Recode Decode: Land O'Lakes CEO Beth Ford and Rep. Steve King

Decoder with Nilay Patel

Vox Media Podcast Network

Technology, Business

4.3 • 3.2K Ratings

🗓️ 21 January 2019

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Land O’Lakes CEO Beth Ford talks with Recode’s Kara Swisher about running a modern dairy and food company, which is co-owned by thousands of farmers. In this episode: What Land O’Lakes does other than butter; Ford's thoughts on being an openly gay female leader; the changing role of a modern CEO; why farmers are the “ultimate entrepreneurs”; agriculture technology, aka agritech; automation and big data in farming; the future of food; why Land O’Lakes withdrew its support for Congressman Steve King; and the political demands on modern CEOs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	When you drive a Chevy electric vehicle, you're getting more than a way to get from point A to point B.
0:06.0	You're saying goodbye to gas stations and how low to open roads.
0:09.0	With the growing network of public charging stations, you'll be able to charge your EV while you shop, work, or do whatever you want to be doing with your time.
0:17.0	Chevy is making EVs for everyone, everywhere. Go to chevrelay.com slash electric to learn more.
0:24.0	Sabotage hired goons and a landfill in Utah.
0:32.0	How Steve Jobs' revolutionary catastrophe of a computer, the Apple Lisa, earned a brief second life, and then was buried for good.
0:42.0	Watch the Verges documentary, Lisa's final act, now on YouTube.
0:48.0	Hi, I'm Cara Swisher, Editor-Large of Reco.
0:52.0	You may know me as the organizer of the free film festival outside Congressman Steve King's office.
0:56.0	This week we're watching Shinler's List and Hidden Figures, but in my spare time I talk tech and you're listening to Reco Decode from the Vox Media Podcast Network.
1:04.0	Today in the red chair is Beth Ford, the CEO of Land O Lakes. That's right, but her. She's been in that role, but it's a lot more than that since last August.
1:12.0	Since the first openly gay CEO of a Fortune 500 company, all kinds of things.
1:15.0	We're going to talk about agrit tech, King a little bit, and sort of how you run a modern company that is not necessarily tech related in the tech heavy world.
1:23.0	We are living now. Beth, welcome to Reco Decode.
1:25.0	Thanks for having me.
1:26.0	Where is Land O Lakes?
1:27.0	Land O Lakes is headquartered in Minnesota.
1:29.0	Minnesota.
1:30.0	Which in Minneapolis?
1:32.0	Right outside of Minneapolis and Arden Hills.
1:34.0	The founding of the company was founded by dairy farmers in 1921, Upper Midwest dairy farmers.
1:40.0	It resides still in Minnesota, which is where it was founded.
	...

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