This week's Open Mic guest is Shirley Bloomfield, CEO of NTCA The Rural Broadband Association. The Supreme Court confirmed the constitutionality of the Universal Service Fund in a decision announced on Friday. Bloomfield says NTCA applauds the decision as access to those funds is critical for expanding and maintaining broadband service to millions in rural America. Bloomfield says regulatory headwinds from the Trump administration are challenging previously approved work under the Biden administ...
Jun 29, 2025•25 min
This week's Open Mic guest is Jeff Rowe, CEO of Syngenta Group. He says crop protection companies are looking to improve the health of human beings around the globe and boost agriculture's environmental footprint. In addition to their existing product portfolio, Rowe sees tremendous growth opportunities for artificial intelligence and biological products to enhance crop growth, sustainability, and nutrient efficiencies. However, U.S. regulatory headwinds may slow down access to some new products...
Jun 22, 2025•24 min
This week's Open Mic guest is Claire Babineaux-Fontenot, CEO of Feeding America. The most recent food insecurity numbers from the USDA suggest more people are food insecure today than during the Covid Pandemic. Babineaux-Fontenot says food donations and financial contributions are trending lower while more people are seeking assistance. Babineau-Fontenot strongly disagrees with GOP plans to change Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program funding, saying the cuts could create a 9.5 billion meal ...
Jun 15, 2025•23 min
This week's Open Mic guest is Andy LaVigne, President and CEO of the American Seed Trade Association. Members of ASTA will be in Washington this week spending time on Capitol Hill to lobby for issues critical to the seed industry's future. LaVigne says along with their customers, ASTA members need the certainty of a new farm bill, free and open global markets as well as science-based regulations that will protect the industry from litigation.
Jun 08, 2025•26 min
This week's Open Mic guest is U.S. Representative Angie Craig, Ranking Member of the House Agriculture Committee. The Minnesota Democrat stands in strong opposition to the House Reconciliation Act that took billions of dollars from the SNAP program to make room for tax cuts and adds to the nation's budget deficit. Craig opposes the Trump administration's use of tariffs and doesn't believe the nation's farm economy can withstand the economic challenges presented by reciprocal tariffs from offende...
May 31, 2025•26 min
This week's Open Mic guest is Neil Caskey, CEO of the National Corn Growers Association. Caskey says last week's Make America Healthy Again report overshadowed the news of updates to the nation's farm programs and tax policy in the House of Representatives. Caskey is anxious to see the EPA's pending RVO announcement under the Renewable Fuel Standard and hopes Congress can finally approve year-round E-15 legislation. He says the nation's corn growers are willing to give President Trump's trade po...
May 25, 2025•24 min
This week's Open Mic guest is Chandler Goule, CEO of the National Association of Wheat Growers. The budget reconciliation debate introduced much needed changes to farm programs that many agriculture groups have hoped for, but Goule says there are many needed provisions that were orphaned in the reconciliation process and need to be addressed. Like others, Goule is concerned about the consequences of U.S. tariffs and retaliation by other countries. He is also concerned about keeping wheat acres c...
May 18, 2025•24 min
This week's Open Mic guest is Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman. The Arkansas Republican says updating farm programs under budget reconciliation won't be easy but is a way forward to update risk management tools for farmers. Boozman believes SNAP program funds can be cut without reducing benefits for those in need and discusses President Trump's tariff tactics to bring better trade relationships for farmers and industry.
May 11, 2025•24 min
This week's Open Mic guest is Dr. Rob Johansson, Director of Economics and Policy Analysis for the American Sugar Alliance. Johansson says sugar growers are facing the same economic headwinds of high input costs and marginal commodity prices. Growers hope for a new farm bill with updates in crop insurance and marketing loan prices reflective of current market conditions. Johansson says growers still satisfy a majority of domestic sugar demand and support sound science regarding dietary guidance ...
May 04, 2025•24 min
This week's Open Mic guest is Beth Ford, President and CEO of Land O' Lakes. While the cooperative is known for its dairy products, Ford says two thirds of their member enterprises are in other segments of agriculture. Ford says low bulk commodity returns coupled with inflation's impact on inputs have brought financial stress to many operations and uncertainty over global market access further clouds farmer's financial outlook. She now chairs the Immigration Committee of the Business Roundtable ...
Apr 27, 2025•26 min
This week's Open Mic guest is Steve Censky, CEO of the American Soybean Association. Soybean farmers face surmountable challenges from low crop prices, high input costs and an uncertain future demand outlook. Censky hopes the current trade war is short-lived and brings worthy results. Censky says soybean farmers are watching closely the downsizing at USDA and holding out hope Congress can deliver a new farm bill this year. The EPA's pending RVO announcement could be the determining factor betwee...
Apr 20, 2025•24 min
This week's Open Mic guest is Congressman Frank Lucas. The Oklahoma 3rd District representative says covid, global military conflicts and trade have heightened concern surrounding the size of the nation's debt. He believes it is right to question government spending with proper oversight and says the upcoming budget reconciliation process will be the "wildest political rodeo" voters have ever seen. Lucas guided the legislature into approving the 2014 farm bill and wants to see a new bill this ye...
Apr 13, 2025•25 min
This week’s Open Mic guest is Adam Bergman, Managing Director at EchoTech Capital. While opinions still widely vary regarding what sustainability really means, Bergman stands in the gap between would be investors and those willing to adopt certain sustainable practices. In agriculture the topics include regenerative farming, a vast array of climate smart practices and even indoor farming. Washington has proven that financial support for renewable fuels as well as electricity from solar and wind ...
Apr 06, 2025•26 min
This week’s Open Mic guest is Chuck Conner, president and CEO of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives. Conner suggests the nation’s farmer owned cooperatives are well stocked as producers prepare for the 2025 growing season. Conner says many co-ops anticipated tariff issues and took early shipment of supplies for this season. A veteran of Capitol Hill policy debates, he acknowledges plenty of uncertainty surrounding the farm bill, tax policy and tariffs. Despite challenges, Conner believe...
Mar 30, 2025•26 min
This week’s Open Mic guest is Bill Hoagland, senior vice president of the Bipartisan Policy Center. In a day where Washington faces mounting issues of government outlays and rising national debt, Hoagland say partisanship must give way to solutions that maintain essential federal programs and services. Hoagland provides key insights on budget reconciliation, DOGE, tax reform, a farm bill and the debt ceiling, which are all critical issues facing the 119th Congress.
Mar 23, 2025•27 min
This week’s Open Mic guest is Bill Anderson, CEO of Bayer AG. The global company is heavily invested in developing innovative technology for farmers around the world. The company’s pursuit of crop genetics, herbicide resistance, chemical crop protection and data management has benefitted farmer goals toward both sustainability and productivity. Anderson tells Agri-Pulse that legal challenges to glyphosate are limiting the company’s investments in innovation and may result in eliminating the sale...
Mar 16, 2025•23 min
This week’s Open Mic guest is Chris Abbott, CEO of Pivot Bio. The California company was formed 15 years ago with a premise of using soil microbes to utilize naturally occurring nitrogen to sustainably feed plants and replace synthetic fertilizers. After going commercial five years ago, the company continues to grow the number of farmers and acres utilizing their gene edited products. Abbott sees a bright future for growth in the use of soil microbes to increase productivity, reduce nutrient cos...
Mar 09, 2025•26 min
This week’s guest on Open Mic is U.S. Representative John Garamendi. California's 8th district Democrat is a strong advocate for agriculture, nutrition programs and global humanitarian aid. As a member of the Agriculture Research Caucus, Garamendi believes DOGE cuts in government employees and spending cuts will lead to ill fated consequences for farmers in the form of crop and livestock disease research and readiness as well as dramatic cuts to food and medical aid for those in impoverished are...
Mar 02, 2025•24 min
This week’s Open Mic guest is Kurt Coffey, Vice-President, Case IH North America. Reduced farm income has resulted in lower volume sales of large agriculture equipment in the nation. Coffey expects some improvement if USDA releases disaster and economic assistance funds approved in the continuing resolution in the latter hours of the 118th Congress. Coffey says artificial intelligence is helping in machine repairs as well as more efficient field operations. Case-IH supports farmer repairs to the...
Feb 23, 2025•25 min
This week’s Open Mic guest is U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins. Less than 24 hours after being sworn in as the 33rd lead of the Department of Agriculture in Washington, Brooke Rollins found herself in Louisville, Kentucky being introduced in Freedom Hall at the Championship Tractor Pull. A native of the small town of Glen Rose, Texas, her career path led to the White House in President Trump’s first term and now as a member of the Trump Cabinet. Speaking on the sidelines of her first ev...
Feb 16, 2025•16 min
This week’s Open Mic guest is Jeffery Hall, Board Chairman and CEO of the Farm Credit Administration and the longest serving member of the current FCA board. Hall reports system debt at the end of 2024 at just over $448 billion dollars - just shy of an 8% increase from the end of 2023. Since the beginning of 2020, system debt outstanding has grown over 52%. The FCA has seen a dramatic downturn in the number of institutions and farmers since the farm crisis of the 1980’s, but the amount of debt c...
Feb 09, 2025•27 min
This week’s Open Mic guest is Garrett Hawkins, President of the Missouri Farm Bureau Federation. Hawkins says his state’s farmers echo calls to Washington to get a new, modernized farm bill approved as quickly as possible. Hawkins says his state takes issue with the Biden administration’s Green New Deal policies favoring electricity instead of an “all of the above” approach to the nation’s energy future. Missouri landowners are facing property rights issues as the private Grain Belt Express has ...
Feb 02, 2025•24 min
This week’s Open Mic guest is Paul Bertels, Principal and Senior Consultant for Farmgate Insights. Much attention is given to the potential demand for billions of bushels of row crops should they be included as acceptable feedstocks for sustainable aviation fuel. Drawing from his long career with the National Corn Growers Association and the ethanol industry, Bertles says the SAF market won’t be as easy to develop as the process involves creating molecules of actual jet fuel instead of simply bl...
Jan 26, 2025•23 min
This week’s Open Mic guest is Bryan Humphreys, CEO of the National Pork Producers Council. Swine producers are coming off a period of negative returns thanks to ample demand from domestic and global consumers. Humphreys says pork producers are concerned about the consequences of potential tariffs on global market access and hope for a farm bill which would include limits on state mandated production practices like those in California and Massachusetts. He also discusses the Biden administration'...
Jan 19, 2025•26 min
This week’s Open Mic guest is Greg Tyler, President and CEO of the USA Poultry and Egg Export Council. Tyler spoke with us while he was visiting Asian customers and dealing firsthand with issues like avian influenza, potential tariffs from the coming Trump administration, as well as a weak global economy and a strong U.S. dollar. Tyler says new trade negotiations and trade enforcement will be critical to grow market access in the presence of HPAI.
Jan 12, 2025•26 min
This week’s Open Mic guest is Kevin Kelly, CEO of Emerald Packaging. The global packaging industry is expected to grow to over $600 billion dollars by 2033. Kelly says packaging is essential to limit food waste and maintain fresh produce quality for consumers across the country and around the globe. But just as health experts encourage higher consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables, several states and countries are considering various restrictions on food packaging and waste disposal that wou...
Jan 05, 2025•24 min
This week’s Open Mic guest is Paul Myer, CEO of Athian. The company is creating an industry-led platform to assist in funding carbon projects within the livestock value chain which enables producers to make systemic change while optimizing their operations. The company values both the economic viability of producers and the health of the environment. The platform helps to combine, certify and fund greenhouse gas reductions throughout the entire livestock value chain with an overall goal of great...
Dec 29, 2024•26 min
This week’s Open Mic guest is Jim Sutter, CEO of the U.S. Soybean Export Council. As trade tensions with China have shifted more of their imports from Brazil, U.S. soybean farmers have successfully diversified their global demand base. Sutter says domestic supplies have higher quality than soybeans from anywhere else in the world and thus prove a better value for customers both in raw beans and in soy products. Sutter says production sustainability is becoming a greater priority in some markets ...
Dec 22, 2024•27 min
This week’s Open Mic guest is Duane Highley, CEO of Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association. This western cooperative is embracing the growing need for electric power among its one million customers and 200,000 square miles of challenging terrain with an “all of the above” approach to power generation. Highley says the cooperative is utilizing advanced battery technology to add wind and solar generation to the base load capacity of the system. At the state and federal level, Highley sa...
Dec 15, 2024•26 min
This week’s Open Mic guest is Mariah Scott, CEO of Rantizo. Drone technology is being utilized at an amazing pace across many aspects of industry and especially agriculture. Spray drones now cover millions of acres of crops and the potential for growth is astronomical. Scott has been instrumental in forming the American Spray Drone Coalition, which is speaking out against legislation that would limit access to drones manufactured by Chinese companies.
Dec 08, 2024•23 min
