Episode Library
The Ag View Pitch, organized — summaries, key takeaways, and full transcripts. Filter by what your operation is working through, or search for a guest by name.
Oct 2019
Top 10 fall marketing tips
Ten fall marketing steps from Chris Barron: set a margin target instead of a price target, and convert MFP and insurance checks into cents per bushel.
Sep 2019
Sunday market outlook
Duane Lowry explains why basis strength, fund short covering and slow harvest matter more than the weekly price move for farmers pricing corn.
Sep 2019
Dad's wisdom: part 2 with Dave Nelson (son)
Dave Nelson came home to 800 acres and a family business. He explains what his father's refusal to file bankruptcy in the 1980s taught him about business.
Sep 2019
Dad's wisdom: Part 1 with Gary Nelson
Gary Nelson rented 80 acres in 1973, hit bottom by 1977, and rebuilt to 4,700 acres. What he learned about borrowing, marketing and off-farm income.
Sep 2019
Silo the film: A grain entrapment story
Producer Sam Goldberg on Silo, a 75-minute film about a grain entrapment, and why 80 percent of US firefighters answering the call are volunteers.
Sep 2019
Harvest series: Missouri not in misery, yet
LG Seeds manager Cara Meteer reports early Missouri corn at 200 to 220 bushels, a 108-day hybrid at 170, and why fungicided acres will cost more to dry.
Sep 2019
Yield trends and market reaction
Early corn yields are coming in below expectations while funds hold 170,000 short contracts. Duane Lowry explains why basis stays stronger than normal.
Sep 2019
Harvest series: Texas moving north, early yield reports
Russell French reports High Plains yields: dryland corn at 20 to 80 bushels, 300 bushel irrigated corn, spider mite damage, and strong grain sorghum.
Sep 2019
Dad's wisdom: on the farm with Mark Schaffer
Mark Schaffer started with a backhoe and a dump truck in 1977 and grew an 80-person excavating firm that funded 6,000 acres of wheat and soybeans.
Sep 2019
Markets, acres and bears, oh my
Duane Lowry and Brad Downing on China buying again, soybeans 5 to 8 bushels under APH, and a corn yield closer to 160 than USDA's 169.5 bushels.
Sep 2019
Dad's wisdom: On the farm with Howard Hill
Iowa vet and farmer Howard Hill on buying 100 acres a year, losing 80 acres in the 1980s bust, and farming today as a four-family collaboration.
Sep 2019
Sunday night market update
Duane Lowry argues a farmer always carries risk and shows how to judge whether selling actually lowers it, using carryout, basis and market sentiment.
Sep 2019
Dad's wisdom: On the farm with Mark Rust
Mark and Laura Rust took over a central Illinois farm in 1981 after her father died at 44, survived 1988, and are now transitioning to their sons.
Aug 2019
Corn and soybeans: how do we finish the growing season?
Pioneer agronomist Eric Zumbach puts numbers on frost risk: 12 to 15% yield loss at half milk line, 25 to 30% at quarter milk line, plus bean node counts.
Aug 2019
Market update: what's up with corn and soybeans this week?
Duane explains why basis and flat price have to be forecast together, and how to rank crops by the return each one earns per bushel of storage space.
Aug 2019
Coffee makes farming possible: special edition Hawai'i
Tour Kona Joe's 18-acre Hawaii farm: trellised coffee trees yield 40% more cherries, CBB control, hand harvest, and an 80% loss to green bean.
Aug 2019
Markets reset for a new week
Duane Lowry on why weekend rains may not break the market, a record Kansas City wheat discount, and when locking in harvest basis makes sense.
Aug 2019
Details on the Pro Farmer Midwest Crop Tour process
Brian Grete explains the Crop Tour's math: 35 paces in, two 30-foot rows, ears 5, 8 and 11, and why prevent plant acres are never sampled on the routes.
Aug 2019
August 12th USDA pre-report discussion
Chris Barron and Duane preview the August 12, 2019 USDA report: a 1.6 billion bushel corn carryout guess, 80 million harvested acres, and yield risk.
Aug 2019
Dad's wisdom: on the farm with Jerry Meissner
Wisconsin dairyman Jerry Meissner on buying land at $1,200 an acre, a 15-year deferred-comp buyout of his parents, and hiring before you can afford it.
Aug 2019
Missouri agronomist; Don Mario, new player in the seed world North America
Agronomist Dana Harder on tank contamination, gray leaf spot moving north, fungicide payback in 2019, and Don Mario soybeans arriving from Argentina.
Aug 2019
Irrigation, SW crop report
Russell French explains irrigation capacity, split planting dates, LEPA pivots and population choices that keep High Plains corn crops profitable.
Aug 2019
Red to green on the screen; what does it all mean?
Duane Lowry breaks down the week corn fell to $4.10 and beans to lows, why liquidation drove it, and why new crop basis stayed 30 cents strong.
Jul 2019
16 state crop condition report
Chris Barron and Shay Foulk report July 2019 crop conditions across 16 states: prevent plant totals, maturity delays and why soybeans worry them most.
Jul 2019
Sunday night outlook: discussion for a new week
Duane Lowry reads the late-July 2019 corn market: a dry two-week forecast, late pollination, funds still short beans, and why he expects strength.
645 episodes in the archive · page 24 of 26