The Farmer's Daughter USA

Hi, I'm Amanda! My family farms corn and soybeans in Southwest Michigan. I'm also a practicing attorney.

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Beating Up on Farmers Doesn’t Pay Off

June 5, 2014

According to Hoosier Ag’s Gary Truitt, it might not pay very well to be a critic of agriculture. At least not if you’ve been engaging in smear campaigns, deceptive advertising, and selling fear.

Chipotle, the poster child of hating on farmers, produced an animated commercial and an online mini-series aimed at selling fear to consumers. It seems like every time you look, the chain fast food restaurant is spewing some garbage about GMOs and conventional agriculture.

But Chipotle’s fun and games at the expense of agriculture may be coming to an end:

Chipotle’s stock shares have fallen 7% to $495.92. In addition, last Thursday 77% of shareholders voted against the company’s executive pay plan. The result will prompt a full review of how much Chipotle pays its top executives and how its compensation packages are structured. Last year, Chipotle co-CEO Steve Ells’ total compensation was $25.1 million, while his counterpart, co-CEO Monty Moran, received $24.4 million. The company’s chief financial officer took in $9.9 million, and the chief marketing officer got $5.9 million. Wall Street analysts say Chipotle’s top management earn 5 times more than top execs in other similar restaurant chains.

And what about Chipotle’s buddy-o-fear Panera’s fates? Remember, Panera’s marketing plan last year was to tell consumers that farmers are lazy because we have to treat our sick animals with antibiotics. Panera’s television commercials still include a line about their meat not containing antibiotics.

They’re also not going to so well:

But here, too, the financial news has not been good. Panera Bread’s first-quarter results disappointed investors, especially when it announced that same-store sales rose only 0.1% systemwide. Panera has seen their shares fall almost 12% in the past year.

On the flip side, McDonald’s, which has had a much better relationship with the agriculture community (at least, it’s produced this commercial and this commercial) seems to be doing very well. Stock prices are up over 7%. Truitt also notes that Ram truck sales are up over 17% since they released their Super Bowl commercial “So God Made A Farmer.”

Of course, as Truitt also points out, none of this may have anything to do with Chipotle and Panera’s poor marketing choices. We know correlation does not equal causation. But it sure make me feel as though we’ve been vindicated at least a little bit…

Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

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Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: animal agriculture, consumers, media, Panera

Comments

  1. Usuba Dashi says

    June 5, 2014 at 2:35 pm

    The only reason Chipotle stock temporarily dropped was the row over executive compensation…their sales are the strongest of any fast food chain in the USA, up over 13% first quarter 2014. Their adverts have not affected sales by any means.Panera's problems are more management, menu selection (too big) and margins due to the increase cost of food (Chipotle raised prices, Panera did not). During peak hours, Panera's customer service is too slow, which has been chasing customers away, because of wait time. They are addressing this issue. Just part of growing pains that most businesses go through.I would question Hoosier Ag's comments as more speculative, than fact. All you have to do is read the Wall Street Journal to learn about any publicly traded company's problems….that is part of the transparency of being publicly traded.

    • TheFarmersDaughterUS says

      June 5, 2014 at 2:48 pm

      He admits is hopeful speculation. In any case, at least they didn't benefit from it.

Hi, I'm Amanda. My family farms corn and soybeans in Southwest Michigan. I'm an attorney and I'm passionate about agriculture!

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Amanda | The Farmer's Daughter USA
I'm a proud farmer's daughter & advocate for modern agriculture. U.S. farmers are leaders in sustainability.

Amanda Zaluckyj
Just a reminder. #agriculture #usagriculture #far Just a reminder.

#agriculture #usagriculture #farmers #usfarmers #farming #farmfamilies #sustainableag #sustainableagriculture #sustainable #sustainability #farmerscare #homegrown #localagriculture #knowyourfarmer #shoplocal #madeintheusa #madeintheus #americanagriculture
Happy Thanksgiving! I realized this morning that Happy Thanksgiving!

I realized this morning that it's been 20 years since I performed in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. What a trip!

I hope you and yours have a lovely day! 🦃
Honestly, what is she even doing?? #Mischa #dogsl Honestly, what is she even doing??

#Mischa
#dogslife
She's got me. #dogslife #onlyfurbaby #naptime She's got me. 

#dogslife #onlyfurbaby #naptime
Some of you see this picture and appreciate the vi Some of you see this picture and appreciate the view. Our grain cart driver (mom) just sees that scary hill to drive up. 🫣

 #farming #sustainableag #agriculture #sustainableagriculture #farmers #sustainableagriculturepractices #sustainable #agriculturelife #agricultureeducation #farm #farmer #harvest23🌾
Happy Halloween! I dressed up as an attorney today Happy Halloween! I dressed up as an attorney today. 🤣

Oh, lawyer jokes. Listen, if you can't make fun or yourself and have a little fun, what are you even doing?
It's true. My puppy. 💜💜 It's true. My puppy. 💜💜
The first 25 acres of soybeans are done! But the b The first 25 acres of soybeans are done! But the beans still have very high moisture content. It's so high the granary won't accept them. So we'll have to dry them.

The big concern with soybeans is that the pods won't pop open. If that happens, they'll be discarded  out the back of the combine with the other plant material. Obviously not what we want to happen. After testing a bit, enough were opening that we felt like we should just get started.

Slow going, but at least it's going!

 #farming #sustainableag #agriculture #sustainableagriculture #farmers #sustainableagriculturepractices #sustainable #agriculturelife #agricultureeducation #farm #farmer #fearfree #cleanfood #foodsafety #dietfads #FactsNotFear #cleaneatingdiet #foodlabels #truth #cleaneating #Harvest2023
We're still not harvesting yet. Why not? Moisture We're still not harvesting yet. Why not? Moisture content.

We're currently about 4 weeks behind. But we can't start because our crops are still too wet. The moisture content is the amount of water in each kernel or soybean. If there's too much, they can spoil in storage. If it's really too high, then combine has a hard time handling it.

For corn, the sweet spot is about 15%. We have a dryer system on the farm that can help finish the kernels to the correct moisture level. But the dryer takes a lot of energy to run, so its cost prohibitive if the moisture content is too high. And if we try to sell the crop when it's too wet, we'll take a price hit at the grain elevator. So either the granary dries it, we dry it, or Mother Nature dries it. Right now, it's still too wet for after-harvest drying.

The other complication is that IT. JUST. KEEPS. RAINING. That doesn't help because the corn doesn't have a chance to dry out, and it maintains that moisture. We need some warm, dry days to speed up the process.

So, for now, we're still waiting...

#harvest23
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