Straight Talk with NDFB

Hosts Emmery Mehlhoff and Alisha Nord visit with Jolene Brown, a walking, talking spokesperson and champion for the people of agriculture.

Jolene is a farmer in eastern Iowa, contributor to Successful Farming magazine’s popular family business column, author of two great books, and an inductee into the prestigious CPAE Speaker Hall of Fame.

In this episode, your hosts discuss ideas from her upcoming workshop entitled: “If we huff and puff, will we blow your house down?”

Jolene shares lessons learned from her 30+ years of working with farm families. She addresses the issues of communication and conflict, fair and equal, entitlement and transition.

During the workshop, she will provide 10 template tools to help with the transition of labor, management, leadership, and ownership.

When your business is constructed correctly, not only do we have a productive and profitable result, but we have also laid the foundation for the legacy of a family business.

To find out more about the March 22 workshop visit the NDFB website's event Jolene Brown succession planning event. RSVP for this free event to [email protected]

To hear more from Jolene Brown, visit www.JoleneBrown.com

 Contact our hosts at [email protected]

In this episode, Straight Talk with NDFB hosts Emmery Mehlhoff and Alisha Nord visit with Randy Martinson, founder of Martinson Ag Risk Management. Martinson Ag offers a variety of crop marketing and crop insurance packages to its customers.

Randy grew up on a family grain and livestock farm near Milnor, N.D., where he farmed for ten years. Randy is well-known for introducing complex marketing strategies in a simple, straightforward manner.

In this episode we talk about:

• Grain prices: Where the market is going and what to plant this spring
• Cattle Prices: When is the cattle market going to crash?
• And three strategies every producer should implement for a successful marketing year: 1) Know your cost of production; 2) Write your plan out and look at different levels you want to sell at; and 3) Have the discipline to stay with the plan (don't chase the highs!).

Join us for this insightful marketing episode. 

Contact Martinson Ag Risk Management at https://martinsonag.com/contact-us/ or give them a call at (701)205-4200.

Download their app https://martinsonag.com/contact-us/

 Contact Emmery and Alisha at [email protected]

Our Straight Talk hosts, Emmery Mehlhoff and Alisha Nord, were live and in person at NDFB’s 2024 Young Farmers and Ranchers conference., February 2-3 and spoke with Dahltin Pahl.

Dahltin is a farmer from Ellendale and active NDFB member, who joined our hosts to talk about his experience with NDFB. Dahltin is an ag lender for Ag Country and has been involved with NDFB for several years. He has served on the NDSU Collegiate board to as well as the NDFB’s Board of Directors as the chair of the NDFB Young Farmer and Rancher Committee.

 Join us as Dahltin shares his:

• Experience coming back to the family farm 
• Experience as a bank lender and farmer
• Insights on why you should be involved in NDFB 
• Favorite memory from Farm Bureau 

To get in touch with Dahltin Pahl, contact him on Linkedin
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dahltin-pahl-7828b5123

To learn more about YF&R, visit https://www.ndfb.org/aboutus/yfrcommittee/program/

To contact our hosts, email [email protected] or visit ndfb.org

In today's episode, we answer the question “What are you going to do today so your great-grandkids can farm someday?” 

Hosts Emmery Mehlhoff and Alisha Nord visit with Andy Junkin about his business “Stubborn Farm.” Andy is originally from Bobcaygeon, Ontario, but now lives in eastern Iowa with his wife and four kids. Andy helps stubborn farmers work better together. 

Join us as we talk about how:

• 77% of farmers do not have a succession plan
• Many farms that have a succession plan have parties who are not happy about it 
• Farm succession should not happen in the funeral home 
• The first land every farmer should buy should be the cemetery plot

Learn how to turn stubbornness into:

• Stubbornness at listening to each other
• Stubbornness in improving your character 
• And stubbornness in having good relationships with your family and your partners

Together, we talk about how to save the family farm. 

Learn more about Andy and Stubborn Farm at https://stubborn.farm

Listen to his audiobook for FREE https://stubborn.farm/stubbornbook/

Take the next step to save the farm https://stubborn.farm/nextsteps/

Contact Andy at [email protected] or 1-800-474-2057

Or schedule your call here https://stubborn.farm/schedulecall/

Contact Emmery and Alisha at [email protected]

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]