For Lori Stevermer, her why in life is simple. It all goes back to agriculture.
“I grew up on a farm,” Stevermer says. “I wasn’t necessarily interested in going back to the family farm – that was my brother’s plan. But I ended up marrying a farmer, so here I am.”
She and her husband, Dale, own Trails End Farm, a feeder pig-to-finish and diversified crop farm near Easton, Minn. In addition, Stevermer serves as Hubbard Feeds’ marketing manager.
“I’m motivated by helping others achieve their goals,” she says. It’s that opportunity to help others find success that keeps her pushing boundaries and growing in her profession.
Nearly 35 years ago, Stevermer stepped out of her comfort zone to say yes to a salesperson position for Wayne Feeds. Since then, she’s continued on in the industry after Wayne Feeds was purchased by Hubbard Feeds in 2000 and then after Alltech’s purchase of Hubbard Feeds in 2015.
Over the years her role has changed from a salesperson to marketing manager, but her why hasn’t changed. Stevermer shares her views on leadership, business strategy, the pork industry and what she’s learned along the way.
Q. Describe your business in one sentence.
A. Hubbard Feeds is a company that makes animal feed products for all kinds of animals – swine, beef, dairy, sheep, goat, even to the less traditional chinchillas and rabbits.
Q. Describe a typical day on the job.
A. Although there’s no typical day, there are certain things that I generally do regularly throughout the week. I’m involved with communications, which can vary from helping our tech team write blogs to creating social media posts. I also work closely with our technical teams on introducing products to the market. We develop information used in training meetings, marketing materials used by our sales teams and I oversee our website. As a manager, part of my day is spent in business planning, looking at our systems internally and determining how can we do things better. I also try to touch base with team members regularly to help them do their jobs better.
Q. How does your company serve its customers?
A. There are two main ways we interact with the market. We have a network of feed dealers. We also have a number of customers across the U.S. that directly purchase our products. Our team, whether that’s account managers or technical specialists, work with dealers and customers to implement those products and programs. They are on the farm walking barns, providing recommendations and working with those farms on their goals. In some cases, we may even do some joint research with the larger farms. We like to say we are “boots on the ground,” and I think that’s true. We don’t just ship a product out the door and never see the farmer again. We really are very close to that end user of our product.
Q. How has the business changed?
A. I’ve seen a lot of change over the years. I used to stop at pay phones to catch farmers over the noon hour. My first computer was chunky-clunky compared to what we have now. It’s good to see the technology improve and change, but it’s interesting that even with as much technology as we have in our business now and with the fast speed that it has changed, what hasn’t changed are relationships. At the end of day, agriculture is still a relationship business. It’s still being able to sit across the table from people, look them in the eye, work with them and build that trust. That hasn’t changed in 35 years, and I think that’s a good thing.
Q. What concerns you about the future of the swine industry?
A. Of course there are some major issues pressing the industry now like African swine fever in the Dominican Republic and Haiti, and Proposition 12 in California. However, one of my biggest concerns is consolidation of the industry. We want there to be a viable industry so that our independent farms, no matter how big or small, can still be around. We want markets for them and access to those markets without too much risk. I think that’s one of the biggest threats to our business.
Q. What are the greatest industry opportunities?
A. Labor is a concern everywhere now. I think it’s also an opportunity for people to come work on a farm that maybe haven’t thought about agriculture as a viable alternative, but really love to take care of animals. If you just look at a broader scope of the of the swine industry, there are so many great opportunities out there. Yes, we need people to work on our farms, but we also need people to do other things like be nutritionists and geneticists. I think if you even open that up a little bit more and flip it a little, we also need kids who understand pigs and agriculture to take other jobs, too. We need them to be doctors and dietitians and politicians. Animal agriculture is less than 1% of the population and we have a whole lot of people making decisions for us that don’t understand our business. The more kids that understand agriculture and can get involved not only in agriculture, but also other areas, that’s an opportunity that should help us down the road.
Q. What do you enjoy most about your job?
A. I like to look at those big projects from conception to completion and work on bringing the team together by using everyone’s strengths. Whether it’s a communications project or introducing a new product to the marketplace, I love helping bring things to fruition. We always talk about how people make our jobs enjoyable. That’s so true. You can’t do big things like that without a good team around you. I definitely appreciate my team.
Q. Who inspires you?
A. When I was young, my parents inspired me as a farm couple in the way they worked and encouraged me to pursue my passions. As I reflect on all the different points in my career, I’m reminded of the people I’ve worked with and work with today who do their job well and encourage me. I also have a close circle of business friends that I can talk to about things – people who inspire me to set the bar high for myself. They are those trusted friends that I appreciate and inspire me to do my best.
Q. What is your business philosophy?
A. It’s probably old school, but I follow Stephen Covey’s principles such as “begin with the end in mind” and “seek first to understand, then be understood.” Those principles stand the test of time. If you follow those, you’re generally going to be successful in your communications and in your business. Surround yourself with good people and don’t be afraid or threatened by that. I’ve been fortunate to work with some good teams over the years. I’m especially grateful for our swine group. We know our strengths and we know each other’s strengths and we work to that. I think that’s an important philosophy that has helped us find success.
Q. What will the business look like 20 years from now?
A. Things change so fast. Who would have guessed COVID-19 and all the things that happened? But if I do look back, I was involved with some research groups early on in my career that looked at the future of the feed business. I think a lot of it has come true. We’ve seen consolidation in industry, and I think that will continue to happen. I think we’ll have fewer farms, but larger farms. I think that’s just the way business goes. In the future, I think there will be opportunities for those niche producers too. I think the adaptation of technology will continue. In the feed industry, I believe we’ll see cameras and tracking systems that will estimate weights of pigs so we can understand growth and feed intake on the spot. I believe those type of technologies will help us manage our pigs better.
Keep reading to learn about Stevermer’s pet peeves and what she would do differently in her career.
PORK Perspectives is a recurring column that provides business and leadership strategy tips from some of the pork industry’s finest. Opinions expressed in this column are the opinions of Lori Stevermer and do not represent the opinions of Farm Journal’s PORK. Watch for future columns featuring advice and insights from more of the pork industry’s leaders.
