Ep. 9: Meet and Potatoes with John Mesko and Natalie Nesburg

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 (00:31):

This is John Mesko, and welcome to the Resource Positive Agriculture podcast. My guest is Natalie Nesburg, who is PSA’s data specialist and someone who works very closely with me on a regular basis. We are essentially all of the PSA staff in one room at the same time right now.

(00:50):

We are currently, as this is being recorded, wrapping up the 2023 Potato Expo, and Natalie, it’s been a very fast-paced few days here and we’ve been here in Denver for the whole week. We both got in here on Monday. What are some of your key impressions of this year’s potato expo?

Natalie Nesburg (01:14):

I think this year is really fun. I think there’s a big emphasis and a want to understand more about what’s going on in the sustainability realm. So I had a lot of people coming up to me asking me what’s going on, what are we doing, how are we helping to communicate this story? But then also measure and benchmark, which is obviously my cup of tea. I love talking about that. So I think it’s really cool to see the excitement going into this upcoming year, especially considering everything we have planned coming up.

John Mesko (01:40):

I agree, and comparing this expo to the one last year in Anaheim, which was I think the first one either of us had been to, there are more people here. There’s no real concern about COVID. It’s a beautiful facility at the Gaylord Rockies Resort Center here.

(02:02):

We had a number of things going on for our program at this event. We started out on Tuesday with our annual general meeting and our board of directors meeting. What did you think of this? It was a chance for us to connect with our broader membership.

Natalie Nesburg (02:21):

I thought it went really well. We had a large turnout, we had to get more chairs in the back, so everyone could have a seat. But I was really excited for our annual general meeting just so I could go over some of our insights and findings from this year’s survey. So our 2022 PSA annual survey closed, I was also able to cover information about the Cropwise Sustainable Outcomes in Agriculture Standard, which is platformed through their Cropwise Sustainability app.

(02:49):

So we did a pilot this fall as well in alignment with our PSA survey so that growers could provide some initial feedback. So I was able to present those findings. And then also Syngenta was really, really great. They were able to be here and present some findings from additional dashboards and show our board visualizations of insights from that tool. So it was a really great opportunity for people to see that side-by-side comparison of what types of tools we’re exploring and have been implementing.

John Mesko (03:16):

I agree and I think our organization, I say it all the time, it’s unique. We are an alliance and we have people and organizations representing every aspect of the potato value chain, from farmers to processors to wholesalers, fresh marketers, input suppliers like Syngenta, and other allied industry folks. We have nonprofits that are involved in what we’re doing, and it is a very eclectic and interesting alliance where we are able to draw from the good positive things from each of those sectors.

(03:54):

But it comes with some, I don’t want to say challenges, but we always have to think about how different partners, different stakeholders, view sustainability differently. They view PSA and their role with us a little bit differently. But I agree with you the number of people who showed up to the annual general meeting more than doubled from last year and great conversations at the breakouts and at the break time, I should say, and after the meeting.

(04:27):

I know people came up to me and were really grateful for the information that we shared and you, I’m sure, heard comments from other people as well.

Natalie Nesburg (04:35):

Yeah, I think it was great. And I think another thing that came out as talking about our diversity in membership is that our allied industry group met after the board meeting as well and they talked about other areas of specialties that they could bring into the conversation. So I think that that was a really good opportunity to see where we could pull other information from.

(04:54):

And one of them also will talk about her later, but Shawny with CropTrak joined us for a panel and talked about using Cool Farm Tool to calculate greenhouse gas emissions. So examples like that in areas that we can continue to tap into.

John Mesko (05:07):

I think that’s a great example. Right now, we have more members, company members, in the allied industry sector than we have available board seats. That’s fine because they are meeting, as you said, to really look at how can they help us as a sector, how can they contribute to what we’re doing as a sector. That was great.

(05:30):

Erika Wagner from Yara is the person who led that session and she just did a great job. We’re really grateful for everybody’s involvement in that. One of the things that happened in the board meetings, we got to recap for our board some of the progress around, as you said, the greenhouse gas emissions work and get some affirmation from the board that we’re headed in the right direction, particularly on the water stewardship plan.

Natalie Nesburg (05:55):

So we have had a water team that’s been working for the past couple of months to really lay out an approach and an implementation plan for our water stewardship pillar. That included things like practices that they’d like to see incorporated into our survey to make sure that those are happening in each region and to also track which ones are happening in each region to work towards water stewardship.

(06:19):

That’s really focused on telling the water story. There was some talk about quantitative crop per drop measurements there, but we are really trying to move away from that to find other areas and focuses of continuous improvement and just how we can communicate that best for growers.

John Mesko (06:36):

I think another key thing that we discussed and voted on in the board meeting is to continue to pursue implementation or understanding and implementation of the Syngenta Cropwise Sustainability app. You mentioned just a minute ago that we had a pilot this year and you were heavily involved in setting up that pilot and carrying it out.

(06:56):

The purpose of the pilot was to put this tool in the hands of some of our growers and have them tell us how it worked for them and give us some feedback. Maybe some of the highlights of the results of that pilot, you might want to share with our listeners.

Natalie Nesburg (07:12):

So first I’ll step back just to say that the reason why we’re piloting this is because our board voted on it due to the fact that it is SAI Platform’s FSA 3.0 gold equivalency. That’s a requirement that we’re seeing come out of some customers up the supply chain.

(07:28):

We really want to make sure that we can supply that for our growers who are being asked to have FSA equivalency, and so that was the main driver behind implementing it. It was just sort of a different setup from our annual PSA survey. Obviously, any type of change is going to be met with a learning curve. This was a really good example to see what were the likes and dislikes compared to our current survey.

(07:50):

A lot of the likes were they liked that it was in just an app format where our current survey is on a desktop. So the mobility of that, they liked the simplified questions and then also the amount of resources that Syngenta is able to provide surrounding the app in terms of help desk and also other forms of guidance that they have readily available, they found really nice. And so those were some of the likes that came out of that.

John Mesko (08:15):

I think that’s really important because it’s true to our values to have this go through a process that farmers get a chance to test it out. We get a chance to explore it, and then the results of that pilot get shared so that the whole organization can make a good decision on what we want to do going forward.

Voiceover(08:40):

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John Mesko (09:27):

After the board meeting on Tuesday, in the afternoon we held the second annual PSA reception at the expo. Again, a huge turnout, more than double what we had last year. Really a nice informal time for people to connect with our existing members, ask questions, learn about PSA and get to know the people involved.

(09:50):

What kinds of conversations did you have? Did you meet anybody new that was interesting or learn anything new about some of our members?

Natalie Nesburg (09:59):

Yeah, I had some really good conversations. Most of them did center around our favorite type of potato and our favorite way to cook potatoes. But there were some good conversations held about some of the excitement and the eagerness for what’s to come this year.

(10:14):

So we’re going to touch on it later. But our first-ever North American Potato Sustainability Report was a big thing that people were really excited for, and they were talking about just items that they’d like to see there. I think that it just echoes some of the excitement and progress that we’re seeing and the want to collaborate and get on the same page around a program.

John Mesko (10:38):

One of the things that I found happening to me is with each of our members, we have identified one person who is the primary contact with that company or that organization. Those people who were here in Denver this week, they came to the reception, but I found that in many cases they were bringing other colleagues from their company with them.

(10:59):

Sandy Gleddie who was with Little Potato Company, I think I met four or five Little Potato Company people, including their CEO and their vice president of marketing and all of these people were coming and that’s not the only one. I don’t want to single them out because a lot of member companies and representatives were bringing multiple people, and that was really fun to know that PSA is a bigger part of what’s going on in those companies.

Natalie Nesburg (11:28):

I think that’s a great call out because it was very fun to meet other members that are also working with the people we communicate with on a daily basis, seeing some of their larger team and getting to learn their names as well to hopefully see and hear from them in the future.

John Mesko (11:43):

It was good to hear examples of people saying, “We are so glad that so-and-so is involved with PSA. We are really behind you in this and we’re grateful to be able to have our representative work with your board or on your working group,” or whatever the case it is. So that was great. That was a super time.

(12:03):

Then on Wednesday, we moved into the expo exhibit hall, hundreds of exhibitors it seems like, and lots of booths and displays this year, more than last year I think, because of COVID. Then we had a booth this year where we were talking about our organization. We had some materials available for people to pick up, and we spent a good bit of time networking with PSA members and others that were there.

(12:31):

Then today, Thursday of the Potato Expo, we had a pretty full day. It was fun. I enjoyed it a lot. I know that you had your first opportunity to address the Potato Expo from the main stage.

Natalie Nesburg (12:44):

So we did have a Potato Talk this morning about what it means to define potato production sustainability. I did get to speak on more of a higher level of how are these practices defined as sustainable, what does that mean, how is this being derived from an industry perspective, but also globally from other standards and initiatives. I feel like that was really good context to give to some of our survey results because I also covered that there. So I could give people who came to the talk a better understanding of how we’re tracking continuous improvement through our benchmarking tool.

(13:18):

But we also talked about other ways we’re looking to advance potato sustainability within our membership and up the supply chain so it’s not fully reliant on growers and implementing different production practices. Because a lot of times they’re already doing practices that are considered sustainable. It’s just understanding which ones are and helping them to communicate that story that they already have.

John Mesko (13:43):

It was great because it was, again, a full crowd, lots of people, people taking pictures of us up there, people taking pictures of our slides, people wanting to know and understand what we’re saying, which is great. That’s what we’re really here for.

(13:57):

One of the things that I was surprised to learn is that there was some walkup music for us as we walked up onto the stage. And had I known that, I think we could have maybe come up with something more centric to who we are and what we’re doing. We will have to work on that for next year.

Natalie Nesburg (14:14):

Top of the list for next year.

John Mesko (14:18):

That was our first on stage. We had a number of opportunities to interact with media throughout the day today. We also held a breakout session in one of the breakout rooms this afternoon regarding the use of the Cool Farm Tool. We had a chance to talk about how we expect to implement it and what kinds of things we’re working on, the considerations for implementation.

(14:42):

But we also had some guests that are connected to us. We had folks from Simplot, CSS Farms and CropTrak additionally working with us on that panel to give the audience a real feel for the Cool Farm Tool in a bigger sense and ways that we’re working to implement it in the right way.

Natalie Nesburg (15:06):

I think the Cool Farm Tool, that panel discussion, was really important because as I said earlier, any type of change is going to come with some pushback or a learning curve. We’re learning from growers in our membership, but also people who attended the meeting, what specifically, what questions they’re looking to have answered as we look to implement it in our program.

(15:27):

So our board, just to recap in July, voted to implement the Cool Farm Tool and since then we’ve been taking considerations such as how to streamline data entry for farmers, what’s the best representative approach, so growers don’t need to complete it every year, and then how to better best communicate results from the Cool Farm Tool so that they can use those to inform other production practice implementation and really understand what the tool is saying for them.

John Mesko (15:58):

We learned from our panel how farmers can use the Cool Farm Tool and the information it generates to make better decisions on their farm. And really that’s a key to sustainability, having the information available to make a good decision on a sustainability impacting practice is really important. Otherwise, farmers are just trying things to see if they work. That was really, really helpful. That session too was pretty full. There were a lot of people in there as well.

Natalie Nesburg (16:29):

Yeah, it was pretty packed, and I do think that to reiterate again, another question that came out of there was just asking why they’re being asked about these certain production practices, which goes back to highlighting our role in telling the sustainability story, helping to explain the demands and the goals and the commitments that everyone’s trying to reach so that they know why they’re being asked to do all these things and fill out all these assessments and tools and surveys. It’s not just busy work, it’s really making an impact.

John Mesko (16:57):

It is, and it’s what we’re in business to do. That’s why PSA exists. So it’s fun to actually engage our audience and others in our program. There is something that happened here at Potato Expo, which I forgot to mention, and it has to do with the sport of cornhole beanbag tossing. You found that there was going to be a tournament yesterday and today around this. Talk about that.

Natalie Nesburg (17:28):

So naturally we had to participate as a team in this cornhole tournament. Our team name was Hot Potatoes and we were on fire. We did really well. We won all three of our initial games that got us into the finals today. Unfortunately, we did not win, but I think we left a pretty good impression on our skills when it comes to tossing bean bags full of sand, marbles. I don’t know what’s in them.

John Mesko (17:54):

I don’t know. I thought, I suppose corn, I suppose those bags were filled with some corn.

Natalie Nesburg (17:56):

That makes sense.

John Mesko (17:57):

I think we made a great impression and obviously there are people who take this sport really seriously.

Natalie Nesburg (18:04):

Very seriously.

John Mesko (18:05):

And we did not take it that seriously, but we sure had a fun time and I think we represented Potato Sustainability Alliance very well.

Natalie Nesburg (18:14):

Yeah, that was a lot of fun.

John Mesko (18:16):

That was part of the fun entertainment that was here at the expo both last night and today. We have a lot of work ahead of us for 2023. One of the things that we did as a staff, you and I, as well as Stacie McCracken, who is our communications lead, we sat down at a couple different points and we’re actually going to do a little bit of that later on today where we talked about some of the initial plans for how we’re going to accomplish some of the big picture goals we have, like the 2023 Potato Sustainability Report.

(18:50):

That will be the first time this report is ever generated, and we have set ourselves a date of August 1st to release this. So we’ve got a lot of work to put together, the table of contents and where the content of the report is coming from and what gets shared and how it gets distributed, and who the audience is.

Natalie Nesburg (19:10):

I think that alongside that too, we have a lot of program work that’s looking to be implemented by that same August 1st deadline that can also help to inform that sustainability report, and so I’m really looking forward to that getting underway. I think there’s a lot of momentum here right now that we can carry into all of that work to hope to have a program ready to launch on August 1st.

John Mesko (19:32):

I feel the same way. The momentum is really important, and honestly, I would say this week’s work has really renewed my energy for what we’re doing. I feel like we solved some key hurdles that we were dealing with as an organization.

(19:48):

I think we have better unity around our targets and our goals. I think we’ve got more understanding across the board with everybody that’s involved. So this has been a really, really good week from my perspective.

Natalie Nesburg (20:02):

Yeah, I completely agree.

John Mesko (20:04):

All right, Natalie. Well, it’s a pleasure as always to work with you. It was really enjoyable to do our different presentations and to really meet people and represent PSA together. I think you have shown yourself to be a very accomplished young woman in this whole ag space, and we were talking earlier before we started recording.

(20:26):

I think it’s unique for someone in your shoes, at your stage of life to be contributing at such a high level. I’m glad to be a part of that, and I think everybody’s been very happy with our whole team, and am looking forward to working together some more.

Natalie Nesburg (20:43):

Thank you. I’m excited for what’s to come.

John Mesko (20:45):

All right, and this is John Mesko with the Resource Positive Agriculture Podcast. Stay positive.

Voiceover (20:57):

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.