January 12, 2023 • 38 mins
Topcon's Dan Hendricks meets with Hansel New, the Director of Sustainability at Dairy Farmers of America, and Chad Huyser, President of Lely North America, to debunk common misconceptions about the dairy industry and shed light on how modern dairy technologies have positively impacted consumers, dairy farmers, and cows over the past 15 years.
To read the full report, visit:
www.aem.org/news/aem-highlights-the-benefits-of-modern-dairy-at-world-dairy-expo-in-madison-wisconsin
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Hello, and welcome to the Topcon Talks Agriculture
podcast.
We are wishing all of ourlisteners a happy 2023 as this
is the first podcast of the NewYear.
We have an incrediblyinteresting podcast for you
today, and I am thrilled thatyou have taken the time to
listen, and I know that youwon't be disappointed.
(00:34):
My name is Dan Hendricks, and Iam your host for today.
I serve as the Senior BusinessDevelopment Manager at Topcon
Agriculture, and I get to workwith an amazing team of talented
individuals who loveagriculture.
They enjoy technology, and theystrive to help farmers and
growers find solutions.
(00:54):
So let's get right into ourpodcast for today, we are
talking about the environmentalbenefits of modern dairy and
forage production.
And why is this an importanttopic you might ask?
Well, because the internet,social media, newspapers,
magazines, and the national newskeep pumping out information and
(01:15):
messaging and propaganda, andmaybe propaganda is a strong
word, but all of this messagingis about the negative effects of
modern agriculture operationsand how they are bad for the
environment.
And I am constantly seeing andreading and hearing and being
hit with messaging about howfarms are adding to global
(01:36):
warming and environmentalcrisis.
In today's podcast, we are goingto look at a powerful study
sponsored by the Association ofEquipment Manufacturers, also
the National Milk ProducersFederation and the Dairy Farmers
of America, and hear from twoguests that will dispute the
message that farming is hurtingthe environment.
(01:59):
In fact, their data and theirexperience shows that
agriculture is actuallybenefiting many of the
environmental concerns that wehear about.
So let me first introduce ourguests and then we'll get right
into our podcast.
Our first guest is Hansel New.
He is the Director ofSustainability programs at Dairy
Farmers of America, and he hasserved in that position over the
(02:21):
past five years.
He has over 20 years ofexperience in the dairy
industry.
He has a bachelor's degree inEnvironmental health and safety
from Oregon State University andan MBA and sustainability.
Hansel, welcome to the podcasttoday.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Thanks, Dan.
Appreciate it.
Thanks for having me
Speaker 1 (02:38):
On.
Hey, you're welcome.
Glad to have you.
Our second guest is Chad Heiser.
Chad is the president of LENorth America.
Chad has been with LEI over 20years and has worked with a
handful of other agricultureequipment companies.
His company Lei, is one of theleaders in dairy technology
solutions across the globe, LEManufacturers, robotic Milking,
(03:03):
feeding, and Animal CareSolutions.
Chad, welcome to the podcasttoday,
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Dan.
Thank you.
Great to be with you today.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Oh, yes, likewise.
Thanks for joining us.
Let's jump right into thediscussion of this fascinating
study and collection of dataabout the dairy industry and the
environment.
Hansel, I'm gonna start thefirst question with you.
Tell us about the origin of thiswhite paper and the Dairy
Farmers of America's involvementin it.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Sure.
Happy to.
So it really started with aconversation that we had with,
uh, aem, the Association ofEquipment Manufacturers.
They had published a, a really,a fascinating paper on the
benefits of precisionagriculture, which, uh, was
really, was really data driven.
It, it told agriculture's goodstory, particularly for North
(03:55):
America.
And, uh, they approached us withthis idea of, Hey, what if we
did something similar for thedairy industry that looked at
not only the, uh, the greatefficiencies and animal care
improvements that have been madefor the, for the, for the herds
themselves, but also kind of thewhole picture, the everything
from growing the crops all theway through manure management on
(04:17):
the, on the back end, you couldsay.
And we, we were really struckwith the idea of, you know,
being, um, a leading dairycooperative here in, in the us.
You know, we represent over6,000 member farms and, um, we,
we understand that dairy isdoing a great job.
(04:37):
They have a good story to tell.
And, uh, really bringingsomething together like this
study that's really data driven,that that helps, uh, combat some
of the negative narratives thatare out there from some groups
about dairy, was really just awin-win.
So we were, we were excited toparticipate.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
What was the overarching objective that you
were trying to accomplish withthis study?
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Yeah, it was pretty basic.
The, the goal was to quantifythe environmental benefits of
modern dairy productionpractices.
Again, not just the, the, theanimals themselves and the
herds, although there have beena lot of efficiencies and
improvements on that site aswell.
Everything from herd geneticsto, to forge quality, et cetera.
But also the practices and thetechnologies that have helped
(05:21):
make that happen.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Sure.
Yeah.
Well, that's fascinating.
And, uh, Chad, let me jump toyou for a question.
How did you first learn aboutthis effort and what role did
your company lately play in it?
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Yeah, sure.
No, I think Hansel touched on animportant point.
Uh, you know, being a member,uh, being an equipment, uh,
oriented company, were, were a,a strong partner with the aem,
uh, as a member.
Uh, and, and as equipmentcompanies, we're always looking
for ways to, to hold up and, andshare the, the practices along
with how the equipment and thetechnology, uh, is assisting
our, our customers, our mutualcustomers in this case, as
(05:57):
Hansel might, uh, might alsoagree, uh, and a lot of the, the
good things that they've beendoing over the years and what
really could happen into thefuture.
So that, that first study thatthat was mentioned, you know,
the, the environmental benefitsof precision agriculture was
really the kind of the startingpoint.
Uh, and that idea was brought toour dairy leadership group, uh,
which is represented by myselfand, and several other of my
(06:17):
dairy equipment peers.
Uh, and we talked about what,what this could really look
like.
And what really got us excited,not only was, was the
data-driven, uh, results that wethought we would, we would see
through the study, but reallyfinding, um, strategic partners
across the dairy space.
Um, because one of theopportunities I think we all
start to recognize is that wehave a strong message to help
(06:38):
our producers tell.
Uh, and whether that comes fromthe, the cooperative side as, as
Hansel mentioned, whether thatcomes from us as equipment
manufacturers and partners forthose producers, uh, along with
several others, uh, you know,national Milk Producers
Federation, so some of thelegislative side of the work
that goes on, um, we all havethe same goal in mind, and
that's what we wanna hold up and, and really highlight the, the
(06:58):
strong environmental and andbenefits that, uh, that our
producers are really workinghard on every day on their, on
their operations across NorthAmerica.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Yeah.
And, and for this question isfor the two of you, why was this
project important?
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Maybe I'll, I'll start.
I think from an importancelevel, what one of the, the
opportunities that, that we seeis that as we, we look into the
future, the, the fundamental ofof agriculture hasn't changed
over the years.
And that's to produce, you know,a high, high quality nutritional
products to feed a worldpopulation.
Uh, we know that population'sgonna grow, uh, and we know
(07:33):
we're going to be doing it withless producers.
Uh, you know, if you look at thetotal number of producers both
here in North America and evenaround the world that are gonna
be responsible for producingthat, that high quality
nutritional dietary need, um,they need a strong voice.
Um, and, and they take greatresponsibility in that.
But we as partners for them alsofeel, uh, quite, uh, quite, uh,
(07:54):
important in, in helping them dothat as well.
So for us, it, it really becamea, an opportunity to, to bring
light to the, the good thingsthat are going on across our
operations and specifically ourdairy operations here in North
America.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Sel, anything you want to add to that?
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Yeah, Chad.
Chad, you kinda took the wordsout of my mouth.
I mean, the, the, you know, thedairy industry is, uh, takes
that responsibility of, of, ofresponsibly feeding the world
seriously, uh, with high quality, nutritious products.
And, and we know that over time,not only have, have we seen in
(08:31):
the past through, through pastenvironmental studies that the
dairy industry continues to domore with less, but with the,
the, the strong demands fromreally a global scale to
increase sustainability whilealso letting consumers get more
insights into what agricultureis actually doing.
(08:52):
Cause a lot of times it feelslike the different groups are
just talking past each other.
And so having a study like thisthat, um, really backs up and
looks at what are theimprovements have been made, and
then where are we going?
Where are the, where are thecontinued efficiencies going to
come from and how does theagriculture community, and more
specifically the dairy communitycontribute to that is, is really
(09:16):
important.
And I think this art, this studyhelps articulate well.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
So, Chad and Hansel, a couple months ago, I was on a
pretty good size, uh, dairy.
Uh, we were there for work for aTopcon project.
And, um, I was really struck bythe efficiencies that the dairy
was using, the professionalismthat was going on.
And, you know, the, themessaging that we're kind of
(09:40):
hearing all the time about, um,being bad for the environment
and, and different messaginglike that, it was a stark
contrast.
What I was seeing happening onthat dairy was just completely
opposite than, than what I'mhearing, like in, in mainstream
media.
So, um, I wanna talk to you andask a little bit about, uh, some
(10:01):
of the myths of modern day dairypractices.
And, um, lemme start off withthis first question, cuz there's
a common misconception thatdairy farming is bad for
emissions, bad for water, badfor land usage, and that methane
from cattle is ruining theenvironment.
Can you tell me some of thereport findings that debunk this
(10:22):
thought process?
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Yeah, yeah.
Happy to take a, a first, firstswing at that.
Well, well, first of all, Imean, to your point, Dan, being
able to just get out on a dairyfarm and experience that I think
is, um, a, a rare privilege andan opportunity that, that not a
lot of dairy consumers, uh,consumers in largely large urban
environments just don't havethat opportunity.
(10:46):
And so what they perceive aboutthe dairy industry can be very
skewed based on what they'rereading and social media or, or
getting from news sources, etcetera, and really seeing is
believing.
And so for, for our cooperative,being able to get our, our
customers, and in sometimescases even, uh, young consumers
like school groups out on dairyfarms, is, is always, is always
(11:07):
gonna help the cause, right?
Mm-hmm.
because you seethe cows, how they're cared for
and everything.
And that's, that's just reallyan, a positive and encouraging
story as far as how this study,um, kind of pushes back against
some of the, the, the myths orthe misperceptions that are out
there.
It, it does so on a variety oflevels.
Well, first of all, for, for us,dairy consumption, um, it should
(11:30):
go without saying, but, butdairy is not, uh, one of the
largest emitters, uh, in the us.
The epa, uh, and US dairyindustry studies both articulate
the fact that US dairy is about2% or less of, of us emissions.
So when you look at thetransportation industry, uh, the
(11:52):
energy industry, which is wellabove 30% of emissions, things
that people do every day intheir, uh, in their lives are,
are going to, at the end of theday, contribute much more to,
uh, contributing, to puttingmore global warming and gases
into the atmosphere than thedairy industry.
That, that said, yeah.
That said, this, this studyreally does kind of go to the
(12:13):
next level of detail andhighlights just some of the, the
, the really good lifecycleassessment work, uh, these kind
of science driven, uh, farm totable studies that have been
done over the years.
It really demonstrates, uh,that, that earlier point that I
made, that the dairy industryjust continues to, to get more
efficient and continues to domore with less.
I mean, from, I'll give you twoquick examples from one of the
(12:37):
things that this AEM studyhighlights is, is a study that
was, that looked at the lastbasically 50, 60 years of
production from the end of WorldWar ii 1944 to, uh, to the two
thousands.
And there was a, on a per gallonof milk basis or or unit of
consumption basis, greenhousegases dropped 63% over that
(13:01):
period of time.
More recently, over the lastdecade, there was a study that
was published in 2019, I believethat was also highlighted in
this AEM paper where, you know,US dairy producers produce 16%
more milk, they use 17% lessfeed to, to produce that milk,
about 30% less water, andfurther reduce their drink
(13:23):
greenhouse gas emissions by anadditional 10%.
So we see those trendscontinuing and the, the, the,
the data and the narrative fromthis AEM study really helped
paint that picture.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Anything you want to add to that, Chad?
Speaker 3 (13:38):
I, I, I think Hansel touched on a lot of important
points.
Maybe the, the one thing I wouldadd is, is, you know, I, I've
always, you know, coming from afarming background myself, I've
always considered farmers to bethe, the original sustainability
minded individuals that we'vealways understood as farmers, as
agriculture, that our livelihoodcomes from the natural resources
that we're in.
You know, we're stewarding,whether that's land, whether
(13:59):
that's water, whether that'slivestock or animal stock, um,
that, that's our livelihood,that that's, that's our
producer's livelihood.
That's what, you know,ultimately is part of their
economic model, uh, that, thatwe've known.
So, so as we look at and, and,and we think about the
generations that we're now in,um, the reality is helping tell
that story to a, a growingconsumer base who's one, two,
(14:23):
now, maybe even three or fourgenerations removed from really
truly understanding whatproduction agriculture looks
like.
How does a gallon of milk, howdoes a pound of, of, of, you
know, beef, whatever that foodstock might be, end up on a
grocery store shelf, thatprocess that, that, that supply
chain, that, that integration oof of those things.
When you, when you talk aboutstepping onto a modern dairy
(14:45):
today and looking at thepractices that they use, whether
that's how they manage theirfeed stock, whether that's how
they, you know, care for theiranimals and the animal wellbeing
and comfort, um, all of thosethings are intentional, uh,
decisions that our producersmake knowing that those are
going to benefit, ultimately theoutput, which is a healthier
animal, uh, a more sustainableenvironmental footprint.
(15:06):
Um, and, and the numbers thatHansel mentioned, you know, in
terms of greenhouse gasreductions, um, I'll, I'll add
one to it.
You know, since, since the endof World War II approximately,
you know, we're, we're, we'reproducing more milk with about
16 million less cows as just a,just as an example.
And that's over a long period oftime.
Mm-hmm.
But if, even if you translatethat over the last 15 years, and
(15:28):
you look at, um, you know, the,the same amount of milk today is
being produced with almost amillion less cows, about just
over 900,000 cows.
Um, so, so we're, we'recontinuing to find ways to
integrate all forms ofagricultural, um, practices,
whether that's in the field,whether that's in animal
genetics, uh, to bring thosetogether to, to, to really make
(15:49):
the, the product that's on thestore shelves the highest
quality.
To do it in a sustainable andresponsible manner and
understand the circularity of,of agriculture is something that
we've always managed.
Uh, we're just able to managethat in a, in a far better, more
precise way today through moderntechnology, modern equipment,
data, uh, and things that makethe producer just a better, a
better overall steward of, ofthe resources.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
Mm.
It's funny, Chad, you, you weretalking about sustainability and
just a, a couple weeks ago, uh,before Christmas, um, I was
actually on site and we weretalking with one of our
customers about this idea ofsustainability.
And as sustainability has becomea buzzword, uh, across a lot of
industries, uh, it's funny, whenyou talk to far, sometimes they
(16:34):
feel like they've been in thesustainability business forever.
This is not a new thing to them.
This is what they do, what theyhave done Yeah.
For centuries.
And all of a sudden, the rest ofthe world has caught on that all
of a sudden this is an importantthing.
And, um, you know, to them it'slike, what's just what I do?
It's what I do.
It's what my dad did, it's whatmy grandfather did.
It's just what we do.
(16:54):
So,
Speaker 3 (16:55):
And, and, and that evolution, if I can add one,
that evolution of, of thosepractices, what my grandfather
did was what he knew and whatwas available to them at the
time, whether that's through theequipment they had available,
through information, through thepractices.
And as, as we evolve with all ofthose things I just mentioned,
you know, generations continueto carry on that legacy.
They're just able to do it withnew and better tools.
(17:17):
And that's what's exciting aboutnot only where we're at today,
but what we think's gonna happeninto the future.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
Hansel, were you gonna add something there?
I didn't mean to cut you off.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
No, I was just agreeing with what Chad was
saying.
I mean, very well put.
Um, and, and something we try toemphasize all the time that,
that dairy farmers are theoriginal stewards of the land,
and they've been at this forgenerations.
Um, we've got a lot of memberswho have been farming for 3, 4,
5 generations now.
And it's just, it's just whatthey've always done.
So when they hear sustainability, uh, they just, we, we just
(17:52):
help them understandsustainability that, Hey, you
folks have been on this journey,right?
You've been doing it, you'vebeen proving it.
You wouldn't be farming thismany generations later if you
hadn't been doing itsustainably.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
Yeah.
Uh, Chad, you kind of touched onthis, but um, I want to ask it
in a more direct way.
How has the industry improvedover the last 15 years?
Speaker 3 (18:16):
Yeah, well, well, you know, that's, that's, I've, I've
had a front row seat to that,uh, certainly with within my
time here at lately over thelast plus 15 years.
Uh, and, and I've watched evenjust in that short period of
time, so many things evolve andchange.
Um, you know, if, if you thinkabout the, the, the, the, the
circularity, so I could touch ona lot of different aspects, but
I'll just pick on a couple.
(18:37):
Um, you know, I mentioned the,the, you know, the, the idea
that today we're producing asmuch fluid milk today as we were
15 years ago, and we're doing itwith, with, you know, over
900,000 less animals.
Um, and if you think about allthe things that go around the,
the, the production process of,of creating a, a a hundred
weight or a gallon or a liter ofmilk, um, you know, you can
(18:58):
touch on so many aspects of, of,of improvement.
Um, you know, if you thinkabout, you know, water and feed
are the two most importantaspects that go into a dairy
animal, that, that somewhatpredict the output or the
quality of the product that,that she's going to produce.
You know, what we're seeingtoday, um, with the, with the,
the performance of, of theanimal in terms of, of feed
(19:20):
efficiencies, um, you know,being able to feed to genetic
potential of the animal thingsthat, that we're space, age, and
not even dreamed of, you know,15 years ago, we're now able to
do today.
And do it in a way that, that,honestly, in some cases, when
you, when you talk about beingon farms, when you have those
conversations with some of ourproducers in the early stages,
they, they kind of scratch theirhead, um, because it's, it's
(19:42):
things that they've probablythought about and thought, wow,
if I had just had the ability todo this, I could take the next
step in my operation towardssustainability or, or more
efficiency or whatever that goalmight be.
Um, so you think about, youknow, the, the less animals, um,
you know, I'll go back to thatgreenhouse gas cause that tends
to be a, a, a big topic andevery one that, you know, people
(20:03):
think about, you know, in thelast 15 years, this study
quantifies that we've been ableto remove what's the equivalent
of 4 million automobilespermanently from the road, just
through better managementpractices in, in, in, in how we,
you know, grow our feedstocks,how we feed the animals, how we
handle the byproducts to comeout of that animal, that
circularity piece that Imentioned.
(20:25):
Um, that is a significantreduction and, and we're doing
as much as we possibly can, butwe also know that there's more
to do.
We believe the low hanging fruitover the last 15 years, ha has
definitely been, been captured.
We know there's more to do, uh,and we're excited because we
believe the equipment, thetechnology, and the data are
gonna allow us to continue tounlock those opportunities.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
Hansel, let me go go this way with you.
Let me ask you this question.
Hansel.
Uh, with all these myths aboutmodern day dairy practices, how
does the agriculture communityget this positive message out to
our culture and our world?
Speaker 2 (21:02):
Yeah, it's a great question, and I think the answer
lies in a couple differentthings.
One is, it's, it's always, themessage is always best delivered
when it comes from folks whoconsumers trust.
And nobody is more trusted thanfarmers.
(21:22):
Uh, you know, people may not,may not trust their government,
they may not trust, uh,business, but at the end of the
day, there's a lot of trustgoing back to, to farmers and,
and having a study like thishelp explain what farmers have
been doing.
So taking all those, those greatstories and aggregating them and
(21:45):
putting them out there in a waythat really helps tell the
farmer's story first andforemost.
And, you know, I think, I thinkit makes it more relatable
because folks can then say,okay, well this is a, this is a
family operation, right?
All the, all the talk about, youknow, uh, big ag or industrial
agriculture, that, that, that'sanother one of those, uh, myths
(22:09):
that's easy to debunk.
I mean, these are, these arefamily operations, um,
regardless of size, whetherthey're milking 50 cows or 5,000
cows, these are run by families.
Um, and so having the farmer'sstory, um, in that, in that
narrative, it's, it's going tohelp a lot in, in making that
(22:31):
that case to, to consumers.
Another thing is just makingsure it's, it's scientific and
it's data driven.
I mean, there's, there's so muchemotion out there around, uh,
well, this is good for you, orthis is bad for you, or, here,
here are the current trends, or,or the, you know, what, what pop
culture is, is saying as far as,um, what's good or what's bad.
(22:53):
But ultimately, you know, us inthe industry who, who are living
this day in and day out and whoare working really hard to
support our, our member ownerswho are really the heroes who
are out there doing this day in,day out, out on their family
operations.
Um, it really comes back to the,to the science and the data and
(23:13):
telling that story in a way thatis, again, relatable, that, um,
breaks it down into a way whereit can, people can wrap their
heads around that and it can bechunked up into smaller bits.
You know, I wouldn't take thisfull study and just throw it out
there in front of consumerstoday, right?
But, but there's so many greatnuggets and insights that, uh,
(23:35):
now because of this study, wecan, we can package up, we can
use it to start conversations.
And I think that's ultimatelywhere progress is gonna come, is
using, using real stories andreal insights from the dairy
industry to help connect withconsumers, to help have a
dialogue and, and tell thatstory.
(23:56):
Cuz otherwise it comes back towe're just not communicating
very well.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
Right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
We definitely have a lot of workto do.
Uh, but yeah, those are greatinsights.
Hansel.
Let, let's move the conversationnow to technology and, um, and
so I wanna ask this to Chad.
Chad, I, your company has someamazing futuristic products, uh,
(24:20):
when a lot of people, mainstreampeople, like my neighbors think
about farms, they usually thinkabout, uh, kind of old guys,
kind of outdated.
He has a flip phone, drives anold truck, he's just kind of,
time has passed him by.
And yet your company is makingthe state of the art, um, very
(24:41):
modern robotic solutions thatthese dairies are using that,
uh, to the average person, theywould just probably have no idea
that, that there's this kind oftechnology.
So how has modern technologyimproved overall efficiency and
decision making on the farm?
Speaker 3 (24:59):
Yeah, I, you know, it , it, uh, your, your description
is, is quite accurate.
Cuz in some cases, some days Iwake up and, and can't believe
what what I'm seeing across theindustry.
And certainly we're, we're,we're excited to be a strong
contributor, but, but there's somany great equipment companies
out there across agriculturalspace that are, that are working
in this precision way in theirown rights, uh, as, as we all
strive to help the producers bemore efficient.
(25:20):
Um, so if you look across, youknow, and focus a little bit
back on the dairy side, um, youknow, when you, when you think
about the, the process, uh, thatgoes on in, in today's modern
dairies, um, you know, we we're,we're we're challenged, you
know, by a lot of things.
You know, uh, farmers arealways, you know, challenged by
things that they can't control.
Whether, um, you know, commoditymar things, things that, that
(25:41):
they just know are, are, areconsiderations and, and dynamics
that they will deal with.
Um, so one of the things that,that we talk a lot with
producers about is what, whatare some of the things that we
can support and, and, and helpthem be in better control of or
more efficient with?
So we talk about labor issues.
We know labor is probably thesingle biggest c concern most
dairies have today.
(26:02):
Uh, if you look at, atconventional dairy practices,
um, you know, it takes a certainamount of labor that just isn't
available, or the cost orquality of that labor has been
very challenging over certainlythe last few years.
So we, we get into situationswhere, you know, as producers
start looking toward theirfuture, they start asking
themselves, okay, what can I doand how can I do this
differently to, to benefit?
(26:23):
First and foremost, uh, wealways put the animal at front
and center, um, because we knowif we take care of her and do it
well, um, we're gonna have a, abetter operation.
We're gonna help the producerhopefully achieve whatever their
goals might be.
Um, so when you look at it,whether that's in robotic
milking systems where, you know,we allow the animal to, to make
her own free choice as to when,when she's milked throughout a
(26:44):
24 hour cycle, um, the amount ofdata that we collect about that
animal during that milkingprocess, um, you know, we, we
get into robotic feeding.
Uh, so we start to think abouthow do we precision feed
animals.
Um, I mentioned geneticpotential earlier here.
Um, you know, the ex one of thereally exciting things that
we're starting to really startto see and unlock is how do we
(27:05):
make, and how do we put a, a, aprocess for a piece of equipment
that can deliver, feed in aprecision way that allows that
animal to, to consume and digestthat more efficiently.
If you do that more efficiently,you, you lower your feed costs,
you, you increase the, thewellbeing of the animal, you,
you've more than likelyincreased her, her overall
output, um, and you increase herlongevity.
(27:27):
So you just have an overallhealthier animal.
Um, all of those things can, canbe tremendously impactful, you
know, and they are today andcertainly in the future when we
think about how we're going tohave to, to do more with less, I
think Hansel said that a, amoment ago, how do we, how do we
consider, you know, continuingto grow our, our output of, of
agricultural products that weknow we're gonna be in demand
(27:47):
for, for a growing population,and yet do it with limited or
more limited resources.
Um, you know, and those types ofthings.
We, we certainly believe theequipment that's available to
us, whether that's in the barn,outside of the barn, is, is
playing a strong role today.
And we'll play a, a, a key roleinto the future in, in order to
achieve those goals that, uh,that we collectively have as an
(28:08):
industry.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
With full disclosure, some of our listeners may know
this, but, uh, Topcon is in themanagement feed management
business and we have a lot of,uh, feeding solutions that are
in, in dairies all across thecountry.
But, uh, Hansel, I wanna ask you, uh, what are some of the
specific improvements in theproductivity levels that are the
(28:32):
direct result of using, youknow, feed management, uh,
solutions and technology ormilking solutions?
What are you seeing as specificimprovements that are helping
productivity?
Speaker 2 (28:47):
Sure.
Dan, maybe just a couplespecific examples.
One is in what I'll call herdmanagement software, where farms
can, um, track even movement oftheir, of their herd on an
ongoing basis.
Their, their taking theirinputs, like their feed cost,
their feed quality, their, uh,their, their ration and forage.
(29:12):
And really using a platform likea herd management software to
really dive deep and to getthose insights that are just
gonna help them get smarter andbetter over time.
Another specific technology onthe feed side, cuz we know that
feed and or what we could callforage quality is one of the
most important aspects in, indoing more with less and in
(29:35):
keeping costs down and ensuringthat that animal is just getting
optimum nutrition for, for herdaily needs.
Um, one of the fairly simple butpretty game-changing
technologies out there that'sbeing more widely adopted is
using infrared dry matteranalyzers so that producers can
(29:56):
get a much better sense ofwhat's the, what's the true
level of dry matter that I'mfeeding these animals.
Uh, because that can, that canvary so much.
Even with you're pour, you know,you're pulling corn silage out
of your, your storage on aday-today basis.
There could still be a lot ofvarieties in the day-to-day
moisture content.
And so getting nearinstantaneous readings from
(30:18):
these, um, near infrared dryanalyzers is really helping
producers to optimize, uh, andcontrol their costs while
ensuring that those animals aregetting the top nutrition that
they need in order to be the,the superstars that they really
are for these dairy operations.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
And Hansel, where are these sensors in the process,
these near infrared sensors?
Are they on the mixer or whereare they at?
A,
Speaker 2 (30:46):
A lot of'em, uh, some of'em are portable today.
Um, oh, okay.
There's, there's some that lookbasically like a, a large coffee
mug that has a lid on it and yougo up to your silage pile or
your total mixed ration, youpull a scoop into this analyzer
and you've got a result within amatter of minutes instead of
waiting hours to, to dry asample in a lab.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
Wow, that's fascinating that, that kind of
technology is available today.
Cuz like we were talking, youknow, generations ago for
grandpa and further generations,they never had that kind of
ability to, to get that kind ofdata and make decisions like
that.
Yeah, and
Speaker 2 (31:24):
It's, and it's relatively low cost too.
I mean, when we talk abouttechnology on dairy farms, uh,
there's a whole range, right?
It can be very, very simplethings that are just, uh, newer
that are going to make a, aprofound difference on how a
farm can get better data and toget those insights to just
(31:45):
continue that, that continuousimprovement process all the way
up to the other end where you'remaking, uh, really significant
investments in investing in thefuture of your operation for the
next 20, 30, 50 years, uh, theway things are going.
Speaker 1 (31:59):
Yeah.
Let's segue now into the, thefuture.
And let me ask you this, Chad,what might these findings
suggest about the future of thedairy industry?
Speaker 3 (32:12):
Well, I, it's, it's a great question.
I think it was at the, at theheart of, of kind of our thought
when this study was put togetherbecause we wanted to be able to
quantify and really look back in, in the last, let's say, 15
years and say, what have we beenable to achieve with the
technology that was availablethroughout that period of time
where we're at today?
But then ultimately put, put alittle bit of a, a crystal ball
(32:33):
out there to say, what couldthis look like?
Um, you know, I I think Hanseltouches on something that's,
that's, that's criticallyimportant.
Um, because one of the thingsthat we, we feel is that there's
gonna become a very commonlanguage across all ag
operations and specificallydairy operations.
And that's gonna be, there'smore and more data, uh,
available to us, whether it'sit's data coming from, from
(32:54):
simple, you know, um, infrared,dry matter, um, devices as
Hansel discussed all the way to,you know, fully autonomous, you
know, types of equipment thatare, that are available to, to
dairy producers today.
Um, the one thing I can tell youabout the equipment industry is
we're gonna continue to innovateon what we call the, the, I call
the nuts and bolts so that thatequipment, uh, really begins,
you know, it has, uh, started toopen up and unlock things that
(33:17):
even 15 years ago we didn'tprobably even dream were
possible.
So I can tell you, as theequipment manufacturers, uh, we,
we all are gonna continue tostrive to innovate on the
equipment side because theequipment is really be more,
becoming more of a conduit to,to the, what I'm gonna call the
common language.
And that's gonna be data, uh,and data and the availability,
the, the variety of data thatthat is available not only
(33:41):
today, but into the future forthese producers to make better
decisions about the animal,about the, the sustainability
goals they might have, you know,whether it's out in the fields
or on the backend side of, ofhow they're managing the waste,
uh, streams coming out of thebarn.
Um, there's some excitingtechnology that's out there when
we start to really look at that,that that output that, uh, that
(34:04):
byproduct flow coming out of thebarns and, and the nutritional,
you know, um, benefits that itbring not only putting it back
into the farm, but ultimatelyas, as an additional revenue
stream or a cost offset.
Um, so you start to think aboutsome of the circularity ideas
there.
Um, but data really becomes an,in our, in my opinion, I think
we start to see this generallyacross industry, um, the, the
(34:24):
common language that we need tobring and continue to bring
together for these producers sothat they can make better
decisions, again, whether it'sabout the animal, about their
operation, about theenvironment.
Um, so, so I think if you lookahead, uh, there's gonna
continue first and foremost tobe innovation and equipment.
We see that across the entireeconomy, whether that's in, in
consumer electronics, whetherthat's in automobiles, whether
(34:46):
that's in agriculturalequipment, we're gonna continue
to see innovation and the, andthe pace of that is only going
to quicken, uh, if, if the last15 years or any indication, um,
we're in for quite someinteresting times in the, in the
next 15 years.
So, uh, that's gonna continue tohappen, but data we believe
will, will absolutely be thecommon denominator, uh, for us
to continue to unlock, you know,future opportunities.
Speaker 1 (35:08):
Yeah, that's fascinating.
Uh, Hansel, let me ask you afinal question.
What should our futuregenerations know and what can
they do to ensure that we seecontinued improvement in this
area?
Speaker 2 (35:22):
Well, first of all, I , I'll just echo what, what Chad
mentioned as well, that eequipment and re really
equipment and investments in, intechnology are just ways to not
only boost efficiency, but to,to get to more data, um, so that
farmers can have the tools andreally understand the, the, the,
(35:43):
the broad spectrum of everythingthat's happening on their pro
operations for futuregenerations.
I'll also mentioned that,
Speaker 1 (35:51):
Uh, so let me, I didn't mean to Yeah, sorry,
sorry to interrupt you, but I, I, I, what I hear you saying is
so that they can really makebetter decisions.
Yeah, absolutely.
Right?
Isn't that, that they, they usethe data to help them make
better decisions.
Speaker 2 (36:02):
And, and really I think this, this AEM study, one
of the things that helped pointout is the fact that in order to
advance on the, the road that weall see agriculture and, and
dairy in North America on, uh,we're, we're going to need
ongoing support also, whetherthat's, uh, infrastructure to,
(36:24):
to help all of this newtechnology, like rural broadband
is a, is a big conversationright now.
How do you, how do you ensurethat these producers in a lot of
times remote rural environments,um, have access to the
infrastructure necessary to, tomake that technology work for
their operation?
Right.
Uh, I think part of that's alsogonna be, uh, working with, uh,
(36:47):
government and industry onpolicies that are gonna reward
this innovation as it goes on.
So, um, you know, to be able toget to, to full adoption of
ensuring that the besttechnology is getting the hand
to producers who are going toget the most benefit out of
that, it's, it's really going totake a lot of effort across the
(37:08):
industry and, and working acrossthe aisle, if you will, uh, with
government as well, to ensurethat farmers are well supported
and that they're, they're in agood position to grow and
diversify their farmer income inall this as well.
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 (37:20):
.
So there's still a lot of workto do, but, uh,
Speaker 2 (37:23):
Still a lot of work to do.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:26):
Chad and Hansel, thanks so much for joining us
and walking us through thisdata.
I mean, it's, it's veryfascinating, I think to our
listeners, I know to me, uh, topeople in the industry to learn
more and see the results of thisstudy for yourself.
You can visit newsroom.aem.organd click the article called
(37:47):
Environmental Benefits of ModernDairy Study Unveiled.
There's a link also in thisepisode, and I want to thank
each of our listeners for tuningin today.
Topcon appreciates all of ourfriends in agriculture who work
tirelessly to put food on ourtables, farmers.
You are the best.
(38:08):
We love you.
If you enjoyed this episode,remember to, like, share,
subscribe to Topcon TalksAgriculture on Spotify, apple
Podcasts, Amazon Music, orwherever you get your podcasts.
Please tell your friends aboutus.
We'd love for you to follow Topcod agriculture on social media.
Thanks again for joining ustoday.
(38:28):
See you next time.
Go out and make it a great day.
Hello, and welcome to the Topcon Talks Agriculture
podcast.
We are wishing all of ourlisteners a happy 2023 as this
is the first podcast of the NewYear.
We have an incrediblyinteresting podcast for you
today, and I am thrilled thatyou have taken the time to
listen, and I know that youwon't be disappointed.
(00:34):
My name is Dan Hendricks, and Iam your host for today.
I serve as the Senior BusinessDevelopment Manager at Topcon
Agriculture, and I get to workwith an amazing team of talented
individuals who loveagriculture.
They enjoy technology, and theystrive to help farmers and
growers find solutions.
(00:54):
So let's get right into ourpodcast for today, we are
talking about the environmentalbenefits of modern dairy and
forage production.
And why is this an importanttopic you might ask?
Well, because the internet,social media, newspapers,
magazines, and the national newskeep pumping out information and
(01:15):
messaging and propaganda, andmaybe propaganda is a strong
word, but all of this messagingis about the negative effects of
modern agriculture operationsand how they are bad for the
environment.
And I am constantly seeing andreading and hearing and being
hit with messaging about howfarms are adding to global
(01:36):
warming and environmentalcrisis.
In today's podcast, we are goingto look at a powerful study
sponsored by the Association ofEquipment Manufacturers, also
the National Milk ProducersFederation and the Dairy Farmers
of America, and hear from twoguests that will dispute the
message that farming is hurtingthe environment.
(01:59):
In fact, their data and theirexperience shows that
agriculture is actuallybenefiting many of the
environmental concerns that wehear about.
So let me first introduce ourguests and then we'll get right
into our podcast.
Our first guest is Hansel New.
He is the Director ofSustainability programs at Dairy
Farmers of America, and he hasserved in that position over the
(02:21):
past five years.
He has over 20 years ofexperience in the dairy
industry.
He has a bachelor's degree inEnvironmental health and safety
from Oregon State University andan MBA and sustainability.
Hansel, welcome to the podcasttoday.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Thanks, Dan.
Appreciate it.
Thanks for having me
Speaker 1 (02:38):
On.
Hey, you're welcome.
Glad to have you.
Our second guest is Chad Heiser.
Chad is the president of LENorth America.
Chad has been with LEI over 20years and has worked with a
handful of other agricultureequipment companies.
His company Lei, is one of theleaders in dairy technology
solutions across the globe, LEManufacturers, robotic Milking,
(03:03):
feeding, and Animal CareSolutions.
Chad, welcome to the podcasttoday,
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Dan.
Thank you.
Great to be with you today.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Oh, yes, likewise.
Thanks for joining us.
Let's jump right into thediscussion of this fascinating
study and collection of dataabout the dairy industry and the
environment.
Hansel, I'm gonna start thefirst question with you.
Tell us about the origin of thiswhite paper and the Dairy
Farmers of America's involvementin it.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Sure.
Happy to.
So it really started with aconversation that we had with,
uh, aem, the Association ofEquipment Manufacturers.
They had published a, a really,a fascinating paper on the
benefits of precisionagriculture, which, uh, was
really, was really data driven.
It, it told agriculture's goodstory, particularly for North
(03:55):
America.
And, uh, they approached us withthis idea of, Hey, what if we
did something similar for thedairy industry that looked at
not only the, uh, the greatefficiencies and animal care
improvements that have been madefor the, for the, for the herds
themselves, but also kind of thewhole picture, the everything
from growing the crops all theway through manure management on
(04:17):
the, on the back end, you couldsay.
And we, we were really struckwith the idea of, you know,
being, um, a leading dairycooperative here in, in the us.
You know, we represent over6,000 member farms and, um, we,
we understand that dairy isdoing a great job.
(04:37):
They have a good story to tell.
And, uh, really bringingsomething together like this
study that's really data driven,that that helps, uh, combat some
of the negative narratives thatare out there from some groups
about dairy, was really just awin-win.
So we were, we were excited toparticipate.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
What was the overarching objective that you
were trying to accomplish withthis study?
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Yeah, it was pretty basic.
The, the goal was to quantifythe environmental benefits of
modern dairy productionpractices.
Again, not just the, the, theanimals themselves and the
herds, although there have beena lot of efficiencies and
improvements on that site aswell.
Everything from herd geneticsto, to forge quality, et cetera.
But also the practices and thetechnologies that have helped
(05:21):
make that happen.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Sure.
Yeah.
Well, that's fascinating.
And, uh, Chad, let me jump toyou for a question.
How did you first learn aboutthis effort and what role did
your company lately play in it?
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Yeah, sure.
No, I think Hansel touched on animportant point.
Uh, you know, being a member,uh, being an equipment, uh,
oriented company, were, were a,a strong partner with the aem,
uh, as a member.
Uh, and, and as equipmentcompanies, we're always looking
for ways to, to hold up and, andshare the, the practices along
with how the equipment and thetechnology, uh, is assisting
our, our customers, our mutualcustomers in this case, as
(05:57):
Hansel might, uh, might alsoagree, uh, and a lot of the, the
good things that they've beendoing over the years and what
really could happen into thefuture.
So that, that first study thatthat was mentioned, you know,
the, the environmental benefitsof precision agriculture was
really the kind of the startingpoint.
Uh, and that idea was brought toour dairy leadership group, uh,
which is represented by myselfand, and several other of my
(06:17):
dairy equipment peers.
Uh, and we talked about what,what this could really look
like.
And what really got us excited,not only was, was the
data-driven, uh, results that wethought we would, we would see
through the study, but reallyfinding, um, strategic partners
across the dairy space.
Um, because one of theopportunities I think we all
start to recognize is that wehave a strong message to help
(06:38):
our producers tell.
Uh, and whether that comes fromthe, the cooperative side as, as
Hansel mentioned, whether thatcomes from us as equipment
manufacturers and partners forthose producers, uh, along with
several others, uh, you know,national Milk Producers
Federation, so some of thelegislative side of the work
that goes on, um, we all havethe same goal in mind, and
that's what we wanna hold up and, and really highlight the, the
(06:58):
strong environmental and andbenefits that, uh, that our
producers are really workinghard on every day on their, on
their operations across NorthAmerica.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Yeah.
And, and for this question isfor the two of you, why was this
project important?
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Maybe I'll, I'll start.
I think from an importancelevel, what one of the, the
opportunities that, that we seeis that as we, we look into the
future, the, the fundamental ofof agriculture hasn't changed
over the years.
And that's to produce, you know,a high, high quality nutritional
products to feed a worldpopulation.
Uh, we know that population'sgonna grow, uh, and we know
(07:33):
we're going to be doing it withless producers.
Uh, you know, if you look at thetotal number of producers both
here in North America and evenaround the world that are gonna
be responsible for producingthat, that high quality
nutritional dietary need, um,they need a strong voice.
Um, and, and they take greatresponsibility in that.
But we as partners for them alsofeel, uh, quite, uh, quite, uh,
(07:54):
important in, in helping them dothat as well.
So for us, it, it really becamea, an opportunity to, to bring
light to the, the good thingsthat are going on across our
operations and specifically ourdairy operations here in North
America.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Sel, anything you want to add to that?
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Yeah, Chad
Chad, you kinda took the wordsout of my mouth.
I mean, the, the, you know, thedairy industry is, uh, takes
that responsibility of, of, ofresponsibly feeding the world
seriously, uh, with high quality, nutritious products.
And, and we know that over time,not only have, have we seen in
(08:31):
the past through, through pastenvironmental studies that the
dairy industry continues to domore with less, but with the,
the, the strong demands fromreally a global scale to
increase sustainability whilealso letting consumers get more
insights into what agricultureis actually doing.
(08:52):
Cause a lot of times it feelslike the different groups are
just talking past each other.
And so having a study like thisthat, um, really backs up and
looks at what are theimprovements have been made, and
then where are we going?
Where are the, where are thecontinued efficiencies going to
come from and how does theagriculture community, and more
specifically the dairy communitycontribute to that is, is really
(09:16):
important.
And I think this art, this studyhelps articulate well.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
So, Chad and Hansel, a couple months ago, I was on a
pretty good size, uh, dairy.
Uh, we were there for work for aTopcon project.
And, um, I was really struck bythe efficiencies that the dairy
was using, the professionalismthat was going on.
And, you know, the, themessaging that we're kind of
(09:40):
hearing all the time about, um,being bad for the environment
and, and different messaginglike that, it was a stark
contrast.
What I was seeing happening onthat dairy was just completely
opposite than, than what I'mhearing, like in, in mainstream
media.
So, um, I wanna talk to you andask a little bit about, uh, some
(10:01):
of the myths of modern day dairypractices.
And, um, lemme start off withthis first question, cuz there's
a common misconception thatdairy farming is bad for
emissions, bad for water, badfor land usage, and that methane
from cattle is ruining theenvironment.
Can you tell me some of thereport findings that debunk this
(10:22):
thought process?
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Yeah, yeah.
Happy to take a, a first, firstswing at that.
Well, well, first of all, Imean, to your point, Dan, being
able to just get out on a dairyfarm and experience that I think
is, um, a, a rare privilege andan opportunity that, that not a
lot of dairy consumers, uh,consumers in largely large urban
environments just don't havethat opportunity.
(10:46):
And so what they perceive aboutthe dairy industry can be very
skewed based on what they'rereading and social media or, or
getting from news sources, etcetera, and really seeing is
believing.
And so for, for our cooperative,being able to get our, our
customers, and in sometimescases even, uh, young consumers
like school groups out on dairyfarms, is, is always, is always
(11:07):
gonna help the cause, right?
Mm-hmm.
and everything.
And that's, that's just reallyan, a positive and encouraging
story as far as how this study,um, kind of pushes back against
some of the, the, the myths orthe misperceptions that are out
there.
It, it does so on a variety oflevels.
Well, first of all, for, for us,dairy consumption, um, it should
(11:30):
go without saying, but, butdairy is not, uh, one of the
largest emitters, uh, in the us.
The epa, uh, and US dairyindustry studies both articulate
the fact that US dairy is about2% or less of, of us emissions.
So when you look at thetransportation industry, uh, the
(11:52):
energy industry, which is wellabove 30% of emissions, things
that people do every day intheir, uh, in their lives are,
are going to, at the end of theday, contribute much more to,
uh, contributing, to puttingmore global warming and gases
into the atmosphere than thedairy industry.
That, that said, yeah.
That said, this, this studyreally does kind of go to the
(12:13):
next level of detail andhighlights just some of the, the
, the really good lifecycleassessment work, uh, these kind
of science driven, uh, farm totable studies that have been
done over the years.
It really demonstrates, uh,that, that earlier point that I
made, that the dairy industryjust continues to, to get more
efficient and continues to domore with less.
I mean, from, I'll give you twoquick examples from one of the
(12:37):
things that this AEM studyhighlights is, is a study that
was, that looked at the lastbasically 50, 60 years of
production from the end of WorldWar ii 1944 to, uh, to the two
thousands.
And there was a, on a per gallonof milk basis or or unit of
consumption basis, greenhousegases dropped 63% over that
(13:01):
period of time.
More recently, over the lastdecade, there was a study that
was published in 2019, I believethat was also highlighted in
this AEM paper where, you know,US dairy producers produce 16%
more milk, they use 17% lessfeed to, to produce that milk,
about 30% less water, andfurther reduce their drink
(13:23):
greenhouse gas emissions by anadditional 10%.
So we see those trendscontinuing and the, the, the,
the data and the narrative fromthis AEM study really helped
paint that picture.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Anything you want to add to that, Chad?
Speaker 3 (13:38):
I, I, I think Hansel touched on a lot of important
points.
Maybe the, the one thing I wouldadd is, is, you know, I, I've
always, you know, coming from afarming background myself, I've
always considered farmers to bethe, the original sustainability
minded individuals that we'vealways understood as farmers, as
agriculture, that our livelihoodcomes from the natural resources
that we're in.
You know, we're stewarding,whether that's land, whether
(13:59):
that's water, whether that'slivestock or animal stock, um,
that, that's our livelihood,that that's, that's our
producer's livelihood.
That's what, you know,ultimately is part of their
economic model, uh, that, thatwe've known.
So, so as we look at and, and,and we think about the
generations that we're now in,um, the reality is helping tell
that story to a, a growingconsumer base who's one, two,
(14:23):
now, maybe even three or fourgenerations removed from really
truly understanding whatproduction agriculture looks
like.
How does a gallon of milk, howdoes a pound of, of, of, you
know, beef, whatever that foodstock might be, end up on a
grocery store shelf, thatprocess that, that, that supply
chain, that, that integration oof of those things.
When you, when you talk aboutstepping onto a modern dairy
(14:45):
today and looking at thepractices that they use, whether
that's how they manage theirfeed stock, whether that's how
they, you know, care for theiranimals and the animal wellbeing
and comfort, um, all of thosethings are intentional, uh,
decisions that our producersmake knowing that those are
going to benefit, ultimately theoutput, which is a healthier
animal, uh, a more sustainableenvironmental footprint.
(15:06):
Um, and, and the numbers thatHansel mentioned, you know, in
terms of greenhouse gasreductions, um, I'll, I'll add
one to it.
You know, since, since the endof World War II approximately,
you know, we're, we're, we'reproducing more milk with about
16 million less cows as just a,just as an example.
And that's over a long period oftime.
Mm-hmm.
But if, even if you translatethat over the last 15 years, and
(15:28):
you look at, um, you know, the,the same amount of milk today is
being produced with almost amillion less cows, about just
over 900,000 cows.
Um, so, so we're, we'recontinuing to find ways to
integrate all forms ofagricultural, um, practices,
whether that's in the field,whether that's in animal
genetics, uh, to bring thosetogether to, to, to really make
(15:49):
the, the product that's on thestore shelves the highest
quality.
To do it in a sustainable andresponsible manner and
understand the circularity of,of agriculture is something that
we've always managed.
Uh, we're just able to managethat in a, in a far better, more
precise way today through moderntechnology, modern equipment,
data, uh, and things that makethe producer just a better, a
better overall steward of, ofthe resources.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
Mm.
It's funny, Chad, you, you weretalking about sustainability and
just a, a couple weeks ago, uh,before Christmas, um, I was
actually on site and we weretalking with one of our
customers about this idea ofsustainability.
And as sustainability has becomea buzzword, uh, across a lot of
industries, uh, it's funny, whenyou talk to far, sometimes they
(16:34):
feel like they've been in thesustainability business forever.
This is not a new thing to them.
This is what they do, what theyhave done Yeah.
For centuries.
And all of a sudden, the rest ofthe world has caught on that all
of a sudden this is an importantthing.
And, um, you know, to them it'slike, what's just what I do?
It's what I do.
It's what my dad did, it's whatmy grandfather did.
It's just what we do.
(16:54):
So,
Speaker 3 (16:55):
And, and, and that evolution, if I can add one,
that evolution of, of thosepractices, what my grandfather
did was what he knew and whatwas available to them at the
time, whether that's through theequipment they had available,
through information, through thepractices.
And as, as we evolve with all ofthose things I just mentioned,
you know, generations continueto carry on that legacy.
They're just able to do it withnew and better tools.
(17:17):
And that's what's exciting aboutnot only where we're at today,
but what we think's gonna happeninto the future.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
Hansel, were you gonna add something there?
I didn't mean to cut you off.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
No, I was just agreeing with what Chad was
saying.
I mean, very well put.
Um, and, and something we try toemphasize all the time that,
that dairy farmers are theoriginal stewards of the land,
and they've been at this forgenerations.
Um, we've got a lot of memberswho have been farming for 3, 4,
5 generations now.
And it's just, it's just whatthey've always done.
So when they hear sustainability, uh, they just, we, we just
(17:52):
help them understandsustainability that, Hey, you
folks have been on this journey,right?
You've been doing it, you'vebeen proving it.
You wouldn't be farming thismany generations later if you
hadn't been doing itsustainably.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
Yeah.
Uh, Chad, you kind of touched onthis, but um, I want to ask it
in a more direct way.
How has the industry improvedover the last 15 years?
Speaker 3 (18:16):
Yeah, well, well, you know, that's, that's, I've, I've
had a front row seat to that,uh, certainly with within my
time here at lately over thelast plus 15 years.
Uh, and, and I've watched evenjust in that short period of
time, so many things evolve andchange.
Um, you know, if, if you thinkabout the, the, the, the, the
circularity, so I could touch ona lot of different aspects, but
I'll just pick on a couple.
(18:37):
Um, you know, I mentioned the,the, you know, the, the idea
that today we're producing asmuch fluid milk today as we were
15 years ago, and we're doing itwith, with, you know, over
900,000 less animals.
Um, and if you think about allthe things that go around the,
the, the production process of,of creating a, a a hundred
weight or a gallon or a liter ofmilk, um, you know, you can
(18:58):
touch on so many aspects of, of,of improvement.
Um, you know, if you thinkabout, you know, water and feed
are the two most importantaspects that go into a dairy
animal, that, that somewhatpredict the output or the
quality of the product that,that she's going to produce.
You know, what we're seeingtoday, um, with the, with the,
the performance of, of theanimal in terms of, of feed
(19:20):
efficiencies, um, you know,being able to feed to genetic
potential of the animal thingsthat, that we're space, age, and
not even dreamed of, you know,15 years ago, we're now able to
do today.
And do it in a way that, that,honestly, in some cases, when
you, when you talk about beingon farms, when you have those
conversations with some of ourproducers in the early stages,
they, they kind of scratch theirhead, um, because it's, it's
(19:42):
things that they've probablythought about and thought, wow,
if I had just had the ability todo this, I could take the next
step in my operation towardssustainability or, or more
efficiency or whatever that goalmight be.
Um, so you think about, youknow, the, the less animals, um,
you know, I'll go back to thatgreenhouse gas cause that tends
to be a, a, a big topic andevery one that, you know, people
(20:03):
think about, you know, in thelast 15 years, this study
quantifies that we've been ableto remove what's the equivalent
of 4 million automobilespermanently from the road, just
through better managementpractices in, in, in, in how we,
you know, grow our feedstocks,how we feed the animals, how we
handle the byproducts to comeout of that animal, that
circularity piece that Imentioned.
(20:25):
Um, that is a significantreduction and, and we're doing
as much as we possibly can, butwe also know that there's more
to do.
We believe the low hanging fruitover the last 15 years, ha has
definitely been, been captured.
We know there's more to do, uh,and we're excited because we
believe the equipment, thetechnology, and the data are
gonna allow us to continue tounlock those opportunities.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
Hansel, let me go go this way with you.
Let me ask you this question.
Hansel.
Uh, with all these myths aboutmodern day dairy practices, how
does the agriculture communityget this positive message out to
our culture and our world?
Speaker 2 (21:02):
Yeah, it's a great question, and I think the answer
lies in a couple differentthings.
One is, it's, it's always, themessage is always best delivered
when it comes from folks whoconsumers trust.
And nobody is more trusted thanfarmers.
(21:22):
Uh, you know, people may not,may not trust their government,
they may not trust, uh,business, but at the end of the
day, there's a lot of trustgoing back to, to farmers and,
and having a study like thishelp explain what farmers have
been doing.
So taking all those, those greatstories and aggregating them and
(21:45):
putting them out there in a waythat really helps tell the
farmer's story first andforemost.
And, you know, I think, I thinkit makes it more relatable
because folks can then say,okay, well this is a, this is a
family operation, right?
All the, all the talk about, youknow, uh, big ag or industrial
agriculture, that, that, that'sanother one of those, uh, myths
(22:09):
that's easy to debunk.
I mean, these are, these arefamily operations, um,
regardless of size, whetherthey're milking 50 cows or 5,000
cows, these are run by families.
Um, and so having the farmer'sstory, um, in that, in that
narrative, it's, it's going tohelp a lot in, in making that
(22:31):
that case to, to consumers.
Another thing is just makingsure it's, it's scientific and
it's data driven.
I mean, there's, there's so muchemotion out there around, uh,
well, this is good for you, orthis is bad for you, or, here,
here are the current trends, or,or the, you know, what, what pop
culture is, is saying as far as,um, what's good or what's bad.
(22:53):
But ultimately, you know, us inthe industry who, who are living
this day in and day out and whoare working really hard to
support our, our member ownerswho are really the heroes who
are out there doing this day in,day out, out on their family
operations.
Um, it really comes back to the,to the science and the data and
(23:13):
telling that story in a way thatis, again, relatable, that, um,
breaks it down into a way whereit can, people can wrap their
heads around that and it can bechunked up into smaller bits.
You know, I wouldn't take thisfull study and just throw it out
there in front of consumerstoday, right?
But, but there's so many greatnuggets and insights that, uh,
(23:35):
now because of this study, wecan, we can package up, we can
use it to start conversations.
And I think that's ultimatelywhere progress is gonna come, is
using, using real stories andreal insights from the dairy
industry to help connect withconsumers, to help have a
dialogue and, and tell thatstory.
(23:56):
Cuz otherwise it comes back towe're just not communicating
very well.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
Right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
We definitely have a lot of workto do.
Uh, but yeah, those are greatinsights.
Hansel.
Let, let's move the conversationnow to technology and, um, and
so I wanna ask this to Chad.
Chad, I, your company has someamazing futuristic products, uh,
(24:20):
when a lot of people, mainstreampeople, like my neighbors think
about farms, they usually thinkabout, uh, kind of old guys,
kind of outdated.
He has a flip phone, drives anold truck, he's just kind of,
time has passed him by.
And yet your company is makingthe state of the art, um, very
(24:41):
modern robotic solutions thatthese dairies are using that,
uh, to the average person, theywould just probably have no idea
that, that there's this kind oftechnology.
So how has modern technologyimproved overall efficiency and
decision making on the farm?
Speaker 3 (24:59):
Yeah, I, you know, it , it, uh, your, your description
is, is quite accurate.
Cuz in some cases, some days Iwake up and, and can't believe
what what I'm seeing across theindustry.
And certainly we're, we're,we're excited to be a strong
contributor, but, but there's somany great equipment companies
out there across agriculturalspace that are, that are working
in this precision way in theirown rights, uh, as, as we all
strive to help the producers bemore efficient.
(25:20):
Um, so if you look across, youknow, and focus a little bit
back on the dairy side, um, youknow, when you, when you think
about the, the process, uh, thatgoes on in, in today's modern
dairies, um, you know, we we're,we're we're challenged, you
know, by a lot of things.
You know, uh, farmers arealways, you know, challenged by
things that they can't control.
Whether, um, you know, commoditymar things, things that, that
(25:41):
they just know are, are, areconsiderations and, and dynamics
that they will deal with.
Um, so one of the things that,that we talk a lot with
producers about is what, whatare some of the things that we
can support and, and, and helpthem be in better control of or
more efficient with?
So we talk about labor issues.
We know labor is probably thesingle biggest c concern most
dairies have today.
(26:02):
Uh, if you look at, atconventional dairy practices,
um, you know, it takes a certainamount of labor that just isn't
available, or the cost orquality of that labor has been
very challenging over certainlythe last few years.
So we, we get into situationswhere, you know, as producers
start looking toward theirfuture, they start asking
themselves, okay, what can I doand how can I do this
differently to, to benefit?
(26:23):
First and foremost, uh, wealways put the animal at front
and center, um, because we knowif we take care of her and do it
well, um, we're gonna have a, abetter operation.
We're gonna help the producerhopefully achieve whatever their
goals might be.
Um, so when you look at it,whether that's in robotic
milking systems where, you know,we allow the animal to, to make
her own free choice as to when,when she's milked throughout a
(26:44):
24 hour cycle, um, the amount ofdata that we collect about that
animal during that milkingprocess, um, you know, we, we
get into robotic feeding.
Uh, so we start to think abouthow do we precision feed
animals.
Um, I mentioned geneticpotential earlier here.
Um, you know, the ex one of thereally exciting things that
we're starting to really startto see and unlock is how do we
(27:05):
make, and how do we put a, a, aprocess for a piece of equipment
that can deliver, feed in aprecision way that allows that
animal to, to consume and digestthat more efficiently.
If you do that more efficiently,you, you lower your feed costs,
you, you increase the, thewellbeing of the animal, you,
you've more than likelyincreased her, her overall
output, um, and you increase herlongevity.
(27:27):
So you just have an overallhealthier animal.
Um, all of those things can, canbe tremendously impactful, you
know, and they are today andcertainly in the future when we
think about how we're going tohave to, to do more with less, I
think Hansel said that a, amoment ago, how do we, how do we
consider, you know, continuingto grow our, our output of, of
agricultural products that weknow we're gonna be in demand
(27:47):
for, for a growing population,and yet do it with limited or
more limited resources.
Um, you know, and those types ofthings.
We, we certainly believe theequipment that's available to
us, whether that's in the barn,outside of the barn, is, is
playing a strong role today.
And we'll play a, a, a key roleinto the future in, in order to
achieve those goals that, uh,that we collectively have as an
(28:08):
industry.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
With full disclosure, some of our listeners may know
this, but, uh, Topcon is in themanagement feed management
business and we have a lot of,uh, feeding solutions that are
in, in dairies all across thecountry.
But, uh, Hansel, I wanna ask you, uh, what are some of the
specific improvements in theproductivity levels that are the
(28:32):
direct result of using, youknow, feed management, uh,
solutions and technology ormilking solutions?
What are you seeing as specificimprovements that are helping
productivity?
Speaker 2 (28:47):
Sure.
Dan, maybe just a couplespecific examples.
One is in what I'll call herdmanagement software, where farms
can, um, track even movement oftheir, of their herd on an
ongoing basis.
Their, their taking theirinputs, like their feed cost,
their feed quality, their, uh,their, their ration and forage.
(29:12):
And really using a platform likea herd management software to
really dive deep and to getthose insights that are just
gonna help them get smarter andbetter over time.
Another specific technology onthe feed side, cuz we know that
feed and or what we could callforage quality is one of the
most important aspects in, indoing more with less and in
(29:35):
keeping costs down and ensuringthat that animal is just getting
optimum nutrition for, for herdaily needs.
Um, one of the fairly simple butpretty game-changing
technologies out there that'sbeing more widely adopted is
using infrared dry matteranalyzers so that producers can
(29:56):
get a much better sense ofwhat's the, what's the true
level of dry matter that I'mfeeding these animals.
Uh, because that can, that canvary so much.
Even with you're pour, you know,you're pulling corn silage out
of your, your storage on aday-today basis.
There could still be a lot ofvarieties in the day-to-day
moisture content.
And so getting nearinstantaneous readings from
(30:18):
these, um, near infrared dryanalyzers is really helping
producers to optimize, uh, andcontrol their costs while
ensuring that those animals aregetting the top nutrition that
they need in order to be the,the superstars that they really
are for these dairy operations.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
And Hansel, where are these sensors in the process,
these near infrared sensors?
Are they on the mixer or whereare they at?
A,
Speaker 2 (30:46):
A lot of'em, uh, some of'em are portable today.
Um, oh, okay.
There's, there's some that lookbasically like a, a large coffee
mug that has a lid on it and yougo up to your silage pile or
your total mixed ration, youpull a scoop into this analyzer
and you've got a result within amatter of minutes instead of
waiting hours to, to dry asample in a lab.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
Wow, that's fascinating that, that kind of
technology is available today.
Cuz like we were talking, youknow, generations ago for
grandpa and further generations,they never had that kind of
ability to, to get that kind ofdata and make decisions like
that.
Yeah, and
Speaker 2 (31:24):
It's, and it's relatively low cost too.
I mean, when we talk abouttechnology on dairy farms, uh,
there's a whole range, right?
It can be very, very simplethings that are just, uh, newer
that are going to make a, aprofound difference on how a
farm can get better data and toget those insights to just
(31:45):
continue that, that continuousimprovement process all the way
up to the other end where you'remaking, uh, really significant
investments in investing in thefuture of your operation for the
next 20, 30, 50 years, uh, theway things are going.
Speaker 1 (31:59):
Yeah.
Let's segue now into the, thefuture.
And let me ask you this, Chad,what might these findings
suggest about the future of thedairy industry?
Speaker 3 (32:12):
Well, I, it's, it's a great question.
I think it was at the, at theheart of, of kind of our thought
when this study was put togetherbecause we wanted to be able to
quantify and really look back in, in the last, let's say, 15
years and say, what have we beenable to achieve with the
technology that was availablethroughout that period of time
where we're at today?
But then ultimately put, put alittle bit of a, a crystal ball
(32:33):
out there to say, what couldthis look like?
Um, you know, I I think Hanseltouches on something that's,
that's, that's criticallyimportant.
Um, because one of the thingsthat we, we feel is that there's
gonna become a very commonlanguage across all ag
operations and specificallydairy operations.
And that's gonna be, there'smore and more data, uh,
available to us, whether it'sit's data coming from, from
(32:54):
simple, you know, um, infrared,dry matter, um, devices as
Hansel discussed all the way to,you know, fully autonomous, you
know, types of equipment thatare, that are available to, to
dairy producers today.
Um, the one thing I can tell youabout the equipment industry is
we're gonna continue to innovateon what we call the, the, I call
the nuts and bolts so that thatequipment, uh, really begins,
you know, it has, uh, started toopen up and unlock things that
(33:17):
even 15 years ago we didn'tprobably even dream were
possible.
So I can tell you, as theequipment manufacturers, uh, we,
we all are gonna continue tostrive to innovate on the
equipment side because theequipment is really be more,
becoming more of a conduit to,to the, what I'm gonna call the
common language.
And that's gonna be data, uh,and data and the availability,
the, the variety of data thatthat is available not only
(33:41):
today, but into the future forthese producers to make better
decisions about the animal,about the, the sustainability
goals they might have, you know,whether it's out in the fields
or on the backend side of, ofhow they're managing the waste,
uh, streams coming out of thebarn.
Um, there's some excitingtechnology that's out there when
we start to really look at that,that that output that, uh, that
(34:04):
byproduct flow coming out of thebarns and, and the nutritional,
you know, um, benefits that itbring not only putting it back
into the farm, but ultimatelyas, as an additional revenue
stream or a cost offset.
Um, so you start to think aboutsome of the circularity ideas
there.
Um, but data really becomes an,in our, in my opinion, I think
we start to see this generallyacross industry, um, the, the
(34:24):
common language that we need tobring and continue to bring
together for these producers sothat they can make better
decisions, again, whether it'sabout the animal, about their
operation, about theenvironment.
Um, so, so I think if you lookahead, uh, there's gonna
continue first and foremost tobe innovation and equipment.
We see that across the entireeconomy, whether that's in, in
consumer electronics, whetherthat's in automobiles, whether
(34:46):
that's in agriculturalequipment, we're gonna continue
to see innovation and the, andthe pace of that is only going
to quicken, uh, if, if the last15 years or any indication, um,
we're in for quite someinteresting times in the, in the
next 15 years.
So, uh, that's gonna continue tohappen, but data we believe
will, will absolutely be thecommon denominator, uh, for us
to continue to unlock, you know,future opportunities.
Speaker 1 (35:08):
Yeah, that's fascinating.
Uh, Hansel, let me ask you afinal question.
What should our futuregenerations know and what can
they do to ensure that we seecontinued improvement in this
area?
Speaker 2 (35:22):
Well, first of all, I , I'll just echo what, what Chad
mentioned as well, that eequipment and re really
equipment and investments in, intechnology are just ways to not
only boost efficiency, but to,to get to more data, um, so that
farmers can have the tools andreally understand the, the, the,
(35:43):
the broad spectrum of everythingthat's happening on their pro
operations for futuregenerations.
I'll also mentioned that,
Speaker 1 (35:51):
Uh, so let me, I didn't mean to Yeah, sorry,
sorry to interrupt you, but I, I, I, what I hear you saying is
so that they can really makebetter decisions.
Yeah, absolutely.
Right?
Isn't that, that they, they usethe data to help them make
better decisions.
Speaker 2 (36:02):
And, and really I think this, this AEM study, one
of the things that helped pointout is the fact that in order to
advance on the, the road that weall see agriculture and, and
dairy in North America on, uh,we're, we're going to need
ongoing support also, whetherthat's, uh, infrastructure to,
(36:24):
to help all of this newtechnology, like rural broadband
is a, is a big conversationright now.
How do you, how do you ensurethat these producers in a lot of
times remote rural environments,um, have access to the
infrastructure necessary to, tomake that technology work for
their operation?
Right.
Uh, I think part of that's alsogonna be, uh, working with, uh,
(36:47):
government and industry onpolicies that are gonna reward
this innovation as it goes on.
So, um, you know, to be able toget to, to full adoption of
ensuring that the besttechnology is getting the hand
to producers who are going toget the most benefit out of
that, it's, it's really going totake a lot of effort across the
(37:08):
industry and, and working acrossthe aisle, if you will, uh, with
government as well, to ensurethat farmers are well supported
and that they're, they're in agood position to grow and
diversify their farmer income inall this as well.
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 (37:20):
So there's still a lot of workto do, but, uh,
Speaker 2 (37:23):
Still a lot of work to do.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:26):
Chad and Hansel, thanks so much for joining us
and walking us through thisdata.
I mean, it's, it's veryfascinating, I think to our
listeners, I know to me, uh, topeople in the industry to learn
more and see the results of thisstudy for yourself.
You can visit newsroom.aem.organd click the article called
(37:47):
Environmental Benefits of ModernDairy Study Unveiled.
There's a link also in thisepisode, and I want to thank
each of our listeners for tuningin today.
Topcon appreciates all of ourfriends in agriculture who work
tirelessly to put food on ourtables, farmers.
You are the best.
(38:08):
We love you.
If you enjoyed this episode,remember to, like, share,
subscribe to Topcon TalksAgriculture on Spotify, apple
Podcasts, Amazon Music, orwherever you get your podcasts.
Please tell your friends aboutus.
We'd love for you to follow Topcod agriculture on social media.
Thanks again for joining ustoday.
(38:28):
See you next time.
Go out and make it a great day.
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