While an encounter with “pod people” may be relegated to a rerun of Invasion of the Body Snatchers on television, for some farmers, scary invasions are far too real! From citrus greening to an invasion on wine grapes, listen to today’s podcast and learn more about modern-day crop infestations that may affect fields near you.

Words, words, words. We all know they have power and sometimes that power is used for less…honest purposes. On today’s episode, Steve explores how emotive language is used to describe today’s agriculture and how that specific language is often used to purposefully mislead, debunking some of the more common “big little lies” about ag technology.

A little-known fact is a lot of the land in the U.S. that farmers tend isn’t land that they own. Instead, they rent it from someone else. On this episode, Steve explores this interesting dynamic, the history of farmland ownership, who actually owns the land and what this all means for farming.

Every physical thing we can see, touch or smell is made of chemicals. In fact, some of the chemicals that are man-made were inspired by chemicals created by nature. In this episode, Steve explores nature, the OG chemist, in all of her beauty, diversity and, sometimes toxic, glory.

On this episode of POPagriculture, Steve discusses the term “local” and how it applies to our food. From questioning what local food truly means to exploring how sustainability factors into food buying decisions, Steve travels through uncharted territory!

On today’s special bonus episode of POPagriculture, Steve discusses the basics of Integrated Pest Management (IPM), a growing strategy that focuses on long-term prevention of pests through a mixture of techniques like biological control, habitat manipulation and use of resistant varieties. Listen to learn the ABCs of IPM!