Your Ag Network

Karina Jones, Field Director for R-Calf USA joins us each Friday from her ranch in the heart of Nebraska covering what's new and important to the family farm and ranch.

We have had a lot of hot days this summer. Heat can be even worse when it is accompanied by drought. Look at California – 95% of that state is in severe drought. Even here in the Midwest, North Dakota has 93% of the state under severe drought.

A quick roundup of this weeks offering at THEE BIGGEST sale barns across the Midwest!

Look around your area and remind yourself of the communities around you and their history. Almost every where I look on a map of America’s heartland, you can trace almost every communities existence to the cattle industry.

The U.S. Supreme Court made a ruling that gives California the right to deny the sale of pork, veal, and other farm products in California unless producers comply with that state’s confinement standards. I thought we had free trade between states.

Monte James interviews Billie Sutton Rancher, Cattleman and Banker of his many titles on the importance of COOL and avoiding the chickenization of the beef industry.

Monte James interviews Bill Bullard CEO of R-CalfUSA on America's ONLY Hot Barn Report!

A quick roundup of this weeks offering at THEE BIGGEST sale barns across the Midwest!

Host Monte James interviews Chelsea Good, Vice President Government & Industry affairs from the Livestock Marketing Association

Last week President Biden signed a broad Executive Order designed to ensure that we have more competitive markets. We have too many huge corporations. They keep buying up their competitors and just get bigger. Smaller companies compete at a disadvantage. Biden says, “Capitalism without competition isn’t capitalism. It’s exploitation.” Antitrust enforcement has been a priority of the President’s ag...

The cost of living keeps going up. Food costs 5% more, but what about fuel? I was on the farm in Illinois this past weekend. We rented a car in Chicago and had to pay well over $4 per gallon. It’s not quite that expensive in Washington, DC. In the farm country, it cost $3.25 per gallon. It is likely to keep going up. OPEC, made up of big oil-producing nations, in a surprise move just decided not t...

It is exciting to see our planting season go smoothly so far. Our corn and soybeans are three-fourths planted and starting to come up. That is something that we can control, but the federal government is a different story. President Biden has announced that he wants to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by the year 2030. And Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack says, “biofuels are a key piece of the plan.” T...

It is exciting to see our planting season go smoothly so far. Our corn and soybeans are three-fourths planted and starting to come up. That is something that we can control, but the federal government is a different story. President Biden has announced that he wants to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by the year 2030. And Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack says, “biofuels are a key piece of the plan.” T...

Joe Biden will face a long and difficult list of challenges. Topping the list will be the Coronavirus and a $1.9 trillion stimulus to lift our economy. That huge spending bill has not passed the Congress yet. Probably will be changed some.

I am so tired of these “peaceful” rallies that end up destroying property, looting, and burning flags and signs.  We had a dozen of our large cities face this last summer and fall, but by far the worst is the assault on our own Capitol last week.  Both parties need to stand up and say “enough is enough”.  This is not the USA that I know.  Just blaming President Trump will not solve the problem.

When you are farming, you are faced with a lot of unknowns - What will the weather be like? Will these low prices ever recover?

Being in lock down like most of our citizens and trying to celebrate Mother’s Day made me think. My mother was so dedicated to my 2 sisters, me and of course my dad. Mom & Dad were married in 1934 and in 1935 I was born. We were living in a small house with no running water, no bathroom and no electricity but we had an outhouse.

The cost of unemployment and economic hardship from the global coronavirus pandemic is no small change. We have not had to face anything like this since World War II.

Monte James interviews MacKenzie Johnston about life on the ranch, what keeps her busy and her push to keep MCOOL while taking a little heat.

It seems like every day another major meat processing plant is closed. We have farms with hundreds or thousands of pigs ready for market but they can’t find any plants that will take their pigs.

Nebraska Rancher and NFR Bronc Rider Steven Dent rides rough on ranching and rodeo in today's Hot Barn Report!

Monte James Interviews MacKenzie Johnston about whats new in her life on the Nebraska ranch, and about her new job in the wake of being recently fired for standing up for the independent producer and her intent to continue.

I have always believed it is important to speak the truth and speak it loudly. It is essential to speak it loudly when its’s on behalf of someone else. These beliefs of mine propelled me to create two Facebook posts explaining my termination. Somewhere along the line we forgot to protect our independent producers, and this unfortunate situation allowed me to speak up for those producers.

One of our nation’s priorities is to keep the food flowing but because of the coronavirus we are facing some serious disruptions. Just last Sunday, Smithfield Foods closed down its pork processing plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. That plant is no small thing.

HBR caught up with Bill Bullard from R-CalfUSA on the fight against big packers and the push to be COOL.