Off-Farm Income

SHOW NOTES Today's episode is really special for two reasons.  First, it has the potential to be very impactful on the FFA.  Second, 80% of the world's hungry people are farmers.  But, unlike U.S. farmers, they are subsistence-based and less sophisticated.  But programs like Growing Hope Globally are taking farming expertise and productivity from the U.S. and exporting it to these struggling farme...

SHOW NOTES KEY IDEAS:  In 2011 when we purchased our farm we had a long, long way to go.  We bought 25 acres of weeds with a house on them.  There were no fences, no irrigation, and the land had not been cultivated in years.  I had a small, John Deer tractor with an 8' disk on the back, and I worked the ground with that. Tons of rocks came up while I disked, and they all had to be removed and depo...

SHOW NOTES Introducing Cole Searle!  I interview a lot of young men and women on this show who are devoted to agriculture.  These days you hear so much about kids not wanting to take over farms or continue that lifestyle that when a student who is passionate about agriculture comes on the show you wonder what their parents did to help them love this life? Of course, on this show, I reach out to ma...

SHOW NOTES INTRODUCING EMMA VICTERY! Having a business model on your farm that is sustainable is challenging.  Of course, if you are commodity-based there are so many factors that are outside of the control that you've got to get bigger and push harder.  If you are smaller you are almost forced into being niche so that you can increase the size of your profit margins.  And then of course, if you o...

SHOW NOTES Jason Tatge describes the device that he has created as the "Fitbit for farm equipment".  I don't think there could be any more apt description.  Jason is the creator of Farmobile which is a device and data capture system that solves many problems that people practicing precision farming in the past faced, such as how to get the data out of their tractor and how to make it all work toge...

INTRODUCING ELYCE BURZALAFF! Cleary my favorite aspect of the FFA is that it exposes students to entrepreneurship.  I have a lot of favorite aspects, but it was entrepreneurship that introduced me to the FFA, and that is the aspect that I have been profiling for six years now. I like this aspect so much because a lot of students may have never been exposed to the concept of working for themselves....

The FFA Creed talks about a faith born of deeds.  This amazing organization has found a way to coordinate thousands of chapters and hundreds of thousands of members throughout the United States into a cohesive unit that operates the same way, in the furtherance of agriculture. One of the key aspects of what is done in the FFA is service to one's community.  Over the past six years of interviews, I...

Merry Christmas to all of you!  Thank you so much for making it possible for me to do this for the past three years (already)!  I have a favorite memory of my time growing up in Valley Home, California that happened 40 years ago on Christmas Eve.  I wanted to share this with you for my Christmas episode this year. I could try and type out this story here for you to read, but I'm going to make you...

I am a huge fan of two things relevant to agriculture: value-added products and wool.  And, that is why I was so excited for this interview, it combines both. Kyra Uphoff has been working with "fiber arts" since she first started 4H, years ago.  She concentrated on two things through 4H - public speaking and fiber arts.  During this time she began learning to make felt, combine felt with silk, and...

The FFA is all about opportunity.   From learning about different careers, learning vocational skills, public speaking to doing research the FFA offers abundant opportunities. At what point do these opportunities end?   Is it during your senior year of high school, just after graduation, or sometime during your freshman year of college?   In today's episode, we will be speaking with a student who...

The Rural Crime Edition of the Off-Farm Income Podcast gives crime prevention tips on rural crime and updates you with the latest rural crime stories from the U.S. as well as the U.K., Canada and Australia. 

SHOW NOTES KEY IDEAS:  Do you dream of farming and being able to stay on your farm full time?  Do you love to share agriculture and what you love about it with other people?  Do you enjoy livestock and love to brag about the meat you produce in your own place? If the answer to these questions is yes, then selling retail cuts of your own meat at a farmer's market or on your own place might just be...

  SHOW NOTES Today's episode is very exciting.  I am interviewing Michael Bair, the 2020 National Proficiency Winner in poultry production.  Michael is also the 2020 state proficiency winner from Ohio in this very same category. Michael's awards and recognition are exciting enough, but that is just the tip of the iceberg.  Michael lives and works on his family's organic dairy that has been in exis...