In this special episode, we're thrilled to spotlight an inspiring program that embodies the spirit of community, compassion, and the beef industry- Beef Counts. Join us and our five special guests, Melissa Delgadilo, Liz Moore, Laurie Lickley, Shari Gulledge, and Morgan Wilson, as we delve into how this program, in collaboration with the Idaho Food Bank, Idaho Beef Council, ranching producers, and AgriBeef, is making a difference by providing high-quality beef protein to those in need.Discover the core mission of Beef Counts and how it aims to address food insecurity in the local community. Learn about the program's unique approach, combining the strengths of various stakeholders to create a lasting impact on the lives of individuals and families facing nutritional challenges. Listen to touching stories from individuals who have benefited from the Beef Counts program. From offering a hand up during challenging times to fostering a sense of community support, these stories showcase the profound impact that a nutritious meal can have on people's lives.As we conclude this episode of Millennial Ag Presents Beef Counts, we're reminded of the power that agriculture, community, and collaboration hold in transforming lives. Beef Counts stands as a shining example of how sustainable practices, partnered with a sense of responsibility, can nurture communities and foster change. You can find more information at https://idahofoodbank.org/about/corporate-partners/beef-counts/#:~:text=Beef%20Counts%20is%20a%20program,made%20by%20Idaho%20cattle%20ranchers. Thank you for tuning in!

This week Valene and Katharine fly solo and dive into their respective industries. They share what things are currently looking like for producers. It has been a bit since an episode has launched with life happenings, but we are back and excited to bring some perspective of what has been happening!Katharine shares that dairy's prices are not looking very good this year after coming off a record high priced year. Tune in to find out why this might be and learn that the hardest part with low milk prices is the high input costs. Valene dives into a more positive market with beef cattle. The industry has the lowest number of beef cows they have seen in years. There is still a strong demand for beef. Therefore, cattle prices are super strong. Input costs, especially for feeders are still high, but there is a lot of demand for beef and are able to keep their margins!Tune In and Let Us Know what you are hearing and seeing!!

Happy June Dairy Month! To highlight one of our two favorite categories of food, Marty McKinzie, Chief Growth Officer with DairyMAX, joins us to share everything his organization does to promote milk and dairy products. DairyMAX, a regional dairy promotion agency in the United States, takes its mission to ensure advocacy and access to dairy products seriously. Marty highlights their many efforts, including strategic partnerships, school education and nutrition programs, and partnering with social media influencers to spread the good word of dairy. Their projects range from working with dairymen to interface with consumers, to video tours of actual dairy farms, to the Dairy Discovery Zone, a mobile exhibit that visits fairs, festivals, and more to provide an immersion experience for consumers (and especially kids!) to learn more about how milk gets from cow to table. One of our favorite parts of our conversation was learning about DairyMAX's commitment to food banks. Milk is the consistently the most requested item at food banks. It's not something that's hugely donated, and food banks also struggle to have enough refrigerated space to make sure milk stays fresh and cold if they do receive it. DairyMAX donates milk, coolers, and money to make access to this critical food easier for people in need. Marty also highlights a lot of really cool innovations coming from inside dairy promotion, as well as the (scientific!!) reasons behind why chocolate milk is his favorite dairy product.Pull up a seat, grab a scoop of ice cream or frosty glass of milk, and enjoy our tribute to June Dairy Month!

In the wrap-up episode for our May Mental Health series, we reflect on what we've learned from our three outstanding guests. We also share our perspectives and experiences with our own mental health challenges, and ask ourselves and our listeners on how we can take care of ourselves and each other better. Thanks for joining us for this series, and as always, if you would like more content about this topic, please let us know!!!If you or someone you know needs help with mental health challenges or substance abuse, please reach out. Here are some resources to consider:Lifeline Chat and Text is a service of the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline connecting individuals with crisis counselors for emotional support and other services via web chat or texting 988.The American Psychological Association has many great resources for whatever distress you may be experiencing. Visit apa.org to find resources including:Crisis Text LineText HOME to 741741Narcotics AnonymousAlcoholics AnonymousGamblers AnonymousSubstance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration National Helpline(800) 662-4357and many other excellent resources for all kinds of support and difficult experiences.Please, please reach out for help if you are hurting. You are loved, you are worthy, you are needed, you are wanted. You don’t have to do this alone.With love and hope, Katharine and ValeneAs 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 this third episode of our May Mental Health series, we are joined by returning guest Dr. Nora Feldpausch. An accomplished and practicing psychiatrist, Nora has a unique perspective on mental health. In her current role, she supports students at rural colleges across the US with a team of over 200 providers she has built from the ground up. Her depth and breadth of knowledge is augmented by her role in the dairy industry, running a successful dairy in Colorado with her husband and children. Her compassion runs deep, and her desire to fuel change in how mental health is both viewed and treated brings a message of encouragement and hope to anyone listening, but particularly folks who may be struggling with mental health challenges. A unique part of this conversation is the language Nora uses – it’s far less condemning and dare we say destructive than traditional vocabulary used to describe mental health challenges. She shares many excellent resources, and towards the end of our episode, we talk about where worth and value are really found – intrinsically – rather than the physical labor or tangible work that we in agriculture so often find ourselves identifying with. Tune in – this is another outstanding episode with a fascinating and fun guest that you won’t want to miss in our critical series about mental health in rural America.If you or someone you know needs help with mental health challenges or substance abuse, please reach out. Here are some resources to consider:Lifeline Chat and Text is a service of the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline connecting individuals with crisis counselors for emotional support and other services via web chat or texting 988.The American Psychological Association has many great resources for whatever distress you may be experiencing. Visit apa.org to find resources including:Crisis Text LineText HOME to 741741Narcotics AnonymousAlcoholics AnonymousGamblers AnonymousSubstance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration National Helpline(800) 662-4357and many other excellent resources for all kinds of support and difficult experiences.Please, please reach out for help if you are hurting. You are loved, you are worthy, you are needed, you are wanted. You don’t have to do this alone.With love and hope, Katharine and ValeneAs 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 of our series for May Mental Health, we're joined by Daniel Hayes, a farmer from South Carolina. Daniel is a different kind of guest than we've had before - generally, our guests who come to speak with us about mental health and other struggles are women. It's difficult to find men who are willing to talk about their struggles with mental health, addiction, and other issues, let alone speak about it publicly. We're really grateful to Daniel to breaking that ceiling for our series, but especially for you, our listeners, and the communities we all belong to. Daniel opens up about his struggles with substance abuse. He is very honest and forthright about how he got there, and how hard, but ultimately worth it, his recovery was and continues to be. There may be some hard parts of this episode to listen to for some of our listeners, but if you're able, we encourage you to tune into Daniel's conversation, perspective, and message of hope. If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health challenges or addiction, please consider these resources as a first step to finding the help you need. If you or someone you know needs help with mental health challenges or substance abuse, please reach out. Here are some resources to consider:Lifeline Chat and Text is a service of the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline connecting individuals with crisis counselors for emotional support and other services via web chat or texting 988.The American Psychological Association has many great resources for whatever distress you may be experiencing. Visit apa.org to find resources including:Crisis Text LineText HOME to 741741Narcotics AnonymousAlcoholics AnonymousGamblers AnonymousSubstance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration National Helpline(800) 662-4357 and many other excellent resources for all kinds of support and difficult experiences.Please, please reach out for help if you are hurting. You are loved, you are worthy, you are needed, you are wanted. You don’t have to do this alone.With love and hope, Katharine and Valene

In the first episode of our series for May Mental Health Month, we're joined by Karen Hall, who is a middle school counselor in Southern Idaho. Karen presents a different perspective on mental health than we've had on the podcast before. She is seeing middle school students in crisis, dealing with mental health challenges exacerbated by the pandemic, and families facing a lack of critical and available resources to deal with these problems. Karen is passionate, cares deeply about her students and the mental health issues facing our society today, and speaks with compassion and concern not only for the students she works with, but for their families, the community they live in, and everyone struggling to find help. Tune in - we're very proud of this series and hope that everyone can find something helpful or needed within these episodes.

Here we are! We made it! With great pride and excitement, we present to you the 150th episode of the Millennial Ag Podcast. We’ve been considering very carefully what we wanted this episode to be, and we thank you for your patience while we’ve been developing it. Over the last couple months, we’ve been talking to our friends, neighbors, acquaintances, policy makers, industry professionals and whoever else we could think of to bring us their own “Top 5 Biggest Issues in Ag”. Many of them are as you would suspect – farmgate prices, mental health, barriers to entry, adoption of technology, government interference and/or support, climate change….we know the list. However, we came up against a few that we hadn’t considered before, and they intrigued us so much that we decided to dedicate this milestone episode to the first one. We will be bringing you much more content surrounding these topics, and today we’re kicking it off with the subject of agriculture water use.We’re joined this week by Warren Peterson, a close family friend of Katharine’s, a career-long water lawyer, and most importantly, a deep thinking and very considered individual. In this episode, we go beyond just water rights and bemoaning the lack of it. We talk about the mismanagement of agricultural water, its usage in agriculture production compared to municipal use (consider this: agriculture uses around 80% of water and bounces around 8-15% of economic activity. Non-industry groups are questioning this balance, and it’s leading to difficulties to people understanding where their food….and water…comes from, and why it’s so important that agriculture has access to water) and even more interestingly, about how foreign entities (foreign states and actors, investors) may be gaining more control over US agricultural land, and therefore water, than would make us comfortable. Are we exporting water to these countries? Do we need systems in place to protect US land ownership? Does this pose a security risk? Warren discusses all this and more, and has some pretty fascinating answers and viewpoints to address it. Tune in, turn up, and enjoy this episode that kicks off more relevant and exciting content than ever on the podcast where ag is always on tap, and no topic is off limits. 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

It’s almost here!!! We’ve made it all the way to Episode 150! We can’t believe how fast it’s crept up on us, and how we couldn’t have done it without you, our loyal and encouraging listeners! In preparation for this huge milestone, we’ve been taking a poll in the agriculture community to identify the top five (ish) issues in our industry. In this quick teaser episode, we share what those are, and what’s coming up next week to celebrate this landmark in Millennial Ag history!

Since Katharine is in Wisconsin this week, Valene flies solo and brings Natalie Wyne from Colorado Premium. In light of St. Patrick’s day, they talk about anything and everything corned beef. They dive into the history, the process and even some of their favorite ways to cook it. We learn corned beef has evolved from the traditional corning with salt to a liquid based cure that is injected. Want to learn more about the corned beef you are eating for St. Patty’s day? Then, tune in! The podcast and corned beef will pair well with green beer, potatoes, and cabbage.

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