Barn Talk

Tommy Wheeler told his farm credit banker he wanted to grow rice and lose about $250 an acre doing it. The banker called it the dumbest business plan he'd ever heard. Tommy's answer: he was already losing $500 an acre on corn. Tommy spent 27 years in NASCAR without ever being a race fan. He started at Hendrick Motorsports for $12 an hour as a Davidson physics student, was the third employee when Ray Evernham built a Dodge team from scratch in 10 months, and finished as general manager at Roush Fenway. On the side, he and fifth-generation farmer Al Spruill were trying to make a duck club in Oriental, North Carolina pay for itself. A dinner in Stuttgart, Arkansas turned into Tidewater Grain, the first company in more than 100 years to grow Carolina Gold rice at scale in North Carolina. We get into how 3 acres of heirloom seed became a mill, a brand, and a zero-waste business. They sold a whole year of rice in two hours at a food show in January 2020. Then COVID closed every restaurant, so the family hand-packed the crop into Ziploc bags and sold out a second time. Tommy also explains why a hurricane scares him more than a competitor, what Outback Steakhouse has to do with rice breaders, and why contract growers are his insurance policy. Also in this one: a 170-foot water ski wreck in front of his college football coach, telling 300 people they were out of a job, the Blacklands and the start of institutional ag, giving away rice straw bales in a drought, King Ranch's "keys to the ranch," and the challenge coins that get veterans and kids into the duck blind. "The only defense that I believe in business and in agriculture today is offense." Would you have backed Tommy's rice plan? Tell us in the comments. We read them. JOIN THE BARN TALK NEWSLETTER & GET LIVE EVENT ACCESS: We're on a mission to get 10,000 subscribers, and once we do, we're hosting a live event at the barn! Sign up to get exclusive access to tickets and details.👇🏻 Help us get there: https://www.joinbarntalk.com THIS EPISODE IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY: ● Iowa Corn ➱ https://www.iowacorn.org GUEST LINKS: ● Tidewater Grain ➱ https://www.tidewatergrain.com ● Tidewater Grain Instagram ➱ https://www.instagram.com/tidewatergrainco TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 Welcome back, the newsletter and live event goal 02:43 Meet Tommy Wheeler 04:36 The dumbest business plan his banker ever heard 07:06 Raised by wolves in Rockingham 13:08 The water skiing champion 17:12 Iowa Corn and the Farm Bill fight 18:10 A 170-foot wreck in front of his coach 27:53 $12 an hour at Hendrick Motorsports 29:18 Reading German and the Vegas excuse 38:03 Building a Dodge team from nothing 43:42 Told they'd miss Daytona, then won the pole 49:19 Reading his own name first on the layoff list 53:26 The side hustle starts with buying land 1:02:13 Anson Byrd, the Fun Killer 1:04:57 Buying 50 acres sight unseen 1:11:49 Stuttgart, Arkansas: let's get like them 1:13:39 Lose $250 an acre instead of $500 1:15:15 Why North Carolina stopped growing rice 1:21:23 Carolina Gold seed and the first 3 acres 1:29:57 Sold out in two hours 1:35:44 COVID closes every restaurant 1:38:09 Ziploc bags and selling out twice 1:41:16 Building their own mill 1:42:02 All of this for a duck 1:44:03 Leaving NASCAR for good 1:48:57 Four sisters and a crew of high schoolers 1:56:02 The Blacklands and institutional ag 2:07:33 Why a hurricane is the biggest threat 2:10:39 Outback, breaders, and the home run ball 2:15:40 Free straw bales for cattlemen in a drought 2:18:12 His North Star: opportunity, not a P&L 2:24:48 Cousin Tommy's vs. Uncle Ben's 2:31:04 No defense, all offense 2:33:59 Challenge coins for veterans and kids 2:37:20 Tip of the Hat 2:39:07 Where to find Tidewater Grain SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST ➱ https://bit.ly/3a7r3nR SUBSCRIBE TO THIS'LL DO FARM ➱ https://bit.ly/2X8g45c LISTEN ON: SPOTIFY ➱ https://open.spotify.com/show/3icVr4KWq4eUDl7Oy60YMY APPLE ➱ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/barn-talk/id1574395049 FOLLOW BEHIND THE SCENES 👇🏻 ● Barn Talk Instagram ➱ https://www.instagram.com/barntalkshow ● Barn Talk TikTok ➱ https://bit.ly/3qciekS ● Sawyer's Instagram ➱ https://bit.ly/3BtX0n4 ● Tork's Instagram ➱ https://bit.ly/3LGZJxS ● Sawyer's X ➱ https://x.com/SawyerWhisler ● Tork's X ➱ https://x.com/TorkWhisler ------------------------------- ⚠NO FINANCIAL ADVICE / DISCLAIMER⚠ Barn Talk is for educational, informational, and entertainment purposes only, with no warranty of accuracy or completeness. Nothing here is financial, investment, or trading advice, and none of it is specific to you. Do your own due diligence and consult a licensed professional before making any financial decision. Trading stocks, crypto, and NFTs carries real risk and is not suitable for everyone. You use this information at your own risk. #IowaCorn #EP225 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Garth Gatson is 33 years old and doesn’t own an acre of ground. He raises cattle for a living anyway, on his family’s place in Missouri, buying heifer calves and selling them as pairs into the biggest cattle market anybody alive has ever seen. And this summer, while walking his pastures, he wrote the book on how we got here. It’s called Abel’s Rally, it’s named after the first stockman in the Bible, and it took him about 100 days from idea to Amazon. ABEL’S RALLY ➱ Search “Abel’s Rally” on Amazon. It’s A-B-E-L, E before the L. Leave him a review, there are two on there right now and our audience can fix that today. We got into why cattle tripled and why that didn’t make every rancher rich. Garth’s argument is that cows worth twice as much is equity, and equity doesn’t pay the light bill, the sale barn check does. He walked us through the cycle from the 2014 crash to the 2025 run, when feeder steers went up $3 a day for almost 300 days, $800 a head without gaining a pound. He says this country is losing 3 acres of pasture every minute, and he triple checked the math. Then we got into how he thinks. His mission statement is conscientiously creating and capturing value in cattle, and his line is that creating value without capturing it is charity, and capturing it without creating any is fraud. He writes an annual letter for his cattle business like Warren Buffett, he defines enough as a speed instead of a point, and he doesn’t use AI at all, because Johnny Cash and John Henry already explained what happens when something has all the power and none of the soul. Also in this one: screwworm and why the border closed, the Cain and Abel feud that’s still going between farmers and ranchers, burning tallgrass prairie at K-State, his summer at Rock Hills Ranch, the compound interest math on growing a herd, what he wants his four kids to inherit that isn’t land, and his advice for the 25 year old with no ground who wants in. CHAPTERS 0:00 Welcome and harvest wrap 2:56 Thanking the truckers who saved harvest 6:55 Why Tork spilled so much corn 9:34 Meet Garth Gatson 12:13 Why the book is called Abel's Rally 13:19 How the cattle cycle works 20:27 Why prices got this high 26:28 Screwworm and the Mexican border 29:04 Where are we in the cycle 34:50 Who won the most this cycle 39:26 How Garth got started in cattle 47:04 Why you can't count on 20 percent every year 49:39 Staying flexible without spreading too thin 55:01 Creating value and capturing value 1:00:46 Cash flow, scale, and why ranches run out of money 1:04:32 Work, life, and when a man loves a farm 1:18:14 Compound interest on the farm 1:27:52 How Garth learns 1:32:44 The annual letter 1:38:23 Writing a book in 100 days 1:54:20 Who the book is for 1:58:51 Selling steers two days after the peak 2:00:41 Cattle worth more than nickels 2:06:13 Garth's mission statement and what is enough 2:13:51 Raising kids and what to pass down 2:21:57 Advice for young cattle producers 2:26:49 Tip of the Hat: the local sale barn 2:31:44 Where to find Garth Sign up for the free weekly newsletter: joinbarntalk.com Follow Barn Talk YouTube: youtube.com/@barntalk Instagram: instagram.com/barntalkshow TikTok: tiktok.com/@barntalk Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/3icVr4KWq4eUDl7Oy60YMY Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/barn-talk/id1574395049 #EP224 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dale Earnhardt Jr. liked Christian Koch's grandpa's no-sugar beef jerky so much he bought into the company. Grandpa never wanted to sell it, so Christian found the recipe in his mom's family cookbook and built the business himself, from a 12 tray dehydrator to 210 convenience stores. Christian chased music for 13 or 14 years before it ended. Getting USDA approved took 17 months, and his first food safety plan was a PowerPoint. At his first farmers market he brought 50 bags that took 3 weeks to make and sold out, and 9 out of 10 people who tried it bought it. When Dale talked it up on his podcast, close to 1,000 orders hit a guy who could make 25 bags a week. It took 3 or 4 months to fill them, and Christian called almost every customer himself. Then we got into what farm kids hear all the time: you had a head start. His dad, his brother and Dale are all partners, and Christian doesn't dodge it. He says the help is real and the goal is to turn around and help the next person start a business. We also got into why there's no work-life balance when you're building something, and what he learned from a dad who left Hollywood and never worked for anyone again. Also in this one: the new barn studio, why big jerky brands load the bag with sugar, the 90s comedy act with the same name and the call from their manager, pitching Dale when he barely looked at the numbers, a co-packer in Chattanooga, and new flavors with Grandpa this Thanksgiving. "Don't be afraid to fail. You have to put yourself out there. If you don't, you'll never see that one win." What family recipe in your house should be for sale? Drop it in the comments and we read them. JOIN THE BARN TALK NEWSLETTER & GET LIVE EVENT ACCESS: We're on a mission to get 10,000 subscribers, and once we do, we're hosting a live event at the barn! Sign up to get exclusive access to tickets and details.👇🏻 Help us get there: https://www.joinbarntalk.com TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 New barn studio, couch and all 04:16 Catch us in Kearney and Las Vegas 05:57 Grandpa's jerky came in the mail 07:50 No sugar, and why big brands add it 09:48 How jerky took over the gas station 11:11 Fake meat blew up in their face 12:53 The day music ended and jerky started 16:20 Bad at being an employee 17:09 Jim's Jerky in Mom's cookbook 18:15 Same name as the prank call guys 21:41 Chasing music from age 12 25:30 Nashville at 19, back in 2017 27:24 What music taught him about business 28:48 The USDA nightmare begins 32:58 His food safety plan was a PowerPoint 34:20 17 months of rent and zero sales 36:05 Working 8 farmers markets a week 37:50 9 out of 10 who tried it bought it 38:54 No blueprint, so pick up the phone 41:31 25 bags a week on a 12 tray dehydrator 42:47 How the jerky got to Dale Jr 43:50 1,000 orders he couldn't fill 46:15 Pitching Dale with no numbers 48:59 How Blake knew Dale from NASCAR 49:59 Telling Grandpa about Dale Jr 51:43 Scaling 3 pounds of beef to 3,000 53:39 Learning to manage people 55:30 Is it easier to start a business now? 58:57 Four partners, one day-to-day guy 1:00:29 You had a head start 1:04:28 Makers and takers 1:07:00 No balance when you're building 1:10:11 210 Refuel stores and a co-packer 1:12:15 New flavors with Grandpa 1:14:01 Dale's late model and Amazon Prime 1:18:43 What he's building it for 1:19:47 Advice to 19 year old Christian 1:20:34 What Dad learned leaving Hollywood 1:24:09 Tip of the Hat 1:25:17 Where to find Jerky Boys SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST ➱ https://bit.ly/3a7r3nR SUBSCRIBE TO THIS'LL DO FARM ➱ https://bit.ly/2X8g45c LISTEN ON: SPOTIFY ➱ https://open.spotify.com/show/3icVr4KWq4eUDl7Oy60YMY APPLE ➱ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/barn-talk/id1574395049 FOLLOW BEHIND THE SCENES 👇🏻 ● Barn Talk Instagram ➱ https://www.instagram.com/barntalkshow ● Barn Talk TikTok ➱ https://bit.ly/3qciekS ● Sawyer's Instagram ➱ https://bit.ly/3BtX0n4 ● Tork's Instagram ➱ https://bit.ly/3LGZJxS ● Sawyer's X ➱ https://x.com/SawyerWhisler ● Tork's X ➱ https://x.com/TorkWhisler ------------------------------- ⚠NO FINANCIAL ADVICE / DISCLAIMER⚠ Barn Talk is for educational, informational, and entertainment purposes only, with no warranty of accuracy or completeness. Nothing here is financial, investment, or trading advice, and none of it is specific to you. Do your own due diligence and consult a licensed professional before making any financial decision. Trading stocks, crypto, and NFTs carries real risk and is not suitable for everyone. You use this information at your own risk. #EP223 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Neil Koch walked away from a good job 4 miles from his house at almost 50 to go full time on YouTube. His channel, Dig Drive DIY, sits at 348,000 subscribers, and it started with videos of a backhoe he was trying to sell on Craigslist. He drove 6 hours from northeast Indiana to tell us the whole story. DIG DRIVE DIY ➱ https://www.youtube.com/@digdrivediy Neil was a farmhand at 14 on a culti-mulcher, then worked weekends on a 700 sow farrow to feeder operation. After that came three 10 year careers. He ran heavy equipment out of high school, spent about 10 years fitting some of the first hydraulic auto steer systems on tractors, then 10 more as an agronomist.  Years later, a clip of his buddy Jack side loading a dozer racked up 7 or 8 million views and had him monetized before he ever made a video on purpose. He has now posted 250 or 260 Sunday videos in a row without missing one. Then we got into why people actually watch. Neil says it’s a look at rural, blue collar, middle class life that mainstream TV quit showing, and foreign viewers tell him all the time they’re glad this America still exists. We also got into the hard parts: young people with no house to get started in, farmhouses getting leveled when ground sells, and 10 bad comments that outweigh 1,000 good ones. Also in this one: the backyard swimming pond that hit trending, why he heats with firewood when he has propane, small towns getting coffee shops and butcher shops back, a professor pitching Google in 1999, what he tells his 15 year old daughters, and running a John Deere scraper again after 20 years. “I finally decided I’m going to be an idiot if I don’t. Like, what am I waiting on?” What’s the project you’d buy a backhoe for? Drop it in the comments and we read them. JOIN THE BARN TALK NEWSLETTER & GET LIVE EVENT ACCESS: We’re on a mission to get 10,000 subscribers, and once we do, we’re hosting a live event at the barn! Sign up to get exclusive access to tickets and details.👇🏻 Help us get there: https://www.joinbarntalk.com THIS EPISODE IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY: ● Iowa Corn ➱ https://www.iowacorn.org TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 Hog sheds gone after 138 haul truck loads 03:44 Remembering Jonesy, trucker extraordinaire 05:16 Who Neil Koch is and why he drove 6 hours 08:09 Farmhand at 14 on a culti-mulcher 10:07 Weekends on a 700 sow farrow to feeder farm 11:45 No Google, no YouTube, just figure it out 14:07 Why kids are afraid to drive now 16:19 Dirt work in summer, hauling milk in winter 20:29 FFA kid, drummer, no idea what was next 22:38 Iowa Corn and the Farm Bill fight 23:45 A teaching degree he never used 28:33 Vinyl graphics and the first websites 31:18 Fitting the first hydraulic auto steer 34:00 Learning agronomy from scratch 37:35 She called him out of the blue 40:23 The kid who always had a camcorder 42:45 A phone video with 7 or 8 million views 44:21 Monetized before he ever tried 47:51 Why vinyl and VHS are cool again 55:24 Everybody ate fried bologna 59:05 348,000 subscribers and going full time 1:02:49 Buying a bulldozer for the channel 1:05:39 The backyard pond that hit trending 1:08:24 Walking away at almost 50 to bet on himself 1:11:24 Why people say this America still exists 1:17:29 No houses left for kids to start in 1:21:23 Small towns are getting their shops back 1:23:39 Who’s left to wire an outlet? 1:28:48 I live in New York but want a dump truck 1:33:52 Why he still heats with firewood 1:36:08 10 bad comments beat 1,000 good ones 1:37:36 He hit 100,000 and found no finish line 1:42:47 Ambition is a blessing and a curse 1:48:22 What he’s teaching his daughters 1:51:13 Advice to 20 year old Neil 1:54:24 Tip of the Hat   SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST ➱ https://bit.ly/3a7r3nR SUBSCRIBE TO THIS’LL DO FARM ➱ https://bit.ly/2X8g45c LISTEN ON: SPOTIFY ➱ https://open.spotify.com/show/3icVr4KWq4eUDl7Oy60YMY APPLE ➱ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/barn-talk/id1574395049 FOLLOW BEHIND THE SCENES 👇🏻 ● Barn Talk Instagram ➱ https://www.instagram.com/barntalkshow ● Barn Talk TikTok ➱ https://bit.ly/3qciekS ● Sawyer’s Instagram ➱ https://bit.ly/3BtX0n4 ● Tork’s Instagram ➱ https://bit.ly/3LGZJxS ● Sawyer’s X ➱ https://x.com/SawyerWhisler ● Tork’s X ➱ https://x.com/TorkWhisler ⚠NO FINANCIAL ADVICE / DISCLAIMER⚠ Barn Talk is for educational, informational, and entertainment purposes only, with no warranty of accuracy or completeness. Nothing here is financial, investment, or trading advice, and none of it is specific to you. Do your own due diligence and consult a licensed professional before making any financial decision. Trading stocks, crypto, and NFTs carries real risk and is not suitable for everyone. You use this information at your own risk. #IowaCorn  #EP222 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Corn is over $5 and beans are near $13, and a lot of farmers still won't make any more money than they did at $4.50 corn. Every time the grain price goes up, something takes it back, and the front half of this Hot Topics episode is about what's doing the taking. Diesel is $6.13 in Iowa. One Illinois farmer spent $1,000 filling a single semi. Anhydrous is close to $1,000 a ton, up 25% from a year ago. Refineries over there are putting out about 60% of the diesel they did before the Iran war, so more oil doesn't mean cheaper diesel. The White House is letting dyed diesel run on the road for the rest of the year with the federal tax deferred, about $640 million of relief by USDA's count. Deferred, not forgiven. Then the bigger point. Farming spent decades specializing, and that bill is coming due. We don't think 10,000 acres is big enough to win on scale anymore, and at that size you're a CEO, not a farmer. For everybody else the answer is diversity: livestock back on the ground, manure in place of high priced nitrogen, shared equipment. And China cut tariffs on corn, wheat, meat and dairy but kept 10% on soybeans, so bean marketing is about politics now, with Brazil getting better every year. Also in this one: 17,000 fewer cattle through the packing plants in one week, why immigration reform keeps dying with no middle left in politics, a Kentucky family turning down $26 million for 900 acres, 70 to 80 trucks showing up to pull a sick neighbor's beets, and a 2,598 pound pumpkin. Maybe that's why we don't just grow corn and soybeans on every acre. Maybe we need to diversify. What's taking the $5 back on your operation this fall? Drop it in the comments and we read them. JOIN THE BARN TALK NEWSLETTER & GET LIVE EVENT ACCESS: We're on a mission to get 10,000 subscribers, and once we do, we're hosting a live event at the barn! Sign up to get exclusive access to tickets and details.👇🏻 Help us get there: https://www.joinbarntalk.com THIS EPISODE IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY: ● Conterra Ag ➱ https://www.conterraag.com ● AcreEdge Soil NXT ➱ https://www.acreedge.com TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 Hot Topics before the pigs get chored 02:35 Why Tork came in fiery this morning 05:25 Tearing out Grandpa's 1970s hog barns 08:16 Market Update presented by Conterra Ag 10:30 $5 corn that pays no better than $4.50 11:28 The red diesel order and $640 million 14:46 Presented by AcreEdge Soil NXT 15:25 Diesel hauls everything you buy 18:43 We've hit the end of specialization 19:27 10,000 acres doesn't catch it anymore 21:43 Put livestock back on the land 23:02 No money behind you? Don't start in grain 23:34 The answer to high priced nitrogen 26:04 Red diesel vs green diesel, explained 29:31 Deferred, not forgiven. Who pays? 31:31 17,000 fewer cattle processed in a week 33:54 Why ag needs immigration reform 36:32 The death of the middle in politics 41:56 Packing plants were always the starter job 44:50 The post World War II order is ending 51:43 Why we want Peter Zeihan at the barn 52:55 China cut tariffs on everything but beans 54:05 Bean marketing is about politics now 57:27 Why Brazil worries every young farmer 1:00:20 100 year old locks and dams 1:02:44 Data centers are coming for farmland 1:04:40 $26 million for 900 acres, and they said no 1:08:59 Why Tork says they get built anyway 1:10:39 Great Grandpa would call me an idiot 1:15:56 Take the principles, not the assets 1:16:34 The good: College GameDay in Iowa City 1:17:52 70 to 80 trucks show up for Bill Cotton 1:18:41 The 2,598 pound pumpkin 1:23:09 Big plans for 2027 SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST ➱ https://bit.ly/3a7r3nR SUBSCRIBE TO THIS'LL DO FARM ➱ https://bit.ly/2X8g45c LISTEN ON: SPOTIFY ➱ https://open.spotify.com/show/3icVr4KWq4eUDl7Oy60YMY APPLE ➱ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/barn-talk/id1574395049 FOLLOW BEHIND THE SCENES 👇🏻 ● Barn Talk Instagram ➱ https://www.instagram.com/barntalkshow ● Barn Talk TikTok ➱ https://bit.ly/3qciekS ● Sawyer's Instagram ➱ https://bit.ly/3BtX0n4 ● Tork's Instagram ➱ https://bit.ly/3LGZJxS ● Sawyer's X ➱ https://x.com/SawyerWhisler ● Tork's X ➱ https://x.com/TorkWhisler ------------------------------- ⚠NO FINANCIAL ADVICE / DISCLAIMER⚠ Barn Talk is for educational, informational, and entertainment purposes only, with no warranty of accuracy or completeness. Nothing here is financial, investment, or trading advice, and none of it is specific to you. Do your own due diligence and consult a licensed professional before making any financial decision. Trading stocks, crypto, and NFTs carries real risk and is not suitable for everyone. You use this information at your own risk. #ConterraAg #Landus #EP221 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices