S1: E20 - Bringing People Together for a More Sustainable Future with Carrie Vollmer-Sanders

Soil health. Sustainable ag. Regenerative practices. These topics are no longer niche. They're front and center in conversations about the future of food, farming, and resilience.

This week on Secrets of Social Impact Communicators, I sit down with Carrie Vollmer-Sanders, president of Field to Market, a nonprofit coalition of nearly 200 organizations working to advance sustainable agriculture. Carrie is a sixth-generation farmer, coalition-builder, and lifelong learner who is passionate about helping farmers thrive while stewarding the environment.

We explore what it means to lead in a complex, often-polarized ecosystem, and how Carrie has learned to build trust, slow down, and focus on long-term impact—lessons every social impact communicator can apply.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• How to listen deeply without losing sight of your mission

• What it takes to convene unlikely partners across a wide value chain

• Why storytelling—especially personal storytelling—can build trust and fuel resilience

• Carrie’s inspiring pivot from a would-be college athlete to a nationally recognized ag leader

• Why slowing down can be a surprisingly effective leadership strategy

• How her mom’s “say yes and learn as you go” mindset shaped her approach to purpose-driven work

We also discuss the growing interest in soil health, why now is the perfect moment to lean into people’s curiosity about food and agriculture, and how organizations can lead with empathy and authenticity.

Plus, Carrie shares the story of how a miscommunication over the word “shed” became a powerful metaphor for listening better in our personal and professional lives.

Resources + Mentions:

• Learn more about Field to Market: https://fieldtomarket.org

• Connect with Carrie on LinkedIn

• Take the Nonprofit Resilience Quiz – get your free, personalized roadmap for growing your organization

• Subscribe to my newsletter, Secrets of Social Impact Communicators: Join here

• Thanks as always to Lee Williams for editing and producing this episode!

 

Episode Transcript

Unknown (00:00):
Nate Birt, welcome to secrets of social impact

(00:10):
communicators, the Podcast wherewe explore how nonprofit leaders
can breathe lead and grow. I'myour host. Nate Birt, founder of
Silver Maple strategies. I'mreally excited about today's
conversation with our veryspecial guest, because look,
whether you grew up on a farmor, like many Americans or those
around the world, have zeroconnection to food and

(00:32):
agriculture. The fact is, a lotmore people today are talking
about soil health. Are talkingabout sustainable agriculture,
regenerative practices. They'veheard some of the celebrity or
big name farmers or farmoperations that are really
changing the way people thinkabout how they get their food,
where it comes from. And so ourguest today is someone with

(00:55):
tremendous expertise, both as afarmer herself and also as
leader of one of the largestnonprofits focused on
sustainable agriculture here inthe United States, where our
company is based, Carrie VollmerSanders is president of field to
market. In addition to being asixth generation farmer, she's
passionate about collaboratingwith forward thinking farmers,

(01:18):
convening diverse thoughtleaders and addressing
environmental challenges whilemaintaining focus on business
objectives. And so you're goingto really enjoy our conversation
with Carrie, and she's going totalk a lot about the power of
storytelling. She's going totalk about the importance of
investing in yourself as asocial impact leader. And I

(01:38):
think you're also going to get alot of value as she talks about
the idea of resilience, buildingtrust, leaving space for hearing
multiple perspectives, slowingdown, which is counterintuitive,
but actually slowing down tomake good decisions, to get
clarity before moving forward onbig programs or big decisions.
So definitely stay tuned andlisten all the way through the

(02:01):
interview. You're going to get aton of value from what Carrie
has to share. This is actually areally appropriate time to
mention that we now have, atSilver Maple strategies, a new
non profit resilience quizavailable for you to take on our
website. So Carrie's going totalk again, totally separate
from the quiz. She's willing totalk about resilience as it

(02:22):
relates to her own experience,and she's going to share a very
powerful story from her time inhigh school preparing to enter
college that really changed theway she shows up and leads
through times of uncertainty,through times of transition or
change. And the nonprofitresilience quiz that we've built
is really designed to give you aquick two minute assessment, go
through about eight questions.You'll get a custom score. You

(02:46):
will get a customized reportemailed to you that sort of
walks you through a roadmap foryour nonprofit recommended
actions that you can take threerecommended actions, and then
you have the opportunity, if youlike, again, no pressure
whatsoever, whether you're anonprofit or a company doing
social impact work, if you'dlike to meet with us totally
free of charge, and talk aboutyour own situation, maybe growth

(03:08):
opportunities, maybe barriersyou're facing, whether that's
related to fundraising,communications, operations
within your organization, wouldbe happy to visit with you, but
at the end of the day, the goalis to get you that free quiz so
you have a mile marker, if youwill, a roadmap for specific
actions you might take next onyour journey wherever you might

(03:29):
be at. So check it out. If yougo to Silver maplestrategies.com
hover over the Resources buttonat the top of the page, and
you'll get a drop down menu tothe nonprofit resilience quiz.
Again, Silvermaplestrategies.com hover over
resources at the top of the pageand click on the nonprofit
resilience quiz. My marketingcolleague Audrey built this in

(03:52):
partnership with me. We think ithas a ton of value, and we're
excited for you to check it outso see what you think. Email me,
give us some feedback, andthat's all I will say about
that. All right, let's dive innow to our episode today with
Carrie Volmer Sanders, presidentof field to market. All right.
Well, joining me today issomeone that I've had the great

(04:13):
privilege of collaborating withand knowing for many years now,
in my past and present, workingin agriculture, and that is
Carrie Bulmer Sanders, she isthe president of field to
market. Carrie, thanks so muchfor being on the program today.
Oh Nate, I'm super excited to behere. Thank you. Well, I
wonder if you could start bytalking a little bit about
yourself. Carrie, maybe yourbackground in ag, for those,

(04:34):
especially in our audience whomay not be familiar with us,
agriculture and the path thatled you to field to market,
which is the nonprofit you leadtoday?
Oh, Nathan, I'm super excited tobe here. Thank you, sure. Well,
I grew up in a very small towncalled Eden, e d o n, Ohio, and
we grew up on a hog farm. We dideverything ourselves. My dad and

(04:56):
mom had three girls, and we wereeach in charge of something.
Different and helped to make usindependent women. And we were
all first generation to go tocollege. And when I got to
college, I was pretty sure I wasnot going to come back to the
farm. And you know, as lifewould have it, my path, I always

(05:16):
stayed in agriculture. I alwayskind of stayed in the
agriculture and conservationspace, and we also about, not
quite 20 years ago, bought ourfirst farm. My husband and I now
farm with my parents, and Istill get to work in that
intersection of agriculture andconservation, but now get to
lead field to market.
Wonderful. I love that, and Ilove hearing about your

(05:37):
upbringing, being firstgeneration college, continuing
to have that strong tie to yourfamily's farm, to agriculture,
that's amazing. I wonder if youcould talk a little bit about
you mentioned several of theways that you've served as a
leader in the agricultureindustry and conservation,
natural resources, stewardship.Could you talk a little bit
about when you first knew, ormaybe there wasn't a specific

(06:00):
moment, but share a little bitabout when you knew you wanted
to pursue purpose driven work,and really what gets you excited
about doing that kind of impactdriven work every day.
Like you said, it wasn't a lightbulb moment. I feel like I kind
of grew up in a family thatalways was there to serve,
whether it was through thechurch or 4h and for those of
you that are not familiar with4h there's a pledge that you say

(06:23):
at every meeting, and it talksabout my head to clear thinking,
my heart to greater loyalty, myhands to larger service, and my
health to better living. And sothat's kind of been this, I
don't know background that is alevel set for everything that
I've done when it comes to how Ilive my life. I was thinking

(06:43):
back Nate to the first speechthat I ever gave to a national
audience. I think I was 22 I wasinvolved in the sorority called
sigma alpha Sisters ofagriculture, and that speech was
focused on essentially bringingthe different kinds of farmers
together so that we can worktogether as one agriculture. So

(07:05):
it's not pitting dairy farmersagainst hog farmers. We got to
work together as farmers. Itwasn't like organic against non
organic. It was bringing peopletogether as farmers. And I think
that has kind of been the basisfor my work, whether it was at
Farm Bureau or the NatureConservancy or here at field to

(07:26):
market, like we need to connectas farmers, and we need to
connect throughout the valuechain to work together.
I love that vision, and it's soprescient. The speech you gave
when you were 22 talking aboutbringing farmers together and
the work that you're doing nowat field to market, which we'll
talk about in a moment. I wonderif you could talk Kerry a little

(07:46):
bit about your leadership offield to market. It's a
coalition that's bringingtogether roughly 200
organizations across the Agvalue chain. So maybe you can
define for us briefly, what isthe value chain, for those who
are uninitiated, and it's areally big tent. And so I'm
curious both about what you'redoing first of all, and then
about, you know, what's thesecret to building and

(08:07):
sustaining momentum when youhave so many partners at the
table together?
Sure, so build to market. Is anorganization that really is
focused on building trust in theagriculture value chain and
taking action to one enhancefarmer livelihoods, but also to
help build resilient ecosystems.And we do that in a lot of

(08:28):
different ways, but we havesplit the governance into five
sectors, and it's both ends ofthe value chain and everything
in between. It's farmers, it'sagribusiness. We call them
affiliate groups. So it's likeyour researchers, innovators,
universities, governmentagencies, the civil society, and

(08:50):
then the brands in retail. Andthe reason why they're split up
for governance reasons is sothat everybody has an equal
voice at the table. So we aretrying to do hard things, like,
Could you please defineregenerative agriculture? Well,
yes, we've done that, and we didthat through listening to

(09:12):
everyone's voice and not havingequal representation, kind of
throughout our committees, ourfeedback loops, even the board
of directors is split up thatway, and it's been really
valuable to not only does itensure that we are hearing from
each of the differentperspectives, but also that if

(09:35):
you're in the agribusinessworld, you're hearing from other
agribusinesses, and sometimesyou just need a venue where you
can talk with others that areexperiencing the same things
that you are. And so I thinkthat's one of the beauties of
working at field to market andhaving this broad membership to
your point, it is a pretty hugetent. So there are some things

(09:56):
that are difficult, right? Likeyou want to make sure that you.
Agribusiness is by far thelargest sector, because you've
got agribusiness that servesfarmers and agribusiness that
serves brands, and there can bea lot of different pieces and
parts in the middle there. Andso you want to make sure that
you are hearing from everyone.And I think that's one of the
hardest parts, is making surethat you're listening well

(10:17):
enough to serve but you're notover listening in that you're
drifting from your mission.
Yeah, that's such a fine balanceto walk. And I love how you
describe that, listening enoughto serve well and not being sort
of pulled away from the mission.Carrie, that's really astutely
said, you know, I know you'veworked at sort of this

(10:39):
intersection you've describedalready, Carrie of agriculture,
conservation, business, fromyour own farm to EPA Science
Advisory Board, The NatureConservancy and beyond. I think
this is a topic that's broadlyinteresting to a lot of people,
even if you know you're in themajority of people who don't
come from a farm or ranchbackground. But I'm curious,
from your experience, you know,what systemic barriers have you

(11:00):
observed over the years thatmaybe are slowing the adoption
of some of these sustainabilitypractices that you and your
coalition are focused on in rowcrops like corn, soybeans,
cotton, et cetera? What arethose barriers and what are the
biggest opportunities you see toreally move beyond or break
through those barriers?
Well, a couple of things. One,if I had the single right

(11:22):
answer, we would have it allsolved. But there has been a lot
of strides made in the last 10or 15 years, because people are
focused more on workingtogether, and when you're
thinking about things likesustainability, water quality,
water quantity, biodiversity,carbon, climate change. It's not

(11:44):
something that like, there's nota finish line, oh, once we hit
this, then we've won, right? AndI think that's something that's
difficult. And when you havefolks that come into the space
that have the mentality wherethey need to beat somebody else
in sustainability, they need towin in water quality. It doesn't

(12:05):
often lead to folks wanting towork with that person, with that
organization for very long. So Ithink that's one of the hardest
things. Is when you have folksthat come in and they want to
take credit for doing all thework, when it takes a village,
truly. And there are a lot ofthings that can be done
collectively, and you can still,as a for profit organization,

(12:30):
continue to differentiateyourself. And I think that's the
key. We need to be able todifferentiate so that the for
profit entities can show thatthey are different from one
another, right? Like Coke andPepsi don't want to say that
they are the same, but they cancollectively work together
towards things like waterquality, water quantity, to help

(12:53):
the greater good, to reduce riskfor everyone in the ag value
chain and help the supply chainbe more resilient. Yeah,
Carrie and I love that vision ofthe social benefit, like, what
are those issues that are aboveand beyond individual,
proprietary corporate interest,that have a broad benefit for
society, for farmers, for theland, for those who eat and

(13:17):
drink, those products thateveryone in the supply chain is
building toward. So I thinkthat's a really important focus,
and I appreciate your sort ofoutlining what that looks like
in practice for our audience.Something I will say in full
disclosure, as we're sort ofthinking about this, is that my
company, Silver Maplestrategies, decided to place
membership with field to marketrecently because of the fact

(13:39):
that this is such an issuethat's near and dear to my
heart, personally as a leader,but I've also been able to
observe the way in which fieldto market has conducted itself
for many years, starting with mytime back in farm journal. So
that's a bit of a side barCarrie, but I just want you to
know that for those of us whoare out there participating with
even a small level of skin inthe game, it is appreciated that

(13:59):
we're having these kinds ofconversations in agriculture,
because I think it is a modelfor really any industry. How do
we tackle these big, complexissues? And like you said
earlier, there's we don't have asingular solution. If we did, we
wouldn't be here. Is there asense in which you feel like,
and I know I'm going a bit offscript, but is there a sense in
which field to market and itscoalition, its members are sort

(14:21):
of modeling for any industry,practical, sort of society
focused processes for reallygetting better, taking some of
these complex issues and turningthem into solutions.
Yes, absolutely. And I think itshows up in a lot of different
ways. So one of the things Iwant to make sure, when people

(14:43):
are members of field to market,when they attend our events,
when they get our emails, whenthey interact with us in any
way, they understand that it isa collective effort and we're
here to support so sometimes,when you feel that, you see
that. That you see otherstories, hear other stories.

(15:03):
It's easier for you to then putthat in practice in your own
life, outside of what it is thatyou're directly connected to
field, to market with. And Ithink that's one of the things
that we're seeing. Are wedriving it all the partnerships?
No, but we definitely are aplace where people can come and
like, yes, partnerships arestill alive. Yes, you can work
with what people might think,quote, unquote, are strange

(15:26):
bedfellows, but we have to worktogether if we want the AG,
value chain to succeed, and thatmeans that you've got to
understand someone else'sperspective a little bit. And I
think that's the one of thethings I am trying to do is
bring perspective to a placewhere there's already so many
perspectives, but justhighlighting them so that people

(15:47):
hear the differences, theconstraints, the situations that
others are in, so that they havea little bit better sense of
understanding when they leaveour meetings or our events. I
love that Carrie, and I thinkthat perspective sharing and
that holding space for thoseconversations is so important,
especially when we see, again,not a political statement, but

(16:09):
just there's tremendouspolarization, really, in any
aspect of society, here in theUnited States and probably in
other places around the world aswell. So the fact that you're
able to sort of shine aspotlight on those perspectives,
and to your point, do so in anuanced way that addresses
opportunities, addressesconstraints. The word you use,
which I think is so astute, Ithink that's a great model. One

(16:31):
of the things that occurred tome as I was thinking about
questions I wanted to ask you,Carrie, is that while this is a
real sort of a group effort andopportunity to validate the
partnership model, take stock inwhat's working, make adjustments
where things aren't to getgreater progress, whether that's
for row crop sustainability orother issues, it requires

(16:53):
leadership from people like youto step up and say, I'm going to
invest in myself so that I canhelp guide this process or be a
Part of this, whatever thatlooks like. And so I know that
you're both a sixth generationfarmer, and you also recently
completed your MBA at Purdue. Sofirst of all, congratulations.
That's a huge accomplishment.Thank you. Yeah, to build on

(17:14):
that, you know what led you topursue business education at
this part of your career, andhow has that sort of changed
your approach to leadership andimpact at field to market.
So I have always been someonewho loves to learn, and as I
said earlier, I'm a firstgeneration to go to college, but
my mom always put us intosituations where we got to learn

(17:38):
something new, and so she wasalways volunteering us to help
someone do some new, strangetask, right? And so I've always
had that drive within me. And Ithought, when I I have my
master's in agriculture,economics, and I thought, after
I finished that degree, I mightgo get my PhD. Was thinking

(17:58):
about an MBA, you know? And thenlife happens, right? And then
you get married, you have kids,and you start work, and things
just get busy. And I've alwayskept learning by reading. I do a
lot of reading, and someoneasked me before I started my
MBA, well, why would you evenwant to spend time and money

(18:18):
doing that? And I think itwasn't so much that it was the
degree itself, but I wanted toget a better understanding of
human resources and law. Iwanted a better understanding of
business finance. I'm on a lotof boards, and I just wanted to
make sure that I was helpingmake the right decisions or
asking the right questions whenI was in these meetings, and I

(18:41):
thought, you know, why not justgo take the classes at a
university? And when I startedlooking at that, I was like,
well, shoot, I could just get myMBA. Why don't I just do that?
It doesn't matter. I think Igraduated with my MBA just after
my son graduated high school,and it was a commitment on my

(19:03):
end and my family's end. So Idid have a conversation with
them, because, as anyone thathas a high school senior knows
that senior year is super busywith like, senior pictures and
all the senior stuff thathappens, finding a college,
applying for scholarships. Andso it was a family Yes, to do

(19:25):
this, but I don't ever thinkit's you're too old to go back
to school. You know what else itdid Nate. I never even thought
about this. I hadn't been in theclassroom in 20 some years, and
so it was very interesting tolearn how things have changed in
the education system, in acollege or university, right? So

(19:47):
we were talking about AI and notcheating on the papers we were
writing. And I was like, Man, Idon't even know how to do that.
So in the chat rooms that wehad, like when I was in college,
the first. First time, quote,unquote. I mean, I was on a we
tested out things like Twitter.It was like, so so many things

(20:09):
have evolved. It was justphenomenal from that
perspective, too, from atechnology and perspective. So I
it was great on so many levels.
Yeah, I love that, Carrie. And,you know, while we're on the
topic of continuing learning andmaking sure you're asking the
right questions and deepeningyour knowledge base. I'm curious
you mentioned how your mom wouldput you in situations to learn

(20:30):
something new and weird. I'mwondering if you could think of
a specific instance off the topof your head and maybe what it
taught you.
Oh, gosh. So we grew up in ruralOhio, right? So there's a couple
of things she would if anyoneneeded help, she'd be like, Oh,
the girls can come. So we werelike, trying to go help. There's

(20:52):
gonna be a lot of ag words here.We were weaning hogs. So we were
taking the little pigs from themoms so the sows could go back
and be sows again. Moms can gobaby moms again. And we were
taking the little pigs whohappened to be we called them
feeder pigs at that point, sothey were larger, probably 20

(21:12):
pounds, little pigs. But thisparticular farmer, he had them
all Pharaoh, or had them all hadtheir babies in a woods and had
these little huts. And yes, likewe grew up on a hog farm, but we
did not have our pigs in thewoods. And I remember we had
this method of we would feed thesows, and they would all come

(21:35):
together and but we would feedthem on the put the feed on the
trailer, so you kind of trainedthem over a course of several
days. In the last day, you feedthem onto the trailer, and you
close the door so you don't haveto worry about the sows. But
then we had to collect all thelittle pigs. So, you know,
you're running around in theseboots trying to collect all the
pigs, and they're 20 pounds apiece, so you can only carry

(21:57):
like one or two at a time,right, right? And I've never
experienced anything like that.You're trying to run after these
little pigs, and you've gotroots that are sticking out
because the sows kind of brewaround the trees. Oh my
goodness, I would not suggestfarrowing hogs in the woods. So

(22:20):
complicated.
So that's a tremendous story andtremendous practical life and
farting lesson. Is theresomething deeper in the fact
that your mom was having you dothat, that you take away from
that
experience? So my mom alwayswanted to help other people, you
know, help serve, and she alwayswanted us to learn. So I feel
like she continued to, like, putthose two things together. So we

(22:43):
helped people paint things andtear stuff apart. We did a lot
of farming stuff, whether it wasbaling hay or straw or stacking
it, helping feed animals, cleanpeople's houses out if they were
moving or I think she wanted tohelp the community be a better

(23:05):
place. And I think that's that'sprobably where I get some of my
trying to make a difference,trying to help agriculture.
Quite frankly, that's
beautiful. Carrie, thank you forsharing that, and it sounds like
your mom had the right idea, andit's continuing to pay dividends
for you and your sisters. I lovethat, you know, you talked
about, you were using a lot ofag words, and you were really

(23:26):
kind to sort of explain whateach of them meant in the hog
farming context. So I love that,stepping back more broadly, just
for the agriculture industry ingeneral, sustainability
conversations can be prettytechnical and sometimes even
politically charged, as you wellknow, I'm curious, how are you
as a communicator? How has builtto market as an organization,

(23:47):
using storytelling to keep allof those stakeholders engaged in
the same room and workingtowards shared goals?
So Nate, I think I love stories.I think they provide a way to
talk about something that maybeit's not comfortable to talk
about, or you're not supposed touse certain words. And I think

(24:13):
stories are a way to alsohighlight some of the awesome
things that are happening,right? So I try to think of ways
when I'm personally trying toaddress something that's
difficult in a way that how canI talk about it but not talk
about it, right? Sure, and Ithink one of the stories that I
go back to is just being able tolisten to someone else. And my

(24:37):
husband had told me that he wasgonna go shed hunting, and
wanted to know if I wanted to gowith him. And we had looked at
so many different sheds to putin our backyard, to store our
like lawn furniture in thewintertime. And I was like, No,
I'm it's a beautiful day. I amnot going shed hunting today. He

(24:57):
asked my kids if they wanted to.Go. And they were like, Nah,
Dad, you're good. Just go. Aboutan hour later, he sends me a
picture of an antler, which isfrom a deer. And a deer sheds
their antlers, and he wascalling them sheds. He went
looking for deer antlers in thewoods. It would have been a

(25:19):
beautiful day to do that, but Ididn't ask him what he was
doing, and he didn't explainwhat he was thinking. And so we
missed out on this beautifultime together because we just
didn't listen. We didn't ask anymore questions. We just
superficially heard what theyhad to say. And I think that's
what we need to do with oureveryday lives, you know,

(25:40):
working with partners, withsharing the stories like we need
to dig deeper so that people canhear more. We at field to
market. We have some greatstories to tell. I mean, every
year we have these awardwinners, whether it's the Farmer
of the Year, the agribusinessadvisor of the year, or the
collaboration of the year. Andwe've been doing this for, I

(26:02):
think, like, 10 years, andthere's so many great stories
we've been talking about, like,maybe we should resurrect some
of those old stories, becausethey're still good. You know,
yeah, yeah. We've got to keepthe stories going to help relate
it to people that maybe aren'tin agriculture, right?
Absolutely. And I think Carrie,you raise the shed story is
hilarious and such a poignantexample of talking past each

(26:27):
other. And I think, too, youalso raised this really
important idea that that's amoment you won't get back right
with your husband, with yourkids. I've had experiences with
my family where we were sayingtwo different things. We thought
we were on the same page, andyou can't get that back. And so
I think in a similar way,whether it's for sustainable
agriculture or in other sort ofsocial benefit driven

(26:47):
organizations like we have torecognize that communication and
telling those stories isimportant now, because we may
not get that time back later,and we have to act now. And so I
think story to your point issuch a powerful way to mobilize
action. Have you found that tobe true in your experience?
Oh yes, absolutely. And I thinkit's like one of the reason why

(27:08):
I have, in my tagline, in mypersonal email, perspective
matters. It really does matter.And you're not gonna gain
perspective without slowing downjust a little bit, asking some
questions, listening and thencoming back so often we're in a
kind of a reactionary mode. Orwe see someone in a situation,

(27:29):
we assume that we know whatthey're thinking, or we assume
that we know why they said whatthey said, but it could have a
completely different context,and so we should never assume
that's so true. It's so true.Thank you for calling that out,
Carrie, as you do your work,you're bringing you you've

(27:49):
alluded to this already andgiven some very specific
examples, Carrie, of bringingtogether very disparate groups
of people, farmers,agribusiness, nonprofits,
finance companies. How do youalign individual leaders
organizations with oftendifferent priorities, maybe
aligned but fundamentallydifferent perspectives, to use

(28:10):
the word you raised a momentago. How do you keep them moving
toward a common mission in a waythat doesn't lose trust or
momentum?
Well, I think the focus istrust. You need to start by
building trust. And sometimesyou lose momentum, and I think
it's okay to slow down. Rightwhen we were putting together

(28:32):
the for our certificationprogram at The Nature
Conservancy, we took a long timeto build trust. We had great
momentum, and then we had toslow way down because we
couldn't agree on some of thethings related to nitrogen. And
I never thought things weregoing to stop, but we slowed way
down. The beautiful thing was,though, we didn't just slow down

(28:56):
because we couldn't gainagreement. We slowed down
because we needed to do moreresearch, get better aligned,
understand one another a littlebit better, understand the
research a little bit better,and then we started moving
forward again. So I think that'sthe key when you're bringing
folks together with toward acommon mission, is you keep the

(29:18):
trust high. Keep continuing tolisten, work on the pieces that
you can but after you understandthe concerns the other side has,
the circumstances, maybe thatthey have to deal with, then you
can address those, if at allpossible, and move forward. And
I think that's the key, is

(29:39):
keep the trust high. Yeah,that's really powerful, Carrie,
and I love your emphasis ontrust and leaving open the
possibility that sometimesslowing down is the best way to
get clarity, to build consensusand to figure out the way
forward. I think you're right.So often we slow down. We fail

(30:00):
to recognize that speed isn'teverything right in a society
that really prioritizesproductivity and getting things
done. It's a counterintuitivemessage, but it's so important
to raise that banner. So thankyou for making that a priority.
Carrie, what's one questionabout sustainable agriculture
leadership that no one's asking,but should be, in your opinion,

(30:23):
that's a great question. It'sreally interesting right now
that there's so much curiosity,so many people highlighting the
soil health, and we have thisopportunity to lean into other
people's curiosity and interestright now and help more people

(30:46):
understand soil health becausethey're asking about it. So if
someone has piqued theirinterest for whatever reason on
the health of the soil, which weall in agriculture, will say,
yes, that's so critical tohaving healthy ecosystems, to
having high yields, to beingable to feed people, to have

(31:07):
less water that's needed forplants to grow. So I think
that's one of the things that Imaybe we need to ask more is,
how can we lean into otherpeople's curiosity, whether
it's, you know, there's somecrisis that's happening, or
there's a interest in thingslike soil health, or big funding

(31:28):
initiatives like lean in and beable to maybe help educate or
maybe, what else could we do totake advantage of that
curiosity?
Yeah, that's such a greatquestion, Carrie, how can we
lean into other people'scuriosity? I can't tell you the
number of times advisingorganizations in a variety of
capacities on theircommunication strategy, how many

(31:50):
of them say yes, but this iswhat they need to hear. And the
I think the counter argument,which you've outlined really
eloquently, sometimes mybusiness coach ed Gandia, talks
about, okay, well, what dopeople actually want? Right? We
know what we think they need,but what do they actually want
start there, because you have anactive audience ready to hear
that, ready to take action, ifyou just sort of did what you

(32:11):
said earlier, and slow down themomentum long enough to sort of
build that trust, build thatrelationship. What's one thing
you do? Carrie, you're a verybusy person, from a business
leader, a nonprofit leader to afarmer to a spouse, a parent,
and many more hats that you wearthat we haven't even touched on
today. How do you stay saneduring the ups and downs of

(32:33):
purpose driven work?
Well, one, I am just so gratefulthat I have this spouse that I
have, Ryan is amazing in hissupport for me, and I think he
feels the same of me towardshim, but we have a great
relationship, so I think thathas been just a godsend. I don't

(32:55):
know if there's one thing that Ido, I have a strong faith, so I
say a lot of prayers, and notnecessarily that I'm sitting
down and saying prayers for anhour at a time, but I will kind
of say prayers throughout theday, right? I do work out. I
have a coach, honestly, someonethat just to keep me focused on,

(33:18):
yes, I have to do this, maybenot daily, but at least a couple
times a week. And I also listento music when I'm working out.
So that kind of gets my mind ina different place, so I can get
my mind off of things, sure, andI think the last thing I do is I
do a lot of reading, notnecessarily of hard textbooks,
but in audio books. So there'sso much to be learned from other

(33:42):
people's not necessarily they'vebeen in the same position or
same experience, but they'veexperienced some are memoirs.
Some are, I guess they call themself help books, which I think
terrible name. But I read manyothers myself. I understand, but
yeah, I mean, I just, I lovereading.

(34:03):
That's amazing. It's really, Iappreciate your laying out from
your relationship with yourhusband to your faith walk to
reading, listening, exercise,amazing, super practical. Thank
you for sharing that. Carrie,you know, I'm curious. We ask
all of our guests, and we sortof frame this question as social
impact communications. Use astory to open people's hearts,

(34:25):
really, for something biggerbeyond in the case of
businesses, profits, thinkingsomething for a higher purpose.
I'm curious about a story fromyour life. It could be in the
last year, it could be muchfurther back in the past that
has really profoundly changedthe way you think about life
and work. So when I was in I'mgonna go back to high school, so

(34:46):
it's been a little wild ofnature. That's okay. That's
great. When I was in highschool, I thought I was gonna
play basketball in college. Iwas pretty good. I was fast,
Strong. Know all these thingsthat was going to be my I loved
the sport. And I mean, I got toplay practice sometimes against

(35:10):
the high school boys team, justso that I could practice with
them and get stronger andfaster. When I was a junior in
high school, I tore my ACL in myright knee. And so I was out for
the rest of that season intrack. When I was a senior, I
tore my ACL in my left knee. Andso it was like, Okay, well,

(35:35):
that's not gonna work. And so Ihad to pivot what my plans were
and it was out of my control. Ididn't think that my body could
continue to take the aggressivebasketball playing that I wanted
to do, and so I shifted. So Iwent from thinking I was gonna

(35:56):
play high school basketball tolooking at something completely
different in college. I thought,well, I'll just, I'll go into be
a math and agriculture teacher,you know. And then when you get
in college, things shift again.But it was that shift in high
school from thinking I was gonnaplay basketball and planning
everything towards that to Okay,that's not in my control

(36:20):
anymore. I can't do that now. Ineed to shift, and that has
really shaped the way I work, soI can't dwell on poor me. My
knees aren't the way I wantthem. It really is all right.
Well, what can I do now? Andthat's been really helpful,
especially in this past yearwith you know, there's some
things that happened to ourfunding in our organization, and

(36:44):
it was like, Okay, well, that'snot gonna work the way we
thought it is. What can we donow? And so it's I think, that
has helped me be able to shiftmore and not dwell on what could
have been.
Yeah, thank you for sharing thatstory and being so vulnerable.
Carrie, I wonder as you lookback, I mean, High School is a

(37:05):
very, sort of powerful, like,sort of a watershed moment in a
person's life. And I'm curious,like, what was the key for you?
It seems like that's a verymonumental shift in your
thinking, right? Having plannedeverything for a college
basketball career, that's apretty dramatic shift. And I'm
wondering, what were the wasthere a key or a keys that you

(37:26):
used to really confidently makethat pivot, and also sort of, I
guess, mourn and maybe make thetransition in a way that you
felt confident moving into yourcollege career, and obviously
that served you since then.
I mean, I I've always kind ofhad a strong faith, so I think
that played into it even then.And I have my grandmother was

(37:51):
always one of these folks thatwas the eternal optimist, you
know. And I think she helped allof us learn that optimism. And
guess I'll go back to my momagain. You know, she's very
optimistic, and she's like, youknow, there's nothing so bad,
there's not something good thatcomes out of it. And when she
first said it, I was angry,right? Like, yeah, but you don't

(38:13):
understand, mom. But I thinkafter you are laying, I laid in
bed for a long time with thedifferent surgeries, things are
so much different now, but whenI was I was by myself a lot and
thinking about, Okay, well, whatgood can come out of this? And I
think that's part of my mantranow, is all right, when

(38:33):
something happens that you can'tcontrol what good can come out
of it? What are the differentways to look at this, and I
didn't have it all figured outclearly back then. I'm getting
better at that now I think,yeah, looking at the
possibilities.
Yeah, looking at thepossibilities. I love that.
Thank you so much for sharingthat, Carrie. Well, as we're

(38:55):
starting to wrap up, this hasbeen such a I've loved this
conversation. I'm so gratefulfor your sharing your insights
with us. Carrie, when peoplelook back on your life and
contributions, what do you wantthem to say
about you? Well, this is a hardquestion. Nate, I have thought
about this over the years. Ifound some notes that I made a

(39:18):
while back, and I think thebiggest thing is that I've made
a positive difference in theworld. I've helped people work
better. I've helped theagriculture industry. When
people meet me, I want them toleave feeling empowered, to do
more, that things are possible.

(39:40):
Yeah, I love that, Carrie,feeling empowered to do more,
thinking things are possible,that's totally tracks with
everything you've shared and theperson that I've come to know in
you over the years. So I lovethat. I love that vision and
that the language that peopleuse to describe you, Carrie, as
we're closing today, what. Canpeople go to find out more about

(40:01):
you and about the important workthat you're doing at field to
market?
Sure. Well, we have a website,field to market.org, all, all
one word, no hyphens. You canalso find us on LinkedIn and
Facebook and X. I don't know isthat how you call it? I keep
wanting to call it Twitter, butin LinkedIn, I'm also on there.

(40:26):
Carrie Vollmer Sanders, LinkedInis also a place for our field to
market. It's probably the placethat I go the most to look for
things. But yeah, our websitehas all of our new information
as well.
Amazing. Carrie Vollmer Sandersis president of field to market,
and of course, we will make sureto include all of Carrie's

(40:46):
information and data field tomarket in the show notes.
Carrie, thank you once again.It's been a true pleasure to
spend time with you, and I'm sograteful for all of the
leadership insights andcommunications gyms that you've
shared today. Thank you. Nathan,you bet Take care. Bye. Bye.
Well, I just wanna say a hugethank you to Carrie Vollmer
Sanders, president of field, tomarket. That conversation was

(41:10):
eye opening. It was insightful,and I took away some really
practical ideas that I willabsolutely be applying to the
work that we do in our business,working with nonprofits, social
impact organizations, you know,one of the things that I took
away was this idea of makingsure you're listening well to
serve, and you're not listeningso closely that you lose track

(41:31):
of your mission as anorganization, right? You start
to drift or stray from thatmission or goal. I found that to
be so true in my own life,whether it was in the journalism
world or in marketing orfundraising, working with
nonprofits building capacity,you have to sort of strike a
balance between listening reallycarefully and also reminding
people, including yourself as aleader, hey, here's where we're

(41:52):
headed. Let's not stray too farfrom that. The other thing that
I really loved was the storiesthat she relayed about people in
her life, instances in which shewas put into uncomfortable
situations and forced to figureout what to do right, whether it
was the story about the pigs inthe woods and carrying those 20
pound animals, getting themwhere they needed to be, helping
fellow farmers, or sitting inher bed as a high school

(42:16):
student, really reevaluating,where do I take my life? How do
I get through this and leaningon the inspiration and the
example of people like her momand grandma. I can think of
people in my own life, familymembers, parents, grandparents,
friends, mentors, who havereally shaped my thinking at
pivotal moments, and I'm sureyou can too. So I would love for

(42:37):
you this week to think aboutsomeone or someones who've
really been instrumental to youat sort of forks in the road,
and if those people are stillwith us, giving them gratitude,
reaching out to them and tellingthem thank you personally, if
they're no longer here, justhaving gratitude, being grateful
for the time and the insightsand the wisdom they shared with
you, I think that's so importantagain. Thank you so much to

(43:00):
Carrie. Please go check out theinformation in the show notes
about Carrie to find out moreabout the work she and her
colleagues and coalition aredoing at field to market. It's
really transforming the way wethink about sustainable row crop
agriculture here in the UnitedStates. And finally, I'll leave
you with a reminder to go toSilver Maple strategies.com and
check out the resources section,click on the nonprofit

(43:23):
resilience quiz. I think you'llget a ton of value from that,
and maybe even a recommendationor an insight for a next step
you can be taking, especiallythose things that you've been
sitting on for a while. You knowyou need to do something. Let
this be a nudge to take thatnext step in the right
direction. I'm Nate Birt withsilver maple strategies and the
secrets of social impactcommunicators podcast, thanks so

(43:44):
much for being here. Andremember, social impact work is
soul work. Lead like you win.I'll see you next time bye, bye.
You.