June 6, 2025 • 46 mins
On this week's episode of The Rural Woman Podcast™, you'll meet Lexi Wright.
Lexi is a beginning farmer turned 6th generation when she and her husband purchased the family farm. She enjoys working with food and Ag businesses on their marketing, experimenting cooking from scratch, raising their farm kids in wide open spaces, and having deep conversations with farmers and ranchers making big shifts at home and in the industry on her podcast, 'Farming on Purpose'.
For full show notes, including links mentioned in the show, head over to wildrosefarmer.com/223
. . .
DISCUSSIONS THIS WEEK:
[00:31] - Empowering Women in Agriculture
[01:56] - Transitioning to Full-Time Farming
[17:20] - Challenges for Small Agricultural Businesses
[22:01] - The Importance of Storytelling in Marketing
[28:16] - Exploring Community and Collaboration in Agriculture
[37:51] - The Future of Farming: Embracing Diversity and Community
. . .
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Meet the Team
Audio Editor | MixBär.
Patreon Executive Producers
Sarah R. | Happiness by The Acre
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Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:40):
Hi, I'm Katelyn Duban and thisis the Rural Woman Podcast. I'm a
first generation farmer whomarried into agriculture. Born and
raised in a city, I was sounfamiliar with where my food came
from, but I was determined tofigure it out. Through my journey
into agriculture, I saw womenwho were strong but humble, often
(01:04):
taking a backseat. To me,these women were leaders who deserved
a seat at the table. I createdthe Rural Women Podcast to share
the voices of women in anindustry whose stories often went
untold. The ruralentrepreneurs who live and breathe
their work full of grit andpride. We come here to share our
(01:27):
stories, to be in communitywith each other, to be challenged
and inspired, but mostimportantly, to be celebrated and
to be heard. We may not alllive farm, ranch or homestead the
same, but we are allconnected. We are rural women and
(01:47):
our stories are worthy ofbeing told. Hey everyone. Welcome
back to another episode of theRural Woman Podcast. Today you'll
meet Lexi Wright. Lexi is aKansas based farmer, podcaster and
passionate advocate forpurposeful agriculture. Lexi's journey
(02:10):
into farming started throughher involvement with FFA and eventually
led to her becoming the sixthgeneration to steward her family's
land alongside her husband andkids. What began as a hobby farm
has evolved into a thrivingproduction operation rooted in sustainability,
creativity and community.Today, we're talking about the growing
(02:32):
pains and rewards of makingthe leap into full time farming.
The power of storytelling inag marketing, and why building a
strong infrastructure isessential for business success. Lexi
also shares insights from herown podcast, Farming on Purpose,
where she explores deepconversations with change makers
in food and agriculture. Fromevaluating how we spend our time
(02:56):
and money to exploring thefuture of the local food system,
this conversation is packedwith practical wisdom and heart.
Whether you're farming fulltime or have a side hustle into agriculture,
or you're just dreaming ofwide open spaces, Lexi's story will
inspire you to root down, showup and farm with intention. Without
(03:19):
further ado, my friends, let'sget to this week's episode with Lexi.
Lexi, welcome to the RuralWoman Podcast. How are you today?
I'm good. Thanks so much forhaving me.
I am very excited to besitting across from a fellow podcaster
(03:40):
and as we chatted before I hitrecord, you have the hard job today
of being the podcaster in thehot seat and I get the privilege
of sharing your story. So. So,for the listeners who would like
to know more about you or whoare unfamiliar with you, tell us
who you are, where you'refrom, and how you got your start
in agriculture.
(04:01):
Yeah, my Name is Lexi Wright.I live in Kansas. I got my start
in agriculture in the nationalFFA program. Did that in high school.
And that was not my firstintroduction. We. I grew up on a
hobby farm and my grandparentsfarmed, but it was really the first
thing that I was like, oh, mygosh, like, I want to do this.
(04:23):
I want this to be part of.
My life for the rest of mylife. And so that's where I got my
start. And I was in the FFAfor, I don't know, like six or seven
years, throughout high schooland college. And then after that,
I just knew that we wanted tobe farming. My husband and I had
always dreamed of it. Wetalked about it. He grew up on a
(04:46):
farm, but.
There wasn't reallyopportunity for him to go back at
the time.
So we had a 20 acre homestead.
We did goats, we did chickens,we had horses.
We did end up getting cows and.
Renting pasture to make that sustainable.
But we wanted more.
We wanted to grow, we wanted to.
Be in production agriculture,not just doing.
(05:08):
It, like, on the side as much.
And so we kept continuing to pursue.
Opportunities and see what wasout there.
And we're disappointed againand again because.
Getting land is so hard.
Everyone, I'm sure, can relateto that. But we did eventually end
up moving back to my husband'sfamily farm. His Grandma, who is
(05:30):
92, had decided.
That it was time for her to.
Go to town, and so she soldthe property to us. And we're very
grateful for the opportunityto get to raise our kids here now
and have a little bit ofchance to expand.
Very cool. Yeah, 92 soundslike a great time to move to town.
(05:52):
Yes.
I want to go back to yourexperience with ffa. What fundamental
lessons did you learn frombeing a part of that program?
Well, I think I was drawn toit because I just wanted to acquire
the skills that I saw peopledoing there. And so that was a huge
part.
Of it for me.
(06:13):
Like, I wanted to know how toweld. I wanted to know how to do.
Like, food science judging andlivestock judging. Those were the
actual concrete, like, moretechnical skills were a big part
of.
What I learned there.
And then the leadership sideof it.
As well was a big part for me.I held, like, local and district
and state offices, and forminga community and a network through
(06:38):
that was one of.
The biggest assets to me.
Most of the people that I knowtoday are because I met them through
the FFA when I was in highschool or college. And it just gives
you something in common, youknow, that you can always fall back
on that similar experience.And so those, the technical skills,
(06:58):
but.
Also more of the soft skills of.
Leadership and selfdevelopment were a big part too.
Yeah, very cool. And obviouslygave you skills that I'm sure you
used on your homestead beforeyou moved to the farm. So and growing
up and having a hobby farm andbeing able to, you know, go out and
do all of those chores thatyou needed to do. Tell us about your
(07:20):
current farm now and kind ofhow it differed from the hobby aspect
of farming to being in fullproduction ag.
Well, growing up, the hobbyfarm, we did have a really big garden
and chickens. And then Ibullied my parents into letting me
get a horse when I was 12. Soit was, it was fun. And then I had
(07:40):
some bottle calves when I wasin high school for part of my FFA
project, but it was alwaysmore of just like a fun project.
What we do now, we are cow.
Calf and then we have somegrain acres as well.
And it's still a hobby farm.Technically, it's not our full time
income. My husband and I bothwork off the farm, but we have a
(08:03):
lot more opportunity. So wehave grown from, I think we started
with 20 head of cows to over60 now and are looking.
At more ways to expand.
And because we have the land,we have a lot more opportunities
to figure out how we do thatin a way that works for our family
and our setup. So right now wejust moved back to this farm a year
(08:26):
and a half ago. And so we'rekind of in the.
Evaluation stage of like, whatdo we change?
How do we do this differentlythan my husband's family has done
to this point to make itsomething that is sustainable for
us long term, to maybe one dayhave that be our full time thing
and then hopefully to create.
Opportunities for our kids ifthey should.
(08:47):
Ever want to be involved withthe farm that they have a place to.
Come back to and do that.
So we're looking atdiversifying into different livestock.
It's in an idea stage rightnow. So other than the grain and
the cow calf, we're just likelooking at like, well, maybe we want
to do feeder calves. Maybe wewant to expand our dairy cows. Because
(09:07):
I have milk cows that I milkfor our. Just our family's consumption.
Maybe we want to get goatsagain. I don't know.
We'll see.
But just evaluating thosedifferent kind of sectors to see
how we put it all together touse the resources that we have on
the farm in a way that makessense for us.
I love the Phase that you'rein and that you are referring it
to an evaluation phase. I knowfor me, and this is coming from an
(09:32):
absolute city kid who, as soonas I got out here, I was like, you're
allowed to have whateveranimals you want, like, give me all
of them. And then realizinghow much work goes into livestock
and growing a garden orgrowing a field of crops and all
of these things, like, then itwas the reality check. But the evaluation
phase, I think, is the mostimportant when you are in a big venture
(09:58):
like yourself. And, you know,your husband obviously grew up on
this farm, so he realized whathappens on this farm and what can
happen on the farm. But Ithink thinking outside of the box,
too, is super important,because it would probably be really
easy to come back on the farmand be like, well, I'm just gonna
do what every generation didbefore me.
(10:19):
Absolutely.
And one thing when we boughtthe farm that we felt pretty strongly
about is that this farm hasbeen bought at every generation.
So it's been sold from insidethe family to inside the family every
time.
That it has changed hands.
And we would love to avoid that.
Happening in the future.
I don't want my kids to have.
To buy this farm from me.
So we want to have things lined.
(10:42):
Up for our retirement andplans for.
That so that they don't haveto do that, and we don't have to
rely on that when we're thatage, because it just. It sets the
kids back. You know, we.
We want them to have the opportunity.
That we didn't have to get started.
Younger and grow more, ifthat's what they would like to do.
So having to buy land rightwhen you get started that you technically
(11:04):
already have, but you don't,it just makes it that much harder.
I'm curious, and this is justmy curiosity of people's terminology
for things.
Sure.
You had said that the farmthat you are currently on still you
still refer to as a hobby farmbecause you don't work on their full
time. What to you wouldinstitute it being a, quote, real
(11:27):
farm?
Yeah, I'm sensitive to thatlanguage too, because I know some
people hate the term hobbyfarm. To me, if it were employing
full time, either my husbandor I, then I feel like it would be
more real. And I don't thinkthat it's not real. Like, the work
that we do is definitely real.The investment that we make in it
(11:47):
is real. It just to us, tomake it more impactful to our finances
and to our home. Having one ofus be able to have a Full time income
from the farm would make it real.
Yeah, no, and totally valid. Ihear people describe where they live
(12:08):
in so many different ways andI'm always so curious of how people
determine for themselves and Ithink that's a very valid answer.
Like if I am working full timeand there's a full time income here,
I always believe that if youare producing food and it is feeding
people outside of your family,you have a farm. And really like
(12:29):
whatever adjective you put infront of it, like that's fine for
you, but to me you have a farmand you are a farmer.
So absolutely. Yeah. The. Ithink the identity piece of that
is important to recognize thatyou don't have to exclude yourself
from the group just because ofthe size of your farm or the type
of your farm or any of those specifics.
(12:50):
Right. We could make so manysize jokes right now, but we will
move on because we are muchmore sophisticated than that. So
talk to me about your off farmemployment and what you are doing
and what you are accomplishingfor the agriculture industry.
(13:11):
I started freelancing in themarketing space when I was still
in college and.
Didn'T realize that that hadany kind of impact on my future.
Just was like, oh, these arefun projects and yay, I make a little
extra money.
And I worked full time inoffice job situations until my third
child was born. And I was likereally feeling the stress of going
(13:37):
to an office job every day,having three little kids at home
and figuring that all out, howthat worked and with the responsibilities
of then a smaller farm aswell. So I decided at that point
that I wanted to take mybusiness full time and I opened a
small marketing agency andhave been doing that ever since.
(13:57):
So it's been almost six yearsthat I've been doing this full time.
And what we really focus on ishelping ag, rural and farm and ranch
businesses to find theirmarket and build.
The infrastructure in theirmarketing that they need to be successful
long term. It's taken me along time to.
(14:18):
Realize that that's exactlywhat we do. You know, you kind of
start building websites anddoing advertising or social media
market and it's like those arethe things that we do. But what we
really focus on is providinginfrastructure for ag and rural businesses
so that they can grow throughtheir marketing versus the very specific
services.
Right. And I love that becauseas a person who has to market my
(14:44):
own business, my own company,it can be really easy to fall into
whatever trend is happening inmarketing and really just kind of
throw spaghetti at the wall.To see what sticks. But if there's
not the infrastructure behindit, how successful are you going
to be? Because it's notsustainable. You can't learn every
(15:06):
TikTok dance in hopes that yougo viral and hope that you can sell
your eggs on the side of theroad that way. Like it might not
work for you. So talk to meabout what the process is for you
working with somebody inagriculture to build that foundation.
Where do you start with them?
Well, I don't do any kind ofpackage deals or cookie cutter approaches
(15:29):
because.
I have found that they justdon't work.
When I started my business, Itried to do those because it seemed
like that's what people wantedand what they were used to. But I
would end up completelyrewriting the script after we got
started. It's like thisdoesn't fit you guys at all.
This isn't what you need. Sowe do like some pretty in depth consultation.
I try to get a really good.
Idea of how their businessworks, what.
They do, who their customersare, why.
(15:51):
Their customers have chosenthem to this.
Point and how we expand on that.
So we're trying to identifythe efficiencies that they already
have in their business.
And the things that people are already.
Enjoying about them and justgrow those.
Pieces and then eliminate someof the.
Things that are maybe holdingthem back.
So some really in depthconsultation happens first and then
(16:12):
we put together a strategyfrom there of here's what we're.
Going to do over the next fewmonths and here's what that could
look like if we're stillworking together a year from now.
Here's kind of the roadmap of where.
We'Re going to go and the results.
We would expect to see.
And what I love to do theretoo is we work with businesses of
all sizes. I work with smallbusinesses who it's just, you know,
(16:33):
one person, a solopreneur.
And I work with state agenciesand national agencies too.
So it looks differentobviously to scale those separately.
But what we look at is here.
Are the things that aresustainable for.
You and the projects thatyou're working on and here are the
things that.
Are going to help you to growto the next stage that you want to
(16:55):
get to. When they get to thenext stage.
It might look completelydifferent because their.
Business has changed so muchin that time.
But those are some of theearly steps that we take and look
at.
And I love that you take theapproach of doing an in depth consultation
with them to see what exactlythey need because as you know, if
we're speaking of farmers andranchers, you could be neighbors
(17:19):
with somebody and youroperation could be the exact polar
opposite and your customerscould be the exact polar opposite
of the neighbor next to you.So everybody is so unique and individual.
But I think that's, you know,kind of the interesting part of marketing
for me is just likeeverybody's so different and your
(17:39):
audiences could be completelydifferent in your customers too.
What challenges have you seenthe most when it comes to your clients
that are the solopreneurs orthe farm, the mom and pop farm and
ranch store or anything likethat? Like, what are the biggest
challenges that these smallerbusinesses are facing right now?
I think one of the biggestones that we run into almost every
(18:02):
time.
Is a lack of understanding ofthe resources that they have and
that they might need.
So a lot of times it's kind oflike what you said. You focus on
learning those TikTok dancesand those quick one hit strategies
to gain some exposure. Butthey're not really strategies.
It's. It's distractions.
It's things that you're justlike throwing.
(18:23):
Spaghetti at the wall. So whenwe work with solopreneurs and.
Small businesses like that, weare talking.
About what resources do youhave and what resources can you most
affordably get.
And a lot of them undervaluethe value of their time and over
value.
The price of like a piece ofsoftware. I see a lot of resistance
(18:46):
to.
Invest in Software becauseit's $29 a month or something like
that. I don't want that, Idon't need that. So they spend a
lot of time.
Trying to manipulate theprocess to make.
It all done by them hands on,which one, makes it really difficult
to sustain because they haveother things that.
They need to do in theirbusiness like actually make the product
(19:07):
or provide the service thatthey sell.
And two, they don't do it aswell because they're dreading it.
Most of the time it's like,oh, how many freaking tasks do I
have.
To do before I can go to bed tonight?
So I see a lot of lack.
Of understanding of that.
And I actually see this with some.
Of the bigger businesses Iwork with too.
They rely too much on software and.
(19:29):
Not enough on the manual processes.
So it's like trying to helpthem understand the opportunity cost
or whatever you want to callit and how, how that makes sense
at the level of.
Business that they're at.
Another big thing that I see especially.
Solopreneurs run into is justthat exposure.
Getting that initial push ofpeople are recognizing my business.
(19:52):
People are aware of what Ioffer. People know how they can purchase
from me and know how they can continue.
To support my business.
That is probably the numberone thing that people come to me
for is, you know, I just wantpeople to know about us.
We need to get the word out.
Is what they say. And so whatI like to tell them is, you know,
we live in.
A society that's currency isattention. And if you can't claim
(20:14):
the attention.
For at least a moment, people aren't.
Going to take the extra steps to.
Figure out where you're at,how to buy from you, what you offer
if you can't get that initialattention. So that's usually where
we start working together first.
I love that. Like that is thetweetable moment. Our currency is
our attention. And when you'resaying that, you know, I, even when
I think of it, how do Iconsume media, how do I consume advertising?
(20:39):
Like, think about myself andif I was my ideal customer, you know,
are you yourself your idealcustomer or is somebody else? Right.
And I think of, you know,small farm and ranch businesses that
maybe have an older generationwho, you know, they did clip out
of the newspaper ad when themeat sale was going to be happening.
(21:03):
I haven't looked at anewspaper paper in I don't even know
how long. I don't even getflyers to my P.O. box anymore because
I said no thank you. Right?Like, how do you take the information
that you know and translate itto maybe a generation who is more
resistant? How have you foundthat to be successful?
(21:25):
It's very challenging. To bequite honest, the most success that
I have had with folks of thatgeneration is to get them to.
Understand that I can get them results.
If they follow my processes.
And then most of them are veryhands off.
They don't want to know what Ido for them on a day to day basis
or what my staff does for themon a day to day basis. They're just
like, you know what, you're,you're getting something done here.
(21:47):
So keep doing whatever it isthat you're doing. Just don't tell
me about it because I'm goingto cause problems and create wrinkles
for that. And that's honestlythe most success I've had with that.
I hate that that's the case because.
It'S very challenging for usinternally as.
A team to basically do theirmarketing with no input.
But that is the most success.
Those, those old timers,they're very stubborn.
They just, they won't give in yeah.
(22:57):
They won't get in. But likewhat you said, when there's results
that happen, then that's whenthere's that buy in, right? And I
totally get it, right. If youare looking at metrics that are completely
different than theirs andyou're seeing this success for click
rates or, you know, any ofthose fancy terms that they, they
don't need to know about, theyjust want to see dollars in their
(23:19):
bank account, then I think,yeah, of course they're going to
have that buy in then. Interms of marketing, how important
is our stories?
It's probably the mostimportant part. And I hesitate to
say that because a lot oftimes my clients will say, you know,
that's not the most important part.
The most important part isthat it's.
(23:39):
Making sales for me, that it'sgrowing my business. And that's absolutely
true because that's the wholepoint of doing the marketing to begin
with. If we can't get it tomake the sales, it's not worth it.
But the story is incrediblyimportant because.
It'S usually what yourmarketing is based.
On, whether you realize it or not.
We cannot, in today's day andage, usually market a product simply
(24:02):
off of.
Our internal value that weplace upon the product. It's possible
in very rare instances.
Usually it's the story or thefeelings that we create around the
product or the service.
And I struggle with this pointso much because I like to look at
(24:23):
things from a very, like,productive perspective of like, well,
if you're not creating.
Real value in the world, whatare you doing?
Like, why are you wasting your time?
But stories do have value.
The stories that we tellourselves are some of the most influential
things that.
We can do for our lives andthe direction that our life takes.
(24:44):
And so I have to remind myselfof that honestly sometimes, because
marketing can feel very fluffyin a lot of ways.
But when you think about howmuch of our lives are based on the.
Stories that we believe, notnecessarily fact, not necessarily,
you know, proven past results.
It's about how we feel about those.
(25:05):
That's what makes you realizethat stories.
Are some of the most importantthings that we can do for our marketing.
And if you look, I've done quite.
A bit of research on, like, media.
And how journalism works, andit's, it's the same. We just don't
always realize that that's.
What'S being presented to uswhen it includes stats and statistics
and facts.
(25:25):
Doesn't feel like storytellingas much, but it still is because
of the way that it'spresented, the tone that is.
You know, the undertones, theopinions that.
Are kind of slid in there. Andso doing that in our marketing, a
lot of people are hesitant totell their story and the things that
they believe. But so oftenwhen I can get a business to open
(25:47):
up about why.
They created their business,why they do.
The things that they do, theway that they do them, that's what
opens all the doors to theircustomers into.
Getting media attention andall these things.
It's like the why you do themis just as important as the what.
You actually are doing,because people care.
Why you're doing it. Peoplewant to see that, that hope.
(26:08):
And that intentionality behindwhat you're doing.
They don't want to just seeyour product or your service and
have it.
Be an exchange of goods.
They want to make it feel likeit's something bigger.
You nailed it. Like, that is.That is why our stories matter. And
as a podcaster whospecifically shares stories, to find
(26:31):
people who initially knowtheir value of their story when they
sit down here with me is veryrare. But my job is to get that story
out of you. And hopefully whenyou listen back, you hear that value
just the same as everybodyelse who's listening right now is
hearing that value. Becauselike you said, that is the piece
(26:54):
that connects us, that humanconnection. That's where the, quote,
money is for me, anyways. Iwant to feel that connection. I want
to leave a transaction,whether that's listening to a podcast
or buying something from mylocal grocery store or whatever it
is, I want to have thatconnection. And I think in the world
(27:15):
that we live in today, wherethere are great barriers between
us, whether, you know, it'spolitical, religious, you know, whatever
it is, if you think the sky ispurple or the earth is flat, like,
I don't really care. But if wecan connect through those stories
and I can understand you andwhy you feel the way that you do,
(27:36):
I might not agree with you,but we have that connection because
we're all human at the end ofthe day. And when I think of being
rural and how isolating thatcan be, like, I just think that connection
is pivotal, and building aconnection is pivotal. So talk to
me about how you have builtcommunity and connection through
(27:59):
people in agriculture.
Yeah, it's something that I'mstill working on because it takes
so many layers of community toreally build that for yourself in
a way that feels like whatyou're after. But one of the ways
that I'm.
Trying to do that is through my.
Podcast When I first startedmy podcast.
I was postpartum with myyoungest child. I think she was about
(28:21):
eight months old.
And I was really transitioningin my role on the farm, and I didn't
know what that was supposed tolook like. I had four kids back to
back, and that was all that Iknew how to do. It's like I, my job
is the babies. I'm in chargeof watching the babies.
And raising the babies.
And, you know, I helped out inother places where I could, but that
(28:43):
wasn't my purpose right then.So when she, I knew she was.
Going to be our last, and she.
Was eight months old, it waslike, okay, now what?
What's next?
And so I started turning to find.
Community to see what thatcould look like.
And that ended up resulting inbeing a podcast for me to see how
other people are creatingtheir lives and.
(29:06):
Their perspectives in theirroles on the.
Farm and what, what wasworking for them. And so these interviews
that I was.
Doing, sometimes they would beabout farming, sometimes they would
be about motherhood on.
The farm and figuring out whatpeople's day to day things were and
how.
They were finding success in those.
So my podcast is primarilybeen about.
(29:27):
Trying to create community notonly for.
Myself, but other people whofeel similarly that they don't know
exactly what their role is orwhat their farm should look like,
but they're exploring the options.
And that is what community is,right? It's people coming together
with ideas and throwing thatspaghetti at the wall to see, like,
if this is what it's reallygoing to take. What have been some
(29:50):
of the biggest rewards thatyou have gotten from starting a podcast
and building that community?
Some of the biggest are justideas. Being open to hearing other
people's perspectives.
And realizing the breadth ofthose being in. Like you said, in
a rural community, it can bevery isolating because you might
only see how things are done.
(30:12):
In your rural community or in your.
Little neighborhood, and itfeels like you.
Might be trying to fit a mold.
That doesn't work for you. Buthearing how other people have made
things work for them and thethings that they've tried and the
things that failed, incrediblyeye opening and so impactful.
For me just to think about it.
From their experience andthey, they share more than just like,
(30:35):
well, I did.
This and it failed, or I did.
This and it worked.
They tell the journey to it too.
Which is incredibly valuablejust to think about, you know, on
a day to day basis.
What does that look like if you're.
Pursuing that goal, how doesthat unfold.
For your life and how you feel.
About the life that you'reliving every day, then would that
work for you? Or maybe it wouldn't.
Or maybe this other idea thatsomeone else presented. Water. How
(30:57):
do you combine them?
So that's one of the biggestthings that I have gained. The people
that I've connected with. Ilove following their stories too,
because.
It'S just amazing to see themunfold from some of the folks that
I.
Had on my podcast when I started.
About two years ago. Howdifferent their business is now from.
When I originally had them onmy podcast is just so amazing to
(31:20):
see.
I completely agree. We aregoing into our sixth year doing this,
which is wild to me. And tolook back at the people that I spoke
to six years ago to see whatthey've accomplished or just see
how they have absolutelygrown. Some of them aren't even in
agriculture anymore. And youknow what? They are doing some really
(31:43):
incredible things. But I knowthat the skills and lessons they've
learned along the way havemolded them into the person that
they are today. Becauseagriculture, all encompassing, is
a lifestyle that gives you somany lessons. I'm curious. I. I personally
(32:04):
really don't like it whenpeople ask me this question, but
I feel it's my obligation.What are some of like the favorite
episodes that you've done?
My favorites are easily theones where I've gotten a husband
and wife to come on together.Hearing their perspectives of the
same thing and how differentthey sometimes are is fascinating.
(32:25):
And then seeing how theirroles on the farm intersect and work
together is just really neat.You kind of almost always hear or
see them having discussionlike business discussions on the
podcast interview, which isjust really cool to see unfold. I've
also had a group of sistersthat run a business together come
(32:47):
on. And I really enjoyed thatone too.
Just seeing the business, afamily business.
Because that's what they arefrom kind.
Of the behind the scenes is really.
Cool because that's somethingthat I would love to have for ourselves
one day. You know, whetherthat's with kids or whatever that
looks like, it's just really.
Really neat to see how theyshape their livelihood and their
(33:10):
daily routine around each other.
Yeah, very cool. And I lovethe husband and wife duo interviews.
That almost sounds like it'smarital counseling in some way, shape
or form or could cause maritalcounseling depending how the interview
goes.
Yes, most of them, I thinkwhat's really cool to see is that
(33:32):
they are very much so inagreement on where they're going,
the goals. It's just the howthey get there that sometimes they
like to talk about and figureout what that looks like.
I love that though, because Ieven look at my own partnership and
my own marriage on the farmand how different my husband and
(33:53):
I are in so many differentways, but having similar goals. But
like you said, just gettingthere in different ways absolutely
sings to me. From yourperspective, what are, you know,
the next biggest opportunitiesfor people in agriculture to expand
(34:17):
their businesses?
It's a very good question. Ithink that a lot of opportunity relies
either in cooperatives and Imean that in the traditional sense
of, you know, the local co opor informing cooperatives between
neighbors that help amplifythe resources that you already have,
or take.
The products that you alreadyhave and.
(34:39):
And either diversify them or,you know.
Remix them in creative new ways.
I think that that's one way. Ithink the other thing that is going
to be really impactful as wemove into the future of what the
food system looks like isgoing to.
Be local processing and storage.
And I'm really excited forthat because I think it really makes
(34:59):
our food.
System stronger to have thoseoptions available.
It's nice to see that USDA isinvesting in it in some ways with
some grants and differentopportunities out there.
But we've had a big push for.
Local fresh food that getsdirectly from business to consumer.
But what sometimes is missingthere is.
(35:21):
The shelf stability or theability to.
Prolong the shelf life of a product.
And I think as we see some ofthese local processing options, an
infrastructure.
For that built, there's goingto be.
A lot more opportunitiesavailable to the people who are doing
local food because they'regoing to be able to create new things
(35:41):
without having to go to.
The big processors and have,you know, those certain levels of
quantity that they.
Have to meet to even work withthose folks.
In your perspective, thecooperative thing I absolutely love.
And when I see people doing itand doing it well and it's working,
I just can't. You know, I lookat how agriculture used to be when
(36:07):
we read about it in thehistory books or even in hearing
about it from generationsbefore us on farms, farming used
to be more cooperative. Inyour perspective, why is it no longer
that way? What happened?
I think that we pushed reallyhard on self reliance of every farm
(36:28):
being its own isolatedbusiness that had all.
Of the things that it needed.And because of that, we moved farms.
To fill a very specific niche that.
Was not actually independent.Because when we filled that specific
niche.
We really only had a handfulof customers that we're able to buy
(36:49):
our product. So moving back tomore diversity, but not necessarily
more diversity on your farm,but having the infrastructure that
is available to multiple farmsin an area is what gives us kind
of that edge.
Because the infrastructurebehind running a business.
(37:11):
That is direct to consumer is pretty.
Large, especially if you wantto have.
Any kind of scalability to it.And we just kind of sometimes forget
about that part. It's like,well, we have the product. Why aren't
people going to just buy it?There's so much more behind it that
a lot of those biggercompanies that we sell our raw ingredients
and products to have alreadyfigured that out. So if we can work
(37:35):
together as local farms andbusinesses to use an.
Infrastructure that works formultiple of us, we actually increase
our independence because we're.
Not reliant on some companythat's far away.
We're reliant on each other inour local community.
And that increases theindependence for us as a whole. Instead
(37:55):
of just one farmer selling toa large corporation, it's several
farmers selling to their neighbors.
Yeah. And that's, you know,when I think of. Look at what farmers
markets are. Right. Like it'sone local place that you can bring
your goods to, to sell as acollective in the one area. And obviously
(38:18):
for bigger operations orindustrial agriculture, for us to
sell a one person a cleanedbag of grain costs us a lot more
money than it would to sell asemi load to whomever. Right. So
to figure out ways that youcan make both of those viable for
(38:40):
your business, I think, Ithink more people are interested
in doing it. It's just findingways to do it that makes sense for
their operation.
Absolutely. And I don't wantto make it sound like I'm demonizing
big ag or large corporationsin any way. I just think for the
sustainability of farms andranches, especially the family farm.
(39:01):
And ranch, we have to havemore options available to us. There
has to be more diversity in.
The market or we're so relianton just a few buyers that it really
puts us at risk.
Yep, absolutely. And I thinkdiversity is key to agriculture today.
We're not just selling onecrop or have one stream of revenue,
(39:24):
because like you said, if youdo, then you put yourself at risk
for so many things that areoutside of your control. And as farmers,
there are already so manythings outside of our control.
So, yes, unfortunately.
Lexi, what is next for you?What are you looking forward to on
the marketing side as well asthe podcast side and the farming
(39:47):
side? You have so many sides.So Many hats.
I try to embrace that,although sometimes I admit it makes
me a little crazy. Marketingwise, I am just really looking forward
to 2025. The clients that wework with have.
Big goals for next year andI'm excited to walk alongside them
in those and to meet newbusiness owners that.
(40:08):
Want to work with us andachieve their goals too. I have really
invested in the infrastructure.
Of my own business in the last.
Year to allow us to work withmore businesses, which has been like
a.
Huge step up for me as aperson. I never imagined that I would
be.
A business owner or selfemployed freelancing. I was like,
this is fun. Now I'm like,this is a real business and I need
(40:31):
to treat it like one. Soscaling up there in the last.
Year has been a huge growthfactor for me.
In my podcast, kind of similar.
I'm just looking forward tomeeting new farms and ranches and
helping share their.
Story with other people whoare looking for ideas about how to
make their own family farm orranch sustainable for.
(40:52):
Them and to and to grow theopportunities that are available
to them.
Connecting with the peoplethat I interview.
And the listeners there is sorewarding to me.
And then farm wise, we'relooking at.
Expanding, like I said, tojust different types of livestock
so that we have some diversity there.
So we're looking at gettingsome pens built and I have been slowly
(41:15):
acquiring more dairy cattle tohopefully work towards a micro dairy
that'll be selling milk anddairy products. So I'm.
I'm not sure what thattimeline looks.
Like, but I'm excited about it.
Very cool. And so manydifferent, unique things for you
and the diversity that youhave in, in your businesses and on
(41:38):
your farm. You are walking thetalk, Lexi, when it comes to diversity
and different things. And likeyou said, it can be a lot sometimes,
but I know for me, when we'redoing the things that we feel called
to do, it's a lot of work, butthere's days that it doesn't feel
like work. So.
Absolutely.
My last question for you iswhat is the most rewarding part about
(42:02):
being a rural woman for you?
I think the most rewardingpart to me is getting to just be
outside.
Doing something that I can see the.
Value of with my eyes. We doso much work in a digital world,
in today's world that the.
Value of seeing your work with your.
(42:24):
Hands in the real physicalworld is just so powerful. And I
love that I have that.
Opportunity and I think it's a blessing.
Because we've seen how hard it can.
Be to get to a place on.
A farm where you have the ability.
To do that and have theopportunity to do that if you desire.
Not everybody gets thatopportunity and so I'm very thankful
(42:46):
for that that we, we have thespace and the resources.
To try things and and see themin real life.
Absolutely. And I cannot waitto follow you along and see all of
the things that you get toaccomplish on your farm and in your
business and on your podcast.For the listeners who would like
to connect with you after theshow, where can they find you online?
(43:09):
Tell us the name of yourmarketing company, your podcast,
all of the things.
I actually just went throughkind of a big rebrand. I'm trying
to finish it up before the endof the year for my marketing business,
but it's back pocket socialand then the podcast is Farming on
Purpose and on social mediayou can find me at Farming on Purpose
(43:29):
or just my name, Lexi Wrightand I'm.
On most of the channels.
One of my TikTok's one of my.
Favorites to hang out on.
So that's where I post the most.
Perfect and I will link all ofthose in the show notes so people
can find you and connect withyou. Thank you again so much for
sharing your story with me. Itruly appreciate it.
(43:49):
Thank you so much for having me.
Thanks for listening to theRural Woman Podcast. The Rural Woman
Podcast is more than just apodcast. We are a Canadian community.
A huge thank you to the RuralWoman Podcast team. Audio Editor
Max Hofer. A special thanks toour Patreon Executive producers Sarah
(44:14):
Riedner from Happiness by theAcre to learn how you can become
a Patreon Executive produceror other ways to financially support
the show. Head on over towildrosefarmer.com to learn more.
Be sure to hit the Follow orsubscribe button wherever you listen
to the podcast to get thelatest episodes directly on your
(44:35):
playlist. And if you areloving the show, please be sure to
leave a rating and review onApple Podcasts or any other platform
that accepts ratings andreviews. You can connect with us
on social media, theworldwoman podcast and with me, ildrosefarmer.
One of the best ways you cancan support the show is by sharing
(44:57):
it. Send this episode to afriend or share on your social media.
Let's strengthen and amplifythe voices of women in agriculture
together. Until next time myfriend, keep sharing your story.
Hi, I'm Katelyn Duban and thisis the Rural Woman Podcast. I'm a
first generation farmer whomarried into agriculture. Born and
raised in a city, I was sounfamiliar with where my food came
from, but I was determined tofigure it out. Through my journey
into agriculture, I saw womenwho were strong but humble, often
(01:04):
taking a backseat. To me,these women were leaders who deserved
a seat at the table. I createdthe Rural Women Podcast to share
the voices of women in anindustry whose stories often went
untold. The ruralentrepreneurs who live and breathe
their work full of grit andpride. We come here to share our
(01:27):
stories, to be in communitywith each other, to be challenged
and inspired, but mostimportantly, to be celebrated and
to be heard. We may not alllive farm, ranch or homestead the
same, but we are allconnected. We are rural women and
(01:47):
our stories are worthy ofbeing told. Hey everyone. Welcome
back to another episode of theRural Woman Podcast. Today you'll
meet Lexi Wright. Lexi is aKansas based farmer, podcaster and
passionate advocate forpurposeful agriculture. Lexi's journey
(02:10):
into farming started throughher involvement with FFA and eventually
led to her becoming the sixthgeneration to steward her family's
land alongside her husband andkids. What began as a hobby farm
has evolved into a thrivingproduction operation rooted in sustainability,
creativity and community.Today, we're talking about the growing
(02:32):
pains and rewards of makingthe leap into full time farming.
The power of storytelling inag marketing, and why building a
strong infrastructure isessential for business success. Lexi
also shares insights from herown podcast, Farming on Purpose,
where she explores deepconversations with change makers
in food and agriculture. Fromevaluating how we spend our time
(02:56):
and money to exploring thefuture of the local food system,
this conversation is packedwith practical wisdom and heart.
Whether you're farming fulltime or have a side hustle into agriculture,
or you're just dreaming ofwide open spaces, Lexi's story will
inspire you to root down, showup and farm with intention. Without
(03:19):
further ado, my friends, let'sget to this week's episode with Lexi.
Lexi, welcome to the RuralWoman Podcast. How are you today?
I'm good. Thanks so much forhaving me.
I am very excited to besitting across from a fellow podcaster
(03:40):
and as we chatted before I hitrecord, you have the hard job today
of being the podcaster in thehot seat and I get the privilege
of sharing your story. So. So,for the listeners who would like
to know more about you or whoare unfamiliar with you, tell us
who you are, where you'refrom, and how you got your start
in agriculture.
(04:01):
Yeah, my Name is Lexi Wright.I live in Kansas. I got my start
in agriculture in the nationalFFA program. Did that in high school.
And that was not my firstintroduction. We. I grew up on a
hobby farm and my grandparentsfarmed, but it was really the first
thing that I was like, oh, mygosh, like, I want to do this.
(04:23):
I want this to be part of.
My life for the rest of mylife. And so that's where I got my
start. And I was in the FFAfor, I don't know, like six or seven
years, throughout high schooland college. And then after that,
I just knew that we wanted tobe farming. My husband and I had
always dreamed of it. Wetalked about it. He grew up on a
(04:46):
farm, but.
There wasn't reallyopportunity for him to go back at
the time.
So we had a 20 acre homestead.
We did goats, we did chickens,we had horses.
We did end up getting cows and.
Renting pasture to make that sustainable.
But we wanted more.
We wanted to grow, we wanted to.
Be in production agriculture,not just doing.
(05:08):
It, like, on the side as much.
And so we kept continuing to pursue.
Opportunities and see what wasout there.
And we're disappointed againand again because.
Getting land is so hard.
Everyone, I'm sure, can relateto that. But we did eventually end
up moving back to my husband'sfamily farm. His Grandma, who is
(05:30):
92, had decided.
That it was time for her to.
Go to town, and so she soldthe property to us. And we're very
grateful for the opportunityto get to raise our kids here now
and have a little bit ofchance to expand.
Very cool. Yeah, 92 soundslike a great time to move to town.
(05:52):
Yes.
I want to go back to yourexperience with ffa. What fundamental
lessons did you learn frombeing a part of that program?
Well, I think I was drawn toit because I just wanted to acquire
the skills that I saw peopledoing there. And so that was a huge
part.
Of it for me.
(06:13):
Like, I wanted to know how toweld. I wanted to know how to do.
Like, food science judging andlivestock judging. Those were the
actual concrete, like, moretechnical skills were a big part
of.
What I learned there.
And then the leadership sideof it.
As well was a big part for me.I held, like, local and district
and state offices, and forminga community and a network through
(06:38):
that was one of.
The biggest assets to me.
Most of the people that I knowtoday are because I met them through
the FFA when I was in highschool or college. And it just gives
you something in common, youknow, that you can always fall back
on that similar experience.And so those, the technical skills,
(06:58):
but.
Also more of the soft skills of.
Leadership and selfdevelopment were a big part too.
Yeah, very cool. And obviouslygave you skills that I'm sure you
used on your homestead beforeyou moved to the farm. So and growing
up and having a hobby farm andbeing able to, you know, go out and
do all of those chores thatyou needed to do. Tell us about your
(07:20):
current farm now and kind ofhow it differed from the hobby aspect
of farming to being in fullproduction ag.
Well, growing up, the hobbyfarm, we did have a really big garden
and chickens. And then Ibullied my parents into letting me
get a horse when I was 12. Soit was, it was fun. And then I had
(07:40):
some bottle calves when I wasin high school for part of my FFA
project, but it was alwaysmore of just like a fun project.
What we do now, we are cow.
Calf and then we have somegrain acres as well.
And it's still a hobby farm.Technically, it's not our full time
income. My husband and I bothwork off the farm, but we have a
(08:03):
lot more opportunity. So wehave grown from, I think we started
with 20 head of cows to over60 now and are looking.
At more ways to expand.
And because we have the land,we have a lot more opportunities
to figure out how we do thatin a way that works for our family
and our setup. So right now wejust moved back to this farm a year
(08:26):
and a half ago. And so we'rekind of in the.
Evaluation stage of like, whatdo we change?
How do we do this differentlythan my husband's family has done
to this point to make itsomething that is sustainable for
us long term, to maybe one dayhave that be our full time thing
and then hopefully to create.
Opportunities for our kids ifthey should.
(08:47):
Ever want to be involved withthe farm that they have a place to.
Come back to and do that.
So we're looking atdiversifying into different livestock.
It's in an idea stage rightnow. So other than the grain and
the cow calf, we're just likelooking at like, well, maybe we want
to do feeder calves. Maybe wewant to expand our dairy cows. Because
(09:07):
I have milk cows that I milkfor our. Just our family's consumption.
Maybe we want to get goatsagain. I don't know.
We'll see.
But just evaluating thosedifferent kind of sectors to see
how we put it all together touse the resources that we have on
the farm in a way that makessense for us.
I love the Phase that you'rein and that you are referring it
to an evaluation phase. I knowfor me, and this is coming from an
(09:32):
absolute city kid who, as soonas I got out here, I was like, you're
allowed to have whateveranimals you want, like, give me all
of them. And then realizinghow much work goes into livestock
and growing a garden orgrowing a field of crops and all
of these things, like, then itwas the reality check. But the evaluation
phase, I think, is the mostimportant when you are in a big venture
(09:58):
like yourself. And, you know,your husband obviously grew up on
this farm, so he realized whathappens on this farm and what can
happen on the farm. But Ithink thinking outside of the box,
too, is super important,because it would probably be really
easy to come back on the farmand be like, well, I'm just gonna
do what every generation didbefore me.
(10:19):
Absolutely.
And one thing when we boughtthe farm that we felt pretty strongly
about is that this farm hasbeen bought at every generation.
So it's been sold from insidethe family to inside the family every
time.
That it has changed hands.
And we would love to avoid that.
Happening in the future.
I don't want my kids to have.
To buy this farm from me.
So we want to have things lined.
(10:42):
Up for our retirement andplans for.
That so that they don't haveto do that, and we don't have to
rely on that when we're thatage, because it just. It sets the
kids back. You know, we.
We want them to have the opportunity.
That we didn't have to get started.
Younger and grow more, ifthat's what they would like to do.
So having to buy land rightwhen you get started that you technically
(11:04):
already have, but you don't,it just makes it that much harder.
I'm curious, and this is justmy curiosity of people's terminology
for things.
Sure.
You had said that the farmthat you are currently on still you
still refer to as a hobby farmbecause you don't work on their full
time. What to you wouldinstitute it being a, quote, real
(11:27):
farm?
Yeah, I'm sensitive to thatlanguage too, because I know some
people hate the term hobbyfarm. To me, if it were employing
full time, either my husbandor I, then I feel like it would be
more real. And I don't thinkthat it's not real. Like, the work
that we do is definitely real.The investment that we make in it
(11:47):
is real. It just to us, tomake it more impactful to our finances
and to our home. Having one ofus be able to have a Full time income
from the farm would make it real.
Yeah, no, and totally valid. Ihear people describe where they live
(12:08):
in so many different ways andI'm always so curious of how people
determine for themselves and Ithink that's a very valid answer.
Like if I am working full timeand there's a full time income here,
I always believe that if youare producing food and it is feeding
people outside of your family,you have a farm. And really like
(12:29):
whatever adjective you put infront of it, like that's fine for
you, but to me you have a farmand you are a farmer.
So absolutely. Yeah. The. Ithink the identity piece of that
is important to recognize thatyou don't have to exclude yourself
from the group just because ofthe size of your farm or the type
of your farm or any of those specifics.
(12:50):
Right. We could make so manysize jokes right now, but we will
move on because we are muchmore sophisticated than that. So
talk to me about your off farmemployment and what you are doing
and what you are accomplishingfor the agriculture industry.
(13:11):
I started freelancing in themarketing space when I was still
in college and.
Didn'T realize that that hadany kind of impact on my future.
Just was like, oh, these arefun projects and yay, I make a little
extra money.
And I worked full time inoffice job situations until my third
child was born. And I was likereally feeling the stress of going
(13:37):
to an office job every day,having three little kids at home
and figuring that all out, howthat worked and with the responsibilities
of then a smaller farm aswell. So I decided at that point
that I wanted to take mybusiness full time and I opened a
small marketing agency andhave been doing that ever since.
(13:57):
So it's been almost six yearsthat I've been doing this full time.
And what we really focus on ishelping ag, rural and farm and ranch
businesses to find theirmarket and build.
The infrastructure in theirmarketing that they need to be successful
long term. It's taken me along time to.
(14:18):
Realize that that's exactlywhat we do. You know, you kind of
start building websites anddoing advertising or social media
market and it's like those arethe things that we do. But what we
really focus on is providinginfrastructure for ag and rural businesses
so that they can grow throughtheir marketing versus the very specific
services.
Right. And I love that becauseas a person who has to market my
(14:44):
own business, my own company,it can be really easy to fall into
whatever trend is happening inmarketing and really just kind of
throw spaghetti at the wall.To see what sticks. But if there's
not the infrastructure behindit, how successful are you going
to be? Because it's notsustainable. You can't learn every
(15:06):
TikTok dance in hopes that yougo viral and hope that you can sell
your eggs on the side of theroad that way. Like it might not
work for you. So talk to meabout what the process is for you
working with somebody inagriculture to build that foundation.
Where do you start with them?
Well, I don't do any kind ofpackage deals or cookie cutter approaches
(15:29):
because.
I have found that they justdon't work.
When I started my business, Itried to do those because it seemed
like that's what people wantedand what they were used to. But I
would end up completelyrewriting the script after we got
started. It's like thisdoesn't fit you guys at all.
This isn't what you need. Sowe do like some pretty in depth consultation.
I try to get a really good.
Idea of how their businessworks, what.
They do, who their customersare, why.
(15:51):
Their customers have chosenthem to this.
Point and how we expand on that.
So we're trying to identifythe efficiencies that they already
have in their business.
And the things that people are already.
Enjoying about them and justgrow those.
Pieces and then eliminate someof the.
Things that are maybe holdingthem back.
So some really in depthconsultation happens first and then
(16:12):
we put together a strategyfrom there of here's what we're.
Going to do over the next fewmonths and here's what that could
look like if we're stillworking together a year from now.
Here's kind of the roadmap of where.
We'Re going to go and the results.
We would expect to see.
And what I love to do theretoo is we work with businesses of
all sizes. I work with smallbusinesses who it's just, you know,
(16:33):
one person, a solopreneur.
And I work with state agenciesand national agencies too.
So it looks differentobviously to scale those separately.
But what we look at is here.
Are the things that aresustainable for.
You and the projects thatyou're working on and here are the
things that.
Are going to help you to growto the next stage that you want to
(16:55):
get to. When they get to thenext stage.
It might look completelydifferent because their.
Business has changed so muchin that time.
But those are some of theearly steps that we take and look
at.
And I love that you take theapproach of doing an in depth consultation
with them to see what exactlythey need because as you know, if
we're speaking of farmers andranchers, you could be neighbors
(17:19):
with somebody and youroperation could be the exact polar
opposite and your customerscould be the exact polar opposite
of the neighbor next to you.So everybody is so unique and individual.
But I think that's, you know,kind of the interesting part of marketing
for me is just likeeverybody's so different and your
(17:39):
audiences could be completelydifferent in your customers too.
What challenges have you seenthe most when it comes to your clients
that are the solopreneurs orthe farm, the mom and pop farm and
ranch store or anything likethat? Like, what are the biggest
challenges that these smallerbusinesses are facing right now?
I think one of the biggestones that we run into almost every
(18:02):
time.
Is a lack of understanding ofthe resources that they have and
that they might need.
So a lot of times it's kind oflike what you said. You focus on
learning those TikTok dancesand those quick one hit strategies
to gain some exposure. Butthey're not really strategies.
It's. It's distractions.
It's things that you're justlike throwing.
(18:23):
Spaghetti at the wall. So whenwe work with solopreneurs and.
Small businesses like that, weare talking.
About what resources do youhave and what resources can you most
affordably get.
And a lot of them undervaluethe value of their time and over
value.
The price of like a piece ofsoftware. I see a lot of resistance
(18:46):
to.
Invest in Software becauseit's $29 a month or something like
that. I don't want that, Idon't need that. So they spend a
lot of time.
Trying to manipulate theprocess to make.
It all done by them hands on,which one, makes it really difficult
to sustain because they haveother things that.
They need to do in theirbusiness like actually make the product
(19:07):
or provide the service thatthey sell.
And two, they don't do it aswell because they're dreading it.
Most of the time it's like,oh, how many freaking tasks do I
have.
To do before I can go to bed tonight?
So I see a lot of lack.
Of understanding of that.
And I actually see this with some.
Of the bigger businesses Iwork with too.
They rely too much on software and.
(19:29):
Not enough on the manual processes.
So it's like trying to helpthem understand the opportunity cost
or whatever you want to callit and how, how that makes sense
at the level of.
Business that they're at.
Another big thing that I see especially.
Solopreneurs run into is justthat exposure.
Getting that initial push ofpeople are recognizing my business.
(19:52):
People are aware of what Ioffer. People know how they can purchase
from me and know how they can continue.
To support my business.
That is probably the numberone thing that people come to me
for is, you know, I just wantpeople to know about us.
We need to get the word out.
Is what they say. And so whatI like to tell them is, you know,
we live in.
A society that's currency isattention. And if you can't claim
(20:14):
the attention.
For at least a moment, people aren't.
Going to take the extra steps to.
Figure out where you're at,how to buy from you, what you offer
if you can't get that initialattention. So that's usually where
we start working together first.
I love that. Like that is thetweetable moment. Our currency is
our attention. And when you'resaying that, you know, I, even when
I think of it, how do Iconsume media, how do I consume advertising?
(20:39):
Like, think about myself andif I was my ideal customer, you know,
are you yourself your idealcustomer or is somebody else? Right.
And I think of, you know,small farm and ranch businesses that
maybe have an older generationwho, you know, they did clip out
of the newspaper ad when themeat sale was going to be happening.
(21:03):
I haven't looked at anewspaper paper in I don't even know
how long. I don't even getflyers to my P.O. box anymore because
I said no thank you. Right?Like, how do you take the information
that you know and translate itto maybe a generation who is more
resistant? How have you foundthat to be successful?
(21:25):
It's very challenging. To bequite honest, the most success that
I have had with folks of thatgeneration is to get them to.
Understand that I can get them results.
If they follow my processes.
And then most of them are veryhands off.
They don't want to know what Ido for them on a day to day basis
or what my staff does for themon a day to day basis. They're just
like, you know what, you're,you're getting something done here.
(21:47):
So keep doing whatever it isthat you're doing. Just don't tell
me about it because I'm goingto cause problems and create wrinkles
for that. And that's honestlythe most success I've had with that.
I hate that that's the case because.
It'S very challenging for usinternally as.
A team to basically do theirmarketing with no input.
But that is the most success.
Those, those old timers,they're very stubborn.
They just, they won't give in yeah.
(22:57):
They won't get in. But likewhat you said, when there's results
that happen, then that's whenthere's that buy in, right? And I
totally get it, right. If youare looking at metrics that are completely
different than theirs andyou're seeing this success for click
rates or, you know, any ofthose fancy terms that they, they
don't need to know about, theyjust want to see dollars in their
(23:19):
bank account, then I think,yeah, of course they're going to
have that buy in then. Interms of marketing, how important
is our stories?
It's probably the mostimportant part. And I hesitate to
say that because a lot oftimes my clients will say, you know,
that's not the most important part.
The most important part isthat it's.
(23:39):
Making sales for me, that it'sgrowing my business. And that's absolutely
true because that's the wholepoint of doing the marketing to begin
with. If we can't get it tomake the sales, it's not worth it.
But the story is incrediblyimportant because.
It'S usually what yourmarketing is based.
On, whether you realize it or not.
We cannot, in today's day andage, usually market a product simply
(24:02):
off of.
Our internal value that weplace upon the product. It's possible
in very rare instances.
Usually it's the story or thefeelings that we create around the
product or the service.
And I struggle with this pointso much because I like to look at
(24:23):
things from a very, like,productive perspective of like, well,
if you're not creating.
Real value in the world, whatare you doing?
Like, why are you wasting your time?
But stories do have value.
The stories that we tellourselves are some of the most influential
things that.
We can do for our lives andthe direction that our life takes.
(24:44):
And so I have to remind myselfof that honestly sometimes, because
marketing can feel very fluffyin a lot of ways.
But when you think about howmuch of our lives are based on the.
Stories that we believe, notnecessarily fact, not necessarily,
you know, proven past results.
It's about how we feel about those.
(25:05):
That's what makes you realizethat stories.
Are some of the most importantthings that we can do for our marketing.
And if you look, I've done quite.
A bit of research on, like, media.
And how journalism works, andit's, it's the same. We just don't
always realize that that's.
What'S being presented to uswhen it includes stats and statistics
and facts.
(25:25):
Doesn't feel like storytellingas much, but it still is because
of the way that it'spresented, the tone that is.
You know, the undertones, theopinions that.
Are kind of slid in there. Andso doing that in our marketing, a
lot of people are hesitant totell their story and the things that
they believe. But so oftenwhen I can get a business to open
(25:47):
up about why.
They created their business,why they do.
The things that they do, theway that they do them, that's what
opens all the doors to theircustomers into.
Getting media attention andall these things.
It's like the why you do themis just as important as the what.
You actually are doing,because people care.
Why you're doing it. Peoplewant to see that, that hope.
(26:08):
And that intentionality behindwhat you're doing.
They don't want to just seeyour product or your service and
have it.
Be an exchange of goods.
They want to make it feel likeit's something bigger.
You nailed it. Like, that is.That is why our stories matter. And
as a podcaster whospecifically shares stories, to find
(26:31):
people who initially knowtheir value of their story when they
sit down here with me is veryrare. But my job is to get that story
out of you. And hopefully whenyou listen back, you hear that value
just the same as everybodyelse who's listening right now is
hearing that value. Becauselike you said, that is the piece
(26:54):
that connects us, that humanconnection. That's where the, quote,
money is for me, anyways. Iwant to feel that connection. I want
to leave a transaction,whether that's listening to a podcast
or buying something from mylocal grocery store or whatever it
is, I want to have thatconnection. And I think in the world
(27:15):
that we live in today, wherethere are great barriers between
us, whether, you know, it'spolitical, religious, you know, whatever
it is, if you think the sky ispurple or the earth is flat, like,
I don't really care. But if wecan connect through those stories
and I can understand you andwhy you feel the way that you do,
(27:36):
I might not agree with you,but we have that connection because
we're all human at the end ofthe day. And when I think of being
rural and how isolating thatcan be, like, I just think that connection
is pivotal, and building aconnection is pivotal. So talk to
me about how you have builtcommunity and connection through
(27:59):
people in agriculture.
Yeah, it's something that I'mstill working on because it takes
so many layers of community toreally build that for yourself in
a way that feels like whatyou're after. But one of the ways
that I'm.
Trying to do that is through my.
Podcast When I first startedmy podcast.
I was postpartum with myyoungest child. I think she was about
(28:21):
eight months old.
And I was really transitioningin my role on the farm, and I didn't
know what that was supposed tolook like. I had four kids back to
back, and that was all that Iknew how to do. It's like I, my job
is the babies. I'm in chargeof watching the babies.
And raising the babies.
And, you know, I helped out inother places where I could, but that
(28:43):
wasn't my purpose right then.So when she, I knew she was.
Going to be our last, and she.
Was eight months old, it waslike, okay, now what?
What's next?
And so I started turning to find.
Community to see what thatcould look like.
And that ended up resulting inbeing a podcast for me to see how
other people are creatingtheir lives and.
(29:06):
Their perspectives in theirroles on the.
Farm and what, what wasworking for them. And so these interviews
that I was.
Doing, sometimes they would beabout farming, sometimes they would
be about motherhood on.
The farm and figuring out whatpeople's day to day things were and
how.
They were finding success in those.
So my podcast is primarilybeen about.
(29:27):
Trying to create community notonly for.
Myself, but other people whofeel similarly that they don't know
exactly what their role is orwhat their farm should look like,
but they're exploring the options.
And that is what community is,right? It's people coming together
with ideas and throwing thatspaghetti at the wall to see, like,
if this is what it's reallygoing to take. What have been some
(29:50):
of the biggest rewards thatyou have gotten from starting a podcast
and building that community?
Some of the biggest are justideas. Being open to hearing other
people's perspectives.
And realizing the breadth ofthose being in. Like you said, in
a rural community, it can bevery isolating because you might
only see how things are done.
(30:12):
In your rural community or in your.
Little neighborhood, and itfeels like you.
Might be trying to fit a mold.
That doesn't work for you. Buthearing how other people have made
things work for them and thethings that they've tried and the
things that failed, incrediblyeye opening and so impactful.
For me just to think about it.
From their experience andthey, they share more than just like,
(30:35):
well, I did.
This and it failed, or I did.
This and it worked.
They tell the journey to it too.
Which is incredibly valuablejust to think about, you know, on
a day to day basis.
What does that look like if you're.
Pursuing that goal, how doesthat unfold.
For your life and how you feel.
About the life that you'reliving every day, then would that
work for you? Or maybe it wouldn't.
Or maybe this other idea thatsomeone else presented. Water. How
(30:57):
do you combine them?
So that's one of the biggestthings that I have gained. The people
that I've connected with. Ilove following their stories too,
because.
It'S just amazing to see themunfold from some of the folks that
I.
Had on my podcast when I started.
About two years ago. Howdifferent their business is now from.
When I originally had them onmy podcast is just so amazing to
(31:20):
see.
I completely agree. We aregoing into our sixth year doing this,
which is wild to me. And tolook back at the people that I spoke
to six years ago to see whatthey've accomplished or just see
how they have absolutelygrown. Some of them aren't even in
agriculture anymore. And youknow what? They are doing some really
(31:43):
incredible things. But I knowthat the skills and lessons they've
learned along the way havemolded them into the person that
they are today. Becauseagriculture, all encompassing, is
a lifestyle that gives you somany lessons. I'm curious. I. I personally
(32:04):
really don't like it whenpeople ask me this question, but
I feel it's my obligation.What are some of like the favorite
episodes that you've done?
My favorites are easily theones where I've gotten a husband
and wife to come on together.Hearing their perspectives of the
same thing and how differentthey sometimes are is fascinating.
(32:25):
And then seeing how theirroles on the farm intersect and work
together is just really neat.You kind of almost always hear or
see them having discussionlike business discussions on the
podcast interview, which isjust really cool to see unfold. I've
also had a group of sistersthat run a business together come
(32:47):
on. And I really enjoyed thatone too.
Just seeing the business, afamily business.
Because that's what they arefrom kind.
Of the behind the scenes is really.
Cool because that's somethingthat I would love to have for ourselves
one day. You know, whetherthat's with kids or whatever that
looks like, it's just really.
Really neat to see how theyshape their livelihood and their
(33:10):
daily routine around each other.
Yeah, very cool. And I lovethe husband and wife duo interviews.
That almost sounds like it'smarital counseling in some way, shape
or form or could cause maritalcounseling depending how the interview
goes.
Yes, most of them, I thinkwhat's really cool to see is that
(33:32):
they are very much so inagreement on where they're going,
the goals. It's just the howthey get there that sometimes they
like to talk about and figureout what that looks like.
I love that though, because Ieven look at my own partnership and
my own marriage on the farmand how different my husband and
(33:53):
I are in so many differentways, but having similar goals. But
like you said, just gettingthere in different ways absolutely
sings to me. From yourperspective, what are, you know,
the next biggest opportunitiesfor people in agriculture to expand
(34:17):
their businesses?
It's a very good question. Ithink that a lot of opportunity relies
either in cooperatives and Imean that in the traditional sense
of, you know, the local co opor informing cooperatives between
neighbors that help amplifythe resources that you already have,
or take.
The products that you alreadyhave and.
(34:39):
And either diversify them or,you know.
Remix them in creative new ways.
I think that that's one way. Ithink the other thing that is going
to be really impactful as wemove into the future of what the
food system looks like isgoing to.
Be local processing and storage.
And I'm really excited forthat because I think it really makes
(34:59):
our food.
System stronger to have thoseoptions available.
It's nice to see that USDA isinvesting in it in some ways with
some grants and differentopportunities out there.
But we've had a big push for.
Local fresh food that getsdirectly from business to consumer.
But what sometimes is missingthere is.
(35:21):
The shelf stability or theability to.
Prolong the shelf life of a product.
And I think as we see some ofthese local processing options, an
infrastructure.
For that built, there's goingto be.
A lot more opportunitiesavailable to the people who are doing
local food because they'regoing to be able to create new things
(35:41):
without having to go to.
The big processors and have,you know, those certain levels of
quantity that they.
Have to meet to even work withthose folks.
In your perspective, thecooperative thing I absolutely love.
And when I see people doing itand doing it well and it's working,
I just can't. You know, I lookat how agriculture used to be when
(36:07):
we read about it in thehistory books or even in hearing
about it from generationsbefore us on farms, farming used
to be more cooperative. Inyour perspective, why is it no longer
that way? What happened?
I think that we pushed reallyhard on self reliance of every farm
(36:28):
being its own isolatedbusiness that had all.
Of the things that it needed.And because of that, we moved farms.
To fill a very specific niche that.
Was not actually independent.Because when we filled that specific
niche.
We really only had a handfulof customers that we're able to buy
(36:49):
our product. So moving back tomore diversity, but not necessarily
more diversity on your farm,but having the infrastructure that
is available to multiple farmsin an area is what gives us kind
of that edge.
Because the infrastructurebehind running a business.
(37:11):
That is direct to consumer is pretty.
Large, especially if you wantto have.
Any kind of scalability to it.And we just kind of sometimes forget
about that part. It's like,well, we have the product. Why aren't
people going to just buy it?There's so much more behind it that
a lot of those biggercompanies that we sell our raw ingredients
and products to have alreadyfigured that out. So if we can work
(37:35):
together as local farms andbusinesses to use an.
Infrastructure that works formultiple of us, we actually increase
our independence because we're.
Not reliant on some companythat's far away.
We're reliant on each other inour local community.
And that increases theindependence for us as a whole. Instead
(37:55):
of just one farmer selling toa large corporation, it's several
farmers selling to their neighbors.
Yeah. And that's, you know,when I think of. Look at what farmers
markets are. Right. Like it'sone local place that you can bring
your goods to, to sell as acollective in the one area. And obviously
(38:18):
for bigger operations orindustrial agriculture, for us to
sell a one person a cleanedbag of grain costs us a lot more
money than it would to sell asemi load to whomever. Right. So
to figure out ways that youcan make both of those viable for
(38:40):
your business, I think, Ithink more people are interested
in doing it. It's just findingways to do it that makes sense for
their operation.
Absolutely. And I don't wantto make it sound like I'm demonizing
big ag or large corporationsin any way. I just think for the
sustainability of farms andranches, especially the family farm.
(39:01):
And ranch, we have to havemore options available to us. There
has to be more diversity in.
The market or we're so relianton just a few buyers that it really
puts us at risk.
Yep, absolutely. And I thinkdiversity is key to agriculture today.
We're not just selling onecrop or have one stream of revenue,
(39:24):
because like you said, if youdo, then you put yourself at risk
for so many things that areoutside of your control. And as farmers,
there are already so manythings outside of our control.
So, yes, unfortunately.
Lexi, what is next for you?What are you looking forward to on
the marketing side as well asthe podcast side and the farming
(39:47):
side? You have so many sides.So Many hats.
I try to embrace that,although sometimes I admit it makes
me a little crazy. Marketingwise, I am just really looking forward
to 2025. The clients that wework with have.
Big goals for next year andI'm excited to walk alongside them
in those and to meet newbusiness owners that.
(40:08):
Want to work with us andachieve their goals too. I have really
invested in the infrastructure.
Of my own business in the last.
Year to allow us to work withmore businesses, which has been like
a.
Huge step up for me as aperson. I never imagined that I would
be.
A business owner or selfemployed freelancing. I was like,
this is fun. Now I'm like,this is a real business and I need
(40:31):
to treat it like one. Soscaling up there in the last.
Year has been a huge growthfactor for me.
In my podcast, kind of similar.
I'm just looking forward tomeeting new farms and ranches and
helping share their.
Story with other people whoare looking for ideas about how to
make their own family farm orranch sustainable for.
(40:52):
Them and to and to grow theopportunities that are available
to them.
Connecting with the peoplethat I interview.
And the listeners there is sorewarding to me.
And then farm wise, we'relooking at.
Expanding, like I said, tojust different types of livestock
so that we have some diversity there.
So we're looking at gettingsome pens built and I have been slowly
(41:15):
acquiring more dairy cattle tohopefully work towards a micro dairy
that'll be selling milk anddairy products. So I'm.
I'm not sure what thattimeline looks.
Like, but I'm excited about it.
Very cool. And so manydifferent, unique things for you
and the diversity that youhave in, in your businesses and on
(41:38):
your farm. You are walking thetalk, Lexi, when it comes to diversity
and different things. And likeyou said, it can be a lot sometimes,
but I know for me, when we'redoing the things that we feel called
to do, it's a lot of work, butthere's days that it doesn't feel
like work. So.
Absolutely.
My last question for you iswhat is the most rewarding part about
(42:02):
being a rural woman for you?
I think the most rewardingpart to me is getting to just be
outside.
Doing something that I can see the.
Value of with my eyes. We doso much work in a digital world,
in today's world that the.
Value of seeing your work with your.
(42:24):
Hands in the real physicalworld is just so powerful. And I
love that I have that.
Opportunity and I think it's a blessing.
Because we've seen how hard it can.
Be to get to a place on.
A farm where you have the ability.
To do that and have theopportunity to do that if you desire.
Not everybody gets thatopportunity and so I'm very thankful
(42:46):
for that that we, we have thespace and the resources.
To try things and and see themin real life.
Absolutely. And I cannot waitto follow you along and see all of
the things that you get toaccomplish on your farm and in your
business and on your podcast.For the listeners who would like
to connect with you after theshow, where can they find you online?
(43:09):
Tell us the name of yourmarketing company, your podcast,
all of the things.
I actually just went throughkind of a big rebrand. I'm trying
to finish it up before the endof the year for my marketing business,
but it's back pocket socialand then the podcast is Farming on
Purpose and on social mediayou can find me at Farming on Purpose
(43:29):
or just my name, Lexi Wrightand I'm.
On most of the channels.
One of my TikTok's one of my.
Favorites to hang out on.
So that's where I post the most.
Perfect and I will link all ofthose in the show notes so people
can find you and connect withyou. Thank you again so much for
sharing your story with me. Itruly appreciate it.
(43:49):
Thank you so much for having me.
Thanks for listening to theRural Woman Podcast. The Rural Woman
Podcast is more than just apodcast. We are a Canadian community.
A huge thank you to the RuralWoman Podcast team. Audio Editor
Max Hofer. A special thanks toour Patreon Executive producers Sarah
(44:14):
Riedner from Happiness by theAcre to learn how you can become
a Patreon Executive produceror other ways to financially support
the show. Head on over towildrosefarmer.com to learn more.
Be sure to hit the Follow orsubscribe button wherever you listen
to the podcast to get thelatest episodes directly on your
(44:35):
playlist. And if you areloving the show, please be sure to
leave a rating and review onApple Podcasts or any other platform
that accepts ratings andreviews. You can connect with us
on social media, theworldwoman podcast and with me, ildrosefarmer.
One of the best ways you cancan support the show is by sharing
(44:57):
it. Send this episode to afriend or share on your social media.
Let's strengthen and amplifythe voices of women in agriculture
together. Until next time myfriend, keep sharing your story.
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