SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Joshua Sims lives online as the College Football Travel Guy.
JOSHUA SIMS: I grew up in a family full of LSU alumni but ended up attending the University of Florida. So I've long loved SEC football. And when I was in college, I developed an even greater love for road trips.
SIMON: And his appreciation for that college football experience isn't limited to the gridiron. Mr. Sims has just released his Ag School Dairy Store Power Rankings. Joshua Sims joins us now from Tampa, Fla. Thanks so much for being with us.
SIMS: Thanks so much for having me, Scott.
SIMON: We maybe should explain land-grant universities have been running campus creameries for decades - right? - selling products to locals?
SIMS: They have been. The one at Berkey Creamery at Penn State has been in existence for over a hundred years.
SIMON: Well, what makes a great dairy store?
SIMS: For me, it has to do a lot with the total experience. Being able to see the ag school actually in its form working as an academic institution, I think, is really cool. There are several schools that have display areas where you can see students and professors working together to make the products.
SIMON: You mean like milking cows?
SIMS: In some places, yes. My understanding is that Howling Cow creamery, which is located on the actual farm at NC State - it's one that I'm planning to visit here in October. You actually do get to see some of that. But in terms of the actual processing of the dairy, there are several different dairy stores across the country that offer tours to see how they make the products, how they're done in big batches, small batches, how they're preserved for shipping. It's a lot of interesting stuff that, unless you grow up in that kind of agricultural world, you may not see.
SIMON: What's your favorite dairy store that you've hit so far?
SIMS: Oh, you know, it's tough. I feel like I'm really splitting hairs between the top three or four in my power rankings, which are Call Hall Dairy store at Kansas State, Ferdinand's at Washington State, Berkey Creamery at Penn State and Babcock Dairy at Wisconsin.
I ended up going with Babcock Dairy at Wisconsin as my No. 1 overall just because of the total experience and kind of suite of products they offer. They have everything from your ice cream selection, various types of chocolate and regular milk, a variety of cheeses, obviously, being in the cheese state. But then they also serve hot meals. They also ship a lot of their products online, which is a great way of connecting alumni to their agricultural center and their dairy stores. So that one got the slight nod. But I'll tell you, putting anything above the Berkey Creamery at Penn State is tough.
SIMON: When you rank dairy stores, do you get some of the same pushback, as they say these days, and outrage as you would in college football rankings?
SIMS: To an extent, but it's a lot more tongue-in-cheek and a lot more friendly. Part of the reason I've tried to avoid rankings as part of my college football travels is for that exact reason. But what's been great about the feedback on this is so many people saying, you know, I didn't even know this existed, but now I'm in love with the idea of visiting college dairy stores.
And what I found really exciting is that there are a lot of people that have reached out and said, I didn't even know there was a dairy store on my own campus. I've got a lot of tips for places that I didn't know existed. I wasn't aware that South Dakota State, for example, invented cookies and cream as an ice cream flavor.
SIMON: There are competing claims to cookies and cream, but you give it to the Jackrabbits.
SIMS: They're the ones who claim it the hardest, I've found. But that's part of what I like about this is that you get people arguing over what are seemingly meaningless things but are very important to the people who were involved in their process.
SIMON: Oh, cookies and cream is scarcely meaningless.
SIMS: Right. I totally agree. It's very important to some of us.
SIMON: Joshua Sims, College Football Travel Guy and College Football Dairy Store Guy, thanks so much for speaking with us.
SIMS: Thanks so much. I appreciate you having me on. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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