While in Camrose, AB, CA for the Holistic Management Canada 2020 conference I sat down with Steve Kenyon and talked about the discipline of lifelong learning. One thing that became abundantly clear at the conference was that many of the greatest minds in Canadian Holistic Management display a commitment to lifelong learning. Steve is a primary example of this so I asked him to sit down with me and talk about the why and how of his learning.
Today we kick off our series highlighting Missouri agriculture producers and influencers. Caroline Sicht is a farm girl from Ashland, Missouri who has taken her love for telling others about life on her family farm and turned it into a business. Caroline runs TellYourFarmStory.com, a site where she is bridging the gap between producer and consumer. We talk about her journey from a college softball player to working as an advocate for the ag industry. Caroline has become a good friend of the show and we are excited for her new podcast!!
Former mayor "num-nuts" Bloomberg has an interesting opinion on farmers and their Forest Gump level intelligence. And farmers don't think he talk too good. We talk slow in this episode.
Darrell Oswald, Manager of the Menoken Farm, joined me to discuss how they are approaching improving soil health at Menoken Farm. We talk about the Five Pillars of Soil Health as well as the upcoming Farming and Ranching for the Bottom Line conference.
Cynthia Martel is an extension agent with the Virginia Cooperative Extension who is taking her recent training to the farmers she serves. We talk to her about her different roles around the country from New England to the Midwest to finally settling in Virginia. One thing that is common is we are all facing struggles everywhere. You can connect with Cynthia at cmartel@vt.edu. Stay tuned to the end of the show to find out an event where I will be speaking at the end of the month.
Arguing on Twitter can make your life worse. Well maybe not worse, but certainly not better. We list the things more productive than getting into a pissing match on Twitter. And we of course, have to talk about the $300,000 steer that blew up Twitter.
Craig Guffey, one of the minds behind Swearngin Angus, joined me to discuss how he got started from nothing. We also discuss finding animals that are adapted to the environment and challenge more than a few paradigms related to phenotype.
Today we welcome Jessica Peters. Jessica is a dairy farmer from Pennsylvania who has been very outspoken in her awareness of mental health in agriculture. Jess speaks openly on her social media page about the stresses involved in ag. She has begun a google document called "Our Ag Secrets" where people can anonymously leave their issues in this document. Go check Jess out on line on her Instagram page https://www.instagram.com/seejessfarm/. To access Our Ag Secrets doc click here Check out her blog on Hoard's Dairyman
Cooper Hibbard is a member of a multi-generation ranch in the mountains of Montana. He joined me to discuss how they go about using polywire to graze these difficult terrains. We also discussed how they are trying to find genetics fit to their environment and what Cooper learned on various ranches on three continents.
Today on the show we have the pleasure of speaking to Jeff Ditzenberger. Jeff is a farmer from Wisconsin who has done some extraordinary work in helping to break the stigma surrounding mental health in ag. Jeff has battle with his mental health for a number of years now. After overcoming many issues, he has begun an outreach group to help others like him. To reach Jeff, find him on facebook or send an email to tugsgroup@gmail.com (Apologies for the subpar audio quality. I had a bit of an issue in the initial recording.)