Jay Matteson's Rural America

Hosts Ron Robbins and Jay Matteson are finally back on the podcast after both were down with the horrible flu/pneumonia going around. They discuss what's happening to milk prices, the global economy and potentially geopolitical storms that could impact agriculture in 2024.

Hosts Ron Robbins and Jay Matteson take the listeners on a wild ride from how local crop harvest went to global food politics. How is the weather impacting food production in South Africa and Brazil. Will El Nino produce mega nor'easters this winter? We also discuss a previous podcast guest, Country Music singer Stephanie Nash, and how Stephanie has been growing as an agricultural advocate since c...

Jay Matteson shares information on what is happening to address the school milk supply problems and what was down locally to help make sure milk was available at our schools.

Cohosts Ron Robbins and Jay Matteson discuss a variety of topics including concerns about the war between Israel and Hamas in the Middle East and its impact on agriculture in the U.S.

Show host Jay Matteson spends time talking with Carly Basinger and Avery Maclean, The River Farmers, who own two farms in the Thousand Islands region of northern New York State. Carly has a vegetable farm serving "CSAs" Community Supported Agriculture shares for her local community, a farm stand and serves local restaurants. Avery owns a small farm on Grindstone Island located two miles from the U...

Hosts Ron Robbins and Jay Matteson discuss what potentially happens to agriculture and our food supply if the Federal Government shutdowns. They also discuss a fantastic grant program available to increase food production in Jefferson County NY and also talk about safety on the highways during fall harvest time.

Podcast hosts Ron Robbins and Jay Matteson are joined by Congresswoman Claudia Tenney for her second interview on the podcast. But before Ron and Jay get into a great conversation with Claudia, Jay shares breaking news with listeners about Round II of the Jefferson County Food Resiliency Grant Program accepting applications from farms and food businesses. Over $600,000 is available to grow local f...

The Team Leader for the Seasonal Hurricane Prediction Center and Director of the Climate Test Bed at NOAA's Climate Prediction Center, Matt Rosencrans, joins Jay and Ron for an in depth discussion about what the hot water temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico mean for the eastern seaboard of the United States this winter. Will El Nino combine with this hot water streaming north in the Gulf Stream to...

Dr. Scott Steiger, Director of the Lake Effect Storm Prediction and Research Center at SUNY Oswego, joins Ron Robbins and Jay Matteson to share the results of his research project from the winter of '22/'23 on whether Wind Turbines increase the frequency of lightning in Lake Effect Snow Storms. Dr. Steiger joined Ron and Jay for a podcast on Sept 29, 2022 to introduce his research project in NNY....

Ron Robbins and Jay Matteson chew on a lot of topics in this podcast. Ron attended the annual DFA - Syracuse Mets Game. Jay talks about drones harvest apples. Jay and Ron discuss carbon credits and how they work. Then everything circles around to food supply and climate change. It's a busy conversation!

Jay and Ron are joined by Shawn Hackett, President of Hackett Financial Advisors and Author of the Hackett Agriculture Report. The trio discuss what they see as an optimistic outlook in the short term for the U.S. Dairy Industry. They also explore the global food industry and geopolitical events impacting food supply around the World.

Jay and Ron focus on the use of precision agriculture technology and its environmental and economic benefits. Jay references a recent study from the Association of Equipment Manufacturers, titled "The Environmental Benefits of Precision Ag Technology" and Ron compares the results of the study to real world results he's experienced using precision ag technologies on his 7,000 acre farm.

Finally, after a couple weeks off, we are back podcasting! Join Ron Robbins and Jay Matteson while they catch up on things in the ag industry. Can they grow field corn for dairy cows in south central florida? We've followed Ron as he has assisted Florida Dairy farmers with their efforts to grow field corn. In today's episode, Ron shares the results and it is quite interesting. Yellow skies in NYS...

Retired Master Sergeant Curtis Mosely joins Jay Matteson for a conversation about scuba diving in the Thousand Islands region of NYS. First we learn a little about the career of the retired Master Sergeant who came to reluctantly came to northern New York because of being stationed at the U.S. Army base at Fort Drum. Like many soldiers stationed at Ft. Drum, he quickly learned that the base has on...

Ron and jay sit down with Belleville Henderson High School FFA Chapter President Morgan Hodge, a junior at Belleville Henderson, and share stories about FFA and Morgan's experiences. Listening to this episode will leave you impressed with what FFA offers every student, not just those from an agricultural background. You'll also be impressed with this young woman and the skill set she is developing...

In this special episode, we get answers as to why the Earth is shaking so much beneath our feet in northern New York State! We don't get Earthquakes, or at least that is what we thought. But in the last two weeks we've had two Earth quakes and nine after shocks, all centered in the Adams Center area of Jefferson County, NY. Is this the War of Worlds coming to life? Are there secret government inst...

Ron and Jay sit down with NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets Commissioner Richard Ball and dig deep into important topics like climate change, water quality and environmental stewardship and how agriculture is doing as a steward of the environment. Our discussion hits on the importance of fossil fuels to the food processing industry in NY. We also harvest information about the NYS budget an...

Jay and Ron sit down with Congresswoman Claudia Tenney (NY24th) with a an extensive chat about agricultural issues. Congresswoman Tenney has been touring her extensive District that has a rich variety of farms and agricultural businesses, meeting with people to learn about what issues and needs exist for food production. The conversation covers the upcoming work on the Farm Bill, food security, im...

A lot if happening in agriculture this time of year from educational conferences to getting fields ready for planting. Jay and Ron share stories about just a few of the things that happened over the past week and what you might see happening on farm fields near you.

Sutton Rucks, a partner in Milking R Dairy near Okeechobee Florida, joins Ron and jay on this episode of the podcast to talk about dairy farming in a place where most people think about oranges and beaches. Milking R Dairy is certified through the national Dairy FARM program. Milking R Dairy is very active in value added production, including an ice cream store in the middle of the operation! Sutt...

Ron and Jay discuss what happens when property assessments go up and the importance of having an Agricultural Value Assessment in place in NYS if your land qualifies. They also share a conversation about recent anti-agriculture news stories hitting the press.

Ron and Jay digest the sights sounds and tastes of Jay's participation in the 2023 "Policy Execution" Days organized by New York Farm Bureau in Albany NY. New York Farm Bureau, the grassroots voice of farmers across New York State, organizes PX days to bring the agricultural community to meet New York State's elected officials. No protests, no shouting down the hallways. Just great NYS agricultura...

Ag Committee Chairman Glenn GT Thompson, Congressman from the 15th Congressional District in Pennsylvania, joined us as a guest on our podcast to talk about the 2023 Farm Bill. During our conversation we started talking about the Congressman's scouting career and how important that was to him. We felt it was very remarkable and with his permission pulled out a clip of our conversation focused on s...

Congressman Glenn "G.T." Thompson (Pa.14th), Chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture, visits with show hosts Jay Matteson, Ron Robbins and Alan Walts to discuss the work that is about to start on the 2023 U.S. Farm Bill. Chairman Thompson talks about the challenges facing agriculture and where the Farm Bill might help specialty crop growers and dairy farmers. The Cha...

Jay and Ron discuss what preparations dairy farms make for the oncoming frigid weather (-20 degrees) and Jay share information about his travel to the International dairy Foods Association Forum in Orlando Florida and the networking he did while attending. Jay talks about the importance of networking in economic development.