The Business of Agriculture Podcast

243 - Detecting Pathogens Proactively With Advanced Soil Analytics

31 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Diseases, pathogens, and parasites rob yield from our farms and unfortunately, we usually don't know we have the problem until the damage is done. But...

242 - Environmentalism Working WITH Agriculture?

23 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Oftentimes, environmental organizations use modern Agriculture as a target and a tool for fundraising. Worse, some organizations use their political h...

241 - Direct to Consumer Citrus to Boost Margins and Cope with California's Regulatory Cost

16 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

California's regulatory environment is prohibitive, especially for production Agriculture which uses a lot of water and works on historically slim mar...

240 - What's The Deal With Getting A Carbon Deal?

09 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We've been hearing about carbon credits as a possible revenue source for farmers for a couple years now. In fact, we've covered the subject here on Th...

239 - The Farmer of the Future

02 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

As farming changes, who will survive, who will thrive, and who will exit the business? What sort of traits and habits will provide a competitive edge?...

238 - High Priced Land And Commodities, But Is Ag Making Money?

25 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Wheat is up 70% with other commodities up substantially as well. Farm land sale prices are setting records. To say things are frothy is an understatem...

237 - Ethanol Under Attack And Creating Strange Bedfellows

18 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In February of 2022 a "study" caught wide media attention (as it was designed by its sponsors to specifically do). The study, commissioned by National...

236 - Avian Influenza — How Big Is The Risk?

11 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Avian Influenza, or Bird Flu, is whipping through the American poultry industry. Spread by migratory fowl, the disease has, so far, had an outsized im...

235 - Almonds, Water, and California Agriculture

04 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

7,600 California farming operations produce 80% of the world's almonds, which is California's number two crop by revenue. Unfortunately, because of we...

234 - Less Water, More Fruit — An AgTech Company Enhancing Irrigation

28 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Ori Ben Ner's father is an agronomist and serial entrepreneur, with 5 Ag tech companies to his credit. The Israeli farm family — 91 year old grandpa...

233 - The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly — National Ag Week

21 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

On March 22, 2022 we celebrate the 49th annual National Ag Day. In this episode Damian shares the good, the bad, and the ugly about what the Business ...

232 - How The Last 2 Years Affected The Ag Inputs Biz

14 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In March of 2020, all Hell broke loose for businesses and citizens alike, amid government-imposed shutdowns of the economy. Agriculture — as essenti...

231 - Does Your Farm Need A CFO? Yes, It Does and Here's Why

07 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Jarod Creed is not an insurance agent, commodity broker, or banker. Yet, his job involves oversight of farmers' commodity marketing, capitalizing on g...

230 - What Russia—Ukraine Means For American Ag

28 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We've seen what Russia's invasion of Ukraine has done to roil commodity markets but what else does this mean for American Ag? Todd Thurman and Ryan Mo...

229 - Boomier Booms and Bustier Busts? Ag Economics Past, Present and Future

21 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Record amounts of capital are sitting on the sideline looking for somewhere to go. Inflation is at a 40 year high. Interest rates are poised to jump m...

228 - Perspectives On The Future From a Young Part-Time Farmer

14 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Logan Lyon has a corporate job, two children, and a wife with farm ties. He uses those ties for access to machinery to farm his own 200 acres himself....

227 - Neil Young, Joe Rogan, Spotify and Business Lessons For Agriculture

07 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The "Joe Rogan Crisis," as one media outlet is calling it, began with activist musician Neil Young's ultimatum that Spotify stop streaming Rogan's pod...

226 - When People Stop Breeding: Why Agriculture's Business Model Must Change Fast

31 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Agriculture's mentality and unstated business model has forever been: Make more food because population growth is going to exceed our ability to produ...

225 - Trends And Tech Shaping Ag's Future — Highlights From The Vision Conference

24 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Sustainability has been a buzzphrase for the past decade but how do you define it? That was a major subject at the recent Vision Conference with sessi...

224 - Will $1 Billion Make Meat Cheaper?

17 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In January of 2022 the Biden administration announced that one billion dollars of government money would be deployed to make meat less expensive. This...

223 - Why Biden's Meat Plan Is Misguided

10 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The Biden administration kicked off the new year by doubling down on its spending to change the meat processing industry. Their proposal calls for $1 ...

222 - Grass Seed, Hazelnuts, Trucking & More — 3 Oregon Women Explain Their Ag Enterprises

03 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Running south of Portland, Oregon, the Willamette Valley runs about 120 miles and the farmers there produce some 300-plus crops. One major crop is gra...

221 - Beef: Production, Genetics, and Perspective from 2 Ranchers

27 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Like most things in production Ag, there's a whole lot going on before the burger hits your plate. How has beef production changed, what cattle geneti...

220 - From Grain Carts to the Future (& Many Things In Between!)

20 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Jon Kinzebaw and his company, Kinze Manufacturing, lay claim to being the inventor of the grain cart — in an Iowa welding shop — 51 years ago. Tod...

219 - What Business-Minded Farms Should Know In 2022

13 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In general, the corn belt has had a good and prosperous last couple of years. But what lies ahead for grain farms in 2022? Of note, cost of production...

218 - All About Apples

06 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Americans consume approximately 10 pounds of fresh apples per person per year, not to mention applesauce, apple juice, and all the other places apples...

217 - Ag Inputs — Retail Perspective Heading Into 2022

29 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We've been hearing about supply chain squeezes for months now, but what will be the impact at the farm level on availability and pricing? Jim Sprowl, ...

216 - Creating Your Own Ag Economy

22 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In production Agriculture, you generally play the role of price taker. As commodity production specialization has evolved with modern Agriculture, thi...

215 - Regenerative Ag Reality

15 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Regenerative Agriculture is getting a lot of buzz these days. What is regenerative farming? What are the benefits and detriments? Do you need certifie...

214 - Interpreting The Government's Green Proposals At The Farm Level

08 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Last week the federal government unveiled a round of "green" initiatives for Agriculture. Some of the proposals were new, some were recycled old progr...

213 - "Know Your Numbers" And Other Advice from The Farm CPA

01 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Producing bountiful crops or earning a lot of income won't guarantee success. In fact, big yields or big gross income won't even guarantee a net profi...

212 - Tillable: The Website to Rent, Buy, and (Now) Finance Farm Land

25 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Tillable — the online farm land rental site — came on the Ag scene in 2017. Since then, the company has made some waves. From farm land rental, th...

211 - American Soy - A Discussion About Soybean Production and Sales

18 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The 2021 U.S. soybean crop is projected to yield 4.45 billion bushels on just less than 88 million acres. Not bad considering a century ago we devoted...

210 - Technology And Data Analytics To Improve The Cow And The Dairy Farm

11 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

You probably don't think much about duration of milking time for a cow or how protein content might vary from one cow's milk to another. But if you're...

209 - Paying For Ranch Improvements With Carbon Credits

04 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

When Tyrel Obrecht left his banking job to return to the family ranch in Turner, Montana, he knew he needed to increase the ranch's revenue. Could sel...

208 - Understanding and Navigating Crop Input Price Increases

27 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Inflation is upon us, now the only question is: For how long and how much will prices keep accelerating? This is a challenge for every business, espec...

207 - Is Camelina the New Cover Cropping, Carbon Sequestering, Bioplastics Solution?

20 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

If you haven't heard of the oilseed Camelina, join the club. It's reportedly similar to canola and it's pushers believe it has big potential as an ing...

206 - The Ecology Economy As Revenue Stream For Rural Landowners

13 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

John Hansen worked for Ted Turner's ranching venture long enough to see that buffalo breeding stock wasn't going to match the billionaire's TV venture...

205 - Sugar Beets and North Dakota Ag

06 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Jayson Menke of Acres and Shares discusses the sugar beet business and provides a North Dakota perspective on Ag. His company brokers agricultural rea...

204 - Large Scale, Direct To Consumer, Regenerative Ag with a Side of Agri-tourism

30 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

BDA Farms, a 6,000 acre operation in Uniontown, Alabama, quit conventional row crop farming to pursue direct to consumer Agriculture. The operation ha...

203 - Making Pork Better With Improved Livestock Genetics

23 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

When you dig into your pork chop you probably aren't thinking about the boar semen and breeding sow that made that pork chop so delicious. But if you ...

202 - Hey United Nations, Stop Blaming Modern Agriculture for Climate Change

16 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

I have long held the opinion that the United Nations is an activist organization not unlike PETA or the Environmental Working Group. The notable excep...

201 - Farm Machinery Today and Tomorrow

09 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We've come a long way from yesterday's tractors and farm equipment. Technologically, environmentally, and from the basis of what the machine can accom...

200 - What's Happening In The Seed Business?

02 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

To grow crops, you need seed, as such seed is a big business within the business of Ag. Like all things, technology is changing how we plant and even ...

199 - Using A.I. to Verify Sustainability

26 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Sustainability has, frankly, been mostly a marketing phrase for well over a decade. But that's changing amid increasing demands from consumers and gov...

198 - Turning Food Waste Into Fertilizer For Indoor Ag

19 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We waste about 35% of the food we produce. In poor countries it's more due to lack of infrastructure, in affluent countries it's because food is cheap...

197 - Beyond Fake Meat — Opportunity For Plant Proteins: Lentils, Peas and Beans

12 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

No, we're not talking about pretend meat in this episode. We're talking lentils, peas, and beans and their potential growth opportunity as a food and ...

196 - Sales & Sales Management in a Changing Agriculture

05 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Bobbi Brockmann, VP of Sales for Immucell, manages 9 field sales reps as well as the behind the scenes staff who cover the entire country calling (pri...

195 - Managing Resources for Productivity & Profitability

28 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Business, in very simple terms, is the act of exploiting one's resources to create something of value. For production Agriculture this means utilizing...

194 - Inflation, Food, And What It Means For The Ag Economy

21 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

At this point in 2020, Ag was receiving the first of two rounds of the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program and things looked a bit bleak. Today, commo...

193 - Climate Change Reality & What It Means For Ag

14 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Eric Snodgrass has a title long enough to fill the front and back of his business card. Basically, he's a weather dude, atmospheric scientist, and for...

192 - Beef: Processing, Pricing & A Cyberattack On Our Protein Supply

07 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Twice in the last year we've faced a major disruption to our meat supply. The first due to Covid closing packing facilities, the second due to a Cyber...

191 - Ag Lending and Ag Finance - Perspective from 2 Bankers

31 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

A lot has changed rapidly when it comes to farm level finances. Commodity prices in grains have doubled in less than a year, while beef producers are ...

190 - What Are We Teaching Ag's Youth? A Conversation With A Vo-Ag Instructor

24 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Brice McIntosh is the Vocational Ag instructor and FFA leader in Wheatland, Wyoming. The farm kid turned teacher has plenty of opinions about the Busi...

189 - Cattle To Covid, Chemicals To Climate, Is It Really About The Science?

17 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Agriculture is increasingly under environmental scrutiny and the pressure will only get worse. The pressure comes from activist groups teaming with tr...

188 - What Slowing Population Growth (or Even Decline!) Means For Ag

10 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

More than 2 years ago I had the author of Empty Planet on the podcast to discuss the reality: humans aren't going to overpopulate Earth and that we we...

187 - Adjuvants and Agrotechnology

03 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

What's an adjuvant, you ask? They're inert ingredients used in crop protection products to make the chemistry more efficient and effective. Joe Gednal...

186 - Talking Marketing With Wisconsin Cheese

26 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

"Cheese is who we are." That's the statement from Wisconsin Cheese's Chief Marketing Officer, Suzanne Fanning. I invited her on The Business of Ag pod...

185 - Indoor, Farm-Raised, Genetically Engineered Salmon

19 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Aquabounty is a company that came on my radar a couple years ago when they purchased and redeveloped an indoor fish farm in Indiana. The company produ...

184 - Why Is Bill Gates America's Largest Farmland Owner?

12 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Bill and Melinda Gates own almost 250,000 acres of productive farm land, and it's my hunch that it's not simply because he loves the smell of dirt. Bi...

183 - Pooled Farmland Investment Through AcreTrader

05 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Farmland is an asset that appears to be garnering more attention, even from the non-farming world. But what's an aspiring farm ground investor to do i...

182 - Creating & Marketing Profitable Opportunities On Pasture

29 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Brice and Blaine Hitzfield are two of the seven sons who make up Seven Sons Farms — a pasture-based operation in growth mode. The family operation p...

181 - Antibiotics and Environmental Factors in Animal Production

22 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Two main arguments used against animal Agriculture are environmental issues and animal care. We've faced increased regulations on both and endure laws...

180 - When Anti-Ag Activists Have Political Power

15 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Agriculture is increasingly impacted by regulation from the local, state, and federal level. But it appears to be getting worse. Activists and conflic...

179 - Helping Ag Capitalize on the Conservation Economy

08 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

About 900 million acres are devoted to Agriculture in the United States. In addition to those acres are wooded property and other non-farmed land owne...

178 - The Problem With Educating The Consumer

01 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We talk a lot about Ag's need to educate the consumer. There are, however, multiple problems with effectively doing this. First off, the consumer is f...

177 - Ag As The World's Carbon Answer

22 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Following up on the previous episode with Iowa farmer, Kelly Garrett, where we discussed carbon farming, I sit down with Rob West of Thunder Said Ener...

176 - Talking To A First Generation Pecan Farmer

15 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Most farmers are from a farm, not Cason Anderson. Sure, his parents had a few cows on an acreage but they weren't really farmers. Cason is. He got int...

175 - The Future Is Here: Drones In Agriculture

08 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We're doing a lot of things in Ag that are still "on the way" to the non-Ag sector. Driverless cars are a concept but self-driving tractors have been ...

174 - Carbon Farming

01 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

If you haven't noticed, there is a tremendous amount of buzz going around about environment, climate change, and carbon. For years, those who oppose m...

173 - Milk Money — A Complex Pricing Formula Explained

25 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

They say there are only four people who understand milk pricing and three of them are dead. Lucky for us, John Newton, Chief Economist of the American...

172 - Handheld Technology, Hypocrisy, and The Future with Rob Saik

18 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Rob Saik joins me to give highlights from his address to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, where he stood up for a vilified modern...

171 - All About Hops

11 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Without hops, there is no beer. That's reason enough for you to listen to this podcast because this episode explains the hop industry from farm to fro...

170 - Farm Land Values Heading Into 2021

04 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Agriculture begins with and depends on soil. If you farm, your most valuable asset is likely land. So what is that land worth? Are values up, down, or...

169 - A View On Ag From Two Aerial Applicators

28 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

It's helpful to gain perspective from other Ag professionals. I taped this episode from the National Ag Aviation Association convention and trade show...

168 - All About Christmas Trees - An Agricultural Product

21 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The pandemic has been good for Christmas tree farmers. Customers seeking an "authentic" holiday have bid up demand for real trees. After reading two a...

167 - Farming Challenges, Changes, Technology & Business with Nick Horob

14 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Farming is a multi-variant problem. Meaning, from geography to weather to inputs, there are as many as 70 different multiples that factor into on-farm...

166 - Wind Energy — Good or Bad for Rural America?

07 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Take a drive through rural America, and you're sure to see windmills. Not the old fashioned metal blades and structure pumping water from yesteryear, ...

165 - Customers Instead Of Acres — An Entrepreneur's Approach To Ag

30 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Jason Mauck came back to the farm ten years ago from his role a landscape owner. Being a small business owner taught him the value of having many cust...

164 - Channel-Free Ag Inputs, A Discussion With Meristem Founder

23 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Production Agriculture, at the commodity level, favors the low cost producer. So where can costs be shaved? Mitch Eviston asked that very question. Hi...

163 - Biden's Impact On Ag in Trade, Environment, and Labor

16 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

At the time this episode was recorded, we hadn't officially declared Joe Biden the winner of the presidential election. Assuming he is, here are thoug...

162 - Is It Time For Smaller Scale Meat Processing?

09 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This spring, large meat processing facilities closed as workers tested positive for coronavirus. The shutdowns resulted in meat shortages and retailer...

161 - Using Precision Ag and Data Analytics To Cull Your Dud Acres

02 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Tight margins and environmental pressure make it important to get the most out of every acre of farm land. Precision Ag helps us do that. But what's o...

160 - Is CashRent.com the Zillow of Farm Land?

26 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

40% of farm land is expected to change hands in the next decade. Consolidation of farming operations - at the commodity level - is going to continue, ...

159 - Michigan Ag, Specialty Crops, Hemp & More with Crop Scout Christie

19 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The state just north of my home state has an interesting array of Agricultural production. From cherries to wine grapes to hops and hemp, Michigan's m...

158 - Can Promotion Keep Up With Production?

12 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Expanding on episode 157's subject of commodity promotion, this episode asks the question: Can promotion keep up with production? As farmers continue ...

157 - If You Build It, They Won't Come — You Gotta Sell It

06 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

I've never actually seen the movie, Field of Dreams but I know this: We in Ag are amazing at food production, but we often think by "building it" (pro...

156 - The Truth About Forest Fires & Activism Against Ag

28 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Bruce Vincent is the owner of Vincent Logging, a Montana timber company. He's also a timber and environmental community activist. He was forced into h...

155 - Farm View Economics With 2020 Vision

21 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The business of Agriculture begins at the farm. With all the tumult, politics, and market disruption that 2020 has brought, what is the impact at the ...

154 - Battling Anti-Ag Activism…In South Dakota?

14 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Production Agriculture's reality - increasingly - involves doing battle with groups opposed to what we do, how we do it, and even our very existence. ...

153 - Big Vs. Small Agriculture

08 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Pre-pandemic, senators Cory Booker and Elizabeth Warren introduced legislation limiting farm size. The subject was shelved by 24/7 Covid coverage but ...

152 - 7 Things COVID Revealed About Agriculture

03 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Six months into the economic and marketplace response to coronavirus, Damian takes a look at seven things revealed about Ag and our consumers. This is...

151 - Grain Markets Explained, Iowa's Derecho, and a Peek at the Future

24 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The Business of Agriculture podcast has never been a forum for grain price charts…and it's still not. But with USDA's August report release coming j...

150 - All About Indoor Agriculture - A Growing Business

17 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

After reading several articles about the huge investments by Silicon Valley type investors into indoor Agriculture, I thought it was time to put it on...

149 - The Big Picture Of Ag And The Biz Side Of Farming

10 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The farming part of farming can be fun and it's what most people in Ag like about the industry. The business side can be unenjoyable, however. There's...

148 - Agriculture and The Demise of Free Trade - with Michelle Klieger

03 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Trade is a hot topic these days in American Agriculture. Truth is, it always has been - at least over the last century as our productivity skyrocketed...

147 - Global Ag Trade and The USMCA - with Farm Bureau Chief Economist John Newton

27 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

On July 1, 2020, USMCA went into effect. The USMCA is the updated North American Free Trade Agreement between the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. John Newto...

146 - Burger King, Science vs. Facts, Meat, and Consumer Sentiment

20 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Hoosier Ag Today's Gary Truitt asked me to be a guest on his syndicated radio show. We decided the interview would make a good Business of Agriculture...

145 - Is Robotic, Non-Chemistry Weed Control The Future Of Crop Production?

13 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The Business of Agriculture is constantly creating and employing new technology to improve how we produce food. The pace of innovation has quickened i...

144 - Economic Outlook and Reality For the Post Covid World

06 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Everyone is a little uncertain at the moment about the economic outlook in a coronavirus world. One thing we know for sure is that humans are going to...