When the same old techniques aren’t working, do you keep doing what you’re doing (Einstein’s definition of insanity) or do you start considering the problem from different perspectives? Over many conversations the last several weeks, Valene and Katharine have been discussing how agriculture taking a neutral stance against outside pressures is having an adverse effect on the viability and sustainability of our industry. Ag is losing its voice at every turn and one of the biggest reasons why is because we are silencing ourselves for fear of retribution. As the next generation of agriculturists (us) begin to step to the forefront and into the spotlight of our industry in the form of boards, organizations, and leaders, it is becoming increasingly apparent that the silence of the previous generations that worked through problems in the back room, is no longer making the progress that our industry exceedingly demands, whether that’s comfortable or not. We are Millennial Ag, and we are standing for what we believe.
Ranch kid. TV host. Fancy lady cowgirl. Meet Courtenay DeHoff, the rockstar guest we had the privilege of hosting this week. Courtenay is the whirlwind force behind the #fancyladycowgirl movement taking ag social media by storm. Courtenay shares with us her origin story, and how she tried to ignore her rural roots but found her strength and unique voice in the world by finally embracing those same roots. We talk about heels and lipstick, what #fancyladycowgirl means to all women, no matter our background, and her adventures in big cities like New York and Los Angeles and connecting with way more people than she ever could have imagined because she said hey, I’m a cowgirl. Nice to meet you. As the conversation goes on, all of our rural roots start to show, and we step into conversations about hard truths we’re trying to share in agriculture, how we need to tackle tough topics, and the mutual respect gained from making friends with other people who are trying to get loud and say hard stuff in this industry we love so much. Courtenay shows a streak of pride and open-mindedness about both her rural and urban loves that is refreshing, real, and straight up fun to listen to. www.millennialag.com www.facebook.com/millennialag www.instagram.com/millennial_ag www.twitter.com/millennial_ag
This week, our guest found us. A high school friend of Katharine’s, Emily Miller took advantage of all the opportunities 4-H and FFA afforded her growing up, including showing animals. Over the last several years, her food and eating perspective has shifted dramatically. Please welcome Millenial Ag’s first vegan guest! You may be thinking that we’re going to get loud and argue over whose science is more correct…but we’re not. We’re here for open dialog and honest conversations. Emily does a stellar job of explaining how she came to be a vegan, and where she sees a lot of misunderstanding between vegans and animal activists and animal agriculture producers. She’s not shy about sharing her opinions, but has a well-rounded approach to viewing veganism and animal product consumption side-by-side. This conversation has been one of our most authentic yet – all three of us were hesitant about taking on an issue with the magnitude that veganism and animal activism has on our animal ag industry. With a lot of grace and respect on both sides, we are proud to bring you this episode that explores how veganism and animal ag can, if not align completely on all issues, at least hear where the other is coming from and agree to mutual respect. www.millennialag.com www.facebook.com/millennialag www.instagram.com/millennial_ag www.twitter.com/millennial_ag
Did you know methane is actually an odorless gas? Neither did we, until we sat down with this week's guest, Dr. Sara Place. An expert in cattle sustainability, Dr. Place discussed the Burger King ad that was released last week much to the chagrin of many in the agriculture industry. She highlights the tradeoff of being "cute" versus accurate in much of the marketing around food today, and really delves into how the ruminant animal works to provide humans with food from resources that would otherwise be unusable for us. This is a fun episode, with a lot of great takeaways and talking points. We tried not to get bogged down in the outrage that's surrounding the fast food chain's most recent ad. Dr. Place does an excellent job of helping us with that, and we hope you find this episode as enjoyable as we did. Dr. Sara Place Bio: Sara is the Chief Sustainability Officer at Elanco. Prior to Elanco, she was the senior director for sustainable beef production research at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and an assistant professor in sustainable beef cattle systems at Oklahoma State University. She received her PhD inAnimal Biology from the University of California, Davis, a BS in Animal Science from Cornell University, and an AAS in Agriculture Business from Morrisville State College. www.millennialag.com www.facebook.com/millennialag www.instagram.com/millennial_ag www.twitter.com/millennial_ag
This week, we continue the conversation we started in Episode 044 - Colorado Eggs Go Cage Free. We heard how this issue was approached from the perspective of egg producers, and this week, we wanted to discuss it through the lens of other sectors in animal agriculture. We talk about how activism is affecting animal agriculture and the way we do business, and more importantly, our concerns about specific production practices either being banned or mandated by law. This is a slippery slope that we find ourselves on, and we know this is just the beginning of conversations that we must start having in animal agriculture, and the actions we must demand of ourselves to protect our animals, our industry, and our livelihoods.
This week, we're talking about the most recent development in Colorado agriculture policy. On July 6, 2020, Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed into law a mandate that eggs produced in the state come from chickens housed in cage-free environments. At first blush, it's easy to see how this could cause an uproar in production animal agriculture. We're joined by guest David Collie, who is the Industry Relations Manager for the trade group Colorado Egg Producers. David gives us history and background on how the cage-free movement has developed over the last twelve years, what the process was to move this issue through the state legislature, and the implications of the law for egg producers. We talk about how consumer trends and desires have influenced this development, how the price of eggs will be affected for both consumers and what producers get paid, and how maybe it's time agriculture considered a little bit of compromise in the face of changing consumer behaviors and desires. Thanks for joining us this week on Millennial Ag! You can find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and can also write to us at talktous@millennialag.com
Whew! It's been a tough few weeks as far as topics go. Thank you for sticking with us through not only mental health (which we thought was a tough subject but didn't even begin to touch on what June had in store for us!) This week, we take a bit of a breather. We reflect on those hard topics, share your feedback and comments, and look ahead to what's next in ensuring that no topic is off limits for us, for you, for American agriculture. Thank you for listening - please keep sending us your notes, thoughts, and comments. It makes what we do glow so much brighter. We wish you and your families a very safe and happy Fourth of July in our great country.
This week, we're joined by guest Sarah Mock, a freelance agriculture journalist with some serious opinions and thoughts about how agriculture in America operates. We start out discussing her recent article about exploitation in ag. If that doesn't grab your attention, the rest of the conversation surely will. Tune in for conversation that will definitely ruffle feathers, but needs to be voiced. Young people in agriculture are starting to get fed up with the status quo, and we're finally old enough to start doing something about it. Why does agriculture sell our products as commodities? Are more regulations something producers should be excited about? How does the collapse of Syria relate back to food security equating to national and global security? You'll hear all that and much more in this week's episode of the Millennial Ag Podcast.
Heard of Project Counterglow? You may not have yet….it was only published 3 weeks ago. We’re here to tell you everything you need to know about this dangerous scheme. Animal rights activists have taken their agenda one step further, and identified over 30,000 animal enterprise businesses (farms, poultry houses, dairies, feedlots, zoos, etc) in the United States and put those locations on a public – meaning accessible to ANYONE – map. This precursor to domestic terrorism hasn’t hit mainstream ag networks yet. To bring you the full picture, we sat down with Emily Smith, Senior Communications Coordinator at Protect the Harvest, a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting animal enterprises, with its roots in animal agriculture. Emily gives us the details of Project Counterglow, how it came to be, what agricultural producers can do to protect themselves, and what Protect the Harvest is doing to help. We also talk about the implications of this publication, from violation of privacy and private property rights, to the potential for violence against producers, their families, and the animals they dedicate their lives to caring for. This episode is time sensitive. We can’t afford to wait to move on this issue. Tune in, and then speak up.
Welcome to Episode 40. What better way to celebrate this milestone than talking about one of the hardest topics out there? Unless you've been living under a rock, you know about the civil unrest taking place in our country right now. Racism has risen to the forefront of the national consciousness and can no longer be ignored. We're white. We're privileged. And we're only just now starting to understand how deep these wounds run, and how our silence has only added to the problem. We are joined by Shannon Archebeque-Engle, who serves Colorado State University as Assistant Vice President for Strategic Initiatives and Assessment in the Vice President's for Diversity Office. As a Chicana in agriculture, she's experienced racism in her own life, and has watched how it affects American agriculture. She answers many of our questions, but more importantly, lays out exactly how racism still affects our agricultural lives and how to start making a change for the best. Every second of this episode is critical. Please join us in our mission to educate ourselves, understand the personal, institutional, and systemic problems with racism in our most beloved industry, agriculture, and how we can start to heal and move forward together.