Callison Ranch Beef's Nikki Callison, Recipe for Success Foundation CEO Gracie Cavnar and Johnson's Farm Produce manager Lyndsay Johnson discuss how they've adapted their businesses since COVID-19 hit
This is an unofficial transcript meant for reference. Accuracy is not guaranteed.
Will, like many other industries,
will like many other industries?
American agricultural has been
hit hard by the pandemic.
According to the Wall Street
Journal, the number of farmers
filing for bankruptcy is up eight percent
from the previous year,
but some farmers and ranchers
are finding success with a
little adaption
its. What Americans do.
They innovate in the face of
struggle
joining me, Nickie, Callas, fourth
generation rancher and owner of
callason and third generation
owner of Johnson Farm Produce in
Indiana,
Nickie ill start off with you.
I just read off the stats: eight percent
bankruptcies on farms, ranchers
up as well with the closure of
meat processing plants.
What are you doing in Oklahoma
to overcome that struggle? Well, im part of a task
well, im part of a task
force headed up by our Oklahoma
Secretary of Guttural Blaine
Archer, and were working to
alleviate this bottleneck. So we
dont have a problem with
processing here in Oklahoma.
We identified that as an issue
here, and farmers and ranchers
through Covid have continued
working hard working diligently
to serve the american people,
and so we are working to do that
and alleviate the bottleneck. But
also here on our ranch, we have
started selling beef direct to
families and shipping it to forty. Eight
states
will thats awesome
direct to consumer
and Jennifer. I believe thats what you are working on as well
what you are working on as well.
Consumers, customers can come
consumers. Customers can come
as I understand it straight to
Johnsons Farm and pick their
own produce.
Is that right,
thats? Correct, yes
will, and so this is one of the
ways you guys have dealt with
some of the problems through the
coronavirus
and by the way this was just
the cherry on the top right.
Farms were having trouble before
the coronavirus pandemic.
Thats correct,
yes
will! So what all are you doing
at Johnsons farms to help
overcome these struggles?
So we decided to do whatever
it takes, not file bankruptcy
this year delivering to people
curbside outdoor activities.
Spacing people out in the you. I
can rows other rows, sanitizing
the tractors every single time,
whatever it takes to get people
to come out so that we can make
a living cause. Our crop was
already in the field and there
will. I imagine grocery stores
restaurants stopped buying
a difficult time for everybody
in the business
Nickie. How does a consumer buy?
Direct beef go direct to
consumer beef.
How do I do that?
Do I get to pick any cow?
Do I goat pick my cut?
How does that work that I can
buy straight from the rancher?
Actually, our beef is
federally USDA certified through
our processor and we have
started shipping beef direct to
families all over the? U dot S about
eighteen months before the pandemic
hit.
You never know, whats coming
your way in averaging and
farming
it could be weather,
it could be a pandemic
and we adapted and shipped
you can go to our website
callasonranchbeef dot com.
You can also search for other
farms and ranches that you can
get your beef direct, but were
here to serve the american
people, and we really love doing
it.
Will all right, Nickie and
Jennifer, not just multiple
generation, ranchers and farmers,
not just innovators in the face
of struggle but proud women run
businesses as well.
Thank you so much for being with
us here this morning.
Thank you.
Thank you. Will
will lawmakers could end their
recess early to face concerns
with the postal service
were live on the debate on the
hill next
welcome.
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Jedediah welcome everyone
Jedediah welcome everyone.
We are in our final hour of Fox
AMP friends and no music better
to intro that than the queen
thats right, Jennifer Lopez.
Jenny from the block
will will not be surprised to
guess thats one of my favorites
and also will. I have a
surprise for you because earlier
in the show PETE talked about
beat and he gave you a beautiful
gift, and I was thinking to
myself. I dont have any beer
Muggs at home. What will will
drink out of when he comes to my
house? So I brought two things to
show you one. This is a ski mug.
It is not a beer mug, it will not
keep the beer cold, but its
fashionable and looks like a
cowboy boot nonetheless, and the
second which you will
probably not approve of and PETE
will roll his eyes. Is this pyrex
container which ive used this
morning by the way to hold
my celery juice and its a
fantastic container for green
juice? It wont disappoint and I
have filtered ice in the freezer,
and I know you decided you
didnt like ice, but I got
several social media messages
from viewers that said ice in
beer is not so bad
will. I have two responses to
that: Jed
im, not too fancy for the can
ill be happy to drink it
straight from the can and number
two when it comes to Jennifer
Lopez and Britney spears, to be
honest, im having trouble
distinguishesing between you and
PETE
Pete, thatS, fair, thats, fair.
I will say that Jed and I share
that musical taste. Its true.
The best holder for your beer is
your hand, and will you can note
we have these in 800 hour. I put
them in the fridge to keep them
cold. For you and brought them
back out
will they will be open very
soon,
PETE Jed good attempt?
I will believe it when you put
beer in your pyrex glass and
drink it from a straw but
Jedediah I dont, like beer
will before we start opening
beers lets get to news
PETE. I guess.
Will President Trump defending
the postmaster general after
protesters march outside his
d, dot c home calling for his
resignation,
air horn sounding
will mark Meredith is live in
Washington as Nancy Pelosi
reportedly considers bringing
the house back from recess over
postal service concerns.
Mark
will good morning to you.
Democrats are accusing the Trump
adminitration of trying to
basically make changes at the
Post office to influence the
election, but President Trump
is hitting back
hes defending the newly
installed Post master
general and he says hes only
trying to make the post office
great again.
President Trump, I can only tell
you hes, a very smart man,
Hell be a great postmaster
general and he needs obviously,
if youre going to do these
millions of dollars out of
nowhere hes going to obviously
need funding, but the Democrats
arent willing to provide other
things and therefore theyre
not going to get the funding for
that.
But outrage is growing over
changes that postmaster General
recently made, including cutting
overtime on Saturday. As you
mentioned, demonstrators gathered
outside of his home here in
Washington and Democrats, insist
theyre going to keep the
pressure up ahead of the
election
house. Speaker, Nancy Pelosi is
accusing President Trump of
trying to sabotage the post
office.
She put out a statement Saturday
that says all Patriot, Democrats,
independents or
Republicans should reject the
presidents assault on the
postal system. In this
election season,
the Post office has warned a
number of states that its
possible some of the delays,
could happen when it comes to
receiving those mail in ballots
theres a lot of question there.
We also just got word that
Senate Minority leader, Chuck
Schumer, is holding a news
conference later today on this
very issue, and members of
Congress are hinting that the
house could come back fairly
soon to address this controversy
will PETE and Jed back to you
guys
PETE Mark. Thank you very much.
It sure feels like the Democrats
are seizing on what they think
is an advantageous talking point
here: its voter suppression and
sabotage of the post office guys.
I worked a lot on reforming the
Department of Veterans
Affairs, a massive bureaucracy in
Washington D, DOT c.
When you satisfy you want to
overhaul it, your critics accuse
you of wanting to destroy it.
When you criticize it, they say.
Oh you hate vets. No, you can
recognize. There are thousands of
people that work at the post
office that do great work in
their communities.
Thats, not what were talking
about
were talking about an attempt
to demagogue, President Trump by
saying he wants to sabotage a
postal service that, for decades,
has been run like a bureaucracy.
Well, the Wall Street Journal
made this case better than I can,
and here is the headline of what
they laid out.
The post offices problem, isnt
Trump
Democrats cry sabotage, but mail
volume is way down and the
postal service is losing
billions of dollars.
Here is a portion of what they
said.
Congress is only itself to blame
for this mess
Congress.
That red ink is no fluke of
circumstance.
The post office is meant to be
self sufficient, but it hasnt
broken even for years total
losses since two thousand and seven run to
seventy eight dollars billion according to a may
report by the GAO, which said
that the U Dot S postal services,
current business model, is not
financially sustainable,
its a blockbuster service in a
Netflix world, and will I
mentioned it earlier in twenty thirteen, the
postal service tried to
save two dollars billion a year by
stopping Saturday delivery.
There are massive and powerful
unions there. Yet with an
election looming in Covid 19
and an attempt to push ballots
out, the left is trying to seize
on that and say its trump
shutting down the election.
Will its going to be a massive
story, PETE and Jed, not
just during the election, but
obviously after the election?
I do want to say this.
This story stinks to high Heaven
from every angle. In my
estimation,
the postal service is full of
hard workers, but also an in
efficient service that runs
in the red, and many people have
complaints about
its right for streamlining and
efficiency.
Its also true that mail in
voting is going to be
potentially right for fraud,
its true that governors across
the state will have a ton of
power over who and how they vote,
and if you dont think politics
will be involved in that youre
not paying attention,
but its also true PETE that
President Trump choosing to
streamline the post office at
this time is going to raise
eyebrows
its going to raise suspicion
and, for example, Jed talked to
Representative Debbie Dingle a
Democrat from Michigan a little
bit earlier on what she thought
comes next from the post office.
The house will be back
within the next week to ten days
to do something.
A bill is being put together for
right now that during
Covid 19 we dont take out
machines. We move mailboxes,
tell postal workers, they cant
work overtime.
We need to deal with that.
Ive been saying that for some
time
to have this very visible orders
for no overtime, only the moving
of the machines and thats now
so we should put a stop to it.
Thats. What were going to try
to do in the House hope the
Senate will come back and do
it.
We are going to do something
about that.
People are upset.
Jedediah yeah people are upset
because its been going on for a
really long time,
its just always fascinating
when people choose to get
outraged at convenient
times for people
now is a convenient time fort
left to be outraged about the
financial struggles that
have been ongoing in the post
office for decades now, because
Trump has made some comments- and
I will admit about the post
office and about mail in
balloting, but the bottom line is
the policy needed to change for
a long time long before
President Trump took office. So
if Congress wants to act, they
should do something about it and
stop finger, pointing they are
elected to do a job
PETE. Do you know what im
outraged about, and the president
is outraged about? Is that I want
my vote to count.
I want your vote to count.
I want and the minute youve
got fraud or youve got people
you know at any address who
lived there before?
Are they dead or alive?
Are their kids at college? All
those ballots get pushed out
through the postal service.
How can we validate in every
circumstance that it is that
person as opposed to absentee
ballots? The president made the
case for where you have a
chain of custody, and you know
whose requesting it you dont
have to be present
id love to see a voting weekend,
make election day a national
holiday and then give everybody
Saturday Sunday Monday to vote
and get rid of all of the Monday
sense beforehand, which is only
going to make the outcome of
this muddy
will just make everyones vote
count. Jed,
Jedediah thats exactly right
and not a bad idea PETE.
Actually, you should float that
around
its a pretty solid one. I
havent heard that before, but
the Democrats have
you did it to a lot of people
who watch this show. The
Democrats have bigger
problems than complaining about
the post office, simply
President Trump, because the Dnc
kicks off tomorrow and of course,
Joe Biden is nowhere to be found
still in his basement somewhere
and whats. Worse, is that not
everyone in the Democratic Party
is on board. With the Partys
platform,
you have squad member Talib
coming out voting
no on their platform saying it.
Doesnt include a plan for
single payer health care, and
this is a tweet. It says today
I cast my Dnc ballot and voted.
Transcript generated on 2020-08-16.