Episode 13: Earth Month Heroes

In this episode we chat about a proposal for more Climate Smart money, reveal the food trends that Gen Z is biting into, celebrate Earth Month by giving props to some food and ag sustainability leaders and comment on the latest Hellmann’s hijinks.

00:00 – Intro

06:30 – Climate Smart Update

11:57 – Gen Z Food Trends

22:22 – Celebrating Earth Month

37:43 – Hellmann’s Clickbait

Transcript

0:00

Lab meat, getting chopped, medicated chicken back on the menu, and humanitarianism getting a little healthier. That's how we're celebrating our one year pot anniversary on this very special episode of State of the Plate. I'm. Hello and welcome everybody, to a very special episode of State of the Plate. Happy anniversary, Rochelle. Woo-hoo. Happy anniversary, Matt. For all of those, just finding out this is, uh, our opportunity to celebrate one year of this very special podcast, at least special to us in our hearts, uh, in one year of being able to share the latest and food business news with you guys. So, congratulations and cheers. Cheers. For those just listening. We're celebrating with a little bit of bubbly because we deserve it. Heck yeah. Thank you. Thank you, Matt, for all your hard work and, you know, making us sound better than we sound. Live through the magic of editing. Exactly. Very special. Rochelle, how do you feel about it? One, one year down. One year down? It's been great. It kind of. Went by fast. Yeah. In some ways. Yeah. I mean, okay. I do have to say podcasts are a lot more work than the general consumer or listener probably appreciates. So I feel really like proud of our team for doing this for a full year. Yeah. I feel proud of the progress too, because I feel like episode one, if you guys wanna go back and start there, I think we've got <laugh>. I think we've gotten better. We're starting, we to learn how to do this a little bit and maybe not do, I don't know. You you want me to. They'll tell us. Right? You make. Your own opinions on that. It's been a lot of fun. My favorite part about getting to do this is digging deeper into stuff that otherwise I may not dig deep in. I mean, obviously being in the industry, we are always having our fingers on the pulse of the latest and greatest and what's going on, but there are certain topics that we talk about on here that otherwise I may have just glossed over or read the headline and then just kept going. It's been a lot of fun to dig deep in. I feel even more informed than otherwise would've been. Right. And, you know, the different topics that we decided to dig into, we're able to see really both sides through that research instead of just reading headlines like a lot of general consumers do, right. We as consumers do that naturally day in and day out. But going in and really investigating or understanding, you know, where both sides on topics are coming from probably helps deliver better content ultimately. Absolutely does. I mean, we're, we plan to be around for a while, so hopefully this is the first of many, you know, one is, was a very special one. Can't wait to get to 2, 3, 4. Bring it on. As long as food keeps making headlines, we'll keep making podcasts, right.<Laugh>, that's job security<laugh>. Sure. That's what it's. Yeah. I don't think it's going anywhere.<laugh> Food's gonna be around for a while. I think so. Uh, let's get into it. You know, I, I'm, let's do it. I'm gonna continue to drink this champagne throughout the show, so if it gets a little wild toward the end. <laugh>. Hang on there folks. Yeah. Just hang on there. It's gonna get good. What have you been up to? Before we get into that, we'll talk about what we've been up to. I've actually been, uh, pretty busy lately traveling around quite a bit for work. You've. Been so. Busy. Uh, yeah. I have. We've been able to go around to some new clients and helping them with some brand camps. And then, you know, when I'm not doing that, I've been at some ESOP conferences telling other people about the power of brand camps and how they can help build not only their brand, but their team morale and galvanize and align behind a new powerful brand and position in the marketplace. For those who don't know, brand camp is something that Coex developed. It's a proprietary way to help our partners build their positions in the marketplace that sets them apart from competitors and connects with audiences in only ways that they can. And the way that it's different from other agencies help brand is that we involve them in the process, right? So we get our client and a team from their side in a room together and we guide them to the building blocks of their brand rather than just So go in a back room and like tell them how their brand should be. Mm-Hmm.<affirmative>, it's, you know, we spend a lot of time with them. We do fun interactive exercises in this brand camp setting. You know, we wrap it all in this camp vibe and atmosphere. Our way is much more collaborative with our partners to get out who they are and why they exist. Because really at the end of the day, they know better than anybody else could ever know. Right. Who they truly are and why they truly exist. So. They have been living the brand and they're gonna continue living the brand. Right. And be those ambassadors. Right? Yeah. So if you're listening out there and you, and you feel like your brand could use an update, or maybe you're just a new upstart and you don't even have a brand yet, this is a great way to do it. I mean, it's the best way to do it. I've been in advertising a long time before coming to this agency. I've been doing branding a long time, and this is by far the most meaningful way to do it. And the way that seems to stick. And, you know, it doesn't just get you a good brand at the end of it. It gets you an entire team rallied behind that brand, and then they become brand champions and help you tell the story when you're not even around, you know? Yeah. I mean, there's no more effective way to build a, a strong brand and a strong team than, than brand camp if that sounded like an advertisement. It was. But I truly believe it. I truly believe in, in it. So if you, if you're out there and you need a little help with your brand, give us a call. And some of the brands that we've worked with have been long standing brands that Right. Every now and then, it's great to reevaluate. You have new leadership, you have new business Mm-Hmm.<affirmative> new markets that you're serving. Yeah. So it never hurts, even if you're not a startup, to kind of reset and, uh, set your sights on what's coming up in the future to fulfill the vision. Yeah. Not only does it never hurt, it's absolutely essential. Yeah. Like we talk about brands as living, breathing things that need to be watered. They need to be fed, they need to be nourished. And so you can't just set it and forget it. You have to come back to it and constantly be self-analyzing Mm-Hmm.<affirmative> and taking an audit of does our brand still hold up based on who our company is today as opposed to when we developed it, you know? Yeah. And we always say there's, there's three main things that can happen where you need to reevaluate your brand. And it's like either your company's changed, the market's changed, or the world's changed. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And one of those three things is happening like constantly. So you always gotta keep your finger on the pulse of your own brand. Mm-Hmm.<affirmative>. And, and go back and take a look at it. And you may go through like a brand camp and find that a lot of things still ring true, but you'll find those little tweaks that need to be made that ultimately keep your brand fresh relevant and speaking to your audiences where they're at today. Take you to the next level and the next phase. Yep. Yeah. That's awesome. I love branding Brandon, the brander, <laugh>. New nickname, everybody. Brandon the brander <laugh> In team conversations so far. Yeah. Kind of regretting that it came out just now actually. So, uh, <laugh>. Um, I'll send out an all employee email.<Laugh>. Yep, yep. Please don't. Uh. Oh, that's great. So, so you've been like, which parts of the country, which kinds of industries you wanna just touch on that without giving any specifics? Yeah. So we, uh, worked with a new beef client and, and pork client that we have out in Oregon. So, uh, you know, we haven't talked to them about being able to use their name in this podcast, so I won't mention who exactly they are, but they're a company that's been around a long time but are ready for refresh. So, so that's where we're helping them out. So I was out in Oregon, and then we had the NCEO conference in Tampa, which is a big employee ownership conference. And so we, we've spoken there like the last three or four years Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, you know, about brand camp, but also champ camp, which is the next step of brand camp to help those internal members of your team be able to share the brand, uh, on a consistent basis. So we talked about that in Tampa, and then we were in Washington DC at the TEA conference, which is another employee ownership conference, uh, which focuses a lot more on policy and things like that. But we help, we talk to those folks about brand camp as well. Oh, you did? Okay. Yeah, because that's a, that's a different audience. That one tends to be a lot more, uh, c-suite level people. Mm-Hmm.<affirmative> who are there, you know, on behalf of policy. The NCEO in Tampa. There is c-suite people there too, but then there's also a lot of people from like the ESOP conferences within their organization. So you get 'em, you get 'em from all over. So yeah. So we talked to them about brand camp as well and the power of branding, but more, more focused. The TEA one one was on brand camp and how that monetarily helps you, like the bottom line benefits of that. Mm-Hmm. That's where, you know, their interests lie. It's like, okay, yes, we, we know branding is important, but what, what does that mean for profitability and how we can grow our business in, in terms of bottom line? Yeah. Oregon. That's all of the ones that you've hit up camp. We've had other team members too. They were out in Boston, out in California doing brand camps as well. So it's like, if there was a season I would call this brand camp season right now. Yeah. Yes. That's right. Yeah. For whatever reason, spring, maybe it's the, the, the season of renewal is, so maybe that's why brand. Camps renewal, new budgets, that all helps. I think probably the latters, the<laugh>, but hey, I like to think. Coming out of hibernation into the new. Like, I think it's, it's more, it's more spiritual than that, but maybe. It's not <laugh>. But Yeah. It's. Combo. It's been a lot of fun. I mean, we love all the work we do, but branding is so essential and it's just the ground floor and it's, it's got such a power to influence decision making and, you know, make connections with audiences that it's, it's really, to me, it's the heart of everything that we do as marketers and advertisers. So it's my favorite part. Love doing it. Love it. I love it when you see a good brand out in the wild and then you see people living the brand. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And it's just, it's like this magic. Yeah. Skies are opening, sun is shining down kind of moment. Yeah. And we always say that people don't connect with what you do. They connect with why you do it, you know? Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And there's that famous Maya Angelou quote we always use.'cause we love it as people, forget what you said, people forget what you did, but they'll never forget how you made them feel. Yeah. And that's the essence of brand really is making people feel a certain way. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> rather than just providing them with information. And that's why it's so powerful. So. Right. So much of it is community. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And, you know, even here in our podcast space, we're looking to create community and bringing the conversation Mm-Hmm.<affirmative> to light and inviting others to join us or, you know, to recommend other speakers. So yeah. Again, if you're listening and you've got a great interviewee, we'd love to hear more. We have a new URL as part of our celebration. So you can go to state of the plate podcast.com now, and you'll see all of our content. Go back if you would like to the very first episode, binge catch up, hear some of those highlights from over the past year. And thanks for joining us. Yeah. Crank it out at one and a half speed and Exactly. And motor through <laugh>. Get it going. Yeah. <laugh>, do you ever listen to podcasts like sped up? I do. Yeah. Especially if, um, you know, somebody's got a slower cadence. Yeah. Or even when we're reviewing our own content. Mm-Hmm. I'm like, you know, I, I remember what we said. Mm-Hmm. But just to kind of comb through it again. I'm listening to a podcast right now. It's like the history of rock and roll through 500 songs. Oh gosh. And he does one every week, so he's like a 10 year commitment for this. But anyways, it's a great podcast, but he is got a very slow sort of monotone delivery, so I'm like, all right. I speed this guy up a little bit. Yeah. Um. Not quite to the point where he sounds like a chipmunk. No, but, and he plays a lot of music. It's a song about rock and roll, so I don't want it to like, you know, the music would sound all wonky, but anyway. Yeah. Neither here nor there. <laugh>. Um, okay. Should we get into our first topic? We should. All right. What's up? We are chatting about trends. So kind of hot this month has been the conversation around cultured meat. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And we talk about protein quite a bit. We talk about food labels. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. So Well. This one actually speaks to trends. It speaks a little bit to food innovations, speaks a little, a little bit to legislation policy. Yep. Yeah, it's, it's, it kind of covers the gamut, but a lot of you may have heard recently that Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, has recently outlawed lab grown meat in the state of Florida. Mm-Hmm.<affirmative>, this has been a trend that's been up and coming. Uh, we've been talking about it, we've talked about it here in this podcast. Mm-Hmm.<affirmative> a lot about lab grown meat where they take, you know, cells from actual animals and then they grow the muscles in the lab. Yep. And, you know, we're still five to 10 years out they say from this lab grow meat even hitting the stores. But Florida has already taken the proactive measure of outlawing it, banning it for various reasons, which we could talk about. Mm-Hmm.<affirmative>. But that's essentially the bottom line is he said it's about, you know, protecting agriculture. There are also some people who raised health concerns. They don't know, like what chemicals are going into this goes and they're just, you know, Ron DeSantis quote was, he doesn't want Floridians to be the Guinea pig for this kind of thing. So he just said, we're not doing it. Not in Florida. Not happening now. Even though, even though it's still kind of in its infancy, he's getting way out ahead of it saying it's not gonna be a thing here. Yeah. It's not currently offered anywhere in the US So like he is ahead of it. And I mean, there are other states that are taking a look at this with including Alabama. Yep. Arizona, Tennessee are all on the list of people who are taking a hard look at whether they wanna follow suit. But Florida is the number one state to jump out and actually get it done, which is insane. You know, it's, it's, it's a big bit of news because I mean, for agriculture and for food innovation. Yes.'cause the innovators on one side obviously are angry, saying that this is putting a dent in food innovation. And, you know, there are other countries, especially China who are keeping up with us, puts us behind the eight ball. And, you know, we're always, always keeping China in our sites as what they're doing in terms of technology or whatever they're producing, so that we can also stay competitive, you know? Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, when we talk about things like technology in terms of like AI and all those things, we're saying, well, we don't want to curb ourselves too much because then we'll fall behind China. But then this is flying in the face of that <laugh>. We're, we're like, you know, we're gonna put a kibosh on this regardless of what quote unquote health concerns. Or in fact to protect the agriculture industry, which it may be. So, Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, it's we'll see if other states follow suit. Yeah. There's a lot of interest peaked and, uh, I think it's interesting to see what it'll do to the markets globally. Mm-Hmm.<affirmative>, as we know, we live in a global world. Supply demand, I mean, the protein consumption continues to increase across the world. Mm-Hmm.<affirmative>. And I think that's where this could be an opportunity because there is such a, a demand to be met. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And it's not currently being met, you know, with all the other food safety aspects happening in the industry too. Like to have a little bit more control, I think, uh, is probably where some of this is coming from, to be able to control the food supply, know that we have a pipeline reliably coming through. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And I don't know if anybody, like, I don't, I don't think the lab grown meat was like gonna take over the actual beef in the street. You know? It can. Right, right. It's just gonna be an alternative for people who may be for, whether it's animal ethical concerns or whatever it is Yeah. Environmental sustainability or however they, whatever their views are. Yeah. It would be an alternate choice for them because as it stands right now, there was absolutely no way that lab grown meat could scale to meet the needs of the, the growing population and the growing protein demand. The research I've done, it was only gonna be an alternate choice, um, rather than like a, hey, we're shutting down natural beef or lab grown beef. So. Yeah. And Florida's a big beef producer. A lot of people don't think of Florida in beef. They have significant herd size there. So. Do you know where they fall in terms of like rank, state rank? I have. To look it up. I don't know off the top of my head. I'll. I'll stall while you look that up on your computer right now. So my campaign <laugh>. So we don't get bubbly everywhere. Yeah. So. Ninth wait, producer Matt, beat me to it. Okay. So Florida ranks ninth, give us, give us the top beef producing states in America. I have here that Florida was the number nine beef cow state in the country with nearly 900,000 head. I. Would say California's probably number one as they are many things. You think so? I don't know. I'm guessing California, Texas. Come on. Texas. No. I'm a native Texan.<Laugh>, Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota, Kansas, Montana, Kentucky, North Dakota and Iowa. I said California and Colorado. And neither one of those were in the top 10 <laugh>. All right. Well, I. Mean, there are a lot of beef in Colorado. You draw that there. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. I've been to Colorado several times and I've seen a lot of beef cow <laugh>. So 4.5 million in Texas by far. Texas is number one. That makes sense. I mean, thinking back on that, it does make a lot. Of sense. And then of course the western plains. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, you've got a lot of beef going on. Well, yeah, that's like the eastern part of Colorado is like, there's. Some carryover. I stand by that <laugh>, I think, I think their numbers are off <laugh>. What I've seen with my own eyes driving through the state of Colorado Yep. Is accurate. Yeah. I mean, it'll be interesting to see the chain reaction of this five to 10 years from the shelves is a long time. A lot can change between now and then, so we'll see if it holds up. And as we know, beyond beef and meat innovation in how we get our food is only continuing to grow, you know, in terms of within agriculture innovation. You know, so I, yeah, I'm interesting to see if like this is the first step in outlawing this type of thing, you're gonna have to continue to outlaw other, other things, you know, that like are not just naturally grown, I guess it's just, I wanna see the ripple effects and the domino effect of what else, what else are we gonna legislate against in the name of, you know, preserving agriculture and, you know, health or however you view it, versus continuing to foster innovation for growing population, growing demand, the climate, whatever. It'll be interesting. I'm headed back to IFT, um, in July. So more to come on what the trends are this year. Yeah. Last year we did see a lot, as Marcy and I discussed in a special episode of the podcast of alternative animal products. Mm-Hmm.<affirmative>. And so it's not just meat, it's eggs, it's butter. Mm-Hmm.<affirmative> It is all of them. So very interesting to see where people are substituting for either sustainability claims. I'm gonna use some air quotes over here because I have a hard time understanding that they think that's the solution. I think agriculture's part of the solution. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And I know as a team, we very, we feel very passionate about that. So I wanted to go up and talk to some of these chefs who are swapping out things. I'm like, well, first of all, you're, you're changing the flavor and the nutrition and do you know what that does? Like from a larger perspective? I don't think Benny or that. Far out. I try, I try very hard and I'm not, not not, I don't overly politicize anything, you know. But, uh, yeah, A lot of times politics are involved more, a lot of it's more for optics. Like some of this stuff, it's like electric cars. I<affirmative> actually better for the environment, you know, like, how does, how do we get electricity? It's from coal and then where you get the batteries from and where, how do you dispose of them? Mm-Hmm.<affirmative> a lot of that stuff is still unknown. So it's like attributing that to this, it's like, yeah. On the face of it, it kind of seems like it might be more sustainable, but is it really, once you start digging into what is all required in order to make that happen from the ground to the plate. So who knows? Or. To come as usual. Yeah.<Laugh>. Yeah. Since we're drinking a little bit of champagne, let's keep politics outta it because <laugh>, so that's it. Uh, keep an eye on it. We'll see what the ripple effects are. I'm, I'm gonna keep a close eye on those other states like Alabama, Arizona, Tennessee, to see if this nudges them closely to, to that or if sentiment towards Florida because of this may shift them the other way, you know? I know, right. It'll be interesting to see how that all plays out. Uh, I've been following lab grown meat very closely.'cause I think it's fascinating. Yeah. That that's even something that we're doing as a species, like right now. So I, I'm gonna, I'm gonna keep watching this one for sure. Well. There's just so many like categories, right? Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. There's the lab grown, there's the cultured, there's the alternative. So as consumers, I think it's gonna get super confusing here soon. Yeah. If you're not really paying attention and reading the labels and making sure you understand what you're buying for. Sure. So we'll probably see more label policy come through and making sure that the identity is clearly communicated right on the front of the package. It's not hidden on the back as we've talked about previously for some other products. And then identity preservation, really, like we're still seeing that conversation on the milk side. There are others Mm-Hmm. Happening as well. So again, this is why it's fun to chat about, to keep people posted and see what's coming down the pike. And I will say, you know, I don't think we touched on this yet, but it's not just about getting people food sustainably, it's also about getting it to'em affordably, you know? Yeah. So that plays a huge part in this too, is like if you just go all lab grown, that's not gonna be cheap meat. You know, it's like that's a lot goes into that to make that bit of meat and not everybody can afford that. Prices are already getting outta control. Like, we need to make sure people have access to food that they can afford. So that's an important part of it too. We'll talk more about that a little bit later. Yep. Yep. I'll foreshadowing <laugh> stick around for our final segment. Yes. And we'll get into that a little bit more, but before that we have to talk about some chicken. Now let's, let's move the. Chicken, chicken. Move to the. Birds some. Somebody squawking. Yeah. Let's talk about that kind of tying in the food labeling conversation with this Chick-fil-A is in the news talking about antibiotic use. Mm-Hmm.<affirmative> in chickens. Now they're changing their position. They used to say that no antibiotics were allowed NAE No antibiotics ever. Ever. Mm-Hmm.<affirmative>. There we go. Mm-Hmm.<affirmative>. And now they're switching it up because of supply is kind of what they're attributing it to. Mm-Hmm.<affirmative> to no antibi antibiotics important to human medicine. N-A-I-H-M. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> A lot of acronyms here, folks. Yeah. So I think that's really interesting. And it's not just Chick-fil-A there are other restaurants or food service providers kind of in the same category. Mm-Hmm.<affirmative> like a Panera that are also following suit. What are your thoughts on that? Uh, not surprising. I think that yeah, like with anything, like there becomes this like trend that people f like, okay, for our sustainability and for, you know, health and like, there'll be this, like this flag in the. Ground. There'll. Be, there'll be this new buzz claim that people need to make on everything. So everyone quick rushes to be like, somebody said, no antibiotics ever, we all gotta do it. Rushed to no antibiotics ever. Yeah. And then they're there for a while and it's like, um, okay, well there are some problems with getting no antibiotics ever. Mm-Hmm.<affirmative>, uh, number one, like you mentioned the supply chain, it becomes a lot smaller. And to be honest, it was a buzzword. Right. But it's not necessarily that chickens should never have antibiotics. Like if you have sick animals, you should treat the animals. Right. I agree. Yes. The other way, if you do no antibiotics ever, then even if you have sick animals, they gotta go Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, you know, the, the only point is to eliminate 'em. So, and rather than treat 'em, get'em better and get 'em out there. So there's some ethics involved with that as well. You know, and there's some supply chain issues.'cause now you're reducing the amount of chickens that are even available. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> that are gonna be able to go out. We actually recently had a client who isn't in chickens, but in, in other stuff that, you know, they are not in no antibiotics ever, but they do give their animals antibiotics if they're sick. So he says when he's going to, they're selective. Yeah. When he's, when he's going up against other companies that claim no antibiotics ever, he tells them that story. He is like, no, ours, ours receive antibiotics. If they're sick, why wouldn't they? If your kids are sick, you treat your kids with antibiotics, right? Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, what we are focused on is making sure that none of that stuff is in the system when they are harvested. Exactly. And then you don't have to worry about it. You know what I mean? Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, and no medications that are human. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. So it's just the animal medications that they're being get given and making sure that none of that is in the system when, when it comes time to harvest. And I think the big concern there is the resistance of mm-Hmm.<affirmative> antibiotics that we're hearing about and what that means. And so that's really where we're keeping the human antibiotics. Mm-Hmm.<affirmative> very separate. Yeah. Like you said, there's not antibiotics going into the food system. All of our farms are checked, regulated, monitored, tested to make sure that that is the case. There are withdrawal periods. If an animal is sick, they must be treated and then given so much time before they would go to harvest. Yeah. So that does not enter the food system. Right. So I think there's just, you know, this kind of misconception out there or you know, this thought that, oh, all these animals, all these antibiotics and all these hormones, everything has hormones. Mm-Hmm. Like anything living has hormones, period. Yeah. You know, whether or not they're adding to that, that's a whole nother thing. Mm-Hmm.<affirmative>. But with antibiotics, you know, like there is a place for it. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, I believe that to keep animals healthy and to really take care of them as a species and as somebody who's going to then nourish Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, um, our human population. I think that's very important. I just, I don't blame the, I don't blame companies for jumping on these things because if consumers demand something, you have to try to keep up with demand from restaurants like Chick-fil-A Yeah. And I heard Panera is another one that's sort of now allowing some antibiotic chicken. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. But whether it's them or CPGs, you know, consumer packaged stuff, I don't blame you. You have to keep up with consumer demand of what they wanna see on the label. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, unfortunately, a lot of times consumer demand is not based on a lot of research or knowing exactly what true, what these terms even mean. Like, you know, you just say antibiotics and you're like, oh my God, what? Yeah. Are, are our chickens are on drugs? It's like, no. Okay. Six. We need some context here. Sick. Animals. Sick animals need to be treated. And a lot of times that takes antibiotics. That goes for the term GMO pe, that was like a big scare word. Everyone's like, oh my gosh, genetically modified. That sounds so scary. But it's like literally like everything's got some sort of modification in it and. Whether natural or, you know, facilitated. Right. Yeah. I mean it took Bill Gates coming out saying GMO's Okay. For everyone to kind of change their mind on that. Yeah. Even down to the gluten thing that people were like fussing over for a while. My gosh. Like gluten-free everything. And then it's like, unless you're allergic to gluten, it's fine. Yeah. You know, unless you have an actual severe allergy to it, you're gonna be okay. And then labels, you don't see that on labels as much anymore as you used to, although you still do see it on some Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, it's almost like the industry moves so fast, you have to react and then evaluate, you know? Yeah. It's like, okay, let's just get it out there. Let's change our processes to meet this demand. Otherwise we're gonna get rocked by competitors. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And then evaluate, you know, as we're there to be like, okay, first of all, this is not sustainable from a business standpoint for us to operate like this. And also we've done some more research and it's not what we thought it was. And I think too, like with herd animals or flock Mm-Hmm.<affirmative> like right. In the case of poultry, they're together. Mm-Hmm.<affirmative>. So you just have to be very watchful. Mm-Hmm.<affirmative> of your animals if they are together. And some of the, like even a pink eye, right? Like we all know as humans how contagious pink eye are Yeah. Is with, you know, kids. Same thing with animals. So I think that's where you just kind of assume or you like blanket, uh, treat perhaps. And maybe there's appropriate times to do that. Mm-Hmm.<affirmative> with something that we know is highly contagious and other times we don't need to do that. Right. Trusting in the farmer to make that call for the best interest of their animals is really most important. What I find interesting, uh, well, another thing I find interesting about this story Mm-Hmm.<affirmative> is that Chick-fil-A is the first one, you know, out of the major like chicken places, you know? Yeah. And they're, but they're the leaders. They're the ones everyone follow. Like, think about like the way people like spicy chicken sandwiches. Everyone was trying to catch Chick-fil-A and like that's true. They said a lot of trends. So we'll see if this is another one. But people always seem in the chicken world, always seem to be chasing Chick-fil-A in terms of how they're delivering their products. So could, could influence others as well. I mean, if you ask me like, Chick-fil-A can do no wrong in terms of the product they put out there. If, if they say it's okay, I'm, I'm willing, willing to fall in line <laugh>. I have noticed on the flip side that there are more commercials for Purdue emphasizing they're no antibiotics ever. They're sticking to it. They're one of the ones that are they hardcore? They almost, they were the first ones that I remember. I agree. Introducing it. You know, they were the first ones to put that stake in the ground. No antibiotics ever. So. They're standing by. That and they're standing by it. They're, they have no intentions of switching off of that at all, which is a pretty smart play on their part because they've already committed to it and they, it's already ingrained and what they do, and it's been a source of, uh, differentiation for them for a long time. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. And now if other people move off of that, then they get to hold onto it as a source of, 'cause for a while there, now everyone's offering the no antibiotic chicken. But now if people start moving off of that, which Tyson, I believe has, then it's, it becomes another stake in the ground that they can set themselves apart with. Which tells me where Chick-fil-A is getting their poultry now. Well, yeah, I. Yeah. You know what I mean? I mean Yeah. So it's, it's revealing some cards or maybe some supply systems. I don't think that, I mean, if you do enough digging, you can find where everybody gets their stuff, you know, probably. But, uh, so, but yeah, I mean, I'm guess if you put two and two together, I'm guessing they're not getting Purdue chicken, you know, so Yeah. <laugh>. But it goes back to what we were saying about brain camp, like now that is their onlyness Yeah. There's their, that's their ride or die. They're staying in that lane and that's how they're continuing to carve their path. And good for them. There's certainly, there's nothing super, you know, like you get, everyone can make an argument against something. Yeah. But you know, if you choose to be antibiotic, no antibiotics ever, you know, more power to, that's why you choose to do business and Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, there you. Go. You'll still have business and a following. Yeah.'Cause there's, there's definitely, I mean, that's not going away because Chick-fil-A has decided in some other re I don't just wanna put this all on Chick-fil-A Yeah. But, um, some, some people are deciding to move away from that from a supply chain perspective. It doesn't mean that it's gonna stop being in demand for some people. Because no matter what you say about, Hey, they're getting antibiotics if they're sick, but they're not antibiotics that are gonna hurt you, and they're not even in their system when they're getting harvested, none of that information is gonna change people's minds. Some people just want, you know, there's a market for it. Yeah. So there will continue. Yeah. That's their. Belief system. Be there will continue to be, uh, providers who, who stick by that. For sure. Yeah. Some of the, the headlines, just to wrap it up, we're talking about lowering the standards and I was like, Ooh, that kind of stings. I don't think that's necessarily the case, but we have choices as consumers. Mm-Hmm. I guess is where we can leave this. And it's really amazing. Not every country has choices like we do. Mm-Hmm. Sometimes we have too many choices is what I've had, uh, conversations with others saying where we get into analysis paralysis, we see so many label claims, so many options. We don't know where to go. And for some they would be quite jealous of the position that we're in. Man, put it in perspective. Right. Bright. Side. Rochelle <laugh>, you should <laugh>. I. Did wear a very sunshiney color today. I wish. You should just pop out of the bushes. Wherever somebody gets a little bit down, you'll be like, well, on the bright side. Uh, so that would be fun. Uh, well, thank you for putting that in perspective. I was just, this story has nothing to do with anything, but I was helping my daughter build Popsicle guillotine For a class project. She's learning about the medieval times and like, so we're doing a Popsicle guillotine and like all the, a popsicle stick, uh, pilly, you know, where they put their head in the hands in it <laugh>, like all these like medieval punishment devices we're building. And my wife bought like every, she went to the store and bought literally every size width of Popsicle stick imaginable. And I was like, this is many, there's a lot of thirties days. Many. It's too many. I had a plan in my head for just the normalized Popsicle stick and now we got a million of, so that just speaks to your analysis earlier paralysis by options, you know? Right. You thought you had a plan and then you're given all these other options and you're like. Yep. Now where do I go? It has to do with food. They're called popsicle sticks after <laugh>. Uh, so <laugh>. Anyway, we. We're in the day too, where you can just buy the Popsicle sticks. You don't have to go through all the popsicles to get the sticks. Yes. Correct. This. You can Amazon though. This. Is our anniversary. Our anniversary. I could talk about what I want to talk about <laugh>. <laugh>. Okay. So that pretty much wraps up the, uh, no antibiotics ever or switch from that. I think so on the part of some major, uh, quick serve restaurants and other, uh, manufacturers. So. Don't fear your food people. It'll be okay. Well, I mean, okay. <laugh> still pay attention, but yeah. Pay attention. Yes. Pay attention to what you're eating. You have options. Yeah. But don't overly fear your food. Yeah. What else are we talking about with food? We have a policy topic. You tell me. Kick this one off. Yeah, so. I saw some chatter happening on LinkedIn, which is kind of how this fell into my radar. Um, the USDA is making some changes and updates to the WIC food package. So the WIC program, for those of you who aren't familiar with it, is women, infants and children. So it's a, a food package that's been around for many, many years. It's been long overdue for an update because, um, of kind of the stringent what you can buy and what you can't buy in this program. And so the USDA has come to the 21st century, and we're talking about how we're updating that to make sure that we're delivering nutrition options. Really the quality of food is coming through in some of these changes. So I think, uh, there's really a lot of positive chatter around this that I noticed, again, on more of a professional platform of LinkedIn. Um, but really the, the central theme, or the most important thing on this is that it makes these permanent increases in the cash value benefits. So you talked about inflation earlier. Prices have changed on things, and so we need to adjust with the times. And so they're gonna be looking at that and making sure that that is reflected going forward. And specifically they're focused on fruits and vegetables. So I think that's really positive as well. Um, so they went through and they've got, you know, certain dollar allocations for children who are participating for pregnant and postpartum participants. And I think, you know, things like potatoes, which weren't possible in the previous program are now available for consumption. That's insane. They weren't available before. I was like that. I know. No potatoes. They're like a package of pure nutrition when you think about it. But it was that starchy component that's. Mention like delicious, right? Versatile, like they'll take away the potato. So. Products like that, um, in addition to whole grains being added, which obviously impacts breakfast, cereal, bread, grains, those are really positive changes. And I think there's just a, an understanding of the daily amount of nutrition, right. And our new updated food plate, not the food pyramid anymore. Food plate, my plate. Um, that's really bringing all of this together. Mm-Hmm.<affirmative>. Uh, so I think it's, it's super positive. Really reflects choice culture. You know, things like fresh herbs weren't Mm-Hmm.<affirmative> possible to receive earlier either. And if you're into herbs, not everybody is, but it just brings that freshness and that cultural dynamic a lot of times too, with the flavors that can be reflected in traditional dishes. I think what we know about nutrition is advancing all the time. All know all time. We more and more we're learning more and more. You think about the days of like the food pyramid when I was in third grade and they were teaching me about that as like, that's not how, that's not accurate at all anymore, you know? Yeah. So I think it's great that we're constantly taking and making sure that what we know about nutrition and health today is reflected in these programs. You know, that people who need it have access to the foods that they should be having access to. I'm failing to see a downside. A lot of things we talk about is like, well, there's on one hand. Yeah. And then on the other hand, and this one I'm like, yeah, great. I think that's awesome. I think it's super positive and it, it follows some, you know, research too. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, you know, going away from even jarred baby food for like fruits and vegetables. Right? Like, not only is it not always appetizing, but you know, the whole like as a mother baby led weaning is this now. And to have kids. Sorry, what are we talking about? <laugh>? What did you say? What a. Baby. Led weaning. Ask your wife. She'll know. All about this. That's just like when you want to get off, when the, when you let the child decide when they're ready to get off. Yeah. Like eating. Whole foods and it's like cooking carrots. So they're like steamed and mushy, but not pureed and pulverized. Okay. So then they're able to develop the texture and we know that that continues to help with things like language down the road. So it's just, it's really interesting to see how some of these things are coming into play even on a parenting side. I. I, okay, I'll, I'll, uh, yeah, I was wondering if some were overanalyzing something because I just got talking like, Hey, I'm glad we're, we're continually learning but then on some levels I'm like, all right. Like, so the way we've been doing this for the entirety of human history is all of a sudden we survive. Yeah. Look, so if all of a sudden the next generation is gonna start talking at eight months or whatever, I don't know. We. Don't know. We'll have to find out. But I'm skeptical. These next, uh, this next crop of children, it's gonna Yeah. As long as it doesn't be. Ready. As long as it doesn't hurt anything, go ahead and try it, you know, at first do no harm, but Right. You know, go ahead and experiment <laugh>, but it's. Less juice then as, as well skeptical. So again, dental, health, you know, like all these little things I think really do add up. And they've shown that this responsiveness to people in the WIC program asking for these things is really positive because they need that buy-in to then continue those purchasing habits once they graduate or are no longer in need of that program. So ultimately, I think it's setting them up for success, long-term and continuing to eat the fruits and vegetables that we know are contributing to better health. There it is. Science field delivered<laugh>. So is this an ongoing story? Is it just, you know, it's, it's updated and this is it? Oh, something was made permanent. I'm sorry. There was, uh, like all of like the fruits and vegetables that was all made permanent. So it's not like, hey, bits of legislature we talk about like the farm bill or like, here's what it is. We're gonna revisit this in a few years again, but this one is, is berm so. Ongoing. Yeah. Um, there are some things, so I think some of those states have already adapted that or July one. Like, so it's coming up fast. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, which I think ultimately plays into what you're able to get at farmer's markets. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> or through CSA programs. I know my daycare was recently telling me that now she's got, you know, access to A-C-A-S-A and she can subscribe and then the kids can engage with these produce items that maybe they don't normally encounter. Mm-Hmm. Like kale, the kids were making kale chips and they were digging it. I'm like, Hey, that's cool. Not every kid loves kale. They, they were digging the making of the kale chips or. Actually. Eating the kale chips. Really cool. Well, full disclosure, I've never had a kelechi, so I can't knock it till I try it <laugh>, but, uh, all right. Put it on your summer menu to try, you know, CSA is the farmer's market and then, you know, coming into the new school year, I think we'll be re on this topic to see how that's being portrayed on the, the menus and the, the trades at school. So I'm kind of excited to hear Yeah, there's some really great food programs that are highlighting local foods, even, you know, through the schools, through your local community. So. Oh, that's cool. Go support those folks who are putting in the extra effort to bring those fresh produce herbs and whatever else, uh, to the market. Yeah, will do. Are you into farmer's markets? Uh, used to be. Yeah. Um, I'm not near any anymore. I kind of live out in the country. Okay. We still stop on the side of the road. So some, you know, like some small like hobby farms will put like their produce out on the side of the road. Yeah. Like an honor system. You pay away, you take, we stop at those every once in a while, but Oh yeah. But when we live, when we're centrally located in a, in a city, we went to a lot more farmer's markets than we do today. But I love them. I mean, they're amazing. It's like, it's go time for farmer's markets. Yep. We've got some really great ones. Especially not part of the world where it's like, you know, people are just so excited to be outside, so it's like just one more thing to do outside is go to the farmer's market and stuff, so Yeah. And you're willing to pay a little bit more and have a conversation and Absolutely. You know, know who you're getting your food from. They do ours, our big farmer's market in West Bend where I'm from, they have it like downtown. Okay. Uh, on the main street Saturday mornings. And so all the bars open up and do like their bloody Mary's. Ah. And it's a nice little scene out there, so it's a lot fun. Go get some. Some asparagus. Some celery. Yeah. Pop it in there. Put it all in there. Yep. Fresh, fresh ACC mall in there you go. And the Bloody Mary. I. Love that. Cool. I think that's it. That wrap wraps up, that. Covers all of our major topics. Wraps it up. We have a little bit more champagne to get to, so we'll take care of that off air. <laugh> keep, keep Uh, but thank you guys so much for all who have been with us the whole way. For those who are just joining us now, we're 1-year-old and, uh, hopefully you stay with us. We've really enjoyed it. We've enjoyed being able to share the news with you and, uh, get a conversation going. So, uh, thanks more. We. Appreciate the, the follows. Here's to many the feedback. I mean, it's so fun to hear people come up to you at a conference or out and about in the industry and say, Hey, I heard that actually at, on your podcast. That was really cool. Keep the love coming. That's great. That's great. We love the love <laugh>. Yep. Be sure to subscribe so, you know, when we drop the latest episodes, tell a friend about us if you like what we're doing. You know, word of mouth is so important to the success of these kinds of independent podcasts. So thank you so much. Happy birthday Rochelle, or happy anniversary. Happy Pot anniversary. Happy. Pot anniversary. Stay of the plate. Yeah, thanks everybody. Stay hungry. I'm hungry.