The Millennial Ag Podcast

Here we are! We made it! With great pride and excitement, we present to you the 150th episode of the Millennial Ag Podcast. We’ve been considering very carefully what we wanted this episode to be, and we thank you for your patience while we’ve been developing it. Over the last couple months, we’ve been talking to our friends, neighbors, acquaintances, policy makers, industry professionals and whoever else we could think of to bring us their own “Top 5 Biggest Issues in Ag”. Many of them are as you would suspect – farmgate prices, mental health, barriers to entry, adoption of technology, government interference and/or support, climate change….we know the list. However, we came up against a few that we hadn’t considered before, and they intrigued us so much that we decided to dedicate this milestone episode to the first one. We will be bringing you much more content surrounding these topics, and today we’re kicking it off with the subject of agriculture water use.We’re joined this week by Warren Peterson, a close family friend of Katharine’s, a career-long water lawyer, and most importantly, a deep thinking and very considered individual. In this episode, we go beyond just water rights and bemoaning the lack of it. We talk about the mismanagement of agricultural water, its usage in agriculture production compared to municipal use (consider this: agriculture uses around 80% of water and bounces around 8-15% of economic activity. Non-industry groups are questioning this balance, and it’s leading to difficulties to people understanding where their food….and water…comes from, and why it’s so important that agriculture has access to water) and even more interestingly, about how foreign entities (foreign states and actors, investors) may be gaining more control over US agricultural land, and therefore water, than would make us comfortable. Are we exporting water to these countries? Do we need systems in place to protect US land ownership? Does this pose a security risk? Warren discusses all this and more, and has some pretty fascinating answers and viewpoints to address it. Tune in, turn up, and enjoy this episode that kicks off more relevant and exciting content than ever on the podcast where ag is always on tap, and no topic is off limits. As always, like, subscribe, share and review! www.millennialag.com [email protected] Instagram: @millennialag Facebook: Millennial Ag Twitter: @millennialag Make sure to spell Millennial correctly ;)* Don't forget to review us! It really does help our ratings, and we really appreciate your feedback. Love, Katharine and Val

It’s almost here!!! We’ve made it all the way to Episode 150! We can’t believe how fast it’s crept up on us, and how we couldn’t have done it without you, our loyal and encouraging listeners! In preparation for this huge milestone, we’ve been taking a poll in the agriculture community to identify the top five (ish) issues in our industry. In this quick teaser episode, we share what those are, and what’s coming up next week to celebrate this landmark in Millennial Ag history!

Since Katharine is in Wisconsin this week, Valene flies solo and brings Natalie Wyne from Colorado Premium. In light of St. Patrick’s day, they talk about anything and everything corned beef. They dive into the history, the process and even some of their favorite ways to cook it. We learn corned beef has evolved from the traditional corning with salt to a liquid based cure that is injected. Want to learn more about the corned beef you are eating for St. Patty’s day? Then, tune in! The podcast and corned beef will pair well with green beer, potatoes, and cabbage.

Since we've had such an increase in followers following our ag labor series, we are reintroducing ourselves! This week, it's Katharine's turn. She gives a quick overview of who she is, where she came from, and what she's doing now. Then Valene asks a big question - what lights Katharine's fire in agriculture? She shares the hows and whyfors, and the longer you listen, the deeper you'll be pulled into this very passionate agriculture champion's love and dedication to the industry she loves most. There might be a controversial thing or two she says - but her intent is to raise awareness and hopefully move the needle forward for progressive agriculturists and all their stakeholders, inside and outside of ag.

Our ag labor series has kickstarted an increase in followers of Millennial Ag, and with so many new faces around here, we thought it’d be a good time to reintroduce ourselves! This week, we bring you Valene! Sharp, funny, and flat-out awesome, you get an inside look at the Idaho and beef half of our podcast. She shares her background, what she’s up to currently, and then we have some really good conversation about why she’s passionate about each of her roles in ag: engineer, cow/calf producer, ranch wife, podcast host….this is a fun episode spotlighting one of the finest gals out there (Katharine’s assessment, and we know you’ll agree after you listen!)Tune in!

This week, we take a different approach from our usual episode structure and welcome back all together our guests from the last four ag labor series. With their return comes the kind of synergy that sparks even better conversations and perspectives. Each of these gentlemen brought their own experiences and ideas for improvement and solutions in the agriculture labor challenges our industry faces. Together, their perspectives and solution proposals (or maybe we should say the beginning of solutions - all of them acknowledge that there is no one way to tackle this beast) bring a breath of fresh air and unfluffy, look-you-dead-in-the-eye truth speaking to the ag labor challenges. Seriously, that last part has been our favorite thing to come out of this series. None of our guests beat around the bush. They’re all fed up with the tiptoeing around immigration and ag labor conversations. They’re more than ready for real, meaningful change, even as they recognize that it will be slow and messy. Starting is better than doing nothing, even if it’s an imperfect start.We deeply appreciate each of our guests, their ideas, no drama, no meandering meaningless words as they graciously shared their time and talents with us. If you haven’t tuned into this series, we encourage you to do so. The conversations sparked by just this small ripple are something we hope will turn into waves of meaningful and positive change in our industry.

Double talk. Political correctness. Evading tactics. Idaho Dairymen’s Association has had enough. Rick Naerabout, IDA’s CEO, plunged into the deep end first thing this episode (and we stay there). He brings to light how many organizations - including his own - have long tried to stay above the fray in the immigration conversation, at least in the way it’s talked about. Realizing that this was getting them (and more importantly, the people they serve) nowhere, IDA said “enough” and started being forthright with their messaging about how immigration affects not only their dairy farmer members, but those members’ employees - the immigrants who provide the labor we all rely so heavily upon. Each of the episodes in our ag labor series have been standouts, and this one accelerates that momentum. If you’re tired of the garbage “conversations” and lack of political will to actually do anything about these issues, this episode is for you. Rick is well-versed not just in current and proposed policy, but also the way our country’s immigration challenges our communities, our farms, our neighbors, our friends. It’s not untrue to say that the people who work alongside us in our agricultural operations are each of those things. Rick calls not only for policy and regulation changes, but changes in our attitudes, hearts, and minds in how we - all Americans - think and approach the challenges of our immigration system. Real change is needed. Policy AND perspective. Tune in!

This week, we welcome someone who might possibly be our most loyal listener (besides our parents: shout out to them!). We are delighted to host Katharine's brother-in-law Dan on this third episode in our ag labor series. Dan introduces himself in his role as one-third of the Lotspeich Family Farms team, located on the Lotspeich homestead in northern Nevada where they grow a diverse number of fruits, vegetables, and fresh cut flowers.Our conversation quickly turns to misconceptions about the agriculture industry from those not involved in ag who are proposing solutions.This topic sprung from an op-ed Dan shared with Katharine last fall written by a former immigration judge decrying the proposed Farm Worker Modernization Act. While he may know a lot about immigration law, it's clear from the piece that the honorable judge is badly misinformed about American agriculture.Dan takes us through many of the points made in the editorial, including why saying that farms should pay a living wage is not only a thinly veiled misunderstanding of actual agriculture labor wages, but also a sly use of misdirection. He also addresses the hypocrisy of the charge to pay higher wages while directly accusing agriculture of taking advantage of tax and business structures to benefit them just like any other business in any other industry would.Once again, we have a standout guest with perspectives that broadened and informed our own, and we hope it will for you too. If you want to think about ag labor from the point of view of trying to help industry outsiders craft solutions that make sense for agriculture, this is the episode for you. Tune in!As always, like, subscribe, share and review! [email protected]: @millennialagFacebook: Millennial AgTwitter: @millennialagMake sure to spell Millennial correctly ;)* Don't forget to review us! It really does help our ratings, and we really appreciate your feedback.Love, Katharine and Val

In this second episode in our ag labor series, we're joined by Erik, a commercial heifer grower in the western US. This is an interesting episode - Erik first addresses the challenges that he, like all ag producers, is facing right now, but then he started in on a topic that doesn't seem to be covered whenever we talk about ag labor issues. Erik made a point of saying how important it is that pay is competitive, benefits are actually well, beneficial, and that keeping your employees engaged in the mission are all more important than just putting a warm body in a tractor. He makes the (often unacknowledged) observation that maybe in ag, it's been routine in the past to just work people as hard as possible, without compensating them properly because it wasn't required. Erik even has the unique (at least from what we've been hearing in the ag community) perspective that the new ag labor overtime law in Colorado is going to keep people from job hopping so much because they can make a lot more money, which is usually the top incentive to remain. He said that compensating people properly is not only a good way to get people to stay, but it's the right thing to do. He finished by saying, "We were all put here on this earth to do more than work and die. It's important that there's a work/life balance, and that extends to every employee, not just who owns it or manages it."We're not gonna lie, some of his statements were surprising to hear, because it's contrary to what we hear at policy and legislation meetings, industry events, and just regular everyday talk among producers. We also won't deny that we are 100% on Erik's side with this, because everything he said is absolutely true. While policy, legislation, and regulation changes are desperately needed to address the ag labor disaster we find ourselves in, keeping employees' health and wellbeing should be the #1 priority for any employer. Tune in – this episode features a guest who pulls no punches, doesn't mind questioning the status quo, and is a fun conversationalist to boot. As always, like, subscribe, share and review! www.millennialag.com [email protected] Instagram: @millennialag Facebook: Millennial Ag Twitter: @millennialag Make sure to spell Millennial correctly ;)* Don't forget to review us! It really does help our ratings, and we really appreciate your feedback. Love, Katharine and Val

This week, we kick off our series on ag labor. We're talking to a wide variety of people with skin in this game, and we start it off with a rockstar guest. Calvin Beasley is a third-generation farmer on his family's apple orchard in Indiana. Beasley's Orchard doesn't just produce apples - they have diversified into U-pick, several other different crops (strawberries, sunflowers, and more) and agritourism to keep their operation viable for the long-term. Calvin has a lot of experience dealing with agricultural labor. He explains what his farm has done to try and address these issues - utilizing migrant labor, diversifying so they can afford to pay more and offer benefits, making efficiency gains to make the actual manual labor less intensive and more. He also talks about the inertia in government, policymakers, and even the ag industry itself to actually address the problem and get some solutions in place. This is a wide-ranging conversation, and the topic is not only addressed really well, but Calvin also makes points on other challenges and opportunities in agriculture that we will produce more upcoming content on because they deserve a lot more attention than they are getting right now from the industry (think the way we communicate with stakeholders outside of agriculture, maximizing profits for producers, especially commodity based sectors, and being proactive instead of reactive when facing contemporary agriculture issues and problems.) You don't want to miss this episode - it's immediately relevant content to any ag producer, and anyone involved in ag support industries. As always, like, subscribe, share and review! www.millennialag.com [email protected] Instagram: @millennialag Facebook: Millennial Ag Twitter: @millennialag Make sure to spell Millennial correctly ;)* Don't forget to review us! It really does help our ratings, and we really appreciate your feedback. Love, Katharine and Val