Ep. 13: Lessons in Sustainable Farming: What the Potato Value Chain Can Learn from Beef

Voiceover (00:06):

Resource positive agriculture describes what we all want, a food and farming system which makes full and responsible use of the natural world. In this podcast, I’ll explore how agriculture can be a force for good on everything from the environment to people and our society.

John Mesko (00:32):

This is John Mesko with the Resource Positive Agriculture Podcast and I’m very excited today about our guest, Debbie Lyons-Blythe, who is a farmer from Kansas. I’m going to let her talk about her story here in just a bit. But Debbie is going to be our keynote speaker at the 2023 PSA Summer Symposium that’s going to be held in Houston, Texas, from June 20 through June 22. And Debbie, I’m really excited to have you as part of this conversation, welcome to the podcast.

Debbie Lyons-Blythe (01:05):

Hey, thanks, John. I’m excited to be talking to you about this.

John Mesko (01:09):

I really can connect with some of the things that you’re doing. I don’t know how many people in our audience really know that I used to raise beef cattle myself, not on the scale that you do, but certainly, I can appreciate some of the things that you and your family are doing on your beef production practices and on your farm there. Why don’t you tell us a little bit about your farm and the kinds of things that you’re doing in your ranching practice right now?

Debbie Lyons-Blythe (01:37):

Sure. So, Blythe Family Farms is a multi-generational farm that has been here since 1890. And when I got married, my husband and I started bringing Angus cattle into the mix, so that was the new thing in 1989. So, we’ve been raising registered Angus cattle and crossbred cattle as well throughout the years. Today, we market about 350 heifers, bred heifers in the fall and the spring and we also sell registered Angus bulls.

John Mesko (02:15):

Well, that’s fantastic. And I certainly don’t want to have an argument over breeds. I am a Hereford guy myself but, I will say this, there are few things as magnificent as a healthy black Angus cow that has the shiny black fur. Oh, my gosh, that is really something to look at when you’re out on the pasture.

Debbie Lyons-Blythe (02:40):

Oh, I agree. But now, listen, I’m totally after the white face, too. We really enjoy having those F1 baldy crosses in our crossbred herd, that’s an awfully good-looking little baby calf.

John Mesko (02:51):

Well, and they’re just so tame and so friendly. At least that’s my experience with the Hereford.

Debbie Lyons-Blythe (02:58):

They do really well for us. So, I work every day with my kids. So, we have five grown kids and two of my sons are back full-time on the ranch and I’m really lucky to be able to be working with them day-to-day, handing down the ranch activities to them.

John Mesko (03:17):

That is a dream that most farmers want to see happen in their operation, no doubt about it. It is part and parcel of the whole sustainability conversation. I think most of us in agriculture would think of including the next generation as a key component of sustainability.

Debbie Lyons-Blythe (03:40):

Absolutely. And so, we’re working to transition that already.

John Mesko (03:45):

That’s fantastic. And so, when you think about sustainability beyond that business succession and the whole family relationship issue around that, what are some other components around the sustainability conversation that you are incorporating into the farm that you have?

Debbie Lyons-Blythe (04:04):

So, I’ve been involved in the conversation around beef sustainability for an awful lot of years. It first started with a few retailers pushing to be able to make some claims and they would bring in some of us producers to talk about sustainability and talk about some of the things that they expected of sustainability. And I attended one of those meetings and a very large retailer was giving us, basically, check marks of things that they felt like we should be able to do so that they could buy our beef and call it sustainable.

(04:43):

And we were actually on conference calls monthly and I’d been listening for a long time, I was one of the few producers on the call and I finally spoke up and said, “That’s not going to work. You can’t come up with those measures that will work in every single geographic location and just expect me to be able to check mark off enough boxes,” and they didn’t want to hear that and so they kicked me off the calls.

(05:12):

So, I realized, back in the day, quite a while ago, that sustainability was going to be an important conversation and it was not going to go away. And for Blythe Family Farms to be able to be a viable cattle ranch and basically crop farm as well in the future, we were going to have to get involved in that conversation. And I realized early on that I wasn’t going to make any money directly off of it and it was going to be an awful lot of volunteer hours. But I believe that, by the work that I’ve done specifically with the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, I think I’ve helped make the future of Blythe Family Farms a lot brighter than what it could have been.

John Mesko (05:54):

That’s an interesting perspective I’d like you to share with us. And as we get ready to think about the potato industry coming together around the discussion of sustainability at the PSA Summer Symposium in June of 2023, we are looking to other examples, we’re looking to other models for other commodities, other crops, other sectors of agriculture to help us understand how we can move forward in a positive way. And U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef continues to be promoted as a successful endeavor, at least at this point, as we go into this. So, tell us how you got involved and some of your work that you’re doing there.

Debbie Lyons-Blythe (06:46):

So, the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, let’s just call it the Roundtable from here on out, but it got, actually, incorporated, got put together in 2015. And at that time, I had had that experience by being kicked off the calls from a… Really, that effort was a top-down effort from retailers pushing down to the farm. And I realized that that was not going to work. If you don’t have producers involved in the whole conversation and making sure that we are not just measuring sustainability only on the farm, then it’s not going to be an effort that would work. And I think one of the biggest strengths that the Roundtable has now and from the very beginning is the fact that they have included all of the sectors along the value chain.

(07:37):

So, not just producers and feed yard operators, cow-calf producers, but we also have auction markets, we have packers and processors, we have retailers. We even have some of those non-government organizations that are a little bit scary to sit at a table with. The World Wildlife Fund, the Environmental Defense Fund. And then, of course, we’ve got some educational groups, the Beef Cattle Institute at various universities, and then, of course, lots of allied industry that is very supportive and anxious to see us make progress.

(08:13):

But I think that’s one of the strengths that we’ve had. It has slowed down the conversation because everybody gets involved in it but I think we have actually made the progress because it’s not been a top-down pressure, it’s come from within. We have all been able to be a part of the conversation about what we measure and how we measure it.

John Mesko (08:36):

So interesting, Debbie. What you’re saying is that sustainability is more than just one entity, it involves the entire supply chain?

Debbie Lyons-Blythe (08:46):

Absolutely. So, when we picked our key indicators, the first thing that we did was… Well, the first thing we did was define sustainability because I think everybody has a different definition. And so, for the Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, our definition is, and I’m just going to use cowboy terms because the boardroom talk doesn’t help me, but take care of the land, take care of the animals, take care of the people, and make money. And then the next thing that we needed to do was we had to identify what are the key things that we can measure and we came up with six key indicators and they’re around those four things.

(09:26):

Efficiency and yield, we want to be able to measure at every sector. Water, land, air and greenhouse gases, animal health and wellbeing, and then employee health and wellbeing. So, all of those things together, we can measure something about them throughout the entire value chain, and to be very honest, I think that is one of the best things when I talk to producers because so many times we just point to the farm and you can’t. Because once my product leaves the farm, there are still things that impact sustainability and I want to know that every single stop along the value chain, they are working to be more sustainable.

John Mesko (10:12):

It’s really an acknowledgment that… I guess maybe I’m going on a soapbox so stop me if I go too far.

Debbie Lyons-Blythe (10:21):

No, I like a soapbox. Go.

John Mesko (10:22):

But what I’m saying is there’s no other industry in the world, and there’s no other process in the world that has the broad impact of agriculture. We’re converting sunlight into food, essentially, using the natural resources at our disposal. On a very, very large high-level scale, that’s what we’re doing.

Debbie Lyons-Blythe (10:45):

Absolutely.

John Mesko (10:46):

And so, everything we do has an impact on every… And food is eaten by everybody so everything we do has an impact on every person on the planet. And so, I really appreciate your distinction from it being a top-down from the big corporation saying here’s what you need to do to quote, unquote, meet our needs or to be sustainable and turning it around and saying, “No, wait a minute. We are the ones who, at the ground level, the farmers that understand the impacts of what we’re doing and the interconnectedness of what we’re doing across the industry.”

Debbie Lyons-Blythe (11:26):

Absolutely. A lot of times, people are not comfortable talking to those people further along the value chain. There’s a lot of frustration with who’s making money today and who’s making money tomorrow. But without each one of those different sectors, I’m not marketing my beef, I need to work with them. And if the retailers are hearing from consumers or probably, more realistically, from activists and forcing them to set sustainability goals, I want to help them set the right sustainability goals. I don’t want them to set something crazy that we can’t ever meet. Let’s set the right goals and let’s do it together and that’s been a big strength of the Roundtable.

John Mesko (12:13):

Well, that’s a great segway to something else I wanted to ask you about. So, your involvement with the Roundtable and the things that are going on there, how does the work that’s going on there support or enhance the goals that you have on your farm specifically?

Debbie Lyons-Blythe (12:31):

So, I think that today, specific things are starting to become available that can help individual producers. And the fact that Blythe Family Farms, we’re one that we attend meetings, we like to be a part of the conversation, we like to learn more so we’re involved in extension, we’re involved in local organizations as well as national organizations and we like to do that. Send all of the kids to college to learn something and bring it home.

John Mesko (13:06):

Yeah. 

Debbie Lyons-Blythe (13:06):

I feel like, today, we are on the cusp of the Roundtable for Sustainable Beef being able to provide lots of opportunities that will enhance Blythe Family Farms. One of the key things that is a foundational question for specifically producers at the farm level is do you have a grazing management plan. Because, if you do have a grazing management plan, then you are impacting three of those key indicators that we talked about earlier. So, you’re impacting your land resources, water resources and air and greenhouse gas emissions. And we found, interestingly enough, that not everybody has grazing management plans. In fact, we think that there are very few people that have a written, really detailed grazing management plan.

(13:58):

Now, they probably have an idea in their mind but, if you write it down, you are doing a better job just by simply writing it down and paying attention to it. And we are working on research to prove that right now. But one of the things, Blythe Family Farms, we’ve had a grazing management plan for quite a while because, remember, I told you that I’m working with my sons and they are 27 and 28 and I can tell those boys it’s time to move those cattle off that grass but they may not really hear me or they may not believe me that it’s time.

(14:33):

But if I can pull out that grazing management plan and say, “Remember, guys, this is the date we usually do it or this is the time when the grass looks like this,” they do it then. So, for us, our grazing management plan has actually turned into very much a transition of knowledge plan.

John Mesko (14:52):

Mm-hmm, yes.

Debbie Lyons-Blythe (14:54):

So, I think that we’re right at the beginning of talking about some things that impact sustainability. We’ve made the decisions, we’ve agreed on how we can measure, and, for Blythe Family Farms, the ability to now put some of those best management practices into practice will, I think, will help us continue to be a ranch for many, many years.

John Mesko (15:16):

I want to just applaud you, Debbie, for your acknowledgment that you’re training the next generation using a written plan and I’m sure you’re doing much, much more than that. But part of it is you’re putting a written plan down and you’re pointing to that to help them learn. Everybody knows that most farmers that have been in business for 30 or 40 years can tell you, “Well, back in 1990, we had a wet spring and then it turned off dry. Then we had more rain in August than we expected.” The memory that farmers have is tremendous. It is unlike any other profession that I know of.

(16:02):

But the problem with that is that, traditionally, in agriculture, we’ve had an approach that says, “Well, you have to go through all this in order for you to be ready. You have to just have this natural learning.” And one of the things that I’ve looked at with great interest over the years in my career is how we get a little bit of professional development into the farming community. Instead of just saying, well, you go to college and you come home or you go straight from high school to work on the farm and you learn your way over the next 20 years or 30 years. How many 50-year-olds still have to ask dad if they can buy a piece of equipment?

(16:49):

And then, at some point, when dad or mom decides to step back, then, obviously, you have enough information to proceed. I just want to commend you for really looking at sustainability in terms of the business and saying we want these young people to be ready to go and we’re going to use some training to get them there.

Debbie Lyons-Blythe (17:12):

Yeah. We have a little bit of a unique situation, too. Two things. So, my husband actually took over the family farm when he was 14. His dad died but his grandfather had just died just a few years before so his dad was the manager only for a few years. So, I can’t tell you that there was a lot of transition of knowledge in that timeframe for my husband. So, yes, he did a lot of trial and error and made a lot of mistakes. And I think what we’ve learned is that we would rather our kids make some of those mistakes while we’re here to help answer how to fix it or here’s why we didn’t do it that way.

John Mesko (17:52):

Yes, yes.

Debbie Lyons-Blythe (17:53):

And so, for us, we look forward to goofing off a little bit soon and letting the kids take care of some things. They’ve pretty much calved out 180 heifers for us this year without us doing much at all.

John Mesko (18:09):

Yeah, that’s fantastic.

Debbie Lyons-Blythe (18:10):

They’re doing a spectacular job. So, you’ve got to give them that responsibility though and I think that’s… This isn’t necessarily where our conversation was going to go but I think this is an important point. You have to give your kids the ability to make some management decisions, not just go move those heifers to the other pen. You have to explain why, you have to say this is why we’re doing it, this is how we do it and 4-H and FFA give kids an awful lot of opportunity to do those hands-on things. So, we embrace that tremendously and have included our kids in the discussions about why we do things from the beginning.

John Mesko (18:51):

You’re absolutely right. And when you look at life in corporate America, you don’t get fired the first time you make a mistake. Most employers, if they’re good employers, they have an understanding that people will learn from their mistakes and we’re not going to just lop them out of the organization if they make a mistake. But when we talk about farming, family farming in particular, there’s a real, understandably, but there is a real hesitancy to accommodate someone making a mistake.

(19:24):

So, we tend to over-manage so that that mistake doesn’t happen. And maybe, in some cases, in some instances, letting a young person come into the business to do something that doesn’t work out on a limited scale might be the best thing you could do.

Debbie Lyons-Blythe (19:41):

Well, and sometimes they recommend doing something that I’m not really in favor of but, if everybody else says let’s do it, I’m going to give it a try and then, it turns out, they were right.

John Mesko (19:51):

Yes, right.

Debbie Lyons-Blythe (19:52):

So, that can be really positive but that may not be exactly what we talk about with sustainability but that is fundamental to sustainability. If you don’t give that next generation the knowledge, the love of doing those jobs, the satisfaction of knowing they can, then they are not going to come back to the farm.

John Mesko (20:14):

Absolutely, absolutely.

Debbie Lyons-Blythe (20:14):

Who’s going to continue it then?

John Mesko (20:16):

Yep, absolutely. Well, okay. So, speaking of continuing on and sustaining the business, one of the things that we talk about in the sustainability conversation is what are the metrics, what are the specific numbers that a large retailer or a buyer or, in the case of specific commodities, the largest consumer of that commodity, what are the specific greenhouse gas numbers or carbon numbers or water management numbers that they want to see.

(20:51):

Most of these big corporations that are retailing food or processing food are making some kind of sustainability claim. We will be carbon neutral by 2050 or we will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 or whatever the case is.

Debbie Lyons-Blythe (21:08):

Right.

John Mesko (21:09):

But one of the things that I see popping up more and more, as more entities within the supply chain realize, it’s very hard to just arbitrarily pick a number and then meet it when you don’t really understand what goes into that number. One of the things that I see more and more is these entities want to see continuous improvement. They just want to see us directionally going where we need to go. And as the science evolves and as the understanding around sustainability grows and evolves, we may get to a consensus on what those numbers should be but we need to start in the right direction and be continuously improving.

(21:51):

My question for you, and what I’d like to talk with you a little bit about is, how do you feel about the whole continuous improvement conversation? I know your ranch is probably doing a lot of things really well so when you hear continuous improvement, does that make you think, “Well, you’re going to ask me to do better when I’m already doing pretty well?” Talk with us a little bit about that.

Debbie Lyons-Blythe (22:12):

Well, first of all, we’re not doing everything right. I don’t think anybody does.

John Mesko (22:19):

That’s true.

Debbie Lyons-Blythe (22:20):

There are still plenty of things that we can improve on. I think every single operation has things that they can do better. And I think, when I talk to different producers, and I go and speak quite a little bit about this too, specifically, producers, and then I also go talk to consumers. But when I talk to producers about continuous improvement, I remind them that we’ve already been focused on that. Grandpa used to say, “Make the land better than when you got it.” You were always supposed to be doing a better job. We all want to make more money next year than we made this year. We always want to be able to look toward the future and continue to make things better. So, really, continuous improvement shouldn’t scare any of us, that’s just what we need to be doing.

(23:12):

And honestly, the tools that we will use for continuous improvement in the future, we don’t even understand what they are today. The technology that we’re going to have to be able to measure carbon in the soil and how much sequestration, cover crops and native grass and all of these things that can do to offset whatever emissions we have, it’s going to be spectacular, the tools we’re going to have in the future. So, as we talk about what metrics the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef is providing, we are actually finding the research, the correct research, and now actually encouraging some of the research to prove that practices are the right thing to do.

(23:58):

So, for example, the grazing management plan that we discussed earlier, is going to be one of the key questions, do you have a grazing management plan and then give us more information about it? But we’ve got to have the research that backs up to prove that a written detailed grazing management plan helps us to sequester more carbon. So, the research is what’s important but we’re not going to necessarily be able to give numbers and dollar figures and how much carbon exactly is sequestered. But we want these people to know, these retailers and consumers to know that, by doing the right things, we are making an impact, we are proving that we’re good for the environment.

John Mesko (24:46):

Absolutely. I think that’s really important. And I think it’s like retirement planning or using your seatbelt in your car. It is the right thing to do and it’s going to pay off. You may not save your life with a seatbelt every time you go out on the road, but hopefully-

Debbie Lyons-Blythe (25:08):

Exactly.

John Mesko (25:08):

… you’re not getting an accident every time but it is the right thing to do and it may save your life someday. And the same thing goes with sustainability. Every single year, you may not have a negative impact but, if you’re doing the right thing and a certain set of circumstances comes down the road, you may actually extend the life of your farm by having done the right thing.

Debbie Lyons-Blythe (25:32):

Hopefully, the things that we’re doing that we are encouraging from the Roundtable perspective are good things that will improve the life of your farm, improve the efficiency of your farm, improve your bottom line, and allow your family to make the decision that will keep your farm operating. And so, in order to support those claims and expectations of the retailers that are out there today, they can’t prove what they’re asking us to prove, they can’t do it without us.

(26:05):

So, we need to look and see what they’re claiming. What is their need, what are they claiming to be able to do and then we need to see and tell them how we can help them meet that because that is what’s going to keep us in business. We can help you, we are part of the solution to that concern, and we can do this.

John Mesko (26:24):

That is a great viewpoint to have. Farmers really are a part of the solution and really strengthening that role for farmers with regard to the marketplace is really important. I hope that, at this point in our podcast recording, folks that have been listening are really interested in learning more about you and about things that are going on in your farm. You are going to be our keynote speaker at the PSA Summer Symposium in Houston, June 20th is the date. What are some of the things that are on your mind that you want to share with us and with potato growers in general?

Debbie Lyons-Blythe (27:02):

Well, I look forward to sharing this story about why I got involved in the whole topic of sustainability and how the Roundtable came about. Some of the challenges that we had, some of the things that I would encourage you to think about as you step forward and organize this, and hopefully, you’ll be able to miss a few of the pitfalls that we maybe had to deal with. But I think the other thing to remember is you have to define a very clear scope of work and what we called that was stay in your lane.

(27:37):

So, we said we can do these things really well. We’re not going to deal with anything outside of this today. We might be able to in the future but today. For example, as I talk about that, we have chosen that, today, we are not going to do the work to find out how much carbon is lost and sequestered, emitted, anything in the feed sector. So, we are not doing that research, we are not doing those calculations but there are people that are. There are organizations that are doing that and they’re making progress and they’re doing a good job.

(28:15):

So, we just expect that we’ll have a relationship with them that we can collaborate and then benefit from their work, and that’ll help them as well. But it doesn’t make sense for us to try to do that as well as try to get our arms around the animal side of it. I think that’s one of the key things that we’ll try to discuss.

John Mesko (28:36):

Well, that sounds great. As an organization and as an industry in potatoes, we are in that same boat. We cannot do everything for everybody, we’ve got to think about what our lane is and define that and do that really well. Better to do a few things really well than do a lot of things mediocre.

Debbie Lyons-Blythe (28:58):

Yep, I agree.

John Mesko (28:59):

One last thought or one last issue or I guess I should say idea that I’d like to get out of you is to think about where are we going in the future. We talked, before we started the recording, about the changes that both of us have seen in agriculture from the last 20, 30-plus years and I always wonder where are we going, where is this headed. And of course, I’ve got ideas, other people have ideas but share with us a little bit about where you think the sustainability conversation is going, maybe even in the next 10 years or 20 years as you see it shaping up right now.

Debbie Lyons-Blythe (29:41):

Well, so looking back again to that original conversation of sustainability and the top-down approach, I really had hoped that that would just go away. That the whole conversation around sustainability would just fade away and they wouldn’t really have that but that’s absolutely not happening. We’re obviously not going to stop talking about sustainability, we are not going to stop talking about the climate. We need to be a solution to that instead of just a constant naysayer. But I think that it’s going to come to a point here in the next, probably two to five years, where we can make money off of that claim.

(30:23):

We should be able to, through a certification program, and I think there’ll be plenty of beef certification programs pop up that have to do with sustainability. We should be able to get a little better at market for our time. Unfortunately, though, I think, when we’re looking at the 10 to 20-year timeframe, I’m afraid to say I think sustainability is going to be expected and those things that we’re measuring will be expected that you’re doing and, if you’re not, you’re going to just lose money.

(30:53):

So, that’ll eventually become the baseline. But as I’ve said many times, they’re best management practices, they’re the right things to be doing. It’s not like we’re asking you to do anything really crazy outside of your wheelhouse.

John Mesko (31:06):

Right. Excellent point. One of the foundational pillars of this whole podcast being called the Resource Positive Agriculture Podcast is rooted in the notion that there are a million different words that are used to describe sustainability. So, when I bump into a naysayer, as you were talking about earlier, one of the first questions they ask you is, “Well, how do you define sustainability?” Well, that’s a very easy way to distract us from the reality. If we can get into an argument about whether something’s sustainable or regenerative or organic or climate-smart, if we can be distracted into talking about the definition of those different descriptions, then we can be distracted from where we really want to go.

(32:02):

And what I’ve started to say more recently is, when we talk about sustainable agriculture, we’re just making farms better. At a very high level, we want to do better.

Debbie Lyons-Blythe (32:14):

Yep. Some people even will fight back with me when I talk about sustainability saying that they’re a fifth-generation cattle ranch and that’s sustainable and I say, well, not necessarily. Being able to pass it down to your kids and grandkids is a part of sustainability but are you doing a better job at each generation? Are they able to keep the farm together? Do they have to sell in order to be able to continue the farm in such a way that they end up having to sell part of it? So, legacy is not 100% of sustainability but it’s a huge part of it.

(32:52):

So, each of the ideas that people have, they’re a part of sustainability but you’ve got to have the metrics, you’ve got to have the proof. You’ve got to be able to answer those questions so that we can be a part of the solution.

John Mesko (33:06):

Excellent point. You have to be able to look around and see what’s going on in other parts of the community, other parts of the industry. I just did an article for our newsletter now too long ago where I mentioned the Eastman Kodak Company. This company essentially had a monopoly on photography. The film, the process, and the means of getting a picture were really owned by Eastman Kodak for over a hundred years. And anybody at any point in time in the first hundred years of that company, starting in around the 1860s, would’ve said they are sustainable. We’ve been in business for 60, 80, a hundred years, we’re a sustainable business but the reality is they were not because they didn’t see digital photography being of any kind of importance.

(33:53):

And when they got word of it as an issue that they probably should be thinking about it, they said, “Who’s going to not want their pictures printed on a piece of paper?” Pictures belong on photo paper, that’s what pictures are and they didn’t recognize that pictures were changing. And, oh, my gosh, how many pictures are digital versus paper now? They missed that, they didn’t make that change in their business. I don’t think you could say that they were ever sustainable because they were never going to see that.

(34:33):

So, I agree with you. Just staying in business is important but not exclusive in terms of what equals sustainability.

Debbie Lyons-Blythe (34:42):

I agree. That’s a strong example, that’s cool.

John Mesko (34:46):

Well, Debbie, you and I have not met, I’m looking forward to June in Houston meeting you in person, and inviting you to address our group. This has been a really wonderful conversation.

Debbie Lyons-Blythe (34:58):

Yeah, I look forward to it, too. Thank you for asking me.

John Mesko (35:01):

We’ve been talking today with Debbie Lyons-Blythe who is the rancher at Blythe Angus and also the keynote speaker at the PSA Summer Symposium, June 20 through 22 in Houston, Texas. I’m John Mesko, this is the Resource Positive Agriculture Podcast, stay positive.

Voiceover (35:27):

This is John Mesko with PSA and I’m looking forward to the 2023 PSA Summer Symposium. We’re holding it this year from June 20th through June 22nd at the Sysco headquarters in Houston, Texas and the registration link is now live. You can go to our website, potatosustainability.org/2023symposium, get all the details and secure your ticket. See you there.

(36:00):

Thanks for tuning in to today’s episode. To hear more podcasts like this, please rate, review and subscribe to Resource Positive Agriculture. We want to hear from you. Remember to visit potatosustainability.org for show notes from this episode, leave your feedback and to learn more about how PSA is collaborating for potato sustainability. Thank you and, remember, stay positive.