Vets In Ag Podcast

Today's guests are Barry Taylor and Emma Cashman — the co-founders of the Land At Home Project , a nonprofit built on the simple but evidence-backed premise that veterans need a renewed sense of purpose and America needs new farmers and ranchers. Barry grew up on a small ranch in rural southeastern Arizona — the kind of place where summers meant fence work and cattle, the kind of work you couldn’t...

Our guest today is Dan Kelly , a Marine Corps Cobra pilot, architect, entrepreneur, and the co-founder of Numanac , an ag tech company using artificial intelligence and voice-based data collection to help farmers make better decisions and spend less time head down inputting data. But this conversation goes much deeper than technology. As Dan puts it, “There is purpose in the process of building fo...

This was a really special episode for me. If you've followed past episodes, you'll remember Major Eric Czaja and his wife Angela , and the Regenerative Grazing Open Air Lab (R-GOAL) about Camp San Luis Obispo — a first-of-its-kind program letting transitioning veterans learn about regenerative agriculture through adaptive grazing aboard a military installation. Eric and Angela invited me out to Ca...

Today's guest is Wes Mathews — a Louisiana native, former Army cavalry scout, Iraq veteran, former CrossFit coach, and now a veteran at DMR Drones , a company that's quietly becoming one of the leading drone manufacturing companies in America. Wes grew up in central Louisiana, surrounded by a multi-generational military family — his grandfather served Korea, stepfather in the National Guard, young...

Today's guest is Shay Foulk — an Iowa native, Army Ranger, and current National Guard officer who came home from the military not to slow down, but to build. What he built is three interlocking businesses: a 100-year-old family seed operation he married into, a family farm he's actively transitioning into his generation's hands, and a consulting firm that helps family farms across the country do t...

Today's guests are David and Nicki Yanak from DNA Acres — two Air Force veterans who left the service with no farming background, a piece of land in rural Missouri, and absolutely no idea what they were getting into. David spent his career in security forces before a series of back surgeries brought his military path to an abrupt end. Nicki served in communications and later became a nurse. Neithe...

“Agriculture is an act of peace. Well-fed people really don’t feel like fighting, but unfed people will do anything to feed their family.” Peter Byck is a Professor of Practice at the Schools of Sustainability and Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University, President of Carbon Cowboys , and documentary filmmaker. Peter’s work sits at the intersection of military readiness, national...

Today’s guest is Alicia Ellis —a US Air Force veteran whose work goes well beyond farming as a lifestyle choice. Alicia has spent her career thinking about systems: how food is produced, how it moves, who controls it, and what happens when those systems fail. And for her, agriculture isn’t separate from national defense—it’s foundational to it. As Alicia puts it, “Food security is national securit...

Today’s guest is Matt Adler , a US Air Force veteran whose military background isn’t the typical straight line into agriculture—but stick with us, because the connection matters. Matt spent his time in uniform working in highly technical, high-stakes environments where mistakes weren’t an option. And while we do touch on his experience as a nuclear specialist, the real value of this conversation i...

Today’s guest is Nate Hankes – US Army drone operator turned soil scientist then sales engineer at a cutting-edge agricultural sensor manufacturer. Nate spent 14 months in Baghdad during the 2007 troop surge, watching chaos unfold from a screen thousands of feet above, feeling both omniscient, at times, and impotent. He came home carrying a weight of the war he didn't know he had, spent nine years...