Animal health is always on the mind of pork industry leaders and 2024 is no different. Lori Stevermer of Easton, Minnesota is this year’s National Pork Producers Council president.

James Roemer is back with his active look at weather around the world. We’ll get into La Nina and El Nino changes and the impact on markets. Roemer of Best Weather, Inc., discusses how the drought in Russia has great potential to impact the global wheat market and what summer forecasts are holding for the grain growing areas of the United States.

Seed is the key and is changing the way ranchers and farmers approach their version of agriculture.

Soil is at the heart of food when you sow the seed, nurture the plant and then harvest. For Farmer Lee Jones of Huron, Ohio, there’s way more to it - the soil’s health is paramount to his life’s work. We get into his passion of regenerative agriculture and vegetables he’s growing and shipping all over the world.

The Iowa State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory celebrated two milestones in April and then found itself in the mystery of an H5N1 outbreak in dairy cows. Dr. Dan Grooms discusses how the lab did just what it was supposed to - teach and help make a connection between vets on the ground and the science in the laboratory.

Matt Ammermann has spent his career involved in agriculture and more specifically - the Black Sea and Eastern Europe for StoneX. Recent protests in Europe garnered attention and the Green Agenda is a major point of contention. We also look at the production status of Ukraine and Russia and that impact on a global marketplace.

Donald Oesterle is a third generation farmer in Mason, Michigan. He’s our other farmer we will check in with this growing season to see how his corn, wheat, canola, soybeans and cattle are doing.

Our third season of talking to a pair of producers in different parts of the country kicks off this week as we get to know Bryan Pippett.

This second part of our discussion with Josh Dallin centers more on you. If your farming operation is going to succeed - you need to have a good base and that starts with a strong respect for the importance of mental health. But as with many - reluctance highlights the challenges and stressors across the industry.

A hand went up at the end of a Utah State Extension meeting in 2019 that changed the course for many in that room - including organizers.