Talk on the Wild Side
with Louis DeMaso

Transcription

Vikki Locke

I am Vikki Locke with C2 Communications and this is Talk on the Wild Side, where we talk about conservation, careers, things like that, to get students interested in the environment, and it’s all brought to you by the Florida Wildlife Federation. Our guest today is Louis DeMaso. How are you Lou?

Louis DeMaso

I’m doing well. How are you, Vikki?

Vikky Locke

I’m doing great too. You are Sustainability and Operations Analyst at Lipman Family Farms with a message for science and math students, that the planet needs you now more than ever, right?

Louis DeMaso

Yes. That is correct.

Vikky Locke

So there’s so much more to the Lipman Family Farms than farming. Why don’t you explain?

Louis DeMaso

Yeah. When it comes to the operations at Lipman Family Farms our foundations are in Florida as a grower as a farmer but we’ve expanded to be so much more than that. We now grow tomatoes throughout North America including in Canada in greenhouses and in Mexico and, in addition to that, we package, distribute and borker all kinds of vegetables around the states, so there are opportunities in all kinds of spaces, not just agriculture and growing.

Vikky Locke

Right. Like opportunities for science, soil scientist. Correct?

Louis DeMaso

Yeah. When it comes to our farming operations, our knowledge is focused on growing a healthy crop but when it comes to the knowledge that requires nowadays is so broad. We have soil scientists, and biologists, and ecologists, working on crop protection to make sure that our plants are kept safe from pests and diseases. We have people that are working on the consumer side of things doing market studies and doing data analysis, to improve our efficiencies and reduce our risk assumption. And, of course, we have people in sustainability working on environmental protection and conservation.

Vikky Locke

Why don’t you explain a little bit about when you knew you were passionate about the environment, what you studied in college, and how you got to the Lipman Family Farms.

Louis DeMaso

For sure. I grew up in Maryland, living on Kent Island, which is an island in the Chesapeake Bay, where I was exposed to environmental things all the time. One of my favorite things was just being outside and because of the Chesapeake Bay, a lot of the restoration work that’s being done in that area, there’s a large focus on our schools and education on the types of things that we can do to protect the environment. That’s what really plated that seed eventually for me. But in college, as I studied environmental science and sustainability specifically, I came to realize there was so much opportunity in agriculture for innovation when it comes to modernizing XX and reducing environmental impact. So I was thinking about that, thinking how we can make modern agriculture even better and reduce environmental impact when I met a Lipman Family Farms representative at the University of Maryland’s career fair and she introduced me to Lipman’s internship program, which brought me down to Florida working in one of our packing houses as an Operations and Technology Implementation Analyst.

Vikky Locke

So the internship was vital for you.

Louis DeMaso

Yes. The internship is really what got me into the agricultural industry in general. I got my foot in the door with Lipman Family Farms and I was working on projects of all sorts, working in our packing houses and in other operations to improve efficiencies. And, because of my interest and experience with environmental studies, I gravitated towards projects that focus on the environment and eventually got into the role of managing sustainability at a national level.

Vikky Locke

Is it important to you that you could go wherever you want because, you’re actually with me today, but you’re in Colorado, so students could actually go to other states?

Louis DeMaso

Yes, definitely. I try to get to our central growing locations as much as I can because that’s really the foundation of what we do, but there’s opportunity in all kinds of different states far away from our growing operations, doing work on information and sales and working with our distribution and repackaging partners which we have facilities here in Colorado, in California, down south Texas in Arizona, up north in New Jersey, so these are all places where somebody could work remotely or work in one of our local teams in the produce industry.

Vikky Locke

So you talk about the importance of internships. What other advice do you have for students that might be interested in a career in conservation?

Louis DeMaso

I would say consider the produce industry, consider the agriculture industry. If you’re not thinking of becoming a farmer specifically, then you might not initially think to get into this industry but there really is so much opportunity with whatever you’re interested in.

Whether is engineering, science, data work, information analyst, even sales, human rights. We have a huge focus on sustainability in the produce industry right now, work in health and safety, and how we communicate and protect workers throughout the supply chain. So, there’s opportunity for virtually any interest.

Vikky Locke

And would you say college is a necessity?

Louis DeMaso

I would say that it’s a necessity to be flexible and be ready to learn and be quick on your feet because this is a really quick industry due to the perishability of our products and the way things are evolving separately right now. So I think the most important thing is just being excited about learning new things and tackling new challenges every day, and that’s my favorite part of my job.

Vikky Locke

My next question was going to be what is the best part of your job or what is a perfect day for you on the job?

Louis DeMaso

The best part about my job is that no day looks the same. We’re always facing new challenges, always working on new projects especially right now in the industry with people becoming so interested in where their food is coming from, and becoming so interested in the practices used to grow their food. There’s just a lot of innovation going on and, frankly, a lot of need for data and communicating our practices and numbers because consumers want to understand the supply chain and where their food comes from and the best way to communicate that is through standardized metrics and working with our partners to make sure that we can tell that story.

Vikky Locke

And that’s why math it’s so important, right?

Louis DeMaso

Exactly!

Vikky Locke

So how would someone get information about Lipman Family Farms from you?

Louis DeMaso

Well, you can visit our website and you can send an email to the staff if you’re a student or a young professional looking at the internship program, we will definitely get you information about that. Otherwise, you can find the number on our website, and call our headquarters in Immokalee Florida and they’ll be able to connect you with the right person.

Vikky Locke

Fantastic. Great information. Thanks so much for being with us today.

Louis DeMaso

Thank you very much for having me, Vikki.

Vikky Locke

And thanks to the Florida Wildlife Federation for sponsoring Talk on the Wild Side and keeping the wild in Florida since 1936. You can check out their website at floridawildlifefederation.org.