Jim Lenz:
In this episode of the Whole Grain Podcast, we’re heading deep into bourbon country, to the rolling hills of Loretto, kentucky in the United States, where time meets tradition and grain quality isn’t just important, it’s everything. Today we’re pouring a glass of something a little different. Let’s get started. Hello and welcome to the show. Welcome to the Whole Grain Podcast. The Whole Grain Show brings grain professional listeners together from 89 countries from around the world. I’m so happy you’re joining us today.
Jim Lenz:
My name is Jim Lenz, your host, producer and editor of the show and the director of global education and training at GEAPS we’re. The mission of the Grain Elevator, elevator and processing society is to champion, connect and serve the global grain industry and our members At GEAPS. We work to be the global grain community and thought leader for the grain industry, which feeds and fuels the world. This is a show where we bring you fresh ideas, smart perspectives and forward-thinking leaders from across the grain handling and processing industry. We bring in two outstanding guests in today’s show, both of Peterson Farms in Kentucky. We have Bernard Peterson, a partner at Peterson Farms, and Dane Gentry, grain facilities manager.
Jim Lenz:
Peterson Farms is a family-run operation that supplies numerous famous distilleries and when we are saying, they are picky about their grain. That is an understatement. We’ll explore why distilleries reject rain for just a few cobs in a trailer, or how jasmine, the earthy smelling compound from brain and dust, can ruin a barrel worth twenty thousand dollars, and why food safety and consistency are the name of the game in this niche but fast-growing segment of the industry. We also touch on a couple other specialties offered by Peterson Farms. So whether you’re a facility manager, a food safety specialist, just a curious grain professional, or just love learning how grain gets from the bin to the barrel, this episode is for you.
Jim Lenz:
So let’s jump right into the conversation and raise a glass to the power of premium grain handling. All right, today we’re heading into bourbon, country, where grain quality, precision and consistency aren’t just important, they’re absolutely essential. We’ll explore what it takes to meet the rigorous demands of the distilling world. I’m joined by two outstanding guests from Peterson Farms Dane Gentry, grain facilities manager and loyal whole grain listener, and Bernard Peterson, partner of this family-run operation. Welcome to the show, bernard. Welcome to the show, dane.
Dane Gentry:
Glad to be here, yeah, glad to be here as well.
Jim Lenz:
Dane, I’ll start with you. I know you’ve been part of our Jeeps community for a while and have tuned in regularly to the show, the Whole Grain Podcast. Great to have you here. And again, Bernard, I’m looking forward to your unique perspective that you can offer here. So, Dane, you’ve worked at some of the largest terminal elevators in the country and now you’re part of a family-operated farm and grain business in Kentucky. Tell us about that journey. What led you to Peterson Farms?
Dane Gentry:
Yeah, so I’m a Kansas kid born and raised, went to Kansas State there albeit for kinesiology, and there’s no translation into what I’m doing now except for coaching but joined ADM shortly after that, worked at the 18 million bushel facility there in Hutchinson, kansas, grabbed that away, got led to Arden Mills, another giant flower producer down there in Wichita, kansas, and relocated to Ohio for Arden Mills and at that point up there in Columbus, ohio, switched over to distilling with Little West Spirits there. I’m a pretty big producer for that state and then switched over to a little bit smaller producer in Indiana, harb Truth, and then made my journey down here and back into grain handling. But I’ve got to see, you know, three years of distilling and then now, now, lo and behold, supply list for what you do outstanding thanks for sharing, dean.
Jim Lenz:
How would you compare your experience of a large corporate setting to this more focused, family-driven environment?
Dane Gentry:
very relaxed and much needed breath of fresh air, learned a lot of good corporate policies, procedures, best practices that can translate to a family farm operation, but it’s a little bit more easygoing. You don’t paint yourself so much into a box and you can still have that freedom to do what’s necessary but also to do what’s right.
Jim Lenz:
And Bernard, could you share your backstory of Peterson Farms? I know our listeners are going to be curious about that. Add as much detail as you want to. And how did the business start and what does the operation look like today?
Bernard Peterson:
Well, historically we go back when we start talking about family genealogy. We go back to our Dutch heritage, which started in New York. We have 13 generations in the US. I think the first ones came before the US was the US, but regardless they’ve migrated through the years, been farmers in every generation since, so 13,. I’m 13th and we now have the 14th generation here at Farming. Peterson Farms as we know it today, we say, started in 1946 with the marriage of our parents. We’ve grown from there. We grew up in dairy operation hogs had some chickens in there. Among that had a layer flop for a while in those years. As we migrated through the years late 90s we got more focused on grain production. Grain production started growing then through the early 2000s and we had storage for our own grain and were selling to the distilling industry. But we weren’t fully using those facilities. So we thought maybe we should get a little more commercialized and do some grain merchandising as well as our own production. And that has grown along with our farming operation to where it is today.
Jim Lenz:
Very nice. Peterson Farms plays a big role in the heart of the bourbon country, supplying grain to multiple distillers in the region. Can you, gentlemen, describe a little bit about the size of Peterson Farms? Tell us more.
Bernard Peterson:
So Peterson Farms started out with three brothers together. Our nephew joined us. We now have some new partners with us as well who are non-family. We’re managing around 19,000 acres, three grain facilities. Total storage in those three facilities totals about 3 million bushels. The locations of the three facilities were primarily located where there was a need for storage, not only for our production but for production in the area, and so that’s kind of how they got spread out as they are.
Jim Lenz:
And you have a few off-site facilities as well.
Bernard Peterson:
Yeah, some of the land, some of the farms we manage have some storage on them as well, which totals up to about 200,000 bushels total. We use it kind of as a buffer in the fall when we need it, and the last few years we filled it every time. So we’re still on the edge of adequate storage.
Jim Lenz:
Nice.
Dane Gentry:
And we are still building grain bins. Today we are actively building two bins at the Danville facility. Danville came up probably about two years ago.
Jim Lenz:
Oh, wow, so big projects still occurring, lots of growth in this area and you largely, as you said, service the bourbon industry primarily, right.
Bernard Peterson:
Right, we do some specialty crops as well. We do non-GMO soybeans which are mostly going to the Asian market. Mostly exports, some by barge, some by. We’re doing some container work as well.
Dane Gentry:
And I’ll just say, to kind of call it out, I think someone comfortable Berk can add to this a little bit. You know the Loretto facility was built first. You know the bin that was erected there at some point. The little town of Loretto didn’t think it’d ever be filled. I don’t remember what the capacity was of that bin, but I believe it was filled within five days.
Bernard Peterson:
Yes, my father started that facility at Loretto in 1967, and there were basically three bins there, total storage capacity of 100,000 bushels and the talk of the community was well, there’s not enough grain in nine counties to fill that and at that facility now it’s two billion. It’s been full every year for the last several.
Jim Lenz:
Now you have grains also coming off the barge from the river as well, right, we are not bringing any grain inbound from the river.
Bernard Peterson:
We are taking grain soybeans primarily to the river for export.
Jim Lenz:
Okay, gotcha, I understand. Thank you. So you play a big role in the heart of the bourbon country, supplying grain to multiple distillers in the region. That must come with high expectations. Can you describe the level of quality and consistency that’s required?
Dane Gentry:
Yeah, so super clean expectations very little dust, very little fines, stocks problems.
Dane Gentry:
You know, I’ll say one of their first tests when we ship a load into the distillery is a visual check. Then we get on top of the trailers. They will look at it. If it doesn’t look right, it doesn’t matter. If it’s number one, number two, whatever the grades are, they do not know to accept it. They are paying for good quality, clean grain and that’s what we expect to deliver.
Dane Gentry:
There are some situations that regard Geosmin. Geosmin is a bacteria in the dust and the dirt that comes in with the grain, albeit some of it is in water solutions, but that is another side that we don’t have. But also keeping super clean grain bins, making sure they’re entirely swept out pristine it is very important. Keeping that grain moving, keeping it stirred up Corn bins is something we do quite frequently just to make sure we keep that grain in great condition when it comes time to load out. The smell test is one way to do. If they detect any hint of odor, it’s definitely rejected and sent back to us, and we’re not in business of doing that. We give them what they expect first time. We deliver expectations. We actually have KPIs and metrics that track that. We try to limit those rejections as much as possible.
Jim Lenz:
It’s such a niche industry. How does handling grain for distillers differ from handling it for uses like ethanol or feed?
Dane Gentry:
You know, a lot of those facilities base their contracts based on federal grain inspection standards, number two, number three, things of that nature. I don’t believe and Bernard can speak more to this I don’t believe that’s how they strictly word their contracts. They probably put their own stacks as far as F&O and boy shares related. But again, it’s the appearance, it’s the smell and it’s the quality, not only after it shows up on their property in a truck, it’s once they put it on column. They are sampling it quite frequently there at the distillery. If they get some off taste they will work that problem backwards and find out what level, where they come from, things of that nature. But the older grain can give them trouble. It causes some congeners in there to kind of go stale, give it an earthy, nutty taste. I can speak to that on both sides of the coin there. But yeah, it is undesirable and just like any other protection facility or processing facility.
Dane Gentry:
distillers want that consistent. There’s one not too far down the road from us here in Loretta. They’ve been doing the same thing for about 70 years, so that consistency is key. You’re going to pick up a bottle of that up off the shelf. It’s going to taste just like the bottle you pick up in three states away.
Jim Lenz:
Lots to consider yeah.
Bernard Peterson:
Yeah, I like to liken the grades and the quality of the grain to. You know, when you go to the grocery store and buy your cornflakes, you want to know what’s there. We are literally right here in the food production side of business, and so people talk about discount schedules. There are no discount schedules in the people we deal with in the distilling world. It’s either it’s pass or fail. So it’s very clear in quality and on time. You know most of these places have storage that will supply them for somewhere between 24 and 48 hours. So it’s very much a service-oriented business as well as quality.
Jim Lenz:
Very good point.
Dane Gentry:
Distilleries for the most part. You know their bins on site are pass students. They’re surge bins, I don’t even want to call them. They go through them quite frequently so they’re not in the business of handling storage.
Jim Lenz:
So again very high quality standards, no cobs, no dust Like Bernard said it’s a pass or fail.
Dane Gentry:
But the trouble with that is human nature. Right, we get that truck there to the distillery. It matters who’s sniffing it, right? Okay, well, usually they get someone else to either confirm or not realize there’s a smell there. But you know so that consistency can make it tricky. You know it smells just like anybody else. You know I smell something that you don’t, or they pick up on so it’s. You know there’s a little human error that makes it tricky there. But they do their best to, just like we do, to have confirmation that smell or sight or visual is a confirmation, before me saying, well, one person smelled it, well, it’s the next.
Jim Lenz:
Oh, that’s very interesting For those who are not familiar with Geosmin. What is Geosmin and why is it such a concern?
Dane Gentry:
that’s a part of also another that’s grown to be a pretty big producer. You know it takes the distillate point blank. That dust, the dirt, and that bacteria is then put in. With the fermentation, with the grain subsequently goes into the column to get distilled, you start getting a real, I’d say, base mini flavor is the best I can describe it Must be. It’s just, it’s very noticeable as human beings. Back in the day that was how we found water, because it is in water sources as well. You know it’s measured in parts per trillion. That the human does and receptors can pick up on that quite easily. So when that starts coming off of their column they know real quick and it only intensifies if they have to put it in barrels.
Dane Gentry:
Distillers, brewers are all kind of the same mindset. You don’t dump it, turn it to vodka or you figure out how to blend it just like any other product, but it it stands out. I would say probably one barrel in 50 or 60 could be what you can get away with. So hopefully that stresses the impact of that geosmin. So when you put it in the barrel it does intensify. When you go to look at it, say six, eight, ten years later, what are the strategies that peterson farms do to help mitigate that?
Jim Lenz:
what are the strategies that the Peterson Farms do to help mitigate that? What are some strategies to help manage jasmine?
Dane Gentry:
Yeah, that’s a good one. So, just like most probably grain handlers, grain facilities, corporations out there, we have been monitoring Be a good proactive way to catch problems before they happen, because some of those fines in the center that are very hard to break up and pass air through, you know will start to tend to heat up.
Dane Gentry:
We’ll see hot spots. We can pull those out and figure out a better way forward. But again it comes down to the cleanings. We clean all of our grain going into bins Found that to be a better practice than cleaning it on the way out. Just gives you less problems, whether it’s physically trying to pull from the bin or keeping that quality in good condition. A reference coring bins. We try to do that as much as possible. When we get down the sweet level, we are sweeping it completely, talking about every single kernel as much as we can off the floor. All the dust, any dirt or anything like that also gets discarded.
Jim Lenz:
Wow, tender care and making things are clean. Good efforts there. I think in an earlier conversation you talk about the role of innovation labs in reference to some of the things related to Jasmine. Can you discuss that a little bit further?
Dane Gentry:
Yeah, so we’ve partnered with a distillery’s parent company. They have an innovation lab a little bit north of here, about a half hour or so. We’ve been working with them as most distilleries are starting to come to the food safety world and food safety audits. They’re auditing suppliers just as if I was back in my flower days. You know, they come in there with a quality mindset. That’s what we expect to deliver to them. So, yeah, we’ve partnered a little bit with them.
Dane Gentry:
I’ve worked with them in conjunction on sending them samples at all different depths of our bin to really understand where that geos been wise. That gives us understand where that geosmin lies. That gives us feedback where we need to be better, just some better ways forward, just trying to figure out what we got. At the end of the day, geosmin is one of those things that everybody’s still trying to find a way forward. Eradicate it, wash it, whatever it may be, but most of these distilleries have learned how to work around it and what their standard of Vialzman is acceptable and which is not just like any other defect.
Jim Lenz:
So you two are given a really good overview of how the Hamlin grain is different for high-end distilling. Let’s talk more about the high stakes in every single kernel. Can you talk about the economics for this? I think it will be quite surprising to some of our listeners how this is so different. This niche.
Dane Gentry:
Yeah. So again, before we get off on that, I’m always having these afterthoughts after talking through. But a little bit back up to the GI, the testing time. There is no rapid test currently. As we talk today Other grain handlers will know after toxin bomb and toxin don there’s a somewhat rapid test. You know it may take five, ten minutes like a GMO test, but there is no rapid test. So when that truck shows up at the distillery or your step it’s subject to humans Snip it, smout it, see if anything’s there or not. Working with that innovation I believe they’ve gotten it down to about three hours is the quickest taking test. Before that it was. Yeah, there’s some speedy technology going on there, some fiber technology. We’re trying to get that geotman to cling to that fiber. There’s no quick pass or fail on that test yet.
Jim Lenz:
Yeah, that’s really good information. So, right, it’s down to three hours. Where we’re at in this conversation, this date and time, 2025, in late May, as we’re discussing this, that course could change in the future. So that’s why that human component, using your senses, is critical, and then all those measures you do to keep things as clean, as tidy as possible for this niche market. Any comments additionally from you, bernard?
Bernard Peterson:
Well, also, as we’re in a business where we supply 12 months out of the year, so we’re always supplying through the summer months, which storing grain through the summer months is always a challenge Just managing through the heat, making sure all that’s good. Also, we continue to buy grain off the farm through the summer, so we have to be very cognizant of the storage practices taken by those that are bringing us grain as well, to make sure they meet those quality standards. We’ve got some alternative markets. Not every grain goes to the distillery. Some ends up in the world of feed, which is where the quality requirements are a little more relaxed.
Jim Lenz:
Right Makes sense here. Can you both talk a little bit about the economics? There are high stakes in every single kernel, so can you lay some of that out there for our listeners, because so many of our listeners are not in this niche but they perhaps like the product that’s ultimately produced and they are grain professionals, whether they’re vendor suppliers or in their operations or whatnot. This is a really interesting conversation, so let’s take it even further with the economics here.
Dane Gentry:
Yeah. So I would say me and Brian both echo that sentiment. We like their products as well. We don’t want wanna change their consistency. But you’re looking at this from the facility side. They’re filling barrels. One barrel is anywhere depending on the age statement, but again 10 to $20,000,. Once you take that barrel to bought, which you get about 190, 200 bottles of one barrel. Obviously, as it ages you have less and less in there.
Dane Gentry:
So yeah, and then on the grain side of things, our side of things, you know, we know our market prices, we know what a truckload of corn is worth. But again the distillers are paying for very clean truckloads to be shipped into them, Very good, high quality, good test weight, exact moisture that they’re looking for. They don’t want too dry, they don’t want too wet, they don’t want just dry. So yeah, delivering on those things it’s costly.
Jim Lenz:
Yeah, so there’s a lot of care to ensure consistency and purity in every single load that you have. Consistency is everything, and that’s why distillers avoid old grain, isn’t it?
Bernard Peterson:
And reliability. Reliability is a real key because you never want to be the supplier that causes the distillery to have a hiccup in their production cycle. So, with most of these having very limited storage, you have to be there daily, or at least every other day, and you pretty much have to be ensured that you have the quality they need when you get there, because there may not be time to replace that load sometimes. So it’s very important. Part of the economics is we’re right in the middle of the bourbon industry, so Fred is our friend here. Pure luck to grow up in the right spot, but it’s that that is part of it. But relationships are key and creating that reputation and I think everyone who listens to this understands the reputation of any business and that is one of the that is the real key to making this all work.
Jim Lenz:
Absolutely Good point. Now you touched on cleaning. That is the real key to making this all work. Absolutely Good point, now you touched on cleaning. Can you add a little more detail to facility cleaning cycles and minimal storage time?
Dane Gentry:
I would say we also track this metric as well. Turnover of our facilities we currently, as we said, we turn over all of our facilities about one and a half times.
Bernard Peterson:
I say, unlike a lot of the export houses that turn their inventory seven or eight times a year, we turn our inventory one and a half times a year but part of that is our location and the grain. We try to keep grain grown locally. A number of our end users today want local grain and so our goal is to keep that local grain local for that production.
Jim Lenz:
Got it. You’re not moving massive volumes like a commercial terminal elevator. But imagine that smaller scale gives you some operational advantages. What are those advantages?
Dane Gentry:
Dang, you’ve operated in the mercy of a railroad, you’re not at the mercy of a barge or the ship master a little bit slower, I guess that things happen here in kentucky and it’s a good peace of mind again.
Jim Lenz:
Like bernard responded, we are expected to deliver first time real life results at their doorstep when we bring so we talked about storage times, regular cleaning cycles, and do you talk about coring strategies to help you keep the grain as pristine as possible? I think you touched on a little bit. Did you want to add any detail to that?
Bernard Peterson:
It goes back to the storage strategies that I’ve known all my life and that’s keep grain moving. So you don’t like to leave a bin sitting for six months. You use a little bit out of all of them all the time.
Jim Lenz:
You mentioned already, you have some grain that is designated for specialty markets. Let’s talk about specialty markets and future trends Non-GMO soybeans in shipping containers to overseas markets you are involved with that to some degree and the Peterson Farms right.
Bernard Peterson:
Yes, we are, that is correct. We’re doing that mainly through third parties, but at the same time we’re servicing the needs for quality and purity.
Jim Lenz:
How has diversifying into these markets changed your approach?
Bernard Peterson:
Well, the specialty markets provide an opportunity for a little more margin. Here and there you also. In the specialty market the competition is not as strong when we think about soybeans, and 93% of US soybeans are GMO and we’re growing the non-GMO, which is 7% of total production. Sometimes and today is a prime example If you’ve got some non-GMO soybeans, if you know where they are, they’re pretty valuable. Today, until harvest happens again. Of course, that supply chain seems to have gotten a little short. The container market again. We’re re-cleaning some beans going to seed quality with some going in containers. Most of the beans we ship are number two, but we have the ability to upgrade to number one or seed quality if needed, if a customer demands that.
Dane Gentry:
And I’ll add to that seed quality. I feel like we’re one of the few that also partners with seed companies to produce them seed as well. We have our own seed center is what we call it where we clean, bag, ship those out to the supplier.
Jim Lenz:
Yeah, we’re actually cleaning seed for a couple of seed producers so we’ve got at least a couple different specialty markets here with non-gml beans and and with the uh primarily beans, doing some wheat as well okay so we grow soft red winter wheat.
Bernard Peterson:
Most of our soft red winter wheat goes into the distilling market, but we’re doing. We’re doing some seed work also.
Jim Lenz:
Do you two see continued growth in the distilling sector? What do you see in terms of future outlook? Is this a new frontier for grain handlers?
Dane Gentry:
I don’t think it’s quite so new because tradition has been here for quite some time with the distilling industry and the producers here have been here for quite some time with the distilling industry and the producers here. There was a surge in the bourbon industry where all these craft distilleries started popping up. People out of different states started grasping on to what Kentucky was doing here. That went pretty well. I think with the current climate as it is has kind of purged that industry of. You know the ones that really have stuck with quality and consistency the most, and some of these other ones have unfortunately fallen to the wayside. But I don’t see much craft distilleries or new distilleries popping up much anymore. But yes, it is something. If you have a distillery that pops up in your backyard or in your state as a grain handler, if you deliver on quality and excellence, that would be a good customer to go after and a good partner.
Bernard Peterson:
The bourbon industry today is in a slight pullback but, as with any other industry, there are ebbs and flows. Me personally, I’m pretty bullish. Bullish the bourbon industry, I think. The parts of the world that bourbon consumption is growing, I think there are going to be some huge demand. Primarily Asia and India is where I see the growth coming from, the bigger growth.
Jim Lenz:
Interesting. You hear a lot of these Hollywood stars coming up with their own drink. I’ve heard lately Any commentary about that.
Bernard Peterson:
Well, we had a distillery that started construction here locally and I’m pretty sure there was a football coach involved in the investment there and they have stopped construction for whatever reason. We’ll see if that comes back to life.
Jim Lenz:
All right, dane, what about you? You’ve had some involvement with CHEAPS. What do you think about people using CHEAPS as a resource to stay connected with others, for networking, for educational purposes, just for learning and growing this industry and advancing the industry? What kind of value does that bring?
Dane Gentry:
CHEAPS, I’ll tell you, is a great society, something to be a part of. Membership-wise Each state kind of value does that bring? Jukes, I’ll tell you, is a great society, a great something to be a part of. Membership wise each state kind of has several chapters until just recently.
Dane Gentry:
I realized Kentucky does not have them. So I think there is a very big missed opportunity here. You know this distillery processing rate, which little people really understand. It is at them. They’re’re doing the exact same thing and that’s what I’m planning on doing, just a little bit more desirable to taste than what comes off of an ethanol column and a little bit smaller scale and flow than what ethanol producers make. But quality consistency is there.
Dane Gentry:
But I think you know, with maybe us continuing to partner, hopefully to help Jeeps. You know, maybe we can have a chapter here that can bring all these people to the table. You know, as of late soybean producers, corn growers of America have started to join the Jeeps table. That isn’t to say distillers can come to the table as well and the producers that supply them. A lot of great opportunities, I believe, at kentucky, small niche market, bourbons everywhere, but as everybody knows, it’s pretty big there too well, we appreciate those comments.
Jim Lenz:
Thank you, dane, to both of you. You know this industry at large. Grain industry is challenged to find those who are curious and informing them and, of course, educating them about this special industry to help feed and fuel the world and all the fibers that are produced from grain. Just in general, what is your message to someone listening today who may be considering working in the grain industry? Why is it so special to you each personally? What do you think is important about this industry and why people should get involved and think of this as a career?
Dane Gentry:
I would say how I’ve built up the passion for it is you know, it’s not glamorous, right, it’s dirty, it’s dusty, it’s outside and in conditions, but it kind of shows you what you’re worth or what you have and what’s about it.
Dane Gentry:
Do you have that perseverance to keep pushing through with the distillers now being supplied by some of our producers and grain handlers, to really take quality to that next level, versus just the number one or number two grade in appearance and smell and all aspects? I would definitely say just communicating with others may give me an idea here that may further our quality. I guess my number one passion is continuous improvement, always, whether it’s in my personal life or business life, trying to get that 1% better each and every day and trying to figure out what is the right passport. I think partnering with Jeeps and some of those initiatives that are out there and webinars and all those great things you guys provide definitely gets the seed planted pun intended and gets everybody talking and in the same room and together. Everybody has challenges each and every day in this industry, but as a collective that we are in this industry, that team effort really pays dividends in the end.
Bernard Peterson:
The people the people are I mean the people in the grain industry are just great to work with. It’s a great community to be involved in. Anybody looking for a career in the grain business you’re looking at great challenges as well as great rewards. Looking for a career in the grain business you’re looking at great challenges as well as great rewards. We’re in a little specialty market here, but every market has its specialties, even the elevator in Kansas that supplies the fire mills. You go on to the bigger export houses. They’re supplying food around the world. Look at the importance of what we’re doing. We’re distributing the calories that the world needs to grow. I of what we’re doing. We’re distributing the calories that the world needs to grow.
Jim Lenz:
Appreciate those sentiments. Dane, I think a lot of people support what you say. And, bernard, you said to people I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard that from others in this industry. So join the grain industry Listeners out there. If you’re not and you’re curious, reach out to Jeeps at jeepscom. We’ll help set you up and maybe get you to a facility in an area near you and get you involved. Dean, you actually mentioned educational resources. This is kind of taking learning on the go, this whole grain podcast. You said you’ve been listening to this and you share this to bring about, I think, discussion amongst team members. You know self-reflect and more.
Dane Gentry:
Yeah, so I listen to it. I’ve got a roughly half hour commute from where I’m at and since that time span, just right to pop on an episode or two, or from work. I’ll definitely tell you, I listen to it quite some time before work. It just gets me in that mindset, it gives me ideas, gets me thinking, just kind of jump starts my brain. But you guys cover all sorts of topics on episodes and I love the ones all the way from people engagement and growing culture to ethanol producers and cooperatives and to safety and equipment maintenance. You guys are all over the place and that’s really great and I also recommend it to all the individuals that I work with on a daily basis. Actually, I’ve gotten one of my own team members to start listening to it pretty ritualistically and he comes to work and “‘Hey, did you hear what was on this?
Dane Gentry:
“‘Hey, what if we did this’, “‘They were looking at it like this’”. And it’s just again. As long as you get that conversation started and that brain thinking, as long as you get that talk and that communication and that discussion started, that’s where great ideas come from Awesome, so propagates discussion.
Jim Lenz:
whole grain does that. You’ve been listening. Now you are on the show, dane Gentry Grain, facilities Manager at Peterson Farms. It’s been a pleasure, bernard Peterson, partner at Peterson Farms. Thanks again for both of you for joining us today and giving us a glimpse into this precision-focused side of grain handling and processing. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. You’re very welcome, bernard and Dane. Thank you for your contribution to the Whole Grain Show. I’m confident your unique perspective helps our industry grow, stay informed and brings our global grain industry feel much more tightly connected To our listeners. Thank you for joining the Whole Grain Show.
Jim Lenz:
Once again, I encourage you to share this episode with your teams. If you have not yet subscribed to the whole grain podcast on your favorite podcast app, I encourage you to do so, as the podcast episodes will drop on your phone as soon as they’re released, or whatever device you’re using. Plus, you can catch up very easily and quickly on all past shows as well. Whole grain is found on apple podcast, google music, spotify, amazon music, podbean, pandora and dozens more. The whole grain podcast brings together grain industry professionals like yourself from 89 countries from around the world. Be sure to share this episode and the news of the whole grain show as an easy to access and easy to share educational resource with your network. By doing so, it really helps our industry communicate the various perspectives provided by our guests. By sharing with just five other people, you know, you help grow this industry. Thank you for doing so.
Jim Lenz:
One can also find the show on the Jeeps website at jeepscom slash whole grain. If you’d like a topic addressed on the show or if you want to leave a comment on what you think of the show, or perhaps you’d like more information on how the Grain Elevator and Processing Society could support you with education and training needs, please reach out to me directly. I’m Jim Lenz, director of Global Education and Training at Jeeps. My email is james at jeepscom, that’s J-A-M-E-S at G-E-A-P-S dot com. We look forward to connecting with you To learn more about being a member of the Grain Elevator and Processing Society. Please visit jeepscom G-E-A-P-S dot com. Until next time, keep learning, keep innovating and keep moving the industry forward. Have yourself a great day and thanks for listening to the Whole Grain Show.
