PPT073: Exploring the intersection of podcasting, pastured poultry, farming, and business

Many farmers listen to podcasts as they do chores, make hay, deliver product, or pick up supplies. Direct-to-consumer farmers have a lot of windshield time, and it makes sense that podcasts continue to fill more of that time as a way to be entertained and informed. But why aren't more farmers podcasting for their customers? That's the question this episode explores in the context of a trip I made to Podcast Movement, an annual meeting of podcasters from all over the world. We'll use some teachings from Cliff Ravenscraft to help along. Listen to Cliff's 11 Step formula for building a profitable business. Poultry Headlines From the Episode: A Poultry World article summarizes a research review that shows “eggs confirmed as crucial tool for infant development.” Key takeaway is “ the research finds that “eggs support child development despite having few calories.”  An Ecuadoran study, for example, found that if infants added one egg per day to the diet they were less likely to be stunted (47%) and less likely to be underweight (74%). Read article. The article “Vaccines are pushing pathogens to evolve” published in Quanta Magazine explores the idea that vaccines may actually incite disease to become vaccine resistant. The article includes research done with Mareks Disease and broilers, which suggested "that the Marek’s vaccine encourages more dangerous viruses to proliferate." Read article. A listener submitted a question about egg yolk color after being called out by a customer following a change in layer diet. We've known how to manipulate egg yolk color for a very long time and U.S. Customers favor yellow and even dark yellow/orange shades. Unfortunately, color alone is not sufficient to judge egg quality, as it's easily manipulated. Read more about xanthophyll and egg color from Leroy S. Palmer, which he "discovered" in 1915. Recipe for success and mastering new ideas: Throughout my career, I've found myself faced the task of learning new ideas and disciplines. Here's the short recipe for success I lay out in the podcast, and it works whether you're a pastured poultry farmer, a marketer, or a podcaster.

1. Find and associate with people who are smarter than you
2. Read a lot (in niche and out)
3. Question everything to understand how something works
4. Take action and do something with your knowledge-turn that knowledge into wisdom
5. Evaluate results and repeat

You can hear me talk more about these ideas inside the podcast episode. The 3 "T" bottlenecks of podcasting for farmers (and everybody else): In the Pastured Poultry Talk Facebook Group, I asked what kept you from podcasting. I share my view on the feedback in this episode, but it's basically three large ideas: Time, Technology, and Topics. But the challenging question from the episode is, "do you have to master all three issues before you can launch a farm podcast to help you sell more poultry and eggs?" If you treat your podcast as a marketing asset that helps you build relationships with your customers and even generate leads, then you can make the time and hire the technical parts out. It's assumed if you have a viable direct-marketed farm business that you could whip up 15 to 20 topics within the next 20 minutes. I don't really dig into these bottlenecks on the episode, but it's a question to ponder. I'd recommend you check out my "Work with Me" page if you want to explore marketing farm products with podcasts more deeply. Timestamped outline of topics: 01:14 Eggs good for infant nutrition 02:13 Vaccine resistance in poultry 05:04 Effect of laying hen diet on egg yolk color 10:52 Short Recipe for sucess 15:12 what I learned at Podcast Movement 16:42 Can I make money from pastured poultry? 18:52 Cliff Ravenscraft gives us a way to think about pastured poultry business through his business coaching 20:28 Determine where you want your business to go and what you want 21:58 Identify where you already add value 22:39 Determine ideal customer 24:04 Identifying ideal customer with Seth Godin 24:26 Questions to learn about your ideal customers 24:55 How many people have chickens on the ground nobody wants to pay for? 29:41 Farmer podcast opportunity 30:48 3T Bottleneck issues of podcasting: time, technology, and topics 31:40 How many bottlenecks do you have to master in order to leverage podcasting in your farm marketing?