Agribusiness Blueprint

Agriculture's labor problem is chronic. But attention is focused on the hands in the field, even while another talent crisis looming, and new tech and tools (even AI) seem unlikely to solve it.  Today, hosts Sarah Mock and Trey Malone join experts Jay Akridge, Aissa Good, and Brenna Ellison to dig into why agribusiness is chronically short on skilled talent, and lay out a practical framework...

The Iran War is hitting American farmers from multiple directions — not just through higher fertilizer costs, but through the rising price of diesel and gasoline too.  But this is far from agriculture's first energy crisis. In fact, during past crises we built tools and strategies for surviving the exact kinds of disruptions we're facing right now. Today, Sarah Mock and Trey Malone, alon...

Risk has always been part of farming and agribusiness — but the way we understand and manage it has transformed dramatically over the past 60 years. Today, hosts Sarah Mock and Trey Malone trace that evolution, from the irrational exuberance of 1970s American agriculture through the devastating farm financial crisis of the 1980s, and into today's high-stakes landscape of trade wars, AI disrup...

What do a foot pedal trash can, Japanese automakers, and modern ag sales have in common?  They were all invented (in a manner of speaking) by Lillian Gilbreth, an engineer, mother of twelve, and one of the most influential figures in modern management science.  In this episode, host Sarah Mock and co-host Trey Malone trace Lillian's remarkable legacy from the factory floor all the way to the...

Once upon a time, a barefoot man with a pan on his head set out to build a business in one of the most unpredictable and challenging sectors on Earth.  That's how Johnny Appleseed became more than just an American folk hero, he became one of America's most innovate agribusiness people-- pioneering a tree nursery business on the nation's frontier in order to meet a fast-growing deman...

Agriculture is unlike any other industry.  No other sector is so vital to human life, and so dependent on countless small businesses who contend daily with weather and natural variability, dozens of global markets, evolving technologies, and wild geopolitical uncertainty. The businesses that operate in this unique and complex world are also unlike any other, and they didn’t get that way by acciden...