Advertise on podcast: Ag Proud - Idaho Podcast

Hemp, organics and GMO – 1,000 Springs Mill and Tim Cornie have their fingers in a lot of niche farm products. After their first year of growing hemp, Tim shares what went right, what went wrong and what he wants to improve. It’s not a fit for every farm, but it could be a value-added crop for many. Follow 1,000 Springs Mills at 1000springsmill.com.

Eight years and drought has taught Kryst Krein a lot with cover crop experimentation in American Falls, in addition to his high-moisture corn, potatoes and wheat rotations. To be a farmer you have to be a soil manager, Krein says. And soil organic percentage has drastically changed on his farm. Different tillage trials (strip-till, no-till or deep rip) have also brought a great deal of education and experience. Take advantage of his experiences before you try your own. 

We all know someone who has broken a leg prior to showing an animal at the fair, or we know a grandparent who still wants to navigate the farm but has limited mobility, or perhaps it's a special needs child who wants to move from the sidelines into the show ring. Or maybe your farm is hosting a school group and need some mobility resources. Well now it’s possible. The Canyon County Fair introduced Bacon Buddies, who partnered with Mobility Action Rentals to bring show opportunities to wheelchair-bound kids. And they’d like to take this non-profit program all over Idaho – not just for fairs and show rings, but also for farm rentals. What a great story from the Kreick family in Kimberly, who are behind this movement – you don’t want to miss this.  Contact Action Mobility Rentals at 971-563-6700  Facebook: Action Mobility Rentals Instagram: actionmobilityrentals

Exposing local kids to national-level competition is the exciting goal at the Kootenai Classic, a non-profit organization that brings together several hundred animals to the Kootenai County Fairgrounds in Coeur d’Alene. This four-species (cattle, pigs, goats and sheep), two-ring show (two separate shows inside of one) helps kids understand one judge will see it differently from another on any given day. “It keeps you humble and can make your day at the same time,” says organizer Brian Taylor. Follow Kootenai Classic here: www.kootenaiclassic.com Facebook: @Kootenaiclassiclivestockshow

Did you know corn seed varieties only last about four years? Yeah! Who knew? That’s what our guests say – Clayton Nebeker and Greg Stanger from Northwest Seed. Would you like to know what’s on a seed dealer’s mind this spring? Here’s the short list: silage test plots, grain test plots, variety and day length fit for the producers’ areas, availability and prices. Gee, that list sounds familiar to Idaho producers, right? It’s pretty much the same thing that’s on producers’ minds. Maybe that’s because Clayton and Greg have both been farmers themselves, and they know what it’s like. Check out this podcast and see what’s happening in the seed world in 2023.

CSI ag students (Charlie Swan, Carson Simper, Wyatt Lloyd and Zane Barckholtz), Jaysa Fillmore (ag instructor) and Dale Cowger (farmer) joined us today for a fun round of Idaho ag trivia. Test your own knowledge – would you have guessed right about the counties with the most ag workers? Follow the CSI Ag Department and CSI Ag Club on their social media accounts here: https://www.facebook.com/CSIagdept https://www.facebook.com/agclubCSI @csiagdept (Instagram) @csi_ag_club (Instagram)

Oneida County Extension Educator Sawyer Fonnesbeck talks to us about animal nutrition, and the balance of feeding different forages to livestock. It all boils down to forage testing and what nutrition and fiber the feed contains compared with what the animal needs. If you need your hay tested, give him a call and he’ll get you pointed in the right direction. Find out more about this here: www.uidaho.edu/extension/county/oneida

Maggie Malson joins us today to talk about the Idaho Cattle Women and their activities to promote the beef industry in Idaho. She shares some trends the beef industry is seeing with direct-to-consumer marketing, but also the increasing input costs, and the population growth throughout Idaho. She encourages everyone in agriculture to actively educate and help newcomers understand why Idaho is so great. Follow Idaho Cattle Women here: idahocattlewomen.org Facebook: Idaho CattleWomen [email protected]

Idaho Hay and Forage Association President Will Ricks joins us today on the podcast. Will raises hay for Idaho livestock, as well as for the export markets. Hay has become Idaho’s #2 field crop in 2022, edging past wheat for the first time. Will discusses how the association monitors legislation, watching for (sometimes unintentional) consequences for ag producers and tells listeners what’s coming at the annual convention on February 16, 2023. Learn more about the Idaho Hay & Forage Association here: https://www.idahohay.com/

“The public sees pesticides as toxins and poisons … but what if we could get them to see them as crop medicines?”  From farmer to academia, back to farmer and expanding researcher, Miller Research history has covered the agricultural spectrum. Using conditions as close to commercial production as possible with field plots, Jeff Miller shares their research efforts into potato seed and pathologies, fertilizers, pesticides and green manures. He also advocates for “regenerative ag” or “sustainability” even when the terms are defined differently or nebulously, and he shares why. Then he’ll take us inside the current research pathways and point to the good things happening.  It's an enlightening show today, and you can’t listen and not learn something new. (And yes, that’s a dare.) Follow Miller Research here: https://millerresearch.com/ Facebook @millerresearchllc  YouTube: @MillerResearch1 [email protected]

Two-hundred seventy-four students in 60 classes are in the ag programs at College of Southern Idaho, which are welcoming to students with ag experience and no-ag-experience students. Ag instructor Jaysa Fillmore talks about a variety of ag programs available from aquaculture to vet tech with the associates degrees available, and how to find those scholarship opportunities for the programs. She also tells us about the Ag Club, and some of the trips and competitions for students (which will explain “tacos in the parking lot” and “potatoes in roaster ovens in the dorms”). And Jaysa shares a new project – ruminant rotational grazing research on the Breckenridge Endowment Farm. Follow the CSI Ag Department and CSI Ag Club on their social media accounts here: https://www.facebook.com/CSIagdept https://www.facebook.com/agclubCSI @csiagdept (Instagram) @csi_ag_club (Instagram)

Magic Valley farmer, cattle raiser and pork raiser Dave Roper tells us about a citizens group, Citizens for Preservation of Fish and Dams, that is delving into the proposed dam-breaching issues beyond ag transportation disruption, fish survivability and power generation – what are the unintended consequences (good and bad) of dams and reservoirs? Where can you find collected data to pursue more about the topic and the science beyond differing arguments? That’s what the group hopes to be able to provide – information for those searching for answers. One thing I learned from this episode: At one point in their lives (typically in springtime) fish (salmon and steelhead) physically develop something not unlike a float tube. So as much as a fish might want to swim to the bottom, it can’t and can go no deeper than about 1 foot in the water – being vulnerable to prey. And many are flushed out of the rivers too fast at this stage into the ocean, without the time to adapt from fresh water to saltwater conditions. Without adaptation, they die. Have a question for our guest? Contact [email protected]