Dirt Road Discussions

Send us Fan Mail Local Brewing Distilleries have become popular across the county with the shiny brewing vats and pipes visible to patrons at the bar. To build a brewery is not only a labor of love, but a lot of labor, science, and good business instincts. Owners and brewers Davis and Hailee Gove share how they set up Jim Dandy Brewing in the middle of the country's largest barley and hops ag...

Send us Fan Mail Is it true that reindeer prefer moss over carrots? Can they see with ultraviolet vision? How far can they swim? Is it legal to drive reindeer through Canada? Why must you make reservations months ahead to be with the reindeer during the Christmas season? This fun, high-energy podcast with Erika Bowie, general manager of Leavenworth Reindeer Farm takes us on a journey of all things...

Send us Fan Mail Children know them as culinary finger puppets, but olives are a growing industry that may surprise you. Whether it is black, green, extra virgin, or refined, olives and olive oils have an interesting history and process to get them in our food. Ciriaco Chavez, Director of Agriculture & Innovation at Redlands Farm Holding, tells us the ins and outs of this "survival"...

Send us Fan Mail One time a year, over 40 million turkeys are purchased for Thanksgiving dinner tables. How do turkey farmers plan for this yearly push and make it go off without a hitch? Owner, Ronny Lee and daughter, Charli Decker are turkey farmers in  New Jersey who raise and sell these festive birds directly from their farm. They talk about turkeys, the history of Thanksgiving, and a few comm...

Send us Fan Mail It is impressive how ranchers who graze on public lands provide excellent land management services, while also saving taxpayers money. It is important to acknowledge the invaluable role that ranching plays in public land management and the positive impact it has on conservation and natural resources. Danny Munch, an esteemed economist for the American Farm Bureau Federation, sheds...

Send us Fan Mail Of all the things we have imported from Europe, the Quagga Mussel is an accidental stowaway that threatens all U.S. waters. They can clog city water-intake structures, agriculture pipes, and create havoc on docks, buoys, boat hulls, and beaches. An estimated $500 million a year is spent managing them in the Great Lakes alone. Bruce Johnson, Lieutenant AIS Field Operations Utah Dep...

Send us Fan Mail Yaks can't wait for the first day of winter! They get giddy as the first snowflakes hit their noses. This is especially true for Kent Sutton's Yak farm in Archer, Idaho. Not meant to be a cow rancher, Kent decided to become a Yak farmer after watching Brad Pitt in "Seven Years in Tibet". After many years and adventures with these charismatic animals, he hasn&ap...

Send us Fan Mail We live in a world of information overload. Unfortunately, not all information is accurate. Farmers now have the added job of addressing misinformation on agriculture practices that fills our social media channels daily. Shay Meyers, CEO of Owyhee Produce and social media influencer, shares his experiences of leveraging social media to counter false narratives and promote his fami...

Send us Fan Mail Clams and Oysters aren't your traditional farm operation. Your farm may be under 4 feet of water or 6 inches of water depending on the tide. Kyle Sturgis, Farm Manager with Shore Breeze Farms LLC, teaches us more about this aquatic venture to meet the needs of seafood lovers everywhere.

Send us Fan Mail Why have we been taught to fear bugs in general? Is it a cultural thing, or DNA thing? Introducing Jason Thomas, a University of Idaho Extension entomologist. He loads his vehicle with all kinds of little creatures and takes them to schools with a mission to help people know how to interact with our bug world. He has a message for everyone the next time they pick up a shoe to squa...

Send us Fan Mail Whether you are spitting out sunflower seeds at a ball game or walking by a 13ft flower, running a sunflower farm has a fascinating story. Bethany Gotts, the owner of Quey's Maze, has a passion for sunflowers and wanted to bring that to the public for a different spin on agritourism. She hosted the first year of the Quey's Maze Sunflower Festival, where people can come t...

Send us Fan Mail Mushrooms are easy to grow, but hard to master. They find their way to your salad and burger, and yet over 50% of specialty mushrooms consumed in the United States are imported. Luc Lalire, CEO,  and Will Beeson, COO, with MycoLogic want to help Americans learn and be able to grow mushrooms locally. From Hollywood myths to unknown facts, you will be amazed at how much you never kn...

Send us Fan Mail Crowds have gathered all over the world to watch cranes lift an entire farm unit off of a semi-truck as it is being delivered to a city, resident, or school. Those who thought farming wasn't possible for them can now hook in water and electricity to these freight farms and it's time to grow food! Dave Harris, Head of Plant Sciences, and Brooke Smith Account Executive of...

Send us Fan Mail Sherri Staheli with Staheli Farms never imagined parents would pay her to have their city kids come out and do chores on her farm.  This has led to "Farm Camp" where kids build memories, interact with animals, do chores, and learn to develop a work ethic. (Special rerelease) 

Send us Fan Mail Restaurants need food from farmers and farmers need restaurants to sell their food, right? Sounds simple, but it all got a little crazy for everybody when Covid hit in 2020 and supply chains were disrupted. It was realized there was a gap between the farmers and restaurant owners. From those tough times came a new group called FARE Idaho that is working to bring local farmers and...

Send us Fan Mail Fields of mint may look a little like hay, and get harvested a little like hay, but when one barrel of mint oil is the final product from four acres of harvest, you quickly realize this is no ordinary crop. From chewing gum to toothpaste, ice cream to candy canes, mint is part of our daily lives. Del Christensen, area manager for Labbeemint, takes us through the process of how min...

Send us Fan Mail What happens when you ask farmers and ranchers what they want in an ideal dream truck with luxuries such as boot washers, dog boxes, the works? This is where the Diesel Brothers make wishes into realities. They have not only made over 100 customized trucks but find ways to give them away for free. Hans Peterson, manager of Diesel Brothers, talks about working on John Wayne's...

Send us Fan Mail When you haul a 4-ton potato around the United States, people naturally follow you off the highway to get pictures of themselves with this spectacle. Everyone has the same question, "Is it real?" Laura Martin and Sue Kennedy, Tour Directors, take us on a journey of this famous Idaho potato truck from prom parades to barge rides around the Statue of Liberty. Hear how it a...

Send us Fan Mail Who would have thought a decade ago that farmers today can place a full 10-gallon tank on the back of a 225 lbs. drone to place applications on select areas of fields with farmers at the control. Taylor Moreland, the founder of Agri Spray Drones, tells the story of how this technology is advancing, how it is meant to work in conjunction with larger ground equipment, and how these...

Send us Fan Mail Traditional farm fields stretch north and south and east and west, but some are looking upward to grow crops. Such is the case with Vertical Harvest Farms located in famous Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Nona Yehia, CEO and co-founder, tells the story of how they worked with city officials to design and grow food in the first vertical (3-story) greenhouse in the Northern Hemisphere. Despi...

Send us Fan Mail A phenomenon spreading across all demographics is video games that allow players to realistically experience farming. One of the most popular games is called Farming Simulator by GIANTS Software. This impact of this game has inspired some players who weren't in agriculture to become real-life farmers. Of course, some with agriculture ties are also getting in on the fun. Kermi...

Send us Fan Mail The Heffernan farm family (yes, there really are 5 Marys) dreamed of taking what they learned from the restaurant business and moved it into raising and producing beef among many other ventures.  This is their story of starting over 20 businesses while achieving their goal of raising four daughters with agricultural roots.

Send us Fan Mail Once thought to be a wild horse that was domesticated, the White Horse of Black Daisy Canyon is said to have escaped a hunting camp 25 years ago and has since survived on its own back in the rugged mountains around Mackay, Idaho. Locals and out-of-towners watch every spring for this icon to reappear to add to the White Horse's longevity and legacy. Macky resident and White Ho...

Send us Fan Mail Alex McCoy will be the first to admit that an ostrich farm or ostrich meat is not mainstream today and may conjure up some interesting conversation. People are more familiar with a traditional Fourth of July burger or chicken sandwich. However, after a culinary encounter in South Africa, Alex thought about it through the lens of nutrition. Ostrich meat is a red meat that is virtua...

Send us Fan Mail "Leaving The Tech Sector For Garlic, Goats, & So Much More" Real-life sisters Venise Cunningham and Belinda Kelly used to travel a distance to work in the tech sector, but life changed with the purchase of 10 acres of land. The problem: neither of them knew anything about farming, so off to Google and mentors they went to learn how to grow something to sell. Today, t...