FOA 223: Commodity Checkoff Programs and Marketing Orders

09/16/20 • 39 min

Daren Williams joins the show to help us better understand the role of producer-led commodity groups. Daren is the Senior Director of Global Communications at the Almond Board of California. He has worked in agricultural communications for over 30 years, much of that with producer-led commodity groups like almonds, beef, apple, dairy and pork.

The Almond Board of California supports all 7,600 almond growers, as well as many others in the almond growing community from suppliers and beekeepers to farmers and buyers. Almonds are one of the fastest growing crops in California, and the Almond Board has cast a vision for the industry that includes goals to improve by 2025 in water use efficiency, dust reduction, zero waste, and pest management.

“We fund research and production techniques. We validate techniques at work and if it's beneficial and cost effective and can help improve the return on investment for the grower, we roll it out to the industry and make sure everybody knows about it.” Daren Williams

While the Almond Board of California is a federal marketing order program, we also discuss checkoff programs in this episode. Operating under a slightly different framework, the purpose of these groups also relates to the research and promotion of the commodity. In Daren’s previous position, he worked with the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, which is a contractor to the beef checkoff.

“If (consumers) see us working together and trying to solve the issues and things that they’re concerned about, they develop trust in them, the industries, and I think trust is a critical issue for farmers and ranchers. In many cases, we’ve lost it and we need to regain it with consumers and let them know we really do have their best interests at heart when we make decisions about how we’re going to grow their food because we’re also going to be putting it on our dinner tables.” - Daren Williams

This Week on The Future of Agriculture Podcast:

Meet Daren Williams, Senior Director of Global Communications at the Almond Board of California
Better understand marketing orders, check off programs and lobbying organizations
Explore how these programs respond to consumer demands, support producers and are funded

Founder Spotlight: Peter Schott of Genesis Feed Technologies

Genesis Feed Technologies aims to change the conversation and consumption of feed ingredients for producers
The software the developed puts nutritional information in the hands of the purchasing person to make the best decisions for the feed program they are building

“We make soybeans look really good. On the more technical side, we bring nutritional value out for feed ingredients and show the economics of that so people can make better buying decisions.”

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Learn more about AgGrad by visiting:

Future of Agriculture Website

This Week on The Future of Agriculture Podcast:

Meet Daren Williams, Senior Director of Global Communications at the Almond Board of California
Better understand marketing orders, check off programs and lobbying organizations
Explore how these programs respond to consumer demands, support producers and are funded

Founder Spotlight: Peter Schott of Genesis Feed Technologies

Genesis Feed Technologies aims to change the conversation and consumption of feed ingredients for producers
The software the developed puts nutritional information in the hands of the purchasing person to make the best decisions for the feed program they are building

“We make soybeans look really good. On the more technical side, we bring nutritional value out for feed ingredients and show the economics of that so people can make better buying decisions.”

Share the Ag-Love!

Learn more about AgGrad by visiting:

Future of Agriculture Website

Previous Episode

FOA 222: Digging Deeper into Regenerative Agriculture with Paige Stanley

Today’s episode is the deepest dive I’ve done to date into the world of regenerative agriculture. You’ll probably be able to hear it in my voice in the interview, but this one had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. In fact I think the conversation just gets more and more interesting the deeper we get into it.

If you’re new to the concept of regenerative agriculture, some previous episodes in which we discuss the concepts are episodes 44, 64, 109, 135, 182, and 199.

My viewpoint on regenerative agriculture since I first was introduced to the concept a few years ago is somewhere in between “cautious optimism” and maybe skepticism.

I’m certainly not skeptical about the importance of soil health. I think you’ve heard that from me a lot on this show, and certainly you have if you listen to Soil Sense, one of the other podcasts that I host.

But some of the - what I’ll call hype associated with regenerative ag have left me asking a lot of questions. Many of those, we get into on today’s episode. Questions like:

Where is the line between what is regenerative and what is not?
What is really motivating regenerative farmers and ranchers to pursue these ideals? Because it’s not really what you might see in the media or from many advocates.
Also we get into some scientific questions like what is technically happening when carbon is sequestered?
And, once it is sequestered, how do we know it’s staying there and for how long?

I couldn’t be more impressed with our guest we have on the show today to talk about these issues. Paige Stanley is a finishing PhD candidate at UC Berkeley, who works at the intersection of rangeland ecology and soil science.

Born in Detroit, she grew up in rural Georgia. While as an undergraduate at a liberal arts college, she took a course on the ethics of food production, which drove her to want to talk to more farmers and ranchers and ultimately pursue a master’s in animal science. She did so at Michigan State University studying under Jason Roundtree.

This master’s program furthered her interest in soil carbon sequestration in grazing lands; how it might reduce greenhouse gas emissions, provide ecosystem services, improving animal welfare, and improving rural livelihoods. That led her to her work today at UC Berkeley. I’m going to let her describe it to you, but first a quick definition: you’ll hear regenerative grazing called AMP grazing in this episode. That stands for adaptive multi-paddock grazing, you may have heard of it as mob grazing. Essentially this is controlled and intensive grazing that is rotated across sections or paddocks of a field. For more on that go way back to episodes 44 or 64.

Next Episode

FOA 224: Plant-Based Plastic with Green Dot Bioplastics

We've seen the rise of alternative energy and alternative protein, could alternative plastic be next?

Mark Remmert is the CEO of Green Dot Bioplastics. This fascinating company manufactures low-cost, biodegradable materials for a variety of uses.

There is an obvious sustainability story here, but it's also a peek into what can be a rapidly growing company and industry segment in the coming decades.

Green Dot is a portfolio company of Fulcrum Global Capital, who partnered with us on this episode. Duane Cantrell, Kevin Lockett, and John Peryam join Tim to introduce the episode and provide their perspective on why they invested in Green Dot.

What are your thoughts on the future of bioplastics?