Between trade disputes, weather disruptions, new food trends and the ongoing financial challenges facing farmers, food and ag issues are currently dominating discussions among legislators, consumers and media outlets across the country.
Land O’Lakes President and CEO Beth Ford took advantage of this increased attention last week and set out to proactively tell the story of agriculture and food production, and advocate on behalf of our farmer-owners and our retail network.
On Thursday morning, Beth appeared on Bloomberg TV’s Daybreak America program where she discussed the impact of trade negotiations for America’s farmers and a wide range of topics -- from trade to weather and beyond. She discussed economic headwinds facing the agriculture sector, the resilience of America’s farmers -- noting that 96 percent of America’s farms are family-owned -- and overall industry trends.

Also on Thursday, Beth was the featured presenter during The Executives' Club of Chicago's Signature Luncheon series. This event gathered approximately 350 C-suite level executives and prominent sponsors from around the country. Beth's remarks, entitled "From Farm to Fork to the Future," focused on Land O'Lakes' work navigating not only the ag industry's current disruptions, but the importance of navigating and addressing disruption caused by the ever widening rural-urban divide.
The day before was just as busy, as Beth had two separate speaking engagements where she addressed several modern technology and agricultural sustainability topics:

• At the Wall Street Journal’s Future of Everything Festival she participated in a fireside chat with WSJ reporter Rolfe Winkler, discussing Land O’Lakes’ use of tech, data and our unique approach to sustainability.

• At the Seed2Growth Annual Summit she talked about narrowing the distance between the consumer and the farmer and Land O’Lakes’ unique opportunity to serve as that bridge.

While whirlwind days for sure, Land O’Lakes is committed to helping shape the narrative of modern food and agriculture and work on behalf of membership to find solutions to the challenges facing our industry. We have a great story to tell, it’s time more people hear it.