The Business of Agriculture Podcast

We began incessantly hearing the words "supply chain" a year after we'd already been feeling the brunt of its breakdown. In Agriculture it became noticeable when meat and milk processing plants closed or couldn't convert to a new product mix during shutdowns. Then it moved to a supply problem, meaning, we didn't think we'd have the inputs necessary to produce food. We're past some of those immedia...

2022 started off with dire predictions for production Agriculture's financial outlook. But, by mid spring the picture was changing, and by early summer a very profitable year was being predicted. Is that still the case? Are farm balance sheets going to swell? Or will interest rates and inflationary pressure on inputs create losses? Tim Koch, Chief Credit Officer for Farm Credit Services of America...

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 what if a soil analysis — which you are already doing for soil nutrient monitoring — could also predict pathogens so that you could treat the problem proactively? South Dakota farmer Paul Sittig and Mike Tweedy of Pattern Ag join me to discuss the c...

Oftentimes, environmental organizations use modern Agriculture as a target and a tool for fundraising. Worse, some organizations use their political heft to create hurdles or even do harm to our industry. But not The Nature Conservancy, according to Jack Bobo. Jack joins me to discuss how environmental groups can work with the world's most important industry to accomplish mutual objectives. He als...

California's regulatory environment is prohibitive, especially for production Agriculture which uses a lot of water and works on historically slim margins. So, what's an enterprising California farm operator to do when faced with the challenge of preserving the family ranch in light of exploding regulatory costs? That's the question Eric Bream aims to answer with new ventures. His first venture: d...

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 The Business of Agriculture podcast a couple times. But how do you go about qualifying, what paperwork and approvals are required, must you change your farming practices, and who sets the price for your farm's carbon sequestration? Those and other ques...

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? How much of an industry shake up will consolidation bring? Brett Sciotto, CEO of Aimpoint Research explains farmer psychographics and the research and outlook his firm does on behalf of Agricultural organizations. From Leveraged Lifestylers to Enter...

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 understatement, and it's not just in Ag. So what does all this mean at the farm level? What impact does a half to one percent raise in interest rates have on our industry? Curt Covington, Senior Director of Institutional Credit at AgAmerica joins me to discuss...

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 Wildlife Fund, found that corn ethanol is worse for the environment than fuel derived from oil. Groups ranging from the fossil fuel industry to readers of Mother Jones embraced the study, flawed as it was. Turns out, the analysis of environmental im...

Avian Influenza, or Bird Flu, is whipping through the American poultry industry. Spread by migratory fowl, the disease has, so far, had an outsized impact on backyard flocks. But its negative effect on commercial poultry production is an ongoing concern. As of April 4, 2022, 13 million commercial layers have been euthanized to prevent disease spread. The virus appears to hit turkeys and layers har...

7,600 California farming operations produce 80% of the world's almonds, which is California's number two crop by revenue. Unfortunately, because of weather problems — a freeze at bloom stage— and water rationing, almonds are going to be in shorter supply and more expensive very soon. Aubrey Bettencourt, a fourth generation farmer and president of the Almond Alliance of California explains almond p...

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 still operates a small farm — has an environmental proposal to reduce water consumption, packaged with a business proposal to make farmers more money. The company — SupPlant — uses plant sensing technology, AI, and data to achieve their goal of digita...

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 of Agriculture is and does. Some great stuff here — share it with your Ag and non-Ag friends.  Sponsored by LandTrust landtrust.com

In March of 2020, all Hell broke loose for businesses and citizens alike, amid government-imposed shutdowns of the economy. Agriculture — as essential a business as any — was "allowed" to operate but it was hardly business as usual. The Agricultural input industry flexed to keep farms running with the supplies necessary to produce crops. Brandon Byington and Ryan Thompson with Helena Agra Enterpri...

Jarod Creed is not an insurance agent, commodity broker, or banker. Yet, his job involves oversight of farmers' commodity marketing, capitalizing on government insurance programs, and keeping the balance sheet positive. Essentially, Jarod sees his company's role serving the 50 farming operations he works with as their consultant CFO. Jarod tells us what farming operations do wrong, why "manage you...

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 Moe join me for a discussion about the contagion of military conflict in the Black Sea region. Is this the beginning of a global power reset? What will China do in the aftermath of Ukraine? Most importantly, if this is a wake up call to North American...

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 multiple times in the next year. Asset values — from soybeans to farm land to cars and equipment — are up by record percentages. What does all this mean for the Business of Agriculture? Bill Conerly, economist and business consultant provides context...

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. Logan provides his perspective and predictions on the future of Ag. Among them: There will be farmers like him who work in town and farm 1,000 or fewer acres then there will be large-scale operators. The future will employ smaller, less expensive fa...

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 podcast or pull Neil's music from its service. Spotify stuck with Rogan, the media is still talking about the incident two weeks later, and 76 year old Neil Young's career got a shot in the arm with weeks of free promotion. So what does any of this have...

Agriculture's mentality and unstated business model has forever been: Make more food because population growth is going to exceed our ability to produce. But what happens when we have adequate production to feed humanity (which we already do) and the population begins to decline (which is about to happen in a couple decades)? Demographic changes are happening fast. Developed nations are getting ol...

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 sessions devoted to accurately measuring emissions and how to compensate Ag for Earth-friendly practices. Also discussed at the conference: Tech's advance via autonomous machinery (there are 130 robotic orchard sprayers already deployed in the west) and t...

In January of 2022 the Biden administration announced that one billion dollars of government money would be deployed to make meat less expensive. This, in response to the recent (and rapid!) run-up in protein prices. Details of the plan are still a bit unclear. One major objective of the spending is to expand slaughter capacity among smaller scale meat processors. Will this make meat less expensiv...

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 billion to be dedicated to expanding independent meat processing. Expanding local and regional meat processing away from the oligopolistic packers is a fine concept, especially for us who rely on small, independent butchering facilities in rural Amer...

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 grass seed. If you've bought a bag of grass seed at your nursery or home improvement store, there's a very good chance it came from Oregon. While speaking to the Oregon Seed League conference, I ran across Brenda, Macey, and Shelly — three women with fa...

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 genetics are sought after, where has beef steered its ship wrong in the past, will we see vertically integrated beef the way the pork and poultry industry have gone, what's in the future for American beef? I sit down with Kim Ford of Cross Diamond Cattle C...