Greg Gershuny, Jamie Robertson, Silvopasture

Kevin Burkum, CEO of U.S. Farmers and Ranchers in Action, shares how USFRA is making changes to help support agriculture in meeting its challenges and leveraging opportunities, both domestically and internationally.  Kevin also shares more about his background and professional experiences. 

Learn more about U.S. Farmers and Ranchers in Action: usfarmersandranchers.org

Connect with Kevin on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/kevinburkum

Become a partner of USFRA: usfarmersandranchers.org/partnerships

Expert Celya Glowacki, team lead for advocacy, literacy and ag-based experiences at National FFA, shares how they focus on the evolving careers in agriculture. Celya shares how they receive feedback from corporate partners about what skills they are looking for in the next generation of agriculturists and the new National FFA NexGen Conferences. Learn more at ffa.org/participate/next-generation-conference/. 

Honor the Harvest Forum is an invitation-only event that gathers food and agriculture leaders to further our global sustainable food system. Former head of Harvard Business School’s Agribusiness Program and is known as a strategic pathfinder in the global agri-food industry, Mary Shelman, emceed the USFRA Honor the Harvest. Today, we gain her high-level perspective of the event and what she’s keeping an eye on in the future of agriculture. 

Culvers is based out of Sauk City, Wisconsin and there are over 900 Culver’s locations across the United States. Today, we are going to learn more about their three pillars to Culver’s Thank You Farmers Project. We are joined with Alison Demmer, she is the marketing and public relations manager at Culvers. 

Learn more about Culvers at https://www.culvers.com/about-culvers.

Today, we are headed to Maryland to learn more about grain and we are joined by  
expert Lindsey Thompson. She is the executive director of the Maryland Grain Producers and also the owner Hidden Potential Farms with her husband, where they farm 130 acres of corn and soybeans. Did you know that Maryland typically grows soft red winter wheat and it is consumed by chickens and used to mill flour for cookies, pretzels, and pastries?  Learn more about all the things grain touches and how farmers are working in this unique market. 

Join us as we discuss the ideal flavor packaging and the next generation of milk drinkers with Dr. Maryanne Drake, a professor in the Department of Food, Bioprocessing and Nutrition Sciences at North Carolina State University, and director of the Southeast Dairy Foods Research Center and Dr. Eric Bastian, the Vice President of Innovation Partnerships at Dairy West and the director of the Western Dairy Center at Utah State University. We dig deeper into dairy product consumption's motivation by both familiarity and habit and what the future looks like for school meals.

Want to learn even more about dairy? Visit dairywest.com.

Authenticity shines in this episode with veteran and rancher Steve Cook of Cook Beef Cattle located in central Texas. Steve shares about his military career, transitioning to civilian life, mental health, Farmer Veteran Coalition and future advice and goals. We're thankful to have Steve share real experiences with us and the importance of networking with others. 

Connect and support Steve's ranch by checking out his website at cookbeefcattle.com. Learn more about the Farmer Veteran Coalition at farmvetco.org.

We appreciate the support from The Platform for Agriculture and Climate Transformation on this episode of Farm, Food, Facts. 

To learn more about PACT’s mission you can visit their website at https://ag-climate.org/. 

November is Native American Heritage Month, and we invite you to learn more about the cultures, traditions, and achievements of Native Americans. Today we are joined by Chanel Ford the director of programs at the Native American Agriculture Fund. NAAF provides grants to eligible organizations and business assistance, agricultural education, technical support and advocacy services to support native farmers and ranchers. We dig deeper into the basics of native farmers and ranchers and future innovations.

Learn more about NAAF and how you can celebrate Native American Heritage this month and every month with the resources listed below.

https://nativeamericanagriculturefund.org/

https://native-land.ca/

Who should farmers be connected with to help bridge the gap between processors and brands?  We’re joined by CEO of Edge Dairy Farmer Cooperative, Tim Trotter, as we discuss the ins and outs of the important relationships and connections that farmers need to successfully market their products. Does a relationship with processors and brands improve a farmer’s future success?  And why act now?

Learn about these topics and more now!

This exclusive episode is a double feature for National Farmer's Day! We had the chance to connect with fifth-generation farmer Andrew Lauver at Honor the Harvest this year and get his story on taking over the family farm. 

Then join us as we catch up with first-generation rancher Angela Scott as she talks about her lessons learned as a newer rancher and that it's ok to ask questions!