Off-Farm Income

Peyton Parks is a junior at Topsail High School in Hampstead, North Carolina.  She is also a third year member in the Topsail FFA Chapter and she has an eye for entrepreneurship.  Peyton has been riding and caring for horses for several years.  She has been pet sitting for neighbors for about three years now, including people with horses, and she finds herself very attracted to entrepreneurship.  ...

It is that time of year when we have successfully raised a calf crop to finishing weights and deliver them to the butcher.  However, the timing of this trip factoring in the weather and traffic is always an interesting part of our story.  And of course, it can be a little bit bitter-sweet to have these livestock that we have known for so long fulfill their life purpose.  However, it is ultimately...

Levi Smuin is a 2022 National Proficiency Finalist in the category of Ag Mechanics Repair & Maintenance, and is also from my home state of Idaho!  Levi began his journey in the FFA during his sophomore year in high school.  About one year prior to that he had started working for Rounds Farms & Trucking in Rigby, Idaho.  This has led to a progression of responsibility on the farm and in the truckin...

Tip Of The Week Getting physically involved is a rational choice decision too Rural Crime In The U.S. https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/whd/whd20221121 https://www.valleycentral.com/news/local-news/alleged-edinburg-cattle-thief-wanted-after-missing-court-date-records-show/ Across The Pond, Down Under And Up Above https://www.countytimes.co.uk/news/23149371.police-launch-investigation-dog-theft...

Nick Tsiolis is the founder of Farmer's Keeper, a grain merchandising company in Chicago.  Nick and his team provide grain merchandising advice and assistance to farmers of all sizes, and they are especially helpful to those farmers on the bubble who are thinking about marketing some or all of their grain in the futures markets. I like to say that I can podcast about agriculture because I know a l...

On tomorrow's show we are getting an education on grain marketing.  The first thing I thought of when considering a re-cap episode was this interview with Jake Fanning.  He was well ahead of his age when it came to hedging through the commodities market, and today I want to bring this back to you.

Lila Wantland is a 2022 National Proficiency Finalist, a former chapter and area officer and a second time guest on the Off-Farm Income Podcast.  Lisa first appeared on the show in episode #1393 in May of 2022, and little did either of us know at that point that she would become a National Proficiency Finalist this year.  On today's show Lila joins us from her dorm room at Oklahoma State Universit...

We did something very different for Thanksgiving this year.  We took a trip to Moab, Utah and spent the holiday with friends, rather than family. We then returned to a snowy farm to kick off the Christmas season! More Places You Can Listen to Off-Farm Income And Matt Brechwald:    

Will Harman is a 2022 National Proficiency Finalist in the category of Beef Production.  Will farms with his family in Northwest Indiana where they grow corn and soybeans as well as raise cattle.  The families cattle herd began with show animals for 4H, but as time went on and Will and his brother Ben were showing less, it turned into a direct marketing beef business.   Will's older brother Ben wa...

Tip Of The Week Horrifically evil and violent crimes exist today, and they have always been with us. Rural Crime In The U.S. https://www.nydailynews.com/true-crime-justice-story/ny-thanksgiving-eve-murders-20221119-skj6nxxqvndlddaeosnhc2isca-story.html https://www.firstcoastnews.com/article/news/crime/vandals-destroy-irrigation-system-at-jacksonville-farm/77-5d3e0134-60d5-4b83-837f-67d78158702f Ac...

Pete Curran began his career in agriculture at age 55 after a job loss.  He began working in seed sales and started meeting farmers.  This lit him on fire about agriculture, farming operations and farmers.  Soon, he was doing something unconventional, asking farmers if he could take photographs of them.  This led to a collection of photos and ultimately his book, "When I Listened To A Farmer". I d...

I have a ton of gratitude for all of you, and thank you so much for being in this audience.  Happy Thanksgiving! More Places You Can Listen to Off-Farm Income And Matt Brechwald:    

Justin Duenke is a 2022 National Proficiency Winner in the category of Diversified Agriculture.  Growing up farming on a row crop operation, his family decided to add cattle to the farm when he was 9 years old.  During a bad drought and seeing very poor corn out in the field, Justin's father made the decision to chop the corn for silage rather than try to sell it, and to feed it to their cattle.  ...

Happy Thanksgiving Week to all of you!  On today's solo episode, I want to take some time to thank our great sponsors! More Places You Can Listen to Off-Farm Income And Matt Brechwald:      

Annamarie Stone is a 2022 National Proficiency Finalist in the category of diversified livestock production.  She is also a Missouri State Officer and three time guest on the Off-Farm Income Podcast.  On today's episode Annamarie comes back on the show so I can property congratulate her on being a national proficiency finalist and being a state officer.  All of us here at the Off-Farm Income Podca...

Tip Of The Week The more exotic the animal, the higher the risk? Rural Crime In The U.S. https://www.ksal.com/flatbed-stolen-with-1-2-of-a-hay-bale/ https://www.webstercountycitizen.com/opinion/article_fb4be72a-653e-11ed-a71f-0ba7e2e22c77.html https://www.fox5vegas.com/2022/11/16/some-10000-mink-loose-missing-after-vandalism-rural-farm/ https://www.nola.com/news/northshore/two-accused-of-killing-s...

Ross Cady is a territory manager for Corteva Agriscience in South Central Minnesota.  Ross first appeared on the Off-Farm Income Podcast 7.5 years ago in 2015 on episode #27 .  He was one of the first ever FFA students featured on the show.  Since then he completed high school, was an Illinois State Star Finalist, graduated from Iowa State University and found the job that he had always been imagi...

Ross Cady was first a guest on the Off-Farm Income Podcast in 2017 on Episode #027.  He is appearing on the show again on tomorrow's Ag Business Episode, seven years later.  He is now a college graduate and has just started his career as a territory sales manager for Pioneer in Southern Minnesota.  I could not be more excited for him or proud to feature him on the show again.  To give you an accur...

Evan Mogler is a 2022 National Proficiency Finalist in the category of Diversified Agricultural Production.  He is also a senior in high school and a fantastic mechanic with plans to develop a myriad of mechanical skills from service to software, exclusively on John Deere Tractors.  Currently Evan farms with his family on their 3rd generation farm in Inwood, Iowa.  Evan assists the family and 40-5...

Today I was listening to a radio show, and they were commenting on a TikTok Video in which an individual stated that there is no way to live on less than $25/hour in the U.S. with current cost of living averages.  This got me thinking about another topic I have touched on in the past, and that is how lucky those of us with a rural mindset are because we can live so cheaply in so many rural areas....

Morayah Cupp is a 2022 National Proficiency Finalist in the category of  e Services.  She is also an Agricultural Education student at Oklahoma State University and the owner of Mo's Mobile Coops, an innovative chicken rental business outside of Imperial, Nebraska.  Morayah first appeared on the Off-Farm Income Podcast in 2020 on episode #815.  Today she is back to discuss her selection as a Natio...

If you employ people, even seasonally, you should know something about domestic violence. Rural Crime In The U.S. https://www.nhregister.com/news/article/Hay-I-91-exit-tractor-trailer-Hartford-17558670.php https://www.taftmidwaydriller.com/news/catalytic-converter-theft-prevention-offered-in-taft-saturday/article_6950b198-5f99-11ed-9627-8fe95efb6659.html Across The Pond, Down Under And Up Above ht...

James McMurtry is a songwriter, singer and musician who has been writing incredible lyrics since the 1980's and touring the country entertaining audiences ever since.  I have had tickets to see James for months with a show date of October 25th for several months.  I reached out to James' business manager and made the request for an interview, and James graciously said "yes".  So, during the aftern...

Erik Dylan is a singer and songwriter who has written some of my favorite songs such as "Baseball On The Moon", which he collaborated with Luke Combs on, and "Map Dot Town".  He first appeared on the show in episode #471 and was gracious enough to agree to an interview. On tomorrow's show I am featuring another great songwriter and performer.  This episode with Erik flows into tomorrow's episode v...

Cydney Stables is a 2022 National Proficiency Finalist in the category of Agricultural Sales Entrepreneurship.  She achieved this by starting a floral business her junior year of high school that she calls "Flowers By Cydney".  Cydney states that this was during the Covid Pandemic, and 80% of the reason she started this business was that she wanted to make people feel a bit better during very toug...