Colleen Krantz is a real helper to Market to Market

Paul Yeager  Welcome into an installment of the M to M Show podcast. I'm Paul Yeager, back in the studio this time, Colleen Bradford Krantz, Colleen Bradford Krantz, however you want to say your name. What should we call you? That'll work. Colleen is good. Colleen is good. Okay, Colleen, you're a frequent guest. I'd like to call you the Terry Garr, whenever you we need somebody, you are there and you answer us. But what we need to do is update people on some of your stories, you have been doing a whole bunch of items for the Market to Market TV show. Let's start with I'm going to start with a story about your most recent feature about ducks, okay. And I was somewhere, someone who watches the show said, Hey, a couple of weeks ago, you had a story about what was it? Said ducks? Yes. Ducks, how did you? And they they liked the story, because they remember when they used to have duck as a dining option, what prompted the duck story?

Colleen Krantz  I try to pay attention to what states we haven't been to a lot and products we haven't covered a lot, you know, so I can't remember what I ran across. But something made me just wonder about duck production, you know, and we hadn't really other than maybe seeing something like hobby farms and so on. And so I started looking at like, who are the Where's most of the duck in the country come from? And it turns out, it's Indiana, which we were due for a trip there anyway, I think and so. So I I found a company called Maple Leaf farms. That's the largest in the country, I believe, or Yeah, it's 10 million 10 million ducks. And I think that's great. They're the largest for sure in the US.

Paul Yeager  So part of the story was geography, but part of the story was also just the topic itself. So how did you come up with the topic?

Colleen Krantz I think it was really, like I said, I was mostly just curious, I find myself being curious about different products, you know, food products that we've not told the story of, like, how do you raise a large number of ducks. And so I really wanted to focus on that. But I also wondered about avian influenza going on at the time. And if they had been affected, it turns out they hadn't so really became a story just about this company's history and duck production and how they got involved.

Paul Yeager  And you went to Indiana in the late summer, or what it was, I think it was September when I went. Yeah. And they and it wasn't an HPAI concern. 

Colleen Krantz It turns out, they've not been affected. They have a lot of contract producers, you know, they basically Duck Duck farms all over that are independently managed. And so, but they've been fortunate that that point, they've not had any infections. And I think they've managed to be free or minimally impacted, which is amazing. So, but I think ducks maybe are less susceptible to it or something. But we didn't end up focusing on that a lot. So

Paul Yeager  I had another conversation about your story with our analyst from that show is Mark Gold. Normally a little behind the scenes story when the story airs, when we say and here's our cover story, go to cover story, the analyst moves from their chair off camera onto camera, they're mic'd up, and sometimes they're paying attention and they look and they look, Mark Gold was like, Oh, I love duck. I love duck. And I just and I know that group, I've had their product. In fact, I might try to get that for supper tonight. So funny. So we didn't mention anything during the show. But we started talking about it during Market Plus. And so he kind of went on about how he had prepared it and, and various items. So I have to say your stories usually prompt some type of reaction for people. And it it proved it again that that was even if they're just because they're so unusual.

Well, I think that's part of it. I mean, is that I mean, you look for a story. You mentioned geography but you also look for a story. But what trips your interest on how you pick something.

Colleen Krantz  I think a lot of it is just I try to be tuned into what I'm curious about, you know, related to agriculture or even what conversations I hear when I'm around my family that's in you know, cattle business and and others who I run into and you just you start listening to those questions people raise and usually it's just a casual conversation you don't think more will come of it. But sometimes you follow those down down a road aways and you either that becomes a story or something related is interesting that you hadn't considered before. So it's it's really just listening to what people end up talking about, or I'm curious about and not ignoring those random, obscure thoughts. Like I was thinking I forgot what I was thinking about some product the other day I got the store. I'm like, I wonder where this is grown. And I'll probably look into it later and end up in whatever state is from

Paul Yeager  I should admit before we get going, this is the MToM podcast, which is a production of Iowa PBS and the Market to Market TV show and again, if you have any feedback for me, it's Paul.Yeager@iowapbs.org. Feel like I'm resetting something here but it's like a radio program or something but it's not it's a podcast. If you have feedback for Colleen, , how do you do that?

Colleen Krantz I'm Colleen.Krantz@IowaPBS.org.

Paul Yeager  Colleen or Colleen?

Colleen Krantz  I pronounce it Colleen, but honestly, I hear so much both ways I answered.

Paul Yeager  Colleen.Krantz@IowaPBS.org. What would you like to hear? You always like story ideas, but any specific story ideas you want to hear about right now?

Colleen Krantz Well, I did. The one I pitched you this morning, I was talking to Paul about the this idea of and I won't get the whole background. But basically, I was interested in how apparently there's not much for refugee relocation into rural areas of the U.S. anymore, I haven't really confirmed all that. But it's tied to a rule that you have to be within so many miles of public transportation. So if you have, say, refugees from Afghanistan, or somewhere else, you know, who are fleeing their countries, they're, they're not likely to end up in rural areas anymore, which they used to. And, and I thought it'd be really interesting to go back and talk to refugees who came long ago, and settled in rural areas first, because I think that's a different experience, and sometimes better, sometimes worse, probably depending on where they came from. So I really would love to locate some refugees, you know, not just immigrants, but specifically refugees, who've come to rural areas of the US and maybe have interesting stories about what they were fleeing, or and what their impressions were coming to a rural area. So if anyone has ideas, I would love to hear those.

Paul Yeager  And it doesn't matter where it is in the country. That's right. We'll hear about it because it might be a state where we want to go to That's right. Okay. So anything else on ducks? I'm sorry, I cut off the duck conversation.

Colleen Krantz  No, I think it was just, it's just it was fascinating the amount that the US produces, but we don't eat that much. You know, like, I think it was an eighth of a pound per person. And I honestly haven't had that much duck I have before but when. But I think what they explain there is a lot of people maybe grew up trying Wild Duck, which has a whole different taste, just like any other animal that's raised in the wild has a different taste than a domestic animal would. And these were all Peking ducks. And so they've, it tasted like dark turkey meat to me. So it's, it's, it was interested in the Midwest tends to not take it in their grocery stores as much, maybe Mark Gold can change that. But the East Coast, West Coast, and some of the larger cities do have some pockets where they are big consumers of duck, but it mostly goes outside the country.

Paul Yeager  And that was a fascinating part of your story. And there's always something in there that we need to pay attention to. I always enjoy getting the comments from someone it's like, I like that story. And then they have the personal connection. Like I mentioned with the duck. You have mentioned some of the other stories that you're one of the stories that you're thinking. You also have a couple others that you are preparing right now. In fact, I think one, you always are a curve wrecker, because you've already I think, have this one pretty much done.

Colleen Krantz  Yeah. So I'm working on a story looking at no till conventional till comparison. And that one was actually motivated by federal report. It wasn't really anything earth shattering, but it just sort of quantifies where we've come over time, in terms of shift from conventional tillage to you know, sometimes reduced or to no till. And so I really wanted to do a story, but I part of that was I was curious about, I kind of remember this, but I really wanted to go interview people who were you know, I think every county had a farmer who was the first one to go to no till. 

Paul Yeager  The rogue one that you called it or you had a different rebel, whatever.

Colleen Krantz  Yeah, that was the others. I interviewed someone with soil and water in Missouri, because the story was between Missouri and Michigan, and I forgot what he said. But he said 1/3 of people are the adapters, early adapters, and this applies to lots of industries, but agriculture too. And then the second group of second third is the ones that follow the adapters and then the third one, we're not changing no matter what. So he, I was going to find some of those early adapters who sometimes were looked at like they were, you know, off their rocker, I guess. So. He, I found a guy in St. Joseph, Missouri, who for his area was one of the first to jump into no till. And it was a fun interview. Because he, I think he understood what I was getting at. I wanted to hear what it was like then and he told a fun story about you know, trying out his first drill. And the first year he did it in 1983, I think and how he made the mistake of doing it next to a paved road and everybody was stopping and staring as he got the drill got clogged up and he hadn't quite figured it out. So he said Yeah, I'm sure there was a lot of talk about me that year.

Paul Yeager  And what year do you think that was? He said that was an 1983? That's pretty innovative at that time.

Colleen Krantz    Yeah. And it's funny because really like I think there's some the very first documented maybe no till outside of universities, which really They were the first to sort of demonstrate on large scale. Maybe Purdue even, but they there was I think Illinois in Indiana had a couple that were in the 60s, I think. But between then in the early 80s, you still didn't see much until some of the first I mean, I think by the 80s, you're starting to see some in every county.

Paul Yeager  And I seem to remember it mid to late 80s. Yes. A little more mainstream, for that 1/3 that you speak of the early adopters, any idea what the percentage is now?

Colleen Krantz   Yeah, so that'll be in the story. And we break it by region, but nationwide, it's 1/3 is continuous no till 1/3 is reduced till and the other third is still conventional. So it's, and that's quite a change. Of course, over time, it's probably not as fast as some people would like and faster than others, but the the region and guess what region had the highest percentage, there's one region that had 65%. No Till continuous no telling when the next second highest was 48%. You want to guess what those two regions were?

Paul Yeager  This is my podcast. I'm the only one allowed to ask questions. I'll play the game. Okay. Let's play the game. When you say region. Do you mean state?

Colleen Krantz  And well, they mean a region think of a region? Yeah, agricultural regions like they fit northeast? I

Paul Yeager  would probably, yes. I'm gonna go lower. Upper plains.

Colleen Krantz   That's second place. Good job. So the northern plains are 48%. No continuous no till. And it was east central. That was

Paul Yeager  okay. Ohio, Indiana,

Colleen Krantz   Pennsylvania, lol. Okay, I don't remember the exact states in there. But that'll be in the story, which I think we have scheduled to come out in the next month or so. I forgot the exact date.

Paul Yeager  Well, that's good upper plate, any specific reason why in those regions that they do it more than others. 

Colleen Krantz  So I think probably in the northern plains, it's the flatness and the the likelihood of windblown soils being an issue. So that makes sense there. And I'm not sure east central why that one's dramatically higher, just unless there's just more people that tried it early. And it just got picked up faster in that region for some reason.

Paul Yeager  Other things on the no till story that that you think we'd be interested in, in the production of the story or the story itself?

Colleen Krantz   Well, I did like that I was in St. Joseph, Missouri, talking to a producer there and they have less soils and hilly ground. So that area probably did pick it up a little faster than some areas out of necessity run off and, but then I was also in Michigan, and I interviewed a couple younger brothers. I guess one of them is a corn warrior. It's a show that he was known for being a corn warrior Jake Drozd and his brother Ryan Drozd and they live about 20 miles east of Lake Michigan and farm there with their father. And so it's Lake Effect region. And so what happens is they don't the ground doesn't really freeze there because of this dense or massive blanket of snow, I guess. So that changes the dynamics a little they have a much, they don't have that braking, freezing and thawing effect that most people get. So they don't, even though they're very innovative, I would say with trying new techniques. They don't. They don't do very much. No Till they do almost a lot of conventional. So I wanted to make sure I included somebody who had you know what they see as a challenging situation that makes it much more difficult. They say they get extremely deep ruts in the spring if they try to ruts, ruts, like ruts, sorry ruts. Okay, like he would describe them as like a foot deep, you know if they just went? Yeah, if they tried to go directly into planting right away, so. So yeah, that was that was interesting as we were able to get sort of another perspective. And and yeah, so that's, that really wraps up most of what I was doing there, but we were also in Michigan for the bug drone story. If you know what I'm talking about

Paul Yeager  That was a bug drone one. Okay. It was about six weeks. 

Colleen Krantz   Yeah. Right in November 18 is the week that one ran. And that was if I can explain the history for a company that was is looking at sort of an alternative option as insects become resistant to pesticides, they're using sterile insect drops from a drone, to you know, basically compete with the other insects and reduce populations. And so it was it was really interesting to the mix of the technology of the drones with the sterile insect technology, which actually is pretty old, but but it was we also had help from a PBS affiliate in Washington state that went to an orchard there that's been using this and they they had they were surprised at the luck they had with it that actually works. So that was an interesting one too, that I thought I should mention that.

Paul Yeager  As you should. Can we say what your other story after no till is?

Colleen Krantz  I'm looking at antibiotic resistance, which we've done stories on before, but I want to look Back at the results of a five years ago, there was a veterinary feed directive rule enacted by the federal government where basically you're not supposed to routinely feed antibiotics to your animals, your livestock and and when you treat them, you need to have a veterinarian involved in some way or sort of ongoing relationship. So it's, it did demonstrate a drop, I guess I should explain the whole point of this was to the concerns about antibiotics becoming resistant, or bacteria becoming resistant to antibiotics. And so, so the that that story, I'm going to look at the change in use, it has dropped about 38%, I think, from the peak use of antibiotics in livestock. But I do want to sort of take a broader look at other animals and see what's in human use and sort of where are we at with antibiotic or bacterial resistance?

Paul Yeager  Well, and that has been a topic of if you've had COVID, do you have resistance? Or do you have? I just heard something last night of the moment your kid is still sniffling? From the what first virus, they've already probably have the next one that's coming. Yeah. Why are we having that issue? Is it because of the human resistance, but you're talking in livestock?

Colleen Krantz  Well, a lot of the bacteria does crossover or sort of is common to our world. And I don't think people understand that it has nothing to do with eating the meat because it doesn't carry in the meat unless you're not cooking your meat properly. But that's a whole nother that's a whole nother conversation. But the Yeah, it's a it's the fact that these bacteria just live in our world. And I don't know that all of them, we can know, a lot of them would be cross species. So so Yeah, apparently after the livestock use dropped, it was helpful a little bit, they thought there was maybe good indications, but then COVID came along. And then we humans sort of undid the progress I that's the initial info I'm getting from my first research here. So it looks like COVID did reverse. So sort of some of that progress that was made. Because like you said, so many people were sick. And we're trying to deal with that and chasing the next one, you know, so it's, it's an interesting and interesting battle.

Paul Yeager  And there's a very specific angle that you'll have that we'll highlight that we won't fully give away at this point. So yeah, teas, right? Yes. Of sorts. I want to give away my story. Exactly. And we appreciate if you do take our ideas. That's always kind of fun. Can we talk about one last thing? Or did we not discuss that with the boss? This is a no, let's do okay. I enjoy listening to things that aren't necessarily always music. And sounds have an incredible the brain acts different. I heard a noise just the other day that took me back 20 years. Some noises take you back and prompted you to kind of step into a whole different realm.

Colleen Krantz    Yeah. So it started because that at work here Iowa PBS they had an initiative where you could, if you wanted to, you could do something that was outside your normal scope. I don't usually do audio projects. I mean, that's part of what I do. But this was sort of a different project where I wanted, I guess you could almost think of it as like a audio journey. And it was my motivation was not as much about my own memories of like sounds on the farm. But it it was kind of inspired because both my grandmother's before they died were in situations where they felt trapped in a location. So one had Alzheimer's and was in a memory care unit. And the other had broken her back. And so she was at a hospital. And I remember her actually begging my dad, her son to like, carry me outside, you know, she was she was a farm girl and a farm, grew up as a farmer with her husband and raised her kids on the farm. And so it was, it was hard for her to be trapped inside. So I thought, well, what if we could create something where I didn't want the video, because I don't want to sort of interfere with your memories of how you see your farm. But I also wanted it to be for people, maybe who are older now who are more likely to be confined to a location. And so I decided a little bit what if we create the sounds of a farm from say, the 40s and 50s. And originally, I was going to have it adaptable where you could, you know, change the tractors to a sound from the 70s. We haven't gotten that far. But we created a 1950s ish version. And I guess you'd say 40s to 50s. And it should sound like you're the person you're getting up in a 19, early 1950s house and you're going into the kitchen, having breakfast and going outside and walking through all these chores. So that's the sound that you'd hear as you're doing morning chores. I included a lot of livestock that you would find in the Upper Midwest, really around the country. But my first one was let's pretend we're in the upper Midwest and I Ideally again I was building these with the idea that you could turn off certain animals if it didn't fit but we're not to that point yet so we're basically ready to release in some way the first sounds of the country audio journey and I would love it once we get this released and hopefully publicize with Paul's help on social media we can have people tell us does this work you have anyone with Alzheimer's your family that you want to try it on? And is it meaningful to them or not? Is it just noise to them so

Paul Yeager  and we will promote that and it could be a YouTube video could be just an audio file it could just be

Colleen Krantz    yeah we have right now we haven't set up so it's a there's this we have the option of us full surround sound audio file but that's a little hard to hand off. So we have stereo and it would I picture it working in a room with multiple speakers but the reality is you know we could deliver it on YouTube. We have just close your eyes screen like close your eyes and listen is all it says on the video. But we are playing with the idea if I can talk Dave into it which Dave Miller, our boss is to try to build an Alexa skill where we can someone at home anywhere in the country could just say you know play the sounds of the country or Play Market a market farm sounds I don't know how you say it but with the idea of like that's an easy way to deliver to

Paul Yeager  maybe we could get it next to what the Beach Boys have you know with Pet Sounds Oh, we'll call it Market to Market farm sounds. 

Colleen Krantz  there you go. I like that. 

Paul Yeager  We can do that. So all right. And if you have any tips again for the show in general, its MarkettoMarket@IowaPBS.org. Colleen.Krantz@IowaPBS.ORG. That's right. I have that right. Yep. Perfect. Anything else you want to hear about? From people?

Colleen Krantz    i That's I think that covers it. You know, I'm gonna think of something as soon as I'm done here.

Paul Yeager   Anything else you want to cover that we talked about today? Or any other story that we think would be a fun behind the scenes information for those getting secret information about the show?

Colleen Krantz    Yeah, I actually I do have one. So they're the one I'm looking at. This is very, I'm not really delved into this fully yet. But I'm curious if anyone knows, because I'm looking at this freedmen's act. So this is sort of a historical look at after the Civil War. freed people, former slaves were supposed to have the rights to abandoned plantations or plantations that Confederate soldiers had owned, and we're not maybe some of them might have been arrested for treason or, you know, just weren't coming back to so abandoned plantations were supposed to be sort of eligible or an option for freedmen. And, and there's good documentation that sort of was digitized recently. And it's really interesting to look at. And I'm trying to figure out where to tell the story from, I'd love to find like descendants of somebody who asked me really hard but track down someone who tried to do this as, as a free person in the you know, right after the Civil War. And I've I found a couple of examples, but I keep running into dead ends where I can't find descendants or maybe they didn't have any. So if anyone happens to know of an old plantation that was managed, at least for a time by a freed slave, that would be fascinating to hear about. Okay,

Paul Yeager  well, again, you know how to get a hold of her and we'll talk about it here again on a future episode of The MToM Show podcast, Colleen, thank you, as always appreciate it. Thank you. That'll do it. New episodes come out each Tuesday here on the YouTube channel. And we always appreciate those of you who do watch, share, like and subscribe. I think those are all the words I'm supposed to say Colleen's movie comes out in theaters this Friday. I feel like that's what we're doing here. Thanks for watching. We'll see you next time.

 

Contact: Paul.Yeager@iowapbs.org