Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and Tim
Speaker 1: Stenebek on Bloomberg Radio. Agriculture. I know you talk about this.
Speaker 1: I know we do, Matt a lot. It's a leading
Speaker 1: source of pollution in many countries. We often talk about
Speaker 1: the companies that are looking to basically up in the
Speaker 1: egg industry, figure out a more sustainable and less impactful
Speaker 1: way on the climate to produce all the food that
Speaker 1: we need everywhere.
Speaker 2: Yes, and you know a lot of people say reduce
Speaker 2: the cars or maybe lower the speed limit, and I say,
Speaker 2: look at the cows, look at the cas I like
Speaker 2: driving fast, but maybe that's a little selfie we need
Speaker 2: to do all. The thing is I also love eating
Speaker 2: steaks and butter, so I need those cows.
Speaker 1: I'm going to tell Tom Ryan, our next guest, how
Speaker 1: much you love butter. Tom Ryan is president of Jutera.
Speaker 1: It's the sustainability business of Lando Lakes, who makes butter.
Speaker 1: Of course, as you know, he joins us on Zoom
Speaker 1: from Minnesota. Tom, Nice to have you here with Matt
Speaker 1: and myself. First of all, just lay out exactly what
Speaker 1: you guys do it Shrueterra.
Speaker 3: Yeah, good afternoon, Thanks for having me So Tutera is
Speaker 3: a leading egg sustainability business that offers consultations, tools, and
Speaker 3: solutions for the egg and food value chain.
Speaker 1: What does that mean? No, no, no, break it down.
Speaker 1: So what does it mean. You're working with farmers and
Speaker 1: you're doing what you're working with companies and what do
Speaker 1: you do?
Speaker 3: Yeah, so we really exist to create new market opportunities
Speaker 3: for farmers and egg retailers, and we do that by
Speaker 3: helping them adopt economic, economic, and environmentally sell practices on
Speaker 3: their farms that benefit the soil and the animals, the
Speaker 3: farm itself, yes, the environment too, and then the local
Speaker 3: communities that they're resigned in. And that's backed by that
Speaker 3: one hundred year Land of Lakes co op system that
Speaker 3: you reference. And everything that we do is with the
Speaker 3: farmer at the center, backed by a network of egg
Speaker 3: retailers that they trust.
Speaker 2: So what does that mean in terms of like tell
Speaker 2: us what a week in your schedule looks like?
Speaker 3: It's great, it's you know, we really do serve three
Speaker 3: audiences here. So we have the farmer where we really
Speaker 3: provide them support and tools that help them adopt practices
Speaker 3: on their farms, guide it by their trusted advisor, their
Speaker 3: a retail salesperson that works with them on a daily basis.
Speaker 3: And so we work with those eight retailers to educate
Speaker 3: them and get them prepared to be able to provide
Speaker 3: those solutions to the farmers. And then we work with
Speaker 3: a wide array of companies companies that have made sustainability commitments,
Speaker 3: and we really bridge the gap between all three of
Speaker 3: those stakeholders to come together with a common plan around
Speaker 3: a common goal and a common execution that is that
Speaker 3: meets the goals of all the parties involved.
Speaker 1: So I got to say, Tom, we do talk about
Speaker 1: it a lot here on our broadcast and certainly as
Speaker 1: part of Bloomberg BusinessWeek, but really a company over all,
Speaker 1: Bloomberg News with their green vertical and just looking at
Speaker 1: sustainability and how do we make it better agriculture, they've
Speaker 1: got to make some changes right in terms of how
Speaker 1: we produce food to make sure that we've got enough
Speaker 1: for everybody and that we don't kill the climate in
Speaker 1: the process. So you know, when you talk with farmers,
Speaker 1: when you talk with ag retailers, when you talk with
Speaker 1: CpG companies, I mean, what are the top two things
Speaker 1: that need to be done that maybe aren't being done
Speaker 1: so far.
Speaker 3: I think the first of all was recognizing that what
Speaker 3: we're asking farmers to do is fundamentally change the way
Speaker 3: that they have farmed in many cases for generations, and
Speaker 3: that comes with risk and they need to you know,
Speaker 3: back to my initial statement about balancing the aeronomic, economic,
Speaker 3: and environmental that needs to be addressed. And so, you know,
Speaker 3: farmers all are the ultimate definition of regenerative egg because
Speaker 3: if they're not leaving that land in a better spot
Speaker 3: than when they've found it, they cease to exist. And
Speaker 3: at UTERA we work to help them create that those
Speaker 3: practices that that guide that and that lead to that result.
Speaker 3: But then we also work with both public and private
Speaker 3: sector investment to manage the risk versus reward so that
Speaker 3: it's economically viable for the farmer to you know, maintain
Speaker 3: or add to their current bottom line.
Speaker 2: How many of the farmers you deal with are, you know,
Speaker 2: family farmers. I always have this I don't know if
Speaker 2: it's a misconception, but I always have this picture in
Speaker 2: my mind of giant you know, corporations have bought off
Speaker 2: all of the local farms. But then I drive around,
Speaker 2: I'm from Ohio, drive around my hometown and I still
Speaker 2: see families that I've known for my whole life out
Speaker 2: there farming, So I guess there must be some.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think. I think it's a broad misconception, you know,
Speaker 3: as a farmer myself, so I farm in southwest Minnesota
Speaker 3: with my family. We farm twelve hundred acres of corn
Speaker 3: soy means and have livestock as well. Or a corporation,
Speaker 3: just because I think there's this misnomer of corporation equals bad.
Speaker 3: It's a way to manage and structure your business in
Speaker 3: our case, in order to do the succession planning that
Speaker 3: it takes with my dad who's seventy eight years old
Speaker 3: and in retiring. So you know, big isn't always bad.
Speaker 3: Corporations isn't always bad. You know, again, back to the
Speaker 3: fundamental principles. We got to drive the right practices that
Speaker 3: leave the land in a better spot, manage the opportunities
Speaker 3: for farmers and the retailers, and then meet the needs
Speaker 3: of the environment. And that happens on farms of all scale, small,
Speaker 3: medium and large.
Speaker 2: This reminds me, by the way, Carroll, that documentary I
Speaker 2: was telling you about The Biggest Little Farm is a
Speaker 2: fantastic film I've seen it like four times now about
Speaker 2: this couple and I think they have a kid. So
Speaker 2: this family who takes over this wasted, you know, drought
Speaker 2: destroyed California farm where I guess they've grown the same
Speaker 2: thing over and over every year forever and ruin the soil.
Speaker 2: They they have all of these practices probably that Tom
Speaker 2: knows quite well, in order to reinvigorate the land and
Speaker 2: take care of certain issues without necessarily having to use chemicals,
Speaker 2: and it turns into this beautiful green oasis that I
Speaker 2: highly recommend people watch The Biggest Little Farm. And I'm
Speaker 2: guessing that's the kind of stuff that you tell people
Speaker 2: Tom to put into practice.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think. You know, we really focus in on
Speaker 3: a couple of core factors around the practices that we're
Speaker 3: focused on. First and foremost, it comes with, you know,
Speaker 3: how do we prevent and mitigate the movement of nutrients
Speaker 3: or soil, and we do that through different types of
Speaker 3: tillage practices, So, you know, moving away from tillage practices
Speaker 3: where we turn the soil over which makes it you know,
Speaker 3: vulnerable to erosion or blowing in the wind so to speak,
Speaker 3: and adopting uh, you know, where we leave more residue,
Speaker 3: which allows permeability, keeps the soil in place. Andre is
Speaker 3: the overall structure, and then the implementation of things like
Speaker 3: cover crops, so you know, when you remove a crop
Speaker 3: or when you harvest a crop at the end of
Speaker 3: the year, we actually plant another crop in its place
Speaker 3: to provide those same kind of benefits that talked around,
Speaker 3: like erosion and soil structure, and just overall building up
Speaker 3: the overall health, which again ties back to those three
Speaker 3: pillars of the agonomic and economic, and environmental, resulting in
Speaker 3: that that improved soil health. So we truly are focused
Speaker 3: in on, you know, mitigating the impact that farming has
Speaker 3: on the environment while still feeding a growing population and
Speaker 3: you know, meeting the needs of the consumer.
Speaker 1: Tom, why are you doing this? And I asked this
Speaker 1: because I remember talking with the abn Bedplate folks and
Speaker 1: they were really into sustainability because they were seeing issues
Speaker 1: with water and you can't make beer without water. And
Speaker 1: I just wonder, what is it that you guys and
Speaker 1: your team and the farmers that you talked to. What
Speaker 1: have you seen the wine industries the same thing, whether
Speaker 1: it's fires or droughts, Like they are seeing things firsthand
Speaker 1: in terms of our climate that they know if things
Speaker 1: don't change, there isn't going to be certain industries. So
Speaker 1: what is it? And just got about a minute left
Speaker 1: that you guys are seeing that says to you, if
Speaker 1: we don't do something different, you know, this isn't going
Speaker 1: to be good.
Speaker 3: You know. Being part of the one hundred year old
Speaker 3: member owned cooperative with land Lakes, we were we were
Speaker 3: founded on the principles of a strong early coonomy and
Speaker 3: those farmers coming together to you know, blend their resources
Speaker 3: to create, you know, a successful operation and that span generations.
Speaker 3: I think this is the same you know, by by
Speaker 3: adopting the right practices and really delivering the kind of
Speaker 3: results we are you know where we've paid over nine
Speaker 3: million dollars to farmers, delivered more than four hundred and
Speaker 3: sixty thousands of carbon assets. We're doing that. We're driving
Speaker 3: the viability of rural America while addressing the needs of
Speaker 3: the climate. And uh and that's a unique position to
Speaker 3: be in and one that we're very pound to play
Speaker 3: as TRUETA.
Speaker 2: In land Lake.
Speaker 1: All right, Well, nice to spend some time with you
Speaker 1: on this Wednesday. Tom Ryan, he's president of Trutera, joining
Speaker 1: us on Zoom from Minnesota,