Ep. 95 Cultivating Success: Insights from Ohio Agribusiness Association's Leader

Main Topics Covered

1. OABA's Mission and Activities: The core activities of OABA include advocacy at state and federal levels, education and professional development, and fostering a strong network within the agricultural value chain. 
2. Support for Diverse Sectors: OABA supports its diverse membership through advocacy, policy updates, and professional development programs like the "Launch" program for early to mid-career professionals.
3. Recent Initiatives: OABA has launched online grain grading courses and is developing custom applicator training in partnership with Ohio State ATI. 
4. Competitiveness and Collaboration: The association enhances competitiveness by providing timely updates on regulations and market trends and fosters collaboration between farmers, agribusinesses, and policymakers. 
5. Emerging Challenges: The "Make America Healthy Again" movement is seen as a significant challenge, requiring ongoing advocacy and communication with lawmakers. 
6. Advice for Young Professionals: Melinda advises young professionals to say yes to opportunities, communicate promptly, and ask questions to grow in the agribusiness field.
7. Getting Involved with OABA: Listeners are encouraged to subscribe to OABA's newsletter, visit their website, and participate in events and committees to stay informed and involved.  

 

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Transcription

Speaker 1 (00:08):Welcome to AgCredit Said It, your go-to podcast for insights on farm finance and maximizing your return on investment. Join us as we talk to industry leaders, financial experts, and area farmers, bringing you skillful advice and strategies to grow your farm's financial future AgCredit Said It, where farm finance goes beyond the balance sheet.

Libby Wixtead (00:39):Welcome back to AgCredit Said It where we take you beyond the balance sheet. I'm your host, Libby Wixtead. I'm excited to welcome you to our season five of our podcast where we're going to focus on diversification of your operation. We are going to kick off this season with a great guest today and a good friend. We are talking with Melinda Witten, the president and CEO of the Ohio Agribusiness Association. Welcome, Melinda.

Melinda Witten (01:05):Thank you for having me.

Libby Wixtead (01:06):We are very happy to have you. Do you want to share a little bit about your journey and how you became the CEO of OABA?

Melinda Witten (01:15):Absolutely. So I think the best way to say it is agriculture has always been at the center of my life and my career. I grew up on a small hobby farm in southeast Ohio, attended the Ohio State University, and I married a third generation farmer. I'm now raising hopefully the fourth generation to come back to our family farm. But agriculture has always been the one constant in my life, and I've had the privilege to work at Ohio Farm Bureau for over 20 years, and I just absolutely loved my time there. But when the opportunity came open to step into this role at OABA I hesitantly put my name forward because it was 20 years of my career at Farm Bureau and I really enjoyed it there, but I had not dusted off that resume in quite some time. And so it was a little bit nerve wracking to throw myself into that uncomfortable zone, but I was truly pulled and drawn to this association because they have such a foundation, such a legacy of working really hard to represent and advocate for Ohio's ag business and the supply chain in that. And so it's just been a true honor to step into this role. And I've really enjoyed learning a whole new side of the industry as well as working to build off of the solid foundation that those before us had said

Libby Wixtead (02:43):Yes. And we know that OABA has had a great presence in our state and has done great work, and I personally have seen that. So for listeners that haven't been familiar with the mission of OABA, what are its core activities?

Melinda Witten (02:58):That's great question. So our core activities, I think the best way to describe it is through our mission where it's truly to enhance our business environment for Ohio agribusinesses and that we focus on three pillars in that area. Number one is advocacy At our state and federal levels. We work really hard in that space. The next one is education and professional development. And then lastly, we work to foster a strong environment and a strong network across the industry that can all benefit and support that agricultural value chain.

Libby Wixtead (03:38):And you guys, I've seen all the time in your emails that you guys are really doing a lot of education and you guys send out a great newsletter that has updates of what's going on in the ag industry, and there is a lot of networking that I've seen be done within your group, and you guys are at every agricultural event, which is wonderful in showing your support. So how does a support the diverse sectors within Ohio's agricultural industry?

Melinda Witten (04:08):That is a great question. And when I first came into this role, I was truly blown away at just how diverse our membership is and the work that we do to support and advocate for that diverse membership. But I truly believe that that's our biggest strength that we have as an association is our diverse members. We work to support those guys through and our members through advocating for them. But the biggest, to me, the most important thing that we can do is constantly be in communication with our members to give them policy updates, whatever that may be, but more importantly, to provide the training and the education that those industry members are required to have, whether it's through regulation or through other aspects. But advocating and providing education to our members is so important, but I'm really one of my key passions is providing the professional development for those emerging leaders within this industry so we can ensure that this next generation is just blown it away. This current generation has,

Libby Wixtead (05:23):Do you want to speak a little bit about launch? I was a member through Launch back in 2019, and it was one of my favorite professional development activities that I have done. And I think that really encompasses all of the pillars that you guys have talked about and really created a network beyond the ag lending network that I currently have. So do you want to talk a little bit about that? I think you guys will be kicking off a new group here soon.

Melinda Witten (05:51):I was going to say thank you for that. We are launching a new class this fall. Applications are due, so in mid-November, so hopefully by the time this comes out, folks can still apply. Please sign up, please sign up. It's such a great program and it's designed for those early to mid career professionals to help take them to that next level. And I had been engaged in professional development training in my previous role, but I was really impressed with just the diverse topics that launch covers, as you said, everything from our advocacy side. We do some training and education around that, but more importantly, it's what do you need to become that next manager to become that next leader within your association? And then what can you do to help grow that? And so there's a capstone project that's part of that. And I've had so many of our OABA members come to me that said, Hey, because of launch our organization, our business now has X, Y, and Z that we never would've considered unless if an employee hadn't gone through your program to consider that. I just am so impressed with whether it's management, whether it's work-life balance, whether it's how to manage teams with all different personality types. It's just a truly well-rounded well put together. And I should say really efficient use of your time. What is it? Six days total. And you cover the gamut. So they bring you in and they use your time efficiently and effectively and really give you a lot of great content.

Libby Wixtead (07:33):Those capstone projects, I was very impressed just within my group. And then I was invited back to speak on my capstone project and got to listen to the next groups, and I'm like, wow, we have some really great innovative leaders coming up within Ohio agriculture.

Melinda Witten (07:51):It's impressive.

Libby Wixtead (07:52):It is. So I guess going off of that, I know you've had some of your own employees go through launch, and so what are some of your guys' recent initiatives or programs you guys will be that you guys have launched to benefit?

Melinda Witten (08:08):There's two that come to mind right away. First and foremost, grain grading. So we've always offered grain grading courses throughout the year, so there's four of those in person. However, we have heard from our members that there's a need for an online on demand option for that as well. And so this year we had invested the time and the effort to put together that online platform in order to grade grain in Ohio. It's required that you sit through a three hour training course once every five years. And so this course has been approved by the Department of Agriculture and can be used towards that certification. So very excited to be launching that. That just came out a couple weeks ago. We've already had a ton of folks take of it. It's really well done and you can start and stop as you need to, so you don't have to sit through three hours right away.

(09:03):It's just really well done. And then the next piece that we're working on that will come out in March of next year is the custom applicator training. And we've partnered with Ohio State ATI to help us deliver that training. But we saw a need that there was the one group that was providing a custom applicator training out in Illinois is no longer doing that. And so we saw a need for the industry. And so we had partnered, like I said, with Ohio State a TI, and we're just very excited to provide that custom applicator training because it's so important that we can have confidence within our consumers and within the general public around us that we're doing everything is to the best that we can. And this training will help us elevate that.

Libby Wixtead (09:54):Yeah, that's exciting. I know for the grain grading, I'm sure, and even the custom applicator, I'm sure there's a lot of turnover that has happened in the industry within those industries. And so to be able to have the grain grading online, it's something that they can use as their onboarding process. And then also for the custom applicator, I mean, to keep that going. I mean, Ohio definitely needs that, especially for the small farmers that aren't spraying themselves. So in what ways does a BA help strengthen the competitiveness of Ohio's agricultural sector?

Melinda Witten (10:33):I heard this quote the other day and it kind of resonated with me, but it's like competitiveness starts with knowledge and connection. And when they said that, just the light bulb went off in my head of I really feel that that's where OABA is extremely key in competitiveness. We are bringing those key leaders around the table. We are bringing them to our conferences. We are bringing outside industry professionals from out of state in to share their insights, their perspective, their knowledge, and it's something we are constantly working on to make sure that our members have timely updates on regulations, market trends, best practices, evolving scientific knowledge that's come out of the data research. And so we at OABA are always trying to get that information as soon as we can and get a turnaround as quickly as we can out to our members so that they can remain competitive. And I think that that's kind of our key to success is making sure that we can connect the knowledge to the people so that they can remain competitive

Libby Wixtead (11:52):And that right into the pillars that you guys had talked about and I guess in that education piece. And so you guys are really fulfilling your mission and really keeping everybody educated. And like I said, in those newsletters, they are so insightful, especially when we're busy and we're going about our day, and then it's like, okay, we got all these articles compiled into one and just keeping us up to date and just knowing that, okay, I know this is going to come and I can get updated for the week on what's happening. So you talked about connection with that competitiveness. So how does the association foster collaboration between farmers, agribusinesses and policymakers?

Melinda Witten (12:35):Oh, that's a great question. And I have a perfect example of it that I'll share here in a second. But we pride ourselves in being the bridge between the three. We work really hard with our agribusiness members to make sure that we can connect them to policymakers and our agribusiness members. Most of them have wonderful relationships with their farmer members. And so we try to be the bridge to all three. And we try to be the, I don't want to say we try, we work to be the trusted voice, the trusted forum where people can come and have an open, honest dialogue. And with that's regulators, legislators, industry leaders, we want to be the space that we can provide real world conversations that's going to have real world impact on our industry. And so the perfect example of this is we had a few of our agribusiness members make comments about delayed pricing in the agreement and how it was structured, and then also how it was being interpreted through our regulators.

(13:45):And so we brought the Department of Ag, we brought our agribusiness members together, we brought a few of our farmers into the room to say, this is how it's impacting them. And then we identified, well, how can we tweak that regulation and change that regulation to be impactful and useful and helpful to the entire industry? And then once everybody came up with a consensus of the language that they agreed on, then it was my team's turn to take that and get it through the legislature so then the Department of Ag could have a new regulation that would work for our industry and for our farmers. And so that's a perfect real world example of we bring people into the room, we have an open, honest conversation, we're respectful, we understand there's differing opinions and perspectives, but we want to find that compromise that works for the whole.

Libby Wixtead (14:40):I think it's just all about communication and just being that place where people, like you said, have a safe place to come together, have those conversations, and just be able to communicate face to face. And I think our industry is very solution forward, and so we really want to get to those solutions. And just over here, A is making decisions, but B is the one who's being effective and sometimes nobody's communicating. And so being able to have that safe place and you guys being that connector of people is just wonderful for our industry

Melinda Witten (15:13):And care of people, but also leading with respect, right?

Libby Wixtead (15:17):Yes. Oh, absolutely.

Melinda Witten (15:18):Just understanding that we will have differing opinions and that's okay. That's not a problem. How do we find compromise?

Libby Wixtead (15:25):Yes, being very open-minded. So with that, what other resources does OABA provide to help agribusinesses adapt to those changing markets? Other than what I guess we've already talked about?

Melinda Witten (15:38):Yeah, we've talked about that a little bit, but we know that our industry is never standing still, right? Our industry is evolving momentarily, and so therefore, we're very aware that our programming as well as our communications to our members must meet those needs, those evolving needs of our industry. So we're always communicating with our members to make sure that we understand what's impacting them and where they need support. And then we're working to identify the programming and the education to go behind that. But most importantly, our conferences, our webinars, our member alerts are all designed to take those big complex, frustrating issues and distill them into a way that can be impactful to our members so that they can take the key highlights out, this is what I need to know, this is how it's going to impact me. This is what's changing for me. That's the purpose of those, is to take that information and get it directly into our members' hands, and then they can make business decisions from that.

Libby Wixtead (16:43):You guys are really providing those boots on the ground resources for those people that are working directly with those consumers, which is wonderful. So we talked about some challenges that you guys had saw within the past year. Do you see any other emerging challenges that you think Ohio agribusinesses should be preparing for? And is there anything that you guys are preparing for in the future as well, other than some of the trainings that you guys have provided?

Melinda Witten (17:12):For me, the challenge that I see coming down the pipeline is that Maha make America healthy again, is not just a policy, it's a movement. People are getting behind this in a lot of different ways. And so as an industry, it's going to be one that requires us to get together, to keep showing up, to keep having a unified voice with our lawmakers. We have to make sure that we are sharing with those who are making those decisions, that today's agriculture is truly rooted in sound scientific practices that meet the strict regulations that we have to follow. And to me, that's something we're really going to have to keep on. Once one conversation's done, there's going to be a new aspect of Maha that comes up, and so we're going to have to stay on top of this. We're going to have to continue to build those relationships with our elected officials, but more importantly, constantly be engaged in conversations with them to explain why we're doing what we're doing, and that it's all been vetted through a very rigorous process. So that's going to be a massive challenge for us this coming years.

Libby Wixtead (18:44):Yes, absolutely. And I think that, I know we've talked about several times and several agricultural conferences and webinars and podcasts that we've talked about sharing your story, and I think that is very impactful now for farmers agribusinesses sharing their story and making that emotional connection. And then we can come behind the science and everything. And I think just making that emotional connection of how is this and truly impacting your family, your children, your legacy that you're leaving on the farm. I think that is more important, more now than ever with the challenges that we do have with this movement.

Melinda Witten (19:30):To that point, I have a really great example of why that's important just with our general public. So our family has a produce farm, and I was down at our market just here at our home farm with my son, and I was stealing produce, I mean getting produce from the market. And one of our customers was there and made a comment of, is this corn organic? And I kind of sat back and was listening to how our employee had responded. Then my son, who's 11, goes over there and says, well, it's not organic because we do have to spray for pesticides. And she said, well, what does that mean? And he goes, there's lots of bugs that can get in our corn, and especially later in the season, there's worms all over the place that's just bad if we do not use this certain product that we spray. And she's like, well, I don't like the fact that you would spray a product on this corn. And he's like, well, do you like eating worms, right? And so she's like, well, no. And he's like, so that allows us to provide a product or forget this corn. He used it in a different phrase.

(20:41):So then by having that very basic conversation of, I could then go in and say, so listen, that we use have been vetted by the A PA. We have to be trained. We have to this we have. And she was very comfortable with it, and it's like, go home and wash your produce and everything will be fine,

Libby Wixtead (20:59):Right? It's like, yeah, nobody finds that worm in their produce. I mean, just even out in my garden. And I cut into tomato and I was like, oh, I don't want that. I don't want that. And that's where people, if their produce isn't absolutely perfect too, then they, oh, well, it's no good. That

Melinda Witten (21:20):Top little piece of the corn has an ear, it has a worm in it, the top little half inch. It's chucked, right? In a society, that's what they've demanded that we provide them well, to provide that. We have to have these tools in our toolbox to be able to do that.

Libby Wixtead (21:39):Yeah, absolutely. No, that is a great story to share and how that piece can go and sharing our story. What advice would you give to young professionals looking to enter the agribusiness field?

Melinda Witten (21:58):There's so much. How much time do we have? Yeah. I always encourage people to say yes to opportunities. Even if it doesn't feel comfortable, if it's going to take you out of your growth zone, say yes just to see, you can say, well, that's definitely not for me. Or that definitely is say yes to opportunities. And the other thing that I think about a lot is, and Libby, you can speak to this just as much as I can. This industry is filled with so many amazing people who want to open doors to those to come into agriculture. They want to mentor, they want to provide opportunities for folks to come into this career. But you have to be, that young student has to be willing to stand up and go through that door. We're not going to drag you through it. We're going to be here and help you every step of the way. But you have to take initiative. You have to find those opportunities. You have to be willing to say yes to opportunities that feel a little uncomfortable from time to time, but this industry is filled with folks who want to help you out. I just have a laundry list of people, and I'm sure you do too, who just go out of their way to make sure that this industry is that much better for this next generation and is helping them navigate that.

(23:25):And I guess the other piece of advice that I jokingly say tongue in cheek, but it's so true, is like answer your emails, respond quickly. I was talking to somebody, they're like, well, if I respond to your email within two weeks, it's fine. And I'm like, oh, no, no, no, no. Yeah. So it's like respond, communicate, communicate quickly and do what you say you're going to do. If you say you're going to follow up, follow up. If you say you're going to reach out, reach out. So communicate quickly and do what you say you're going to do.

Libby Wixtead (24:00):Well, I think that goes back to your first point of say yes to opportunities. If you don't respond, the opportunity may be gone

Melinda Witten (24:08):In

Libby Wixtead (24:09):That amount of time. And then that also speaks for your character, I think, and tells us, okay, well, they're not really interested

(24:20):And kind that if you kind of have that attitude, at least that's my personal opinion. But going off of what you said with the saying yes to the opportunities, four H and FFA have developed so many leaders and agriculture I think has so many great leaders, especially with just in Ohio, and we are there. I think the greatest thing that a leader can do is help the next one in line. There's so many of us, like you said, that are willing to do that, and you've done that for me. And so I'm very appreciative of that. And there are many. You just have to look for those opportunities. I think you would agree with this. If you are not going out of your comfort zone daily, you are not growing.

Melinda Witten (25:06):I can speak to that in this new role. I have been in agriculture my whole career, but learning about the ag business side, it is a farmer. That seed just shows up at the farm or that crop protection tool just shows up at the farm where when we drop the grain off at the elevator, we've just dropped the grain off. So now I get to learn about everything before and everything after the farm and it midway through my career has been the most challenging opportunity. I've had to constantly learn and ask questions, and I made a promise to myself that I didn't want to make assumptions and that I would ask the stupid question when I came into this role because I need to know that I'm representing our members true to what's going on in their worlds. And so I asked dumb questions and I've come to find that they're not really dumb, that people just assumed. And so by me, it saved me, quite honestly, quite a few times. And so when I saw this role, I was very hesitant about it. And what am I always preaching to? Everybody, get out of your comfort zone. Try something new. And so when I did it, it scared me to death, but it's been wonderful. Being scared to death.

Libby Wixtead (26:23):That's exciting.

Melinda Witten (26:24):It's not a bad thing. It's not a bad thing,

Libby Wixtead (26:27):Right? Yeah. Facing fear and walking through it, you can come out on the other side,

Melinda Witten (26:35):Things that may, in my role, I'm a year into this and I'm still scared to death. That's great. I'm still learning.

Libby Wixtead (26:43):But even though you may know the answer to the question, still asking it and getting the perspective of somebody else, a lot of times your assumption is not true.

Melinda Witten (26:54):No, no.

Libby Wixtead (26:55):Or what you think. And so asking those questions, you learn so much about the farmer. You learn so much about the agribusiness or that part of the industry. And so I'm sure your knowledge, your mind is just exploding with just all of this new knowledge.

Melinda Witten (27:11):I had that this week with one of our member tours of there's this one product that no one really loves, and they're like, oh, but wait. And I'm like, oh. So I probably would've gone and had some, I would've advocated against something, but it was very key to this one business. And I'm like, that is good for me to know. So just ask the question and you'll find out.

Libby Wixtead (27:34):All right. So it's say yes, opportunities, be prompt with responses and ask questions even though you know the answer. So I think that's really good. Three pieces of advice that I'm going to take with me too. This is Mike, my own little mentoring session, but let's get back to OABA. How can listeners get involved with and learn more about Ohio Agribusiness Association?

Melinda Witten (27:59):You hit the nail on the head of what I was going to bring up of, we have a weekly e-newsletter that goes out to members, non-members, industry partners, everybody. It's not just for OEBA members, but it's a really great opportunity for you to get a site behind the curtain of what we're dealing with, what we're talking about, what we're worried about, what we're excited about. That newsletter is available to everybody. But also the easiest way is to go to our website@oba.net or follow us on our social media accounts. You can really get a good understanding of what we're working on, what programming, education events we have coming up through those channels.

Libby Wixtead (28:37):And like I said earlier, OABA is at almost every key Ohio agricultural event. You'll see Melinda and her team, her team is very involved as well out at those activities. So I would encourage you if you see somebody that has that on their little name tag to walk up to them and just ask them about OABA with everything that we've talked about. I feel like we've covered the gamut of OABA, but is there any key issues or priorities or events that you would like our listeners to know about?

Melinda Witten (29:15):What we have coming up outside of launch for our member education area is our industry conference, and that is January 26th, 27th and 28th. And we hold that in Columbus. And if you want a well-rounded experience of what is coming down the pike and what our members are worried about, we have everything from agronomy and grain and feed to risk and safety management to a CEO level stuff. It's just a really well-rounded conference that I would encourage folks to attend, but just stay involved. And also, if there's an issue that's going on, we can't advocate for you if I'm not aware of it. So I always ask people, please tell us what you're doing with what you're facing, and we can work to build a consensus within the industry and then work to address that for you.

Libby Wixtead (30:09):And there's also, I wanted to bring this up earlier. There's also, you guys are ran by a board, and so there are board positions that could be potentially down the road for any young agribusiness people within the future to maybe consider to help have input on your association and how you guys operate and what your pillars that you talked about of advocacy, education, professional development, and networking.

Melinda Witten (30:39):So not only the board, but all of our industry conference and even all of the member programming and education that we do is ran by our committees. So if you're new in the industry and you want to get involved in a committee to help us direct the topics, the speakers, the issues that we should be addressing, those committees do that. And so we have agronomy, grain and feed. We have public policy, we have safety and risk management, we have leadership development. So if any of those areas speak to you, we have a committee that you can serve on that will direct our programming as an association. Association.

Libby Wixtead (31:15):There you go. Say yes to the opportunity, everybody.

Melinda Witten (31:17):Yes, please

Libby Wixtead (31:19):Do. Well, Melinda, thank you so much for joining us. It was a great time to be chatting with you about Ohio Agribusiness Association. So thank you again.

Melinda Witten (31:30):I appreciate the opportunity.

Libby Wixtead (31:33):OABA is really, truly a great asset to Ohio agriculture. I think Ohio agriculture is the best within the United States. I may be a little biased on that, but this association really helps us out with the farmers and the agribusinesses and getting us connected. And you've heard all of the things that they covered. They're doing such a wonderful job. So all of the information that Melinda talked about will be in our show notes. So until next time, we will see you guys on the other side. So welcome to season five. We'll talk to you soon.

Speaker 1 (32:18):Thank you for listening to AgCredit Said It. Be sure to subscribe in your favorite podcast app or join us through our website at AgCredit.net so you never miss an episode.