World Grain - February 2022 - 42

Feed Quarterly
Maintaining
business continuity amid chaos
At IPPE, ag leaders share strategies for
dealing with employee management,
supply chain issues during
COVID-19 and other disruptors
by Susan Reidy
F
aced with the COVID-19 pandemic and other disruptors
such as significant weather events, labor
shortages and transportation bottlenecks during the
last two years, the agriculture industry had to develop
strategies and remain flexible in order to manage the chaos
that ensued.
Leaders shared their experiences in managing employees
and handling a broken supply chain during a session
at the International Production & Processing Expo (IPPE)
in Atlanta, Georgia, US, at the end of January.
" Leadership through the last couple years was not for
the timid, " said Scott Lovin, vice president, feed, AgState
Inc. " It seems like there is a new normal every day. One of
the challenges we've seen over the last couple of years is
that the goalposts keep moving. Where is the end game? "
The agriculture industry has faced similar challenges
before - pandemics, weather events, labor shortages -
but this time the impact has been more significant, especially
in terms of the supply chain, because the world is so
interconnected, said Yone Dewberry, senior vice president
and chief supply chain officer, Land O'Lakes, Inc.
" In the last 20 years, we now have truly globally integrated
enterprises, " he said. " You have integrated supply
chains that are completely integrated and dependent on
each other. When you're that integrated and one part of
the supply chain breaks down, guess what happens? You
have major, major shortages. "
42
Supply chain solutions
Along with shortages, Land O'Lakes also saw swings in
demand with foodservice dwindling to almost nothing
and retail demand soaring and increased demand velocity,
Dewberry said. In response, Land O'Lakes came up with
five principles to ensure it could provide the products it
needed to.
Keeping the supply chain motivated was critical, he
said, adding that it can be frustrating when an ingredient
isn't available or a product can't get shipped.
" We had to rally around what is our purpose as an organization, "
Dewberry said. " As a co-op, our motivation
and purpose has always been around the farmer members.
It is our responsibility to help them to get their products to
market every day. "
They also had to focus on employees who had to show
up at the facilities every day. The challenge was keeping
them engaged and safe, he said.
" We changed all the conference rooms in all of our
plants into breakrooms so that when they take breaks, they
can stay socially distanced, " Dewberry said.
Dewberry said on the production side, the company
found it necessary to remove some complexity, which included
eliminating some SKUs. For the feed business, it
also meant not making every product available from every
facility.
Land O'Lakes also increased its digital awareness, addFebruary
2022 / World Grain / World-Grain.com
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World Grain - February 2022

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