Around Farm Progress

Those sunbaked days of your youth could come back to haunt you. That’s what happened for Brad Haire, Southeast Farm Press, a few years ago. He wrote about it recently in Still standing naked for a good reason.

Haire offers a frank look at his run-in with skin cancer in the past, and recent news in his personal life. It's a lively conversation about an important topic.

Jennifer Kiel, American Agriculturist, offered a report on a pest that has spread from the Southwest to the Northeastern U.S. Her graphic descriptions of what these aggressive birds can do to a weakened animal may not be for the faint-hearted but paint a realistic picture of what livestock producers face.

We feature an interview with Zach Ducheneaux, administrator of USDA's Farm Service Agency, to discuss news of enrollment of 2 million acres into the Conservation Reserve Program, and what that means.

And we talk herbicide resistance with Brad Haire, Southeast Farm Press, with news that Palmer amaranth may have developed a new resistance, causing more challenges for growers.

The pandemic has done nothing to slow the investment in new ideas for agriculture. We caught up with Roger Royse, a partner with Haynes and Boone, Palo Alto, Calif., to better understand what's going on.

Royse shares some interesting insights into how the ag startup world has changed too and what farmers should care.

New data shows a cooler, wet spring in the East, which may hinder planting. Meanwhile, the drought in the West continues bringing a continued threat of wildfires.

We talk with Tom Bechman, Indiana Prairie Farmer, about the latest long-range weather forecast through planting season. Then we look at the grassland wildfire issue hitting the high plains with Curt Arens, Nebraska Farmer, and Jennifer Latzke, Kansas Farmer.

Planters may be rolling, or about to roll, for #Plant22 but here at Farm Progress we've got to think ahead to those fall farm shows. And while planting there matters too, there are other issues in play.

The Around Farm Progress podcast connects with Matt Jungmann, events director, Farm Progress to discuss a little bit of magic. Jungmann and his team put on two of the largest outdoor farm shows in the country just two weeks apart.

Learn more at FarmProgressshow.com and HuskerHarvestDays.com

Farmers are hearing more conversation these days about the circular economy and regenerative agriculture. Over the last few years agriculture has evolved to be more "extractive" than "circular" but that mindset is changing.

We talk with two farmers fully engaged in the process of raising food and returning what they use to the soil while extracting value. It's an interesting conversation.

Counterfeit opioid pills are flooding the country from big cities to rural communities. In this episode the Justin King, special agent in charge, Drug Enforcement Adminstration, Omaha Field Office, offers insight into the issue.

He shares how the problem is growing, and shares insight into the challenges faced when you discover someone in your family is addicted to opiates. It's a different kind of episode for Around Farm Progress, but worth a listen. You can learn more about the "one pill can kill" problem at dea.gov/onepill.

Rubber is a critical material for tires in everything from trucks to tractors, but most raw, natural rubber comes from one part of the world. Today's global supply chain challenges have pushed this issue to the forefront, but is there an alternative?

It turns out there is. Guayule - pronounced "y-you-lee" - is a desert plant that thrives in places like Arizona and New Mexico and is a source of natural rubber. Bridgestone-Firestone is working on new production facilities to make rubber from the plant. In this episode, we talk with David Dierig, manager of agro operations, Bridgestone-Firestone to learn more about the plant, and the farm opportunity it might bring for producers who can raise guayule on their farms.

BASF and Robert Bosch have teamed up to create Bosch-BASF Smart Farming and the first product heading to market in a few years is a smart spraying system. In this episode Matt Leininger, managing director, North America, Bosch-BASF Smart Farming discusses the new joint venture, and the new tech.

Then Vincent Orliange shares some insight baseball engineering details of the joint venture's approach to targeted spraying systems. It's an in-depth look at how technology is being applied in new ways on the farm.