Barn Talk

You can't out-yield your way to profit anymore, so Will Cannon is chasing margin with 2 or 3 bucks an acre of homemade compost instead of $40 an acre of bugs in a jug. Two Iowa corn farmers came to the barn this week: Will, an Iowa Corn Growers director from near Prairie City, and Paul Gieselman, president of the Iowa Corn Promotion Board, from near Morning Sun. Will has run cover crops on 100 percent of his acres for about 18 years. He has seen 0 to 10 bushels back from his compost, and 50 on one tough spot. Paul got out of hogs in 1998, farmed on his dad's money for 10 years, and went out on his own in 2008. Today he runs just under 1,000 acres and 25 British White Park cows. And Japan is now the number 2 buyer of American corn, behind only Mexico. Then Paul said the hard part out loud. He has watched a lot of his equity drain away, and if either of his boys came home today there would not be room for them. He doesn't figure he'll be the one doing the consolidating. He figures he's the one getting consolidated. Will sees the other side: the biggest handoff of farm assets in peacetime history, and real opportunity 5 to 7 years out for young guys who stay patient. Also in this one: the wettest fall either of them can remember, why cattle belong back on row crop ground, the USDA fertilizer hearing in Ogden, E15 in NASCAR, Brazil's 90 million acres it hasn't farmed yet, and what the checkoff actually pays for. Put it on just enough acres that it's a little painful, so you pay attention to it, but not so many it hurts you long term. What are you trying on 40 or 80 acres next year? 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 Two guests and a harvest stuck in the rain 05:02 Out of hogs in 1998, farming on Dad's money 06:19 2008, buying the gear and going out alone 10:53 Why he runs British White Park cattle 13:18 A teacher's son goes full time farming 14:25 The bachelor farmer who handed over his acres 19:12 See us at Gateway Farm Expo and HayCon 20:58 A homemade strip-till bar for a couple grand 24:08 No paid-off land, but no ghosts either 27:01 Try it on enough acres that it hurts a little 29:34 You can't out-yield your way to profit 34:01 Do cover crops actually pay? 39:34 The resident hippie's homemade compost tea 41:57 $3 an acre vs $40 of bugs in a jug 45:25 Putting cattle back on row crop ground 48:23 $4.75 a day for hay out west vs stalks here 53:53 Stuck in the first 2 acres of harvest 58:22 How two farmers ended up on the Corn boards 1:03:13 Checkoff vs Corn Growers, who does what 1:05:53 Ethanol was Granddad's, bio-based is yours 1:08:20 Did the ethanol boom encourage bad habits? 1:11:10 Japan is now our number 2 corn buyer 1:14:43 Why buyers in Asia want to meet the farmer 1:22:12 NASCAR, E15, and the Cy-Hawk game 1:27:47 Mexico's GMO fight began in his machine shed 1:34:26 Most farmers just haven't been asked 1:36:24 Corn Growers is like going to church 1:40:28 Equity draining and no room for the kids 1:44:59 Fertilizer, the DOJ, and phosphate duties 1:48:13 Biggest farm wealth handoff in peacetime 1:50:00 What farmers want vs what they need 1:54:29 Brazil's 90 million acres it hasn't farmed 2:00:46 Tip of the Hat 2:05:58 How to join Iowa Corn 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. #BarnTalk #CoverCrops #IowaCorn #EP220 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You can't out-yield your way to profit anymore, so Will Cannon is chasing margin with 2 or 3 bucks an acre of homemade compost instead of $40 an acre of bugs in a jug. Two Iowa corn farmers came to the barn this week: Will, an Iowa Corn Growers director from near Prairie City, and Paul Gieselman, president of the Iowa Corn Promotion Board, from near Morning Sun. Will has run cover crops on 100 percent of his acres for about 18 years. He has seen 0 to 10 bushels back from his compost, and 50 on one tough spot. Paul got out of hogs in 1998, farmed on his dad's money for 10 years, and went out on his own in 2008. Today he runs just under 1,000 acres and 25 British White Park cows. And Japan is now the number 2 buyer of American corn, behind only Mexico. Then Paul said the hard part out loud. He has watched a lot of his equity drain away, and if either of his boys came home today there would not be room for them. He doesn't figure he'll be the one doing the consolidating. He figures he's the one getting consolidated. Will sees the other side: the biggest handoff of farm assets in peacetime history, and real opportunity 5 to 7 years out for young guys who stay patient. Also in this one: the wettest fall either of them can remember, why cattle belong back on row crop ground, the USDA fertilizer hearing in Ogden, E15 in NASCAR, Brazil's 90 million acres it hasn't farmed yet, and what the checkoff actually pays for. Put it on just enough acres that it's a little painful, so you pay attention to it, but not so many it hurts you long term. What are you trying on 40 or 80 acres next year? 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 Two guests and a harvest stuck in the rain 05:02 Out of hogs in 1998, farming on Dad's money 06:19 2008, buying the gear and going out alone 10:53 Why he runs British White Park cattle 13:18 A teacher's son goes full time farming 14:25 The bachelor farmer who handed over his acres 19:12 See us at Gateway Farm Expo and HayCon 20:58 A homemade strip-till bar for a couple grand 24:08 No paid-off land, but no ghosts either 27:01 Try it on enough acres that it hurts a little 29:34 You can't out-yield your way to profit 34:01 Do cover crops actually pay? 39:34 The resident hippie's homemade compost tea 41:57 $3 an acre vs $40 of bugs in a jug 45:25 Putting cattle back on row crop ground 48:23 $4.75 a day for hay out west vs stalks here 53:53 Stuck in the first 2 acres of harvest 58:22 How two farmers ended up on the Corn boards 1:03:13 Checkoff vs Corn Growers, who does what 1:05:53 Ethanol was Granddad's, bio-based is yours 1:08:20 Did the ethanol boom encourage bad habits? 1:11:10 Japan is now our number 2 corn buyer 1:14:43 Why buyers in Asia want to meet the farmer 1:22:12 NASCAR, E15, and the Cy-Hawk game 1:27:47 Mexico's GMO fight began in his machine shed 1:34:26 Most farmers just haven't been asked 1:36:24 Corn Growers is like going to church 1:40:28 Equity draining and no room for the kids 1:44:59 Fertilizer, the DOJ, and phosphate duties 1:48:13 Biggest farm wealth handoff in peacetime 1:50:00 What farmers want vs what they need 1:54:29 Brazil's 90 million acres it hasn't farmed 2:00:46 Tip of the Hat 2:05:58 How to join Iowa Corn 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. #BarnTalk #IowaCorn #Gateway #Haycon #EP220 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tork's dad lived to 99, flew fighters, practiced law, and paid for a farm. In July 2018 he fell down the basement stairs, and Tork brought him home to die in the same house he was born in. No guest this week. Sawyer and Tork each picked three days that changed their lives, and this is all six. Tork sat up alone that night giving the hospice doses every few hours, and his dad passed around 5:30 in the morning. The first year he went to the gravesite about once a month, by himself, and bawled most times. He felt guilty grieving a man who had lived to 99. Sawyer was 12 when he rolled a four wheeler at 60 miles an hour, ruptured his spleen, and spent seven days at the University of Iowa. In 2001 Tork was out of hogs, setting trusses on a 2,400 head finisher near Wayland, when a phone call changed his whole life. The part most farm guys never say out loud is what comes after. When your dad goes, nobody is coming to save you. Every field and bin site has a memory. You don't want to be the generation that screws it up. And now Tork is tearing out the hog buildings his dad put everything into, and he feels guilty about it. Also in this one: how to know she's the one, the 10 percent days in a marriage, why it gets easier to quit the second time, 380 yards of concrete and a trip to Texas Roadhouse, the boss who taught Tork to stack equity, and the Market Update with copper near a record. Some may be bigger, but this'll do. What day changed your life? 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 ● Propane Farm Research Program ➱ https://propane.com/farmfunding TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 Just Dad and I, and prayers for Dougo Larson 03:14 Breaking outside the ag echo chamber 04:30 7 inches of rain in 10 days, harvest on hold 06:14 Market Update presented by Conterra Ag 10:48 The fuel price trend is not your friend 11:51 We need term limits, whatever side you're on 12:40 Three days each that changed our lives 13:51 See us at Gateway Farm Expo and HayCon 14:47 12 years old, a four wheeler, and 60 mph 17:12 A ruptured spleen and internal bleeding 20:59 The nurse who tapped the doctor's shoulder 22:32 "Four wheeler injury? He'll be all right" 26:24 July 11, 2018, the day my dad died at 99 28:52 Bringing him home to the house he was born in 32:38 What they don't tell you in the brochure 33:47 Nobody's coming to save you now 35:59 Every field and bin site has a memory 37:43 Guilt over tearing out Dad's hog buildings 38:37 How a farmer is supposed to grieve 42:28 Great American Farmer at the funeral 44:21 Some may be bigger, but this'll do 45:06 Why I can't pick the greatest day of my life 49:22 Summer of 1991, the first "I love you" 53:13 How to know she's the one: make her mad 56:18 The 10 percent days in a marriage 59:29 Why it's easier to quit the second time 1:00:26 Trajectory days vs grind days 1:04:40 The first Shopify notifications 1:07:24 380 yards of concrete and Texas Roadhouse 1:10:19 A phone call on a hog barn roof in 2001 1:13:03 The crazy guy who took that job 1:15:55 The boss who saw opportunity in risk 1:22:23 What day changed your life? 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. #BarnTalk #perc #gateway #haycon #EP219 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

He grew up with kiddie pools in the attic catching roof leaks and frost forming on the inside of his bedroom wall, and today 1.33 million people watch him drag dead cars out of Iowa fence rows. Kevin Brown runs Junkyard Digs out of Ames, two hours up the road from the barn, and this one is mostly about what being broke actually builds. The house sagged corner to corner and the ceiling collapsed while the family was gone for a weekend. Four of them lived in one room of an office building in town, no walls, three beds, for three years of his high school life. His dad pulled his entire 401k to put up a shell so they could finish the inside themselves. He paid for Iowa State by joining the National Guard as a Chinook mechanic, deployed to Kuwait and Iraq, and built the channel from a cot on government internet. He came home with 130,000 subscribers and two paychecks. His rule is the part worth sitting with. He would not quit engineering school until the channel paid double an engineer's starting salary. He says the first time in his life he felt safe was the day the math cleared, not the day the subscribers did. The farming is the cheapest operation in this state. Four and a half acres, a John Deere 620 with three gallons of gas in the oil pan, a $500 planter, and a 6600 combine he bought for $2,200 and drove home. He put $212 into inputs one year and sold the crop for $2,000. Also in this one: only 3 percent of channels ever crack 100,000 subscribers, a million Shorts views that paid $412, copper at a record and the wire in your grain bin, and why his dad said the 1980s sucked while his buddy's dad called them the best years of his life. His advice at the end sounds exactly like his dad: do not put your hands in your pockets. Learn to work hard and you will not fail in life. What do you want us to dig into next week? 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: ● Propane Farm Research Program ➱ propane.com/farmfunding ● AcreEdge Soil NXT ➱ acreedge.com TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 Cold open and guest introduction 04:25 800 shirts in three weeks for a stranger's roof 13:22 Sponsor break, Propane Farm Research Program 14:16 Kiddie pools in the attic, frost inside the walls 16:08 Four people, one room, three years 16:35 What being broke gave him that money never could 21:27 The Guard paid for college, so he fixed Chinooks 25:12 Building a channel on Army internet in Iraq 27:00 Home with 130,000 subs and two paychecks 30:47 Sponsor break, AcreEdge Soil NXT 33:15 No quitting until it paid double an engineer 35:13 His wife's 45 minute video got a million views 41:15 Get it running and drive it home, no trailer 58:26 Make it run, make it move, make it safe 1:04:19 The Junkyard Digs farming operation, laid out 1:07:15 A $2,200 combine with no reverser 1:12:45 $212 in, $2,000 out, most profitable farmer around 1:18:06 The part of being a creator nobody sees 1:25:11 Only 3 percent of channels ever crack 100,000 1:27:59 A million Shorts views paid $412 1:34:18 Can you build a whole life in rural America now 1:35:40 Nobody should ever move to Iowa, and he means it 1:40:46 What is actually killing small towns 1:55:12 His dad said the 80s sucked, his buddy's dad loved them 2:02:55 If 1995 did not get the hog guys, 1998 did 2:05:53 Is AI actually coming for the trades 2:12:17 25 CRT TVs, 15 VCRs, and 300 VHS tapes 2:16:26 The first time in his life he felt safe 2:21:47 Do not put your hands in your pockets 2:22:10 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. #BarnTalk #RuralAmerica #perc #landus #EP218 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

He stacked every FSA beginning farmer loan he could get, went from about 100 cows to 550 in roughly a year, and when the balance sheet finally settled he was positive by $278. That is the number this whole episode hangs on. Luke and Natalie Kovarik run Kovarik Cattle Co., a first generation Angus seedstock operation out of Ord, Nebraska, selling around 100 bulls a year in a January sale that started at 30. Luke was a town kid with 160 acres and a dental school plan. Natalie is fourth generation Hereford out of Montana, and today she works four jobs off the ranch, including marketing and equity in Red Ants Pants. Almost everything they earn away from the cows exists to pay for the cows. The middle of this one is the direct to consumer beef autopsy, twelve straight minutes on why selling your own beef is so much harder than the internet makes it look, why she dreaded Sunday nights, and what happened to the freezer inventory. Then the influencing pivot, why she stepped back from putting her family online, and what she does with the audience now. Also in this one: custom AI and backgrounding somebody else's calves to make equipment payments, $5,000 of blackjack money wired for embryos, reading bull catalogs like a swimsuit edition, meeting at her family's bull sale, lab grown meat and consumer trust, putting cattle back on grain farms and the pasture that rural towns already lost, hiring and keeping good help, bricking their kids' phones and putting a landline back in the house, twelve landlords and not one under 68, and why they are not building this ranch for their kids. His line on who the ranch is for: no, we're doing it for us. What should we dig into next week? Put it in the comments. 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: ● Propane Farm Research Program ➱ propane.com/farmfunding ● Iowa Corn Growers ➱ iowacorn.org TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 Cold open and guest introduction 04:29 A local airport, and a pilot's license he never finished 06:19 The operation, and the four jobs Natalie works 09:22 What subsidizes what, and blackjack money wired for embryos 11:21 Montana, fourth generation Hereford, how Natalie grew up 15:11 Sponsor break, Propane Farm Research Program 15:40 A town kid, 160 acres, dental school, and $278 in the bank 19:49 Custom AI, Genex, and a master's that paid for cows 23:46 First cows in '14, and bull catalogs like a swimsuit edition 26:57 They met at her family's bull sale 32:49 Market outlook, consumer trust, lab grown, Beyond Meat 42:35 Putting cattle back on grain farms, and the pasture we lost 50:01 Calving date, and developing two year old bulls 54:25 Sponsor break, Iowa Corn Growers 55:22 From 30 bulls to 100, growing the herd 59:07 Finding Duncan and Mitch, and keeping them 1:02:24 A bull sale as an event, social media as the marketing 1:06:45 If the podcast tripled, more cows or more time 1:08:14 The direct to consumer beef autopsy 1:19:56 Retiring from influencing, and craving privacy 1:27:00 Working with a spouse and a father 1:32:26 Bricking phones, landlines, parenting in the phone era 1:43:24 Twelve landlords, not one under 68 1:53:23 How the household actually runs 2:00:29 We're not building this ranch for our kids 2:05:39 Why the industry is still worth it 2:10:39 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. #BarnTalk #perc #iowacorn #EP217 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices