The Modern Acre

Join our Closed Facebook Group HERE If you are just getting into farming or need some inspiration for thinking creatively in agriculture, this is the episode for you. Brad Squires joins us to talk about how he transitioned out of the tech industry, where he helped build an incredibly successful B2B software company, to how he is now jumping into agriculture. Although Brad is just starting out, he...

Join our Closed Facebook Group HERE If you've wanted to learn more about hydroponics and how the technology can fit into your business, this is the episode for you. We talk with Joe Swartz, Vice President of Sales with American Hydroponics, or AmHydro. He has over 30 years of hydroponics experience, originally converting his own farm to maximize the business. Joe shares important insight into what...

Join our Closed Facebook Group HERE In this episode, we talk to Jay Hill, who grew his family's 10 acre hobby farm into a 17,000 acre farming operation today. Jay talks about his journey from a 16-year-old who knew he wanted to build the farm to how he has scaled the farm to multiple locations with a diverse crop portfolio. Jay has successfully leveraged social media to not only build brand awaren...

Join our Closed Facebook Group HERE Trent Meyer is the Executive Vice President of DOT Technology, which is reimagining the future of farming through autonomous technology. Trent shares the story of how he unknowingly ended up working for the top-secret project under the vision and leadership of DOT's founder, Norbert Beaujot. Trent discusses DOT's innovative business model that acts as base infra...

In this episode, we talk with Casey Cox, a 6th-generation farmer from Georgia (yes, 6th!).   Casey decided to come back to the family peanut, sweet corn, and timber farm after going away to college and discusses the challenges she's faced as well as her early successes. Casey is incredibly involved in water conservation efforts and shares how she is pushing for innovation, both in the policy secto...

Charles Baron, VP of Product and Co-founder of Farmers Business Network , talks with us about the values of the company that has disrupted the ag industry with price transparency. FBN is a company based around a network of farmers that leverages data to provide valuable insight and market intelligence back to the farmers. In our words, Farmers Business Network is "robinhood" for the ag industry. C...

Jack Zech, a fourth-generation farmer, talks about coming back to his family farm after several years moving up the ladder of a large clothing company. We discuss what he learned through managing retail stores and overall strategy for Uniclo and what motivated him to leave corporate America to return to his family's farm in the California delta. Jack shares how he is adjusting to the change and ho...

Margaux Alvarez, a 5x CrossFit Games athlete, shares how she has built a successful wine business around her personal brand. We cover everything from how she grows her own grapes to the winemaking process to all of the regulatory challenges of the alcohol industry. She has scaled her business by leveraging her personal brand as a CrossFit athlete and coach, focusing on direct-to-consumer sales and...

In this episode, we dive into the beverage business, SAP!, with co-founders Chas Smith and Nikita Salmon. SAP! offers sparkling water that's flavored with maple and birch sap, straight from Chas and Nikita's home state of Vermont. We discuss their upbringing in Vermont and how the maple industry has evolved. They share how they started the ag business and have scaled it through supply chain optimi...

Launch Giveaway: Scope the details HERE In episode 6, we talk with Alli Cecchini, Executive Director of First Generation Farmers, a non-profit organization dedicated to the education and training of the next-generation of organic farmers. Alli grew up on her family's asparagus farm and eventually came back and convinced her parents to let her use a half an acre for community farming. That half acr...

Launch Giveaway: Scope the details HERE In this episode, we talk about the importance of education in inspiring the next-generation of farmers and ag entrepreneurs with the president of the California FFA, Luke O'Leary.  Luke talks about his experience with FFA in high school, the transition to college in Texas, then back to California for a year spent traveling around the state inspiring and educ...

Launch Giveaway: Scope the details HERE On episode 4, we have a hugely valuable conversation with Jesse Vollmar, Co-founder and CEO of the farm management technology company, FarmLogs. Jesse discusses his passion for technology and software development, and how he brought that passion back to the agriculture community. We talk through the difference between maximizing yields and maximizing profits...

Launch Giveaway: Scope the details HERE On this episode, we talk with Austin Maness, COO of Harvest Returns , a crowdfunding platform for ag investing. Austin talks about learning about agriculture and farming from his grandparents, his extensive military service, and helping start an innovative ag business.  Harvest Returns provides farmers with more flexible financing options that a traditional...

Launch Giveaway: Scope the details HERE "A flamethrower is at stake here people." On this episode, we interview John Stenderup, Strategic Sales Executive for C.H. Robinson. We discuss what growing up on a farm was like, studying international ag business at Cal Poly, and transitioning to supply chain management, logistics, and global trade for fresh produce. We also get into what his recent Mount...

Launch Giveaway: Scope the details HERE We made it! Episode 1 of The Modern Acre. On the first episode of the podcast, we share more of the vision of The Modern Acre and who we are. We'll let our voiceover guy take it from here… "The Modern Acre - Agriculture for the Next-Generation Farm & Business The Modern Acre is a community of students, farmers, professionals, and entrepreneurs passionate abo...