The Little Red Barn

We're a week out from some USDA survey data being laid on us. Normally, the Prospective Plantings report is intriguing, but not overly exciting. Could this year be different? And did you know that data is being collected from your land and on your farming practices without your consent? And you can't do anything about it. Yeah...we're just full of good news this week. 

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Ryan is joined this week by Dr. Scott Strong, author of the article "AI Dependency Trap: Sacrificing Wisdom for Automation, A Costly Future?" We discuss the rapid ascent of AI in multiple industries, and the ramifications in all industries, including agriculture. And there may be opportunities for those that are driven to succeed in life rather than settling for the WALL-E tech trap.

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Ryan returns from the Aloha State thoroughly impressed by the Pioneer Parent Seed facility in Waialua, HI, located on the island of Oahu.  Hear the reactions from several hours touring the complex and why it matters to Eastern Corn Belt agriculture.

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We're on location this week at Wawasee High School, talking about a Jobs Ready program and where Ag might fit in. 

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This week's WASDE had few surprises, and winter seems to want to make an appearance again. A siting bill before the Indiana General Assembly is dead, but not before fulfilling its intended purpose this year.  And Ryan finally puts his finger on why the "everybody wants data" movement in agriculture bothers him so much. 

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Death, especially unexpected passing, can trigger reflection and introspection. This week, it happened. Alongside a whole host of occurrences still happening at the normal, hectic pace. No matter what the market does, what weather comes, or whatever else we have going on, we gotta make sure we slow down enough to make sure our path is worth it. 

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This week is another round of the "Red Barn Road Show"  as we head to New Washington, Ohio to talk with Dusty Sonnenberg of Ohio Ag Net and Ohio Country Journal.  In this wide-ranging episode we talk about the demise of 4H, getting "management" to agree to raising tiny beef steers, the challenges of media coverage across a diverse Ohio Ag industry, the Ag "brain drain" of the eastern corn belt, and where agriculture may be headed in the future. Lots to unpack this time around! 

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Ryan is attending the Indiana Association of Soil and Water Conservation District's state convention. But in the midst of it all, he dives into a look at a week's worth of interesting headlines and market fluctuations borne out of things like Argentine Export Tax reductions, tariff threats, bills to revoke China's "most favored nation" status, bird flu, and plenty more. 

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This week, Kosciusko County Soil Health Specialist Tashina Lahr-Manifold stops by the Red Barn Studios to talk about Soil-Con. Apparently, "Soil-Con" is not the latest transformer like the Decepticons, and also not a group of soil felons. Rather, "Con" is short for conference,  which honestly is a bit lazy. But, it is full of cutting-edge information regarding soil health ideas and practices. As a pre-requisite, we talk about the basics of soil health, successes, failures, and more. (Including a brief tangent on earth worms.)

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Ryan walks us through the massive USDA data dump of January 10th, the market's reaction, and what may happen next.

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