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Chief Cheerleader of Minnesota Agriculture and MN Commissioner of Agriculture Thom Petersen joins us to discuss stress, mental health, Minnesota Department of Agriculture Resources, and a small segment on the MN State Fair. Thank you for listening!
Hosted by members of the University of Minnesota Extension Beef and Dairy Teams, The Moos Room discusses relevant topics to help beef and dairy producers be more successful. The information is evidence-based and presented as an informal conversation between the hosts and guests.
[music]
Emily Krekelberg: Welcome, everybody, to The Moos Room. We have the gruesome twosome here today, myself and Dr. Joe. Bradley is off being important and teaching the bright young minds of future animal scientists. We are joined by a very special guest, our first celebrity guest, I would say on The Moos Room, to help close out our mental health series for May Mental Health Awareness Month. We are joined by Minnesota Commissioner of Agriculture, Thom Petersen. Welcome to The Moos Room, Thom.
Thom Petersen: Great to join you. I definitely listened to quite a few episodes over the course of time and really enjoy listening, so it's great to join you.
Emily: We are super glad to have you on and super happy to hear that you listen to The Moos Room. Because you are a listener, you might know what's about to happen. We ask all of our guests the same two questions, the super secret questions, but if you're a listener, they're not that secret. We're just going to dive right into them. My first question for you, Thom, what is your favorite breed of dairy cattle?
Thom: Well, I always like Ayrshire. It was my favorite. My family, growing up, had Milking Shorthorns and then switched to Ayrshires. There was quite a community of Ayrshire breeders, the Holsteins have really grabbed hold, but I still love that there is a few here and there. That's, I don't know, just something that I liked about them. That's my favorite and always a great question.
Emily: Is that our first Ayrshire, Joe? Where are we at--
Joe Armstrong: It is.
Emily: --on the totals now?
Thom: [laughs] You got to be different. Get them on the board there.
Joe: Got it. You got to be different.
Thom: I'm different.
Joe: Yes, so updating the totals up, it's Holsteins at 17. Unfortunately, still on top, Jerseys at 13, Brown Swiss at 6, Montb�liarde at 3, Dutch Belted at 3, Normande at 2, Milking Shorthorn at 1, Ayrshire at 1, and one Guernsey named Taffy.
Thom: All right, I'm glad to be a little different.
Emily: Yes, so now I'm interested to see how you answer the next question. What's your favorite breed of beef cattle?
Thom: Beef cattle, I'm just going to have to go with the boring Angus cattle, but I always have loved Angus, black Angus. My uncle had a black Angus farm in sales, and I'd always help him with his bull sale out and grow in South Dakota, and just really got to love the black Angus, and I've had quite a few over the years myself. Not as exciting, but yes, [crosstalk].
Emily: No, but Joe is happy. Joe is happy.
Joe: I'm quite pleased. This has become a great episode. Black Angus with 14 now. Hereford is at 8, Black Baldy at 4, Scottish Highlander at 3, Belted Galloway at 2, Red Angus at 2, and then all with one, Stabilizer, Gelbvieh, Brahman, Chianina, Charolais, Simmental, Jersey, Normande, Shorthorn, Belgian Blue, and Brangus.
Emily: Got through them all there.
Joe: It's getting longer every week. I feel like one day I'm not going to be able to do it on one breath. It just keeps getting longer.
Emily: Well, now that we've gotten our regular housekeeping for our guests out of the way, let's dive in. Before we really get into it, I have maybe a silly question, but I think a lot of people are aware that each state has their Commissioner of Agriculture. Thom, I'm wondering if in 30 to 60 seconds, you can give us the-- what do you do as Commissioner of Agriculture? I think people are curious about that. We all have our ideas, but how would you explain what you do?
Thom: That's a great question. I serve Governor Walz, appointed by Governor Walz to oversee our Department of Agriculture. I'm one of 24 different commissioners. There's health, transportation, deed, all the different ones. I oversee the department, and we have over $100 million budget per year, 500 employees.
I'm the chief cheerleader for agriculture in our state, promotion of our agricultural products, but also regulation of different products, whether it's pesticides, fertilizers, grocery stores, making sure our food is safe to eat. Then a lot of different things you might not think of, like emerald ash borer, gypsy moths, a lot of different things like that, so just a really great position to have. There's definitely challenges all the time, but it's quite an honor to serve as commissioner
Emily: What you're saying is you don't really do much of anything, right?
[laughter]
Thom: Most days. Agriculture in Minnesota is so diverse. We're really blessed to have about equal cattle and crops across the state, and very diverse. It's a unique-- always challenges every day.
Emily: Yes. I follow Thom on Twitter and I feel like he is always somewhere. He is always doing something. He is all over the state in a week, really incredible. I have just been so grateful for the work that you've put in as commissioner and especially the work that you and the Department of Agriculture has put into addressing mental health and farm stress. I always say this, and I truly believe it, I think Minnesota leads the nation in this type of work. I think a lot of that has to do with our efforts from the Department of Agriculture. Why don't you give us just the overview of what work or what really gets you excited about working on mental health and agriculture and why it's important to you?
Thom: Yes. Thanks, Emily, and thanks for all your work. I think you've really-- when I talk to people, I know that there's people that talk to you. It's got to be a team effort because I always think we need every farmer. I really got into mental health too when I was working for Farmers Union and actually I got more involved, working through extension on the Farmer-Lender Mediation program, which actually is authorized through the department, through the USDA funding comes back to the extension. The Farmer-Lender Mediation program was so important. Many of these things that we have were put in place in the '80s as I was just starting out farming, about watching a lot of my neighbors struggling and we had suicides, and you knew a lot about all of that, and so I had that in my background.
Then as I got into lobbying for the Minnesota Farmers Union, many times the bankers, different folks would want to end Farmer-Lender Mediation. We'd say how important that was, but it wasn't the only thing that we needed. We also, at the department, have 10 farm advocates around the state. That was also a program that was built in the '80s. Farm advocates, for me, are a first call for help. Farmers will call me and say they are entering bankruptcy, they're down to $1,000, can't put gas in their combine to harvest their crop. How do they do? To me, farm advocates buy them some time. They're free, much like our mental health counselors will talk about in a minute, but they're just a wonderful resource. You can find those at our department website. Many of those have experience dealing with those problems.
At the legislature, I'd always fight for their funding and see the importance, and you really would hear all these stories of mental health. Then, along the way, we were able to add two counselors, Ted Matthews and Mona McConkey, who are just wonderful individuals and have such a great piece that they're able to offer through that mental health. Then, as I got to be commissioner, I got to oversee a lot of this and really build and add. That's been really helpful, whether we added our farm and rural helpline, we've added texts to that.
Like you said, I think it's-- I don't always say I'm proud that we lead the nation and we recognize it, but also it's really needed. I know a lot of farmers, and I have known way too many that have taken their own lives. I think about just in the last year, it's usually-- and I hate to say this, male, many times. In the last year, I've known two females that are farmers that have taken their lives. Many just like, you can never let up on it. It's really a passion for myself and, unfortunately, had a lot of experience with it.
Emily: As I kind of understand it, I feel like when there's a farmer suicide in Minnesota or even a farm safety accident, you're one of the first calls. I think you're one of the first people that finds out about this. That carries a lot of weight, especially when it's a death by suicide. I'm curious if you're willing to share a little bit about how you handle those situations and what sort of support are you able to offer to these families who are dealing with a death by suicide.
Thom: I just think that the warning signs people always say as they saw that they were coming. Then one of the things I think you and I have talked about before too is getting people help and asking them or seeing if they need it, but then asking again or two or three times. It's hard because I'll feel like, "Geez, I missed that," or the family, they could see they're working hard, but that stress is just overwhelming. We talk about farming. I know it myself, being by yourself, you don't always want to ask for help. I think that's where getting support, getting somebody to talk to right away is very, very important. You see people that they become advocates themselves for wanting to tell their story but making sure they have that.
I also think too, there's a lot of success stories. One of the best ones I always tell people is I was at a farm picnic couple of years ago and I had a farmer who's 85 years old, and I say, "You're always a dad, even at 85." He came up to me and he said they were having to sell their dairy herd and his son probably 50 years old, and he put his pointer finger to his temple and he said, "I think Junior is thinking about this," and used his thumb as a trigger and said, "I think he's thinking about this." He said, "I don't know what to do." It was a Saturday and I got ahold of Ted and we got him some help and talked, and made a plan and got help with the farm advocates and he's still here today. So when you think about how it works, and we're able to help people, I try to balance that too as well. Man, they're tough.
Joe: It can't be easy to deal with those situations. I'm glad that you were so definitive in your action in a situation like that because I think you're right. The hardest part about some of these things for the people that are left behind is thinking about all the things they could have done differently. I'd much rather have some hard feelings from someone by asking too many questions or being a little pushy rather than regret not doing that later. You can't second yourself on that, when you get that bad feeling or you feel it in your gut, it's real and you need to act on it. I'm glad that you did. That's a powerful story.
Emily: Yes. It really speaks a lot to, again going back to how Minnesota in this state we approached this, that it's a thing where luckily it's not taboo. It's not swept under the rug. Thom, you got that information from that individual, and you acted on it. I think that that's a really important piece. For me, in a lot of the suicide prevention work I do, I always repeat the message of, this is everybody's business and anybody can help prevent the tragedy of suicide, and we don't need to be mental health experts or clinicians to help. I think that you illustrated that really nicely. That's a great story.
I feel like we cannot talk about the Department of Ags' work in farm stress without mentioning former Moos Room guest Meg Moynihan, we had her on last May to share about her story and her work. You have staff and a lot of people in the department that are really working on these topics full bore and Meg is one of them. What an outstanding advocate she is. I'm just so glad that you guys have her at the Department of Ag to do the work that she does. She's a close friend as well. It's just incredible to see all the work that comes out of this and the true team effort, like you were saying, that it takes to do this type of stuff.
Thom: Yes, it really does. Such a great team effort is really helpful because we have so many different folks, but Meg really does lead our effort. Meg Moynihan is somebody farmers have known. I've worked with Meg for probably 20 years. She was our organic coordinator at the department for a long time and just knows a lot of farmers. Just her story of being a farmer herself and going through that stress, and just really caring and really trying to think of some of the best things that we've done are down on the farm suicide training awareness where we bring in maybe pastors, and milk collars and co-op folks to seminar to look at, what are those signs?
Meg's led that effort and I think we've had hundreds of people attend that, so Important. Meg's always thinking, Meg's work too, led the department last year to get a $500,000 grant, that partners with a lot of different folks to help lead this work with us. You can't undercut that. Just to have somebody like Meg who cares and understand and who is not afraid to talking about being through it herself, it is so important. It is great to have Meg as well.
Emily: I just want to mention that funding, the initiative from the Department of Agriculture is called Bend, Don't Break, and Extension has been very fortunate to receive some of that funding that has helped us do training on ambiguous loss in farming, training with rural and farm youth on stress management, all sorts of really great stuff. Another piece in that is a piece I've been working on, which is basically a module for youth to teach them about healthy habits in farming. We call it on the side, horsepower is not therapy.
When you're getting really frustrated with your parents on the farm, you don't want to be tearing out of the yard on the ATV to go clear your head because that's not safe. For me and Thom, I know you share my opinion on this, that mental health is also a farm safety issue. I know what an advocate for farm safety you are and how important that is to you. You and I have always been on the same page that farm stress and mental health really plays into that farm safety side too.
Thom: Yes. Emily, I just couldn't agree more as I looked into some of the statistics that come from Purdue University does some great studies. I look at this, as you mentioned when we see accidents around the state and I talked to the families, the one thing that really stood out to me was they would say, "He was working too hard. He knew he shouldn't have done that. He should have told somebody he was going into the bin. He shouldn't have gone on that incline with the tractor."
I do that too. When I'm stressed out on my farm, I'll work a lot. I'll keep myself very busy. I'll clean the barn. I'll work on things. It just helps me, but also I maybe cut corners. That has led us at the department to create kind of an ad-hoc farm safety working group that I wanted to do. We meet four times a year and again, led by [unintelligible 00:16:13] Bank at our department, does a great job and just helpful for us to keep the ball up in the air. We've had yourself, Extension, the farm groups and I'm really pleased by the effort that we have in Minnesota, great team effort.
A great team effort from the farm groups, whether it's Farmers Union or Farm Bureau, and the soybean growers had been very involved in helping us fund a lot of this program. The farm safety, we've been also able to get some grants into tractor rollover now [unintelligible 00:16:41] and safety and just again, really helpful. I think we have cut down the last couple of years, knock on wood, but it's just again, something we got to keep the ball up in the air. Stress definitely contributes to that.
Joe: Stress is a topic that we talk about a lot on this podcast and how all the different ways that we handle it. We've talked about earlier this month, it seems like farmers take stress and they channel it into more work. Like you were just talking about. It says, work harder and it'll go away, even if it actually won't just by working harder. That's really the case when we talk about a lot of the things that have been going on lately in the state, with the drought last year and with all the rain we've had this spring, the extreme weather, tornadoes, everything else. You can't just work harder to make those things not happen. They're going to happen.
I know you travel around the state, I follow you on Twitter as well. You travel all over the place talking to people about severe weather and big advocate of what to do about the drought and make sure that you're not ignoring it last year. Can you talk about your role in that kind of thing when we're talking about this kind of events happening more and more often?
Thom: Yes, you just look at, I was just thinking since I've been commissioner, I think 2019 we had the wettest year on record. 2020, of course, we had COVID, which really tipped our food supply up. Then 2021 we had a worst drought we've had since 1988, 80% of the state in detour above drought. This spring, the wettest spring and also the windiest year on record. You just look at, and the derecho couple of weeks ago that we had here, man, farmers have had a lot thrown at them. What we try to do is respond, really listen to what we hear and that's why I feel like it's important for me to be around and be connected.
Social media is an interesting thing. I think as commissioner, one of my favorite things is to check social media because I can see who's got their corn planted, who's got their soybean, who hasn't started yet, and I can see in all parts of the state. So you know and then to be able to get those travel and have farmers text you. As I was telling Emily, I had a farmer in Stearns County text me this morning as corn's done, but it's getting late, we also have farmers that don't.
What I try to do as commissioner is see what are some things we can do to help. Governor Walz, we asked him to waive trucking regulations for fertilizer this last couple of weeks for hours of service. We make sure farmers when they're ready to go, they're not waiting. We try to make emergency loans available, not that farmers need another loan, but in those situations, with the derecho last week, we're going to meet and see if we can make some zero-interest loans available to help plug those gaps. We sometimes have to ask for secretarial designations and we have to go through all those things, but to be as connected and be as responsive as possible.
I talked to a farmer last week who in the last month has gone through a high path, avian influenza. He got hit by derecho, lost a $500,000 bin system, brand new on his farm, and then he still hasn't planted his crop yet. You think, man, they got some stress there. Whatever we can do to help out, try to stay as connected, move as quickly as possible.
Joe: I think that's the thing that I appreciate the most is this effort to listen. This is a big state, it's seven, eight hours from north to south, which you've driven a hundred times. It's hard to make everyone feel like they're being listened to. The fact that you do get around the state, you're on farm, you see things in person and it does make a difference. I think that when farmers feel like they're being listened to, they're a lot more likely to be patient, as patient as they can be. Even just the fact that someone is listening relieves some of that stress.
I do appreciate that. I think it all fits really into all the work that you guys have been doing to try to make it feel like we aren't forgetting about rural Minnesota. This is a big deal. It's a big deal to the state and they matter enough that we should be dedicating resources to it.
Thom: I feel bad too sometimes because I'll get way into Northwest Minnesota and then you hear this a lot, Northwest or far Southwest, and the people will be just so thankful that you stopped there, that you made the trip there. I always feel as commissioner, it's as important that I go there as I do my local FFA chapter. It's a long drive and everything, but it's so worth it and it's the best part of my job, is to be out there and hearing from people.
Joe: I can't count how many times I've been told and reminded that Brainerd is central Minnesota. That's Central Minnesota, so you can't call it up north. If you're in the cities, you are in Southern Minnesota. Whenever I travel up north, that is all I hear. Which is good. It's good to be reminded.
Thom: Absolutely.
Emily: A thing I want to go back to that you said, Thom, is just this idea of showing up, when there is a derecho, when there is a barn fire, when there is a death, when there is an accident, showing up. I think that that is a really big piece in the mental health puzzle too, for a lot of people. Just knowing that "Hey, these people that have offices down at the Capital, they care, they care about what's happening here." I think that for all of us, we all in jobs that require a lot of mileage and driving. I think that showing up is such an important part of our jobs and for a lot of people, just your presence can be really helpful.
Thom: It is just so helpful too to see different things on that. I've tried to do a little different thing. We're not just visiting farms, but I try to visit mayors of small towns or county commissioners and then have them show me their town and have them show me what's unique about it. Usually when I'm there for something I'll say, "Hey, do you have an extra half hour to just show me whether it's in Marshall or Lake Benton or Crookston." It's interesting to look at it through the local government because I think they're very proud of their farmers and their people and everything's different. Just that you take time to learn and see and it is again just super helpful.
The hard thing, Emily, is sometimes there's not things that we can do. The showing up part and understanding is maybe right now we can't do something but maybe down the road. Just making those connections is important. That's hard too when there's nothing you can do. Speaking of stress, that's why I say asking too many times, because a lot of times when farmers will call, it's almost too late by the time they call an advocate or they say they're going to go into mediation and man if they would've called two weeks before or three weeks.
That's why a lot of times I'll ask a second time because I'll have a farmer who will call me and say, "I'm really having a hard time." I'll say, "Man, call the advocate," and they'll call me back the next week. I said, "Did you call the advocate?" They'll say, "No, I haven't." I said, "I'm telling you to call the advocate." I don't know how many times they'll call me back after they finally talk to them, they say, "Thank you so much." I've done this enough times to realize that it helps. Just got to keep at it
Emily: In a pleasant surprise. Bradley is out of class and now has been able to join us.
Joe: Yes. Our other celebrity guest has joined us.
Bradley: I showed up. That's what you said to show up. I showed up. Sorry, I'm late. I was on a call with some Sassy Cow people. Emily knows what Sassy Cow is. I don't know, it's a creamery in Wisconsin that processes milk on farm and stuff.
Joe: I did not know what Sassy Cow was. When you first said that, I was like, you just were on the call with some very sassy-
Emily: Some very sassy cow.
[laughter]
Joe: -people that happened to own cows.
Emily: All right. Well, let's regroup here so--
Bradley: That we digress.
Emily: Bradley, I know you missed what we've been talking about so far, but do you have any questions for the commissioner?
Bradley: Put me on the spot. Wow. No, I don't, but I appreciate just the last few minutes learning about showing up and stuff, and working with the farmers and the state of Minnesota and many different avenues. Working in a lot of different industries in Minnesota would be actually quite fun. Whether it's turkeys or cows or swine and Ag Department works in a lot of different aspects too. Not just livestock, because that's what we think about, or I think about all the time is livestock, but it can be many different things. That would be a fun job to have, and be able to do that and work with farms all day. I enjoy working with farms. I appreciate that.
Thom: Bradley, actually, took time very early one morning to visit with me and Morris and I was out there for another event and it was great to just visit, I remember I learned well just the time we spent together and really important work that you do out there and good stuff too as well.
Bradley: Yes, we're talking about solar grazing and solar energy and which comes into agriculture, which is always an interesting topic.
Thom: I think that a lot of people think solar, one of the first questions they always have is why don't they raise them up and graze underneath them and you have that demonstration there too and everything. I said, "Aha, there is work going on on that. It is interesting, but it's funny what you learn and what you see."
Bradley: Yes. I have a graduate student now, Sabrina Portner that's working on trying to grow corn and soybeans and wheat and oats underneath solar panels to see if we can grow crops under them. I see that on the landscape and I think we can utilize the land a little bit differently.
Thom: No, always interesting.
Emily: Stay tuned for a future episode about solar panels.
Bradley: Exactly. Brad shows up and promotes all the other--
Emily: Yes.
[laughter]
Emily: All right. Oh, no, Joe, you go.
Joe: No, no, go ahead Emily, if you're going to stay mostly on topic, I don't want to break this away.
Emily: Oh, well, I was trying to bring us back to topic.
Joe: Okay, do it. Go for it.
Bradley: Bradley usually comes in and just veers off in many other ways and-
Emily: Yes, it's just chaos.
Bradley: -who knows where we might go.
Emily: Yes, it's just chaos. All right. To recollect here before we started and Thom and I were talking here today and, yes, this is about mental health and of course, a lot of other things we discussed here today. One thing I want to go back to is, Thom, you've already mentioned the derecho that we had here recently and that devastated a lot of parts in Western Minnesota, a lot of farms there, including the farm where Bradley is, where he does his research for the university. Brad, I want to start with you. When you look at storm damage and think about that in terms of stress, how do you manage that? What did you see as a farmer experiencing this and then, Thom, what were you seeing from the farmers that you were visiting with and surveying their damage?
Bradley: For me and some of the other farmers around, we were just going on adrenaline the first few days because of everything that happened. I went home to be with my family and then got calls afterwards and ran back here and calves are running everywhere. We had trees down, calf hutches blown everywhere. Nothing terrible damaged, we were milking off generator power for four days. So I had to come back and assess the situation and go, but then you start hearing reports around of mono slope barns full of 500 cows are just gone and dairies around us buildings are down and one milking parlor was out of commission.
Very stressful for us at that time. We dealt with that and worked through it and basically, our team here worked together to alleviate a lot of the issues. We had that team effort to help alleviate the stress. Man, some of the other operations, I couldn't even imagine the stress and the anxiety that they were going through with going out and seeing buildings just totally destroyed and barns and milking parlors destroyed. Even in South Dakota, it happened, moving 2,000 cows from one dairy to another. I don't even know how I would cope with that. I just can't even fathom that
Thom: Boy, when I just being out there in the couple of farms we visited and hearing the stories, you just look at the mess that they have to endure. I wouldn't even know where to start. I've definitely had storms on my farm and had things. The one great thing in this whole thing and gets at this is it is amazing the community help that you get or the support that you get or the offers you get. All of these farms that I've talked to they have neighbors, they have friends, people willing to help. That's a hard one too, is like asking and accepting help and I can always tell you just I haven't been there before, just take the help if you haven't.
That was a real positive and to hear the stories, we were in Benson. First we were going to go to the Morris area with the governor, but we had heard different areas were hit hard, there was many places we could have gone that looked at that area. I got texts that morning, just how bad it was from many different people and a lot of pictures. Many of our employees for the Department of Ag actually live and work on farms. They're inspectors or they farm part-time or they farm with their family. We saw their buildings and their damage. It was very widespread.
As a commissioner, I try to relay that as quickly as I can to Homeland Security and the governor and try to see like, okay, what are the steps that we can take? A lot of that in these storms are personal liability insurance or personal loss insurance and so working through that, but there are things that the government can do as well. Yes, just very difficult. That week actually, it wasn't just the one bad storm, we had several bad storms. FEMA is actually in the state right now. They said 49 of 80 counties sustained pretty substantial building loss.
Joe: Bradley said, he hit it on the head, "You run off adrenaline right away." When I was in practice, we had a winter that was terrible and we had so much snow, so built up on the roof, we had buildings collapse and cows were trapped and there's a lot of things that need to happen right away. Same thing with the storm. Bradley's going to go out, round up all his calves, try to figure out how to contain the damage, assess, and you run off adrenaline so much.
Then it's not like life stops. Like in the spring, especially, if you've got plants, you got to get out there, there's all these other things. I don't know if farmers really have the time to process what happened and the effects of that stress after that adrenaline wears off probably hits you days, two weeks later. Is that your experience, Thom, where it's like, it's maybe almost a delayed or if you don't get any time at all?
Thom: Yes. The first question I think we had or the governor has was these two farms that we visit they-- keep in mind this is mid to late May and they hadn't turned a wheel in their field yet. Nothing had been planted. Not only do they got to get all the debris out of their fields, they need to clean up, they maybe have bins that are holding a lot of corn yet that need to be emptied because they're leaking and everything's a time thing. You have to prioritize, what are you going to do? You got to get your crop in the ground or you got to get the bin taken down or this can wait or that, it's just amazing.
The adrenaline thing is something you notice because you notice that there was a lot cleaned up right away that people just said the same thing like I just got right at it. The insurance company said, "Take pictures and document it and go." Again, I just can't stress, thinking back the barn collapses and I remember those when that happened, a couple of farms needing to move cattle and asking for trucks and trailers and having so many there within an hour that they had more than enough even couldn't get through the snow and anything with that. Again, just always heartwarming to see the community that supports our farmers too in that.
Bradley: We're making good progress out here. There's still a lot of damage and it's a lot of cleanup and it's going to take a long time with many different issues. Personally, I still have a tree laying on my shed that I just haven't got cleaned up because I buried a tractor trying to get to it. It was just one thing after another. There's still a lot of time out here to process that, but we're all getting back to it and doing well.
Thom: Yes, farmers, you have to be the eternal optimist. You have to be creative and a survivalist. There's many years when I was running my own operation where I feel like I was a survivalist. Where I had to figure out, "Okay, what do I have to do here? I have no money, I have limited resources," but you figure it out. That's the best thing about a farmer too, is you can learn to survive or learn to figure it out. It's good to see we're going to make progress, but it's going to be a while.
Joe: I think we should switch it over to something a little light. Let's go lighter. You guys have been really heavily involved in the state fair for a long time, both personally and as the department. How do you see that event and how important it is to Minnesota? Talk personally too, because I know you're there in a personal capacity too.
Thom: Well, I love the state fair. I think the state fair is one of my favorite pieces. I've been an exhibitor myself with my horses for, I hate to say this, but it's going on 40 years. I have had to take the last couple of years off of COVID and my first year as commissioner hoping to get back at it this year. It takes a lot to take your animals to the fair and get everything ready. It's funny how people put a lot of pressure on you.
I'm hoping I can get there, but the relationships that you make and are able to show off at the fair, those relationships are ones that I treasure. The folks that I show. I show horses but I have shown goats and other things but you make so many friends with everybody that are lifelong friends. Then the ability to show off your animals at the fair is just amazing, that the people that just don't get the chance to see them all the time.
Minnesota's an agricultural powerhouse. Our fair is actually, it's called the Agricultural Society. It's oversaw by county fair boards who are a lot of farmers that's also overseen in Farm Bureau, Farmers Union, different cattle groups all have seats on the governing board of the Ag Society. It has good agricultural roots and I love all the different Ag pieces of the fair especially, whether it's our booth or Farmer's Union or Farm Bureau extension, the Empire Commons, Miracle Birth Center, we do show off the Ag parts very good.
Glad to get back at it. Last year was interesting. I really pushed to have the fair. I was as involved as I could be in making sure that we had one, felt like people could take the precautions. I thought it went off really well. I liked the half-crowds. Myself personally, I know getting back this year will be probably not that. Great to ask Joe, but it's one of my favorite things that I try to do and be around.
Emily: Thom, some people may know this, I know not everybody knows this. What kind of horses do you show?
Thom: [laughs] Well, now I show mostly miniature horses and I have for probably again, almost 30 years. I also, at the same time, I show the Appaloosas and I did barrel racing and Western pleasure and all kinds of different things. In the last almost 30 years, my family's specialized in showing miniature horses. Something really unique or different, but fun.
Emily: I love the miniature horses. Something that I don't think many people know about me, I used to own miniature horses. I had two growing up.
Thom: That's exciting. I didn't know that.
Emily: Yes, my dairy farmer dad let me have miniature horses, so I used to show them at the county fair, and yes. Something about the minis, they just hold a really special place in my heart. It's always fun when I get the opportunity to watch you show at the state fair and see your passion for that. I know this is a cattle podcast, but have to shout out for miniature horses.
Bradley: The miniature horses.
Thom: That's right too, yes.
Bradley: Our family can't get enough of the state fair, so we're going this weekend to their spring event just so we can have all the good food three months before the fair starts. There's that benefit too.
Thom: I think there's a real interesting thing happening at the fair too. You're going to see a lot of fair food connections, just like we're seeing in public where you're seeing Farmers Union got into it, the Blue Barn where they're doing a lot of direct marketing and highlighting different farms and the local food system. The Corn Dogs, [unintelligible 00:38:24], we could have that debate, but you're going to see more and more different foods that people want to have an experience and know where it's coming from, and that's a great story too. They're going to see even more farm connections as the fair moves forward in the couple of years.
That also goes with beer. I see a lot of connections with beer and agriculture too. At the state fair, you get almost 300 different kinds of beer now, where 30 years ago you had not even 30 different kinds. Interesting to see how that agricultural roots come back. You hear people complain there's no machinery hill, but it's just in a different form now.
Emily: I still think at its core, the state fair is a celebration of agriculture. Maybe that's just because of my experience with the fair. It's always been the agriculture event of the year for me. [laughs]
Joe: Thom, what do you see as the biggest opportunities in Minnesota? We've been talking a lot about more reactive stuff and looking at right now and immediately past. What do you see coming in the future as the biggest opportunities for Minnesota Ag?
Thom: Yes, there's many, but I think tying the way farmers produce their food and their crops are going to be something really key. Whether it's what's your climate impact? How much of inputs are you using? How are you producing your crop, your beef, your poultry, whatever it is, that consumers are going to still continue to want to know what's their carbon impact, how are we treating our animals? To me, that's a good thing. Minnesota is well positioned with help from the university and others to tell that story to be a leader.
Keep in mind, Minnesota is home to Cargill, General Mills, Hormel, Jennie-O, and all those companies are going to help lead the way through this too, all the way down to our local food that sells at farmer's market. Just being able to tell that story, connect them on how your crop is being produced, and that climate piece is going to be really important. I don't think it should be scary to people. I think it should be a tremendous opportunity. We're seeing that develop all around. That's a great question, Joe.
Joe: Thanks for that answer, Thom. I do think that there's an opportunity in that conversation to show off what we do. It's almost like looking at it as like a foot in the door to have that conversation with people that you would never have that conversation with, to begin with, so I really like that answer. Any questions for us, Thom, before we get to Emily's question? Do you have a question for us?
Thom: That's a curveball. No, I just say I appreciate what you guys do, and telling agriculture story through a fun and informative way. Just keep it up. I think it's great and I appreciate the opportunity.
Joe: Yes, thank you very much.
Emily: There you go. Now, The Moos Room officially commissioner-endorsed.
Thom: That's right. That's right.
Emily: Let's put that on our stuff.
[laughter]
Emily: Thom, you really just wrapped it up really great there. I guess I'm just going to ask, do you have any final things you'd like to say, a final message that you want to share with our listeners and with farmers in the state?
Thom: Appreciate the opportunity to visit. My goal is always to make sure that Minnesota has a safe, affordable, and abundant food supply. I think that, again, just an honor to be with you guys today and serve as commissioner in an amazing state. We always talk about being number one in turkeys or sugar beets, but we're so diverse. Like I said, whether it's from farmers' markets to our big companies that feed the world. I also just try to stay grounded too and try to be in touch and I do try to return every call I get. Not everybody's calling to tell me I'm doing a great job either. I appreciate the opportunity to visit with all of you.
Emily: Thank you again Minnesota Commissioner of Agriculture, Thom Peterson for joining us on our final episode in our mental health series for May Mental Health Awareness Month. If you have questions, comments, or scathing rebuttals about today's episode, you can email those to themoosroom@umn.edu.
Joe: That's T-H-E-M-O-O-S-R-O-O-M@umn.edu.
Emily: If you would like to leave us a voicemail with your questions, comments, scathing rebuttals, or a question you'd like us to discuss on a future episode of The Moos Room, you can call 612-624-3610. You can find us on Twitter @UMNFarmSafety, @UMNmoosroom, and also if you're interested in the large list of mental health resources that the Department of Agriculture has, you can visit mnfarmstress.com to find that information. Thank you again, Thom, for being here. Thank you everybody for listening. We will talk to you next week. Bye.
Thom: Bye.
[00:43:22] [END OF AUDIO]
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