Michigan AF Podcast

Lauren recently graduated from Michigan State University with a dual major in agribusiness management and food industry management from the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. She’s now working in the appraisal department at GreenStone Farm Credit Services. Originally from Carsonville, Lauren’s family used to have a dairy farm, and now they have a beef and crop farm. She loves working in agriculture and especially talking with people about it. She’s getting married next year, enjoys cooking and baking, and likes to spend time going snowmobiling with her family.

Listen as Lauren talks about:

• Having honest conversations with non-farmers
• Why she isn’t really on social media
• Her dad’s simple but profound advice
• Why she likes working in agriculture
• The best places to eat around campus

Connect with Michigan GROWN, Michigan GREAT:

• Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter
• Checkout our website at MichiganGrown.org
• Want to be featured as a Michigan AF business? Email us!

Thanks for listening and come back soon to hear about more people, foods and places that are Michigan AF!

Haili Gusa became interested in agriculture through FFA, where she served as a chapter, regional, and state officer. Her involvement led to showing pigs at the county fair, entering many speaking competitions, and ultimately becoming an ag ambassador due to her love of talking to people about farming. She’s a member of the honors program at Central Michigan University, where she’s majoring in communication with a minor in psychology. She enjoys playing sports, running, and being with her friends on campus.

Listen as Haili talks about:

• The love of running and volleyball that runs in her family
• FFA social media takeovers during COVID-19
• Limo service and farmers markets
• How gardeners relate to farmers
• Being an adrenaline junkie at Black Rocks

Connect with Michigan GROWN, Michigan GREAT:

• Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter
• Checkout our website at MichiganGrown.org
• Want to be featured as a Michigan AF business? Email us!

Thanks for listening and come back soon to hear about more people, foods and places that are Michigan AF!

Emma Grant is a junior at Michigan State University, where she’s double majoring in horticulture and crop and soil science, and minoring in ag business. Her hometown is Suttons Bay, and she’s enjoyed running the farmers market there for the last two years. After working on cherry farms and at the Northwest Michigan Horticultural Research Center, she’s really interested in doing meaningful research that really helps farmers find solutions to growing problems.

Listen as Emma talks about:

• Authentic Chinese food via her roommate
• Her new job working on tree fruits in a MSU research lab
• Everything she loves about farmers markets
• How she now has to quash her first instinct when she sees people
• Owning it in your own industry

Connect with Michigan GROWN, Michigan GREAT:

• Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter
• Checkout our website at MichiganGrown.org
• Want to be featured as a Michigan AF business? Email us!

Thanks for listening and come back soon to hear about more people, foods and places that are Michigan AF!

Madelyn Cary lives on her family’s farm where they grow cash crops and raise cattle. They also recently began running the Elwell Elevator. She’s beginning at Michigan State University in the fall to study agribusiness management with the goal of coming back to work on her farm in a managerial position. She works at Bader & Sons, which is a John Deere dealership, even though she has to put up with a lot of teasing because her family owns Case IH machines. Though her senior year of high school was disappointing due to the COVID-19 panic, she has a positive attitude … and is going to wear her prom dress somewhere, even if it’s just in the living room.

Listen as Madelyn talks about:

• Her love for showing cattle, and where it took her
• Everyone’s roles on her family farm
• Taking adorable baby chicks and lambs into classrooms for lessons
• Why it’s sometimes better eating at home, because Texas Roadhouse rolls are impossible not to overeat
• Why she devoted a Facebook page to agriculture

 See her facebook page

Connect with Michigan GROWN, Michigan GREAT:

• Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter
• Checkout our website at MichiganGrown.org
• Want to be featured as a Michigan AF business? Email us!

Thanks for listening and come back soon to hear about more people, foods and places that are Michigan AF!

Hailey Andres just graduated from University of Michigan-Flint with a degree in graphic design and marketing. When she joined FFA at New Lothrup High School, she became interested in agriculture and shaped her career around it. She now is interning with GreenStone Farm Credit Services, plus she has started her own marketing business called Cultivation Agricultural Marketing LLC. She loves visiting National Parks and is the happiest outdoors. As self-described foodie, she also likes to check out the best places to eat locally and while traveling.

Listen as she talks about:

• The great parts about Flint, including 100K Ideas which helps launch entrepreneurs
• Working with an agricultural museum and farms with her marketing business
• Her new apartment and the dog she’s going to adopt to live with her
• The best places to hike and eat in Michigan
• Why she has chosen agriculture, and what she wants to do with it

www.cultivationagmarketing.com

Connect with Michigan GROWN, Michigan GREAT:

• Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter
• Checkout our website at MichiganGrown.org
• Want to be featured as a Michigan AF business? Email us!

Thanks for listening and come back soon to hear about more people, foods and places that are Michigan AF!

Michael Ceja, Michigan Ag Council Ambassador, is studying business management at Delta College. His sophomore year of high school he got involved in FFA and got interested in ag advocacy and youth leadership. Last year he won the state collegiate discussion meet for Michigan Farm Bureau, and he plans to continue his involvement. He loves hammocking, listening to podcasts, and being with his friends.

Listen as he talks about:

• His funny misunderstanding about animals
• How his ag mentor has helped along the way
• Why a true crime-comedy works
• What it was like to be in FFA
• Why he’s interested in ag advocacy

Connect with Michigan GROWN, Michigan GREAT:

• Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter
• Checkout our website at MichiganGrown.org
• Want to be featured as a Michigan AF business? Email us!

Thanks for listening and come back soon to hear about more people, foods and places that are Michigan AF!

Grace Platte is one of our Michigan Ag Council Ambassadors. She’s studying agricultural education at Michigan State University, and she works two jobs – she manages social media for the College of Agricultural & Natural Resources, and she works for MSU Extension - Chronic Wasting Disease. Grace didn’t grow up on a farm, but she became interested in her friend’s pigs and became involved in 4-H and FFA, where she was a state officer. She loves advocating for agriculture in her professional and personal life. She also likes golfing, hanging out with her friends, and visiting the Thumb.

Listen as Grace talks about:

• Her advice on intimidation
• Finding out why farmers love what they do
• Her dog Harper, who is going to live with her in the sorority house
• How a year at MSU will look like with COVID changes
• Relating to people about farming

Facebook: Grace Olivia Platte

Instagram: @graceplatte

Connect with Michigan GROWN, Michigan GREAT:

• Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter
• Checkout our website at MichiganGrown.org
• Want to be featured as a Michigan AF business? Email us!

Thanks for listening and come back soon to hear about more people, foods and places that are Michigan AF!

Tony Motz farms with his dad, where they grow corn, soybeans, and wheat on 3000 acres in St Johns. He also started Motz Meat, where he raises steers to sell as freezer beef. Tony earned his degree in agribusiness at Michigan State University, and he enjoys finetuning farm practices. For instance, they are taking tissue samples to analyze crop nutrients and improving record keeping by using software that links to a weather station. When he’s not working, he loves going up north or sitting on the back deck of his house with his fiancée, Mackenzie.

Listen as Tony talks about:

• The reward that comes with a dedication to farming and family
• Having a wedding reception in the same shop his parents did 28 years ago
• Why the third day of planting is the best day of the year
• When he knew he shouldn’t buy a dirt bike
• Why networking in college is even more valuable than learning financial ratios

Facebook Page

Connect with Michigan GROWN, Michigan GREAT:

• Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter
• Checkout our website at MichiganGrown.org
• Want to be featured as a Michigan AF business? Email us!

Thanks for listening and come back soon to hear about more people, foods and places that are Michigan AF!

Kip Siegler is a farming YouTube sensation, with over 14,000 subscribers, 66 videos, and 1.3 million total views in just nine months. He’s a dairy and crop farmer in Imlay City, where he milks 200 cows and raises hay, corn, soybeans, and wheat on 1700 acres. Kip farms with his brothers and parents, has two daughters, and is getting married next year to his fiancée Rochelle. He enjoys seeing his daughters perform in dance, having bonfires at his house, and cruising with his family in their old Ford truck.

Listen as Kip talks about:

• How his time in the military prepared him for owning a business
• His friends buying Siegler swag across the country and world
• How the farm now is a culmination of all the work that’s gone into it
• Why you have 30 chances to perfect growing crops
• How 4-H gave him the funds to buy his first house at age 19

Youtube Channel

Connect with Michigan GROWN, Michigan GREAT:

• Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter
• Checkout our website at MichiganGrown.org
• Want to be featured as a Michigan AF business? Email us!

Thanks for listening and come back soon to hear about more people, foods and places that are Michigan AF!

Nate Wittkamp of Wittkamp Grain and Vegetable LLC grows asparagus, hemp, pickles, and zucchini on his farm in Oceana County. Nate graduated from Michigan State University and worked as a sales agronomist for Wilbur Ellis. After working for them and farming at the same time, he was approached by investors and asked to grow 200 acres of hemp. Instead of having two full-time jobs, he concentrated only on the farm to develop this commercially-new crop. In his free time, he follows Michigan State sports, bow hunts, and goes to the beach.

Listen as Nate talks about:

• The original gold rush mentality of hemp that has since calmed down
• What it’s like to not have sports due to COVID-19
• Reasons behind hand labor
• The amazing growth of asparagus
• The experiments you can do with crops when no one yet has all the answers

Connect with Michigan GROWN, Michigan GREAT:

• Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter
• Checkout our website at MichiganGrown.org
• Want to be featured as a Michigan AF business? Email us!

Thanks for listening and come back soon to hear about more people, foods and places that are Michigan AF!