Meet the Director

Dale Ludwig owns and operates farms in southeast and central Missouri and oversees promotion and research activities supported by the soybean checkoff.

My guess is that people don’t think much about food as long as it is there. As long as customers go to grocery stores and restaurants and find food, their biggest concern is what to buy or what to order.  In a perfect world that is how it should work.  The first time consumers visit their favorite store or eating establishment and there is no food, they will think a lot more about it.

But we don’t live in a perfect world.  On the way to the store consumers run into activists who, by design, cause consumers and elected officials to question the safety, morality and ethics of our food supply and how it is produced.  They do this by asking silly questions like, why do you put antibiotics in milk, or saying you can be a better citizen by buying cage-free eggs or crate-free pork.  I don’t know if chickens like to be in cages or not, but I do know less chickens in cages are eaten by a dog or a fox. We do have a few chickens on the Ludwig farm and I am convinced there are some days when the rooster is chasing them around, the chickens wish they had a cage in which to retire.

What motivates activists to do these things?  I am sure that some have true concerns about food safety or animal welfare, while others (like the people of PETA and HSUS) see it as an opportunity to make money.  Activists create a problem and then collect money from people to solve it, only they keep the money.

How do you address the problem? What if there was an umbrella organization that understood how big the stakes are for agriculture?  That is exactly why we formed Missouri Farmers Care—to bring together beef, dairy, pork, chicken, sheep, horse, pet, corn and soybean producers along with feed and finance suppliers and ag magazine writers.  The goal is to educate consumers on food safety and to claim the moral and ethical high ground for agricultural production.

So how do you approach what seems like an insurmountable task?  By soliciting others to help tell our story—influence the influencers, if you will.  It is why we have engaged in the Common Ground program (read more on page …).  A big thank you is extended to Lisa Cox, Renee Fordyce and Sharon Gibson for their work with Common Ground.  We will work with grocery stores and restaurants to educate consumers on food and farm facts.

We have invested in Food Chain Communications by sponsoring a newsletter that goes to grocers for them to use to answer questions customers have about food.  We are also members of the Center for Food Integrity, a group that works to build consumer trust and confidence in the U.S. food system. We have created a dialogue among stakeholders at every step of the food system—farmers, food companies, processors, retailers, restaurants, consumers and government.  Because at the end of the day, it’s not who you know but who knows you!

Dale R. Ludwig
Executive Director/CEO