Making connections over food

Quinoa-crusted diver scallops perched on top of wilted spinach and potato-parsnip purée, with golden beet and crabmeat “cannelloni,” and a duet of red beet and passion fruit reductions.OK, I’m guilty. I took a photo of my plate at a fabulous restaurant and posted it to Facebook. For whatever reason, I wanted all my friends to see what a wonderful meal I was about to enjoy. Lame? Maybe. But apparently, I’m not alone.

I recently attended a presentation by Louie Gentine, president and chief customer officer of Sargento. He was speaking to the Milwaukee chapter of the American Marketing Association about top food trends that are influencing his business. He mentioned that there is a rising trend of people looking for a shared food experience. Social media and mobile technology have allowed us to be more connected than ever — and what better way to connect than over food?

Think about all the food blogs out there where self-proclaimed foodies share their experiences about the food they make or eat. And consider the mobile food carts where people gather to try new things. Is this phenomenon really about the food? Or is it more about the sense of community these foodies feel as a result of hunting down their favorite food cart? But this trend isn’t exclusive to bustling city streets.

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A recipe for web writing

Those of us who work at an integrated marketing services firm like Bader Rutter are probably used to writing for a variety of mediums, including web. As a blogger, PR professional and content creator, I’ve put together a little recipe for creating delicious web copy — there are just a few but high-quality ingredients, and it might take a pinch of this or a dash of that to make your copy truly great.

Two years ago, I started a food blog and over time, I’ve learned what doesn’t work and what keeps people coming back.

Here are some ingredients — er, guidelines — for excellent web copy:

Start with a base
First and foremost, it needs to be short, attention-grabbing and to the point. One

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Can I get that on a stick?

There are great state fairs across the country, but the one located near our headquarters is one of the better ones. In particular, there’s a certain unique fondness for deep fried foods, served on sticks!

Nestled between BR’s headquarters and downtown Milwaukee, you’ll find the Wisconsin State Fair Park. From August 4-14, people will be swarming the grounds to see the animals, check out the carnival rides, listen to entertainment and of course… sample the food!

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Become a dairy expert during June dairy month!

It’s June Dairy Month and there are plenty of reasons we’re celebrating it here at Bader Rutter! Our roots as an organization are firmly planted in food production and our Wisconsin headquarters places us in the heart of America’s Dairyland. Bader Rutter associates are actively involved in running dairy farms, supporting the introduction of new dairy products and helping dairy producers tell the story of the dairy industry. In fact, you can say we’re involved in the dairy industry from the farm gate to the dinner plate!

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Dairy promotion not limited to June

BR’er Cheryl O’Brien (center) serving as Alice in Dairyland.

While June Dairy Month has come and gone, the celebration of America’s dairy industry continues on for many of our associates.

For those of us who grew up in the dairy industry, promoting it is a passion for us. It’s something that’s second nature.

Growing up on a small Pennsylvania dairy farm, portraying a positive image for the dairy industry is one small way in which I can give back to what it’s given me. This includes the responsibility learned from daily farm chores, before and after school, or the satisfaction that comes from a day’s hard work of unloading wagons of hay in 90+ degree heat. It taught me perseverance while trying to train a stubborn Brown Swiss calf for show and the value of setting goals and working like crazy to reach them.

Promoting the dairy industry is about preserving it for our kids, so they can have the same life shaping experiences that we did. It’s why in early June, spending a couple hours on the State Capital steps talking about cows with consumers at Cows on the Concourse was a fun way to spend a Saturday.

It’s also why one of our newer associates spent her last year promoting it as Wisconsin’s 62nd Alice in Dairyland.

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Good eats!

Recently, the company that publishes all of the city Business Journals around the country ranked major cities on a number of different areas. One was dining. If you don’t live in the Milwaukee area and I asked you where Milwaukee ranked, you probably wouldn’t say #10. But it’s true.  

I may be a little biased, but after traveling around the country for the last couple decades I do believe Milwaukee’s restaurant scene is vastly under-appreciated. There is a huge variety and many different ethnic cuisines. Sanfords has been consistently ranked among the top 50 restaurants in the country, and the chef at Lake Park Bistro received a James Beard award last year. And oh, yeah, the wine lists are pretty good and of course you can always find just a few outstanding beers!

Indeed, you can find more than brats and cheese in Wisconsin. If you’d like to check it out for yourself, we’d be glad to show you around.

Community matters

Community is all around us, from our families to our neighborhoods to our work communities. As a current member of the class of 2009-2010 Future Milwaukee Leadership Program I have had the opportunity to learn more about the great communities that make up Milwaukee.

One of our sessions featured a trip to Brown Street Academy, an MPS School that is taking an alternative approach to school activities with great results. With a fully operating garden that takes up almost an entire block, the children are not only learning how to garden but also about the importance of the environment and eating healthy.

In the same community, just blocks from the school, we were able to see Fondy Food’s Farmers Market. It is Milwaukee’s largest farmers market, and was created in response to a lack of access to healthy food in these types of neighborhoods, and has created jobs in the community as well. It is one of only two farmers markets that accepts food stamps and also teaches nutrition and healthy eating habits to the youth of the community.

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Teat Tweets: Cows join Twitterverse

In today’s technologically advanced culture, it’s no surprise that technology is appearing in full force on dairy farms. Just a few decades ago, the idea of robotic milkers and computerized feeding systems was unbelievable. So, who would have thought that in 2010 cows could have their very own Twitter account? Well, a herd of Canadian Holsteins are, in fact, tweeting daily. Yep, you read that correctly — cows are now tweeting.

The farm, located just southwest of Toronto, has a robotic milker in place that allows cows to be milked multiple times a day – on their own schedule. The cows are equipped with their own neck collars that are read every time they come in contact with the robotic milker, telling the farm manager how much milk they are giving, as well as how often they have been milked that day.  This is a normal procedure for robotic milking setups, but the unique thing about this farm is that every time the robot reads a cow’s neck collar, the cows tweet on their own Twitter accounts!

The project was launched in December 2009 by the University of Waterloo in Canada. The tweets are a reflection of typical daily occurrences on a dairy, but in an entertaining way to help educate consumers through social media on the technical and day-to-day events on a dairy farm. 

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A salute to Ag Week

In celebration of National Ag Week, we wanted to showcase our associates’ deep-rooted love of agriculture. We hope you’ll enjoy this slideshow that tells the story of how the ag industry has shaped some of our associates’ lives, careers and work ethic.

We salute the hard-working farmers and all those who help them feed the world everyday, and we are proud to be a part of the process.

Happy Ag Week!

Cooking up camaraderie … and crepes!

Recently, we had several members of one of our client teams visiting our Brookfield office. While we had plenty of time slated for the conference room, we thought it might be nice to spend one evening doing something a little different.

Needless to say, when I found out one of my BR team members organized a cooking class at the Milwaukee Public Market, I was slightly terrified — let’s just say I don’t spend much time in the kitchen. Turned out that I was worried for nothing!

The team: Getting our cook on at the Milwaukee Public Market.

For this particular cooking class, we formed teams of two and each team was responsible for one course of the menu: pork tenderloin, asiago cheese potatoes, carrots and kale, and for desert —and the course I was assigned to — apple crepes. In the end, the food was fabulous. But this turned out to be a lot more than just a cooking class.

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The preservation of agriculture

A recent article in Forbes discussed the scrutiny and finger-pointing from, as the author termed them, “urban aesthetes and green activists” at the American agricultural industry, and their hope to “impose their own Utopian vision of agriculture.”

As anyone in the agricultural industry knows, the consumer is often several layers removed from the real agricultural industry, including the many family farmers who are passionate for their land and animals. And many of the general population, unfortunately, may also be naïve to the need for large-scale agriculture to help feed the world’s growing population — the author cites that “over the next 40 years the world will be adding some 3 billion people.”

This article helps demonstrate that the American agricultural industry will continue to feed the world through the successful melding of large-scale corporate farms and small-scale family-owned operations. However, much work is needed to advocate for the preservation of agriculture. 

Growing more than crops and calves

Laurie’s grandpa, Bob Peterson, watches over the family farm

For many dairy farmers in Wisconsin and across the country, 2010 couldn’t come soon enough, as the New Year brings hope of better milk prices and balance sheets. A recent article in Dairy Herd Management reflected on the dairy industry’s roller coaster ride in 2009, as well as lessons learned by six dairy farmers nationwide.

The article made me wonder what lessons my parents and brother learned last year managing their 350-acre, 100-head dairy farm in west central Wisconsin. They had a tough year, but are somehow weathering the storm and making it through.

During my trip home for the holidays, my 85-year-old grandfather stopped by for his morning coffee and daily discussion of the farm happenings. He reminded me that it is important to remember the family heritage, hard work and dedication that make our farm what it is today, and, hopefully, what will keep it operating for generations to come.

Persevering through hard times
My dad, like dairy farmers everywhere, forges into each day — snow, sleet, wind or hail — knowing that the farm, the cows and the fields are his legacy, pride and business. He takes with him the lessons learned, experiences had and memories made over the last several decades, and applies them to the financial struggles, sick calves and frozen pipes facing him today.

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Water ’n Poo

At the root of every farmer is a foundation of hard work, pride and love. That sentiment was emphasized for us recently as we watched a Gilmer Dairy Farm music video, Water ‘n Poo. The video is a single shot of a farmer in the cab of his tractor fertilizing his field while singing a song about on-farm nutrient management. It’s an amusing way to spread the word about the pride dairy farmers have in the work they do and in being environmentally responsible.

The curiosity about where our foods come from and how they affect our world has intensified significantly. This is especially true with the release of books like Fast Food Nation and Omnivore’s Dilemma, movies like Food Inc. and Supersize Me, and a constant tidal wave of opinions streaming through social media channels such as Twitter and YouTube.

In too many cases, industrial farms are labeled as the enemy. But farmers have joined the conversation to tell their story, in their own words. The foods we need to nourish our bodies — the milk, the vegetables, the proteins — come from the hands of real people and families whose livelihoods depend on a healthy planet.

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The Ag Glass: Half-empty or Half-full?

We are fortunate to work with some extremely professional and smart people in the agricultural marketing and communications field. I was reminded of that recently when representatives from one of our lead media partners, Farm Progress, visited the agency for an annual update meeting.

In addition to hearing what new things they are bringing to the agriculture market, we also got to hear from Bryce Knorr, senior editor of Farm Futures. The Farm Futures team of editors provides insight and commentary into everything from market trends, risk management and marketing to money management. Knorr posts a daily column, “Market Call,” on the publication’s Web site.

I feel optimistic about the ag market, and some of Bryce’s analyses confirmed those feelings for me. A few of his points were:

• While crop and livestock revenues are down, a strong debt-to-equity ratio is helping farmers weather the current economic storm.
• U.S. corn and soybean yields are projected to be above average.
• Land values are down, but only modestly, so farmers’ credit situation is good
• Prices are uncertain, but total farm expenses are forecast to be lower again
• Exports are still strong, particularly to China.

From the earliest days of the United States, farming has played a crucial role in the American economy and culture. The information Bryce shared with us, along with what we’re hearing from our own clients in the agriculture industry, leads me to believe that if we haven’t yet begun to see the proverbial light at the end of the economic tunnel, we soon will.

Bridging the divide between city and farm

Some people from my rural hometown, and even a few of my agriculture college classmates, often complained that “city people” don’t take time to understand the importance of the agricultural industry. But, I’m a farm kid, too. And after moving from a home where we didn’t have a grocery store within 15 miles, to a mid-size college town, to the big city of Milwaukee, my viewpoint changed. I started to understand that it is equally important for us “farm folk” to understand the perspective of the general consumer and agriculture’s biggest critics.

That’s why I liked a recent article called, “The Ten Reasons They Hate You So,” from the Truth in Food Web site, an independent group exploring the food system using scientific research, thought-provoking views and humor. While the article may take an extreme perspective, it provides a unique view on why food-consumer-activists may take issue with the role of large farms and industrial agriculture in today’s food system.

One of my favorite lines from the article is:

“Today’s farmer is just as generationally divorced from the modern, urban liberal-arts university as his city cousin is from the farm.”

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