AgWired

Soybean and pork farmer from Columbus, Nebraska, Bill Luckey, served as a panelist for the Boston Food Dialogues. His family farm includes 600 crop acres, cattle, sows and finishing hogs. Bill also serves on the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) Board of Directors and several committees. Bill is lucky that his kids are home running the combine so he was able to attend the event.

“I think we have got to get our word out to the consumers. What we do and why we do it. If you look at it, less than 2% of population are farmers. Over 98% are not in the agriculture business of farming, so they chose not to take the responsibility of growing of food. I accepted that responsibility of growing food and I’m proud of what I do. I am going to do the best I possibly can to raise the best, the healthiest, the safest food for not only my family but for the whole world.”

Bill doesn’t believe size matters. It’s simply people having a passion for the work they do. Bill went on to explain more about is hog operation.

“We utilize technology, whether it be in our buildings, in ventilation, in the feed program. A lot of people don’t understand how we use technology and one of the best things I tell people is if they want us to raise pigs the way we did 50 years ago, why don’t you go to a doctor who uses technology from 50 years ago to diagnose your diseases. We are always trying to improve and do the best thing for our animals, the community and the consumer.”

You can listen to Bill’s complete interview here: Interview with Bill Luckey

Boston Food Dialogues Photo Album

Is big or small farming the future? Tough question, but the conversation was had and Lori Renzi, Vice President of Brand Strategy & Development at Charlie Baggs Culinary Innovations (CBCI) was one of the lucky panelists who got the chance to express her opinion and expertise during USFRA’s Boston Food Dialogues.

CBCI is a consulting practice for the global food industry that assists with flavor and menu development, nutritional assessments, brand strategy and more. Lori works with the direction of all strategic and marketing activities, as well as the development and the re-launch of the CBCI brand.

“I am here today because I am a marketing person, I am not a chef. I represent more what the consumer is thinking, how they get their information, how they receive it and what they do with it. From a farm size perspective right now people are so cynical and skeptical of anything big so you can’t really blame them for thinking big farm is bad. There just needs to be a lot of information to clarify what we are talking about in that area. I don’t think anyone would think that a farmer as a large farm is a bad thing. I think what they think is there is a farm being run by big business, big corporations, big government. They are going to perceive that as bad, because of their experiences. It is up to us to bridge those entities and get the right information to them.”

Lori said that many things said today were very interesting to her. The complexity of this conversation is huge. She believes her take away from the event was that we all need to understand more about the thought process in the farming system. The consumer wants to understand how the food is grown, made and processed in simple terms.

Listen to the complete interview with Lori here: Interview with Lori Renzi

Boston Food Dialogues Photo Album

USFRA’s Boston Food Dialogues panelists came from the east and the west, represented the big and the small, work in agribusinesses and in small farming communities.

Michael Swanson, Agricultural Economist for Wells Fargo Bank NA, Minneapolis, Minnesota and Bruce Rominger, Rominger Brothers Farm, Winters, California were two panelists Chuck had the chance to speak with after the recent Boston Food Dialogues.

At Wells Fargo, Michael analyzes the impact of energy on agriculture, forecasting for key agricultural commodities, such as wheat, soybeans, corn and cotton, as well as livestock sectors such as cattle, dairy and hogs. Michael stated that he feels there is a strong demand for smaller farms and coming from the Midwest he said, “maybe we don’t appreciate it enough.”

“We go where the best technology takes us. We want the best solutions for the dollar. The consumers chooses and shouldn’t criticizes them one way or the other.”

Bruce is a 5th generation farmer working along side his brother in a progressive, diversified family farm and ranch. They specialize in crops using organic and conventional techniques, including winegrapes, processing tomatoes, rice, wheat, corn, safflower, sunflower, onions, alfalfa and oat hay. Bruce agrees that small farms are a good thing, but feels the conversation led to a desire for diversity. He continued, “Small farms aren’t going to be viable in Nebraska. And where I am and the crops I grow and with the technology I use they aren’t very viable in our area either.”

“My brother and I own our farm and statistically we are a big farm, but we are a family farm. We are incorporated, does that make us a corporate farm? Technically yes, but we are 100% owned and managed by our family. To us this growth has been an evolution in every process over generations. This is something we have to do to stay successful it the markets we are in.”

You can listen to Chuck’s complete interview with Michael and Bruce here: Interview with Bruce Rominger and Michael Swanson

Boston Food Dialogues Photo Album