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! www.millennialag.comtalktous@millennialag.comInstagram: @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 talktous@millennialag.com 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 talktous@millennialag.com 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 have a really cool guest. We welcome Steve Kiggins ,editor of the Twin Falls, ID local newspaper, the Times News. Steve has worked in journalism for nearly 30 years, both on local and regional levels, and national syndications like US Today. His broad experience brings a unique perspective that might surprise you in this very divided day and age. Steve's mission is to ensure that local people, local news, and local matters don't get lost in the big noise of larger news organizations. His dedication to community, to telling the stories straight, and making sure the people who matter (local communities!) are getting the information they need, when they need it. In addition, he shares that it's incredibly important to avoid both reader and journalist burnout, and talks about ways that can happen (hint: it includes popcorn). We hope you enjoy this episode as much as we did - it gave us a broader perspective of the information we consume , and how we need to be conscientious of how it affects both our own experiences and those of the people around us. Tune in! As always, like, subscribe, share and review! www.millennialag.com talktous@millennialag.com 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
In the first week of December (2022) Katharine got on a 9 hour flight to Glasgow, Scotland. The reason? The company she works for is based there, and she was going over to see how the business runs from the home office, meet new and prospective customers (as well as colleagues she's only ever met over a computer screen), and get a glimpse into Scottish agriculture and hospitality. Valene interviews Katharine about her experiences, what it was like to meet other agriculturists on their own soil, and what is the same and different about ag here in the US and ag across the pond. Along the way, they get off on rabbit trails regarding policy about food and agriculture, but don't worry, the rabbit trails are relevant to both the episode and the Millennial Ag podcast - we came up with some good content for future episodes, and know you'll enjoy this lighter hearted one as well. Tune in to learn what we can learn from our friends across the pond, hear just how green the countryside is there, and a couple of key whisky (note the lack of "e"....that's proper Scottish!) recommendations with more promised as Katharine hopefully returns soon. Slainte!
Welcome to 2023 listeners! This week (as always) we bring you what we want this year to look like for ourselves. Instead of our usual quick rundown though, we’re a lot more thoughtful about how we approach this episode. We begin with how and why we set goals, and how we’ve been giving our years specific words that we want to center our efforts on. Next we do dive into our goals. Something different for both of us this year is that our goals are still developing. We’ve given ourselves grace to be really thoughtful and intentional about what we want them to be and how we want to go about achieving them. We do share what we have in mind, along with our thoughts about how to well, go about them. Our conversation ranges quite a bit further afield than we anticipated when we planned this episode, but it helped clarify our way forward, and we hope it gives you food for thought and maybe some tips too. We wish you the very best for 2023, and are so looking forward to hearing your goals and how you plan to achieve them!! Love, Val and Katharine