Webster:

I feel like there's so many pros and cons to having a set routine, and it can be really nice to know where you're going to be and what you're doing at certain times, but it is really nice to have that variety and get to work with a lot of people.

Meghan Klotzbach:

It makes it more interesting for sure.

Meaghan Webster:

Could you give us the story behind your family's mushroom farms? Five generations in business is a really long time.

100 YEARS OF GROWING MUSHROOMS

Meghan Klotzbach:

Our story started out as a dairy farm. In 1919, we purchased our family farm that we are currently still growing mushrooms on today. As a family we had already owned dairy on another piece of property in the surrounding area. This was a good opportunity for us to have a larger dairy farm, so we decided to purchase that. About a year later, we got interested in the mushroom growing technology and the different techniques that were going on. I'm going to pause here and give you a quick history of how mushrooms even came to this area.

During the late 1800s, a man named William Swayne, a very successful florist in the Kennett Square area, had this idea to grow mushrooms underneath of his greenhouse benches. He wanted to use up as much space in his greenhouses as he could. He also wanted to be able to grow something in the winter, so he decided to grow mushrooms underneath and really utilize the space better.

He sent out to England and tried to get information from them on how mushrooms are grown. He reached out to them to get spawn, and spawn is the seed to grow mushrooms. The spawn came over from England, and he started growing mushrooms. He had really encouraging results, so he built his first mushroom house in the area. That continued with his family. His son then came back from college, and took over that business, and started to commercially grow that up as well.

After that, they were selling their mushrooms into city markets, and places in this area. Back then, even with a horse and buggy, Philadelphia, New York, Baltimore, DC and Pittsburg were all within a day to get product to these marketplaces. A lot of others in the area started thinking that maybe this was a good solution for them to continue in their farms as well. All of a sudden we started having more and more people growing mushrooms in this area.

That takes us to 1920, when we realized that maybe we should start growing mushrooms, so we actually built our first mushroom house in 1921. 100 years ago this year, so we're celebrating our 100 years of growing mushrooms as a family.

Meaghan Webster:

Wow.

Meghan Klotzbach:

Yeah, it's really exciting. It's really exciting for us to be here that long and continue to still be thriving today.

Meaghan Webster:

You guys are a part of the main history of how it started and where it came from.

Most of the mushrooms that we eat anywhere here in the US are grown in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, right?

Meghan Klotzbach:

Yep, over 60% of all mushrooms that are produced for the US are actually grown in Kennett Square and its surrounding areas. This Southeastern area of Pennsylvania mainly, whether it's Kennett, up to Berks County, Oxford and areas like that. That's about 60% of the mushrooms for the United States. California, I think they come in second, around 15% or so. A much further down second place.

Meaghan Webster:

Wow.

Meghan Klotzbach:

Yes, Pennsylvania is very strong, and still holds that top spot for mushroom growing for the entire country.

Meaghan Webster:

That's a really big spread. I don't think I realized that it was that much of a difference between Pennsylvania and California. That's pretty awesome. You guys have been involved for such a long time.

What's has working with your family and growing up in that environment been like?

FARMING WITH FAMILY

Meghan Klotzbach:

My entire family does work in the business. Both my parents growing up worked there, so work always came home. It was always discussed at dinner. It was what was discussed in the house on the weekends. We were over there a lot. I remember when my brother and I would get off the school bus at our farm instead of our house. We would just walk up the field to the office. We would finish our homework in the office, walk around and see everybody, and help out in the office.

At that point in time, our packing facility was actually located in the basement of our office. It was a very small area. I remember middle school, I would go down and talk to some of the employees down there, and help them weigh mushrooms. It felt cool to be involved at that age. It was fun.

My brother, on the other hand, he really got involved in the growing side from an earlier age. He loved the idea of growing mushrooms and wanted to know a lot, so he got himself very involved. He loved to go with my dad to do night checks, and see how the mushrooms were growing. That was his true passion from a very early age. For myself, it took me a little longer to realize that I wanted to be as heavily involved as I am today in the business.

Meaghan Webster:

That was going to be my next question.

Did you always want to be involved, or did you have a different idea of where you thought your career might go?

Meghan Klotzbach:

I actually really didn't have much interest at all in being involved in the business, especially in high school. When I was looking at colleges, I really wanted to do something else. When I was a kid, my perception of the mushroom business was that women were always in the office. They just sat behind the computer, working on bills or Excel spreadsheets. That's what I saw and that's what was going on in that time. My mom did the payroll and that was something that I was never interested in.

I never wanted to be a secretary-type person. I never really wanted to be involved in the business, because I didn't really know if there was a place for me and I never asked. It was not something that I cared to get myself involved in. I figured I'd always just go do something else. I actually ended up going to college and getting a Bachelor's degree in Psychology. I absolutely loved learning about all that. I thought about going on to grad school, but then kind of realized that my heart was lying in starting a family with my now husband. I started working in the area that I realized I never wanted to be in. About three years, I realized that I was doing the same kind of work that I didn't want to do at the farm and realized that maybe there was something else out there.

 At this time, my husband was already working for the family business. He went to my dad and told him that I was really not sure what I wanted to do for a career and maybe there's an opportunity here for her. My dad approached me and said that he had opportunities for me. They were developing our Food Safety Program into a much larger program and could use some help with that and with our OSHA Program to keep our employees safe. I came in and I started researching because I had no idea what food safety or what the OSHA policies were. It was something I was never involved with in my life.

I started doing a lot of research and realized that there’s a lot that needs to be changed and done to really take hold of this type of program. After sitting down with my dad and going through it all, I realized it was an opportunity that I wanted to take on. I started taking that on about 11 years ago and have been here ever since. Every year I get myself more involved in different things. Whether that's within our company in different areas or the different industry organizations. I really love being able to take the time and be a part of those organizations. 

Meaghan Webster:

That sounds so satisfying.

From the beginning of not really knowing exactly what you wanted to do and then having your dad help you realize that there was a place for you. He didn’t make you feel like you had to do it, but rather waited until the time came when you realized there were different opportunities that were not just playing in Excel all day

Meghan Klotzbach:

Right, and he's so great about that. He wants to make sure that the business lasts for the next generation, and continues to grow for the next generation. He always wanted us to be part of it, but in our family it's never been enforced. It's not something you have to do. It's something that you need to want to do, and you have to earn it as well. That made it a challenge for me to succeed and it's been great.

GROWING ORGANIC

Meaghan Webster:

Have you guys always been organic or was there a shift at some point towards that?

Meghan Klotzbach:

Actually, in the mid to late '80s is when we decided that we wanted to try out organics and find out more information. There were no other commercial mushroom growers in the country who were growing organically at the time, and there was really no certification specific to mushrooms. If you know much about how mushrooms grow, they're grown very differently than any other crop. They can't really follow the same structure as a field crop, and how they’re certified organic because that's definitely different.

My great uncle, Jim Yeatman actually went and worked with NOFA-NJ (Northeast Organic Farming Association of New Jersey), which was an organic certifier at the time. He worked with them to develop a certification program for mushrooms. He taught them how mushrooms were grown. He had them out to the farm a lot, so that they could really get in-depth knowledge of what was going on to build a certification program to work around mushrooms.

After putting a lot of effort and work into that, we did our transition year into organic production in 1989, and then in 1990 is when we sold our first certified organic mushrooms.

Meaghan Webster:

Wow. That's amazing.

Meghan Klotzbach:

Yeah, it is amazing. We were really the pioneer for that. Back then, organic wasn't much of a thing. It wasn't something that was big in the market. It wasn't a big driver for sales. We really did this because we wanted to make a beneficial impact on the environment. We really felt passionate about organic growing methods to protect our employees and families.

Back in the '30s, ‘40s and '50s, there were a lot of bad chemicals that were being used everywhere. My parent's generation really started to see that, and that's when it started to make a push towards being healthier and safer. They saw organic as a way to really grab ahold of that. That's when they made that decision, and they went for it.

In the first couple of years, we only sold about 1% of our production organically. The rest of our production was sold conventionally. In the late '90s we actually decided not to grow all of our mushrooms organically, because we were losing money every day producing them organically and then not being able to sell them organically. We were just way ahead of the market on that one.

Meaghan Webster:

Yeah.

Meghan Klotzbach:

We switched one of our farms back to conventional and continued to use a lot of our mindset and techniques from our organic growing ways to make sure we were still growing a safe product for our employees and not using really bad pesticides or chemicals on the farm. We were able to then sell our mushrooms easier. We had about 60% grown conventionally and 40% grown organically.

About eight years ago, we made the transition back to 100% organic, and we don't ever plan on going back now. The market is definitely there for it, and we've also gotten very efficient at growing organically, so we're able to do it without losing any money.

Meaghan Webster:

That's really cool. I mean you guys are the OG of organic mushrooms.

Meghan Klotzbach:

Yes we are.

Meaghan Webster:

That is really neat. A different question on the organic piece because that's very interesting. I love that your uncle was a part of developing that whole program.

How many other producers, or other family-owned businesses are organic?

Meghan Klotzbach:

I think there's about four or five, maybe about five large commercial farms who are producing organic mushrooms now. No other commercial farm is to our level or our size or larger producing 100% organic mushrooms.

Meaghan Webster:

That's fun to see the evolution. I mean you guys were doing it before it was cool, and now it's super cool.

Meghan Klotzbach:

Yes. It's kind of hard sometimes, especially for my dad because he was at the beginning of it, so for him it was his baby and now everybody else is doing it.

Meaghan Webster:

People catch on.

Meghan Klotzbach:

It’ll be okay, we were the first.  It's a good thing.

Meaghan Webster:

Exactly.

I would take it as flattery. It's a compliment.

Meghan Klotzbach:

Yeah.

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STAYING INVOLVED IN THE INDUSTRY

Meaghan Webster:

Can you tell us a little bit about the organizations that you're involved in?

I know American Mushroom Institute and The Mushroom Council. Originally, I didn't know there was a huge difference between the two, so I would love to start talking about some of those organizations and what your role is.

Meghan Klotzbach:

The two main larger organizations for the industry is the American Mushroom Institute, we call AMI, and The Mushroom Council. AMI is a Natural Voluntary Trade Association. It is headquartered right here in Avondale, Pennsylvania, which is great because the majority of our members and growers are located right here in Pennsylvania, so it gives us a much easier access to being involved, which is really good.

It supports the growers, processors, and marketers of cultivated mushrooms in the entire United States. They do a lot of lobbying for different policies to get the policy makers to really understand what we need as an industry and as farmers, whether that's different policies on food safety, the environment, or labor. All of those things are things that that organization can continue working for us.

The Mushroom Council, is actually a National Promotion Council of Fresh Mushrooms, and is actually certified under USDA. It is the National Marketing Association, and that is not voluntary. That is more of a mandatory association or council. It collects funds and then gets a lot of grants to be able to market fresh mushrooms to consumers, restaurant owners, chefs and schools across the country.

They can push it out into many different ways, but they solely focus on fresh mushrooms, so they're not worried about the process. They want to make sure that fresh mushrooms are getting on the plate of all consumers. By doing that, they're increasing the demands, so that we can sell more mushrooms.

Meaghan Webster:

You have positions with both of those groups, right?

Meghan Klotzbach:

Yeah, I'm on the board for both the AMI and The Mushroom Council. This is actually my first year on the AMI board. I've been very involved in the AMI and a lot of subcommittees. I've been the chair of The Mushroom Farmers of Pennsylvania, which is a subcommittee of AMI. Mushroom Farmers of Pennsylvania is specific to things that are going on right here in Pennsylvania, which, like I said, makes up about 60% of all the mushrooms grown for the US. It's a very big subcommittee.

I'm the chair of that committee for multiple years now. This year, I’ve taken a position on the board, so I'm really excited to get even more involved with AMI through that. I am hoping to start my second term on the board with The Mushroom Council next year. That’s been voted on, and we'll find out the results of that coming up here in the next few months, but still currently on the board finishing out my first term. I work with them, and it's been very enlightening to get to know the ins and outs of The Mushroom Council and the board. They don't have a lot of subcommittees to be involved on. It's more the board and their organization that they work with that are really driving it.

Meaghan Webster:

What are some of the things that they work on?

What would you say is the most important initiative that you've helped work on, or are working on currently with either of those organizations?

Meghan Klotzbach:

I'll start out with the AMI. I would say that the most important thing that I've done with the AMI, as well as what they do, is really lobbying for the industry. We work a lot with the local Pennsylvania state representatives and legislators, and then also nationally. We have that table in DC for that voice to be able to tell them what we need. It can be on so many different topics from food safety to the environment, to the huge labor crisis right now in the industry.

We've been working a lot on the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, and lobbying our goals to the policy makers on what we'd like to see within that, and how it can help us. I think the most important thing we do with the AMI is to really get our voices heard. Being a small family farm AMI allows us to have a voice even in DC, something that we wouldn't be able to have without that.

Meaghan Webster:

Our government affairs officer, Kurt Fuchs, does a lot of work with that. He would share all the different initiatives and things that he could help, and really making that connection to the folks that are in Washington making these policies. It's really important to have that educational piece of it. It sounds like AMI really is a cornerstone piece of that for the mushroom industry.

Meghan Klotzbach:

Yes, definitely.

Meaghan Webster:

What about the council?

Meghan Klotzbach:

They've done a lot of amazing things. They do a lot of research on the nutritional values of mushrooms and different things that it can help with. They've done research on prostate cancer and mushrooms, memory and mushrooms. There's so many things that they're doing research on that it's just bringing out some incredible results.

I would say one of the biggest things is they're working with different schools across the country getting mushrooms on the plate of kids in schools. They are trying to get kids to accept and ask for mushrooms on their plate on so many types of meal options from pizza to salad to noodles. If we can get it in kid’s minds, and get them to love mushrooms, it is only going to drive the demand for mushrooms up and for the future.

I think that that's one of the most important things that we can really do is just continuously get out there how nutritional, versatile, and how much better mushrooms make meals. One of the big things that they've created and it's becoming a big trend across the country, is The Blend, and it's when you blend mushrooms and meat, or meat substitute.

Meaghan Webster:

I have heard a little bit about it. I haven't ventured into trying it quite yet.

Meghan Klotzbach:

You should. It is amazing. I struggle to make a burger or meatballs without it. You take around 30% mushrooms and 70% meat. You can definitely go higher on the mushrooms, but that's where the starting point is really. Chop the mushrooms up fine to match the consistency of the meat or the meat substitute that you're using and blend that together. It just makes the meat more flavorful because mushrooms actually take on the flavor of what they're cooked with, which is also amazing.

Meaghan Webster:

Right.

Meghan Klotzbach:

It really enhances the flavor of the meat. It also makes them healthier because you're substituting some of the fat with a healthy non-fat option of the mushrooms.  It's creating a healthier product that tastes better and is more sustainable because mushrooms are extremely sustainable.

The amount of water we use to produce mushrooms is way less than any other commodity. It's great for the environment, great for the person, and it also tastes great. That's a big thing that they've really pushed out and it's an incredible thing to start.

Meaghan Webster:

You don't have to sell me on it. I am a huge fan of mushrooms. My husband not so much. I've had to sneak them in a little bit here and there.

Meghan Klotzbach:

He'll never know in The Blend.

THE NUTRITION BENEFITS OF MUSHROOMS

Meaghan Webster:

It’s starting to grow on him.

We like to go out to restaurants, and we live on the Eastern shore, so we're close to Ocean City, and Delaware with lots of great culinary options.  I feel like I've seen a big spike in the number of plant based alternative meat kind of foods. I see mushrooms lumped in with a lot of those.

What's your take on where mushrooms are going as a nutrition source? Why should we eat more mushrooms?

Meghan Klotzbach:

Mushrooms can really fit in anybody's diet because they're extremely versatile. When you're vegan, they actually are a huge meat substitute. Portabella mushroom is a very meaty, dense mushroom. It has a lot of rich flavors, so that's a great meat substitute on its own even. It fits within paleo diets, and gluten free diets. I mean it fits when you love meat.

That’s what makes mushrooms incredible, is how versatile they are, and that they can be great for anybody. Some people don't like them, or they think they don't like them, but once they really start cooking with them and trying them out with new dishes, it really opens up their eyes to the possibilities that mushrooms can be.

I think they're going to be in so many more people's houses than they even are now. The demand is going to continue to skyrocket just because so many more people are willing to try them and understand how sustainable they are for the environment, how nutritious they are, and how many amazing things they can do for your health.

Meaghan Webster:

They're also kind of considered like a super food, right?

Meghan Klotzbach:

Yeah, I was actually just talking about that with our production manager. They really don't have any calories, fat, sodium, sugar. None of that. It's just amazing nutrients, vitamins that are great for you. Some of the exotic mushrooms have more of a stronger flavor, but the basic Agaricus mushrooms, which are your white buttons, Cremini, and Portabellas, really take on the flavor of what you're cooking it with, and they just give it a great addition.

WHY YOUNG FARMERS SHOULD BE INVOLVED IN INDUSTRY ORGANIZATIONS

Meaghan Webster:

I want to go back to the industry thing a little bit. In August this year, we hosted a Young Beginning Small Farmer webinar series, and one of our webinars was actually dedicated to the idea of networking, mentorship, and growing your network in order to be a better farmer, and be a better producer.

If you were specifically speaking to a new farmer, why do you think it's important to get involved with organizations like AMI and The Council?

Meghan Klotzbach:

I think we're a very unique industry in that about 90% of commercial mushroom farms and packing facilities are part of the AMI Organization, so to say that, it shows you how strong and valuable that organization is. Without those members, the organization would not be what it is today because they need their members. They need their member’s voice to really make change, so I think that that's a really good goal for everybody is to become part of an industry organization that relies on its members and its members rely on them.

Being a new farmer, I think that it's most important because you want to know the accurate information about what's going on, whether that's policies in government, food safety rules that are coming up, or environmental rules that impact your farm. There's so many things that affect farmers today, and so many things that we all have to abide by. To have one place that you can trust to get that accurate information from is extremely important.

The second thing that I think is extremely important is that your voice can be heard. Being a small, family farm, we might not have access to having our own lobbyists work for us and everything like that. It's not something that we'd be capable of doing, and having a voice and a seat at the table, is not something that you could ever compare to. If we have an issue that impacts our family farm, I can actually have that voice heard in DC. That's not something that a lot of farmers can say that they can have an impact and actually reach different people in DC as well as our state government.

A couple of years ago, during the Trump administration, we had a meeting down in DC at the Capitol building just to review labor and where we were as an industry, what we would like to see and what our issues were. We were able to speak directly with the administrators of labor within the White House, so it was great to have a voice with them. We walked out to take a picture and Vice President Pence actually photo bombed us which is pretty cool. He stepped in to say hi. Being a farmer, it's not something that you really get access to, and are able to be a part of. I think that everybody really needs to take on as something that's important to them to help make change for their industry.

The way we look at it in the mushroom industry is if one of us fails, it affects us all. It can really affect the mushroom industry negatively as a whole. We want to be there and support each other. We're definitely competitors and we can compete on sales and customers, but when it comes to making sure that we're sound companies, making sound decisions, we really like to do that together in a room. We really do all sit together and discuss all of this stuff.  So many things can be shared and new ideas can come up that we can make the industry better.

Meaghan Webster:

I think too, there's this added level of accountability to your neighbor. The accountability and responsibility to actually speak up and take ownership of the industry that you obviously love and have grown to make your lifestyle.

Meghan Klotzbach:

When we're all condensed in one area, it's definitely easier to do this. I know if an industry is completely spread out across the country, and it's not condensed in one area, it's definitely harder for farmers to really work together. In this day and age of Zoom, I guess it can make it a little bit easier. We're definitely able to make it work.  About 90% of the AMI members are actually located in Pennsylvania, and that does include a little over 200 associate businesses. Associate businesses are just businesses that support our industry such as a bank.

Farm Credit is actually one of our associate members. Associate members widen out our web to really get to so many people. Having 90% of our members in PA, we really can all sit down face-to-face and be able to work well with one another. In the past, those were really the only voices that were together and now in the world of Zoom and everything else, we can sit together and have a video meeting with people from California, Texas, and Oklahoma, and they can all be involved in the same conversations that we're having here. Recently it's really opened up communication even better, which has been fantastic.

Meaghan Webster:

Having more people at the table and having that new perspective, absolutely. If anything good came out of COVID, I would say that for sure.

Meghan Klotzbach:

Yeah. For sure.

Meaghan Webster:

Everybody has learned how to use Zoom, FaceTime and all of these things. It does make it quite a bit easier.  I do miss seeing people in person, but from AMI's perspective, having that much of their participation in the same area, I can see that making a huge difference, so I would say it's probably just as important for other commodities and new farmers to be looking for those local organizations too, so they can actually get that face time.

Meghan Klotzbach:

Face-to-face is definitely the way to go for sure, but it opens up more possibilities to be able to virtually speak to people also.

CHALLENGES FACING THE MUSHROOOM INDUSTRY

Meaghan Webster:

We talked a little bit about, and I know you mentioned that there's a pretty big labor shortage right now from the mushroom side.

Are there any challenges that the industry is facing that your regular customer wouldn't know about?

Meghan Klotzbach:

We speak with our customers all the time, and honestly our customers are going through the same types of challenges that we are right now due to labor and supply availability. Packaging supply is way down. Raw materials are way down, so while the demand is skyrocketing for the rush of industry, there is definitely a shortage of mushrooms right now due to a shortage of labor and raw materials coming in.

We have some supplies that come in from overseas. Skyrocketing prices of containers to get over here, as well as the ports not having any labor to unload them. It's definitely been really hard over the last year and a half. We're not sure how quickly that's going to turn around. The demand is up, but the supply is not for sure. That's definitely something we're struggling with.

Meaghan Webster:

It probably seems redundant to ask, but I'd like to have that question out there just because I think it's kind of a shock when you're not able to go out and buy the thing that you specifically want.  I think that was definitely a wake-up call for people especially during COVID when you couldn't buy toilet paper, or paper towels, or whatever it was.

It affects each and every piece of the industry. I think it's a good reality check to be aware that it is not because we don't want to give you your mushrooms, it's because we're facing a lot of things that most people don't really see on a daily basis.

Meghan Klotzbach:

I think it's very important for consumers to get educated where their food is actually coming from and what goes into producing that food. Grocery stores and giant chains tend to make it a lot easier to get your food than it used to be. Like you said, it's a good dose of reality of what the constraints are, and for consumers to really become knowledgeable, and now I think it would be fantastic to get them to see that.

WHAT MEGHAN ADVOCATES FOR AG

Meaghan Webster:

I am going to go ahead and give you our sign-off question. I feel like you may have already answered it, but I'm still curious to hear what you think about this.

What do you advocate for in agriculture?

Meghan Klotzbach:

I advocate for the farmer. We are out here, most of us still family farms, trying to make a living. Our entire family is invested and we want to make sure that the policies that are created are actually reasonable to the farmers. Making sure that farming continues because it's such a big part of our country that, again, I don't think a lot of people see and a lot of people understand completely.

Food isn't grown at the grocery store. It doesn't just appear. Farmers need to have a say. Farmers need to continue to thrive and really work towards growing and whether that's within the way of farming they've always done it, or taking on new techniques of farming that can grow them even better. A lot of it is having access to capabilities, to being able to grow and do those things, so there's a lot of environmental things that can hurt farmers in policy making. It's really trying to educate our policy makers on what they can do to institute policies that are actually relative for farmers to work with.

Meaghan Webster:

That is the first time that I've heard somebody bring up policy as what they're advocating for, so we love that. It's always a different answer, and I think it's super important because each of us bring something different to the table, so thank you so much for joining me today. This has been an awesome conversation. I am so excited about it.

Meghan Klotzbach:

You're welcome. Happy to be here.

Meaghan Webster:

Awesome. Thank you so much. Have a good rest of your day.

Meghan Klotzbach:

All right. Thank you. You too.

Meaghan Webster:

Thank you so much for tuning in to this episode today. I hope that you enjoyed it, and found it educational and maybe even a little bit inspiring. If you want to take a next step and connect with Meghan and her family, you can find Mother Earth Organic Mushrooms over on Facebook or you can check out their website at organicmushrooms.com.

MidAtlantic Farm Credit, a members-owned cooperative and an institution of the national Farm Credit system, recently reported their second quarter financial results for 2021. Accruing loan volume for the first six months of 2021 was $2.86 billion, an increase of 2.8 percent compared to the same 2020 period.

“As things picked back up during the second quarter of this year, we remained dedicated to our members and supporting their continuing growth,” says Tom Truitt, Chief Executive Officer of MidAtlantic Farm Credit. “The increases in our financial results compared to last year prove the strength of the agriculture industry and the resilience of our members.”

Net income for the second quarter was $13.3 million, an 11.9 percent increase compared to the second quarter of 2020. For the first six months of 2021, net income of $25.4 million, a 2.3 percent increase from the same period in 2020. Net interest income for the second quarter was $18.9 million, a 9.3 percent increase from the same time period in 2020.

Nonaccrual loans of $40.1 million at June 30, 2021 were down $3.5 million from December 31, 2020 and down $12.7 million from June 30, 2020. The Association’s nonaccrual loans as a percentage of total loans decreased to 1.36 percent at the end of the second quarter of 2021, compared to 1.84 percent at June 30, 2020. No provision for loan losses was recorded in the first six months of 2021, compared to a $3 million provision for loan losses in the first six months of 2020. The allowance for loan losses represented 91 percent of nonaccrual loans at June 30, 2021, compared to 67 percent at June 30, 2020.

Members’ equity at June 30, 2021 totaled $673 million, up 1.1 percent from December 31, 2020, and the Total Capital ratio was 21.84 percent. That number is compared with the 10.5 percent minimum, including the capital conservation buffer, mandated by the Farm Credit Administration (FCA), the lender’s independent regulator. The Association paid a record-breaking cash patronage distribution of $54.5 million to its member-borrowers in March 2021.

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.