Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:17] Speaker B: Hi and welcome back to this month's episode. We're so glad to have you, our listeners, joining us again. This is an episode we've been especially excited to share because today we're shining a spotlight on a group of people who often work behind the scenes, but whose impact touches all of our lives in one way or another every single day. My name is Lily Stenroos and I'm a senior at Kent State University working as the external affairs intern with the Ohio association of Food Banks. And I'll be your host for today's episode. I will also be joined by my colleague Sarah Coons as co host. She is the external affairs manager here at oaf.
In honor of National Farmers Day, which takes place on October 12th, we have the privilege of speaking with Alex Beery from Michael Farms. National Farmers Day is a movement to pause and recognize the heart, the grit and the deep dedication of the individuals who feed our communities, care for the land, and help build the very foundation of our economy.
It's more than just growing crops. It's about sustaining life, community and tradition. The through this conversation, we hope to create a space where farmers can share their experiences openly and feel truly seen, heard and appreciated. With that said, Alex, welcome to the show. We're so grateful to have you here. To start off, can you tell us a little about yourself and your role at Michael Farms?
[00:01:36] Speaker C: Yes, of course. Well, thank you, Lily.
First of all, thank you for having me. It's great to be here and to be a part of this series representing the farming community. And I liked everything you said there in the intro about the grit and tradition and et cetera. But yes, my name is Alex Beery and I've worked with Michael farms for about 15 years now.
And Michael Farms is a medium sized specialty crop operation in central Ohio where with approximately 3,000 acres of growing land, we raise sweet corn, green beans, some cabbage and potatoes.
Green beans is something of a flagship crop for us and we grow over 1000 acres, something like 1200 this year of green beans alone. So it's a pretty big deal. And we're a big fish in a small pond when it comes to something like green beans. If you've bought them at your local, say, Kroger grocery store in the tri state area this summer, they were probably Michael Farms. There's a good chance they were Michael Farms green beans. So my role at the farm is I'm the human resources director and also the food safety and QA coordinator there and manager. So my angle is the people I don't come by way of agronomy or plant science or.
I find all those things fascinating and I've learned a lot just through working in it.
But I'm a people person and I've been recruiting for the farm directly, which is something that has its own set of challenges because here in Ohio, of course, we have a specific growing season, and it's a concentrated growing season into a few months of the year.
So we have a seasonal crew that's housed on site and it's recruited annually to just work that season. So a very different model of employment. And of course, that's since time immemorial been a challenge for farming, especially here in these climates. So that's kind of my intro. I have a background in business and bilingual English and Spanish.
Most of our seasonal crew is Spanish speaking, a high percentage. So we use that every day. And I should say just to give people an idea of what type of specialty crop farming we're doing. When I talk about fresh vegetables, these are destined for the Fresh Market, which is your produce section at your local grocery store.
So I mentioned Kroger, and we work with Meijer and some other big change. We work with also smaller chains.
Some are regional, like Mark Glassman's in the Cleveland area to just name drop a few.
But individual IGAs and other independent retailers are also part of our customer base portfolio. And the Fresh Market is going to the produce section in your grocery store. And there are some food distributors that are handling restaurants or other things like that. But we're not a processor and we handle whole commodities. Some of those are going to processors that have a value add packaging operation where they're tray packing sweet corn for the supermarket or putting together some salad pack or ready to eat type of veggie thing. And then those will show up under those brands or maybe under a house brand of the grocery store if they're.
If they're handled that way. So, Michael Farms, you had mentioned behind the scenes in your intro. And as a grower, we're not out there promoting our name per se. So when you go get some green beans, they're basically lining that bulk bin in the produce section of your grocery store and you're filling the bag and taking it up to the register where there's a PLU for sold per pound, but it's not a branded packaged product. So in that sense, we are very much behind the scenes and not out there kind of flaunting our brand or promoting some specific type of preparation for green beans or sweet corn or any other Things we do have branded potato, which is the Buckeye brand, and we've had that for a long time. It's kind of a legacy brand for us.
Potatoes is not as big a part of what we do as it once was. Michael Farms has been in the business of specialty crops in the vegetable category since the late 50s. So Doug and Phyllis Michael, kind of the patriarch and matriarch of the operation, started the operation known today as Michael Farms in the late 50s. So it's coming up on 70 years that we've been doing this, that somebody's been doing this. And they're in the fourth generation now. I work with a lot of the third generation members and some of the grandkids are out there doing summer work as well. So that's, I guess, four generations of it. So potatoes was something that early on was added to, I think, a small dairy operation. And that's kind of where, where it gets its beginnings. And then the current CEO and COO that are basically owner operators are Scott Michael and Kurt Michael both attended Ohio State and studied agriculture and got very much into the business and the ag science behind running a farm and raising vegetables. And so they were the ones that tried a lot of different crops and crop rotation strategies and tested and tried different varieties to see what would work that really built out this category of vegetables that we grow today.
So to skip ahead and finish the thought I had earlier about the fresh market category besides supermarkets. So a lot of our, a lot of our vegetables that are grown, they're loaded onto semi trucks that are going to distribution centers that are then going out to produce managers in these retail settings for grocery chains. We also have a farm market on our farm that's its own retail store and that is, is a way for us to stay in touch with our community. So the lady, Ella Pryor, who's been with the farm for many decades, has run that store for a long time during our season. And it's a way for us to stay in touch with the locals in the community that really want that, you know, farm to fork experience of buying, you know, potatoes, sweet corn or green beans directly. Something that, you know, was harvested that morning or the day before or sometime recently locally in their backyard, as it were. So we do that and she's on a first name basis with probably 90% of that local clientele. And it also provides a way sometimes people won't be able to get a whole bushel or a 50 pound bag of potatoes or something like that at their grocery store, but at farm markets and those types of settings you can. So for people that are doing home canning or you know, a family event and they want to get a large quantity, they'll do that. We also, out of the store, run a wholesale operation, so that would fall somewhere in between where people aren't showing up with a semi truck to our dock, but they're not just walking out with a grocery bag. So they might bring a pickup truck and get a pallet load of green beans and those are going to be added to their farm market or maybe a food truck that's going, that's buying potatoes to do french fries at festivals. So we sell to all of those different levels of clients directly.
But by and large, far and away the main thing that we do is supply grocery chains in the fresh market for green beans and sweet corn, potatoes and cabbage.
[00:10:27] Speaker B: We were curious on if you're able to give us more information about the farm market and does that farm market accept like SNAP EBT or produce perks? And do you sell at other farmers markets at all?
[00:10:40] Speaker C: Yeah, sure, that's a great question.
We in fact do accept SNAP ebt.
I think once upon a time, you know, long ago there was more of an old school sales room feel to our farm market. It was probably cash and checks only. But you know, now we have of course, you know, a card reader for credit cards and a separate one for SNAP and EBT benefits. So yes, that's important for people to get, you know, locally available nutritious foodstuffs and for local people that are getting, that are coming in there and getting things. I guess I already mentioned, you know, some of them may have, you know, different needs as far as home canning or, you know, other uses for the vegetables. But we definitely encourage, and we do some local sales and things. We definitely encourage people to can or freeze or, you know, otherwise preserve our vegetables so they can enjoy them even in the off season. So a lot of times during the end of the season we might have, have a freezer special on sweet corn and that type of thing where people like to do that and prep that at home so that they have ingredients for succotash or chili or whatever in the wintertime, in the winter months.
So yeah, we take pride in offering our products and our vegetables directly to consumers at all socioeconomic levels and especially locally. If they can, if they can find us and get to our store, then we're really happy to serve them.
[00:12:15] Speaker B: That's awesome. Thank you so much for that.
I just think it's really cool that you guys have that Market on site. It's like farm. You don't see a lot of farm to table. I feel like that's what you guys are doing, so that's really cool.
[00:12:27] Speaker C: Well, you mentioned you asked about other farm markets. And like I said, we also do wholesale our products and our vegetables at every level. So whether it's one bushel or two pallets or half a truckload, we can accommodate.
And we feel like that's very important because you have so many different uses up and down the market for reselling or preparing fresh foods in small or large restaurant situations. So, yes, we do service a lot of resellers that are taking, they're taking our vegetables to other larger markets. I know there's a big Amish market in Amish Auction in Bainbridge, Ohio. And sometimes people come to us, they're consolidating things from local growers to take to market there, and we're happy to oblige them and that they participate in that.
[00:13:26] Speaker A: Yeah, a lot of consumers don't really understand that, like a lot of agriculture is working together. And I think people might be surprised to hear that a lot of local growers pool their resources together and their product together. And it's really unique.
[00:13:45] Speaker C: In fact, at our local retail market, we also bring in a few other products just to round out the shopping experience for people. So we bring in some tomatoes and some onions that we don't personally raise on our farm, but they come from, you know, local, local growers and distributors in the area as well. And so that, you know, it just makes for a more well rounded shopping experience for someone to come in and get a fresh, you know, watermelon or something. Obviously we don't, you know, provide or can't raise tropical fruits and that type of thing, but once you, once you start to build out a category and you look at consumer trends, you know, what people are actually bringing home and putting in their refrigerator and putting in their pantry, it's so important to, you know, to balance all those various things out. So like you said, the collaboration is key. It would be very hard for, you know, a single grower to really provide, you know, something across the board as far as, you know, fruits, vegetables and everything in between.
[00:14:53] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:14:54] Speaker B: And this is kind of just an icebreaker kind of question, kind of a fun question. What's your favorite way to eat potatoes?
[00:15:01] Speaker C: That's a great question. So, yeah, because we're known for growing potatoes and it's, you know, it's been a kind of a legacy crop for us and we still do raise round white potatoes and some russet varieties.
My favorite way this is just personally, but the round white potatoes that we grow are.
They're not as starchy as, like, the Burbank style, like Idaho russet potatoes. Bakers, they're more on the. On the waxier side, and they're really delicious for mashed potatoes or a million other ways of preparing them. But my favorite thing is I do mashed potatoes, basically, traditionally. Except one thing I do it's maybe worth mentioning is my wife, my son are both lactose intolerant. So I get used to cooking with less milk and no cream and dairy stuff. So I leave a little bit of the liquid, I boil the potatoes, and I leave some of that water, which I also like to think has kind of nutrient dense. So all the vitamins and minerals that might have leached out into that water, I save some of that. But then butter, salt, and pepper, whip them up into mashed potatoes. And then I like to spoon that into a casserole dish and cover it with cheese and put it in the oven. So, like a cheddar cheese and then maybe something like, you know, a mozzarella or something and do a cheesy mashed potatoes. That's kind of a family favorite at my house. And it goes perfectly with everything from steaks to down the line. So anyway, I love that. Yeah, that's something I like.
[00:16:39] Speaker B: I love mashed potatoes. Potatoes.
All right. And then how has the state of farming been since COVID and what have farmers in this state been grappling with recently?
How do tariffs impact your operation, if at all?
[00:16:52] Speaker C: Yeah, that's. That's kind of a complicated question. There's just because, to be honest with you, the. You know, the supply chains in.
In any business are complicated. I mean, they're complex by nature, just the way the global economy functions.
One of the things that everybody was worried about in tariffs early on, when there was a lot of uncertainty and discussions about, you know, what industries were going to be affected and by how much, and that type of thing were farm inputs. So we worried about fertilizers that we use, you know, come from places far away. And how would, you know, import fees tacked onto those affect our costs and down to things like, you know, packaging materials. We have things that are manufactured in Canada, bags and boxes and things that are used in our packing. We have soil media that is used to raise cabbage. We do cabbage starts in a greenhouse, and that comes from peat bogs in Canada.
And so it's not something that tariffs could protect a local industry because we don't have that peat moss to create that soil media for the greenhouse growing.
So that's just a very small example of how targeted tariffs wouldn't, you know, really help even if we wanted to in that case, but ended up not really hurting either. As much as I think some were worried about, and we were fretting about at some point as far as you mentioned Covid, and just kind of the post pandemic world that we're living in the past few years, I think one of the biggest impacts that we saw was on employment.
And being that I do our direct farm recruiting, I know that a lot of us in the farming community since then have really looked at our H2A programs that are contracting foreign labor and streamlining the process.
We have been able to hang on to an old school model of recruiting within the United States. So I go down to South Texas in the Rio Grande Valley and we recruit a seasonal crew.
We're lucky that we don't hand harvest a lot of what we grow. And other farms and a lot of other vegetable crops require special touch and hand harvesting. And so that means that there's just a lot more, it's more labor intensive and there's just more manual labor needed. We're able to harvest, like I said, over 1200 acres of green beans by operating essentially four picking machines. So that's four operators or drivers that are picking all those green beans. And we're packing four, five or six thousand bushels a day during our season of green beans. So it's a relatively large volume that can be handled with without all of the manpower that could be required in a harvesting operation. We've also seen a trend in automation on the packing and sorting side.
Michael Farms did get into that a couple of years ago and we invested in an optical sorting machine for our green beans, which uses cameras and sensors. And it's very cutting edge high tech equipment that sorts out the quality of green beans. It's pretty close to an artificial intelligence type application. Where traditionally we would have people hand sorting green beans that would go over a conveyor belt. So you saw a bad one or a misshapen one or a stem or something that wasn't first quality green beans. You'd pull that out, it would go into a trash chute and we would need, I don't know, upwards of 30 people on those lines just to run that side of the operation for green beans alone. And so that, that optical sorter is something that, yes, does eliminate human jobs on one hand, but also makes a lot of people's lives easier by streamlining the operation and just making it more efficient. And we just have more control over the settings and parameters that you put in to that machine. And we still, you know, we just run the one shift. So it's not, it's not quite where, you know, the robots are coming and they don't take bathroom breaks. You know, we've all heard this and they're going to do all the jobs. They're not doing all the jobs, but they are definitely. Automation is an important part of the story and will continue to be an important part of the story. And these are, these are tools that are, you know, really indispensable to farming today. And I'll just say, since I mentioned that, that precision agriculture is also, you know, nothing new, but it continues to grow and develop in really exciting ways. And Michael Farms has always been, has always been a company to get into the latest and greatest technologies to make, you know, to bring the best product to market that we can and to make our operation as optimized as possible. And one of those things is we have variable rate applications of fertilizer, say. So if you soil sample a large area, large field, whereas traditionally you would just broadcast a fertilizer being nkp, phosphorus, nitrogen, and you would just broadcast that everywhere. And so now with, with variable rate based on your soil samples, you can have a drone or another piece of equipment that's going to go out there and it'll just put on a little bit of nitrogen over here, a little bit of potassium over here.
We can also do that with spray applications. If we're doing crop protection stuff or applying an insecticide or fungicide to protect the crops, it doesn't have to be applied in a blanket way. It can be done also variable.
When we plant, our equipment is equipped with global positioning systems, so those GPS globes are on every piece of equipment so that we know exactly where that was planted. So for traceability, that's important.
We do a lot of minimal till practices now, which means we can plant a single seed row and we'll leave all of the crop material between the rows and that ground will leave that undisturbed. That's something that can only be done really effectively if you have this higher technology approach.
You know, Covid was an event that was, you know, crazy for all of us and just, you know, absolutely bonkers that specific summer of 2020. But things that came out of that, you know, we were highly obsessed with, you know, hygiene and all those practices. And you know, we found that a lot of those things went hand in hand with our food safety program as well. And so a lot of those kind of enhancements in worker safety, hygiene, you know, hand washing and those types of things have always been important. But by taking a real hard look at all of those, I think in the end we strengthened a lot of our food safety program through some of those things that we learned during the COVID time. So that's important and worth mentioning and I think moving forward, the story of farming is just like any other industry where it's dynamic in nature and it's just constantly changing and unfolding and it's something that's unlike other industries. It's literally tied to the land we live on.
So it's not something that's going to be going away.
It's one of the four pillars of survival, I guess, if you fire, water, food and shelter. And so being in the business and industry of raising food is, you know, very much a, you know, a necessary thing. I remember, I remember during 2020, during the COVID pandemic, we had people, we had recruited them, as I mentioned earlier, out of state and we had people crossing state lines when there were some of these, you know, shutdown, lockdown, directives and we had written these letters that these are all essential workers.
I knew a lot of people that worked in other industries that were happy to go to a distributed model and work remotely from home. And I remember thinking, it's interesting because what we do with our hands cannot be done remotely.
I talked about precision ag and maybe eventually the robot drones could fly in and do that stuff. But as it is now, we have to have people very much involved in that process of production. So yeah, that's something that will continue to change but definitely not go away entirely anytime soon.
[00:26:51] Speaker B: That's really interesting to hear about how AI is impacting your guys job because as a college student obviously there's been a lot of talk about AI and a lot of negative impacts of AI. So it's really interesting to hear. You know, there are positives of it. Yeah, that's awesome. We are proud to partner with you to provide fresh, locally grown produce to our neighbors. Thanks to the generous support of the state of Ohio, funding for OFP and ACP is included in the state budget every two years. Now for those who may not be familiar, the Ohio Food Program and Agricultural Clearance Program, often referred to as OFP and ACP are the programs we operate with the state. Through these programs we purchase food from farmers and Other producers across Ohio. We partner with local farm farmers in Ohio to purchase food that may not meet market standards, but is still nutritious, like small eggs or misshaped produce. We then distribute it through our network of food banks and pantries. It helps us reduce food waste, support farmers, and serve hungry Ohioans. How does this partnership support your bottom line as a farmer or as a farm? Sorry. And what does it mean to you to be able to support your local community in this way?
[00:28:08] Speaker C: Yeah, absolutely. There's a lot there, and I think that's kind of the crux of it as far as what you all do and you do so well at the Ohio association of Food Banks in partnering with us, the farm community, and us, the grower.
I think that relationship is so important because not only does it serve your mission of feeding the hungry, but it also dovetails beautifully into what we do, which is bringing our. Our crops to market and wasting as little as possible of those crops. And when we have market fluctuations throughout the season, that can change and really turn on a dime.
We have to have a certain amount of flexibility, otherwise crops won't be harvested or they'll go to waste in the field. And I like to say that the plants that are growing in the field do not care about weekends or holidays, and they also don't care about market fluctuations or rates. So we may have something that we planted 75 or 85 days ago, and we had no idea at that time where we were going to be this particular day of harvest. And so we've got to match up all of our sales and with what we're growing. And so Food bank is a really important part of that, because, as you mentioned, we may have things that don't quite meet market specs, whether it's for size or weight or being slightly misshapen or having aesthetic defects, but otherwise are perfectly delicious and nutritious, whether it's potatoes or cabbage or sweet corn. And then also we may have just an overrun or excess of product that also needs a home, like I said, due to market conditions. And so Food bank steps in and creates with us this symbiotic relationship of taking off that excess without it going to waste, which is so important from a business perspective, that's very important. And then at a deeper level, it's also just a meaningful part of our mission as well.
All of the inputs that grow into raising specialty crops and growing vegetables, the whole point is to feed people with those vegetables. So to see something go to waste not only doesn't make good business Sense, but it's also contrary to our entire reason for being, as it were.
And Food bank has, you know, their buyers and their team are always great at working with us as far as timing and location to really dial that in. And it's been, it's been great over the years and we look forward to that, you know, relationship continuing to thrive and grow.
[00:31:25] Speaker B: I love to hear that we just walked away from the state budget process for 2026-2027. And I know that Michael Farms attended budget lobby day in February to share their experience with OFP and ACP and our partnerships, our partnership together.
How was that experience and what were you sharing with legislators?
[00:31:46] Speaker C: Great. You know, that's a good question too. And we were talking earlier about that event we went this year and we've been many years. Josh, Michael and I have gone and Scott Michael has attended and, and others of us. And it's a great event because it brings a lot of people together, a lot of people that aren't necessarily working together on a daily basis, but we are in some sense all on the same team as far as, you know, the business that we're in.
And it's great to just network and show up and see what's going on. But as far as the advocacy, we're always supportive of the cause and explaining to legislators the importance of, you know, these budget earmarks are not just about keeping constituents happy or outside of the political parameters. When you talk about local employment and the importance of jobs, and I was just speaking on not wasting the vegetables that we're growing, it's also not wasting the jobs that are created in the process of raising those vegetables and packing them and bringing them to market. So if I have a down day where people are out of work, that's not fun. Or if I have to, you know, change our recruiting strategies because we know that Food bank has scaled back and, you know, we're going to have to nip and tuck and trim, you know, our strategies as well when it comes to, you know, growing for contract and fresh market and everything else. That is so important that they understand that local legislation understands that across Ohio. Not only is it about the primary mission of feeding people that are in need of access to that food, but it's all of the other secondary effects that just ripple throughout the system going down to, you know, jobs that are dependent on this that have been created and are working day in and day out to produce food and to get it to market and feed people and all the other aspects of our economic system. That are interconnected.
So, yeah, absolutely. When we get a chance to talk to people as farmers, we always speak up on the fact that it's not just about what we do, but it's about all the people that depend on us, and it's about our local workforce and it's about yours, and it's about those teams working together to make it happen. So, no, we're very grateful to be invited to those events. And I was also mentioning, it's worth saying again here that the people that put on those events and the event planning that goes into them are always fantastic. I mean, they're always just really nicely done, delicious food, as you would expect.
And we even had these beautiful floral arrangements in the center of the tables, which were these glass vases lined with carrots that had different lettuce leaves and kale sprigs coming out of them in all these vibrant colors.
And they let us take some of those home. And they were just so beautifully done. And it shows you that the work and the dedication and the energy that's put into that event specifically really reflects the work and energy and the dedication that you guys put in day in and day out to your mission and a fun day. I know it's very important.
So we're always happy to participate in any way that we can and speak up on the fact that.
That what we're doing is also mission critical to, you know, to survival.
[00:36:04] Speaker A: I appreciate that, Alex. I think it's. It's a lot of work to put something like that on, but I think it's. It's one of my favorite days because like you said, it brings together so many different people that might not always be in the same room together or may never have been in the same room together, but are all working together.
[00:36:25] Speaker B: Looking ahead, where are there opportunities for more investments towards supporting farmers? And how could the state or federal government make your work easier or more.
[00:36:35] Speaker C: Sustainable in our specific case, it's worth drawing some distinctions. Of course, you know, farming is a very broad, broad strokes category of agricultural activities. There's everything from animal husbandry and raising cattle and dairy cattle to grain farming, which is, you know, commodity crops are very important, and it's the backbone of the ag economy in Ohio and beyond. But for vegetable farming in the specialty crop category that we're in, we generally don't receive the farm subsidies, the famous farm subsidies that at a federal level, are always earmarked for farmers. And that goes to, you know, again, the commodity crop, grain farmers, which are so important.
But we're Not a part of that per se. So and part of that, you know, maybe by design, some of our, you know, our products can be higher margin and it takes just so much perfecting to get beautiful, nutritious, delicious vegetables to market every single day. So we have to do successive planting multiple times a week during the planting season so that when we get to harvest, we're harvesting that peak maturity product each and every day. So as far as the support that we get, I think one of the things is information campaigns that, you know, since long ago and far away have been important, the eat your vegetables kind of campaigns and, you know, making people aware. And I think now more than ever people are definitely aware of the need for balanced diets and nutrition. And I know at one point we, the Potato Council was trying to address, and this was decades ago, but trying to address the, you know, potatoes are not just empty starches and they, you know, they have all of these important vitamins and minerals and, you know, more vitamin C than orange or more potassium than a carrot or this type of thing are all. I don't think there's any fad diet that would say, you know, don't eat your vegetables, that they're not an important part.
And so I think having those guidelines based on nutritional science is important and getting the food system to accept that as well and expanding vegetables into more complex food systems and productions. And you mentioned your experience at college and Kent State. And I know for having kids in college that the cafeteria is not what it used to be. There are a lot of accoutrements that are available to college students and should be. It's an amazing thing. But I don't think in generations past they would expect to have a sushi bar or raw salad bowl line or whatever those things are.
And that's all amazing. But I think that all does come shared kind of consciousness at a national level of, yeah, this.
And so fruits and vegetables are part of that. I think the government is a part of that, is a part of setting the tone.
So there's not again, specific subsidies or monies that we're after. But I think in the general picture that's really important.
[00:40:20] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I think too, we're starting to think of things in terms of, you know, bolstering up the local food system. And I think like great programs like OFP and ACP really help with that as well.
And, you know, making sure that, you know, the small guys, you're not necessarily a super small guy, but that the small guys also are stood up and.
[00:40:49] Speaker C: Making sure that's a very good point. And one of the things that I don't think we mentioned during this conversation yet, but it's worth stating, is that farming is always local. So like I said earlier, we won't be growing, you know, tropical fruits anytime soon.
But the supermarkets all the way down the line, through food service and distribution restaurants, et cetera, are always trying to source locally. Why would you want to import, you know, potatoes from Peru if they're grown, you know, 20 miles away or in your backyard? The vast majority of what we grow is staying within basically 100 mile radius, which is somewhere within the definition of local.
And we're only 500 miles away from, you know, I don't know, it was like 50% of the US population or something like that, if you look at like New York, Chicago, some of the large metro areas out east. So the fact that things staying local, it's by design, it's important.
And again, it's something that I think won't go away. And it made me think of that, what you said about those programs.
[00:42:08] Speaker B: Farming is a difficult profession and a challenging way of life. Why do you choose this work every single day? And what advice would you give to other farmers or others looking to get involved in our local food system?
[00:42:20] Speaker C: Wow. So that's a good one.
It's almost cliche, you know, that farming is difficult and it's a tough way of life. So of course that's true, you know, but when I think about all the other professions or ways we could be spending our time, you know, at some level, it's all kind of tough. You know, in farming and agriculture, what's specifically difficult, of course, and I alluded to this earlier, was that there's a seasonality, at least at this latitude here in the Midwest, we can only grow and harvest and raise the vegetables that we do during a certain part of the year. And so that concentrates all of our efforts into that specific percentage of the year, whether that's three or four months, really. So that kind of intensifies our workload in a way that it doesn't happen in other professions as much. And then of course, it's just obvious that we're dependent on natural forces, quite literally, the weather, the climate, the soil.
And our substrate that we grow in is still the dirt, it's the ground.
And I know there have been advancements.
There's other substrate media and greenhouse operations that are doing winter gardening and even industrial level farming in the off season, in the winter. And I'm sure those Trends will continue to grow and change kind of the food and farming landscape. Obviously, the most important thing that we do is adapting to a changing world. And we always have challenges that just require us to rise to the occasion. Michael Farms was, I think, one of, if not the first farm in the state to install center pivot irrigation systems. And this was in the 1960s when they weren't that common. If you ever fly over farm fields and you see these round green circles with different colored corners, it's because there's, there's irrigation systems that pivot around a center point. And so we do that to control some of these factors. If we're in a drought situation like we were in a bit of a drought this summer, overly warm conditions, we can control some of that by using these innovative tools like irrigation, like some of the precision ag practices that I mentioned earlier. And so we'll continue to do that. And that doesn't just make our life easier, but it streamlines the operation to stay afloat and stay relevant and abreast of the latest and greatest trends that will continue to produce nutritious, delicious vegetables and get them to market.
[00:45:12] Speaker B: Well, Alex, it's been a great pleasure speaking with you today. Thank you so much for coming in. Is there anything else you would like to share or where can listeners find your farm?
[00:45:22] Speaker C: Well, I think I've said it all and maybe not all in the right order, but.
[00:45:26] Speaker A: No, no, no worries.
[00:45:28] Speaker C: But again, thank you for having me. This has been really fun and it's been a pleasure. Folks can find if they want to trek out to our farm market and pop in to buy some green beans, some sweet corn or cabbage or potatoes, they can find us at 5089 Urbana Moorfield Road. That's in Urbana, Ohio. We're in Champaign County. You can check out our website, which is michaelfarms.com. you can find an interactive map there and some other information.
We're not actively promoting our marketing direct to consumers. As I mentioned, a lot of our produce doesn't go under the branded banner of Michael Farms. But next time you're in a fresh produce section at your grocery store, take a look at the green beans and the sweet corn and cabbage and potatoes and think about local farmers and think about local farm workers and seasonal farm workers that may be coming from far away, but they're participating in our production and our local economies very much. And if you gain some insights today, maybe you'll gain an appreciation or a greater appreciation for what goes into all that. So, yeah, no, thank you again. We look forward to a continued successful relationship with the Ohio association of Food Banks and look forward to keep the conversation going.
[00:46:48] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:46:49] Speaker A: Thank you.
[00:46:49] Speaker B: Thank you.
Thanks so much for listening. I hope you enjoyed my conversation with Alex. For more information on where to purchase from Michael Farms, how to take action to support Ohio's food banks and more, check out the show notes. Thank you and talk soon.
[00:47:11] Speaker A: Sam.
