Pig Farming in Focus: A Conversation with Brian Martin

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Audio Transcript

Todd Kuethe: So we are once again, uh, together for a Purdue Commercial AgCast conversation. I’m Todd Kuethe professor in the department. And I’m joined by my co-host,

Chad Fiechter: Chad Fiechter. Also professor in the department.

Todd Kuethe: We’ve got an exciting conversation we’re about to have

Chad Fiechter: And first time we’re ever on location.

Todd Kuethe: We are now out of campus. We’re not gonna reveal, ’cause we, I think our one listener might become a stalker, so I’m a little worried saying exactly where we are. Um, but we’re somewhere in Indiana still.

We’re joined today by Brian Martin. Brian, would you introduce yourself for the audience.

Brian Martin: Yeah, thanks having me. Um, Brian Martin. So a northwest Indiana, pig farmer, been native to the area, but raised pigs in many parts of the country, from Arizona to North Carolina in our history.

Todd Kuethe: So as our listener knows, we recognize that they’re probably trying to picture this conversation. So Chad and I always start by what celebrity people have told you you look like. So for us, again, to remind our listener. Uh, Chad looks like Superman, or, uh, who was the other guy?

Chad Fiechter: Lorenzo Lamas

Todd Kuethe: Loren, A young Lorenzo Lamas. I look like, uh, comedian Tom Segura. Uh, or another one I’ve gotten is George from Seinfeld.

Chad Fiechter: Okay.

Todd Kuethe: So Brian, what celebrity have you been told you look like?

Brian Martin: I see George in you, so a good comparison. Not quite as much facial hair.

Todd Kuethe: No, I to, I got that one was before I could grow a beard.

Brian Martin: Uh, so the past, less so, um, as hair leaves with age. But Garth Brooks has been mine many, many times few

Todd Kuethe: I could see it.

Brian Martin: Yeah. Uh, you know, and I would wave right, like Garth Brooks music, but there’d be some issues to talk about with Garth.

Chad Fiechter: Okay.

Todd Kuethe: Well, uh, I think part of it, I I I think part of it is because you’re wearing a giant black cowboy hat and a 1990’s Kicks Brooks looking button down shirt.

Brian Martin: And friends in places.

Todd Kuethe: Yeah.

Good. Good.

Chad Fiechter: Yeah, that’s a good song.

Todd Kuethe: Well, as a friend of the podcast, this is definitely the lowest place, uh, you’ll, you’ll be probably. Oh, actually what, let’s maybe start with, I think this is interesting.

Chad Fiechter: Yeah.

Todd Kuethe: How you guys know each other.

Chad Fiechter: Oh, that’s a, so I think the first time I only knew you in name ’cause I was raising pigs that you produced. I think that was the first time.

Brian Martin: Yeah, that’s right. So, um, it’d be in the, the early two thousands.

Chad Fiechter: Yeah.

Brian Martin: Um, your family raised pigs for IPC.

Chad Fiechter: That’s correct.

Brian Martin: Assume maybe still does.

Chad Fiechter: Yep.

Brian Martin: And, um, at that point, in fact, our, one of our farms was built with, with an IPC agreement and, um, we would’ve been raising the wean pig that went to the Fiechter farm.

Chad Fiechter: That’s right. So we got probably, what, between 12 and 15 pound pigs?

Brian Martin: Yeah. That’s right. Yep.

Chad Fiechter: Yeah. And then, then our relationship did evolve. So then I worked with John Hook for a little while.

Brian Martin: Right.

Chad Fiechter: And John took me to your farm, and then I got firsthand experience of being on the farm.

Brian Martin: Yep. You were there for, for number weeks, I think.

Chad Fiechter: Yeah.

Brian Martin: Yeah. You would’ve been, um, postgrad then, or undergrad?

Chad Fiechter: Undergrad. So I had just been done farming and was kind of in, in between grad school and farming. Was, was working with John for a little while.

Brian Martin: Good time to learn all kinds of ag sure.

Chad Fiechter: I feel like I learned so much. Uh, just exposure, uh, the scale of your farm was very different than I was used to. So it was kind of a bigger. Much, much bigger.

Brian Martin: Yeah.

Chad Fiechter: And a lot of different challenges.

Brian Martin: Well, you know, we have done through our last 20 years, we do summer interns, which been around, and those are typically Purdue interns. Sometime it’s U of I, because we are positioned in between the two schools.

But uh, I find through time that that’s the most astounding thing to anyone that comes to a, a pig farm and a sizeable one is nobody really appreciates the size and scope. And, and it’s there’s a lot pigs ’cause whether you have 10 or you have a thousand, you do all the same jobs. It’s just in a place where there’s a lot more. So.

Chad Fiechter: Okay, so your family raised pigs, like how many generations has the Martin Family raised pigs?

Brian Martin: Wonderful question. I am the fifth generation of Indiana farmers. ‘Cause it goes back into the mid 18 hundreds.

Chad Fiechter: Hmm.

Brian Martin: Um, so it’d be my, um, multiple grandfather, William, was, he’s homesteaded land near Logansport. And so at time would’ve had few livestock and, and land. We still own some of the land and have moved the pigs around through time. But, I grew up walking out the back door to feed pigs before going to school, which, um, can’t find that much today.

Chad Fiechter: So when I think of farm families, what I usually think of is, uh, geographically you don’t move. So can you walk us through your family’s owned pigs in many different spots? How did that conversation start? When did it start and, and what did you, why did you choose to think about owning pigs in other states?

Brian Martin: Great question. I, you know, like most stories, there’s no magical moment that says, oh, here’s where we’re going. But, so looking back on it, um, at, at 16, raised on a farm where, you know, it’s within the range of your house, um, was also kind of lined up with a tough time in the farm economy. And, um, through the eighties, my, my family had 600 sows and 2000 acres and through business decisions at some point decided that it was best to sell the pig farm. So, um,

Chad Fiechter: As a group, you decided.

Brian Martin: That’s right. And it would’ve been Grandpa, and Dad and Uncle.

Chad Fiechter: Cool.

Brian Martin: Um so a decision maker in that, but it wasn’t like a outright sell. What what Dad did is he convinced a local grain company, called Kokomo Grain, to get in the pig business. And they started a breeding stock company, which included our farm. So what, what I grew up on became a part of, of a breeding stock company. Um, so we started that company in the eighties and I worked in it in the nineties and , actually went to college at a little school south of Purdue, called Wabash. No vision of being a pig farmer. Not anti, but pre-law was vision.

And drove trucks, hauled pigs through college weekends, stayed connected and came out of of college and wasn’t really up for law school or didn’t think that was a good choice at the moment. But chose to go to work at IPC and that was the beginning of, you know, an industrial career.

Point being remained in the industry. Um, relationships and people, whether it be my dad’s, we, we, we developed a lot of relationships. A good example starting at IPC was would’ve met John Hook from Belston Railing, um, did a contract with them. So that relationship, John Hook has stayed in the industry. We interact and do business deals through time.

Um, so that was a wonderful place to start and we knew within three years that working in a monster company, although a wonderful experience, our hope was to, to get back into farming and found a way.

We basically, in 1993, then bought farm that my dad sold, back from the company he sold it to. Zero money down. Bought it on contract and we started our pig farm there. And actually just kept, I kept industry jobs or we did, my brother and I did. So jobs outside of the pig farm, so it was like a side gig to us. And we became parts of companies that ended up owning pigs, from Arizona to North Carolina through years. Built that over years and, um, slowly but surely just built equity , until in the late 2000, it’d be like 2009, that we could, um, sell ownership in really big company that we had acquired. And develop an Indiana farm, which is what we do here today.

So the short version of that is little bits pieces that fit and make it work.

Todd Kuethe: So, uh, just in case we have listeners from outside of Indiana or even outside of the U.S. potentially. What does IPC stand for? Just that’s the

Chad Fiechter: Oh yeah.

Brian Martin: That’s a wonderful question. So in Indiana Packers Company, it’s a packing plant that is in Delphi, Indiana. Originally owned by Central Soya and, and some foreign companies. Today, it’s owned by Mitsubishi. When it was built, I worked there, it was processing 3000 pigs per day. Today it processes 18,000 per day. So that’s 1993 when I started.

Chad Fiechter: So how, maybe deeper context, how, how big are pigs now that are going to IPC? How many truckloads is 18 thou? Like how many semi truckloads is 18,000 pigs?

Brian Martin: So a truck today is 150 to 165. Um, I can’t do the math quickly.

Chad Fiechter: Yeah, I’ll do quick.

Brian Martin: But many, many truckload.

Chad Fiechter: 18,000 1 55. It’s 116.

Todd Kuethe: Because I feel like what you’re saying is the pig industry. That we see today is, is very vertically integrated, where you have these packing plants who also come all the way down to the production of small pigs, fat pigs, trucking them back to, uh, the processing plant and then retail operations.

Chad Fiechter: Right.

But you were involved in that in the 80’s?

Brian Martin: Right.

Chad Fiechter: So can you, can you help us understand how the pig business has changed since then, because I would say that’s that’s early, right? Like, was there many other, when your dad talked to Kokomo Grain about owning pigs, was there any other people doing that at the time?

Brian Martin: No. I mean, it, it, the biggest change, and I’m sure this is true beyond pork, it’s grain too, but the number of farms, uh, certainly decreases through time. A lot. It’s probably one outta 10 compared to 1980, would be my guess. You guys know that data, I’m sure. Indiana’s definitely independent oriented, so farmers would think only in their realm and wouldn’t, uh, think about potential partnerships outside out of just being independent folks. And I’ll give credit to, to Dad and folks ahead of me, is we think collaboratively.

For, here’s a good example, I was 17, Dad went to his neighbor and said I don’t want to plant this year, let’s partner, and you provide this, I’ll provide that, and we will do it all together. Same idea as what we’ve done in pig farming through years is look for wonderful partners, grow in it and then feed off of the strengths.

And to answer your question that isn’t real prevalent in our world. There’s a lot of pretty independent people.

Chad Fiechter: Yeah. So is that just a personality thing? Was that you

Brian Martin: Well, I think, I think that’s a piece of business acumen, right?

Chad Fiechter: Yeah.

Brian Martin: So how, how people think. There’s certainly value in having fewer people making decisions, but ultimately the strength of a group, um, should prevail. Should bring more. Should be better.

Yeah. All said than done. It’s like,

Chad Fiechter: Yeah, Sure.

Brian Martin: ultimately partners like being married, right? There’s a of compromise and, and things that have to happen to make it go.

Chad Fiechter: So yeah, I’m, I’m fascinated by this. See, so what we see in row crops is still quite a bit of independence.

Brian Martin: Sure.

Chad Fiechter: Uh, versus relative relatively in pork production that’s not what we see. So what drove to this desire for partnership or specialization, right? Where you have these pieces of that supply chain that you specialize in. What do you think drove that? What did you see?

Brian Martin: Well, I think the, main thing, and this is true day to day, I look, look at my, our 30 years of doing this, um, and the difference between us and most others, I mean, everyone is looking for the next thing or an idea that is going to give us some edge to, to better and win. If you stay where you are, mean, ultimately most choose something else. So a part of it is the drive to see better tomorrow.

Another of it is, frankly, um, if you, if you choose stay in this business. Or in agriculture, you’ve got to move in order to, to succeed and retain, ’cause staying uh, like a good example would raising, uh, doing 30 inch rows of corn. People that may stayed there, may not be still doing it.

Chad Fiechter: Mm-hmm.

Brian Martin: Another, a another good pig example is in 2003 Smithfield, the biggest pig company on the planet still today, announced that they were gonna take their breeding animals and put ’em, take them outta stalls. Um, which is a really old idea. Um, and it was that, that was influenced by public opinion, that animals needed more room. Um, that decision has changed our industry through 25 years. Um, and moved, moved animals to loose sow housing and, and that’s been a big, big part of what we’ve done. So early adopters of that, um, have seen opportunity.

Todd Kuethe: So, kind of related question, ’cause Chad mentioned specialization. Uh, so as someone who is not as familiar with the swine industry, uh, but when I, when we do like extension events, or when I taught farm management, is another case, where you have a group that like love the science of it.

Yeah.

And as soon as we start talking about prices, they’re like, they’re out. Right. Or we have people that really love the sort of like business side of it. And then they’re just like, I don’t really want to, like, some people listen to talk all day about weeds, but they don’t wanna talk about prices.

Brian Martin: Mm-hmm.

Todd Kuethe: Or oh, we love to think about hedging strategies and prices. Those are the students that we like the most. Right.

Chad Fiechter: Um, but like, but I, like, I just, I don’t want

Todd Kuethe: to take chemistry. Right. Like, or whatever. Right. So,

Chad Fiechter: uh,

Todd Kuethe: like, which part of the, uh, that do you, it sounds like you’re more into sort of the strategy and business side of it versus, I assume you also then would have people that you work with that are like, what they care about are genetics or feed rash. Like where, are you into the science part of it, the business side where, where like, which is the part that they don’t have to pay you to think about?

Brian Martin: Well, historically, my, my, um, place in the industry has been oriented to the commodity side. Ultimately, I would say. It is vision oriented. What get, uh, charge outta what we have enjoyed the most. And if look back through 30 years, it would be business strategy and vision. I would say that what we’ve seen the most success in has been, whether in our company or one shared, is, we’ve done a lot of buying and selling of assets. For example, my, my wife, when, when we were raising kids, we were buyers of sheriff sales, houses, houses, fixed them, resold them. We, we’ve done that and enjoyed it.

We’ve done similar with pigs. So we bought, um, a pig farm that was owned by Tyson in North Carolina back in 2000. Um, basically remodeled it, fixed it. Took something that was actually 50 years old and made it modern, still producing today and then ended up, um, through time, ended up selling it and then taking those proceeds and, and putting it into Indiana pigs.

Um, so simple answer to your question is the trading is the fun part for me.

Chad Fiechter: Okay, so when you think about the choices you made to sell assets, what influenced that decision or what experience influenced that decision where likely your peers aren’t doing the same thing? Where they’re keeping assets and holding ’em forever? What, why did you choose to move on?

Brian Martin: That’s a great question. Like always there’s, there’s like no one driving force in it. Typically there’s gonna be a set of circumstances that drive that. So a great example would be in talking about the farm in, in Eastern North Carolina, um, that farm became a part of four others, um, that were from Colorado to Iowa, and a company that we were 10% owners of and then some other big companies were in it, um, pig farm company named Hanor uh, Oak Foods, which is, um, is Southeast Iowa.

Todd Kuethe: ha

Chad Fiechter: He Hanor is Nebraska.

Brian Martin: It, it is based, um, in Kentucky. Oh. But they have pigs in Oklahoma, North Carolina, they would be in the, certainly in the top 10 in the nation in pig size. Um, and are owned by the Kronseder brothers. So, um, a big company.

Chad Fiechter: Um,

Brian Martin: So we were, you know, being 10% owners of that big company. Um, you know, it was a committee that was driving it. And the ultimately the answer was that that company, um, in 2006 -07 range was approached by a US company that was based in China called Ag Feed. Tried and bought it. So the answer to your question in that particular case is opportunity. Um, looking back would’ve probably been good to hold longer, but certainly came away from it with more than, than what we started. It’s the same as some land, as it continues to rise. Right? There’s, you take that and, and try to grow it somewhere else. So,

Todd Kuethe: So I guess, uh, just totally selfish question then. Uh, so we work in extension and outreach, uh, and especially talking about land, which is kind of my area and Chad’s farm management, uh, farm financial management stuff. W what, uh, what should we be doing? What, what are the you and your peers need more information on you think we should do

Brian Martin: To feed, um, the industry, so to speak? That’s a wonderful broad question. In terms of, because it’s evolved what extension has done. Um. When, when I was young or 30 years ago, would’ve been to serve, provide technical expertise. And I know as, um, consolidation occurs, uh, extension obviously is taking a much different role in the technical side of it. Really stays in the industry. Um, you know, great point. The, the PERS gene in pigs, um, has just been FDA approved, right. So the, the technical side is so deep, and it’s not that it’s beyond extension, but industry’s carrying that ball. Right.

Todd Kuethe: Well, I think it like, like when you talk about your dad or your grandpa, my vision is that, granted, I was not alive then, but like there were a lot of farmers that would’ve looked like that. extension could be just like here’s what you should plant. And that would be true for 80% of farmers, right?

We’re now with this, ’cause there’s also this big differentiation, right? So you would have the questions that you are asking and that you need information on are, might be relatively unique to you or a very small subset where, you know, if we think about what extension does. We often think about how do we reach the most people.

Mm-hmm. Right? So we’re Yeah, it’s true.

Like mode or like get a bunch of people as opposed to uh, like, oh, there’s like three people that really need to know this. And that’s I think you’re right, sort of private industry sort of meets that need. But I always, I’m always worried that like, we still gotta meet something. So I’m

Chad Fiechter: Well,

Todd Kuethe: well, I always ask anytime I get a chance to talk to,

Chad Fiechter: Can you, can you like broad overview of the current US pig industry? How many, how many people are, kind of like key to that industry. And how many of them do you know personally?

Brian Martin: Oh, well, that certainly is, it is true. Um, part of consolidation is that it becomes, industry becomes smaller and smaller. So, um, the answer is that, um, it, it has become small enough industry that if you name the top 40, um, companies, we all know those names. And, um, would know someone in every company that exists out there, so have connections. So, I mean, yeah, the network is smaller and, and people know each other by reputation. So if, if, um, if need or desire information about why Christians and Farms does this, we can collaborate pretty easily, which is a really nice thing about that. Um, and that, probably, um, connects people much differently than it did 30 years ago.

But, um, you know, going back to the extension question real quick.

Chad Fiechter: Mm-hmm.

Brian Martin: Um, our industry generally today biggest need is labor oriented and, um, through the last 10 years we’ve, and part of that is because the rural workforce is, got a lot of pressure on it, unemployment’s low, um. Um, it seems to be fewer people that, that, uh, truly want a job, and that’s resulted in us becoming a lot more, the industry, becoming a lot more active in, um, in immigrant workers, and, and these would be, uh, most the, the visa that is used in our industry predominantly is TN Visa, which is a college graduate from, could be from Eastern Europe, could be from Africa, could be from Mexico. Um, we are 80% employed. Our employees are TN Visa, which is a three to five year. And it it puts you into a whole different process of, of finding people. The good thing is it’s you’re finding folks that, um, are looking for opportunity that want to come to work, that are leaving a place and seeing a, a broad horizon in front of them.

Todd Kuethe: That’s interesting. Well, it is sort of is a close correlation with what we do with our grad students. Right. ’cause we’re getting people from all over world.

Chad Fiechter: Sure. Mm-hmm.

Todd Kuethe: And, and what for us, uh, like Purdue sort of hangs its name out there as like this great university and then people sort of find us.

Brian Martin: Mm-hmm.

Todd Kuethe: But how do do you have to find them or is there just a place you can kind of be like, I got these jobs and people, other places in the world are, like, how, do you find those people specifically? Like what is sort of the task?

Brian Martin: Absolutely. We started looking at it five years ago, and the simple answer is, it, it is a political process. Bureaucratic, which means, um, that, you know, little, uh, Martin Farms in northwest Indiana can’t easily connect. And the answer is actually Hanor put us onto a, a law firm that, um, they had used and it’s an immigration company. Um, relationship oriented. So they will recruit, they will help you, uh, through the bureaucracy. So it’s a, you know, three month process and it was $6,000 per person, which is ominous. But when you look at at what turnover costs you, um, you know, the cost, that cost small for a person that, that can do wants to be a part of something. Um, the That was answer.

Todd Kuethe: Well, and and, and I think, you know, working with like students, I think that one of the biggest challenges I’ve seen, like I know in the ag sector is. Uh, most of our students are from a rural place. They love living in that rural place, but they don’t necessarily want to go to a different rural place somewhere else.

Brian Martin: Mm-hmm.

Todd Kuethe: Right. So if it’s like, oh, here’s a great job, but it’s in like rural Oklahoma, they’re like, no, like, I’ll move back to my home county, uh, which is maybe on paper the exact same as this one in Oklahoma, but I know all those people and like, that’s who I hang out with. I I don’t necessarily wanna, but like, so you have to get people that in some ways it’s easier to convince people to move from, uh, I don’t know, Eastern Europe or Africa,

Chad Fiechter: Yeah.

Todd Kuethe: than it is to move from the other side of Indiana.

Brian Martin: Well that is definitely true with our local folks and like Purdue interns with us, and we’ve been successful in seeing folks for the reason you just described. So a kid that comes from, um, eastern Indiana, Richmond, Indiana to Purdue and interns with us. We, we are a more comfortable spot sometimes, you know, some folks are looking to go to LA or, or Florida or whatever. But, um, that’s certainly been the case. And it’s true. Um, in our, in the pig business, we, we, uh, end up in some cases trading employees between pig farms in our area, which is, it’s not really, it’s somewhat competition, but we all know each other well. So we figure out how to make that work. For, there may be a reason that they want, that a person wants to move from Linton, Indiana, uh, to be with family that is in near Lafayette. So it’s a mix of much.

Chad Fiechter: Is, so you, you mentioned that you’re now 80% TN visa. Right. How, how about production out of the sow farm has that, the same, better? What you,

Brian Martin: You know, I would say definitely, um, there’s some, some mixed results in that. I would say this when we, over the course of six years, our turnover has moved from, um, near 80% annually to 30, and that comes with improved production. Um, of course, disease events can influence that. Sure. To some extent, but, uh, no question. Uh, much more stable, which historically stable that we, we focus a lot on the number of our folks, of our team who have, who exceed one year with us. We want that number to continually rise, and we’ve seen that be successful through time with them.

Chad Fiechter: That’s amazing. Uh, because they’re, they’re all doing. Highly technical tasks within the sow farm.

Brian Martin: Very specialized.

Chad Fiechter: And so the more time they get and experience, probably the better

Brian Martin: That right. And we work hard cross training so everyone sees the vision, understands the cross, the system, why and how. And what, what a victory really looks like.

Chad Fiechter: Okay. So I, I feel like I gotta ask him questions all day long about pig production and I’m gonna stop, uh, because like to, uh, Todd, I think you have a great question for Brian to get into another part of his life.

Todd Kuethe: Yeah. So, uh, the way I know Brian is, Brian is my neighbor. Lives in my neighborhood, and, uh, I had a discussion with some neighbors and they said, oh, you know, Brian’s down at the state fair. He gets to open the state fair. ‘Cause you were what, so. Pretend my Lister listener doesn’t know anything. What was your role with the Pork Producers Association? Is that what the,

Brian Martin: That that’s right. Yeah. So, uh, broad of, of checkoff. So, um, our industry and it’s government oriented, um, agrees to cut off a certain number of dollars per pig. Commit to promoting and educating folks on the pork industry. And now that comes in Indiana. The state organization is Indiana Pork. Um, which has a board of directors, which is elected annually. Um, I was, uh, fortunate to serve, I think 12 or 13 years, um, in that group. And ultimately what that group’s doing is, uh, taking the, the dollars that are, that come from pigs and then guiding it. Uh, in promoting.

And so their, their biggest event each year is an opening day for the Indiana State Fair, um, which is 6:00 AM first day. It’s like 400 people. Um. Our governor is always there. Typically, the US Senators are there and other politicians. So it’s a great connection of, of the country people to the city people. Um, and what, what Todd is mentioning is, so the two years that, that I was president, that part of it is to open the fair and interact with the group, which was really fun and a great experience for, for a hick from Northern Indiana.

Todd Kuethe: So that part of that promotion is like that sort of like generic eating pork, not for a specific, uh, company or a specific like premium item.

Right.

Chad Fiechter: What’s the current marketing slogan

Brian Martin: For, for

Chad Fiechter: pork?

Brian Martin: Oh, you mean like the other white?

Chad Fiechter: Yeah.

Brian Martin: That’s terrible that I, that’s not coming to my mind.

Chad Fiechter: Well, there was a, the, was we care, was that a slogan or was that just a campaign?

Brian Martin: We Care, care is and was a program for essentially quality assurance, so it’s us assuring the proper and appropriate ways to do our business.

Todd Kuethe: Yeah. but so there would’ve been like a consumer demand they they actually. Actually care of these animals? And so they would have sort of a generic campaign for like, oh, we do care. We take care of it. Like eat this pork, right?

Brian Martin: Mm-hmm.

Todd Kuethe: Mm-hmm. Uh, but then also part of it is like the sort of. Of, uh, advocating policy on behalf of pork performers

Brian Martin: mm-hmm.

Todd Kuethe: Around the country, around the state, right?

And so that’s what one of the things that this, like you mentioned the governor and that being there, right? Is like, they’re also like, oh, we want to tell them like, oh, we’re employing these great people. We’re businesses growing and we’re increasing the tax base in Indiana, what have you. Right?

Um, and so I think that’s. Uh, the, my neighbors didn’t understand. They think of the state fair as like tilted worlds and corn dogs, right? And I was like, no, no. This is like a major political event they’re for a constituency of Indiana with the elected leaders. The elected leaders like it because you guys all are like, we’ll, just come to your, we’ll, we’ll come near where you are and you can meet with us all at once.

Brian Martin: Yeah.

Todd Kuethe: Not to mention the delicious breakfast you’ll have in featuring pork. Right?

 

Chad Fiechter: Speaking of the governor at the opening ceremony. How much did you feel like he wanted to hear from you? Uh, not, I’m not trying to like, throw him under the bus. Sure. But like in this sort of political process where commodity groups get the chance to interact with the governor, how much did you feel like there was an openness to, I wanna understand kind of what are your problems? What would be driving the way you think about the world?

Todd Kuethe: I, think versus. Th here’s my chance to be able to tell this group something.

Chad Fiechter: Yeah. Right. Brian, let me tell you how great

Todd Kuethe: much do you suspect it would be listening to the constituency versus like, here’s my, another group I can tell about

Brian Martin: Yeah, certainly. So. In my 12 or 14 years around Indiana pork. So this precedes the couple years of being president. Uh, there was a couple different governors, actually three, um, certainly, and one of those is Mitch Daniels. And, um, you know, MI Mitch, very unique person, um, in his scope and his desire, willingness to hear and listen. Um, certainly. When he wrote his Harley Davidson into that event, the years that he came. Yeah, which was always cool.

Chad Fiechter: Very cool.

Brian Martin: Uh, there to, to more than just glad hand. He was there to connect and, and have some depth conversation and certainly not policy making, but. But. Um, and he was there to, to hear and look for opportunities to collaborate.

Um, Holcomb, um, just wasn’t the same kind of person, but the, you know, the, the organization of the event and the people that are involved. Um, there certainly, um, there were, and there are things that we, when you watch, uh, pork’s influence on the State House in Indiana. Compared to other states, it stands out through the years, meaning that the ag, um, efforts end up carrying a lot more weight than certainly it does in Illinois, where things may be a little different or I’ve spent time in Colorado and, and that is a night and day, uh, view.

So came to appreciate the, the politics of agriculture in this state and its ability, it’s not necessarily gets its way, but it’s heard.

Todd Kuethe: Well, how much do you, when you’re making those like business decisions across multiple state lines, do you think about the policy environment in the state?

Chad Fiechter: That’s a good question.

Todd Kuethe: Obviously you mentioned like labor would be one thing you’d can

Brian Martin: mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Todd Kuethe: Um, but then also just literally physically moving stuff. Can I put pigs here? Can I get the thing that that they need?

Brian Martin: Mm-hmm.

Todd Kuethe: But then there’s also this sort of policy dimension, right? If, uh, like it seems like everybody, uh, has. Everybody in ag has opinions of California state policy. Yeah. Even if they don’t, even if they live in Maine, they’ll tell you. Right. So like, how much are you thinking about the policy environment, state to state?

Brian Martin: Oh, it, a significant factor in terms of, of industries choices, of where you go, why you go, what things are worth. So our time in Colorado, um. At that, this was to be in the, um, late nineties, early two thousands. There was a clear influence, um, and this was from bureaucracy and the environmental approach of the state of Colorado to ag. And it wasn’t exclusive to pig that would’ve been to beef and feed lots. Um, fact is that similar to Illinois, for example, Chicago sets a lot of policy for Illinois. Denver sets a lot of policy for Colorado and the country, uh, the rural areas, um, you know, would look at some of those things differently.

So what the outcome of it is. It’s more difficult to permit and operate a pig farm in Colorado than it is in a Midwestern state. That’s just a fact. And um, ultimately. The outcome ends up being that, that there aren’t more pigs in Colorado, maybe there are in Indiana. And, um, we work hard at, at understanding, um, our spot in terms of, of operating and making it work, um, and, and comply with the rules.

So the simple answer to that question is it will bring more agriculture to Indiana a friendly environment.

Chad Fiechter: Yeah. Is, is that why you specifically chose to, to consolidate back here? Your, your raising efforts?

Brian Martin: Would’ve been a piece of that. Yeah. Um, wouldn’t say it’s in the top. T top two. Okay. Um, it would’ve been probably, it would’ve been family oriented and opportunity oriented, um, for the choice to be an Indian.

Also, uh, for us, a big, a big choice was we were 10% of a big company and. Um, a chance to drive a little more of our own show was, was a, probably a leading factor in, in that besides opportunity,

Todd Kuethe: I also suspect Brian would gladly move his whole business to a different state if they also moved Mackey Arena.

Chad Fiechter: Oh and Purdue Basketball really?

Brian Martin: Yeah, no question. That’s been a huge timing? Yeah. Oh, and hopefully 25’s gonna be the, the year for us return

Chad Fiechter: Did you know that he’s he’s gonna go on sabbatical?

Brian Martin: I did not in,

Chad Fiechter: in January, and I, I’m gonna put it on the podcast that we have record that he has offered me his season tickets. And so, so in January,

Todd Kuethe: put this on the, on the record.

So it’s on the record. Yeah. Which is, I, what I told Chad was this is my mix of.

Brian Martin: Uh,

Todd Kuethe: Uh, similar to running a, uh, a pork business, a mix of like honoring our friendship, but also the economic realities, which as I said, I will sell you my tickets at the cost I paid them. As long as you or somebody you care about is in those seats. Yeah. But if you sell them on the open market,

Brian Martin: I like

Todd Kuethe: I get half of whatever additional revenue there is. Hmm.

Chad Fiechter: There is. Either way, I’m, I’ll take it both ways. No, I think, yeah, yeah. That’s like, that’s very fair. I

Todd Kuethe: think that’s me demonstrating. Both our respect for our friendship and professional relationship, but also the economic

Chad Fiechter: This is a beautiful moment. I

Todd Kuethe: want you to, I don’t want you to rip me off.

Yeah.

Chad Fiechter: Yeah.

Todd Kuethe: But I also, if there’s money to be made, if it’s gonna be like, oh, these are going for $4,000 a seat. They’re like, cool.

Chad Fiechter: we’ll, I

Todd Kuethe: just don’t want Chad to get that full 4,000 bucks

Chad Fiechter: I want That’s fair.

Todd Kuethe: want half of whatever the

Chad Fiechter: additional, so I

Todd Kuethe: it’s on the record.

Chad Fiechter: I think we would be remiss. As, as professors, if we didn’t talk about sort of students. Mm-hmm. And thinking about, as you think about the industry and people who would either be interested in working on, uh, a hog farm or potentially owning a hog farm in the future, what advice would you give ’em or how would you suggest that they go about sort of the next few years as they’re thinking about the, the industry?

Brian Martin: So, I, I say having, over the course of, of several years of working, both with high school oriented kids or college graduates, you know, we’ve had a lot of pre-vet folks that have. Interacted. Um, I, I’ve seen a large percentage of those folks that find their comfort spot in, in what they wanna look for and what they wanna do by experiencing a broad spectrum of, of things.

So I guess ultimately I’m saying diverse in, um, diverse internships. Um, for kids while they’re in school and taking opportunities to establish as many and broad relationships as they can. So knowing. Lots of people. I think it’s wonderful that Purdue does job fairs. I think it’s twice a year now, and so, so obviously opportunity to be exposed to big industry, from drug companies to, um, packing companies, to production companies so that there’s plenty of diverse opportunity to meet people, set up different experiences, and then find the one that clicks, or the ones that click and go do it.

I have a, uh, nephew who is a Purdue sophomore currently. And he’s done that. He is interned with, um, Indiana, the Keystone co-op. Oh, cool. Um, he, this year is with United Feeds. Um, he also comes out on evenings and weekends and helps us out. Um, I just text him, uh, last night our diets, ’cause he’s, he is an, I think he’s an animal no ag business. Um, major at Purdue, and so we interact frequently about, um, about how, and how those things fit in our industry. Yeah.

Chad Fiechter: that’s cool.

Brian Martin: Yeah. Meeting people. Ultimately, I think our success has been the more people you know, the more you learn. Uh, there’s just so many ways. There’s an infinite number of ways to do what we do. Do.

Todd Kuethe: well, and I, I’m glad you shared that. ’cause I think there’s a lot of people that sort of tell students and younger people to like specialize, right?

Brian Martin: They, hmm.

Todd Kuethe: As an analogy, like my kids in middle school are already been told like, well, if you’re gonna play a sport, pick your sport now. Because like if you’re gonna get on the baseball team, you’ve gotta be great at baseball from day one. Right. Um, and I, I always push back of like, no, no. I think the diversity is what actually gives you an understanding and appreciation for when you, when you are specialized, how that fits into the bigger

Brian Martin: Yeah, that’s right. That it certainly, you know what, in farming. It is a diverse activity, um, inherently right? You learn. I’ve learned to weld, I’ve learned to drive a truck to California. I’ve learned to deal with a banker that’s gonna loan us $20 million. That skill or the ability to, to flex and be versatile is critical, and it’s all about knowing people and, and, um, understanding their perspectives and ways of doing things.

Chad Fiechter: You just teed this up. So, I teach an advanced farm management class and I’m really big on, I, I gotta have like a vision for the why before I can do anything well. It seems to be not, not purposeful, it just seems like that’s what has been. So, can, can you help me think about why is there a specific class that we teach people about managing a farm, relative to, we could just send ’em to the business, school and general sort of business management training. Can you think of things that would distinctly mark farm management from other things you’ve experienced?

Brian Martin: Interesting question. You know, um, and, and I, you’re right, it lends into the fact that, um. Whatever kind of farmer, chicken to pig to row crop. Um, and I think back to being 12 years old, um, the diversity of skills that you end up touching, uh, from electrical to, um, becoming a lawyer, um, that’s what was appealing and drew me. That’s not gonna draw everybody. Um, there’s certainly folks that are, are gonna want. A more comfortable box, no box, uh, fit me and, um, I didn’t know that when I was 12, but figured it out through, or we figured it out through a lot of time and experience and watch another folks do it.

Chad Fiechter: Yeah, sure. Yeah.

Todd Kuethe: So I’ll end with the lightning round, as is custom.

Chad Fiechter: Oh yeah. It’s Yeah.

Brian Martin: This ought to be good.

Todd Kuethe: Yeah. So these are round questions, so you’re to answer quickly. Just the first thing that comes to

Brian Martin: Mm-hmm.

Todd Kuethe: The first one, uh, what is the most underappreciated way to eat pork?

Chad Fiechter: Ooh, that’s so good.

Brian Martin: Hmm.

Chad Fiechter:

Brian Martin: I think you both know the answer. ’cause you would be considerable. This is my answer is, um. Basically a pork chop, uh, ordered at a restaurant typically is overdone, and I, I’m passionate about that and mm-hmm. And that, you know, we have a, if you have a dialogue, there’s still places that say it needs to be cooked to 160 or whatever. And that’s, that is. Um, a disservice to what we do. ’cause it, it is like dried, you know, dried chicken. You’d prefer something that’s, um, tender, moist. Yeah. My simple answer.

Todd Kuethe: Well, and I think the chop, I do agree the pork chop is underappreciated.

Chad Fiechter: So I also think tenderloins are underappreciated. Like the cost, the cost of the premium cut of meat from a pig gets sold at Kroger sometimes, like it’s like a fire sale.

Brian Martin: It’s like, please take these.

Todd Kuethe: As a whole cooked as a thing and sliced off of not the pound pounded out and then fried

Chad Fiechter: Correct. you No, no, no, no. The, like.

Brian Martin: Real tenderloin.

Chad Fiechter: you can really make that a nice That’s

Todd Kuethe: okay. So, uh, my, my other favorite lightning round question. The last time you had trouble sleeping, ’cause you were thinking about something from work, what were you thinking about?

Brian Martin: It would be, uh, certainly, uh, disease oriented. In other words. Biggest risk in our business is that our pigs aren’t doing well. That they, that they get a virus and, um. 80% of, of our angst is oriented to being better at avoiding or, um, addressing why we didn’t.

Todd Kuethe: And then the last lightning round question, which is one of my favorites. Uh, if you had a time machine, but you could only use it for work to get better at your job. When are you going to with your time machine?

Brian Martin: Hmm. You know, I probably would just go, uh, back into the, the, uh, sixties or seventies as a lover of history, um, for the opportunity to, to help speed up the process be better, faster.

Chad Fiechter: I like it, man. That’s really good.

Todd Kuethe: That’s so good.

Chad Fiechter: Brian, thanks so much

Brian Martin: Thank you.

Chad Fiechter: for taking the time and talking about a wide ranging politics and pork.

Todd Kuethe: Yeah. And thanks to both of our listeners, for, for tuning in and sticking with us.