Top Producer Podcast

In today's podcast Paul has a conversation with Nick Tsiolis of Farmers Keeper. Nick and his team provide risk management services to thousands of corn, soybean and wheat farmers from farmers with 150 acres to those with 90,000+ acres. Nick is passionate about farmers understanding their profitability and how to manage the risk to maintain that profitability. See omnystudio.com/listener for privac...

In today's podcast we have a conversation with Mitchell Hora of Continuum Ag about the recent release of the updated CI scoring model and methodology from USDA. We review what this means for farmers who can deliver their crop directly to a biofuel plant or an elevator that then delivers the crop. This guidance was sorely needed, but we still have to wait for IRS to provide even more guidance. &nbs...

In today's podcast Paul has a conversation with Matt Noggle a rancher in Southeastern Michigan that finishes about 200 head in his feedlot and raises about 100 cows. He and his wife have an active direct to consumer business that markets his cattle. Matt is also a business coach for Legacy Farmer and works actively with about 50 farmers in their operation.   See omnystudio.com/listener for pr...

In today's podcast Paul has a conversation with Gavin Willis of the Washington Red Raspberry Commission. Most of the frozen raspberries grown in the US comes from Whatcom County in Washington state due to the unique soil conditions and weather. These growers are facing issues related to labor and foreign competition but are very resilient. It can cost upwards of $50,000 to put in an acre of raspbe...

In today's podcast Paul has a conversation with Joe Whitworth of the Freshwater Trust based in Oregon but works for farmers throughout the West to help them economically enhance their irrigation systems to help conserve water and reduce fertilizer flows into streams. They currently have a large project in the Snake River Basin to help farmers change from flood irrigation to pivots.   See omny...

In today's podcast Paul has a conversation with Tim Welles of CIC Services. This firm acts as a manager of captive insurance companies and in the podcast we review how captives work and the advantages that may occur to certain farm operations. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In today's podcast Paul has a conversation with Reece Langley of Langley Consulting LLC. Reece has been actively involved in the farm bill process and served many years on the Rice and Cotton organizations before starting his own consulting business a few years ago specializing in Ag Policy. Reece is currently involved in trying to get manufacturers a tax incentive to buy domestic production. See...

In today's podcast Paul has a conversation with Siddhartha (Sid) Jha of Arbol. Arbol provides various types of climate risk insurance alternatives and data analytics to help farmers and agribusinesses manage climate and other risks. They continue to research additional risk management products that can help farmers. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In today's podcast Paul does a solo session on the SDRP Double Up. Paul received a lot of emails, texts and calls on the SDRP payment limits; how to increase the limits; and whether we will get an additional top up later this summer. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In today's podcast Paul has a conversation with Seth Meyer director of FAPRI at the University of Missouri. Before starting that role, he was the chief economist for USDA starting in the first Trump administration and continuing through the Biden administration and the state of the second Trump administration. We discuss those roles and how FAPRI is operated today. See omnystudio.com/listener for...

In today's podcast Paul has a conversation with Shay Foulk of Ag View Solutions. Ag View has converted the Excel based Profit Manager to a free online Farm Profit Manager that is available to all farmers. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In today's podcast Paul has a conversation with Jeremy Matuszewski of Thunderstruck Ag Equipment based in Manitoba Canada. Thunderstruck represents several ag related products including the Razors Edge Concave that Jeremy developed himself a few years ago. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In today's podcast Paul has a conversation with Devin Fuhrman of Nationwide Insurance. Nationwide will be celebrating 100 years and is trying to help farmers make it through the next 100 years. It is a mutual company founded by farmers and continues to be a leader in the farm insurance industry. They ahve develop farm risk ready platform on their website to help farm families manage their risk mor...

In today's podcast Paul has a conversation with Ron Dunker of Oaken. Oaken is a start-up company initiated by Purdue University that helps farmers manage their landowner relationships. As more and more land transitions to owners with little or no involvement in ag, this becomes even more important. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In today's podcast Paul has a conversation with Shawn Arita at the North Dakota State University Agricultural Risk Policy Center. We discuss how the issues in the Middle East are affecting fertilizer price and supply plus how the trade issues are compounding the effect on farmers. For those of you that primarily listen to the podcast you may want to head to the Farm Journal YouTube channel to view...

In today's podcast Paul has a conversation with Jim Parry and Cameron Rafati of Iron Ridge Advisors. Most farmers will enter into a 1031 exchange when they sell farmland to defer the income tax. Most prefer rolling it into farmland, but in many situations they either can find good land to invest in or they run up against the 45 day deadline. Jim and Cameron provide an opportunity for farmers to st...

A conversation with Erik Glenn of the Colorado Cattlemen's Agricultural Land Trust. This trust was the first state specific land trust that allows ranchers and farmers to put conservation easements on their land that both comes with tax benefits and in many cash economic benefits that allows the family to keep the land available for multiple generations and/or expansion. Several other states are o...

In today's podcast Paul has a conversation with the Alsum family from Wisconsin who just won the most recent Top Producer of the Year award. In the podcast we discuss their farm operation, how it started and how the succession process is coming along. Larry Alsum grew up a fourth generation dairy farmer but pivoted to a first-generation producer farmer and packer. See omnystudio.com/listener for p...

In today's podcast Paul has a conversation with Josh Linville of StoneX. Josh is a repeat visitor and we discuss the current world supply and demand situation for fertilizer. One comment from Josh was that the nitrogen to corn ratio is at the second highest level ever for this time of year, second only to 2005, right before the ethanol boom started. Back then corn had a 2 in front of its price and...

In today's podcast Paul has a conversation with Cory Walters, associate professor at the University of Nebraska. Cory grew up on a farm in NW Montana, but has spent his career in academia and helps farmers with many items but in today's podcast we discuss typical risk management options. We then have a discussion on how farmers might be able to utilize a micro captive insurance company that they o...

In today's podcast Paul has a conversation with Drew Blankenbaker of Iroquois Valley Farmland REIT. Drew and his team help farmers who are farming organically or trying to transition to organic obtain land that will be tied up for longer periods of time. The fund does allow the farmer to purchase the land after six years for fair market value. They have pipeline of over $50 million of farmland, no...

In today's podcast Paul has a conversation with Tim Nuss of Nuss Farms in Lodi, California. Tim is a fifth-generation farmer whose family raises about 10 different crops and he is also this year’s Top Producer Next Gen award winner. Tim and his younger brother also started The Modern Acre podcast back in 2018 and have about 450 episodes on that. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy inform...

In today's podcast, Paul has a conversation with Edward and Rebecca Dalton of northern Ohio. The Dalton's raise corn, soybeans, wheat and spelt on their farm but also finish about 450 head of dairy beef that they sell directly to the consumer. They are Top Producer of Year candidates for 2026. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In today's podcast Paul has a conversation with Meg Whitty of Lanza Jet. Lanza Jet has the first Ethanol to SAF facility in Georgia that just officially produced its first gallon of SAF in November (on her birthday). We are still waiting for further IRS guidance on Section 45Z SAF tax credit, but we now have actual production that can take advantage of it. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy i...

In today's podcast Paul has a conversation with Chris Roehm of Cash Balance Plan Partners. Most farmers are aware of 401(k) plans where you can set aside up to $70,000 or more in a year. A Cash Balance Plan allows older farmers nearing retirement to set aside and deduct up to $300,000 or more in a year. These plans can be a great option to help farmers nearing retirement to continue to defer payin...