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The Bossticks
The Shocking Truth About Produce Waste In America & Fixing The Broken Food Supply Chain Ft. Melissa Ackerman of Planet Harvest
00:49:08
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- [00:00]
Michael Bostick
The following podcast is a Dear Media Production. She's a lifestyle blogger extraordinaire.
- [00:08]
Lauren Everts
Fantastic.
- [00:09]
Michael Bostick
And he's a serial entrepreneur, a very smart cookie. And now Lauren Everts and Michael Bostick are bringing you along for the ride.
- [00:16]
Lauren Everts
Get ready for some major realness.
- [00:18]
Michael Bostick
Welcome to the Skinny Confidential. Him and her.
- [00:25]
Lauren Everts
Melissa Ackerman is the founder and CEO of Planet Harvest, a profit for purchase company redefining how the country sources, distributes and consumes fresh produce. So on this episode we learned all about Whole Harvest, a model that delivers scalable, sustainable solutions to reduce food waste, support the farmers and increase access to nourishing produce. I found this episode fascinating. With that, let's welcome Melissa of Planet Harvest to the show.
- [00:55]
Michael Bostick
This is the Skinny Confidential.
- [00:57]
Lauren Everts
Him and her Melissa. What would shock everyone about the produce in America?
- [01:05]
Melissa Ackerman
I think a lot of people don't even know where their produce comes from. They don't realize that it's not from a local farmer or from somebody that's really close to them. It's grown. 60% of our lettuce is grown in California, about an hour from San Francisco. And I think the second thing that would shock them is also how much produce is left in the fields. 30% of produce is grown and left in the fields because it's not the right size for the grocery store or the food service industry. To just give you a number. That's 400 million pounds of strawberries that are left in the fields every year in the USA because they're just not the right size, not because they don't taste good.
- [01:42]
Lauren Everts
So when there's food shortages in certain areas and you have all this produce leftover, why are we not connecting those two things?
- [01:51]
Melissa Ackerman
So that's like really what started this whole thing for me. I was on the floor during the pandemic trying to figure out what I'm doing in my bathroom writing a mom's group. And somebody outraged me just because they said, I don't understand. There's all this excess. There's pictures of, you know, milk being spilled into the rivers and onions being torn under. Why can't we take that and bring it to the food banks? And the answer is the supply chain. It's how does it get out of the fields and moved to places that need access? And because that supply chain just doesn't exist in a way that is coherent and needs to be rebuilt, it just can't move that easily from what is left to being able to get to the people that need it most.
- [02:28]
Michael Bostick
And this may be a ignorant comment, but I'm assuming when you say it's not the right size for the grocery chains is that the buyer is looking and saying this doesn't look right. And we know the consumer won't buy it because they're looking for something that looks bigger or more robust or whatever. And so they just. They don't purchase it because they can't move it. Is that what the reason is?
- [02:46]
Melissa Ackerman
Yeah, it goes a little deeper. So the farmers actually don't even pick it. So when they're picking strawberries, they are having the. The pickers in the field and they're picking and they're deciding, and they know if it's going to fit because they have the exact sizes that the grocery store wants. It has to fit a certain amount of strawberries in one po. Of. Of. Of a pack. And so they won't pick it. They'll either pick it and they throw it right down into the ground or on some products, they literally leave it on the tree like a cherry, because it's just not the right size. So if it's a little big or a little small, it has no way of leaving the field to be a part of the fresh market.
- [03:19]
Lauren Everts
Why do you think that? I mean, I do this. I don't know if everyone does this, that people romanticize that our crops are grown by farmers, and it's this whimsical, magical. If you could see what's in my head, it's so romantic, and it sounds like it's nothing like that. Why? Why do we have that perception?
- [03:36]
Melissa Ackerman
Well, I love that you have that perception because one of the biggest things I hear from farmers all the time is that they don't feel like appreciated or that people really value what they do to bring food into this world. And so I love that that's what you think. And that's part of what we want to do, is tell the stories of the farmers, tell the stories of the generations that are bringing in this product. It's hard for farmers to even get the next generation to want to be a part of it. So I think people think about small farmers like one acre, but the farmers that are really making a lot of this, they. They can be 1 to 5 acres of farmers, but they're also people that have 300 acres to 3,000 acres. And they're growing this in. It's backed by private equity and it's backed by venture capital. And it's a business. It's a commodity business that's growing this product. And so I don't know that people have been there. If you have been on a farm that's a large scale farm, you'll see these crews that come in and the labor and all that. But it's a big business and it travels depending on the time of year down the coast of California to Arizona and from Florida up the east coast. And then in the summer you're getting a lot of stuff grown throughout the country for your. For your more local tomatoes and squashes and stuff of that nature.
- [04:46]
Lauren Everts
When you yourself knowing everything that you know about produce, go grocery shopping. What is your mentality? How do you grocery shop?
- [04:54]
Melissa Ackerman
I grocery shop. One of my favorite things to do, and I love teaching my kids about this too is like bananas. For example, I'll buy stages of bananas. So I'll buy like three or four or one. We eat a lot of bananas in my house. One that's like green, one that's a little yellow and then one that's like almost turning and so those are called stages of bananas. I try to buy produce for when I'm going to eat it so that I don't over buy for my own home. That's where I think a lot of people think about excess or extra is like what you buy in your home. But I mean for me where the blue ocean opportunity is what's on the farms and how we can change the consumer's idea of buying this product that might not look perfect or they're not exactly the same sizes. Kind of more like the European markets where you'll go in and you see that they're a little bit of different sizes. And that would be such a big change if the consumers pushed for products that were taste delicious, look delicious, but maybe weren't uniform in size.
- [05:48]
Lauren Everts
Am I weird to think that I want a Charlie Brown like apple and a Charlie Brown tree like strawberry? I don't want the perfect one because the perfect one looks like it was genetically modified. Like when I get this huge blueberry that's bigger than my hand, I don't want that. I want the one that's kind of a Charlie Brown tree.
- [06:07]
Melissa Ackerman
I think you're unique.
- [06:08]
Lauren Everts
I think there are no people don't want that.
- [06:10]
Melissa Ackerman
I think people want. If they're looking at their strawberries, they're looking for those big ones that are perfectly red and look like sweet. They're not looking for the ones that are smaller and bigger and all different mixed sizes within the pack. I think if they look at that they'd be like this is super un uniformed and what happened here? And they would ask More of those kind of questions.
- [06:30]
Michael Bostick
Is this as big of a problem in Europe? You just, you mentioned Europe or. And is there as much waste over there or do they use more of the vegetables and produce there?
- [06:37]
Melissa Ackerman
It's a global problem for sure. But every country has their own unique. And like, we're working on a tool, the World Wildlife Fund Global loss tool, and that's able to measure throughout the world. But for us, one of the biggest core tenants that we're trying to infect is like, how do we bring more products back to the. So, for example, peaches, a lot of peaches that are brought in that are canned and frozen are brought in from Spain and Greece. And so the peach growers in the US are like, looking for the US market to try to support them more so that they don't have to throw away. I spoke to a peach grower the other day. It's 20% of his fields are being thrown away because the demand is not there for the US Peaches. And they're being, it's being brought in from Spain and from Greece.
- [07:25]
Lauren Everts
If you could like raise a wand and just say, I want everything to be like this tomorrow with the produce industry, what would be your goals for that?
- [07:34]
Melissa Ackerman
A perfect world would be a little bit more like Australia. They have this thing called odd bunch that's in the grocery stores, where they have a section of the grocery store that has a table that allows for. Based on what's happening. Cause this is all product that's growing from the time and picked. And it's changing constantly within the marketplace that could house on this table what's available in excess at that moment. If there's a big surge in potatoes that are being grown or apples or strawberries, how can we bring that so that the American consumer, just like if they want organic or just like if they want fair trade, would come in and go to those tables first, see what's available, what's excess, see what's delicious and tasted and have, you know, all the sampling and start buying with increasing the price access for people. But that would be available there. And they could decide that week, okay, I'm going to use squash because it's an excess in my dinner this week. Or I'm going to use a zucchini because it's on that excess table. And so I want a world in which this excess produce just becomes part of like the tradition of the American buyer that they, they don't think about it as much as like, what is conventional and what had the specs that have Been, you know, out there already.
- [08:44]
Michael Bostick
So we got introduced through Ivanka Trump, of all people, who we really admire, and we were hanging out down in Miami, and she said, hey, you gotta talk, because she's a co founder, and I wonder, how did you guys even get into business in the first place? And what were you doing before?
- [08:59]
Melissa Ackerman
Sure. So I ran one of the largest produce management and produce transportation companies. What does that mean? We bought the produce that went to large restaurants like Panera, Starbucks, Jamba Juice, Buffalo Wild Wings, different wings companies and hospitals and schools. And in that time, right before the pandemic, we had just tried to decide, okay, where is our path going? The pandemic hit, and overnight, our customers all shut their doors. And I had one note next to me was save the supply chain. Because it was family businesses, these distributors across the countries, and farmers that were growing specifically for restaurants, and they had nowhere to bring their products. So, as I mentioned, it was the first time that I think a lot of Americans were exposed to excess in the supply chain, and they saw the milk being dumped and the carrots being put back into the ground, and they were like, why? Where do we go with this? So there was a program that Ivanka actually championed and led for the government called the Farmers to Family foodbox program, the USDA's program. That program was a $6 billion program that was part of the Trump administration, then carried over into the Biden administration and sunsetted when the COVID funds ended. And I held one of the larger contracts, and we made these boxes. And in these boxes, there was produce, there was protein, there was dair, there was cheese. And we connected the farmers, the businesses to 501c charity organizations. So my company, in four months, moved 9.2 million boxes, and we did these big events where we handed them out. And so Ivanka would come to those events because she was leading in and overseeing it. And I got the opportunity to meet with her and talk to her, and we bonded over the idea that, like, yes, there's all this excess and there's all this need, but this is not just a pandemic program. This is a program that really a problem that exists throughout the ages that we've, you know, the modern ages. And so she really, I think, fell in love with the farmers and the stories and the availability to really make massive change. And that's where we met, and we started this idea of how do we turn this either into a nonprofit or to a business? And we decided to turn it into an impact business.
- [11:06]
Michael Bostick
She's a very Curious person. And I think, you know, we had her on the show. And what I personally think about her as it relates to when she was in the administration, I don't think she gets enough credit for a lot of the things like this that she was doing. There's, you know, there's all big media headlines and the political biases that people have. But as it relates to her, there was a lot of things that I think were like, straight down the line and just beneficial for the country and people in general that I just don't. There's enough awareness around her with that stuff. Right. Meaning she didn't. She doesn't get as much accolade as I think she should for that kind of stuff.
- [11:38]
Melissa Ackerman
100%. I mean, this program, you could ask distributors, produce distributors. So just because I don't know that everyone knows what that means. It's like a large Costco warehouse, if you've been there, where there's just all different types of fruits and vegetables that sometimes dairy and they get. You don't bring a whole truckload of produce from California to the back of a Jamba Juice. You have to have a distributor that's able to pick a box of this and a box of that and then make an order to send it over to the back of a restaurant. These distributors companies were saved because of this farmers to family food box program. They had nowhere to be able to do the business. And I mean, I've had companies literally to this day thank that program for saving them, because they would have gone under without. They had nowhere. The restaurants were closed. I mean, they were closed for, as you all remember, for so long. I mean, some restaurants did really well, like the quick service restaurants, but the big white tablecloth and the big mop and like, the bigger restaurants weren't. Weren't in business. Schools weren't in business. Airports were in business. And so these growers that grow for that, along with the distributors that service them, along with the trucking companies that service them, they had nowhere to do their business. And so this program by the USDA that Ivanka really shepherd and brought forward was life saving to them.
- [12:49]
Lauren Everts
I also think people don't realize what amazing businesswoman she is. Are there some tips that she has shared with you that you've learned throughout working with her?
- [12:57]
Melissa Ackerman
Yeah, she's, quite frankly, amazing. So I ran this business and it had, you know, hundreds of employees, a huge P and L departments. When you start as an entrepreneur and you start at the beginning, it's a different game. So her advice and her, her ability to help me stay focused and really keep on the topics that we were trying to were amazing. On top of the fact that I just think her vision and her visionary sense to think so much bigger and to be able to help is just something that people maybe know about her. But I can speak from how she built this business with me that she thinks about things. I might think about hitting 10 cities and she's thinking about hitting 200 cities within a year. She just wants something that scales. I think the other thing that like sits with me the most is that when we talk about our monthly meetings and anyone that runs a business knows you, you know, you look at your forecasting, you look at your budgeting, that's important to her. But what's most important to her is who are we impacting, how many farmers are we impacting, how many pounds are we bringing into the system and how many people are we putting fresh fruits and vegetables? And those impact numbers are what drive her. To me like there's no better partner and co founder that makes you think big, dream big and then act big. I think those are big deals.
- [14:13]
Lauren Everts
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- [20:08]
Michael Bostick
What is the risk to the public and the population if these supply chains and farms start to fail over time? I think like again, you're talking about people not being aware of where their food comes from. And I think we take for granted that we can just walk into a store and there's this abundance of things on our shelves and other countries and places in the world, it's not always like that. What are some of the things that maybe the public's just unaware of when it comes to the dangers of having these things disrupted?
- [20:36]
Melissa Ackerman
I think the disruption is, I mean, how much is in America? Like, I think that that's part of it. Like we talk about local, but local can be, you know, 100 miles to 250 miles if you think about how big a state is and stuff like that. So I think it's how much is coming in from other countries and I again, this is a global issue and if we're trying to do things with greenhouse gases and water emissions, like we need this on a global scale. But for us it's like helping the American farmer first. So I think that's the first, first thing. The second thing is with the supply, I mean we all could agree that food is medicine and food should be what is helping cure a lot of these issues. So like, we want to have as many options as possible. If we have certain farmers that can't produce that food, then you're not going to have those, those, those products in the supply chain to be able to eat and to be able to use as what you are helping your body or children, those flavors, all of those things. So I think if we can use all of it, it just gives more access to people and it gives more options to people and it keeps things close to home, which I think is super important.
- [21:37]
Michael Bostick
And why are they at risk of potentially not being able to produce anymore? You mentioned earlier, like maybe the generations following these farmers aren't going into farming as often or supply chain issues or waste. Like what, what would be the reasons they would stop producing if they can't afford it?
- [21:52]
Melissa Ackerman
I mean, if they can't afford to pick the product like so that's another really big reason why it's not picked. It's like if it costs more for them to pick it, pack it and ship it than it would to leave it on the ground, that's what they're going to do. And they don't want to. They've already put in the water, they've already put in the labor, they've already put in all of those things. But ultimately, if it doesn't make sense financially, they are businesses after all.
- [22:18]
Lauren Everts
Would you buy every single thing on the shelf? Is there anything that you're never touching with a ten foot pole of fresh produce?
- [22:25]
Melissa Ackerman
Yes, I'm buying it all.
- [22:26]
Lauren Everts
You're buying it all?
- [22:27]
Melissa Ackerman
Yeah.
- [22:27]
Lauren Everts
I'm just wanting to know if you're like, oh, this One is like really nasty. There's nothing.
- [22:32]
Melissa Ackerman
There's nothing. I mean, there's. I love fresh fruits and vegetables. I think that they are delicious. I'm trying to think if there's one that I would stay away from because of my own preferences. I love trying different things, new things, the introductions of things. Yeah. I love all of the different fruits and vegetables.
- [22:47]
Lauren Everts
Do you know why they have those little numbers on the stickers on the producer?
- [22:51]
Melissa Ackerman
Yeah. So the plus.
- [22:52]
Lauren Everts
Yeah.
- [22:53]
Melissa Ackerman
So that helps to track and trace where it's from so you can find out like where it was shipped from. So the biggest thing for fresh produce industry is to be able to find where, like the place before it came so that you're able to figure out exactly what products and where, what farm it came from. If there's ever an issue that they need to be able to pull something from the shelf.
- [23:13]
Lauren Everts
You are a mom of three boys. How are you balancing everything you're doing? You have all these amazing headlines with Ivanka. You guys are everywhere. How are you balancing that with three
- [23:24]
Melissa Ackerman
boys, an amazing team at home. And the organization, I think, is super important for me and my family. On Sunday nights, we have a meeting. We use an old time word document with chat with a different chart with every person's name, what we're gonna eat for the week, any tasks that have to be done, even for the pets. And we organize and we divide and conquer. My husband's an orthopedic surgeon, so he's busy too, and he's out there fixing knees and hips. But I think ultimately I love when my kids are asked, what is it that your mom does? And she says, like, she fights to help farmers and bring food to your table. And they're with me. They're with me when we do these events and hand out boxes to fresh fruits and vegetables to people. They're there packing them. They're there going to the farms and seeing where it's all built. So it's being present at the moment where you are. It's about you can't be in two places at once. So I don't pretend to be.
- [24:17]
Lauren Everts
That's a hard one.
- [24:18]
Melissa Ackerman
And putting my head 100% into what I'm doing and trusting that what I'm doing, built at home with preparation and a good team can help there.
- [24:25]
Lauren Everts
How do you think about leadership bringing
- [24:27]
Melissa Ackerman
people around me that I think could be the next step in the leadership process. I have an incredible team right now of all women, and it's been amazing, actually. I have a few men but not on the day to day stuff that I'm working on. And it's just incredible to bring passionate people that are skilled in their area and trusting them to be able to accomplish what they can accomplish.
- [24:49]
Lauren Everts
If you could tell our audience one thing and you could have them take away one thing from this episode about produce, what would it be?
- [24:57]
Melissa Ackerman
Eat produce. Love produce. Ask for produce. And stop only eating with your eyes. Think about when you see something that might be a little big or small. Think about where it came from and the route it took to get there.
- [25:10]
Lauren Everts
So don't be so superficial when it comes to produce.
- [25:12]
Melissa Ackerman
Totally.
- [25:13]
Lauren Everts
You know, don't be so vapid about it.
- [25:15]
Melissa Ackerman
I mean, think about it like, you know, a Dove commercial. You know, it's like, all bodies are beautiful, all produce is beautiful. How can we support farmers by asking that we get more of that harvest, that full harvest approach, that whole harvest so that we can help the farmers and we can enjoy nutrient dense, delicious food.
- [25:35]
Michael Bostick
What is the response from the farmers now with you, now that you guys have gotten this project underway?
- [25:40]
Melissa Ackerman
It's amazing, like the phone calls and the meetings that we can have where people believe in it, where we get to hear their stories, where they, they bring in their trade associations and all the different people from big to small sized farmers and they're. You really think you can do this? I mean, we had the CEO of Chobani in the fields with us. That's one of our partners in our projects. And he, I mean, he was stepping over the rose. His hands were in the strawberries he was holding. He's like, this is gonna be discarded, this is gonna be discarded. How is that possible? This is beautiful. So I think seeing it firsthand and having, and you know, he's calling for others to join us in this change of trying to ask for all of the produce and asking for excess and bringing back American buying. So when I get to see people like that, that I find incredible leaders, incredible CEOs that have visions, it's exciting that I think we're on the right track. And it's something that I think the consumers, once they learn more about it, it's in that bucket of sustainability, it's in that bucket of healthy eating. It's a win all across the board.
- [26:41]
Michael Bostick
So if you guys are able to kind of get rid of the waste, what are you then going to do with that excess? Are you, Is it for charities? Is it to feed people? Is it to put in shelves? What happens?
- [26:50]
Melissa Ackerman
Where does it go?
- [26:51]
Michael Bostick
Yeah, where does it go?
- [26:52]
Melissa Ackerman
So for Example, the bottom of the fruit, what you have on the chobani yogurt, like that's a project that we're working on. We work, we create these food boxes which ultimately are either going for impact, work into communities that need it, or in food as medicine boxes. So there's a movement to be able to use food as a way to treat any like diabetes, hypertension, high risk pregnancies. We create these boxes that can include the fresh, the excess produce they have in them. We partner with Thrive, Arianna Huffington's company, so that we have that data, the data, the science behind it, to say what kind of recipes, what kind of products should be in it for each of these different ailments. And then we have the products delivered directly to patient stores. And then the doctors look back at it and see what are the numbers and the things that are changing from having access to fresh fruits and vegetables. So I think there's a big movement out there to eat healthier and it's how do we get the products, you know, to food insecure areas that don't have access to fresh fruits and vegetables.
- [27:52]
Michael Bostick
I think like the average American, if I was, you know, listening or watching this show, we see headlines all the time about, you know, people struggling to put food on the table if the economy's down or whatever in other places in the, in the world, people not having access to certain food. And then now you're hearing there's a ton of food here that is just sitting and being wasted while at the same time. And again, like I'm an entrepreneur, so I start to think, well, there's all these programs that are setting people up to go and buy maybe things that are not nutritious and not healthy, but we have all this great nutrition that comes from the earth sitting over here. So like, why is that not so?
- [28:24]
Melissa Ackerman
There are some government programs like Section 32, which will buy if there's a huge amount of extras, but again, the specs that are there are usually, and I could be wrong on this US number one grade. So again, it's like how do we change the grading system to allow for, for more of this product to get into schools to get into. And I think that ultimately that's something that hopefully will happen over time, but nothing that we're working on directly with the government.
- [28:47]
Michael Bostick
Yeah, I mean like we'll go sometimes Lauren and I will go to our kids school for lunch. We pack her lunch. And mostly because some of the foods that they're serving in these schools, like is not the most Nutritious meals. And I start to hear this, I'm like, why is some of this fruit and vegetables and produce not in the food? You know what I mean?
- [29:04]
Melissa Ackerman
Exactly.
- [29:05]
Michael Bostick
That. It just, I think it's kind of like, it's probably much more difficult than I'm describing it. And that's the world that you're in. But from a, from what I hear, it's like common sense. Like, well, we have this food and supply chain. Like, why is that not here?
- [29:18]
Melissa Ackerman
Yeah. Providing nutrition to our food has to change. The specs have to change and the allowance and tolerance has to change. And then, I mean, it's innovation. Like, we're working with an incredible lettuce grower right now that makes those bag pack lettuces that you, that you buy. And we're thinking about new ways to use broccoli leaves. Like, you take the broccoli off the stalk, but then you leave all the leaves in the field. How can we use that as like, you know, with the right dressings, it would be like a kale, a little bitter, but really nutrient dense. How do we continue to expand on what push the boundaries of what's popular within the diets of the American people?
- [29:52]
Lauren Everts
In researching for this podcast, we text Ivanka and she wrote back a very, very thoughtful response. And so I was going to hit some of the points and so see how you felt about what she said. Something that she brought up was, and I wanna know how come no one has found a solution for this? Why is this the first moment that this is happening?
- [30:13]
Melissa Ackerman
I think that there was so much momentum on just getting the right product to the shelf and getting people to purchase that. There was no one that was really connecting the dots.
- [30:24]
Lauren Everts
Right.
- [30:25]
Melissa Ackerman
I think we sit in a really, really, like you said, amazing place for Ivanka. It knows so many people. And I have a long history in the produce industry to be able to talk about this and bring this together. Feeding America, for example, does do a little bit of this, which is the largest food banking network. So they do something where they buy from growers that have excess. But even with what they're doing, there's so much more out there and so much opportunity to be able to do more.
- [30:51]
Lauren Everts
Give us a detailed impact of what this has done to the livelihood of the farmers. You mentioned earlier, there was a lot of emotion in the fields. Give us some examples of that.
- [31:00]
Melissa Ackerman
Yeah, so again, like we met with in the fields, Ivanka, myself and Hamdi met with these strawberry growers that had three generations with them standing in the fields. And just talked about like, we kept asking, why, why do you leave this here? Help us understand. And it all came down to they are not paid enough money to make sure that it comes out, that they need to make $0.10 more, $0.05 more, whatever it is, to make sure that it can come out of the field. And when we talked about what we're thinking about, we talked about long term contracts, we talked about the idea that we would be able to put a three year contract in place that we would guarantee the purchasing of this product and hopefully their whole harvest. Their number one product too. They were just like tears, like tears in their eyes. They talked about how amazing it was and how, you know, they've never had anybody. That was the other big thing. Nobody asked them, nobody asked them, nobody asked them why. And this goes back to the respect and like the goodness that we want from our farmers. They don't ask them for their stories and how they get there. So there's so much like, you know, pain, sweat tears and unbelievable labor from our American farmers. And I think they feel respected. Having her out in the fields, having Hamdi out in the fields and asking why goes along with that storytelling of this beautiful product that should get make its way out of those farm gates.
- [32:16]
Lauren Everts
Tell us about the World Wildlife Fund.
- [32:19]
Melissa Ackerman
Yeah, so as I mentioned, the World Wildlife Fund, we're working with one of their tools to be able to measure the product that's left in the field. How much extra product is there available?
- [32:28]
Lauren Everts
So you'll be able to actually measure.
- [32:30]
Melissa Ackerman
Exact, exact. And then figure out what we can do to target with it. We worked on a pilot program with them already where we took strawberries. Right now in the US Market, there's only a number one strawberry. So there's no number two fresh strawberry that people sell. So we worked with different organizations like Stanford, you know, Stanford's cafe, Google's cafe, different places in California where the chefs were able to taste and try these products that wouldn't have made it to the number one market, but could make it to the number two. And they were trying to figure out interesting ways to use it for fruit salads, smoothies, desserts, cut it, chop it, do different things with it and keep it fresh. We can pay our farmers the most when we keep the products fresh. So we were trying to figure that out. So through that partnership and through working with different distributors and different food service companies, we were able to test this and those. And the chefs loved it. So now it's a matter of how do you make it mainstream and how do you push it so that you can use more of the non perfect stuff within cafeterias and different restaurants throughout the country?
- [33:26]
Michael Bostick
What is one of the main reasons that these farmers are starting to not be able to afford to either ship or pick or produce these products or these.
- [33:34]
Melissa Ackerman
It's all the different input costs of, you know, water. You can imagine labor. It's the competition again from other countries where they either have subsidies from their government to be able to move the product, it's less money for labor in those countries and it's less for all different inputs. So it's the competition internationally, it's the sheer amount of volume that's being grown. I mean you would think right now, and I believe that with GLP1s and the in the entire movement, people want healthier choices. And I think we'll start, seeing as the data comes out, people are going to start eating more fresh fruits and vegetables along with protein, fiber, all those things. So we just as that movement continues to happen this, I think that the fruits and vegetables are going to see their day.
- [34:22]
Michael Bostick
Let's quickly talk about Experian and specifically Experian's subscription canceling service. I love Experian. I've used it for over a decade now, mostly for credit monitoring, making sure that I can get my credit in the right place. They have an incredible tool that basically provides you with all the information you need on how to improve your credit and make sure that you're maximizing the most of your credit. Many people are familiar with Experian because of their credit monitoring service, but did you know they also have a subscription cancellation service that is incredible. I talk a lot on this podcast about how important it is to save that extra dollar, reinvest, make sure you're putting more money in your pocket, make sure that you're not working and wasting and spending all that money on things you don't need. And what I love about Experian's platform is they can help put more money back in your pocket so that you can spend on things that you actually care about. And most importantly, make sure that your money's going to to places you actually want it to go to. Experian can take the pain out of canceling subscriptions by handling it for you. Just keep the ones you want and put money back in your pocket. This is a no brainer. Imagine you're sitting there at the end of every month, like many of us do, going through your budget, wondering where the money went, wondering where you can save, trying to make sure that you're able to invest and save for your future and you realize that you have a bunch of unwanted subscription service fees that are going out the door. Wasting your money, taking money directly out of your pocket for things that you're not even using anymore. With Experian's cancellation service, you no longer have to worry about that because it takes care of all of it, puts it in one place and makes it easy to cancel. They have over 200 subscriptions that are cancelable on the platform. And you can also save money by letting Experian negotiate your best rate. They'll keep an eye out for new deals and savings opportunities and will negotiate directly with your provider. So maybe you've been paying for a subscription and they've offered a new rate since you've signed up, and maybe a better deal. Well, Experian can make sure that you get that and take advantage of that deal so that even if you are using a service, you're getting the best possible rate. Again, there's nothing that drives drives me more crazy knowing that I'm wasting money, that my loved ones are wasting money. It's such a letdown when you see your hard earned dollars go to places that aren't being used, that can't be beneficial to you. And again, in a time when it's hard to save and every dollar counts, and the best part is you keep 100% of your savings. This is one of my favorite features of experience cancellation Service. They put 100% of the savings back in your pocket. You could save $631 on average per year. Imagine right now if you just put an extra $631 back in your pocket, what you could do with it, how you could have fun with it, who you could help with it. That's how I like to think about this. It's not only potentially helpful for you, but for your loved ones and people that you care about. Don't just take it from me. Over $25 million has been saved using both bill negotiation and subscription cancellation from Experian. So clearly there's a ton of people saving money and putting it right back into their own pockets because again, you keep 100% of your savings. So again, get started in the Experian app now and save that money. Put it right back in your pocket. Quick break to talk about free nicotine. Some of you saw my social posts the other day on Instagram where I was talking about free nicotine. And to say I got a lot of questions about it is an understatement. So here's the thing. A lot of people have concerns, questions, qualms around nicotine and nicotine use. I've always personally been a fan of nicotine, and yes, I know it can be addictive. It's a chemical, there's. You definitely have to be careful with it. But it also has so many potential benefits that aren't talked about nearly enough, which I think could potentially outweigh some of the concerns that people have around, obviously, nicotine being addictive. There's other substances that we use and we take for performance that are not looked at in the same lens. And people have been using nicotine for generations. I personally love it and I love that with free nicotine you don't have to smoke it. What I also love about free nicotine, it's really for somebody that's ready to lock in when you really need to focus, when you need to get stuff done. That's how I use it. And what I love about their brand is that you can control the dosage. So if you're new to nicotine and you're thinking about experimenting with it, you obviously don't want to go and take super high doses if you're not used to it. They have these 3 milligram pouches, 6 milligram, 9 milligram, 12 and 15. So you can kind of like ease into it and figure out what's right for you. I take very little and then I take it only in moments when I really want to lock in and focus. Some people may not be aware of the potential benefits when it comes to nicotine. First, you can potentially increase your alertness because nicotine. Nicotine stimulates acetylcholine and dopamine signaling, which can increase wakefulness and mental alertness. That's how I like to use it. It can also, like I said earlier, improve attention and focus because nicotine activates acetylcholine receptors in the body. So again, when I need to do a podcast, when I have a lot of work going on, when I need to really lock in and focus, this is the tool that I use in order to do so. It's also been said that nicotine potentially helps working memory and short term memory recall especially, as well as also potentially being a neuroprotective agent, it can potentially help guard against things like Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease. Again, this does not mean nicotine prevents these diseases, but there is the potential that you can protect against these diseases. There's also appetite suppression, mood regulation, enhanced reaction time, so many different things. And Like I said, I like nicotine as a tool to perform, to be on my best to make sure that when I need to focus, I'm focused. When I need to be paying attention, I'm paying attention. And when I need that extra edge to perform form, I get it. I like the pouches. I like free nicotine because it's predictable, it's easy, and like I said, I can control the dosage. The flavors that I've really been leaning into lately are the watermelon flavor and the mint flavor. I think those are the best, but they also have a wide assortment of different ones. I think the watermelon is a new flavor. So if you've been seeing me post about free nicotine, here's why. Again, I'm always looking for the edge and I'm always looking to perform. And free nicotine helps me do that. And again, I know that you have to be careful with nicotine. It's addictive, it's a chemical. But it also could be potentially a great tool for those that use it responsibly. So if you've been thinking about experimenting with nicotine, check free nicotine out. Try free nicotine pouches today@freepouch.com and use code skinny for 25% off for new customers only. That's F R E pouch.com and then use code skinny for 25% for new customers.
- [40:06]
Lauren Everts
Introducing the Skinny Confidential ice roller. Reimagined. Think sleeker lines, a softer pink, a custom buttery dust bag, and a silver roller that is ice cold. I wanted to do a zhuzh on the iconic ice roller. I wanted to update it. This ice roller for me has always been more than just a tool. It's about helping us de puff and sculpt and calm the skin in a way that feels intentional. And I wanted the ice roller to feel evolved. It's changed. You've changed. So yes, the new gorgeous, stunning, beautiful ice roller is still going to do the same things. It reduces puffiness and redness in your face. I used it this morning before I put on my makeup. It definitely helps with the under eye bags. Of course, it helps boost circulation and radiance. I just feel like it really helps stimulate blood flow and gives me that tighter, more radiant skin. And then it also is known to give you smoother, tighter looking skin. So what I like to do is I like to combine facial massage with cold therapy. And this really helps give you a really nice foundation before you even apply your skincare. This ice roller for me is a full circle moment. I Think that a lot of you bought the ice roller, you know, five, six years ago when we launched it, and now I am launching something that feels more in alignment with where you're at. It's so beautiful, you guys. Like, it's just softer and more effortless in every way. And I really put my own touches on every single little step, from the packaging to the colors to how it feels to even the roller. It's all been elevated just for you. So the ritual, the Lauren ritual, is you do cold therapy to help fight inflammation. You roll it. You glide it across your face. I put it on my jawline, my neck, I roll it down. Your skin is just going to appear smoother and tighter before you go in for the kill. With the skin care and the makeup, don't skip the cold therapy. The new ice roller is an upgrade designed to meet the standards of today, and I hope you guys love it as much as I do. This is the beauty tool that started it all redesigned to evolve with you. I'm showing it on YouTube, too. If you're on YouTube, if you're seeing me visually get it, why it's hot@shopskinnyconfidential.com that's shopskinnyconfidential.com
- [42:36]
Michael Bostick
we're former California residents. We live out here. Grew up in California. But when I hear 80% of the lettuce is grown in California. And again, being an employer, understanding the cost to do business over there now I worry because I'm like, if 80% of the lettuce is concentrated there and it becomes too expensive for these farmers to produce there, what happens then if it. If it just becomes unsustainable to run that business? If I was running that lettuce business and all of a sudden I couldn't make money running it, and 80% of the world's supplies there, like, is that a vulnerability that people need to be aware of or think about?
- [43:12]
Melissa Ackerman
Yeah, I mean, it's. It's, you know, if they. When they grow the lettuce, you know, it's like around 60%. So 60% of lettuce, and it grows in Salinas, California, and then it moves to the desert, and then it moves to Arizona, and as things happen and it gets pulled that it just won't be on the shelf. I mean, they've tried hydroponics and building inside and then having it, and they're trying to find new microclimates to grow. They'll do it a lot in Mexico as well. But it's a vulnerability, and it's Something that, like, we continue to lobby as an industry to make sure that these input costs stay at a place where we can afford to grow in the US but ultimately it's, it's. It's. That's. It's called the salable of the world.
- [43:54]
Michael Bostick
I approach it from, I guess, more of like an analytical P and L perspective. And I just hear that amount of concentration from that particular product and then the difficulty of being able to sustain a business to produce that product. And I just think, you know, it sounds nice, like raise minimum wage and pay everybody more. But like, if. If all of a sudden a massive supply chain gets ripped out from under, some businesses start to go under because they don't have it. It just, it's all connected.
- [44:20]
Melissa Ackerman
I'm not an expert on all of the different things, but I mean, for sure, like, if people are interested, the International Fresh Produce association has like, all of that information about what the causes are and the different things that the industry is looking to.
- [44:33]
Michael Bostick
Then what? Again, what do I know? I'm just a podcaster.
- [44:37]
Lauren Everts
I know that you and Ivanka in your partnership have also spent a lot of time volunteering in Miami after the fact that fires in Maui and California. What did that look like for you?
- [44:49]
Melissa Ackerman
Yeah, she's been incredible. I mean, it's unbelievable that she's out there. She's handling, handing the boxes. We've packed boxes. We've done all different things, but part of what our business is, is emergency relief. And so we have the ability to respond within two days to be able to get boxes. And we usually put in 10 to 12 pounds of fresh produce, beans, rice, milk, shelf stable milk. And so it's. It's amazing. And we buy from where it is. So, like, with the stuff in Hawaii, we would build the boxes with fresh produce from Hawaii and help the local farmers. We did it. We sent stuff, actually, during Jamaica, we sent stuff with World Vision. So we work, we partner with different 501C3s to get that product quickly to where it needs to be. And it's, you know, sometimes they don't have anything fresh. We have to be really mindful. We try to be culturally relevant to what, what we're sending, make sure that the product is something that the neighbors there will want. And then we also are very careful to make sure, like, if there's no electricity, like what happens in Texas, like when things shut down with the ice and, you know, stuff like that, we'll make sure that it's like, stuff that can be eaten without cooking, without a Big kitchen to make it happen. So we try really hard to be mindful with what we're doing when we do any of this volunteering. And having her out there is just like a shock to some people that drive with their car and then they open their box in Ivanka's, there's asking them how they are and how things are doing. And, you know, it comes with wraparound services of other diapers that might be available and things of that nature.
- [46:14]
Lauren Everts
I think that's amazing. My last question before you go is, what drives you absolutely nuts that you see on Instagram when it comes to produce? There's gotta be things that you see
- [46:23]
Melissa Ackerman
that you're like, no, it's that idea of, like, that it's just so easy to get something from the farm, the idyllic farm, to your table, and that it doesn't take, you know, all these people harvesting it, the trucks that drive it there, the sales arm that has to make it happen, the distribution centers, all of those things. And we're against a clock. This isn't toilet paper, you know, from the minute it's cut to the minute it gets to your plate, there's, you know, maybe seven days, ten days to get it there. And so it takes a lot to get there. And there should be appreciation, I think, of how we get our food on our plate.
- [46:57]
Lauren Everts
So you just think if. If we. You could infuse more appreciation from everyone when it comes to how long it actually takes for us to actually be eating it. It's not like, snap your fingers.
- [47:07]
Michael Bostick
I also think that there's. Listen, like, there's, like, the podcast circuits and the people, and we've, you know, we've had some of these people come on the show, and it's fine to talk, but I think there's this ideal, like, version where, like, everything is in these local small farmers markets and go to these small farms, and, like, that's how you should eat, and you shouldn't ever shop anywhere else, and you got to watch out for this and that. And I think sometimes, like, yeah, in a perfect world, if that actually exists in that way, great. But how does the entire population get access to this kind of food? And is that realistic for everyone? I don't know.
- [47:37]
Melissa Ackerman
You're so right. And I think that's probably something that bothers me more. I think local is amazing when available, but putting up, like, a road that, like, you'll only eat local. I mean, I live in Chicago. You're not getting local all year. You might be able to get some things that are grown in greenhouses, or you might be able to buy something in hydroponics. But outside of that, like, we need the supply chain. And if we break this bigger system that is coming from all these different places, it. You won't be able to have the variety and the things that you want to be able to have the nutrient dense that you need for your bodies.
- [48:06]
Michael Bostick
Yeah. And I think sometimes it's not fair to the farmers because a lot of these farmers are trying to mass produce in order to supply the supply chain that is required.
- [48:14]
Lauren Everts
Yeah.
- [48:15]
Michael Bostick
And there's a little bit of like a. Oh, they're doing it like they shouldn't be doing it that way. But if, if, if again, if all of these supply chains start to crumble and go away or these farmers stop producing, the world is going to be met with a much bigger problem.
- [48:25]
Melissa Ackerman
Totally. And I think it's about bringing silos together. I think we can have local, when available. I think we could support local farmers. But let's think about how do we bring these different things together so we have a holistic, healthy supply chain.
- [48:37]
Lauren Everts
How can everyone support you and Planet Harvest.
- [48:40]
Melissa Ackerman
Planet Harvest on Instagram. And if you have any ideas that you have fruits and vegetables in your products, you can reach out to us to be able to look at. How can you source, how can we look at your supply chain to get more excess into that? And if you do anything for, like, impact work or any way of getting boxes out there, we would love to talk to you about getting fresh fruits and vegetables into what you do to give to communities.
- [49:04]
Lauren Everts
Amazing. Melissa, thank you so much for coming on the show.
- [49:07]
Melissa Ackerman
Thank you, guys.