Farm & Rural Ag Network: Recent Episodes
Farm & Rural Ag Network
The best agricultural podcast content around the internet. Hear from farmers, ranchers, entrepreneurs, and agribusiness influencers about the issues facing modern agriculture.
Michael joins me today to share his company’s humble beginnings. He explains how he puts a price tag on his products and how much of his farm is dedicated to retail.
Micki joins me today to share how Radicle Growth is helping startups in the AgTech industry. She discusses the goals of Radicle Growth, their criteria when selecting companies to fund, and the ideas that they want to promote.
Mike joins me today to share how OpenVino will innovate the way we consume wine through blockchain tech. He shares his passion for wine, what inspired him to start OpenVino, and why he chose to make the company open-source.
Reinier joins me today to share how Vinduino is helping farmers gather the kind of data they need and understand when it comes to water management. He explains how their products work, what separates them from other AgTech companies, and why knowing how much water you’re using is critical to your business.
David joins me today to share how their company, Farm Together, will make it easier for local and foreign investors to invest in US farmlands. He explains how their platform works, when their investors get paid, and the due diligence they conduct prior to putting a property for sale.
Kenneth joins me today to describe what the World Food Prize Foundation stands for, how it got started, and what makes it similar and different to the Nobel Peace Prize. He shares his journey, his time as Ambassador, and how he began to follow in the footsteps of Norman Borlaug.
Being a full time agronomist/salesman while also being a full time farmer isn't all that unusual... but it doesn't mean it's not impressive
Listen as I talk to Matt McCune about ag and storm chasing
Hey friends and welcome back to our 2020 season of podcasting. This episode we are going to discuss living with an abundant mindset vs a scarce mindset. We think this applies to life in general and we compare to our farm lives. In a nutshell someone with an abundant mindset is an optimist and is genuinely happy for others when they are successful. Those with a scare mindset are competitive, jealous and resent others success. "The secret to having it all is believing you already do."
In today’s episode, I discuss the five trends that governed much of the events in 2019. I share a few clips of the most well-received episodes that relate to the trends we had.
Stuart Austin is an award winning farmer who, with his wife Trish, manages Wilmot Cattle Company, a regenerative grassfed beef operation in the New England area of NSW, Australia.
In this episode, Stuart shares how he got involved in regenerative ag, and the the tools he’s using to make 6 and 7 figure decisions around stocking rates and carrying capacity.
Stuart and I also chat about how the stigma around regenerative agriculture is changing from “witchcraft” to “solid business practices,” and what he’s doing to help other farmers unlock value in their farming systems.
Relevant links from the episode
- Wilmot Cattle Company- https://www.wilmotcattleco.com.au/
- Write up of the 2019 Field Day- https://www.maiagrazing.com/250-plus-graziers-attend-field-day-on-drought-resilience/
- RCS Grazing for Profit course- https://www.rcsaustralia.com.au/products/family-business/grazing-for-profit-2/
- Allan Savory’s TED talk- https://www.ted.com/talks/allan_savory_how_to_fight_desertification_and_reverse_climate_change
- You inc. by John McGrath- https://www.amazon.com.au/You-Inc-Attract-Amazing-Business/dp/0732276365
- Remember the Titans (trailer)- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ir1OH33uiwA
- Maia Grazing- https://www.maiagrazing.com/
- FarmBot- https://www.farmbot.com.au/
Ashlea Miles and David Ricardo are Australian farmers and founders of agtech startups Training Paddock and Farm Service Manager. They, along with six other farmer-led businesses, have been selected into the Farmers2Founders Bootcamp program, an intensive 3 month accelerator that helping them take their business to the next level.
In this episode, Ash and David share the story behind Training Paddock and Farm Service Manager, and reflect on the differences and similarities between running a farm and building a startup.
Relevant links:
- https://www.trainingpaddock.com.au/
- https://farmservicemanager.com/
- https://twitter.com/FarmServiceApp (@FarmServiceApp)
This episode is produced in partnership with Farmers2Founders. To learn more, check out https://www.farmers2founders.com/ or @farmers2founder on Twitter
How does a kid from Spanish Harlem end up selling seed corn in Nebraska?
Listen to the incredible story of Andrew Rodriguez and how Football and his older brother changed his life.
As most of you know we began this journey without ever meeting in person. Building a relationship via Instagram and daily texts. Well we finally got to meet up in Nashville last week. To say we hit it of and had a blast would be an understatement. Love at first sight? Haha maybe for best friends. Our husbands equally enjoyed one another and all the farm talk, which made it bitter sweet! We want to say happy holidays and new year to all of our listeners, and as always thank you so much for your support!
Joe joins me today to discuss the economic implications of fusing traditional farming with greenhouse technology. He shares why he is interested in greenhouse farming and how he initially tried it himself.
Here it is.... The Christmas episode!!!
From John Deere colored trees to present shaming... this one has it all
Merry Christmas!!!!!
Stories from
Mark Kannmacher
@tara_m_davidson
@messykennedy
In this podcast episode, I speak with Dr. Patrick Wall, Professor of Public Health at University College Dublin. Professor Wall qualified in Veterinary Medicine in UCD and in Human Medicine at the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland. In addition, Professor Wall was the first Chief Executive of the Irish Food Safety Authority and the second Chairperson of the European Food Safety Authority, a pan-EU Agency with a remit on food safety for the entire food and feed supply chains.
Rich joins us to share the story of how he learned about the endive plant and what made him decide to grow such a complicated crop. He explains what endives are, why they’re difficult to grow, and the market potential it has.
Imagine living in a camper with 6 kids and your spouse...
listen as I talk to Suzanne Swift-Cook, first generation farmer
Bruce joins me today to discuss how GFI is making plant-based and cultivated meat products more consumer-friendly and just as competitive as traditional meat. He shares where he drew inspiration to innovate food, how the idea of starting GFI began and the company’s current progress.
Wexford strawberries are known the length and breadth of Ireland, but timing and location can prove important factors in deciding where to grow and sell them. Here strawberry grower, Cyril Wheelock from Wheelock Fruit Farm in Co. Wexford tells how has recently diversified his fruit farm into a farm shop and restaurant, providing some insight and background into what is a relatively unique development within Ireland.
Click here for gift suggestions for this year. Click here for gift suggestions from last year
Russ joins me today to discuss how Blue Nest Beef is promoting regenerative agriculture. He explains how birds indicate the health of the ecosystem and why it’s critical to farm on bird-friendly land.
Is it possible to be born a farmer without being from a farm family?
Would you walk into random grocery stores trying to create a market for yourself?
Listen as I talk with Gavin Spoor about his path to becoming a farmer
Aidan Connolly is the CEO of Cainthus, and agtech startup using cameras and machine learning to help farmers make better decisions. Before that, Aidan helped Alltech grow from $24 million to $2.3 billion. During that time he was, among many things, Director of the Pearse Lyons Accelerator where he saw hundreds of agtech startups in all different sectors.
Aidan joins us to share his insights on:
- What it's like to go from a global agribusiness to a startup
- How cameras are transforming agriculture
- How to get engineers off the keyboard and onto the farms they're trying to help
- Why it's so important for farmers to help entrepreneurs, even when it's frustrating
For more from Aidan, check out:
- Aidan on LinkedIn
- Aidan on Twitter
- Aidan on Forbes
- Cainthus
Other resources:
- HBR on the average age of successful founders
Ray joins me today to share the progress the ag industry has made over the many years he has watched over it. He describes the need to form a group of individuals that represent different parts of the industry, the reason why he authored his latest book, and what readers can expect.
Would you be able to handle death threats from animal rights extremist?
Can a "farm wife" represent agriculture on social media?
All this and more as I talk with The New Mexico Milkmaid
Noel Kelly grew up on a pedigree dairy farm (Creva Herd) near Athenry in Co. Galway. He trained in dairy management in the UK and worked in farm software and international sales before returning home in 2010 to combine his twin passions of dairy farming and global agribusiness.
What steps do yo take, as a farmer, that helps you spend more time with family?
Listen as I talk with Chris Jansen about the two major events that shaped his farm life and family life
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Colin joins me today to discuss why he formed Smart Ag and the kind of technology and solutions they offer to farmers. He describes how he was driven to start Smart Ag, the problems he wants to address, and the people who helped him put the company in the market.
Australia has world class agricultural research, but has struggled to rank as highly for commercialization. How can we improve this, and get more valuable innovations to market? One way is through collaboration between research organizations and startups.
But what does it actually take to collaborate? And are the challenges in Australia unique to this market, or do researchers and startups face similar obstacles in agtech around the world?
Today’s episode tackles this question in a panel discussion, recorded live at the AgTech Meetup in Sydney. Panelists for the evening were: Dr Peter Thorburn, Chief Research Scientist at CSIRO; Tegan Nock, Co-Founder at SoilCQuest 2031; and Nick Hazell, Founder and CEO at V2 Food.
Tune in to hear about:
- How research organizations can successfully move at startup speed
- Lessons about IP management
- How startups can leverage the rigor and credibility that research organizations bring, without breaking the bank
- Successful, unique models for researcher + startup collaborations
- The secret talents of all the panelists
For more on the panelists, check out:
- V2 Food: https://www.v2food.com/
- SoilCQuest: https://www.soilcquest.org.au/
- CSIRO: https://www.csiro.au/
The Sydney AgTech Meetup is proudly sponsored by SproutX, Australia’s first agtech accelerator.
Would you know what to do with the family farm if both your parents died when you were 22?
Listen as Lesley Kelly podcast bombs me on this crossover episode and we talk to Leona Watson
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Mariana joins me today to discuss how Agrosmart works and the problems it seeks to solve for farmers in developing countries. She shares where her drive to start her company came from and the challenges of finding capital and investors. She describes how the data they collect can impact farming practices, especially in countries where farmers rely on instinct to make crop decisions. Mariana also explains why Brazil holds a lot of potential in terms of agriculture and the rising startup economy.
Shay Myers is an onion expert and the owner of Owyhee Produce. Owyhee Produce is a 3rd generation family farm and one of the biggest vertically-integrated onion farms in the United States. Their farm grows enough onions to provide adequate supplies that reach about 6 million Americans annually.
Surrounding yourself with good people is good for "herd health"
Listen as I talk with Malawi veterinarian Hezy Anholz. We talk about everything from African swine flu to trophy hunting.
hezyfezybushvet on Instagram
Murray Scholz farms with his wife Emma in Southern NSW and the Eastern Riverina on the foothills of the snowy mountains. They grow wheat, canola, lupins, and barley, and run beef cattle and prime lambs.
Murray’s family is celebrating their 100th anniversary this year, after his great-grandfather came to the area in 1919. They’ve always been an innovative family, adopting new practices and striving to run a profitable and sustainable business. In this episode, Murray shares several stories of how his thinking has changed through overseas travel and exposure to new perspectives, and the business decisions he’s made as a result.
Tune in to learn about:
- What it’s like to be in the middle of the GMO controversy, where no one seems to listen to what you’re really saying
- Why Murray decided to run sheep, after publicly criticizing them for years
- How a hiking trip in Switzerland challenged his views on ag policies
- The decisions you can make when you’ve been collecting data for over 30 years
- Tips for agtech startups to better engage with farmers
To hear more from Murray or follow what Scholz farming is up to, check out:
- Murray’s Nuffield presentation: https://www.nuffield.com.au/conferences/08-pdfs/Murray-Scholz-presentation.pdf
- Practical tips from Murray on integrated weed management and water use efficiency: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9b4QRvoma1o
- Murray on why they integrated sheep and how they’re benefiting from a mixed farming operation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KjUfhCDzkU and https://www.theland.com.au/story/6272468/lifting-profit-to-cut-risk/
- Find Murray on twitter and Facebook @ScholzFarming
Dr. Fatma and Cameron join me today to share their latest project, AstroNematode, and how it can help provide sustainable solutions for future generations. They describe the origins of this idea and the companies that helped fund the project. They discuss their tie-ins with private companies like Space-X and explain the experiments that will happen in space. They also share what it’s like to work on this project while running Pheronym at the same time.
Life is a path... You may not have a choice where you begin but you always have a choice how you continue.
Listen as I talk to Cami Ryan about life and corporate ag
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In this podcast episode, I speak with Aidan Connolly, CEO of Cainthus, a computer vision company that turns visual information into actionable insights for farmers. Aidan has also served as Chief Innovation Officer with Alltech and more recently accepted into the prestigious Forbes Technology Council.
Bill York joins me to describe what FarmOp Capital is and its efforts to provide farmers with a helping hand in receiving capital loans. He explains the trends that make their company ripe for the ag industry and the benefits of doing business with them from a farmer’s perspective.
Is farming a birthright?
Listen as I talk to Craig Hickman about how he became an equity owner in his dairy, even though he didn't come from a farm family
Anastasia joins me today to discuss how FluroSat works to provide artificial intelligence (AI) for Precision Agriculture Decision Support. She shares why she decided to work in agriculture and what drove her to start FluroSat.
There aren’t very many Venture Capital funds focused on food systems transformation, but today’s guest co-founded one of them. Victor Friedberg is the co-founder of S2G ventures, a Chicago-based firm that has backed companies across the ag and food industries such as Beyond Meat, Maple Hill Creamery, X, and Y. Victor is also the founder of Foodshot Global, a non-profit consortium of companies focused on creating a food system that's more healthy, sustainable, and equitable.
Victor’s background is as a tech entrepreneur in Silicon Valley, where he built one of the early social networks and raised money from corporates like Motorola and Venture Capital firms. But now Victor is interested in helping revolutionize the food system, bringing technology, systems thinking, and capital to support game changing innovations.
In this episode, Victor and I chat about a range of things, from how he became interested in the food system (hint: it involves a vacation), to the opportunities he sees for farmers as more technologies and new business models challenge the status quo of the current system.
o learn more about Victor and what he’s up to, check out these additional resources:
- S2G Ventures
- FoodShot Global
- Maple Hill Creamery
- Beyond Meat
- Umami
- Organic Fraud Imports in the news
Imagine investing everything into something on your farm... only to see it go up in flames.
Listen to Kylie Epperson talk about her views on farming and more.
David Atherton, CEO of Thomson & Joseph, a UK-based dairy nutritionist and soils expert, provides some background to an intriguing soil-improvement programme that he has helped pioneer.
Kerryann joins me today to share the various opportunities and untapped potential in animal agriculture. She describes the challenges that the animal agriculture industry currently faces and the solutions she proposes to resolve these issues.
Tim Hammerich is the Founder of AgGrad and the host of the Future of Agriculture podcast. Tim grew up on a hobby farm in Northern California selling pigs, goats and ducks. After 8 years working in a feed and grain business, Tim saw an underserved market for helping young people get jobs in ag and agtech. He founded AgGrad to fill the gap.
AgGrad began as a ‘traditional’ recruiting company where Tim would do the legwork of recruiting talent for agribusiness. It’s since become about helping employees find their place in modern agriculture through a wealth of content for job seekers and employees.
In this episode, Tim shares his insights on what agtech companies are looking for, tips for getting and staying hired, and ideas for how all ag companies, including farms, can hire ‘right’ from the start.
What are agtech companies looking for? Most agtech companies are struggling with customer adoption. Tim’s clients often have a great product, but they’re struggling to get it into the hands of customers. This means that agtech companies are looking for talent that can help with marketing and sales.
More specifically, agtech companies are looking for employees with a mix of empathy and drive. Empathy, because they need to understand what producers are going through. Drive, because they need to want to see the product be adopted and help the producer succeed. They also must be open to new ideas and able to take complex ideas and make them simple.
“Agtech requires you to be teachers and consultants rather than traditional marketing or sales roles, you’re really in partnership with the people you sell to”
Culture and Content are Kings In today’s world, the closest you can come to the proverbial silver bullet that will score you a dream job is content. Employers want to see that you have an ability to think outside the box, not just what your college degree is.
With the tools available today, it’s easier than ever to create engaging content that helps you build a brand and share your unique perspectives. Whether it’s a funny Tweet or an insightful LinkedIn post, it’s an opportunity to build a new connection.
This same tip applies to companies as well, who can use the power of social media to share their culture with future employees. Gone are the days where a job is one dimensional with a sole focus on salary. Employees, especially young people, want to work for a company that stands for something greater than themselves.
The biggest mistake that companies in agriculture make, according to Tim, is being too transactional in the hiring process. Like the rest of agriculture, it’s about relationships. Come in with a genuine exchange of value, not just an ask or offer.
Watch out for the D word Another pitfall that Tim has seen agtech companies fall into is using the D word: disruption. This can be off putting to future customers as well as employees. While the intention may be around innovation, employees might think, “do I really want to be a part of a business that disrupts?” or “I’m not sure that agriculture needs ‘di
Do you return to the family business or blaze your own trail?
Daniel Carmichael could have settled into a comfortable life in the family business, Maplehurst Farms. Instead he decided to take a different path in Silicon Valley.
Mike joins us to explain the many benefits of growing meat from cells and the ways it can improve life, not just on Earth but also in outer space. He shares how their company can produce real meat without the animal and the big scale effect it will have on the economy.
Mike Swidersky is a husband, father and a grazer of cattle and sheep in the high plains of Ontario (Melanchton). Listen to Mike as he talks about lessons learned through his work as a community pasture manager and farmer. Photo cred:
@BeefFarmersON
Shonda joins me today to discuss how Chess Ag Full Harvest works and how it makes investing in agriculture easier. She shares her inspiration for starting the company, the systems they have in place, and their commitment to having a good impact on the environment.
Aleana Young took a leap of faith and opened her own specialty cheese shop in Regina, Saskatchewan. Now she deals directly with the end consumer everyday, providing them with poetic descriptions of her imported cheeses. Listen as she tells Rob and Lesley what she has learned from her customers and how it is all about the cheese experience.
In this episode, CEO Gary Wickham outlines some recent successes for this innovative precision-farming solution, assisting farmers meet their twin profitability and sustainability goals, whilst protecting the environment. Dublin-based MagGrow is a patented and proprietary technology that helps solve the problem of droplet formation, experienced within conventional pesticide spray applications.
Cody Creelman, Disruptor Cow Vet on life changes, keeping up in the digital world and jumping in with both feet.
https://codycreelman.com/
John joins me today to discuss the potential of synthetic biology if applied to today’s agriculture sector. He explains what SynBioBeta stands for, what they want to accomplish, and the innovations we can look forward to as consumers.
Alyssa Badger is one of the most impressive people you'll ever meet. Listen as she talks about building her career without a college education, and struggling to overcome an assault.
Dr. Rachel Hay is a social scientist at James Cook University who has uncovered some insights into agtech adoption through her work in behaviour change.
Rachel‘s PhD focused on agtech adoption, highlighting the importance of grazier women in the use and adoption of agtech. She found that women play a vital role in unlocking the potential of agtech adoption on-farm.
Though the research is now a bit dated (it was published in 2014), Rachel’s insights still hold true and may be helpful for agtech companies looking to understand the industry and develop marketing strategies that can cut through the noise.
Here are a few tips from Rachel’s research to help agtech vendors to reach their target audience and drive adoption:
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Build trust and meaningful relationships with your producers. Though it may seem like this has to take time, Rachel highlights that content is king and relationships can be built digitally as well as in person.
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Be approachable and be seen. AgTech companies need to get out to producer events and engage with their customers, not just sell.
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Widen your marketing net, as decision makers are not always male! In fact, her research shows that it’s often the females who are doing the research and driving product adoption, both on-farm and for the back office.
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Don’t tell farmers what they need, listen to what they want. This should go without saying, and yet it’s something that tech vendors and extension agents alike get wrong.
Do you have a story of women driving agtech adoption? Are there other tips that you’ve learned for building trust with producers? We’d love to hear them!
You can find Rachel, a boutique pig farmer when she’s not writing or researching, on social media here:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrRach4Research
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drrachelhay/
Facebook page: The Engagement of Women & Technology in Agriculture
To delve more into Rachel’s research, check out:
https://research.jcu.edu.au/portfolio/rachel.hay/
Technology adoption by rural women in Queensland, Australia: women driving technology from the homestead for the paddock
Poornima joins me today to discuss how Trace Genomics seeks to improve farm yield and sustainability through genetic testing for soil. She shares the benefits of knowing which microbes are dominant in a particular farmland.
One of ag YouTube's biggest stars. @BriansVideos talks about how he has never wanted to do anything else but farm.
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Millennials are a unique generation that have grown up with social media. Posting on social media has been part of their life. This has affected where they shop and what they eat. However, they are interested in facts and are willing to listen, which gives agriculture an opportunity to share information. Listen as Rob Sharkey and Lesley Kelly talk to David Coletto about this large segment of our population as they continue to drive decisions.
Always a pleasure to talk to Peter & Paula Hynes, & they're back on Rock & Roll Farming to talk about the Rearing to Go mental health workshop and charity auction that's taking place in Shrewsbury livestock market on 13th September 2019
Episode Sponsors:
Griffith Elder - Designers & Manufacturers of rugged weighing systems for heavy industrial use www.griffith-elder.com
NFU Cymru - for more information please visit www.nfu-cymru.org.uk
Podcast Partners:
Farmer's Guardian. For the biggest range of news and features from across the Ag industry, please visit www.fginsight.com
Rock & Roll Farming is proud to be a part of the Farm & Rural Ag Network. To find more great podcasts and vlogs, please visit www.farmruralag.com
Mareese Keane is Platform Director with THRIVE, an AgriFood -Tech Accelerator, located at Salinas, California. In this episode, Mareese provides some background to her exciting work with THRIVE, recently acknowledged as being the, ‘Most Valuable AgriFood Tech Accelerator Programme’ in the United States by San Francisco based AgFunder.
Tonight I headed up to the North East of Scotland to talk to farmer and butcher, Jock Gibson.
We talked about his family's farm, his early career in engineering and the year he spent working on yachts, his decision to go back to the family business, the tragic loss of his parents and the importance of succession planning for farming families, and what he's doing now with the butchery and farm.
Don't miss this one..
Episode Sponsors:
Griffith Elder - Designers & Manufacturers of rugged weighing systems for heavy industrial use www.griffith-elder.com
NFU Cymru - for more information please visit www.nfu-cymru.org.uk
Podcast Partners:
Farmer's Guardian. For the biggest range of news and features from across the Ag industry, please visit www.fginsight.com
Rock & Roll Farming is proud to be a part of the Farm & Rural Ag Network. To find more great podcasts and vlogs, please visit www.farmruralag.com
Jamie Waldron is passionate about the art of butchery, and owns a 'roaving butchery enterprise', where he teaches the art throughout the province of Ontario.
Jamie has worked at some of the top butcher shops in Canada, helped craft menus and meat programs for restaurant groups, consulted for butcher shops, and has worked with and for abattoirs in Ontario.
In 2013, he wrote the Home Butchering Handbook. It covers all aspects of traditional meat cutting, from whole carcass to usable cuts.
Carter joins me to share what AcreTrader can do for farm owners and people seeking a long-term investment. He explains how the platform works, what a typical transaction would look like, and some of the fees involved.
How does a guy from New York end up making a movie about grain bin entrapment? Listen as I talk to Sam Goldberg about the movie Silo
SiloTheFilm.com
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Peter Thompson and his wife Nicki run EchoCattle, a roughly 18,000 acre property located 80km northeast of Roma, in southern central Queensland, Australia. They run a grass-fed beef operation and crop around 3,000 acres, depending on the season, with an additional 6,00 acres of wilderness country.
As of this year, their house block (~10,000 acres) will have been in the Thompson family for 70 years. They’ll also celebrate their 42nd anniversary together.
The Thompson’s have been farming regeneratively long before it was a ‘thing’. In this episode, Peter shares his hard-earned insights about:
- Finding compromises that are truly win-win;
- Avoiding the temptation of silver bullet solutions;
- The long list of technologies they’ve adopted; and
- The importance of balance.
“I see the technology being able to give us the ability to help people understand and connect people so that they realize that it’s not me as the farmer doing whatever might be perceived as bad for the environment. It’s you and me and everyone else that eats and drinks and lives. We’re all complicit in it, so if we can virtually connect everyone and connect people back… I still believe we’ve got significant time to turn things around, if we start now”
Searching for Win-Wins and Breaking Tradeoffs The Thompson’s property is home to forty coal seam gas wells, which are some of the first drilled in Australia. Knowing that the world needs energy, and because they loved where they lived, Peter and Nicki made the conscious decision to find a way to have the wells and still look after the land.
They started by putting some principles in place. First, protect the land. Second, ensure the property continued to be livable for the family. And finally, make sure their operation wasn’t at risk. They also did their homework to ensure that they understood the impact these wells would have on the environment.
Once Peter decided to have the wells, he needed to figure out a new model for compensation. The original approach from the gas company was to pay producers with “a few cartons of beer and tickets to the rugby.” That didn’t fly with the Thompsons. Instead, they worked with the gas company to develop a compensation package that took the well from being worth a few thousand dollars per year, to “hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
The financial benefits of the gas wells have been a significant support, especially during dry times. Further, Peter is proud of the compromise that they reached, and that they were able to reach it without compromising the wellbeing of the land or the water. Peter’s approach was pragmatic, but grounded in a commitment to sustainability and vision that the environment and enterprise can work hand in hand.
“We must consider humanity and the environment in everything we
Tara Beaver Coronado has had some major curve balls in her life. However, this grape farmer won't let that stop her from trying to destroy agriculture stigmas.
check out this thing: Ag Now Magazine http://fliphtml5.com/homepage/mwnc
Trevor McBane is a goat farmer from Oklahoma but what sets him apart is how he relentlessly pursued his dreams and auditioned for American Idol. Although he didn't win he finished in the top 25. He talks about all the unexpected doors it has opened and what he's doing now!
Cashel Blue is a 100% family farmhouse, blue cheese production, located near the historic town of Cashel in Co. Tipperary. The focus is very much on quality cheese production, linked with a desire to keep the family living and working on the family farm. In this episode, Co-owner, Sarah Furno provides some background to this innovative Tipperary farming enterprise, making a range of cheese for the home and export markets.
Tackling Rural Crime
The NFU Mutual Rural Crime Report 2019 is out, and Will is in the Scottish Borders to talk through the findings and what’s changed in the last year. He’s joined by a number of different people on the front line of tackling rural crime and offering practical help and advice to combat the problem.
Ray joins me today to discuss some of NASA’s recent developments regarding planting crops in space. He shares some of the systems and tech that have been made commercial in the ag industry and explains why it’s difficult to experiment with plants in space.
Ryan Valk came back to his California ranch and turned it into an almond farm. Listen to how this young farmer's ambition is changing the way you'll think about your nuts.
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