Episode 35 - Making Every Drop Count: How Farmers Guide And Drive Checkoff Success

Minnesota dairy farmer Charles Krause and DMI’s Jessica Learman speak with DMI’s Scott Wallin about how the checkoff is building sales and consumer trust to dairy farmers and importers who fund the checkoff. They discuss the importance of transparency in dairy checkoff programs and highlight the "Making Every Drop Count" campaign, which aims to unify various checkoff initiatives and make them more visible to farmers. The new website, DairyCheckoff.com, is designed to provide farmers with easy access to financial information, annual reports, and contact details for board members. 

Tune in to find out!

Host & Guest:

• Host: Scott Wallin, Vice President of Farmer Communications & Media Relations, Dairy Management Inc.
• Guest: Jessica Learman, Executive Vice President, Farmer Outreach for Dairy Management Inc.
• Guest: Charles Krause, Minnesota Dairy Farmer, First Vice Chair of United Dairy Industry Association, Chair of Midwest Dairy

Transcript (AI-Generated, please ignore typos)

Scott Wallin   00:00

Welcome to the your dairy check off podcast, where we speak with check off leaders and farmers about strategies that are driving sales and building trust of us dairy I'm Scott Wallen with dairy management Incorporated, and I'm part of the farmer Relations and Outreach Team, and today we have a subject that's near and dear to my heart, which is talking about all the tools that we use to reach dairy farmers about the strategies, and above all, are very trans are built in a way to be transparent with me. Today is Jessica learman, who is executive vice president of farmer outreach, and Charles Krauss, he is a Minnesota dairy farmer who also serves on the National Dairy board, has first vice chair of the United Dairy Industry Association, and he also serves as chair of Midwest Dairy Welcome to both of you. Thanks for having us. You know, Charles, I just gotta ask you, first, being a dairy farmer takes up enough of your time. But, my goodness, you have dual roles here, nationally and locally. What is it about serving for the checkoff that you're so that makes you so passionate and so committed?

Charles Krause   01:00

You know, I think the work check off does is gives a voice to all of the fellow dairy farmers around the country and around the world, actually, on issues that are important to us back home on our family farms. And it's just a passion I've always had to be part of the community and a bigger part of it all. And so I think I give a voice to the farmers that just want to stay home and farm and and hopefully I can communicate the things we're doing and check off back to them, to so they know that their investment is well spent. I think

Scott Wallin   01:30

I speak for our whole team nationally when I say we really appreciate all the hours you devote. And it's just amazing to watch the commitments you and the other board members make nationally and locally. Jessica, I want to start the conversation with you and go back to a word I used in my upfront which is transparency. And obviously, so much of what we do is built around transparency, the tools, the way we present ourselves to farmers at meetings and on down the line. I would love to hear from you a little bit about why does transparencies matter so much to us. All

Jessica Learman   02:01

of us know that we work for farmers day in and day out, and the farmers who fund us and the importers who fund us, you know, deserve to know what we're doing with their investments and how we're, you know, delivering a return, and how they can find out that information. And so we really take advantage of every possible channel that we can to put that information out there, whether it's the website, podcasts like this one, trade media articles, and lots of different ways to, you know, put that information in front of farmers, ideally, where they are. You know, farmers like Charles are busy. They've got lots of jobs. They wear many hats, and they don have tons of time to come looking for information about the checkoff. So when they do, we need to make sure that they find it and they're able to access exactly what they're looking for and get their questions answered. So we do that in in every possible way that we can think of. And if you can come up with a new channel for us, we'll find a way to be there too with the information that that farmers are looking for. You know,

Scott Wallin   02:54

Charles, I want to ask you kind of a similar question as somebody who funds check off programs nationally locally, you and the other farmers expect a level of transparency. Can you talk about why that's so vital to you? Everyone gets

Charles Krause   03:06

a milk check on their farms, like I do every month, and it's right on the line. It's your your dairy Research and Promotion, and the check off comes off, and you see what that is. And we really want to know what's happening. And I think I'm confident in everything we do, and it's important that there's trust in what's happening on the staff level and what the farmer decisions is. The best thing about checkoff is it's a farmer LED board, and we have input on the strategy and the things that DMI and our state and regions do on our behalf, and we have input on that. And I think it's it's reassuring to the farmers at home that there are farmers just like them serving and giving their input on how their money is being spent to build trust and grow demand for their family farms. Jessica,

Scott Wallin   03:54

we have tools. We have strategies in place that are built around transparency. And the first thing I want to talk to you about is a campaign we began, I think, almost three years ago now, called making every drop count. Would love to hear some thoughts on you about the history of the campaign, why we did it, and where farmers might be able to see it. Charles

Jessica Learman   04:13

was there at the inception of this campaign as part of the board and the committee that leads this work, and so, you know, we really heard from farmers. All of our work comes from hearing from farmers. And, you know, Farmer insights and former guidance, Charles mentioned the board, and it's not just the board, though, beyond the board and our state and regional organizations and their boards and the farmers that we encounter at meetings and groups, we were hearing that there's a lot of work that check off does in a lot of different banners, whether it is our National Dairy Council doing research, whether it is our, you know, partnerships with restaurants chains, whether it's, you know, research that we're doing in partnership with or in collaboration with someone like the Mayo Clinic, how would, how would farmers know that that's all check off? And so the idea behind making every. Drop count is connecting those dots so that wherever you see us, show up, whether it's a recipe from an influencer for, you know, cottage cheese ice cream or some trendy food, you know that that's the checkoff across the board working on your behalf. And so the idea behind making every drop count was to kind of help identify that performers and know of all the work that we do, and it's been well received, you know, it's, you know, be able to show that the sales that we're driving and the trust that we're building and the results of that. And so we're able to, the good news is, with modern digital communications, you can measure every single thing. And so we're able to see through clicks and eyeballs and listens of things like this podcast that you know, it's reaching farmers, and folks are listening to us and giving us back feedback and questions, which is what we want, so they can find us in just about everywhere that, as I said, any channel you can think of, and if there's a new one we're not in, we'll go there and find farmers there as well. Yeah,

Scott Wallin   05:56

it's so great to bring our strategies to life through making every drop count, Charles, from your perspective, what have you seen from making every drop count? I mean, you you've heard from Jessica about the many ways that we extend the message out through various channels, and obviously it's getting a lot of eyeballs on it. But I'd love to hear from you a little bit about the campaign. You

Charles Krause   06:16

know, I think, I think it's a great, it's a great title or topic that we call it the campaign. And you know, just on our farms, every drop of milk does count, and the more we can get, the more we can sell, and we're not going to let any of it run down the drain. So every cent that we spend on checkoff as farmer is doing something a little bit differently, but for our benefit. And as Jessica talked about before, there's so many different things we are collaborating and working with, be at the Mayo Clinic or quick serve restaurants or exports or research and and developing new products. And I think it's so important, and I think that just the make every drop count brings it to life for the farmers that we're doing everything we can in all kinds of directions, in a very, very thoughtful and precise way to make every drop count and make our investment go farther. Now

Scott Wallin   07:06

the next tool I want to touch on, and I'll start with you Jessica, is our new website, Dairy checkoff.com you know, previously, we were directing farmers to usdairy.com but we found that we needed to have something that spoke more specifically to our farmers and importers who fund the check off so we launched theory check off com back midway through last year. I believe. What can you talk about the strategy of why this, having our own website was so important. I

Jessica Learman   07:33

mean, it all goes back to transparency, right? We we hit that at the beginning of the of the podcast, and you'll continue to hear that as a theme. We wanted to make sure that farmers found it easy to get the answers they were looking for about their check offs work. And obviously, the things that we're saying to consumers and health professionals and anyone else are different than what the farmers want to know about what the checkoff is doing. You know you probably have enough dairy recipes. You don't need to be wading through those to try and find the financial information you're seeking or an answer to a specific question. And so we really designed it to have the information that farmers are seeking about what the check off is doing, the financial information, as I said, the annual reports, there's articles about the different priorities and lines of work. Information about the board. You can find out who your local board representative is. There's links to all the state and regional organizations so you can find who your state and regional representative or organization is. And there's also ways, a lot of ways, to get feedback from farmers on that site as well, whether it's, you know, emailing us or contacting a board member directly. And we use that those that feedback and those questions, to write, you know, more articles and blogs and give the content there that that farmers are seeking.

Scott Wallin   08:47

You know, Charles, this is one of those tools. Obviously, the National Dairy board members had an opportunity to seek it from its inception to its launch. You were very close in the process of building this website. What do you see at the website that you think are the most beneficial aspects to dairy farmers? Well, I

Charles Krause   09:05

think the best thing about it is that it's mobile phone friendly, and it's so easy to use, and it just takes you everywhere, exports, Farmer images, growing, dairy demand, health and nutrition, partnerships, research, innovation, sustainability and Youth Wellness, all the the pillars that we are working on. And if you have hours and hours, I started looking through it before this, just to see, and you could read and read, and there's all kinds of stuff on there, but it's just very user friendly. If you had a question about, I wonder what we're doing with, check off as far as Youth Wellness, and you hit that, and it comes up with a whole litany of things. And so I think as a farmer, I rely on my phone for so many things, whether it's managing my animals on my farm, tracking, bank tracking, Co Op things, but to be able to hop on my phone quickly, access it and find that information without having to scroll through recipes and things. That Jessica talked about. It's very farmer friendly, very easy to use, and I don't know if you can use it on a flip phone, but most of us are on smartphones now, so we're pretty safe there. But I do love it. It's one of the things I've been most excited about that we've developed over the

Scott Wallin   10:14

last couple of years. I love your use of props. I mean, my goodness, this is why I love talking to you, Charles. You go the extra mile and bring props to the discussion. And it's awesome to hear your passion for the website. And then I know Jessica, and I feel your passion, you know, for what we've created here, and it's just so much fun to keep adding content to it. Which leads us to our next tool, which is what we're on right now. The your dairy check off podcast, and Jessica podcasting is so widespread in every corner of our country. People call it the new media. You know, it gives you such an opportunity to listen to a variety of experts. You can find anything that you want to kind of learn a little bit more about in our world through podcasts. We joined the podcast game several years ago. Actually, it began through Midwest Dairy, and now we run it. We work in tandem with our states and regions. But would love to hear some thoughts from you on just why podcasts matter, and why did we have to have a podcast? Absolutely,

Jessica Learman   11:15

I was just checking the stat there, and a recent study showed over a third of farmers listen to podcasts, and I think you know if you're not, if you're out doing chores, if you're in the tractor, if you're in the barns, you're not sitting in front of a computer reading article after article. So to Charles this point, that's why we made everything mobile friendly. But also sometimes it's easy to listen to something while you're while you're doing other things. Also, the the length of the podcast gives us the opportunity to have experts on and do kind of deep dive conversations and really have more in depth discussion about the priorities of check off. And we always have, you know, a farmer host, if we can, that can represent the average farmer and ask those questions that are on their minds, and have your staff and experts and others answer them in a way that you know resonates and is also easy for you to consume. We need to find farmers where they are and give them information in the way that works for them as our most important stakeholder. So the podcast is just one way of doing that, but we love it. And I know Charles has been a early fan of the podcast from from the beginning. So appreciate your support on that.

Scott Wallin   12:17

He has been a big fan of the podcast as well, but I want to hear from him. As a busy dairy farmer, how do you make time for a podcast? Maybe share some tips to your fellow producers about just making time to listen to these podcasts.

Charles Krause   12:33

It's one of the easier things to do, and people think, Oh, I can't do that. And it should be way more than a third farmers are listening to their local radio stations or whatever. Anytime they're feeding or driving a tractor. These aren't my earbuds, but it you just pop the earbuds and you can listen to them anytime. And you know, I there's a multiple different I'll do it while I'm working cows. I'll do it while I'm driving a tractor, while I'm driving to town. You can get a podcast, you know, about a half an hour in, and they're really easy to and I think the the amount of different variety of topics we try to cover, everything check off doing throughout the year, and they come up pretty frequently, once a month or so, and just really easy to do. And on top of the other normal podcasts people listen to along the way. This is just one I really do like, and I like that we also highlight state and regions and bring in some of that dynamic on what's going on in different parts of the country. Different people on the DMI team that you normally wouldn't hear from sometimes are presented. And so that's good to see that information brought to us as farmers. And it's so easy. So obviously, if you're listening to this podcast, you know podcasts are easy to listen to, but and tell one of your friends, maybe tell your dad or your uncle that doesn't think they can do it, that it's really not that hard, and you can actually use a corded one, or just listening to it if you're something quiet enough, you can just listen to on the volume on your phone. Really easy to use, really easy to navigate, and a great variety of topics. Yeah, you know, you

Scott Wallin   14:05

touched on that Federation wide aspect of the podcast. And we are always looking for those great stories that happen locally as well as nationally, and being able to bring forward the voice of those staffs, the local checkoff teams, as well as farmers like you. So that, to me, is what makes it, I think, rewarding and appealing to other farmers is when we have this, this great variety of voices and subjects to address. So I got one more question before we let you guys go. Jessica, just want to start with you. Any final thoughts you want to share about what we talked about today, whether it's the tools or transparency or anything else you want to touch on, absolutely,

Jessica Learman   14:41

I think it goes to the podcast, but it goes to everything that we do, that, you know, we listen to farmers. And so those hundreds of podcast episodes, many and many of them are based on questions that we received, whether it was in conversation at a meeting, or a farmer told us about a question a neighbor had, and. You feed those in if you if one farmer has that question, probably many do. And so we, we look for a way to answer that, whether it's through, you know, a video, through content, through podcasts like this, through all of the things that we do. So we really do listen, and we're always open. There's, you know, you can find on the website ways to email all of us. We have a general talk to the check off@dairy.org so you can email us any kind of question. Or, you know, our former relations staff is always out there at meetings and gatherings and events, or go on the website, find your board member and ask them. But we're always looking for, you know, ways to answer farmer questions and to make sure that we're putting the information out there that that our funders need. So we're always open to that. And appreciate the thoughts and feedback from you. I'm

Scott Wallin   15:40

going to add one plug. We have an awesome check off a newsletter that goes out every other week, and farmers can find out ways to sign up for that newsletter on the website. Charles, how about you? How about some closing thoughts you'd like to share

Charles Krause   15:53

that is an awesome newsletter that comes out every couple of weeks. Scott, so good job there. You know, Jessica kind of stole my thunder and everything she said, There's easy ways to contact your farmer representatives. I'm a farmer representatives for for not only people of Minnesota or Midwest, but for the country. And so if you have an idea or if you have a concern or a question, I think that's the first person you might want to go to and ask the question and and maybe we can give it to you in layman's terms, in the dairyman's terms, on how we're working on things and how check off is being spent on our behalf. But, you know, dairy check off com is just a real easy way to find out about the check off. And I think that, you know, we have a board from all across the country that represents farmers listening to this and and so if you do have concerns or questions, or if you do want to be involved, talk to them, and we're always looking for people that are willing to serve in different areas. You don't necessarily have to be on a board, but everyone can be a dairy champion in their own way. And so whether it's on social or talking to someone at a grocery store in your home community or talking to a fellow farmer, we're a small but mighty group of people that do a very noble and wonderful thing feeding a sustainable and hungry world with our delicious dairy products. And so I think we all take pride in what we do and and so that's why, that's why I do what I do. I really love what I do, and and it's important that we're all part of it, and so be a part of the conversation. Get involved if you can, and and go tell your friend to have a glass of milk

Jessica Learman   17:21

Pat and I are proud to work for you as

Scott Wallin   17:23

well. Yeah, I was going to say same exact thing. I mean, Jessica and I have been around for a long time, but it's because we are so passionate about dairy farmers and all the great work you do. So I want to thank both of you for your time today. I really enjoyed that conversation. And dairy farmers, please visit dairy check off com to see all these things that we discussed today, our podcast is housed there, right right there on the website, but you can also find the your dairy check off podcast on your favorite podcast platform. Thanks again. And have a great day to both of you.

Jessica Learman   17:52

Thank you. Thanks so much. You.