Celebrating Porktober

In this episode of Coffee in the Barn, Casey Bradley and Morgan Hart wrap up Porktober with a lively discussion on the evolving landscape of the swine industry and the importance of leadership, food security, and adaptability. They highlight inspiring stories from their special guests, share personal insights on balancing family life with a career in agriculture, and tackle the industry's challenges, from delayed legislation to shifting market dynamics.

Join us as we explore how passion, perseverance, and community-driven solutions shape the world of agriculture and how everyday actions can create a meaningful impact. Pour yourself a cup, settle in, and discover the stories that matter.

Key Takeaways:

• Courtney’s Story: One mother turned a challenge into a solution by establishing a lactation room at the World Pork Expo, supporting working moms in the industry without seeking recognition.
• The Farm Bill Delay: Casey and Morgan discuss the potential impact of the delayed farm bill on food security, emphasizing how it could affect SNAP benefits and the most vulnerable families across the U.S.
• Economic Ripples in Agriculture: With rising costs for essential materials like copper and challenges in global shipping, Casey dives into how these shifts impact animal nutrition and the broader agricultural market.
• Leadership Lessons from Lori: Lori’s journey through various leadership roles, including her presidency at NPPC, offers valuable insights on navigating career growth, especially in a male-dominated industry.
• Balancing Work and Family: Morgan and Casey reflect on the realities of balancing motherhood and a career in agriculture, sharing their personal stories and experiences from Porktober.

Featured Segments:

1. Courtney’s Initiative at World Pork Expo (0:10:04 - 0:11:57): Courtney's creation of a lactation room is a prime example of community-driven leadership and problem-solving in agriculture.
2. Challenges of Passing the Farm Bill (0:22:13 - 0:24:57): The hosts discuss how delays in the farm bill can impact food security, and the ripple effects felt throughout the agriculture industry.
3. Market Trends & Copper Prices (0:16:57 - 0:19:25): A deep dive into how fluctuating copper prices and rising shipping costs impact the economics of animal agriculture.

Notable Quotes:

• "Courtney didn’t do it for recognition—she saw a problem and created a solution. We need more people like her in our industry." – Casey Bradley.
• "Food security is not just a problem abroad; it’s right here in our backyards. And it's our job in agriculture to be part of the solution." – Casey Bradley.
• "It’s about finding the right leadership opportunities that fit your life. They don’t always have to be the big ones; sometimes it’s as simple as volunteering in your child's classroom." – Morgan Hart.

Next Episode Tease:
As Porktober ends, we gear up for November, Antimicrobial Resistance Awareness Month. Stay tuned for ep

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Chapters

• 3:35 Take-a-ways from Lori Stevermer
• 9:18 Take-a-ways from Courtney Duffy
• 16:33 Take-a-ways from Louis Li

Transcript

Episode 34 – Celebrating Porktober
 0:00:00
 Welcome to Coffee in the Barn, where every cup tells a story. With a rotating lineup of hosts, we invite you to join us as we explore the diverse challenges and triumphs of modern life and the heart of agriculture. From the fields to the classroom, from innovators to everyday visionaries, each episode brings a fresh perspective and a new voice. So brew yourself a cup of coffee, settle in, and let's uncover the stories that shape our lives, our farms, and our communities. 

Casey Bradley
 0:00:45
 Well Morgan, I can't believe we're rounding out Porktober month means it's Halloween week and that means Christmas shopping is coming soon and thinking about travel plans for Thanksgiving and child care. Wow, what a whirlwind of a year. We started this back in early 2024 now we're in Q4 rounding it out at the end of October. Yeah I can't believe it has gone by so super fast. I don't even know where September went. I know, and soon you're gonna have the triplets.

Morgan Hart
 0:01:21
 The triplets? I'm not having triplets.

Casey Bradley
 0:01:23
 You will have the triplets, but okay, sorry, a litter, right?

Morgan Hart
 0:01:27
 Hopefully by the time this episode airs, I will have had my baby. Yes. 

Casey

Which, of course, we'll be sharing photos. Like, flippering ones, not like, ahhh. I'll send you the good ones. Oh, I noticed something different too for Port Tober. Somehow you got some new artwork in your background.

Morgan Hart
 0:01:50
 Oh yeah, this is a Hobby Lobby by my husband, decided that I needed it for my birthday.

Casey Bradley
 0:01:57
 Well, go Garrett.

Morgan Hart
 0:01:59
 Now it's in my office.

Casey Bradley
 0:02:01
 It's perfect. I love those things. But this episode is a little different. People have been noticing some changes. We have multiple hosts and topics as we try to incorporate the real P3, which was a lot about animal nutrition, which we talk about here, but it wasn't necessarily just for working moms and now we're going to have a new co-host that we're going to be bringing in his content. Unfortunately he's visiting a pig farm and he could not be on today to record this but you know that's the life that goes when you're a swine farmer. But we're branching out it's not just working moms we're going to call it working parents but it's really helping support all professionals in animal agriculture, about our triumphs, how do we talk to our consumers and all that good stuff. So we're just branching it out. I don't know if Johan actually does bedtime stories anymore. I think he's out of that phase. But we are still definitely in that phase.

Morgan Hart
 0:03:10
 Very much so.

Casey Bradley
 0:03:11
 So this point of this episode is that we're going to have to try to have three different guests and Morgan and I think may do some special hot topics here and there for fun like we used to but we're going to wait until the litter is on the ground and we're moving on.

Casey Bradley
 0:03:30
 But let's start off with Lori's podcast that started out October for us was finding leadership opportunities. She is currently the sitting president of NPPC, and she's a well-recognized leader in our industry. You get the pleasure of working with her and kind of recap how Lori's helped you navigate that, because we talked about it a lot right like what's the right time and kind of recap that for the audience. 

Morgan Hart

Yeah so Lori has kind of had an interesting she's always kind of grown up in ag she married a pig farmer her husband does the day-to-day chores on the farm but you know she's there in case she need it they need help as well as she was a mom to three kids. She's very involved with the Minnesota Pork Board as well as NPPC and in combination with National Pork Board as well and works for us at Alltech. And so she kind of highlighted during her episode just kind of the journey on how, you know, when she was a mom or when her kids were younger, all of her kids are out of the house now, but when her kids were younger, you know, there's different phases. She was in heavily involved, you know, with her kids activities and was there as a mom figure as well as working, but as her kids got older and moved out of the house, went to college, she became more involved on the national state, got more involved at the state and national level within the swine organizations. It's a very much progression steps with her current seat as president of NPPC. It's really like a four-year turn because you start as at one level and you work your way into vice president, president and then the president elect. And then it's like it's like really a four year like kind of commitment. And then presidents, right? So yeah. So no, and after this year, so she has one more year than with NPPC at our current position. But I think one of the unique things that, as it's, I would say, a four-year turn within the different seats that you sit in with NPPC, is that the group of people that you're surrounded with during your four-year term, it really helps, I don't want to say groom, but set you up for success in those different roles that you're going to play within the organization because you have other people network with people within Washington or different organizations. You're not just seeing them for one year, maybe once or twice a year. You're a reoccurring face within the organization.

Morgan Hart
 0:06:57
 And I think that really helps just seal your name and what you're there to do within NPPC specifically. within the within NPCs and PPC specifically But you know she mentioned that you know, there's Multiple different levels that you can get involved whether it's at your local 4-h FFA or at your state level or even the national level there's ways to get involved and It just takes you as an individual finding the right people and Initiating it upon yourself to saying hey, I want to get involved This is the capacity that I can get involved in and just kind of seeing what fits best for you at your current phase of life. 

Casey Bradley
 0:08:05
 I think definitely one of my biggest takeaways was the confirmation that was ok for me to start turning down things and getting off committees. Because I realized I did not have to do it all. And I think it answers some of the questions that I get from a lot of people who look at me as a role model or a mentor or just friend of navigating how do I take on more do I need to take on more and it goes back to me that the simple thing of going to your child's classroom and talking about swine production in this case, or animal nutrition, or doing hatching eggs if you're in the poultry, or talking about milk if you're in the dairy. I think that's a leadership opportunity that would be really easy for us to step into and would not require a long-term commitment. But a lot of times people overlook that to say it's not on my resume as a formal committee or something, but you could put a volunteer at your school. And I think that was another takeaway I got from hers that there are leadership opportunities if you're looking for them, but they don't always have to be those big ones that we think give us more career opportunities or change our stars.

Casey Bradley
 0:09:17

 Right. Well, let's transition over to Courtney's episode. You want to talk about an unsung hero in our field. And obviously, it's an example that once again came out of the swine industry and thus featuring it in Porktober. But it's an example that can be showcased throughout agriculture and I thought that was a pretty remarkable story. It impacted you personally. It's something that I had on my bucket list of a need that we needed to do and here to find out it was getting done by Courtney was even better. Kind of walk us through some of the lessons and that impact Courtney has that hopefully now through this podcast that she gets recognized for.

Morgan Hart
 0:10:04
 Yeah so Courtney has a very unique story as far as the company that she works for is very pro-parent supporting them in as whatever capacity that they need and And when she had her first child, you know, she was at the different pork conferences, specifically World Pork Expo, and was pumping to provide breast milk for her young infant while she was traveling. And there was no setup within the World Pork Expo buildings or anything for a place for moms to be able to go pump to provide breast milk for their babies while they're traveling. And so, you know, she saw a need and was able to figure out through funding within her company and meeting with World Pork Expo event coordinators and whatnot was able to put together a little committee to spearhead a lactation room or a mother room at World Pork Expo. And so at that room she was able to provide small cubicles, private cubicles for mothers to come in and pump and do what they needed to do, as well as a private bathroom, sink, a little refrigerator. And then in addition, there was snacks, water, pretty much anything that you would need. It was there. And I personally... 

Casey Bradley

0:11:57

The snacks got there because of Courtney. She knows how much that means.

Morgan Hart
 0:12:00
 Yeah. Yeah, you know, like the first year she just brought her own stuff and set it up just for other moms to use and then the next year her company stepped in and ended up sponsoring the room and I was able to benefit from that over the last couple years ago. And so you know she didn't have to do it. She just felt the need and wanted to fulfill this the space and provide for other other moms. And you know even nowadays at World Pork and even some of the larger pork industry conferences you'll see that majority, I would say over 50% of the people that are there are moms or working parents, working mothers. And so even just, even if you weren't necessarily pumping or needed the room for lactation purposes, even as a guest to the conference, having a private space where you could go breastfeed your child or just like take time to like, if your kid's having a meltdown, take them into a quiet room and just having the space to be able to compose yourself, your kids and like kind of reset yourself and anyone else that you might have with you.

Casey Bradley

Well, what I loved about that story was the fact that we say we want to be leaders. Courtney didn't go do it for recognition. She wasn't in National Pork or the pork magazines, right? No, Jennifer didn't write a story about her, even though Jennifer, if you're listening, you need to write a story. But you know she's not getting that recognition, she didn't win any awards, I'd love to find her award to win. It is not like we were negative, it was just something overlooked and like you said the demographics have changed so quickly in our industry that those little things do matter and we do need to be considerate of it and I get why you know, it's not it's overlooked traditionally in the industry, but Not only did she see a problem. She created a solution right? She didn't complain about that problem She created the solution for the problem. She wasn't asked to do that she felt like she needed to do that as a human being and it's a remarkable story, an inspiration to all of us in our daily jobs. If you see a problem, just talking about it means you're part of the problem. We need more people like Courtney to act on things and maybe like we can use a swine example, you know, our sow mortality wouldn't be 15% if we had tons of Courtney's working in our barns and different things, we would be bringing solutions every day. But it's also creating that culture in your company.

Casey Bradley
 0:15:25
 In your industry that you're open to these solutions and you're open to the problem solvers, because I think that's kind of really important and I commend Courtney for doing this. I commend her even just taking this, like hey, I want to work part-time now. So she's got two kids, maybe talking about three like you, and you know, that's really important for her.

So even her company, Double L, for saying yes, we love her, she's a value to our company and our customers. We're going to work with you during this period that you want to be that mom and be able to have a career and be a mom the way you want to be. And so.
 
 

0:16:15
 Wow, just go after it. I'd love to hear more stories. The audience, if you have more people you want to highlight, we want to feature them on the coffee in the barn, not just for porktober but for all of our other animals and everything else too. 

Morgan Hart

Our third episode that we aired in October was with Louis Lee and he talked to us about tribasic copper chloride and amino acid markets on a global scale and Casey I know I wasn't able to make it on that one but could you help kind of fill us in on what what I missed and what we missed on with Louis’s episode? 

Casey Bradley
 0:16:57
 Well definitely I think we went a little beyond markets to where Casey got put on the hot seat and not being the guest. I was more the host versus guest here because our Aryeri co-hosted it with me, our intern, but she she did a great job but then also me filling in the gaps on the nutrition side is really we talked about copper and if many of you don't know that my PhD was in minerals. So when it comes to minerals I love talking about them. I know a lot of people out there think I'm the enzyme or phytase girl, but before that I was the trace mineral person there and I've done a lot of work. So I got started working with beans nutrition or representing their products and beans nutrition is a distributor of amino acids and now tribasic copper chloride hopefully phytase and other ingredients coming out of China and really interesting to know you know, how volatile our markets are. In that case, we talked about copper, right? And really copper prices dictate based on the copper market. So if we're doing a lot of electrical building out, right, so a lot of people still pipes in electrical wire and things for the copper, this copper is very valuable. So this last year, we had a record high of copper prices and that impacts us from a nutrition standpoint. So we went into a little bit on nutrition and the role of copper and different things but I think that topic is you know was geared towards the real p3 and animal nutrition but I think when we look at our market and being able to triumph in animal agriculture today; it's even more relevant today than it was a month ago or so when we recorded that because since then you know announcements from BASF and vitamin E plant shutdowns so vitamin E prices are going high. It's not everybody's talking about replacements on vitamin E and the majority of our vitamins come out of China or components of vitamins come out of China if people didn't realize that. So from the vitamin market, very important as well. 

Casey Bradley
 0:19:25
 And then we was talking behind the scenes hearing quotes of having containers shipped in from China, last year was around $3,000 to $3,500, some somewhere in there. And now it's like five times that amount. So we're over $8,000 for a container. That was before the news of the week in October of the longshore strike. So the impact that will have on animal nutrition will be tremendous.

Morgan Hart
 0:20:00
 Even just the export markets of animal protein as well. 

Casey Bradley

Yeah, it's vice versa, right? If we're exporting from the U.S., bringing things in, when we look at a good standpoint, there are ingredients that we have to bring in on container ships. It doesn't matter what continent it's coming from, it has to come in that way. We're doing that with some fruits too here. So even I would see fruits going up. I could probably do that with less cheap Christmas present stuff But you know looking at it, how is that going to disrupt even you know retail supply for the Christmas season? So when you think of even that that's not agriculture, right? But you think of that cost dynamics changing delays and shipping again, we had in COVID. And if the retail stores and small businesses don't have product to sell, they don't have money to spend on protein, or they're laying off employees. And so when we look at animal agriculture, it's a ripple effect beyond just our input ingredient costs. What are your thoughts about everything going on and and what else has just happened in October that's creating a problem in agriculture? 

Morgan Hart

Yeah, one other thing that, and I think Lori mentioned it in her episode, but the farm bill was supposed to get passed sometime here in September, October of this year. And as of now, it does not look like it's going to get passed and unfortunately, because it's not going to get passed, we are gonna have to start all over again come January and the new, after the election with lobbying for for what we want within that farm bill. 

Casey Bradley
 0:22:13
 Which creates problems right because it's an election year you have people on their way out early January you have new people coming in trying to get their feet on the ground. We'll have a new president no matter you know Democrat or Republican we won't go into that, but you have positions filled like the Secretary of Agriculture could change or would change, for instance. So when you look at a farm bill taking that priority, if we didn't get something passed, now obviously, we're recording this, everybody, at the beginning of October.

Morgan Hart

 So there's a lot that could happen between now and the end of the month.

Casey Bradley
 0:22:48
 But I'm not very optimistic with our current legislation. We'll get a farm bill. Some people are actually for just starting over and having a brand new one versus trying to keep the old one going, which is, I think they said 2016. So we kind of probably do need a new one. But the bigger concern of it not passing, I think agriculture and farmers will survive a year without it. I could be wrong. It's the SNAP benefits and we already have a food insecure growing population in the the US and you know even Philip mentioned that on the Real P3 about he couldn't believe all the homeless and people that he saw in California. But when we look at all these ricochet issues, and we hear of lots of layoffs going into different segments of more of that middle management, higher-income families, you know, people losing their jobs. You know, it's a bleak looking at food insecurity and normally we think of that happening only, you know, in the poverty line but now some of these families who have been financially stable will be struggling as well without the proper benefits and things to help them out.

Casey Bradley
 0:24:09
 And, you know, I think I just see all the children who are just victims here that will be impacted by it. And, you know, not talking about politics on either side, but taking care of our children and the people here and I wish I could feed everybody around the world. That's why I'm in agriculture is food security and I wish we could solve it around the world. We have more than an ample amount of food but getting it into the people who need it is the problem and that's really what concerns me the most about the farm bill where some people in agriculture would be like, oh, SNAP or food benefits shouldn't be in the farm bill.

Casey Bradley
 0:24:57
 And that was a debate the last time it was renewed. And you know, we cut funding on that even back then a few years ago. And you know, as a human being and as a Christian, you know, food security is absolutely essential. And we will definitely need some miracles from God to help the food banks out and stuff. I think coming this holiday season and winter and seeing how the economy is going to go. 

Morgan Hart

0:25:41

Yeah. And I mean, even the people that had succumbed to Hurricane Helena that just came through. You know, all the way from Florida, all the way up to North Carolina, West Virginia, Tennessee, you know, all their resources are gone. You know, and how are we gonna be able to help them as well in whatever capacity that they need? 

Casey Bradley
 0:26:01

Yeah, and I would just say, I don't know the rationale, and I've been wanting to call the town of Flippin's and the school district out there. They lost their grant for keeping their food bank open and they were providing meals to kids on the weekends or during summer and things and Now they're saying they're having to close that down because they lost their grant. Breaks my heart and you know, it's on my list of needing to reach out to see what it would take to keep that going. But it's kind of really scary that it's not somewhere else in the world, people.

Casey Bradley
 0:26:37
 It's in your backyards. It's in your neighborhoods. And, you know, that's my take of Porktober. We talk about pork and we're, you know, battling against other animal proteins while food security is not. It's the whole problem of agriculture and we need to not talk about the problem. We in agriculture need to be the solution. Well, what is fun about Porktober for you? Do you do anything different? Do you cook more pork? 

Morgan Hart
 0:27:22

I normally cook pork a lot, just in general, so I don't know if I necessarily cook it more

 than usual. I would say October is very fall weather, so I've been, I don't want to say experimenting, but I've been cooking up my squash soup and doing a little bit more like roasts and whatnot. So I think I've been trying to pair things differently with pork or cook them a little bit differently than how I normally do. Like for example, last week I made a pork loin and I did cabbage and apples in a pot with it and cooked it in an oven.

 And that's the first time I've ever made like pork with that type of combination. Turned out pretty good. Other than that, we'll see what the rest of the month brings. 

Casey Bradley
 0:28:30

Well I was going to say this will air around Halloween and my son has been counting down Halloween since mid-September so disappointed the Halloween store was closed and where we normally go get our costume but oh as soon as they put the costumes out, oh mom I need my costume, I need my costume. So yeah I'm assuming that's on my agenda this weekend. He can't wait any longer to get his costume but my husband is now able to eat pork and we've been eating real bacon again and he's like this bacon is just really good I just don't know maybe I cooked it in the air fryer it's different or just bacon and he said well A you cooked it right you didn't overcook it but B it's real bacon!

Casey Bradley
 0:29:06
 it's real bacon it does taste yummy it's good trust me you've been missed out so he's excited about that and I did share on Animistic's newsletter my Favorite pork recipe in October and we're going to be sharing more so that pot with the cabbage and apples I bet that would be a good recipe for you to share. But we're going to share some of our favorite pork recipes as well. 

Morgan Hart

So Sounds good. I've been very much into getting like freezer meals and stuff ready to with you know prepping for the baby coming and whatnot so I've I'll see if I can dig up any of the like freezer meals that I that I put together with with with pork.

Casey Bradley
 0:29:49
 And I was gonna say if you live near Effingham Illinois a shout out to modern family dinners by Allie Weber who you know was a pork producer or a family is in pork producing. She makes a lot of ready to cook or ready to eat meals with pork. So if you're in that area, Champagne, she has a store in Champagne now and she has a store in Effingham. She puts a lot of pork on her menu as well. So if you're in area. order a pork meal during porktober from an alley. Well I think that's it.

Casey Bradley
 0:30:32
 Happy Halloween everybody! 

We'll probably talk a little food next month but not multi-species. Yes. So next month if you're all not aware, it's Antimicrobial Resistance Awareness Month, and we will be focusing on that. So we'll have some stuff on food safety as well. 

Morgan Hart

Looking forward to it. 

Casey Bradley

Until next time!