Off-Farm Income

The Vega FFA Chapter has amassed over $1.1 million in scholarships and prizes through Ag Mechanics competitions in the State of Texas over the past 20 years.  Jay Newton is the FFA Advisor and Emily Carlson is the Chapter President of the Vega FFA Chapter, and they join me on today's episode to discuss this incredible accomplishment and journey. Starting in 2001, Jay Newton began to look at the FF...

Obviously we've had some unexpected setbacks on our farm recently.  In today's episode I want to address those a bit more, how we handled the emotion of it and why a transition is being made.  Also, I'll give you my review of the Hells Canyon Days Festival in Cambridge, Idaho: Hint - It was awesome... More Places You Can Listen to Off-Farm Income And Matt Brechwald:    

Sydni Wilson has just finished her junior year of high school and has already become a freelance, agricultural writer.  She has a house full of house plants, and she raises meat chickens and does all the of butchering herself, with the help of her father.  Talking with Sydni in today's interview there was a recurring theme - when she finds and interest, she goes "all in". A fascinating part of thi...

For Information Like Degrees Offered, Annual Costs, Etc., Please Click The Banner Below: [caption id="attachment_386296" align="alignright" width="106"] Hannah-Rose Foote: Student Ambassador and 2022 National FFA Officer Candidate[/caption] The Agricultural College Episode is designed to profile agricultural trade schools, junior colleges, colleges and universities around the U.S.  This episode is...

Tip Of The Week Do you insure your hay and other feed? Rural Crime In The U.S. https://www.texarkanagazette.com/news/2023/may/30/deputies-arrest-man-in-horse-pasture-after/ https://www.fox19.com/2023/05/31/stolen-cincinnati-school-bus-chased-into-indiana-cornfield-suspect-custody/ https://www.nwahomepage.com/news/cobblestone-farms-dealing-with-string-of-thefts/ Across The Pond, Down Under And Up A...

Sheldon McKinney is the Executive Director of the Kentucky FFA Foundation.  She is also the president of a group of foundation directors who have come together to collaborate on how to best support the FFA in their individual states. On today's episode Sheldon is joining us to discuss how fundraising works, where the money goes and what it means to be a 501(c)3 organization and why that is necessa...

On tomorrow's Ag Business Episode I am speaking with the executive director of the Kentucky FFA Foundation.  We are going to be speaking about supporting state FFA Foundations as well as a new group of FFA Foundation Directors that has been formed called LEADS. Anytime I think of Kentucky FFA, I think of this interview with Kaitlyn Elliot.  I was so impressed by the old school manner in which she...

Mylie Rexing is a district and chapter FFA officer and soon to be agriculture student at Purdue University.  She has been working her father's butcher shop for several years, throughout high school.  During that time an idea occurred to her to make ready to cook meals for people to purchase from the shop that would simplify meal prep for them at home.  Mylie's Meals To Go was born. Mylie has come...

I hope you all had a great holiday weekend and took some time to remember those who have made the ultimately sacrifice so we could do exactly that.  I have a couple of thoughts that I have been wanting to share with you, and today I will finally get to do it: Hard Work As a value - teaching non-traditional ag students about the world of work they are entering Having a job or business that is not a...

Olivia Black is a senior in high school, a second year FFA student and the Michigan Star Award Winner in Agribusiness.  In Olivia's school district the FFA Chapter is run by the Ionia County Career Center, and high school students are only eligible to attend there starting in the 11th Grade.  Olivia has grown up showing cattle and pigs and with a significant family history in the Dairy Industry, s...

For Information Like Degrees Offered, Annual Costs, Etc., Please Click The Banner Below: The Agricultural College Episode is designed to profile agricultural trade schools, junior colleges, colleges and universities around the U.S.  This episode is an effort to replicate the conversation that prospective students, parents and ag teachers might have with agricultural schools at trade show like the...

Tip Of The Week Are your local legislators addressing the rising issue of livestock theft by activists? Rural Crime In The U.S. https://www.fox61.com/article/news/crime/wallingford-farm-life-size-mm-stolen-display/520-b63b9869-2f4c-4b54-aa82-dc623daa9b45 https://www.globalvillagespace.com/GVS-US/report-60k-tons-of-ammonium-nitrate-lost-in-shipping-as-explosive-chemical/ https://www.fbi.gov/contact...

Colleen Cummings is the owner of 2 Farm Boys Soap, a goat farmer and a mother who was looking for a way to engage her two sons in agriculture on her small farm in Heber City, Utah.  There is a lot of family history on that small farm.  Colleen's husband's family started farming that ground in the early 1900's.  Since then, the land has been split up, and today they raise goats and grow hay on 15 a...

On tomorrow's Ag Business Episode I am interviewing an entrepreneur with a goat milk soap business.  As you know, the goat milk soap business is one of my favorites to profile.  Well, tomorrow's guest discloses that her family got goats first, and then her pragmatic husband said that these goats need to pull their own weight if they are going to stay.  And that is what led to their goat milk soap...

On today's episode I get to do something that I love, and something new that is a lot of fun.  I will be profiling a great, Idaho FFA Student named Zane Nichols, and I will be promoting a summer kickoff festival in Cambridge, Idaho called Hells Canyon Days.  So, this episode will be a bit different than normal. In the first half of the episode I am speaking with Zane, who will be working in the co...

Our woes on the farm this year continue.  I've known this was coming, but I confirmed it Friday at our veterinarian's office.  All of my cows are open.  We will be having no calves this year as our bull quit producing viable sperm sometime over a year ago, and I did not catch it because I did not have him semen tested, and I did not have our cows preg tested. This is a hard lesson for me, and it i...

Dori Stuever is a driven FFA student, a regional officer, a business owner and the feature of a newspaper article about her maple syrup business, County Line Kinds Pure Maple Syrup.  Concentrating on marketing through social media, Dori is selling maple syrup throughout the United States, and she is the 6th generation in her family to be in this business. Dori is also partnered with two neighbors,...

For Information Like Degrees Offered, Annual Costs, Etc., Please Click The Banner Below: The Agricultural College Episode is designed to profile agricultural trade schools, junior colleges, colleges and universities around the U.S.  This episode is an effort to replicate the conversation that prospective students, parents and ag teachers might have with agricultural schools at trade show like the...

Tip Of The Week Take the time to verify checks, request a cashier's check or do the transaction at the bank Rural Crime In The U.S. https://www.unioncountydailydigital.com/articles/farm-watch-crime-prevention-program-comes-to-union-county/ https://www.wcjb.com/2023/05/13/lcso-deputies-are-searching-portable-sawmill-stolen-work-site/ http://www.columbiamagazine.com/index.php?sid=127344 Across The P...

Tom Henson is the owner of T&T Services in Lapeer, Michigan along with his business partner and bowling partner, Tonya.  I found Tom and Tonya's ad on Craigslist and was immediately drawn to it because of the ad for wasp removal.  It was apparent that Tom was offering a suite of services that anyone in the world of farming would already have much of the equipment for, and I wanted to interview him...

On tomorrow's Ag Business Episode I am interviewing an entrepreneur who drew my attention with an ad about wasp removal.  This made me think about the two hives of bees that I lost to wasps several years ago, and of course bee and honey production.  So today I am revisiting an interview I did with Alan Mikolich about this very business.

Taylor Crouch is a sophomore in high school and her FFA chapter's reporter.  She is also a three sport athlete and a serial entrepreneur at the age of 15.  There is a lot to talk about from this interview with Taylor, but throughout all of the different sports, livestock shows, businesses and ways of connecting with people throughout the U.S. one theme stood out.  The more active you are in high s...

Well, I've definitely had better years on our small farm here in Kuna.  At this point in the year, this has definitely been the worst year we have ever experienced.  Last week, on two consecutive mornings, I found kid goats that had been killed by coyotes.  On top of that, we have other issues going on that are going to harm our bottom line on the farm in the future. On the other hand, some ideas...

Agustin Luna is a sophomore at J.W. Nixon High School in Laredo, Texas, he is the chapter's reporter and he is responsible for cooking the pork ribs on the barbecue team.  That's right, the barbecue team. Until an article popped up on my news feed the other day, I was unaware that there was such a think as a high school barbecue competition.  However, Agustin goes to school in Texas, so I shouldn'...

For Information Like Degrees Offered, Annual Costs, Etc., Please Click The Banner Below: The Agricultural College Episode is designed to profile agricultural trade schools, junior colleges, colleges and universities around the U.S.  This episode is an effort to replicate the conversation that prospective students, parents and ag teachers might have with agricultural schools at trade show like the...