Cost of Production Episodes
Every Ag View Pitch conversation on cost of production — summaries, key takeaways, and full transcripts.
Episode 773
Farm Profit Manager: the history and the why
Chris Barron and Shay Foulk trace Profit Manager from 1990s DOS spreadsheets to a free app, and explain why cost of production drives every decision.
Episode 769
Spring agronomy update: planter settings, spray tips, and on-farm trials
Agronomist Troy Deutmeyer on planter depth checks worth 8 to 12 bushels, spray tip wear, 3 to 4 pounds of AMS, and 140,000 soybean populations.
Episode 765
Grain markets quiet, headline fatigue builds: weekly market outlook, April 6-10
Daniel Elsner explains headline fatigue, why big on-farm corn stocks cap basis, and how to judge whether an early spring high was the top of the year.
Episode 764
Tires = profitability
Ben Paskowitz of NTS Tire Supply explains how dropping field tire pressure below 15 PSI cuts compaction, wins back 5 to 6 bushels an acre and saves fuel.
Episode 763
Farm Profit Manager app release
Shay Foulk walks through the Farm Profit Manager app: free online and Excel versions, field-level cost analysis, equipment costs, and benchmarking.
Episode 761
Protein sovereignty: autonomous chicken tractor
Zack Smith on six years of StockCropper: pigs, sheep and chickens grazed between corn strips, 434.9 bushel corn at PTI, and $15,000 an acre gross.
Episode 758
Drone for the farm?
Matt Hatcher on what a spray drone really costs: 3,000 to 6,000 fungicide acres per drone, $2,500 to $3,500 chemical liability, and tender sizing.
Episode 756
Harvest Guard Solutions debut
Nathan Albert shows how Harvest Guard Solutions pulls John Deere Operations Center data into one maintenance app and adds technician support behind it.
Episode 753
Proactive farm planning for future success
Ben Gordon breaks down rented acre risk, the three-year capital plan, and why scale swings $200 to $300 an acre in buying and selling power.
Episode 749
Beans, beans, the magical fruit! Weekly market outlook: Feb. 9-13th
Garret Brown cross-checks NOPA against USDA crush data, explains why farmers hold grain longer than advisers like, and how to avoid forced decisions.
Episode 741
Index funds and USDA preview
Joe Vaclavik separates trend-following hedge funds from long-only index funds, and explains why thin corn margins put the focus on basis and carry.
Episode 726
Don't sleep on 2026: weekly market outlook, Nov. 17th-21st
Daniel Elsner explains why a disciplined base layer of sales, sized to your variable costs, beats chasing rallies and waiting for a seasonal window.
Episode 723
Navigating market noise: weekly market outlook, Oct. 27th-31st
Greg McBride explains why headline rallies move soybeans without changing fundamentals, and how to have offers ready before the news actually breaks.
Episode 716
Grain baggers: costs, logistics, and market opportunities
What grain bagging really costs: 8 cents a bushel for the bag, about 25 cents in and out, bag sizes, moisture limits, and when the market carry pays.
Episode 710
To fert or not to fert: Dr. Hart, Lewis Stearns
Chad Hart and Lewis Stearns on why potash cannot be cut, when to book fall anhydrous, and how soil test data sets a fertilizer budget for 2026.
Episode 709
May to Sep: what's changed?
Garret Brown revisits his spring call, explains why big corn yields get revised down later, and how to hedge without getting blown out on margin.
Sep 2025
Profit Manager 101
Chris and Shay explain how Profit Manager builds a one-page cost of production, why return to management overhead gets missed, and how to cost each pass.
Episode 700
Crop prospects 2025: fact vs. fiction from the field
Agronomist Lewis Stearns reports 17 more bushels of corn and 6 more of soybeans from one fungicide pass, plus why 2025 looks like a Toyota Corolla crop.
Episode 689
I'm undersold, now what?
Chris Barron and Shay Foulk cover five moves for undersold farms: overrun bushels, harvest basis, logistics, lender cash flow talks and aid checks.
Episode 688
Strong crop, weak market: weekly market outlook July 14-18
Jeff Fichtelman explains why fundamentals stop driving price when farmers are undersold, and how crop insurance scenarios should shape your sales.
Episode 685
WHIN for the farmers
Josh Parshin explains how the Wabash Heartland Innovation Network vets ag technology, runs pilots on member farms, and negotiates prices for growers.
Episode 684
History rhymes: weekly market outlook, July 7th-11th
Duane Lowry explains why uniform crops point to a big yield, and how to test whether price times yield still makes the season a survivable one.
Episode 679
Update your cost of production! Weekly market outlook June 23rd-27th
Shay Foulk and Joe Paulson show why June is the right time to rebuild your cost of production and place target orders well ahead of delivery.
Episode 678
Post WASDE thoughts: weekly market outlook, June 16th-20th
Greg McBride of Allendale explains how ending stocks, fund positioning and seasonal rally windows tell a farmer when a price spike is worth taking.
Episode 677
The risks in this growing season
Jim McCormick explains why supply-driven rallies are vicious and short, and why the order has to be working before the weather map changes on you.
297 of 645 episodes · page 1 of 12