Patio Ponderings

Send us Fan Mail What does the next generation of agriculture really want? In this episode of the Patio Pondering Podcast, I sit down with Purdue student, sheep producer, dairy cattle judge, and former Indiana FFA State Officer Seth Ariens for an honest conversation about where agriculture is headed and what it will take to keep young people engaged. Seth shares why he believes production agricult...

Send us Fan Mail What challenges will define the future of the pork industry? In this episode of the Patio Pondering Podcast, Jim Smith welcomes Dr. Bob Thaler of South Dakota State University for a thoughtful conversation about swine nutrition, sow mortality, pig survivability, and the future of animal agriculture. Drawing on decades of experience in research, Extension, consulting, and commercia...

Send us Fan Mail In this special bonus episode of the Patio Pondering Podcast, recorded live during Ag Day at the Allen County Fair, Jim Smith sits down with three respected voices in agricultural markets and communications: Rob Winters, Jon Cavanaugh, and David Kohli. Collectively, these three gentlemen bring well over 150 years of experience serving agriculture. From broadcasting and market repo...

Send us Fan Mail What does farming really cost? For Mike Burkhart, the answer goes far beyond machinery, land, and interest rates. In this conversation, Mike reflects on beginning his farming career in the 1970s, surviving the 1980s Farm Crisis, the growing dependence on off-farm income, and the financial pressures that continue to reshape American agriculture. Along the way, we explore family suc...

Send us Fan Mail Agriculture today faces many of the same pressures it did during the 1980s farm crisis—but the solutions may look very different. In this episode of the Patio Pondering Podcast, I sit down with Purdue agricultural economist Dr. Michael Langemeier to discuss how modern farm businesses can navigate low margins, rising costs, global competition, and generational transition. Our conve...

Send us Fan Mail What Has the Modern Swine Industry Gained… and What Has It Quietly Lost? | Dr. Doug Newcom The modern swine industry has never been more productive. Weaning rates are higher, pigs grow faster, feed efficiency continues to improve, and genetic tools are more powerful than ever. But progress comes with tradeoffs. In this episode of the Patio Pondering Podcast, Jim Smith sits down wi...

Send us Fan Mail What happens when a hog farmer, feed industry veteran, and former National Pork Producers Council president looks across the entire pork supply chain? In this episode of the Patio Pondering Podcast, I sit down with Lori Stevermer to explore the connections between production, nutrition, policy, trade, and consumer confidence. Drawing from decades in the feed industry with Wayne Fe...

Send us Fan Mail Tom Kingery grew up in agriculture, judged livestock at Purdue University, taught middle and high school ag education for 15 years, and now helps prepare the next generation of agriculture teachers at Western Kentucky University. In this episode of the Patio Pondering Podcast, Jim and Tom reconnect decades after traveling together on Purdue’s 1992 livestock judging team to discuss...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of the Patio Pondering Podcast, Jim sits down with fellow Purdue FarmHouse brother Lee Stanish — proprietor and pitmaster of Eddie Joe’s Icehouse near Lafayette, Indiana — for a conversation about leadership, responsibility, and the changing realities of managing people. Lee shares perspectives shaped by agriculture, Purdue, FarmHouse leadership, and nearly a decad...

Send us Fan Mail What does the future of the U.S. pork industry really look like? In this episode of the Patio Pondering Podcast, swine nutritionists Jim Smith and Dr. Trey Kellner from AMVC discuss the biggest challenges facing modern pork production—and surprisingly, very little of the conversation centers on actual pig diets.  Instead, this conversation explores the larger forces shaping the fu...

Send us Fan Mail There’s a lot of noise in agriculture right now. From ag media to Washington, depending on who you listen to, we’re either heading into a financial crisis… or standing on the edge of a golden age. But what if the real story isn’t either of those? In this episode, I sit down with Shay Foulk of Ag View Solutions — a farmer and consultant who works directly inside the numbers of real...

Send us Fan Mail When I started the Patio Pondering Podcast, there were a handful of conversations I hoped I might get to have someday. This is one of them. In this episode, I sit down with Shaun Haney, founder of RealAgriculture, to talk about something a little different than production, nutrition, or markets. We talk about how agriculture thinks about itself. Shaun has spent the last 15+ years...

Send us Fan Mail Agriculture runs on risk. Weather. Markets. Policy. Input costs. And increasingly — the mental weight of managing all of it. In this episode of the Patio Pondering Podcast, Jim sits down with Anya Pinkerton — a Purdue Animal Sciences graduate whose career has taken her through the USDA Farm Service Agency, agricultural lending, and now into leading a growing crop insurance busines...

Send us Fan Mail Terry Sible grew up on a farm outside Churubusco, Indiana, learning the same lessons many farm kids do: responsibility, patience, and the value of community. At eighteen, Terry’s life took an unexpected turn. Just five years earlier he had lost his father in a farm accident in the same barn where Terry kept his 4-H livestock. But instead of letting those moments define him, he bui...

Send us Fan Mail Leadership in agriculture is often talked about as if it simply appears — the loudest voice in the room or the person willing to take charge. But real leadership is something different. It can be cultivated, sharpened, and intentionally developed. In this episode of the Patio Pondering Podcast , I sit down with Jill Zimmerman , President of the Kansas Agricultural and Rural Leader...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of the Patio Pondering Podcast, Jim sits down with Brian McFarland, a longtime leader in the beef packing industry and a cattle producer with experience across multiple parts of the beef supply chain. Jim and Brian first met years ago in graduate school at Kansas State, but their conversation quickly moves beyond old memories into the realities facing the beef indu...

Send us Fan Mail Over the past week something happened that made me stop and think about Patio Pondering. At the Niman Ranch Annual Meeting, a young woman at a lunch table suddenly looked across the table and said, “Oh… you’re Patio Pondering.” The moment was unexpected, but it was not the only one. Throughout the week at the Midwest Animal Science Meetings and a Purdue alumni event, several peopl...

Send us Fan Mail What does it take to turn a farm kid into a professor preparing the next generation of agricultural teachers? In this episode of the Patio Pondering Podcast, Jim sits down with longtime friend and FarmHouse brother Dr. Travis Park of North Carolina State University . Travis shares the path that took him from Trafalgar, Indiana and the Indian Creek FFA chapter to a national career...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of the Patio Pondering Podcast , Jim sits down with longtime friend and agricultural leader Jamee Krug Blahauvietz . Jamee’s career path is anything but typical. Starting with a unique combination of journalism and animal science at Iowa State , she built a career that moved from agricultural advertising to leadership roles in major animal health companies includin...

Send us Fan Mail In this milestone episode of the Patio Pondering Podcast, Jim sits down with Ryan Moe of StoneX for a conversation that moves beyond farm roots and into the harder questions of discipline, risk, and decision-making. At what point does being good at production stop being enough? Ryan shares how his early experience in energy hedging and commodity markets reshaped his thinking: rais...

Send us Fan Mail Clint Gorden , a central Illinois farmer , joins the Patio Pondering Podcast to discuss what it means to be a skip-generation farmer —connected to farming through grandparents, but without a parent actively farming to provide day-to-day guidance. Clint shares how he built his path through farm work, the seed business, and the relationships and mentorship that helped him earn oppor...

Send us Fan Mail What do snowboarding, nano-fertilizer, and geopolitics have to do with modern agriculture? In this episode of the Patio Pondering Podcast, Jim talks with Clark Bell, CEO of NanoYield and former TEDx speaker , about his journey from working on his family’s sod farm to leading one of ag’s most intriguing nanotechnology companies. Clark explains how nano-fertilizer and nanoparticle d...

Send us Fan Mail Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) remains one of the most costly and frustrating diseases in modern swine production. Despite decades of research, new technologies, and substantial industry investment, PRRS continues to disrupt herds and challenge producers. In this reflective solo episode, Jim Smith explores the tension between producer frustration, the adaptiv...

Send us Fan Mail In this solo episode of the Patio Pondering Podcast, Jim Smith explores an uncomfortable but necessary question facing the U.S. pork industry: are we actually prepared for success if PRRS were eliminated? Drawing on decades of experience in swine nutrition and production, Jim reflects on the long arc of PRRS—from its early emergence in the Midwest to today’s massive investments in...

Send us Fan Mail In Episode 70 of the Patio Pondering Podcast, Jim Smith sits down with longtime friend and swine ultrasound innovator Dallas McDermott on the floor of the 2026 Iowa Pork Congress to talk about how ultrasound technology has quietly evolved—and why it matters more now than ever. Ultrasound in the swine industry used to be about backfat, muscle depth, and seedstock selection. Today,...