00:00 So two weeks ago, we have a field day with an extremely diverse crowd of folks representing consumer brands. And the field day was here at your farm, Kelly Garrett. 00:08 They wanted to know, what does this thing look like out here in flyover country? The crops we produce that are now going to their good, 00:15 because increasingly we're using bio derived products. D push away from fossil fuels to make foam for your shoes and things like that. I learned a lot, you learned a lot about how those folks think. 00:27 They don't think like us farmers because they've never been farmers. Um, I guess help me explain it to the others, 00:34 what we saw and what our takeaway was and how we can make this whole bridge, uh, you know, come together even faster. 00:41 Yeah. You know, the group of folks that came was from all over the country and really from all over the world, 00:46 and I think they were a little skeptical of what they were gonna see. Not bad, but was it gonna be worth their time? 00:52 And then they came and a couple people told me they were moved, which moved me to know that we were, uh, filling that void. 00:59 There's such a disconnect between the consumer and farming now. And their number one question was because you had shoe designers, 01:07 you had shampoo and soap makers, you had flooring companies, food Soda companies, a 01:11 Pack companies, you know, and they, they were nervous. Their number one question is, if this corn is used for an industrial use, are we taking food out of the pipeline? 01:21 And they've heard that because for years, the mantra from people that opposed ethanol was, you're taking corn and making it into fuel for people's SUVs, 01:30 and that could be going to feed a starving child in Africa. I mean, it's, it's kind of the take on that. Right, 01:35 Exactly. And of course the answer is, The answer is no. And I, and I debunked that myth for them. And we can go through that again right here very easily, you know, 01:43 and we talk about downstream, and I don't even, you know, you have to kind of wrap your head around even what downstream meats. 01:48 I'm the farmer raising corn. I'm at the top of the stream. Pret buys the corn, turns it into a glucose. Okay? Then Culation bio buys the glucose, 01:58 makes the bio-based polymer Yep. That the other companies buy to make the flooring make the midsoles of the shoes. It goes into apparel, it goes into spandex, goes into many, many uses. 02:08 What's Interesting isn't your field day, I'm talking to the president of Ation bio and I said, you know, I'm not sure I'm familiar with your company. He said, yeah, 02:15 because we are a spinoff from DuPont. Oh, It made sense to me. DuPont made what? Nylon. And so all of a sudden they're still in the fiber business. 02:24 They're still in the textile or fiber or elastic business. Now they're using corn derived products to do that. Nike was there, 02:30 Mohawk flooring was there. I mean, I was really impressed by these companies. And I think that once they saw what we do out here, 02:36 they feel good about corn derived products or soy derived products going into consumer goods. Now they gotta sell it onto to the consumer. 02:44 Right? And they, they talked about the consumer wants to know, or their brand designer wants to know, are we taking food out of the pipeline? 02:52 My answer to them was no. And what I showed 'em for, for, you know, an example in my world is the ethanol industry. And I showed them the syrup, 03:00 the dried distillers grains, the silage, the soy hole pellets. I showed 'em all the byproducts that come from ethanol or soybean production, 03:09 wheat straw. You know, that's a byproduct reason. Right. I showed 'em all the byproducts that we use to now feed the cattle. 03:15 And all the media really talks about is ethanol, or all the media talks about is the glucose that premin is like, we're taking food out. Ethanol production has made, right. 03:25 Cattle feeding more cost efficient Right. Easier, and the cattle gain better from these products. So in a lot of ways we've actually, I think the argument can be made. 03:33 We've added food to the pipe and We've, and we've also stepped up once we now have more sources to pla take our corn, we can produce more corn. 03:40 Absolutely. I, I, I think that's, I think it's all a win-win. So, uh, your last message to someone that's I here, that's in that market, 03:47 that's not us. They are not used to being in cornfield. The, the look that we saw in those people's eyes when they came out here and, 03:55 and did what we do or saw what you do, um, what did you close out with that you really thought was like, man, now we get it and they get it too? 04:03 It's a great way to live out here. We're producing a great product with American Corn. It's a renewable resource by using it for industrial use. 04:11 We're not taking food out of the pipeline. We're actually adding food. And I, I feel that everybody that was at that field date, 04:18 I feel that they agree with us now and they understand and they all acted like they want to come back. And they had a great time. 04:24 And the understanding and the connection that we made is very important to our American way of life. My 04:30 Takeaway. Thank you. My takeaway was that we demonstrated, uh, re that carbon's getting gobbled up out here. Yeah. 04:36 If we're supposed to be reducing carbon, this is where it goes to. This is where it goes. That's right. And, uh, you want to use less fossil fuels. 04:42 Here's your answer stated behind us. I think that they started to make the connection, it sort of connect the dots. Less carbon equals this, 04:48 less fossil fuels equals this less environmental impact equals sustainable farming. And that's where I think that they actually connect to the dots. 04:54 They do. Uh, that's what the whole day was about. Those people, those companies being able to connect the dots to feel good about what's going 05:02 on upstream as well as downstream. Ter brought them here to your farm. My name's Damien Mason. He is Kelly Garrett. We're talking about the road to sustainability and, uh, 05:11 the great stretch we've made here with our sustainability partners like Trutter. Until next time, stay tuned.