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A Meteorologist from Mars
Mon Apr 04, 2005
Listen in RealAudio 
Hi, I’m Bryan Yeaton, and this is The Weather Notebook. Maybe you’ve never met anyone from Mars, but I got to meet Richard Larsen, a Mars meteorologist. One from the Mars company—you know, the folks who make M & M’s and Snickers Bars. They also make Pedigree pet foods and Uncle Ben’s Rice. You might wonder why such a company would need team of meteorologists. I did.
I’m really a commodities scientist, I guess, is the proper name. So, all the raw materials that go there are made of things that have to be grown in different environments around the world, and there are a lot of production and price and quality risks that are related to weather.
Well, we have to know how the material—let’s say its cocoa, or soybeans—how it reacts to weather. So, there’s some agronomy there. And sometimes it is not weather forecasting, it’s collecting weather data, understanding how it impacts those crops and the quality.
How did you get into M & M’s?
I grew up in Wisconsin, and I was always interested in agriculture, and I was interested in weather, too and I started getting interested in the connection between the two.
Weather’s impacting a large part of our economy, and understanding that interaction, and being able to predict some of it, or forecast the impact of weather that’s already happened, can do a lot to mitigate some of the risks that companies face in these areas.
So, when you go to weather conferences, are other meteorologists jealous that you get to eat Twix every day?
I suppose they are, and I am happy to give them some if they are jealous (laughs).
The Weather Notebook is supported by Subaru of America.
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