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Tommy Hexter bought a tiny local food market at 20 and grew it to nearly seventy Iowa producers. We talk food hubs, pay-what-you-can groceries, why Walmart can’t tell you where your eggs came from, running for the statehouse at 24, and why Iowa’s soil should make it America’s food capital.   hokseynativeseeds.com (for all your native seed, backyard prairie, hunting mixes, CRP mixes, native pasture mixes, and more)   iowacovercrop.com (for all your cover crop mixes, waterway mixes, forage mixes, small grains, and more)   MckayInsAgency.com (for all your financial planning and insurance needs)   Chapters 0:00:00 Introducing Tommy Hexter 0:04:00 Iowa Trust and California Stereotypes 0:08:00 Summers Working and Being From Iowa 0:12:00 Grinnell College Pig Roast 0:16:00 What a Food Hub Is 0:20:00 Pay What You Can Groceries 0:24:00 Iowa Food Hub Scale Without Walmart 0:28:00 Soil and Water Conservation Race 0:32:00 Learning Iowa Ag From Outside 0:36:00 Running for Office With Curiosity 0:42:00 Debating Like Gentlemen 0:46:00 Leading With Values Not Fear 0:52:00 Why Food Hubs Fail on Scale 0:56:00 Healthy Food That Actually Tastes Good 1:00:00 Future Grocery Carts Versus Oreos 1:06:00 Farm Work Dirty Hands and Blue Collar 1:20:00 Radiance Dairy and Ascribing Value 1:24:00 Wrap Up and Where to Find Tommy

Harvest has the Hoksey crew running on fumes and fighting old combines, so naturally we’re talking tractors. Nicolas, Kent, and Judd dig into how John Deere, Case IH, Allis-Chalmers, Oliver, and Ford got where they are, why farmers stay loyal to one color, and what right to repair means today.   hokseynativeseeds.com (for all your native seed, backyard prairie, hunting mixes, CRP mixes, native pasture mixes, and more)   BirdHunterSupply.com (for all your bird hunting supplies and dog hunting supplies)   Chapters: 0:00 Long Harvest Hours and Grumpy Crew 4:00 Right to Repair and John Deere 7:00 Coffee Time Intro with Jud McCoy 10:00 Who Owns Which Tractor Brands 14:00 Growing Up in John Deere Country 16:00 Buying Reliability 22:00 International Harvester, Case and New Holland History 26:00 Early Tractor Makers and the Railroads 28:00 Planned Obsolescence and Manufacturing 32:00 Family Tractor Brands and Loyalty 40:00 Companies Moving Production to Mexico 42:00 John Deere and the 1837 Plow 46:00 Consolidation and Capitalism 50:00 The First Tractor from Charles City, Iowa 52:00 Inventors vs Money Makers 56:00 Wrap Up

Iowa DNR state deer biologist Jace Elliott sits down with Nicolas and Kent to talk about the new trail camera ban on public land, drones for deer recovery, nonresident tags, crossbows, and chronic wasting disease, including surprising new data on genetic resistance that has even the experts rethinking a few things.   hokseynativeseeds.com (for all your native seed, backyard prairie, hunting mixes, CRP mixes, native pasture mixes, and more) iowacovercrop.com (for all your cover crop mixes, waterway mixes, forage mixes, small grains, and more)   Chapters: 0:00:00 Intro with Jace Elliott, Iowa State Deer Biologist 0:02:00 Sponsor 0:04:00 Deer Repellents 0:06:00 Trail Camera Photos 0:10:00 The Trail Camera Rule on Public Land 0:12:00 What Hunter Surveys Showed 0:16:00 Cell Cameras and Outfitters 0:20:00 Woodsmanship vs Trail Cameras 0:22:00 A Perfect Saturday in the Tree Stand 0:24:00 Is Iowa Really the Trophy Buck State 0:28:00 What Makes a Great Deer Hunter 0:32:00 Under-the-Radar Hunters 0:38:00 Where Whitetails Thrive 0:42:00 Public Land Fairness, Haves and Have-Nots 0:48:00 Cameras and Law Enforcement 0:52:00 Cameras Used to Monitor Hunters 0:54:00 Drones for Deer Recovery 0:58:00 Potential for Abuse 1:00:00 Tracking Dogs and Permission 1:02:00 Wounded Deer and Recovery Ethics 1:08:00 Rules Getting Looser Over Time 1:10:00 Iowa's Nonresident Tags 1:14:00 Iowa vs Wisconsin Timber 1:18:00 What Iowa Offers Outdoors 1:24:00 Defending Iowa's Natural Resources 1:26:00 What Deer Tags Fund 1:28:00 EHD and License Sales 1:30:00 Hunter Numbers and Recruitment 1:32:00 Hunter Age in Iowa 1:36:00 Sponsor 1:38:00 Chronic Wasting Disease 1:42:00 Which States Handle CWD Well 1:48:00 Wayne County and Southern Iowa Prevalence 1:50:00 Illinois vs Wisconsin Approaches 1:52:00 Earn-a-Buck and Working with Hunters 1:54:00 My Time vs Nature's Time 2:00:00 Iowa's First CWD Positive in 2013 2:02:00 Disease, Tolerance and Prions 2:10:00 Genetics That Prolong Infected Deer 2:18:00 Could CWD Jump to Humans 2:24:00 CWD as a Threat to a Valuable Resource 2:28:00 Daniel Boone and Eating Deer 2:30:00 Jud's Question 2:34:00 Prions in Scrapes 2:38:00 Cat Guts Denature Prions 2:42:00 Could We Manage It Like Rabies 2:44:00 County CWD Seasons and Deer Management Zones 2:48:00 Wrap Up

Harvest is here and the crew is running on fumes. Nicolas, Kent, Riley, and Judd talk through a stacked week of native seed harvest, then dig into the science of sound: how traffic noise steals sleep and health, and why birdsong, running water, and prairie soundscapes actually lower your stress.   hokseynativeseeds.com (for all your native seed, backyard prairie, hunting mixes, CRP mixes, native pasture mixes, and more)   MckayInsAgency.com (for all your financial planning and insurance needs)   BirdHunterSupply.com (for all your bird hunting supplies and dog hunting supplies)   Chapters: 0:00 Pre-Show Banter 2:00 Toy Catalogs and Raising Consumers 10:00 Coffee Time Intro 12:00 Favorite Past Episodes 16:00 Harvest Week To-Do Lists 18:00 Losing Rough Blazing Star Seed 20:00 Fall Forb Planting and Deer Season 24:00 Prioritizing Harvest Decisions 26:00 Fewer Calls During Harvest 30:00 Combine Cleaner Trouble 32:00 Noise Pollution and Tinnitus 34:00 Living Near Wind Turbines 36:00 Natural Sounds Lower Stress 40:00 Studies on Traffic Noise 42:00 Boise State Phantom Road Study on Songbirds 46:00 The Shoe Horn 48:00 Prairie Farm Ambiance Videos 52:00 Wrap Up

Realtor and CRP planter Steve Hansen joins Nicolas and Kent to test a new Friday format: a rolodex of topics. They cover Iowa's public land trail camera ban, drones in hunting, the 2016 pollinator CRP boom, 44% of Iowa CRP expiring in 2027, farmland values, and whether elk could return.   hokseynativeseeds.com (for all your native seed, backyard prairie, hunting mixes, CRP mixes, native pasture mixes, and more)   BirdHunterSupply.com (for all your bird hunting supplies and dog hunting supplies)   Chapters: 0:00:00 Intro with Steve Hansen 0:02:00 Sponsor and Harvest Day 0:04:00 High School Workers and OSHA 0:06:00 Why Steve Is Back 0:08:00 Trail Cameras on Public Land 0:12:00 Hunting Stories 0:14:00 Old World Hunting Laws 0:18:00 Technology Moving Faster Than Ethics 0:20:00 Drones and Hunting 0:24:00 Drone Perimeter Systems on Farms 0:26:00 Early CRP Seed Mixes 0:28:00 Burning CRP Fields 0:30:00 Photo Monitoring a Planting 0:32:00 Working with Landowners 0:34:00 Using CRP Strategically for Deer 0:36:00 CRP Paperwork 0:38:00 The Dust Bowl and Where CRP Came From 0:40:00 Railroads and Public Land History 0:44:00 What the Prairie Would Look Like 0:46:00 Paying Landowners for Conservation 0:48:00 Interest Rates and Land Loans 0:50:00 Who Is Buying Farmland 0:52:00 Development Around Pella 0:54:00 Realtors, Commissions and Land Prices 0:58:00 Handling Land Sales Quietly 1:00:00 Terrace Repair and a Lawsuit 1:06:00 Frivolous Lawsuits 1:12:00 The Expiration Date on Ethanol 1:16:00 AI and Universal Basic Income 1:18:00 Land in Southern and Northeast Iowa 1:20:00 How Steve Uses AI 1:22:00 Movie Recommendation 1:24:00 Land Values by Region 1:26:00 Wrap Up

Coffee Time Wednesday with Kent and Riley. We dig into the National Cover Crop Survey: who's planting covers, what it costs, why so many farmers quit after one year, and whether Iowa can pay its way to cleaner water. Plus a combine door that tried to end harvest.   hokseynativeseeds.com (for all your native seed, backyard prairie, hunting mixes, CRP mixes, native pasture mixes, and more) iowacovercrop.com (for all your cover crop mixes, waterway mixes, forage mixes, small grains, and more) MckayInsAgency.com (for all your financial planning and insurance needs)   Chapters: 0:00 Pre-Show: Mom or Dad 2:00 Fixing the Combine Chain 4:00 Metal Through the Combine Cylinder 6:00 Machines Used Three Weeks a Year 10:00 Family Thanksgivings 12:00 Coffee Time Intro 16:00 The National Cover Crop Survey 18:00 How to Lie with Statistics 20:00 Equipment Access for Cover Crops 22:00 Cover Crops After Harvest 28:00 Sponsor 30:00 EQIP, CRP and Land Value 34:00 Tying Insurance to Conservation Practices 36:00 What Iowa Would Pay for Cover Crops 38:00 State Budget Deficit 40:00 Crop Insurance and Food Security 42:00 Getting Young People Interested 44:00 Who Pays More at the Grocery Store 48:00 Diverse Systems and Margins 50:00 No One Is Coming to Save Us 52:00 Change Takes Generations 54:00 Wrap Up

Kent Boucher turns the mic on Nicolas Lirio for a look back at Hoksey Native Seeds' first year after Carroll. They cover an auction gone sideways, a lost recording, stubborn spiderwort, and big wins like Judd and backyard prairies, plus native pasture, faith, and why the Prairie Farm Forum matters.   hokseynativeseeds.com (for all your native seed, backyard prairie, hunting mixes, CRP mixes, native pasture mixes, and more)   MckayInsAgency.com (for all your financial planning and insurance needs)   BirdHunterSupply.com (for all your bird hunting supplies and dog hunting supplies)   Chapters: 0:00:00 Intro 0:02:00 Ground Beef and Culver's 0:04:00 Falling Asleep on the Podcast 0:10:00 Where Trash Ends Up 0:12:00 Fundraisers and Giving to Charity 0:18:00 Meteorologists vs Climate Scientists 0:22:00 2025 in Review 0:24:00 Hoksey Losses, Stalemates and Wins 0:26:00 The Auction 0:30:00 Meeting of the Minds 0:32:00 Combine Troubles and Breaking Even 0:36:00 Jud Joins the Team 0:38:00 Not Claiming to Be Experts 0:40:00 Introverts and Extroverts 0:44:00 Lessons from Carol 0:50:00 Self-Reflection and Journaling 0:56:00 Hiring and Applicants 0:58:00 Control, Fear and Faith 1:00:00 What If They Don't Buy Seed 1:02:00 Land Left for Prairie 1:06:00 Young Farmers and Opportunity 1:08:00 Government Spending and Regulation 1:16:00 Betting on Entrepreneurs 1:18:00 Faith and Discipline 1:24:00 Favorite Podcasts 1:28:00 Favorite Guests 1:32:00 Facebook Forums and AI 1:34:00 Comment Sections 1:36:00 Wrap Up

Fire may be the cheapest pest control tool on the prairie. Nicolas, Kent, and Riley break down research showing burned pastures cut horn flies on cattle by 41% and slash tick counts. Then they honor conservation legend Wendell Berry and ask what it takes to keep young people on the land.   hokseynativeseeds.com (for all your native seed, backyard prairie, hunting mixes, CRP mixes, native pasture mixes, and more) iowacovercrop.com (for all your cover crop mixes, waterway mixes, forage mixes, small grains, and more) Alex's Youtube Channel (Churched Up Garage)   Chapters: 0:00 Pre-Show Banter 4:00 Fixing Up the Farm Hog Cart 8:00 Imported Beef from China 12:00 Hoksey Native Seeds Sponsor 14:00 Wendell Berry Goes Back to the Farm 18:00 Doing the Hard Thing for Conservation 22:00 Wendell Berry on Work and Community 24:00 Prairie Burns Cut Horn Flies 28:00 Patch-Burn Grazing and Cattle 32:00 Burns and Tick Larvae 34:00 Tick Stories 36:00 Burning and Grazing in Moderation 42:00 Wrap Up

Barons author Austin Frerick joins Nicolas and Kent to unpack why American butter turned white, how JBS and Cargill captured the food system, what a chicken contract actually costs the farmer who signs it, and how ethanol quietly erased the pastures Iowa used to graze. Plus Costco, Sysco, and GLP-1s.   hokseynativeseeds.com (for all your native seed, backyard prairie, hunting mixes, CRP mixes, native pasture mixes, and more) iowacovercrop.com (for all your cover crop mixes, waterway mixes, forage mixes, small grains, and more) MckayInsAgency.com (for all your financial planning and insurance needs)   Chapters: 0:00:00 Intro and Guest Austin Frerick 0:02:00 Butter in Coffee 0:06:00 Kerrygold and Pasture Butter 0:08:00 Corn and Farm Subsidies 0:14:00 Year-Round E15 and Iowa Corn Growers 0:16:00 Ethanol and Farm Margins 0:18:00 Farm Labor and Visas 0:22:00 People Losing Connection to Animals 0:24:00 Solar vs Corn per Acre 0:26:00 Global Agribusiness Dominance 0:28:00 Sam Walton and Public Narrative 0:30:00 Growing Regional, Not Biggest 0:32:00 Meat Recalls and Sysco 0:34:00 Farmers Who Can't Feed Themselves 0:36:00 Fast Food Prices 0:38:00 Costco 0:40:00 Iowa Grocery Stores 0:42:00 Malls and the Built Environment 0:44:00 Walmart Supercenters and Hypermarket USA 0:46:00 Bentonville 0:50:00 Philip Morris, Kraft and Processed Food 0:52:00 GLP-1s 0:54:00 Ending the Laissez-Faire Era 0:58:00 Industrial vs Pasture Bacon 1:02:00 Outrage and Community 1:04:00 Industrial Chicken History 1:10:00 Iowa's Packer Ban and Smithfield 1:14:00 Vertical Integration Trade-Offs 1:16:00 SNAP and Processed Food 1:20:00 Politics and Timing 1:24:00 Distributor Consolidation and Subsidies 1:26:00 Wrap Up

Riley takes the host chair for a Prairie Farm Podcast trivia showdown. Nicolas and Kent face 20 questions pulled from past guest episodes, covering prairie food plants, planting dates, grazing, Iowa water quality, and the Black Hawk War.  Can you beat Nicolas and Kent's score? hokseynativeseeds.com (for all your native seed, backyard prairie, hunting mixes, CRP mixes, native pasture mixes, and more)   BirdHunterSupply.com (for all your bird hunting supplies and dog hunting supplies)   Chapters: 0:00:00 Intro and Audio File Corrupted 0:02:00 Sponsor 0:04:00 Field Trips and Fall on the Farm 0:06:00 Trivia Begins 0:10:00 Kelly Kindscher Episode Questions 0:12:00 Lincoln and the Black Hawk War 0:14:00 Memorizing Psalm 103 0:18:00 Who Has Worked Here 0:20:00 Nutrient Load and Water Questions 0:24:00 Prairie Plant Questions 0:26:00 Groundnut Answer 0:28:00 Ruth McCabe and Cover Crops in Australia 0:36:00 Dr. Patrick Jung Episode and the 1804 Treaty 0:38:00 Mowing Height 0:42:00 Antioxidants and Ground Cherry 0:46:00 Absentee Landowners 0:50:00 Dr. Kaiser's Grazing Opinions 0:52:00 Final Question and Tiebreaker 0:54:00 What Happened to Black Hawk's Remains 1:00:00 Wrap Up and the Forum

Iowa State agronomy professor Dr. Brian Hornbuckle joins Nicolas and Kent to talk weather, water, and the Iowa landscape. We get into corn sweat, why rain is coming in bigger chunks, how trading prairie for row crops changed our summers, and a NASA satellite that might spot thirsty plants early.   hokseynativeseeds.com (for all your native seed, backyard prairie, hunting mixes, CRP mixes, native pasture mixes, and more) iowacovercrop.com (for all your cover crop mixes, waterway mixes, forage mixes, small grains, and more)   Chapters: 0:00:00 Welcome 0:03:37 Meet Dr. Brian Hornbuckle 0:06:59 Is Corn Sweat Real? 0:09:18 Climate Models, Butterflies & Digital Twins 0:14:33 Why Real Data Still Beats AI Hype 0:17:56 How Row Crops Changed Midwest Summers 0:19:12 Rain in Bigger Chunks 0:22:36 What Shapes Corn Belt Weather 0:27:04 Greenhouse Effect in Plain English 0:37:03 El Niño, La Niña & Hard Forecasts 0:41:19 Wetter Springs, Fertilizer & the Warming Hole 0:49:31 Invent vs Adapt Our Way Out 0:54:29 Peak Carbon and the AI Energy Problem 1:01:33 Feedbacks, Wildfire & Air Quality 1:07:38 Spotting Thirsty Plants from Space 1:12:45 Inside NASA's SMAP Satellite 1:19:36 Little Ice Age & Indigenous Fire 1:25:59 Solar Fields and Climate Scale 1:31:26 Strong Communities / Where to Find Him

Nicolas and Riley dig into milkweed banned in the EU, broomsedge, ragweed's 7.4 billion euro allergy bill, and the 2016 Palmer amaranth scare. Plus bare soil temperatures, cooler trout streams below prairie, and a mix built to bust clay. hokseynativeseeds.com (for all your native seed, backyard prairie, hunting mixes, CRP mixes, native pasture mixes, and more)   MckayInsAgency.com (for all your financial planning and insurance needs)   BirdHunterSupply.com (for all your bird hunting supplies and dog hunting supplies)   Chapters: 0:00 Welcome 7:37 Iowa Prairie Documentary Project 10:46 Combine Breakdowns and Wild Bergamot 12:18 Metal Allergies and Canker Sores 15:19 Milkweed Banned in the EU 16:51 Mare's Tail Crowding Out Pollinators 18:22 Ragweed, Broomsedge, and Allergy Costs 22:55 Palmer Amaranth and International Weed Law 25:57 Why Tallgrass Diversity Travelled Poorly 28:58 Bare Soil Temperatures in July 30:31 Cooler Trout Streams Below Prairie 35:03 Clay Buster Seed Mix 36:36 Hiring a Marketing Manager 38:07 Busy Season With Judd Off the Grid

Sarah Starman of Friends of the Earth joins Nicolas and Kent to break down pesticide tort immunity: who is lobbying for it, how the EPA got captured, and why only 1.4% of likely-carcinogen pesticides carry a cancer warning. Then forever chemicals, sewage sludge, and one condemned Michigan farm.   hokseynativeseeds.com (for all your native seed, backyard prairie, hunting mixes, CRP mixes, native pasture mixes, and more)   BirdHunterSupply.com (for all your bird hunting supplies and dog hunting supplies) Analysis: EPA only requires cancer warnings on 1.4% of pesticides with probable and likely carcinogens -- Center for Biological Diversity   The Chemical Industry Has Infiltrated the EPA — Friends of the Earth   Tracing Bayer's ties to power and Tracking the Trump administration's favors to the pesticide industry — U.S. Right to Know   What Happens if Bayer Pulls Roundup? — Farm Action   Organic for All Study: Just two weeks on an organic diet can reduce pesticides in your body up to 95% -- Friends of the Earth    Chapters: 0:00:00 Welcome 0:03:05 Meet Sarah Starman — Tort Shield for Pesticide Companies 0:06:08 Bayer's Army of Lobbyists in D.C. 0:09:12 The Coffee Shop Analogy for Liability 0:12:15 Warning Labels and Health Hazards 0:15:18 EPA Capture and Inside Baseball 0:18:19 Carcinogen Labeling Rates 0:21:20 Does Emailing Your Rep Actually Help? 0:24:22 From Plaintiff Lawyer to Tort Reform Champion 0:30:27 More Pesticide Chatter Than Ever 0:33:28 Polling on How Americans Feel About Pesticides 0:39:37 MAHA, RFK, and Farm Advocacy Groups 0:42:41 What's Actually in a Jug of Roundup 0:51:49 Regulation, Affordability, and Reshoring 0:57:54 Lower-Lift Fixes Beyond Bans 1:00:57 Baby Food and Chemical Residues 1:03:59 Farm Resilience Money Through EQIP and CSP 1:10:03 The Chemistry Cliff and EPA Re-Reviews 1:16:08 Forever Chemicals in Everyday Products 1:19:10 Biosolids on Farm Fields 1:22:14 PFAS in School Meat 1:28:22 Who Profits From Cracking the Code 1:34:26 Buying Organic and Everyday Choices

Nicolas is back from three weeks off, and the crew digs into solar on farmland: how many acres each Midwest state would need, whether panels wreck the soil, and the hard question nobody asks. What grows under them? Plus a wild bison versus fighting bull story you have to hear.   hokseynativeseeds.com (for all your native seed, backyard prairie, hunting mixes, CRP mixes, native pasture mixes, and more) iowacovercrop.com (for all your cover crop mixes, waterway mixes, forage mixes, small grains, and more) MckayInsAgency.com (for all your financial planning and insurance needs)

Join Nicolas and Kent as they sit down with Robert Poppe, Vice President of Marion County Bank. Robert unpacks the realities of ag lending, the true cost of farm consolidation, and how debt can either cripple or propel an operation. It's a candid look at the finances behind the farm.   hokseynativeseeds.com (for all your native seed, backyard prairie, hunting mixes, CRP mixes, native pasture mixes, and more)   BirdHunterSupply.com (for all your bird hunting supplies and dog hunting supplies)