Aggrad Live Podcast

Voted most likely to never leave her hometown, Jordan Bonham Rasmussen was in love with the small town feel of the town that she grew up in in southwest Ohio. It caught everyone, including herself, by surprise, when she got the bug to challenge herself, step outside of her comfort zone, and for an internship, travel to a new place: Albion, Nebraska.  Receiving a bachelor's degree in agriculture communications from Ohio State University, it was a grain marketing class in her agricultural business minor that first sparked her interest in the excitingly competitive and ever-changing world of grain marketing. Getting what she calls a “wild-hair” in college, she told a recruiter for a chemical company that she wanted to go to Oklahoma or Kansas.  However, his only open opportunity was in a small town in northeast Nebraska, called Albion. She loved it so much that she accepted another internship there with Cargill, then accepted a training position after college, and now lives and works there full time.&n

David Chan is currently the Chief Operating Officer of FarmTogether - a technology-enabled farmland investment platform that provides investors with direct access to farmland as an asset class. With a diverse team under its name and over 70 years of combined experience in agribusiness, investments, and climatology, they carefully curate farmland properties that they themselves would invest in for their investors. Farm land is an asset class that is uncorrelated with other major asset classes making it unique.  As uncertain as 2020 has been, being a new startup has enabled FarmTogether to be agile and nimble, already accustomed to working remote and navigating with the times. David’s primary role as the COO is to serve as a thought partner and support to CEO and solo-founder Artem Milinchuk. Located on opposite coasts, they are able to connect with hotspots on each coast to advance FarmTogether’s network.  The COO is also required to be a Jack-of-all-trades and David’s tasks include a little bit of e

Not only is there a large disconnect from the average American to animal agriculture, there is actually a perceptible growing negative sentiment towards animal agriculture. Most people don't have much interaction with food outside of ordering it at a restaurant or removing it from a grocery store shelf. This growing distance in generations between conventional animal agriculture and the average consumer continues to broaden.  Even though farmers and ranchers can be frustrated over the unawareness of the average consumer, the consumer is not to blame. The problem is a very small but loud percentage of the population that doesn’t believe that animal agriculture should be done, that there is no way to responsibly raise animals for production, and that no amount of animal welfare policy could ever be enough, use fear-mongering and the spread of misinformation to widen that gap even more.  Hannah Thompson-Weeman is the Vice President of Strategic Engagement for the Animal Agriculture Alliance (Alliance).

“What is neat about ag engineering is that every sector of agriculture needs an engineer - I could talk [for hours] about the opportunities in ag engineering,” says Alacyn.  Attracted to the amazing complexities of ag equipment in high school, it wasn’t until her junior year of college that Alacyn was able to dig into the specific courses in machine systems with coursework involving the study of hydraulic systems, the science behind motion and movement, dynamics and technical details. Through the first few years of her undergraduate, she joined other future ag engineers in learning about the diverse world of ag engineering that included soil conservation, designing equipment and livestock management.  After her sophomore year of college, Alacyn accepted an internship at John Deere where they placed her in manufacturing engineering at the factory where they make combines. An amazing opportunity, Alacyn had never been in a factory before and now found her office situated in the middle of a factory flo

Garrett Lister didn’t grow up in the traditional agricultural family lifestyle but his father was a high school ag teacher and, through that, Garrett found himself involved in 4-H and FFA. Attending college at Kansas State University, he figured he would start his degree in the world of Agricultural Economics, assuming that he would transfer to another direction when he discovered that passion.  Garret finds himself rotating between two different roles in his current position of cattle risk management for Innovative Livestock Services. One one end, he works at the hedge desk. Hedging based on risk and Garrett’s job is to deal with, primarily, price-risk. In hedging, you try to put yourself in a position that protects you from a negative market drop. If the market goes up, you don’t make as much but, if it goes down, you don’t lose as much.  By placing hedges, they are able to focus on the important aspects of raising cattle such as care of cattle, good herd health, cattle growth, and the production

Tyler Nuss wears many hats in his day to day life but, whether it’s working his day job in supply chain and operation for Rivian, an electric car startup, or being an advocate for sustainable agriculture - he’s on a mission to change the world. Co-founding the podcast the Modern Acre with his brother Tim. Tyler’s goal was to provide a community about innovation in food and ag business. Indirectly, it has built Tyler and Tim’s relationship with their family farm, allowed them to consult on other farms, and continue to broaden their horizons and, subsequently, the opportunities of Nuss Farms.  The mission of The Modern Acre was to inspire other entrepreneurial and like-minded people in agriculture with their podcast, making a cross-pollination of people on the farm, farmers that were innovating and doing different things from the “normal” systems, and business leaders in the world of food and ag.  “We both knew very early on that this was a long-term vision and that we saw the value in building an aud

Originally, Peter Bachmann wanted to be a large animal veterinarian but, within just a week on campus, he realized that wasn’t where he wanted his career to go! But he always knew he wanted to be involved in agriculture and by never letting what he thought was his dream get in the way of his destination, he has become a monumental force for agriculture in Washington, D.C..  Taking a variety of internships that ranged from dairy science to sow farms, Peter took a different direction when he accepted an internship with CropLife America, as Barb Glenn’s intern. In an internship whiplash, he moved from large animal agriculture to the regulatory pesticide industry and he was hooked.  After graduation, he found a job with the National Association of Conservation Districts, and knew that it was his first big step into agriculture in Washington, D.C., by way of conservation. Once he had his feet under him in that role, he took a position at the USA Rice Federation as the Manager of Government Affairs. 

Not only did Ellie Symes start her master’s degree program the same year that she was finishing her undergraduate degree at Indiana University, she also pioneered an ag start-up all about bees and agriculture’s pollination processes. Constantly moving throughout her childhood, Ellie has found a home in Indiana where she and her co-founder, Wyatt, continue to build research, relationships, and processes to solve the problem of accuracy in pollinator counts, specifically for almond orchardists.  The official product of The Bee Corp, Verifly utilizes the research Ellie and her team have done on beekeeping, pollination and beehives through infrared cameras. Not the first product that they have created, it’s their current staple product, and utilizes infrared cameras at nights to create a snapshot of the hive's health. The reason why sensors are helpful to understand beehives is because bees are their own heating and cooling system for their home. They control a lot of other factors in the hive in order to in

Through his involvement in extracurricular events provided by his local California Farm Bureau chapter, Zane Peterson was able to be a part of logging industry conversations that provided him with the opportunity for legislative involvement that would shape his future career. A young forester, Zane’s parents were involved in the California timber industry via the operation of saw mills and power plants. While an industry that he had always been involved in, Zane is paving his own way in the timber industry today!  Most loggers want trees that are 10” in diameter and up while Zane is dealing with trees that are 10” in diameter and down. Chipping is the stuff that “no one wants to do” because it’s harder, costs more, and is less efficient. Zane has used his resources and education to make chipping efficient and, as a result, has very few competitors. Asking the veteran’s what they would have done differently and blending those responses with the opportunity in front of him, he was able to set himself for s

A native of western Canada, Rosie Thoni had always grown up around agriculture and had been heavily involved in 4-H and junior cattle associations. Despite her love for Canada and the nearby, world-famous Calgary Stampede, Rosie knew that she was going to have to take a chance to follow her passion of being an agricultural communicator. A passion that was recognized by her father when she was very young as she would write junior members’ agriculture stories on their auction bid cards.  Work at agencies like AdFarm is diverse and can include strategic planning, account services, project management, creative, media planning, public relations, content creation & management, marketing automation and customer relationship management, marketing perspective, production research, search strategy, and web development.  “I thought I wanted to be more of a generalist, maybe an association job,” says Rosie about what direction college-Rosie would have thought her career would head. “While I think that’s sti

Mitchell Hora’s first word was “corn,” which couldn’t be more fitting for this seventh generation Iowan farmer. In fact, in 2021, the Hora family will be celebrating 150 years of Hora family farming legacy and innovation in their hometown of Washington, Iowa. Mitchell still works closely with his father, trialing and experimenting with new processes of production to improve soil health and sustainability.  In 2015, Mitchell took his passion for soil science, sustainability and regenerative agriculture and combined it all into his own company: Continuum Ag. Originating with excel spreadsheets and human-interpretation, Mitchell analyzes reports from the Haney Test, which uses unique soil extracts in the lab to determine what quantity of soil nutrients are available to soil microbes. The most current soil test for showing available nutrients today, Mitchell tests his own soil weekly to continue adding and analyzing data to their research, but recommends everyone to test their soil every other year.  C

Today’s episode is with AgGrad 30 Under 30 Winner Alika Chuck. Alika is the Co-Founder and CFO of Pharm Robotics, which is an agtech startup based in San Jacinto, CA. Alika and his Co-Founder are developing a robotic injection system for dairy and beef producers. So like a robot that gives shots to animals. This alleviates labor pressures and labor costs and ensures that medical practices can be performed with 100% compliance without the potential for human error. One of the most impressive things about Alika is he did not grow up on a dairy, and didn’t have any experience with robotics before starting this endeavor.  Pharm Robotics is beginning construction on the prototype and demo’ing it on his Co-Founders dairy in California. They hope to be commercially available in the summer of 2021. Go check them out at pharmrobotics.net.  I hope Alika’s story inspires you to tackle whatever it is that’s stopping you from getting your business or career to the next level. Who knows you may be able to teach

Anna Glenn describes life in international agricultural development from her experience in Liberia. She talks about some of the challenges and opportunities of this work. If you've ever considered international work, or just want to develop more of a global mindset, make sure you listen to this full episode! Links: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClJpE4tdH2NN6Plj1UIWNwA (AgGrad YouTube Channel) https://www.hopeintheharvest.org/ (Hope in the Harvest International) https://agricorps.org/ (AgriCorps) https://www.facebook.com/liberiainternationalcc/ (Liberia International Christian College)

**NEW SHOW NAME AND FORMAT** Give it a listen and let us know what you think of the changes. Today you’ll hear from Clayton Wolfe. Clayton was born to a farm family in Saskatchewan, Canada, but was mostly raised in Arizona. He returned the family farm in Saskatchewan every summer. Since taking over management of the farm, he has launched Northerly, his own brand of oats grown right there on his farm. Ready to buy some oats? For a lot of us filling our pantry is a priority right now. What better way to do that with some delicious, shelf-stable rolled oats directly from this young farmer?  Pick up a bag for yourself at Northerly.ag. They have packages ranging from 2lbs to 2k lbs and can ship anywhere in the U.S. That’s northerly.ag. Learn more about AgGrad by visiting: http://aggrad.com/ (AgGrad Website) https://twitter.com/aggradjobs (AgGrad on Twitter) https://www.facebook.com/aggradmedia (AgGrad on Facebook) https://www.linkedin.com/company/aggrad (AgGrad on LinkedIn) https://www.instagram.com/aggrad/

Born and raised in the heart of Louisville, a search on Ancestry.com showed Griffin Huelsman that he came from a long line of farmers. Somewhere along the way, however, the family left the farms behind for work in the city. When his aunt and uncle purchased their own small farm when he was in high school, Griffin found himself bucking hay and assisting with seasonal chores. The impression his ancestors 1700’s farm had left on his brain at 5 years old was enough to show Griffin that farming was exactly where he wanted to be. 

The legacy of a generational ranch is of great importance to the members of the family and Kaden Eisenbraun feels no different. A seventh generation cattle rancher from South Dakota, his family have raised commercial cattle, a herd of both registered black and red Angus, and even used to show quarter horses. As well as the ranching operation, they also have their dry ground farming and hay production. Being the youngest and, with an 80 year-old grandfather still going strong working on the ranch, Kaden knew that he was going to have to find work elsewhere before he could work full time on the ranch. He found the perfect fit as the farm and ranch management instructor and program director at Western Dakota Tech, a technical college in Rapid City, South Dakota. While he may seem young for the position, he has found ways to excel, give back to the future of agriculture, and create his future in agriculture.

Born and raised in Ohio, it may come as a surprise to most people that when Lynn Moore made the decision to go away from her home base for the first time, she went as far away as Germany for an entire year! Leaving behind her husband who had to stay with his job, learning a new language, and experiencing life at its utmost.  Lynn says it all began with her internships, her education and her willingness to try new experiences. The lessons she learned about the food product system internationally continues to assist her today as she nears the end of a decade with her employer, Nestle, in the research and development profession. For someone who hasn’t hit their 30th birthday yet, that is an impressive feat!  

In 2015, Colin Hurd founded a company called Smart Ag that he then sold in a merger acquisition to Raven Industries after four years. After all that work and effort, frustration and excitement, it seems strange that Colin would sell his pride and joy.  However, it was for the betterment of Smart Ag and the future of agriculture overall. Savvy business decisions, like this, are a big part of the reason that this Iowa State University graduate in Ag Business is continuing to be one of the top young movers and shakers in agriculture.   

Being proactive, planning ahead, building strong relationships, learning as much as she can, and continuing to chase her dreams; Elizabeth Burns-Thompson is a young woman on a mission for agriculture, added value to agriculture, and sustainability! Getting her start growing up in FFA, she originally thought she would be an agricultural education teacher. That all changed when she met the right mentor and now finds herself not only in her eighth month in corporate affairs and policy with the https://www.regi.com/ (Renewable Energy Group, Inc.), but she’s also running for her city council!

It’s a go-to favorite for many people but have you ever thought of why the food is so delicious at Chipotle? Yael Cypers can. She points directly at the company that brings high quality ingredients into an accessible and affordable light through elimination of inefficiencies within the supply chain. A former sustainability supply chain manager for Blue Apron, scaling to the Chipotle model to manage meat sustainability was a job that she had been thinking about since Yael was a young girl.