Latest / The Illinois Nutrient Loss Reduction Podcast / Episode 50 | Sustaining Our Future: A Farm Family Story Spotlight
Transcript
- Episode 50 | Sustaining Our Future: A Farm Family Story Spotlight 00:00:05:24 - 00:00:34:09 Todd Gleason This is episode 50 of the Illinois Nutrient Loss Reduction podcast. Sustaining Our Future: A farm family story spotlight. I’m University of Illinois Extension's Todd Gleason. Today, we'll hear all about the production and reasons behind a brand new documentary by the Illinois Farm Bureau, spotlighting a farm family and their conservation journey, along with the conservation research that's happening here on the Urbana-Champaign campus of the University of Illinois. 00:00:34:12 - 00:00:44:04 Todd Gleason Let's start with the origin story for this documentary. It came from a very unique place. The videographer. His name is Scott Anderson. 00:00:44:07 - 00:00:59:00 Scott Anderson Yeah, well, it was kind of a long time coming in a way. I got hired at the Farm Bureau in January of 2021. And in that year, we were going to, field days, that the Illinois Farm Bureau, put on. 00:00:59:00 - 00:01:20:14 Scott Anderson And so we would go, you know, to these fields and record them for, say, you know, an hour or two hours and we record the whole thing, multiple speakers going. Academia. Sometimes a politician may talk. Of course, Farm Bureau staff and of course, the farmer, who was hosting that field day and what conservation practice they were implementing for nutrient loss reduction. 00:01:20:16 - 00:01:52:28 Scott Anderson And so I sat there behind the camera, and I was just, you know, listening to the passion behind it, the, the emotion at times from the farmers, how much it meant to them to, you know, implement these practices. And I thought to myself, there's got to be a more compelling way than pressing record for two hours, and getting this story out there, to not only other farmers around the state of Illinois, but also consumers, and anybody who doesn't quite fully understand, the complexities, in what farmers are trying to do with nutrient loss. 00:01:52:28 - 00:02:12:28 Scott Anderson And so I approached Lauren. I said, Lauren, hey, we can we could do a docu series. I thought about this. But of course, you know, when you do kind of documentary style work, things don't always. The end product doesn't always turn out as you intended to be. And so the docu series actually turned into a full fledged documentary. 00:02:13:00 - 00:02:21:04 Todd Gleason Lauren Lurkins, when he came to you there as the director of the Environmental Policy section at the Illinois Farm Bureau, what was your first thought? 00:02:21:06 - 00:02:41:25 Lauren Lurkins Well, Todd, I, I had been really impressed with the work of our video team, Scott being the top one for a number of months, years, whatever. And really, because of, like, the, the just the different approach to the work at these field days. 00:02:41:25 - 00:03:04:27 Lauren Lurkins And so, you know, I think it's just kind of from, from that experience starting small, I had confidence and I knew that that they were creating work product that looked even for our our pretty standard stuff. It just looked different. Felt different, than anything that I had really ever seen before. You know, this is not an area that I specialize in, like the video production, but you know, as my like, naked eye, I would say I was like, wow, that looks different. 00:03:04:27 - 00:03:31:04 Lauren Lurkins It looks cool. And so obviously I had confidence in the team. And I think the thing there are two things really. So one is I've always not really knowing how to articulate it internally. I always wanted us to be able to do something that helped us really connect with. I mean, I'm largely interested in lawmakers and government agencies, but I also realize the importance of connecting on these particular environmental issues with the general public. 00:03:31:05 - 00:04:06:17 Lauren Lurkins So I've internally always kind of pushed for this, but like I said, not very, articulate maybe in what I was asking for because I don't understand that world. But the thing that really impressed me was the when I first had a meeting with Scott after he, I said, yeah, I think this is cool. You know, he he came to me with a fully, like, thought through, not script because that's not what you can do here, but like a vision for what the product would look like and the vision and looking at it told me that this individual had been paying attention for the months and years, you know, as he edited these 00:04:06:17 - 00:04:25:03 Lauren Lurkins other things. And he really understood not only the issue, which is complex, but why this organization, the Illinois Farm Bureau, has engaged like we have along the way. And so it was a relief to me to have these conversations, and it was not a hesitate and, hesitating. Yes. When I said we're going to work on this together. 00:04:25:06 - 00:04:31:18 Todd Gleason Scott, when you brought her, that layout, did you know who you wanted in front of the camera? 00:04:31:18 - 00:04:42:28 Scott Anderson Well, yeah, for sure, of course. I mean, she she was the point on all of this for sure. As far as you know, who we want an on camera. You know, there were. We had a couple ideas, of course. 00:04:42:28 - 00:05:05:19 Scott Anderson This this outline I had made was purely conceptual. Because, you know, with a documentary, you can't script things out, but you can kind of say, okay, well, you know, first part will be addressing the hypoxic zone issue will address that. That is the big goal. We want that to be at the forefront. But let's also tie that into you know let's introduce the family first. 00:05:05:26 - 00:05:28:24 Scott Anderson And so you just start piecing. You know kind of I went by episodes originally. And you kind of go small by small. But as far as people went, I really went. That's also why I personally, you know, kept meeting with Lauren was, you know, leaning on her who would be great to talk about, you know, talk about this issue, to attest to either whether it was soil or whether it was involved with the climate. 00:05:28:26 - 00:05:40:08 Scott Anderson And that's where, Doctor Kagan and Doctor Andrew Margenot, played a role in that. But then, of course, it was her who brought to me Michael. That's how Michael became a part of this. 00:05:40:11 - 00:05:47:25 Todd Gleason Well Michael Ganschow, all that brings us to you. You are the Bureau County farmer. What story did you think you wanted to tell? 00:05:47:25 - 00:05:51:12 Todd Gleason And what story do you think the documentary does tell? 00:05:51:14 - 00:06:04:26 Michael Ganschow Well, honestly, I think the story that we wanted to tell is actually the story that got told. I just think because of how this progressed, that it kind of went down a different path. And I think we all anticipated and it really turned out, a lot way better than I ever thought it was possible. 00:06:04:26 - 00:06:19:22 Michael Ganschow And, a lot of that has to do with Scott and what he does, and very little with what I do, you know, I mean, I kept telling people the entire time when we're doing this, so, you know, I have the easy job. All I got to do is show up and answer questions and talk about myself. And that's that's a pretty easy thing to do. 00:06:19:22 - 00:06:39:09 Michael Ganschow But, you know, I've I've been very fortunate, growing up in the kind of operation that I have grown up, it's kind of a unique operation where, you know, I had a grandfather that started really moving his farming operation towards conservation on the early side of things, compared to most, most growers in the state. And he was one of the early adopters in our part of the country. 00:06:39:15 - 00:06:59:02 Michael Ganschow So really, it was a really good, wealth of information that he has that he could present, to kind of start this whole documentary off. And, you know, Scott talks about he wanted to, to start with the family and bring that focus on there. I mean, it really all started with what my grandfather did and the chance that he took to switch from conventional till farming to no tilling minimum till farming. 00:06:59:05 - 00:07:24:23 Michael Ganschow And then you add in the amount of work that my dad has done over the years to, to to take it to the next level just kind of gets the ball rolling and then moving into the generation that I'm in right now. So I give a ton of credit to, my grandfather and my father, because the way they look at things and the way they allow even me to make decisions, today, really aids and the progression of where we're at today in the operation, the things that we're able to implement. 00:07:24:23 - 00:07:47:26 Michael Ganschow So, I mean, it definitely took a different turn than I thought it would, but I think it it went it went well beyond what I thought was capable. And a lot of that has to do with the the work that Scott did. And I don't think many people realize that, you know, Scott's the video producer here, but he came up with all the organization and all the questions, and he asked some very perceptive questions that I don't even think I was anticipating. 00:07:47:26 - 00:07:53:25 Michael Ganschow When we were doing our interviews. So, I mean, a lot of that, a lot of this work and a lot of the credit for this work really needs to go to Scott. 00:07:54:02 - 00:08:06:24 Todd Gleason Well, Scott, I'll come back to you since you were asking the questions here, why did you decide on Kaiyu Guan, who is with ABE, Ag and biological engineering here on campus of the U of I and Andrew. 00:08:06:28 - 00:08:12:18 Todd Gleason Margenot from the crop sciences department, to be involved in the process? 00:08:12:21 - 00:08:34:03 Scott Anderson Yeah, I think Lauren can attest to the more of the reasoning behind why we chose them. But, you know, with with Andrew, it was I can say, you know, general overview that, you know, his expertise in soil, how articulate he was. And knowing that part of our audience here was consumers, that these two were experts. 00:08:34:05 - 00:08:56:02 Scott Anderson They had done work with the Illinois Farm Bureau. And so, you know, there was that, that familiarity, talking to them. And so that made it easy or easier, I should say, to bridge, connecting ideas when Michael would say something, you know, I'd say, oh, well, you know, Andrew Margenot told me that, you know, the soils, like the skin of the earth, like. 00:08:56:02 - 00:09:16:09 Scott Anderson Is that true? Like me, I have no ag background. Like, I didn't know any of this stuff before I got here. And I think that actually helped in the, you know, production and a lot of the preplanning, of this, I was able to really listen, you know, and really, I, you know, I'm asking them and during the interviews, both of them like, all right, sorry, could you like, go back a little? 00:09:16:09 - 00:09:29:29 Scott Anderson Can you tell me exactly what that means? So that way, you know, when I made the doc and edited, edited it, you know, it could be digestible for people, but I think Lauren can talk a little more about, the reason why we chose them. 00:09:30:01 - 00:09:42:02 Lauren Lurkins Well, I, I both of them have recently, you know, landed at the University of Illinois, and I use that term very loosely recently, compared to, you know, someone being there for decades and decades. 00:09:42:05 - 00:10:11:11 Lauren Lurkins And I guess I, I interacted with with each of them in a different way, whether it was an advisory committee to NRES, where I met Kaiyu for the first time, or with Andrew. He was a relatively new professor, and he was interested in obviously working for farmers as the soil scientist. And we were connected. And I guess I have always felt from the minute that I met both of them for different reasons, that, we are very lucky to have them at the University of Illinois. 00:10:11:11 - 00:10:31:14 Lauren Lurkins And, and that is because in their own ways, both of them were very open with me about partnerships. They were very, you know, they held up their end of the bargain if we if, you know, we were going to work on a project, I would help them either communicate to farmers or most importantly, find some farmers if they want to do on farm research. 00:10:31:16 - 00:10:51:27 Lauren Lurkins But really, the most important thing for both of them is that they have always been very open about sharing not just their scientific findings, but their personal perspective on the work that they do and why they do it for farmers. And obviously, I share a lot of that. I work at the Illinois Farm Bureau on from a different angle on the policy world, on environmental issues. 00:10:51:27 - 00:11:23:16 Lauren Lurkins But we found a lot of common ground on just like the way that we think about the how we can better serve farmers. And so that is why, without hesitation, you know, I, I kind of chose the both of them, and, and I'm, I'm so excited that they were part of this and that the university can be highlighted because we don't get very far on any of these environmental issues if we don't really push the science and find a way to get that science not only done, but then communicated back to the farmers, so they can they can make changes in their practices. 00:11:23:16 - 00:11:28:28 Lauren Lurkins So I'm ecstatic that that this has shown up as a, really bringing life to that partnership. 00:11:29:00 - 00:11:53:18 Todd Gleason They are both young and dynamic for my interactions with them. And I assume, Scott, that that helped on, your ability to be able to talk with them directly and, and maybe and I don't know whether you check this, when you show it to folks who have not got an agricultural background that they're far more open and receptive to what they're telling them. 00:11:53:25 - 00:12:21:09 Scott Anderson Yeah, yeah, yeah. What's you know, what's really cool also about, you know, their interviews specifically too, was the you know, I think there's a lot of misconceptions, you know, in society today, you know, about, you know, potentially farmers not wanting to change or them not listening to research and stuff and just the way they spoke about their relationships with farmers directly, you know, was just amazing to me. 00:12:21:09 - 00:12:43:04 Scott Anderson And I had feedback from multiple people from, you know, friends and family and other colleagues. That I've, you know, you know, worked with in college, that watched this and said, wow. Like, I had no idea, like, any of this, you know, that that scientists worked with this, with farmers this closely and stuff. And so that was really awesome to see. 00:12:43:04 - 00:12:45:27 Scott Anderson Also, working with them. 00:12:45:29 - 00:13:05:19 Todd Gleason I'm wondering, Michael, when you think about what the reach will look like for this, because you come from a conservation minded family, the reach into the general population is one thing. However, the reach in to the rest of the agricultural population is a little different, and you probably run into this when you're at the coffee shop. 00:13:05:19 - 00:13:21:10 Todd Gleason I would think farmers ask you maybe, about the things you're doing on the farm. Will this particular video help them to understand what you're doing and maybe how they might be able to adopt some of those practices. 00:13:21:12 - 00:13:32:07 Michael Ganschow Well, I think that was always part of the hope and dream with this whole thing, is to not only reach the public, but to also reach other growers, you know, particularly other growers that might be on the fence about, implementing some of these practices or whatnot. 00:13:32:07 - 00:13:45:06 Michael Ganschow And at least they can see the reality of the situation. And maybe take a little bit of tidbit of what we're doing out here. And so, you know what? Maybe I can try some of this on a small part of the acres, play around with that and see if I can get it to work for my my own operation. 00:13:45:07 - 00:14:09:05 Michael Ganschow I and I think that was part of the whole goal of this whole situation too, is explaining to not only the public, but also other farmers that, you know, it's okay to, design things for your own operation. How it works best for you. And that's that's exactly what we do out here every day. I mean, just what one person does doesn't work the same for the next person in the next county or the next state, or even based on how your operation is, is designed. 00:14:09:05 - 00:14:21:17 Michael Ganschow So, part of part of me does hope that there are some people that are on the fence, or some growers that are on the fence about what to do or how to implement things, and they can look at that and say, you know, it doesn't seem that hard. Let's just play around with your behaviors and see if we can get it to work, you know? 00:14:21:17 - 00:14:44:02 Michael Ganschow Absolutely. But actually, I, I actually sat down with another interviewer yesterday talking about this same thing. And I honestly think that this is going to reach more than just the grower itself, but I think you're going to see, potential landowners out there. And there's a bigger push for for landowners right now. It has been more so now than there's ever been about implementing more conservation practices, because it's becoming more and more important of landowners, too. 00:14:44:02 - 00:14:58:19 Michael Ganschow They want to be a part of this sustainability package. So I think you're also going to see, landowners latch onto this kind of information and say, hey, go to their grower and say, hey, do you think we can implement some of these? And if we can, let's do it. Or if you don't think we can, why can't we? 00:14:58:19 - 00:15:04:15 Michael Ganschow And what can we do to implement something? So I think you're going to hit both the grower and the landowner in this situation hopefully. 00:15:04:17 - 00:15:38:07 Todd Gleason Lauren, do the members of the Illinois Farm Bureau that the does the farm population in general has? They have somewhere between 5 and 20% of the land that they actually own themselves, generally speaking, that they're farming, have, some issues, as is related to conservation, simply because landowners, are unable, unwilling or not familiar enough with conservation practices that, sometimes can be from the farmers and just cultural practices. 00:15:38:10 - 00:15:56:16 Todd Gleason No till, for example, or that are tile and waterways and other things that have to be paid for and implemented on the land is part of the aim of this particular program, in hopes of reaching them so that they might understand the investment that can be made in farmland. 00:15:56:18 - 00:16:04:26 Lauren Lurkins Well, first I would say that landowners, you know, just like I would say about farmers, they're they can't be painted with a broad brush. 00:16:04:26 - 00:16:23:21 Lauren Lurkins Right. So everybody is unique and they have different motivators and, you know, different, different priorities, on both sides. But, you know, one of the things that and I am not a farmer, I was not raised on a farm. But what I see and what I hear from the growers that I represent at the Farm Bureau is a bunch of different approaches. 00:16:23:21 - 00:16:56:05 Lauren Lurkins You know, there's sometimes there's a push, sometimes there's a pull, sometimes, you know, it's a very long term, respected, respectable relationship and a partnership. And so it can look really, really different, depending on the dynamics locally. But but I would say, you know, at the, at the end of the day, it's, I think what, what we needed to be able to, to talk about, at least in part in this documentary, is to address that, because it's it's not a necessarily a challenge or a burden. 00:16:56:12 - 00:17:18:11 Lauren Lurkins It's just a wrinkle in the way that we can put conservation on the ground. And it's going to look different because there's humans involved, right? And parcel by parcel will will be different. But I, I have some friends, you know, outside of my Farm Bureau life that are, you know, landowners and they these, these families in particular are very, you know, environmentally minded. 00:17:18:11 - 00:17:44:10 Lauren Lurkins And so I actually sent them this document, documentary to, to be able to watch because I think it just it almost tells that story of all the things that the farmers have kind of going on and the things that are on their mind. So, so I don't I think it takes humans communicating essentially to get where we need to go, but I think it is going to be something that will be educational to kind of round out the rest of that story. 00:17:44:10 - 00:17:53:01 Lauren Lurkins For a landowner, of all the things that a farmer's life would entail, in addition to, you know, having the relationship with them in particular. 00:17:53:05 - 00:18:08:25 Todd Gleason Scott is the producer on it. The person who I assume was behind the lens a lot of the time, also asking the questions. You know full well that there are two stories running at the same time in video. One, which is the story you're trying to tell. 00:18:08:25 - 00:18:20:22 Todd Gleason That's usually the audio script, the other, which is the story that folks see on that screen. How closely were you able to match the two? It's a very difficult problem. 00:18:20:24 - 00:18:31:10 Scott Anderson We did have to get creative at times. You know, visual eye, for example. Audio wise we're talking about nutrients. We're talking about phosphate nitrate. How on earth are we going to separate those? 00:18:31:12 - 00:18:53:17 Scott Anderson But you know what you do there is you dig a little hole, you get a nice long, tight lens, and you show and you get a bucket of water and you just try to show runoff. For example. So we had to be creative in those ways for sure. But, you know, talking about, you know, what we're talking about waterways, you know, hopping down, I'd like had some big, big rain boots on. 00:18:53:17 - 00:19:14:16 Scott Anderson I got up in the water in the creeks. But you have to do that to, you know, show, a lot of those descriptions, especially in that first 50 minutes of the documentary as we were explaining the hypoxic hypoxic zone. It was I was really lucky enough to go down to Louisiana. I was actually down there for a, commodity classic conference. 00:19:14:16 - 00:19:35:03 Scott Anderson But while I was there, I touched with the Louisiana Farm Bureau, and I was able to grab some shots of the Mississippi, I mean, the, the basically the Gulf of Mexico, which was also really vital to show, so there were some things that we really had to think about, visually to attest to some of those explanations. 00:19:35:05 - 00:19:51:21 Scott Anderson But then, you know, when it came to Michael, I mean, that was that was easy stuff to get, you know, him just talk being on the farm and stuff. That was all easy to come by. It was more so for sure. Just the explanation of nutrient loss. And showing those. So. 00:19:51:25 - 00:19:54:25 Todd Gleason Did the weather cooperate with your shot list? 00:19:54:28 - 00:20:15:04 Scott Anderson So Michael was probably laughing right now, but it did. And I had built in buffer days and contingencies because I knew that we would be shooting this all outside. I mean, you were making an environmental, environmental documentary here. We need to shoot everything outside, especially the interviews. And so when that happens, you know, you got to be cautious of the wind. 00:20:15:09 - 00:20:34:29 Scott Anderson Obviously, we're on the plains here in Illinois. And so its whipping, which is hard for audio sometimes. But we lucked out every time we went up to Michael's farm, I think we went up there probably 4 to 6 times. Beautiful weather. It was a slight breeze or something like that. And he'd come up and say, oh my gosh, this is so great, come up there for harvest. 00:20:35:03 - 00:20:44:23 Scott Anderson You know, he's like, I'm like, I got to come up today. Like, we got to get this done. And it was just beautiful weather. So we really lucked out in that department. So yeah. 00:20:44:29 - 00:20:47:00 Todd Gleason Michael, how much time did he spend on the farm with you? 00:20:47:00 - 00:20:51:29 Michael Ganschow Well geez, well he was up 4 to 6 times. I mean, some of those shots, he was, you know, some of those days he was up there. 00:20:51:29 - 00:21:16:17 Michael Ganschow He was only up there to get, you know, specific shots for maybe drone work or whatnot. That but I think, you know, all of Thomas's the whole time all encompassing and told, I mean, he was probably up there. I'm going to guess at least 8 to 12 hours doing interviews. I mean, because he interviewed me one morning and Dad the same morning and Grandpa for the afternoon, and then he came back several times and we took, you know, we took a drive down to a field day for the first shooting. 00:21:16:17 - 00:21:29:14 Michael Ganschow So, I mean, he spent a tremendous amount of time with me. And I think I think it turned into more more than just, creating a documentary. But I think, Scott and I forged a pretty good friendship through this whole thing because we were around each other so much so. 00:21:29:16 - 00:21:33:28 Todd Gleason That, that's fun. And you sort of have a family documentary out of it as well. 00:21:33:28 - 00:21:35:22 Todd Gleason If you've got three generations there. 00:21:36:00 - 00:21:57:03 Michael Ganschow Yeah, that's the thing that was really, I would say, probably unique about this whole situation because, you know, my grandfather just turned 95 this year and he is his mind is as sharp as it's ever been, probably is at times more sharper than mine, which is kind of scary. But, you know, we were very fortunate to have, him be around because really, he he's the beginning of this whole movement and our farming operation. 00:21:57:03 - 00:22:13:01 Michael Ganschow I mean, he's the one that really stepped out and took the criticism and tried something new and put up with the people thinking that he he was nuts and all that kind of stuff. So it was neat to be able to have him here, to tell part of that story. And then, of course, my dad was still alive at that point too. 00:22:13:01 - 00:22:34:18 Michael Ganschow So my dad was able to give his own perspective about watching him do that. And I think at the end of the day, that what is what really gave my dad a lot of confidence to just just to try something and do it no matter what other people think. And, you know, I got asked yesterday, you know, whether I try to do things, or try to try new practices, hoping that my neighbor will watch me and switch. 00:22:34:18 - 00:22:48:03 Michael Ganschow And honestly, a lot of times I honestly don't worry about my neighbors. I try to worry about what I'm doing and go forward with that. And if they see something that I'm doing that they think they can implement on their own farm, then that's great. But really, we we just do it to try to, to take the next step. 00:22:48:03 - 00:23:03:08 Michael Ganschow And I think that's that's one thing my dad was always good at. And I'm not going to say that he was wasn't ever satisfied, but I think he was always looking to do better. He was always looking to learn, and he was always looking to improve every single, every single day. He got up for work. He was looking to improve. 00:23:03:08 - 00:23:25:18 Michael Ganschow And I think that that is something that has been instilled, instilled in me that really helps, helps us move forward and take those chances and try to try different things because we're trying to do better. And is it always going to work out? Absolutely not. But sometimes some of the biggest failures you have, or some of the biggest opportunities where you can learn and how to do things better the next time to to really make it more successful in the long term. 00:23:25:18 - 00:23:47:07 Michael Ganschow So, I mean, I have to give a lot of credit, to the two people that I've grown up around with my grandfather and my father. I mean, I'm very, very fortunate to, be around those those two people because they were there. They they they're both they were both really good farmers and particularly my dad. I tell I say this to everybody all the time now that he's gone is that, you know, my dad was a really good farmer. 00:23:47:07 - 00:23:58:03 Michael Ganschow But actually what my dad was really good at was being a father and then being a friend with me on the farm. So, I mean, it's I give a lot of credit to, to both of those two because they're, they're extremely good men. 00:23:58:05 - 00:24:00:22 Todd Gleason What's the response to this documentary been? 00:24:00:25 - 00:24:08:24 Lauren Lurkins Yeah, I'll I'll take that. I you know, we launched this officially at our annual meeting with a 15 minute teaser. 00:24:08:24 - 00:24:29:12 Lauren Lurkins We didn't they didn't give us a whole hour. An hour, you know, Saturday night program. But, we had we we launched it that night. And so everyone had a little bit of a teaser, and they left, that, that general session with some QR codes on a thing. So we saw that traffic organically pick up, like people were going back to their, hotel rooms. 00:24:29:15 - 00:24:46:27 Lauren Lurkins These are these are our Farm Bureau members going back to their hotel rooms and starting to watch the hour long documentary. And that is awesome because there's a lot of things to do instead of that in Chicago. And we realized that. So we think we hooked people right away. What happened there was that people went home and then they shared it. 00:24:47:01 - 00:25:10:09 Lauren Lurkins So organically. We saw a lot of our our own membership watching it. And then we kicked in a campaign where we were really pushing it out with purpose, on really like a digital platforms. So we've had over 25,000 individuals. Watch the full the full length, documentary in Illinois, and we'll have more to come because we're going to carry this through Earth Day. 00:25:10:12 - 00:25:30:09 Lauren Lurkins But I think, you know, we've had it on PBS stations and we've got, you know, I've taken it to meetings with U.S EPA, Illinois EPA, Department of Ag, you know, so so it's very purposeful. It helps us with a lot. But I think the most important kind of judgment on how we did was the reaction of our own board and our own farmer members. 00:25:30:09 - 00:25:48:18 Lauren Lurkins And I'll start with our board, because when, when Scott and his boss, Matt Waterston, showed the first six minutes of this in our boardroom, you know, this was before our annual meeting, and it was their sort of glimpse at it. We had grown men, you know, wiping away tears at the way that this is portrayed and the beauty of it. 00:25:48:18 - 00:26:08:08 Lauren Lurkins And they were speechless. And this is a group of guys and ladies who are not usually speechless. So right away we knew we had hit on something and they hadn't even seen the full production. The other thing that is happening as these this documentary is getting out, is that we have our farmers calling and saying, that is the best thing that I've ever seen Illinois Farm Bureau do. 00:26:08:13 - 00:26:39:18 Lauren Lurkins Did you outsource that? No. No, sir. We did not. We did it all in-house. Well, that is incredible. We think this is a great story. Because this is what our farmers have been asking for, frankly, for years, is that somebody would sort of take this on and help them tell not just their story of environment and conservation, but the story of their families and the story of why they do what, what what they do on the farm and why this organization, the Illinois Farm Bureau, why do we even exist in the first place? 00:26:39:18 - 00:26:48:19 Lauren Lurkins And so they're just proud of it. And you know what? I'm really proud to even have a little bit of a touch on it, that we can we can really feel good about this work product. 00:26:48:22 - 00:26:55:10 Todd Gleason Lauren, if somebody wants to watch this and I think they will, where do they find sustaining our future as family farm story? 00:26:55:15 - 00:27:23:28 Lauren Lurkins Well, they they could go to our Illinois Farm Bureau YouTube page. We also have it on I fb.org/ifb documentary. And so and you know, we, we do go out and about and we share a couple postcards and things like that with a QR code on it. But, but really, you know, that, that our landing page on the ILFB.org website would be, my, my recommended, location to find it. 00:27:23:29 - 00:27:47:25 Todd Gleason Lauren Lurkins is director of environmental policy for the Illinois Farm Bureau. She and Scott Anderson, video producer for IFB, and Michael Ganschow, bureau County farmer, joined us on this 50th episode of the Illinois Nutrient Loss Reduction Podcast to discuss the documentary Sustaining Our Future: Farm Family Story. Our program is produced in conjunction with Illinois Extension Watershed Outreach Associates. 00:27:47:25 - 00:27:51:13 Todd Gleason Rachel Curry and Nicole Haverback. I'm Todd Gleason.