Merry Christmas to all from Straight Talk with NDFB! In this episode, hosts Emmery Mehlhoff and Alisha Nord visit with Courtney Lesmeister, part-owner of Wayne-N-Jean's Evergreens. 

Courtney Lesmeister, friend of Alisha, married into a family owned and operated Christmas tree farm when she married Lloyd Lesmeister, son of Wayne and Jean, owners of Wayne-N-Jeans Evergreens. Courtney now works on the family tree farm along with Wayne and Jean, Lloyd, and two children.

Although the farm sells trees year-round, Wayne-N-Jean's is best known for their cut-your-own and pre-cut Christmas tree sales, wreaths, and gift shop. 

From the middle of November to Christmas Eve, Wayne-N-Jean's Evergreens is open for the public to choose and cut down a Christmas tree. The farm hosts several Christmas events including a visit from Santa Claus, the Grinch, Ladies Day, and much more! 

To find Wayne-N-Jean's Evergreens, visit

https://www.wjevergreens.com or find them on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064651511013 . 

To contact Straight Talk with NDFB, email [email protected] 

In this episode, Straight Talk hosts Emmery Mehlhoff and Alisha Nord visit with Nic de Castro, founder and CEO of LandTrust. 

Nic grew up hunting and exploring the outdoors. After several years in the corporate world across the United States, Nic found himself in Bozeman, Mont., with a passion to begin his own company founded on his love of the outdoors. Enter LandTrust.

LandTrust is an online platform connecting landowners and recreators. Similar to AirBnb, Vrbo and other hosting platforms, LandTrust allows landowners to sign up their land for free.

In today’s episode we talk about how:

• LandTrust works and what it is 
• You can protect your liability AND share your land with others
• To protect your property rights and give access to hunters

To find out more about LandTrust and to sign up visit https://landtrust.com

Farm Bureau members receive an additional 5% on their LandTrust listings. Find out more https://ndfb.org/benefits/landtrust/. 

Contact our hosts at [email protected] . 

Hosts Emmery Mehlhoff and Alisha Nord visit with Chelsey Erdmann, a 6th generation farmer and social media influencer. She also serves on NDFB's Promotion and Education Committee. Chelsey lives with her husband Kyle in Fessenden, N.D., and farms with her brother, parents and three children on the family farm. 

Chelsey is a North Dakota native and has an Ag Economics degree from NDSU. She originally began her career after graduation at an equipment dealership, b​ut Chelsey wanted to come back to the farm. 

Growing up, Chelsey's parents made it clear there would always be room on the farm and family business for her and her siblings. So, she took the opportunity and went back in 2018.

In this episode we talk about:

• Returning to the family farm 
• What it’s like to farm with family
• Why it's important to tell your story
• And the big question… how Chelsey farms with three active children

Read Chelsey’s blog:  https://ohthatschelsey.com

Follow her on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ohthats_chelsey/

Contact our hosts at [email protected]

To learn more about NDFB, visit us at ndfb.org.

In this episode of Straight Talk with NDFB, our hosts visit Billy Kelly from Killarney, Ireland. Billy comes to the United States every year to work for Demeray Harvesting and Trucking (DHT)  as a crew chief. Billy begins harvest in Arizona and works his way north, finishing in North Dakota before driving back to Arizona to fly home to Ireland. 

Emmery and her family have worked with DHT and Billy over the last few years to custom harvest their crop. 

Learn about:

• What it’s like to manage a custom harvest crew
• Billy’s experience with the H-2A program
• What it’s like to harvest from Arizona to North Dakota
• Differences in agriculture between the U.S. and Ireland

Join us for this fun episode!

Learn more about Demeray Harvesting https://www.demarayharvesting.com/pages/employment

Contact our hosts at [email protected]

In this episode of Straight Talk with NDFB, hosts Emmery Mehlhoff and Alisha Nord visit with Dr. Ruchi Bhardwaj, Grower and Education Program Manager for Grand Farm.

Ruchi was born and raised in New Delhi, India and moved to Fargo in 2009 to attend NDSU, where she met our co-host, Alisha Nord. Ruchi has a Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctorate – all from NDSU. She joined the staff of Emerging Prairie where she eventually became the Grower and Education Program Manager for Emerging Prairie’s agricultural branch, Grand Farm.

Join us for our conversation with this fascinating woman and learn about what Grand Farm is doing to bridge the gap between agriculture and technology.

Learn more about Grand Farm https://grandfarm.com

Contact Ruchi [email protected]

LinkedIn profile: [email protected]

Contact our Host Emmery Mehlhoff [email protected]

In this episode of Straight Talk with NDFB, hosts Emmery Mehlhoff and Alisha Nord visit with Doug Ferguson who owns a stocker/backgrounding operation in SE Nebraska and is the author of Doug's Market Intel. Doug teaches a cattle marketing school focused on helping people become Master Marketers in the cattle industry. 

In this episode we talk about: 

• An overview of Sell/Buy Marketing 
• How to make money with cows every year 
• How your mindset affects profitability 
• Advice for the highschool graduate 
• How to build a cattle operation

Interested in learning more about being a master marketer in the cattle industry? Check out:

Mr Cattlemaster blog https://mrcattlemaster.com

Information on Sell/Buy Marketing Schools: https://mrcattlemaster.com/marketing-school/

 Doug Ferguson, BEEF Magazine https://www.beefmagazine.com/author/doug-ferguson

 Doug’s Market Intel, Farm Progress https://www.farmprogress.com/series/doug-s-market-intel

 Find him on X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/mrcattlemaster?lang=en
On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/Mr-CattleMaster-100068903720827/

Learn about NDFB at https://ndfb.org

Contact host Emmery Mehlhoff at [email protected]

Straight Talk with NDFB hosts Emmery Mehlhoff and Alisha Nord talk to Matt Retka about ND Ag Wetland Trade, a program to give farmers an opportunity to buy and sell wetlands. 

Matt  works for Stantec, the engineering firm contracted to facilitate the development and establishment of bank sites and work with landowners through every step of the process.

In this episode, learn: 

• How ND Ag Wetland Trade gives a tool to farmers who are interested in field drainage.
• More about how the program works. 
• What it looks like to sell credits. 
• What it looks like to buy credits.
• How the program provides a work-around for the Swampbuster program in the 1985 Food Security Act that prevented farmers from draining their land. 
• More about NDAM, and the six agricultural groups in North Dakota overseeing ND Ag Wetland Trade.

 Interested in NDAM’s ND Ag Wetland Trade? Contact Matt Retka 701-893-2322 or email him at [email protected] to learn more.

Learn more about NDFB at ndfb.org.

Contact host Emmery Mehlhoff at [email protected]

In the first episode of Season 7 of Straight Talk with NDFB, hosts Emmery Mehlhoff and Alisha Nord-Donelly get down to the nitty-gritty of marketing with Progressive Ag’s owner and founder, Ray Grabanski. Ray has several degrees in economics and law and is a recognized industry leader in risk management methods. 

Progressive Ag pursues excellence in farm risk management specializing in wheat, corn, soybeans, sunflowers, dry beans, canola, potatoes, and livestock. Each year, Progressive Ag exceeds its goal of 10-20 cents per bushel more than the customer’s previous marketing plan.

In today’s episode we talk about: 

• The success or failure of a farm/ranch often comes down to how good the producer is at risk management . 
• Strategies to become a better risk manager in ten minutes or less. 
• The best time to sell grain. 
• The key to success is always found by asking the question, “How can I get better?”
• Futures price + basis price = cash price. 

A new member benefit with NDFB, Progressive Ag offers invaluable ten-minute-a-week videos created to improve your risk management in ten minutes or less. Check out this and many more of Progressive Ag’s services offered to NDFB members, visit https://www.ndfb.org/benefits/progressive-ag/

Contact your host, Emmery: [email protected]

In this promo episode for Season 7, Emmery introduces her new cohost, Alisha Nord-Donnelly.

Learn more about Alisha, in her own words, and find out how the communications landscape has changed for NDFB from a long-time employee, Dawn Smith-Pfeifer, who has been with the organization since before the internet.

Your also cohosts provide food for thought on the good, the bad and the ugly side of technology and how it relates to their jobs and their farms.

To learn more about NDFB staff, visit https://ndfb.org/aboutus/staff/

To contact host Emmery Mehlhoff, email her at [email protected]

Look for their Season 7, Episode 1 on Wednesday, Sept. 20.  

In the final episode of NDFB's Straight Talk legislative season, your host, Emmery Mehlhoff visits with N.D. Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring.

The 68th Legislative Assembly was a success for agriculture in North Dakota.

Landmark changes to the "corporate" farming structure in North Dakota will help expand animal agriculture and create partnerships that were unavailable before.

Zoning and infrastructure changes to help counties and townships come into compliance ag zoning ordinances and upgrade services were all passed by legislators and signed by the governor.

To learn more about how NDFB lobbyists viewed legislative outcomes this year, read the highlights from the last episode of Straight Talk here.

Contact Ag Commissioner Doug Goehring at [email protected]

Contact Straight Talk host Emmery Mehlhoff at [email protected]

To learn more about NDFB policy positions, visit ndfb.org/policy