Navigating DC's Maze: Fresh Insights on Ag Policy and Innovation at SEPC's Southern Exposure 2024

Dive into the latest episode of our podcast, recorded live from the dynamic Southern Exposure event in Tampa, Florida, 2024, where we explore the future of agribusiness through the lens of industry experts and innovators. This episode features an in-depth conversation with Robert Guenther of Breakthrough 365, who discusses his transition from a leading advocate in Washington, D.C., to spearheading efforts to tackle the agricultural industry's most pressing issues through his new venture.

Guenther shares his insights on the challenges and opportunities within agribusiness, including critical policy discussions, labor reforms, and the pivotal role of bipartisan support in advancing the sector. He highlights the importance of navigating the complexities of import/export dynamics, strengthening supply chain resilience, and ensuring governmental support for both veteran farmers and those new to the field.

Key highlights of the episode include:

The journey from advocating for fresh produce industry policies to founding Breakthrough 365 to achieve impactful results in agribusiness.
A deep dive into the evolving landscape of agricultural policy, labor reforms, and the necessity for robust, year-round supply chains.
Expert analysis on the future of farming, emphasizing the need for strategic governmental support to cultivate sustainable agricultural practices.
This episode offers invaluable perspectives for anyone interested in the intersections of business, policy, and innovation within agribusiness. Whether you're an industry professional, policymaker, or agribusiness enthusiast, join us for a thought-provoking discussion on shaping a sustainable future for the industry that sustains us all.

Get in touch with Robert!
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rlgmd1987/
Email: Rguenther@btgr365.com
Breakthrough 365: https://www.linkedin.com/company/breakthrough365-government-relations-strategies/

USDA Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production (UAIP) Grants: https://www.usda.gov/urban
Farm Bill Information: https://www.usda.gov/farmbill

Stay tuned for more episodes that bring the forefront of agribusiness straight to your ears, and visit our website for more information on this episode's topics and what's coming next in the series.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

So this is for my buddy Craig, since he's not here and we're back. He loves doing that. Anytime we're at a show, he loves it. So we are back here at SEPC's Southern Exposure in beautiful Tampa, florida, and I'm being joined by my good friend Robert Gunther from Break365. Robert great.

Speaker 2: 0:21

Thank you, thanks for being here, man.

Speaker 1: 0:23

This is great. It's good to see you.

Speaker 2: 0:25

Other delays and some crazy travel and right, but we're here, right right, it's my first time for this uh event. You're kidding yeah, you know, for the work I did, I didn't really have much of a reason to come down because really, you know, this is such a retail sales type of conference, uh, but it's been great to be here, uh. I mean, I've seen so many you know friends and colleagues and gotten to reconnect with a bunch of folks, so it's been nice to be here big family reunion.

Speaker 1: 0:51

Yeah, yeah, yeah it's interesting being on this side as a as a participant, versus like running a show, like in my past with united I, I call it, uh, you know, being a consumer of the show right versus an organizer which, when you're in the middle of it, even stuff like this you never really quite know how it's going Right Until afterwards, or if you actually you know, we all have our trusted advisors, so to speak, but it never feels like it's going off smoothly, especially when you see how the sausage is made. Yeah, yeah, see how the sausage is made.

Speaker 2: 1:23

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's interesting to look at it from this side than you know, being behind the scenes and making sure that things are running as smoothly as they can, but there's always hiccups. But all these shows, everybody seems very happy, excited to be here and it's like a lot of business is getting done?

Speaker 1: 1:38

Oh, definitely, this is the daddy of the regional shows. I call it. They do a great job. Yeah, 1999, I believe the show started, so I started coming shortly thereafter. I haven't been in a number of years, but so Breakthrough 365, robert, for those that don't know your company, what do you do? Who should be calling you, who shouldn't be calling you? And we'll get into kind of the DC stuff. What's hot right now, hot topics, I mean I have my own kind of point of view on. Oh well, it's a election year. It's not an election like why you can and can't get things done in DC. So I'd like to talk a little bit about that. But tell us a little bit more about Breakthrough 365.

Speaker 2: 2:18

So, as you know, ed and others know, I had spent the last 24, 25 years working with the Trade Association World of Fresh Produce. So running government relations in Washington DC and it was just a dream job really was something that I just you know again, it just representing this industry in Washington DC and other places, but more so in DC in front of elected officials, administration officials. You know it was just a great honor to do, but it was time, I think, to kind of see what else is out there. I felt that I really wanted to get a little deeper in some of the issues that I really wasn't able to get as deep into. So Breakthrough 365 came up and really the reason we named the firm this is because we want to break through the clutter, break through all the challenges in DC and get results. I think developing a small firm you can really engage with your clients in a different way than you can through a trade association. You can tackle issues that, quite frankly, may not raise the top of priorities for the folks in DC, but you can continue to highlight those and fix problems.

Speaker 2: 3:44

I came to Washington DC, I started working on the Hill in 1989. Yes, 1989. And I remember being a Hill staffer for about 10 years before I went to UnitedFresh to run the government relations team. You know we were always looked at to. You know we worked bipartisanly. That time, fixing problems, people would come to you here's our challenge, here's our issues and you'd get a bunch of staffers or members of Congress together who wanted to solve these problems and go at it and fix it. That's changed a lot now. The dynamics have changed in DC, as you hear and see every day. But I do still think there's opportunities to engage in ways that are effective for the industry, for the clients. You know my clients, but you know so I'm excited. I'm excited about this. I started this in October. I've got a good set of clients already. You notice I've got a lot of different issues. I'm working on that. Quite frankly, I didn't get a chance to work on at the trade association.

Speaker 1: 4:45

I like what you said about prioritizing, so you're able to prioritize those clients' needs which, if you don't have a presence in Washington and have never been, you need one. So my trips are far and few between, but I've been to the policy conference several times. It is politically charging. You come back a little bit more kind of pumped up. It's kind of like watching Rocky or right, talk about watching Top Gun two on the way here, so it gets you pumped up. But yeah, it's, it's a different world, you know. And if you don't know the ins and outs, I mean frankly, for me sometimes it's a little bit discouraging. I felt like you know, we, we talk about the same issues. And then I briefly mentioned a little bit ago that you know it's whether or not Congress is in session or not in session. You know it's an election year, it's not an election year, it's the year after. And I'm like right, I mean, what is the sweet spot? Is there one year out of a presidential term?

Speaker 2: 5:36

that usually the first year Really? And if you look, I've never really been asked that question, but my instincts would say your first year. Because no matter if you're getting, you know, no matter if it's a new, new administration coming in that first year they're going to have a lot of that energy and support behind them from the country, hopefully from from, you know, their supporters in Congress to really set the agenda for what they want to do for the next four years that they're in session or, you know, in the White House. So I think that's really one of those. If you put me, you know, kind of press me on that, it'd be the first year.

Speaker 2: 6:16

It gets tricky this year, you know, in terms of presidential election. The further we get into the spring and the summer, you know, the less likely we're going to be able to action on any major issues. So major issues, yeah, farm bill, immigration, immigration, childhood, nutrition, environmental issues, you know, regulatory reform All of that is really top of mind, you know, for every year, for every Congress and for the industry, quite frankly. So I think that when you look at the programs and the opportunities for industry, I still think things are looking up. The Farm Bill is a great opportunity to.

Speaker 1: 6:57

Has there been anything added to the? I know that it grows right. Is there anything been added recently that would be of particular interest? So the last.

Speaker 2: 7:04

Yeah, so the last time the Farm Bill was reauthorized was 2018. So right now we're in the middle of the Farm Bill debate in Congress. So it's the goal of this, you know, to have a Farm Bill passed by the end of this year, a new Farm Bill. So every five to six years they have to reauthorize the Farm Bill. It's very tricky and it takes five years to do it. It takes about five. Yeah, I don't know if it takes five years, but certainly they start, you know that last year of the bill. They certainly, you know, get really active in doing farm bills. So right now, you know a lot of the groups Fresh Produce and you know, and others are positioning themselves with members of Congress, the Senate and House Ag Committee on what priorities they think are important for them to be included in the Farm Bill.

Speaker 2: 7:51

I said this recently. I look at the Farm Bill and when I first started on Capitol Hill as a staffer and then my early time at United, the Farm Bill wasn't a big issue for our industry. It was what we call a Title I group. So cotton, corn, rice, peanuts. You know the folks, you know they dominated the Farm Bill debate. You know we have starting in 2002 and especially 2008 Farm Bill, we've really been able to expand our presence in the Farm Bill, where now it is the single largest federal program that provides resources to our industry. So in research and food safety and sanitary phytosanitary, the state block grant program that all rolls up.

Speaker 2: 8:40

That all rolls up into the Farm Bill and it's about, you know, I mean $800, $900 million a year that you see in the farm bill. So you know, billions of dollars over the life. Wic is not Again, it goes in. It was at a point. No, it's in child nutrition. Oh, okay, so, but it is. Wic is in. It has to be funded every year through the appropriations, the annual funding programs that get funded every year to keep the government running the SNAP program. So food is in the Farm Bill and that represents about 75 to 80% of the Farm Bill right now and that's a big issue.

Speaker 2: 9:21

And you know why is a food assistance program part of the Farm Bill debate? Well, you know Congress's infinite wisdom. In the early 70s they connected the two because when you look at the makeup of Congress you know in the 1930s, 40s and 50s and even beyond, you know very rural districts. Now there's less than 8 percent of the districts that are strictly rural, that really have a lot of farms in their congressional districts. So LAP attaching something like a food stamp program which impacts every congressional district across the country.

Speaker 2: 9:56

It's important to urban congressional members, suburban, obviously, rural that connection between foreign programs and food nutrition programs like SNAP, to bring together very unique partners in the political process to get enough people to pass the bill, to get enough members of Congress to pass the bill, pass the farm bill. It's there for political purposes. It's also there because it makes sense, because the US Department of Agriculture, they run the SNAP program. It's connected to food in so many different ways, obviously with the folks who have to. You know that, use the SNAP program, participate in the SNAP program. So there's a good connection there.

Speaker 2: 10:38

And right now the problem that Congress has is funding. There's a lot of great ideas out there, including some from our industry, to add to the next farm bill, but there's not a lot of you know new money, new resources out there to fund all this stuff. So they're really struggling right now to figure out what's that sweet spot of potentially finding some money somewhere to fund a bunch of new programs or add money to current programs that they really like and then pass it so they can get support from Democrats and Republicans. It's not going to be one party or the other, it's going to pass the forward.

Speaker 1: 11:13

And if there was anything from like a new production perspective. Like I'm talking about domestic growers, I talk about farming, almost like the steel industry. You just don't hear about people. Just I am going to get in the steel business. It doesn't happen anymore. Right, farming to a large degree as well, but that's at the state level. Right, that support? Yes, if you were somebody that wanted to get into farming.

Speaker 2: 11:33

Yeah, it's not easy. It's not easy. My family I probably didn't know this I grew up in north central Florida and we have a very small family farm there. It was in citrus for 100 years and my father passed away a couple of years ago and he had converted a lot of it to peaches and plums and grapes and all sorts of stuff he just replanted just to try things out. So when he passed away, I'm an only child, so I had to come down and start figuring that out. It's not easy.

Speaker 1: 12:02

It's not easy to figure it out.

Speaker 2: 12:03

That's a big job, so I've been spending more time down here with my mom and the family. Fortunately I have cousins and stuff that can help out. Yeah, it's tough to get into, even though when you think you've been a part of it all your life. But I've been looking at it obviously from a totally different perspective, from a policy, not a real like on the ground perspective.

Speaker 1: 12:24

So the answer is it would be somebody would require state level support, like there's no federal support to get from a new production, new producers no, there's.

Speaker 2: 12:34

There's like beginning farmer programs at usda. Yeah, you, there are. That helps for grants and and funding and and there's I know tda does a lot of stuff in.

Speaker 1: 12:44

Yeah so.

Speaker 2: 12:45

so for our industry, the states are very involved because of the state block grant program, especially crop state block program.

Speaker 2: 12:52

So the states have funding that comes through the farm bill, through USDA, and they then are allowed to look at state, local, regional projects in their state to really highlight to help growers be more competitive. So that it's a wire. It's going to be marketing, it could be food safety, training, it could be a whole host of different export promotion, but it can be a whole host of things that the states are focusing on that helps our industry in each state and it's very state-specific. I always tell folks it's great, but it's also a challenge to our industry. What a citrus grower in California may need to make his or her business profitable or successful is very different than what somebody a citrus grower in Texas and even a citrus grower here in Florida you know needs to make their businesses. And so having the diversity of programs that we have pushed in the Farm Bill and other areas that allow the flexibility to really tap into more of the direct support to prop up farms to make them more successful, is one of the beauties.

Speaker 1: 14:00

There's a ton of interest obviously in DC. How is produce perceived? I mean, is it Great?

Speaker 2: 14:06

question. I think, well, well, I think the industry is great. I mean we have a you know I call us a lot of times the white hat. I mean we're healthy. People are interested, you know, in learning about what the new kind of you know fruit or vegetable is that everybody's talking about, or what's coming out there online is different. You know the staffs of the. You know people who work in government. You know they go to the store every day and you know they see the brands that you know come to their door.

Speaker 1: 14:33

You know it's, it's really, it's so. The staffers several times. And in my mind I keep thinking about the old fresh festival, yeah, yeah, when the staffers would line up with their bag after the. So there was a I don't know, I guess, if I'm describing it right, but it was like a mini expo inside the cafeteria, I think it was I don't know what building.

Speaker 2: 14:53

Yeah, we moved it around, but it was in a lot of times. It was in because that was really the biggest space, was so many people wanted to come and we called it Fresh Festival on Capitol Hill and it had booths from I mean like a mini SEPC at some level. You know that were giving out samples but you were interacting with members of Congress and a lot of staff who love going to the things that have free food and free alcohol and needed all the food they could get.

Speaker 1: 15:21

They'd come with bags. Most of these shows like the local food bank. You know these organizations, like SCPC. They'll work with the food bank, they'll come and they'll pick up anything that exhibitors don't take back with them.

Speaker 2: 15:32

And we would work with, like DC Central Kitchen, oh really, and the local food baking. I just figured it all went. No, there was actually some left you know, every now and then. And so we did work with the local charities there to give them support and things like that with what was left over.

Speaker 1: 15:47

But yeah, it was quite a scene back in the early days, but it was great. It yeah, it was quite a scene back in the early days, but it was great, it was great. Well, I kind of diverted you were talking about I don't know if you finished with your thoughts on the perception of the industry in DC.

Speaker 2: 16:00

Speaking of the perception, fresh Festival was a big hit. So you could go, you know. So they really. You know I could. You know, as a lobbyist, as somebody who worked in DC, I could go into an office and you know they may not know who I am, but you know some of those folks would say, oh, you guys do that fresh festival on capitol hill and instantly you got that's cool, you got feedback and they were interested. But I would say, yes, I think we're, we're seen in high esteem, uh, we're very popular in terms of, uh, you know the products we make, the products we grow, and I think that's translated into being very. You know we've worked with Republican Democratic administrations, Republican Democratic congresses. You know we're very. You know our industry really crosses over a lot of the political. You know political dynamics that you see every day and certain industries struggle with that.

Speaker 1: 16:57

I know the domestic and import. Yes, with what's happening on the border right now, there has to be concern about continuity of supply supply chain. I mean we had the issue with the avocado inspector I think it was last year and all that kind of shut down at a really bad I think it was right around Super Bowl yeah, really bad timing. So are you hearing concern? I mean obviously with our domestic growers we just mentioned? There's not a lot of folks getting in the farming business, right, we're relying more and more on imports.

Speaker 2: 17:27

We are and that's you know. Obviously the import-export issues, the challenges with product, is always going to be there. The tension is going to be there. You know the growers here in Florida and the South have struggled a lot with the challenges with the foreign competition. But there also is a consumer demand that can't be met right now by the domestic industry. It's unfortunate, but that's just the way it is and that's why you've got a lot of investment going back and forth between domestic and international production.

Speaker 2: 18:03

I would also argue that the way that business, the customer, the supplier side has changed in dynamics too. I mean 20, 30 years ago you had 10 or 15 different tomato suppliers that a retailer would go to. Now they want one or two and you as a business got to decide if you want to be that or not. Now I'm oversimplifying that and there are exceptions to the rule, but I think when you look at the way that's changed that transactional dynamic, it's also impacted the way produce moves, the supply chain moves here in the united states in particular, and year-round supply and year-round that's right, and you need to be year-round.

Speaker 2: 18:43

That's what I mean.

Speaker 1: 18:44

Yeah, you got us and and so when back when we were kids, it was what's in season, I mean you got what's in season and you know when it was, it was out of season just didn't have it.

Speaker 2: 18:52

You didn't care. Yeah, exactly, I mean, you're not.

Speaker 1: 18:55

You care, like kramer and the melt and the oh god, I forgot what kind of. Yeah, what was it? What was he eating? Was it a? No, mackinac peaches?

Speaker 2: 19:02

mackinac peaches oh, man, you mentioned the border, you mentioned the labor issues. I mean, again, that's very front and center. You've seen a lot happening in Congress about whether they're going to do a border security deal or not. I mean, certainly, you guys in Texas you see it firsthand every day. I think that until we can get that resolved, we're not going to go back to helping agriculture, you know, getting an agriculture labor bill moving forward, and I hate to say that and it's been something that you know this industry has consistently fought for for 30 plus years and we've heard every story we can from Congress of why they can or cannot do it. It just needs some strong leadership, quite frankly and we've been close a few times, but you really need that strong leadership.

Speaker 2: 19:55

Who's not going to blink when the pressure gets on from whatever groups and other your colleagues on the Hill are going to throw at you if you really want to try to do this. And too often lately they have blinked, you know, and they just kind of they want to pull back, you know, and they just kind of they want to pull back. So I really think that if you could get a border security type bill, tie agriculture, tie a few other areas like Dreamers to it. That's the, that's the ticket at some point to kind of move something you know in Congress, but I don't see it. Obviously, again election year I don't really see certainly nothing like that happening we were just talking about. We saw a border deal that looked pretty good on paper fall apart because of political pressures, and so I don't think it's going to be a political kind of hammer, you know, and an issue in the campaigns between now and November on both in the presidential election but also in congressional elections, both in the presidential election, but also in congressional elections.

Speaker 1: 20:53

I mean to say it's a huge distraction, is not really fair, because it is what it is. I mean it's an issue, it deserves it, but it takes away resources right.

Speaker 2: 21:05

It takes away time, energy and resources that can be spent on a lot of other good things.

Speaker 1: 21:12

I'm copying on emails about weights at bridges and you know how long trucks are taking the cross and I'm like we're. We're one hiccup away from just pandemonium. You know which is scary, right.

Speaker 2: 21:25

It is.

Speaker 1: 21:26

you know, and I'm just we're keeping it under control right now, but with everything that's happening right, it's scary to think that we're teetering on some very much, very much.

Speaker 2: 21:37

So it's. It's very concerning and you know people hear what they want to hear about the issue and make their own judgment on what's happening or not happening uh, success or not, and it is an issue. You know, the whole range of immigration issues this country has to, and these are political leaders have got to sit down and really try to tackle this At some point. It's going to because, like you said, we're teetering right now on some very significant challenges.

Speaker 1: 22:08

The other thing that concerns me is transportation. Yeah, you know I get copied on some stuff about the availability to load ratio and it's way out of whack. There's just not folks getting into the line of work like they did when they came back from Vietnam or out of service. Right, my father was in transportation. He's since retired, but a lot of owner-operators back in the 70s, 80s, 90s they're not there anymore.

Speaker 2: 22:32

They're not there anymore.

Speaker 1: 22:33

They're not there anymore. I learned how to drive a semi in the backfield of our property and kind of just turned me loose Right and somewhat half figured it out and he taught me. And that's how. People just don't have those opportunities, if you will. So that concerns me a lot.

Speaker 2: 22:49

Yeah, the way, the transportation infrastructure and, again to what you said, the lack of folks who are interested in going into that type of business, whether you're an owner-operator or you're working for a large firm. We saw so much happen, we learned. So much happened in COVID. We learned about the supply chains across all sectors of business that we never even, I think, thought of in terms of what could happen.

Speaker 1: 23:22

I talk about stockouts at retail. I mean it'd be like grounds for termination and I've never seen a stockout before and then all of a sudden, you know it's just, it's a thing.

Speaker 2: 23:32

You know, it's almost. I almost feel like at some level we've gotten away from, we've not forgotten about it, but we forgot what was going on at that moment and that juncture of what happened in the global market. I wish we could do more. I mean, I really do, even in the agriculture and the food space. I you know, if I was had a magic wand, I would have a supply chain critical infrastructure title of the farm bill be a new title because of what happened, what was happening, and it's still not correct, I mean completely fixed. But it fascinates me that more attention has not been paid in this farm bill that we're talking about now that, based on what happened during the COVID years, on the good side, this was a good week for the fresh produce industry in DC. Okay, a couple of things.

Speaker 2: 24:23

As I mentioned, the federal funding bill, the ag appropriations bill passed Congress. It had some good things in there. The WIC program was fully funded. That was a big issue for quite some time. That's annually. You said, yes, that's an annual funding, funding bill.

Speaker 2: 24:39

And that's when you talk, you hear government shutdowns and they're going to shut down or not. This. These are the bills. That they're. They. They are, uh passing. They have to pass each year to keep the government running. So either they're going to pass a new bill that has new funding for the next year or they're going to just keep the current programs and do what they call a continuing resolution.

Speaker 2: 24:59

Again, we don't need to get into that, but they did pass the bill. It had full funding of WIC. Congratulations to a lot of the groups that spent a lot of time in that, because it really would have impacted fresh produce in terms of the availability of fresh produce for those who participate in the WIC program. When you start slashing money in a program like that, the first things that are going to be looked at to reduce is those products, quite frankly, that are more expensive, and fresh produce is expensive. But we've been fortunate as an industry with the work that you know United, ifpa and others have done of building a solid case or having more investments in WIC funding to help them purchase our half-roots of vegetables for young children and mothers.

Speaker 1: 25:43

But we're far away from making a mandate right, I mean, I know that's like a dream.

Speaker 2: 25:49

You mean like a mandate of healthy food, certain percentage, yeah, yes, yes, we are, and WIC's the closest thing to it, though WIC is, quote unquote, almost a prescription. Certain amount of money can be funded for fruits and vegetables, dairy cheese, other products, other types of products. So that was successful and that bill got fully funded. Funds, the urban ag and innovation office at USDA that had been slashed to zero. That got funded at, I think, seven and a half million dollars and that's really to help some of the controlled environment growers. It helps them have a presence at USDA and look at programs throughout USDA that can be channeled through that office and help those people who are trying to grow that part of the business.

Speaker 2: 26:36

We also the House Ag Committee speaking of Farm Bill, but the House Ag Committee just released this week their bipartisan set of recommendations on ag labor reform. That was established last year and they did a lot of work listening to different sectors of agriculture and there's some really good ideas in there. And whenever you can get good ideas in there and whenever you can get, especially in the House, democrats and Republicans agreeing on agriculture labor, that's important. It's a big deal, yeah, I mean. Now the next step is taking those policy. You know, creating legislation and all that stuff. But garnering interest is yes, but having the Ag Committee focus on ag labor because the Farm Bill cannot fix ag labor, a lot of people ask that. And why can't you just put ag labor reform in the Farm Bill? It doesn't fit in there. It's not the jurisdiction of the Ag Committee, it's the other committee. Another committee kind of helps develop that legislation and pass it. So this is the closest they could probably get to really weighing in.

Speaker 1: 27:39

So we'll see what happens with it in terms of those recommendations if it comes to developing Labor is huge, but obviously a solved labor issue ag labor issue could promote more new production, new producers, 100% Right Water. I don't even think we don't have time for water. We're going to have to do another show on water yeah, I'm not sure how up to date you keep on the mexico some of our good friends in south texas.

Speaker 1: 28:05

Yeah there's a lot, a lot going on there. But, um, before we, before we go, I highly encourage anyone that hasn't been to Washington, even if they've been on a family trip per se, but really on a more focused basis. You know, seek out Robert, attend IFPA. I think that's moved now.

Speaker 2: 28:27

I don't know. It's moved to.

Speaker 1: 28:28

June IFPA's policy conference. Highly recommend it. Connect with somebody that knows their way around. I've just always assumed this, but you worked with John McClung at one point, right.

Speaker 2: 28:40

Oh, yeah, Okay so. One of my mentors.

Speaker 1: 28:44

Same John was one of the first friendly faces I met when I moved to South Texas over 20 years ago. Super good man. I miss him. Walking on the hill with him was like he was a rock star.

Speaker 2: 28:56

Yeah, he is. Yeah.

Speaker 1: 28:57

I mean, he really, he just came to life, you know when he was there.

Speaker 2: 29:00

So let me make one more. I know we got to go, but let me make one more plug about, you know, attending the Washington Conference. I was part of that conference since its very beginning and when I first started at United, I mean it's become the center point of the fresh produce industries. You know days on Capitol Hill and it really does make a big difference for those in DC, whether you're me or IFPA staff or other associations that represent fresh produce. You know having the industry come together one time a year to go to the Hill talk about their issues. I know sometimes it feels frustrating and people bang their head up against the wall after they've been to these offices, but it does make a big difference for us, for all of us who work in this, in that area, every day. You know of the year representing the industry. So I highly to your point and I highly recommend you trying to attend this year, or the industry trying to attend this year, the move in the date.

Speaker 1: 30:00

What was the reasoning behind it? You know, was that something that happened before you?

Speaker 2: 30:04

No, it was planned before I left, september had become such a volatile month in Washington DC I mean especially during election years. I go back to that. We've had the government shut down during the middle of the conference and you know, it's just been all these different things that have happened Especially during election years.

Speaker 2: 30:16

I go back to that. We've had the government shut down during the middle of the conference, yeah, and you know it's just been all these different things that have happened. You know September's a funky month. June is a very nice sweet spot because a lot can happen in June. Oh, I like it.

Speaker 1: 30:29

And the weather's better. I have two kids, one's older now.

Speaker 2: 30:32

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 30:33

But one in high school still, and when he was in high school I always wanted to take him, but it was football season yeah, or football, yeah, you know. So he never could go. He played football, and so now that it's in june, my daughter's a freshman in high school, like I want to take her with. Yeah, she can be exposed to no, it's great.

Speaker 2: 30:48

I think the mood's going to be great for the, the conference for the industry, and I think you know, if folks that are listening to this, if they can make it there, please do so. You will get a lot of value by helping. You will understand better. Everybody in this convention and outside are touched by the government in some way. I know that you don't think so, but some people don't think so. So if you don't get engaged, you can't really complain about it.

Speaker 1: 31:16

Robert, before we go, how can people find you?

Speaker 2: 31:19

You can contact me on email at rgunther at btgr365.com. That's probably the best way to reach out to me. I've got my website up and coming soon. Hopefully I'll be running that as well down the road. You can find me on LinkedIn. Just search my name and connect to me that way as well. So I appreciate it All right, Thanks for being with us.

Speaker 1: 31:41

Thanks, we'll be right back.