The Prairie Farm Podcast

Johnathon Swanson from Polk County Conservation joins Nicolas and Kent talk about Iowa's water quality crisis. They dig into tile drainage, nitrates, saturated buffers, constructed wetlands, and what's actually working on the ground. Plus data centers, farm diversification, and quail nostalgia.

 

Hokseynativeseeds.com (for all your backyard prairie, hunting habitat mixes, CRP mixes, pollinator mixes, and more)

 

Mckayinsagency.com (for all your insurance and financial advising needs)

 

BirdHunterSupply.com (for all your bird hunting needs, and for your bird dogs' supplies as well)

A new ISU study is shaking up how we think about prairies. It turns out pollinators don't just need the prairie, the prairie needs them back. Kent, Nicolas, and Riley dig into what declining pollinator populations mean for plant diversity, then shift to the Boundary Waters mining fight and what's actually at stake ecologically.

 

Hoksey Native Seeds (for all your backyard prairie, CRP, Prairie Strip Mixes, Hunting Habitat and More)

 

IowaCoverCrop.com (for all your cover crop and small grain needs)

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)