The Millennial Ag Podcast

This week is a shorter episode, with just the two of us sharing some thoughts. Unless you've been living under a rock on Pluto, chances are you've seen at least some of the Olympics these last couple weeks. We've been impressed by the athletic accomplishments of the women competitors, but more than that, we've been completely blown away by the trails they're blazing in mental health, competing as...

We're delighted to welcome back Val's brother Cole, who joins us this week to discuss ag markets as they currently stand. It's been awhile since we've done a market update, and a lot has changed since then. Cole gives us a great overview of where the beef and dairy markets are at, as well as corn and soybeans. These tend to be the big players and the ones with the most movement most often. We also...

This week, we're delighted to welcome Idaho's Lieutenant Governor, Scott Bedke. A farmer and rancher in the southwest corner of Idaho, and with his water source encompassing the three corners of Idaho, Utah, and Nevada, Lt. Governor Bedke is the water nerd we've been waiting for. We've briefly covered water issues in the western US before, but with those issues hitting closer and closer to home fo...

This week, we're joined by one of Valene's newfound compatriots from her YCC experience. Carlos Ochoa is a first generation rancher on the southern border of Texas. Always an outdoors kid, Carlos knew from a young age that he wanted to have a hands-on, outdoor kind of career. In college, he pursued a degree in agriculture management, and from there, he became involved in all types of ag-related ac...

This week, it's just Katharine and Valene, talking all about Val's experiences at the National Cattlemen's Beef Association Young Cattlemen's Convention. YCC is an exclusive event, with just one young person selected from each state to partipate in the yearly 8-day experience. While Val is too modest to say so, it comes as no surpise that she was Idaho's pick to represent their beef industry this...

This week, we're excited to welcome back Katharine's brother-in-law, Dan Lotspeich. (Dan first joined us in our January 2023 ag labor series. Take a listen if you missed it!) Dan is one-third of the dynamic trio (the other two being Katharine's mother- and father-in-law) spearheading a major effort to bring fresh and local food to Northeastern Nevada. Dan describes the Lotspeich Family Farm operat...

This week, we dive into a discussion that's been a hot topic for the last several years. Joined by Jessica Langley, we talk about carbon credits and carbon markets and the opportunities they present for agriculture. We both have experience in helping get dairy digester projects off the ground in anticipation of those dairies being able to take advantage of carbon credits, but haven't known much ab...

We're back this week with the hottest topic in dairy and animal ag right now - H5N1 Avian Influenza. If you haven't heard yet, you might be wondering why avian flu and dairy cows are appearing in the same sentence. Late last year and into early this year, dairy cows in Texas were presenting with strange symptoms. State and federal authorities started investigating, and a strain of bird flu was fou...

"Everybody has a little froot-loopedness". In our first few moments of recording with this week's guest, we burst out laughing. We've been having heavy and deep conversations during our mental health series this year. We finish this series with more in depth discussions with our guest, but he brings a much-needed note of levity to conclude this month's content.  Lowell Cerise is a farmer in Idaho,...

In the fourth episode of our May Mental Health Month series, we're joined by Sam Banta, a young, passionate farmer in Northeastern Nevada. Sam has experienced many struggles throughout her life that have made it crucial for her to develop real tools to manage her mental wellness.  Listening to Sam is a real-world view into how someone manages her mental wellbeing every day. Sam doesn't spout plati...

Continuing this week with our May Mental Health Month series, we are joined by Idaho State Representative Chenele Dixon. Chenele represents District 24 Seat A. Chenele is a passionate champion for rural Idaho, and has channeled her energy into many worthy causes, chief among them as an architect for the state Behavioral Health Council. The Council, a bipartisan effort that is also a private and st...

Welcome to our first full length episode in our 2024 May Mental Health Series. Our favorite returning guest, Dr. Nora Feldpausch, graciously joins us again to share her many (excellent) thoughts and perspectives about mental health and agriculture.  Nora says that agriculture is not just a job, it's almost a religion. We found ourselves nodding our heads and we're sure that many of our listeners w...

Welcome back listeners! We are so excited to be back with a regular schedule for Millennial Ag, where agriculture is always on tap and no topic is off limits. We're back with a splash and are continuing our annual tradition of a series on mental health topics as our country celebrates May Mental Health Month.  In this week's episode, we share what we've been up to while we've been away, some of wh...

In this special episode, we're thrilled to spotlight an inspiring program that embodies the spirit of community, compassion, and the beef industry- Beef Counts. Join us and our five special guests, Melissa Delgadilo, Liz Moore, Laurie Lickley, Shari Gulledge, and Morgan Wilson, as we delve into how this program, in collaboration with the Idaho Food Bank, Idaho Beef Council, ranching producers, and...

This week Valene and Katharine fly solo and dive into their respective industries. They share what things are currently looking like for producers. It has been a bit since an episode has launched with life happenings, but we are back and excited to bring some perspective of what has been happening! Katharine shares that dairy's prices are not looking very good this year after coming off a record h...

Happy June Dairy Month! To highlight one of our two favorite categories of food, Marty McKinzie, Chief Growth Officer with DairyMAX, joins us to share everything his organization does to promote milk and dairy products. DairyMAX, a regional dairy promotion agency in the United States, takes its mission to ensure advocacy and access to dairy products seriously. Marty highlights their many efforts,...

In the wrap-up episode for our May Mental Health series, we reflect on what we've learned from our three outstanding guests. We also share our perspectives and experiences with our own mental health challenges, and ask ourselves and our listeners on how we can take care of ourselves and each other better. Thanks for joining us for this series, and as always, if you would like more content about th...

In this third episode of our May Mental Health series, we are joined by returning guest Dr. Nora Feldpausch. An accomplished and practicing psychiatrist, Nora has a unique perspective on mental health. In her current role, she supports students at rural colleges across the US with a team of over 200 providers she has built from the ground up. Her depth and breadth of knowledge is augmented by her...

In this second episode of our series for May Mental Health, we're joined by Daniel Hayes, a farmer from South Carolina. Daniel is a different kind of guest than we've had before - generally, our guests who come to speak with us about mental health and other struggles are women. It's difficult to find men who are willing to talk about their struggles with mental health, addiction, and other issues,...

In the first episode of our series for May Mental Health Month, we're joined by Karen Hall, who is a middle school counselor in Southern Idaho. Karen presents a different perspective on mental health than we've had on the podcast before. She is seeing middle school students in crisis, dealing with mental health challenges exacerbated by the pandemic, and families facing a lack of critical and avai...

Here we are! We made it! With great pride and excitement, we present to you the 150th episode of the Millennial Ag Podcast. We’ve been considering very carefully what we wanted this episode to be, and we thank you for your patience while we’ve been developing it. Over the last couple months, we’ve been talking to our friends, neighbors, acquaintances, policy makers, industry professionals and whoe...

It’s almost here!!! We’ve made it all the way to Episode 150! We can’t believe how fast it’s crept up on us, and how we couldn’t have done it without you, our loyal and encouraging listeners! In preparation for this huge milestone, we’ve been taking a poll in the agriculture community to identify the top five (ish) issues in our industry. In this quick teaser episode, we share what those are, and...

Since Katharine is in Wisconsin this week, Valene flies solo and brings Natalie Wyne from Colorado Premium. In light of St. Patrick’s day, they talk about anything and everything corned beef. They dive into the history, the process and even some of their favorite ways to cook it. We learn corned beef has evolved from the traditional corning with salt to a liquid based cure that is injected. Want t...

Since we've had such an increase in followers following our ag labor series, we are reintroducing ourselves! This week, it's Katharine's turn. She gives a quick overview of who she is, where she came from, and what she's doing now. Then Valene asks a big question - what lights Katharine's fire in agriculture? She shares the hows and whyfors, and the longer you listen, the deeper you'll be pulled i...

Our ag labor series has kickstarted an increase in followers of Millennial Ag, and with so many new faces around here, we thought it’d be a good time to reintroduce ourselves! This week, we bring you Valene! Sharp, funny, and flat-out awesome, you get an inside look at the Idaho and beef half of our podcast. She shares her background, what she’s up to currently, and then we have some really good c...