See How This Michigan Farmer Educates Urban Consumers About Modern Farming

Carla Schultz wants consumers to know food produced by American farmers is safe, whether it’s GMO, organic, or anything in between. The Michigan farmer, direct marketer, and grain merchandiser joined us at Commodity Classic in Denver to talk about bridging the gap between farmers and the general public, working with family, and serving on the United Soybean Board.

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Meet Carla Schultz

Schultz and her family raise a diverse range of crops and livestock near Mayville, in the thumb of Michigan. She works alongside her husband, Paul; children Silas, Eve, Phoebe, and Piper; and parents Mitchell and Krystal LaBair. 

By selling meat directly to customers at farmers markets around Detroit, Schultz connects with urban consumers, answering tough questions about farming practices like the use of GMOs, building trust through transparency. Her goal is to break down misconceptions and give people a real understanding of where their food comes from.

Off the farm, Schultz is a grain merchandiser for Star of the West in nearby Frankenmuth. She also serves on the United Soybean Board, representing fellow farmers and helping guide the use of checkoff dollars toward research, education, and marketing. She encourages the next generation to get involved in agriculture through 4-H and FFA, and wants them to know careers in ag go beyond farming to include roles in science, education, marketing, and more.

Episode Highlights

• While farming with family has its challenges, Schultz said it is also rewarding, especially seeing her son’s working relationship with his grandparents.
• Eight Plates Farm is the direct marketing wing of the family farm, selling online and at farmers markets around Detroit.
• Schultz enjoys talking to consumers at the farmers markets, many of whom have never been to a farm. She tells them why her family chooses to plant GMO crops and answers their questions.
• As a member of the United Soybean Board, Schultz helps manage checkoff dollars.
• Schultz and her family make succession planning and make it a priority.
• Volunteering in classrooms gives Schultz the chance to teach kids about where their food comes from.

Links and Resources

• Visit Eight Plates Farm, the consumer-direct branch of Schultz’s family farm, which offers online sales of meat and eggs.
• Read a 15 Minutes With a Farmer column in Successful Farming magazine featuring Carla Schultz.
• Meet the Weiss family, dairy farmers located near Schultz’s Michigan farm.

Transcript

Please note: This transcript has not been edited.

Lisa Foust Prater: Welcome to the 15 Minutes with a Farmer Podcast from Successful Farming, I’m your host, Lisa Foust Prater.

My guest today is Carla Schultz, a Michigan farmer, direct marketer, and grain merchandiser. She joined me for a conversation at Commodity Classic in Denver, where we talked about bridging the gap between farmers and the general public, working with family, and serving on the United Soybean Board.

In each episode, I have a quick 15 minute conversation with a farmer to hear their story and share their experience, expertise, and life lessons. 

Carla, thank you so much for joining me for 15 Minutes With a Farmer. 

Carla Schultz: Yeah, thanks for having me. I’m super excited to talk with you this morning. 

Lisa Foust Prater: Well, I know that you were featured in the magazine in one of our 15 Minutes With a Farmer columns. And so it’s so fun to be able to talk to you here and kind of bring that full circle. 

Carla Schultz: It’s very exciting. I know I have mentioned this to many people before, but Successful Farming is one of my favorite magazines. So that 15 Minutes With a Farmer that I was highlighted in the magazine, that was a highlight of mine for my career because as a little child I loved reading that magazine. 

Lisa Foust Prater: Thank you. I love that so much. So you are in the Thumb of Michigan, yes? 

Carla Schultz: I am, yes. 

Lisa Foust Prater:  So you know I actually was there last fall or no spring I guess and it was the first time I had ever been to Michigan and I loved it and I went into the Thumb, well I had a couple of stops like across the state but I went to Frankenmuth.

Carla Schultz: My goodness, I’m in Frankenmuth almost every day. 

Lisa Foust Prater: Yes, it’s so beautiful there. I just I love it. So why don’t you tell us a little bit about your your family operation? 

Carla Schultz: Sure. So Carla Schultz from Mayfield, Michigan, the easiest thing and tell people are about two hours north of Detroit in the thumb, like you mentioned, because as a Michigander, we’ll always hold up our palm and we can tell. 

Lisa Foust Prater: It’s the cutest. It’s the cutest state. 

Carla Schultz: Yes. And on our farm. We, I farm with my husband and my parents and four children. So it’s kind of fun because maybe not so much for my husband sometimes, but we live on one side of the road. My parents live on the other side of the road and our four children are very involved in our farm operation where we grow corn, wheat, soybeans, black beans, hay, cattle, hogs, and some seasonal chickens. 

Lisa Foust Prater: Well, that is a diversified operation. You’ve got a lot going on. 

Carla Schultz: It is, yes. It keeps us very busy and my husband reminds me of that too. Yeah, between kids and farming, there’s never a dull moment. And on our farm too, I would say the protein, the cattle, hogs, chickens, that’s actually a website that we run that’s consumer direct. Whereas our other commodities that we raise, it’s more local elevators and then, you know, domestically traded throughout the country. 

Lisa Foust Prater: Yeah, that’s amazing. So I read that you also do some like markets in Detroit. 

Carla Schultz: We do. So we first started, I want to say six years ago, we started Eight Plates Farm, that’s a branch of our farm that’s consumer direct. And so we first started at farmers markets down by Detroit in Shelby Township in Troy. And that was a great stride for us to bring in customers. And when you’re consumer facing, I found that is one of the best ways to speak to people about your farming operation when they can connect to a farmer, it really means something to them. 

Lisa Foust Prater: That’s so fun. So have you found like when you’re closer to the city like that and you’re, you know, maybe dealing with folks who have less of a rural background. Are they asking you questions or are you talking about just sort of farm life in general and what that means? It feels like some of them have probably never been to a farm. 

Carla Schultz: Yeah, no, that’s an awesome question. And there are many questions we get from them. Some are simple, right? Easy answers. Some hit a little deeper. The biotechnology, do you feed your animals GMO corn? We do because we see the validity in our ethanol market that’s close to us.

At the same time, many of them too, want to visit the farm and we are always open for that. So it’s like, yes, because you aren’t able to. And if we can get you on the farm and that can change your perspective of what a farmer does every day, then we’re making an effect. 

What they see is what they see on social media, what they see on TV. And so when they come out, we talk to them, we’re a real person. They’re like, wow, you do care for your animals. You do care for us because you’re raising them.

And in that same tone, we kind of segue into the crops, which you’re right. Sometimes that isn’t as, they can’t connect with the crops as easily as livestock. But that actually has helped me segue into my position as a United Soybean Board Director. And we feed soybean meal to the hogs on our farm and we can make that connection, right? So the feed that we’re growing, feeding to our livestock and then selling that to customers all over the country, especially in Michigan.

Lisa Foust Prater: And when people ask you those questions, like, “Do you use GMO feed?” You know, I think other than just saying yes, you know, you’re explaining to them what that really means. Do you see a light go on in their heads at all about like, it’s not maybe the evil thing I thought it was? 

Carla Schultz: I do, right? I think though there are two sides. Some are just happy that I’m honest with them. Right. Because I’m like this, I’m not going to hide this. This is why we do what we do. I don’t just say this is, yep, and then leave it. And some of them, when I give them reasons why we raise GMO corn or GMO soybeans, they’re like, “Okay, now I know why. Okay, now this is safe to eat. You’re eating this as well. You’re feeding it to your animals.” And some people will say, “I still wouldn’t like to buy livestock from you.” And that’s okay. That’s a choice as Americans too. Because we have those markets. Yeah. 

Lisa Foust Prater: Yeah. And you know, there’s a niche for that for, you know, the folks who are not doing that. That’s a, that’s their own kind of market. But yeah, I mean, I just think explaining like why, you know, like, you don’t have to use as many inputs and things like that. Once they maybe understand that, because I honestly believe that people maybe don’t understand why. 

Carla Schultz: Correct. Yeah. And that’s really why I try to give them that reasons, we hear that a lot ahead. And when we come into antibiotics, vaccinations, that’s all in that realm. And we have to just explain that to them. it makes more of an impact when I’m explaining it to them in person than when they’re just reading it off of the internet.

Lisa Foust Prater: Yeah, and when they can see it’s you and not just like some evil corporation or whatever. for sure. Yeah, I think that definitely makes a difference. So talk to me about working with the three-generation operation. I’m sure there are some challenges that come with that. Working with family is wonderful, but it also can be challenging and also it can be difficult to separate your work life from your personal life. 

Carla Schultz: It can be very difficult. So I’m a person that I multitask in my head. My husband, not as much, but he is amazing at getting things done on the farm when I’m traveling, when I’m representing other farmers. Yeah, we have actually the third generation, who’s actually here, my 20-year-old son came to Commodity Classic. He’s really integral to our farm operation itself. it’s, know, having that next generation step into the family farm, that’s so exciting. And the really great thing is, sure, right now, my husband and I are the middle generation when I think of the three of us, but my son is the third, he’s stepping into it so nicely in a relationship with his grandfather. He can really, I guess, connect on different levels than we can as children. But it’s such an honor to see him do something that he loves to do and that he can connect with his grandparents in the way he does.

Lisa Foust Prater: That’s so beautiful. And what a great relationship, you know, and having grown up across the road and now to be working with them as an adult. 

Carla Schultz: It’s not always perfect. 

Lisa Foust Prater: Not always, no. But handy for sure. But you know, it’s interesting, you know, him coming in, talking with your dad, and really getting a completely different perspective of like the things your parents went through as farmers and the challenges that they had versus like the things that you and your husband had to deal with. Just having those multi-generations I think is so key. So talk about like those kind of lessons.

Carla Schultz: Keeping the conversation open is huge, right? Yeah. My parents are not as good of communicators as maybe my husband and I are. But then having us in the middle to moderate those conversations I think has been a big help. But you’re right, it’s work and it’s tough. And especially when you’re talking about land, you’re talking about capital, how do you get the next generation started, all of that comes into play and you have to figure that out. And sometimes it’s even bringing in legal counsel to help you figure this out because you want it to be sustainable. 

Lisa Foust Prater: Right. Yeah, that’s really an important point about I think a lot of folks don’t put as much time and effort into that kind of succession planning as they should and then you think you have time but you don’t know how much time you have and then if things aren’t set up you know and something happens you think, “Oh our kids will get along it’s fine” but they do not. 

Carla Schultz: You see that all the time all the time across the country and so you want to make sure that that farm is still in place for the next generations and that’s the whole reason of succession planning even though sometimes it might be hard to do. It is. Hard decisions and sometimes you might have to say no on things or prioritize, but it’s definitely worth it, the outcome. 

Lisa Foust Prater: And it lets you and your parents have a feeling of some control over what’s going to happen, whereas if you have no plan, I mean, really, the government decides what happens. Having those things in writing really helps and helps give your son some security, you know, too. So that’s smart, I’m glad to hear that you’re doing that, because it can just be so tragic when it’s not done. My goodness. 

So tell me about your role with Soybean Board and how you kind of got started doing that. 

Carla Schultz: Yeah, that’s a good question too. So I’ll give you, I know I gave a lot of background on my farm, but I also worked for Star of the West Milling in Frankenmuth, so I actually hedge wheat for them. I sell to big food companies. And that was an eye-opener for me to see as a grower and see it in the CPG space that I had never seen. One thing that came to my attention was a good friend that said, hey, I know you’ve loved to be on boards. You love leadership roles. I really think you should apply for a United Soybean board. And I thought, yeah, it’s the time is right to do this. I’ve had experiences in many different spaces. So I applied. I was appointed federally three years ago. And it has been a phenomenal way to represent farmers all across the country.

I just, yeah, I find it so rewarding because you know that the checkoff dollars are from farmers like myself and the 76 others that are sitting on the board. So we’re making the decisions of the checkoff money that comes in. And it’s so important because you know that this is what it goes back to my heart. I have like neighbors and family farm friends. They would never do this or have time for it. But I want to represent them because I see the passion at home. I see the work that goes and I want to make sure this money is managed and invested in the best way possible.

Lisa Foust Prater: Right, right, yeah, that’s, I love that. And you know, it’s one of those things where once you make the leap and get started, like with being on a board or even volunteering with a group, you really see the value in it. And not only is it rewarding to, you know, your industry, but just for yourself, like you feel like you’re doing something to help, like you said, help those other folks who need good representation. 

Carla Schultz: And I’m humbled by the representation of my board members. Sometimes it’s like,wow, I am working with some of the most intelligent farmer representation out there. And to see their passion behind it, I really wish that everyone could see the decisions they’re making are really for the benefit of the farmer. 

Lisa Foust Prater: So what about your girls? Do you think that they have interest in coming back to the farm? 

Carla Schultz: So right now it looks like our youngest. So our oldest son who’s 20 and he has interest in it, our youngest, she is an amazing grain cart operator and she and her brother already have a kind of a plan hatched out maybe in the future. You can see them farming together. 

Lisa Foust Prater: That’s so nice. Yeah, it is so rewarding when they want to come home and when you can afford to have them come home. Now you got to make a plan and figure out ways to maybe expand your business.

Carla Schultz: So yeah, that’s such a good point and that’s the reason we went with that other branch of like directing right to the consumer Yeah was how can we bring in different, know more income or we’re capturing some of that profit right? Can we rent more land? Can we buy more land? Can we invest equipment? Can we do custom? All of those thoughts? Yeah, go through a farmers mind is they’re looking to bring another generation on yeah. 

Lisa Foust Prater: That’s so good I’m wondering, you know, what kind of advice you would give to you know, someone maybe your girl’s age who they’re thinking, I’m looking at a, I love agriculture, I wanna carry an egg, but you the outlook is kind of scary and it’s so expensive to get started, you know, especially if you don’t have a family operation to work into. You know, what kind of advice would you give those kids who love agriculture but they don’t know what they wanna do? 

Carla Schultz: Yeah, a big part of that, especially when you’re young, is 4-H and FFA. 4-H is big. It’s all across the country. I would say pretty easy to get into. Usually you just contact your extension specialist and those programs are waiting for you at universities that 4-H is just so much more than your county fair, right? There’s so many more programs out there with universities that you can go try out and see if you like. And then FFA is another great program that’s out there for young adults or students. They’re not sure if they want to get into Ag and they haven’t had that chance. And I think having those teachers and those mentors to help them is humongous.

I know I’m going to do a panel this afternoon and it has to nourish the future so it’s educating, bringing agricultural lessons into the classroom in urban settings.

Lisa Foust Prater: I love that. 

Carla Schultz: And it’s a great, it’s just a great connection to those students like I’ve never connected to agriculture and it’s like yes, your life is connected to every day even if you do not realize it. Yeah. And there’s jobs in that ag spectrum whether you realize it or not. You don’t have to be a farmer to be connected to agriculture. 

Lisa Foust Prater: Yeah. That’s so key. I love those Ag in the Classroom programs, you know, it’s like, especially for those kids who are in the city and really don’t have any family members who are farming. And also, you know, the kids learn, they meet a farmer, they go home, they tell their parents, I met this farmer and she was so nice and you know, she raises cows and pigs and whatever. It’s good PR for the industry, but it’s also just, it’s so great for those kids to like really get a picture of where their food comes from, where fiber comes from all those things that they probably never really thought about before. 

Carla Schultz: And I think getting a positive experience on a farm is huge because they’ll take that into adulthood. And if you’ve never gotten it as a child, all you see is the negative headlines and connection, but if they saw that, they’re like, “Oh no, I’ve been to a farm before and I had a great experience. Maybe I could talk to Carla. I met her before. I’ll reach out to her.” That door’s open. 

Lisa Foust Prater: Yeah, absolutely. The day that I was at Weiss’s farm, there was a fourth grade field trip that day. So I basically just went on the field trip and it was so much fun. You know, they, so they’re a dairy. And so as we’re walking down and the cows are there and some of the kids are like, they’ve never seen a cow and they’re kind of rural kids, but some of them just, when Joanmarie asked, okay, raise your hands if you live on a farm, there was only like two or three kids in the whole group that did.

And the kids were amazed at how big those Holsteins were. I mean, to be fair, they are big. They are big. They’re intimidating. They are. But they just could not get over, they had no concept of the size of a cow in comparison to themselves. So it was just so much fun to watch their little faces. And Joanmarie talked about the flower being milled at Star of the West. And she told them about how McDonald’s ice cream cones, that’s where they get their flour and things like that and Goldfish. So I thought every time those kids eat a McDonald’s ice cream cone or a Goldfish, they’re going to think about that and remember like, yeah, I know where the flower came from from this. Fun fact, you know, it’s from Frankenmuth. So that’s so cool. 

Carla Schultz: And to know those products, my gosh, they’re growing right in my area. 

Lisa Foust Prater: I love that. I love that. Well, you’re doing such good work and on the board and with the ag in the classroom and all those, all those great things you’re doing. And, and I love seeing the generations work so smoothly together. So good luck this afternoon at your panel. I know it’ll be wonderful. And thank you so much for joining me. It’s been so fun to talk to you. 

Carla Schultz: Thanks for having me, Lisa. I’ve enjoyed it as well. 

Lisa Foust Prater: Thank you for listening. Please subscribe, rate, and review us wherever you listen to your podcasts. Open the latest issue of Successful Farming and visit us online at agriculture.com for more interesting features and news for your farm and Join me next week for another episode of 15 Minutes With a Farmer.