The Prairie Farm Podcast

Val Van Kooten, administrator at the State of Iowa Historical Society, returns for her third episode. The conversation digs into pioneer journal entries, pre-tractor farm life, an April Fool's fact-or-fiction game, the phenomenon of declinism, claim jumper clubs, and what autonomous tractors might do to Midwest culture.

hokseynativeseeds.com (for all your CRP mixes, backyard prairie mixes, hunting habitat mixes, and more)
Oh and check out our new Prairie Farm Forum!

Iowa Cover Crop (for all your cover crop needs)

McKay Insurance (for all your insurance and financial planning needs)

This week on Coffee Time Wednesday Nicolas breaks down what would actually happen if the Corn Belt set aside 10% of its acres for conservation. Using over 40 sources, he walks through the county level economics of lost grain sales, higher commodity prices, hunting revenue, and CRP payments. The math might surprise you.

hokseynativeseeds.com (for all your CRP, native mixes, butterfly wildflower patches, hunting habitat mixes, and more!)

BirdHunterSupply.com (to give back to conservation while purchasing your bird hunting supplies)

Thomas Mlsna is a habitat consultant and biologist who's spent 16 years rethinking how hunters manage land. In this episode, he breaks down the deer food pyramid, makes the case for smaller food plots in smarter locations, connects native plant diversity to EHD prevention, and challenges the entire model of chemical-heavy whitetail land management.

hokseynativeseeds.com (for all your native seed, habitat mixes, perennial food plot, CRP, backyard prairie, and native pasture mixes)

Iowa Cover Crop (for all your cover crop and small grain needs)

Grab your coffee folks, it's time for another Coffee Time Wednesday!

This week Nicolas, Kent, and Riley kick off Coffee Time debating whether Nicolas's cargo pocket jeans are fashion-forward or a complete disaster. From there the guys swap their best farm mistakes. Tractors buried in mud, discs wrapped around power poles, and $5,000 worth of hand-collected seed dumped on gravel. Then the crew digs into the US Forest Service's move from DC to Salt Lake City and what it might really mean for conservation.

 

hokseynativeseeds.com (for CRP, backyard pollinator, native pasture mixes and more!)

 

McKay Insurance (for all your insurance and financial advising needs)

 

birdhuntersupply.com (for all your bird hunter supplies)

Molly Pickering, Policy Director for Illinois Stewardship Alliance, joins Nicolas and Kent for a wide-ranging conversation on what's actually broken in America's food system. From monopoly meat packers to cottage food laws to pesticide drift hitting small farms, Molly brings the policy perspective that most farmers never get to hear.

 

hokseynativeseeds.com (for all your native seed, native pastures, native habitat mixes, and more)

BirdHunterSupply.com (for all your bird hunting supply needs)