Farm Food Facts

Farm+Food+Facts guests, Adam Grabenstein, a fifth-generation farmer and a board member for the Nebraska Corn and USFRA, and Kelly Brunkhorst, Executive Director of Nebraska Corn, share how Nebraska farmers are keeping tabs on input costs, weather, and exports which ultimately impact farmers’ bottom line.  To stay connected with USFRA, join our newsletter and become involved in our efforts, here. *Recorded 4.13.26

Farm+Food+Facts host Joanna Guza talks with Dave Mensink, pig farmer and owner of Mensink Farms in Minnesota, and Kevin Burkum, CEO of U.S. Farmers and Ranchers in Action, about key themes they discussed during their panel at the Animal Ag Tech Summit, including nitrogen efficiency, water quality management and other challenges facing the pork industry.   Items referenced in the podcast: Enhancing Farm Profitability Through Nitrogen Efficiency and Yield Stability 2025 Minnesota Pork Board Environmental Steward of the Year Animal Ag Tech Summit  To stay connected with USFRA, join our newsletter and become involved in our efforts, here.  

Farm+Food+Facts host Joanna Guza talks with Adam Grabenstein, a fifth-generation farmer and a board member for Nebraska Corn Board and USFRA, and Kelly Brunkhorst, Executive Director of the Nebraska Corn Board. They discuss the important role of the Nebraska Corn Board and the Nebraska Corn Growers Association, the organizations’ focus areas, emerging research and future goals.  To stay connected with USFRA, join our newsletter and become involved in our efforts, here.  

Farm+Food+Facts welcomes Greg Goodwin is Director of Illinois Corn’s Precision Conservation Program (PCM). With planting season upon us, in this timely episode he explains how PCM delivers results by improving farmer profitability and soil health on a field-by-field, pass-by-pass basis. Learn more about how PCM works with famers to improve tillage, cover crop and nitrogen management strategies.  To stay connected with USFRA, join our newsletter and become involved in our efforts, here.  

Austin Gellings, Senior Director of Agricultural Services for the Association of Equipment Manufactures and Willi Ortner, Strategic Product Manager for Kubota, shares how the MAHA movement and increasing consumer interest in where their food comes from is impacting the agriculture sector.   To stay connected with USFRA, join our newsletter and become involved in our efforts, here. 

Ian Welsh, co-founder and chair of Innovation Forum, shares how he’s seen The Future of Food and Beverage Forum USA evolve over the last seven years, including an increasing emphasis on resilience, precision agriculture and farmer profitability. Learn more and register for The Future of Food and Beverage Forum USA. To stay connected with USFRA, join our newsletter and become involved in our efforts, here. 

Farm+Food+Facts host Joanna Guza talks with Austin Gellings, Senior Director of Agricultural Services for the Association of Equipment Manufactures (AEM is a member of USFRA) and Willi Ortner, Strategic Product Manager for Kubota, about the new sanitary design standard for specialty crop equipment. The S664 DEC2025 Direct to Consumption Specialty Crop Machine Hygienic Design Requirement is available on ASABE's website. To stay connected with USFRA, join our newsletter and become involved in our efforts, here.  

This episode was originally aired on April 25, 2025 and it was a top performing episode on Farm+Food+Facts.  U.S. Farmers & Ranchers in Action established an independent scientific working group to analyze the potential for U.S. agriculture to collectively reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and possibly achieve a state of negative emissions, or emitting fewer total GHGs than are sequestered. The resulting report, “Potential for U.S. Agriculture to be Greenhouse Gas Negative,” was peer-reviewed and published. In this episode, we dive deeper into one of the key areas of opportunity outlined in the report: Nitrogen fertilizer management.Join Farm+Food+Facts host Joanna Guza and Dr. Bruno Basso, professor of earth and environmental sciences at Michigan State University, as they discuss how nitrogen management can help improve farmer profitability and reduce emissions. They explore the nitrogen cycle, emerging technologies, precision agriculture and other tools to be successful.  To stay connected with USFR

Join Farm+Food+Facts host Joanna Guza and Ian Welsh, co-founder and chair of Innovation Forum. Ian and his team will be hosting The Future of Food and Beverage USA, a national conference being held May 27-28 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, that will feature more than 250 farmers, leading brands, retailers, traders, investors and policy makers. This episode explores key topics that will be discussed at the event, including regenerative agriculture. USFRA (farmer board members and staff) will be speaking at the event.  Learn more about the Food and Beverage Forum here. Register for the forum here.  To stay connected with USFRA, join our newsletter and become involved in our efforts, here.   

Gary Wickham, founder and CEO of MagrowTec, shares how he’s watching how AI will fit into agriculture and how we can turn data into meaningful interactions.  To stay connected with USFRA, join our newsletter and become involved in our efforts, here. 

Meryl Richards, program director of Food & Forests at Ceres, explains why she is excited about the rapid evolution of new technology in agriculture.    To stay connected with USFRA, join our newsletter and become involved in our efforts, here. 

Greg Shoemaker, North America Commercial Director at Cargill and a USFRA board member, discusses artificial intelligence's impact on agriculture and how he challenges himself to learn more about it.  To stay connected with USFRA, join our newsletter and become involved in our efforts, here. 

Farm+Food+Facts host Joanna Guza talks with Meryl Richards, program director of Food & Forests at Ceres about how investors and companies are working with farmers to improve sustainability.   To stay connected with USFRA, join our newsletter and become involved in our efforts, here.  

Farm+Food+Facts host Joanna Guza talks with Greg Shoemaker, North America Commercial Director at Cargill and a USFRA board member, about the company’s seven-generation history, it’s strategic focus in the dairy division and how it helps improve profitability for farmers.  Resources:  Cargill website  Cargill Dairy MAX Dairy | Animal Nutrition - United States To stay connected with USFRA, join our newsletter and become involved in our efforts, here.  

Carla Schultz, owner of Eight Plates Farm in Michigan and a United Soybean Board farmer-leader, and Patrick Giberson, owner of Giberson Farms in New Jersey and a United Soybean farmer-leader and a USFRA board member, discuss what they are keeping an eye on in 2026, including the loss of farmland and challenges in the carbon credit space.  To stay connected with USFRA, join our newsletter and become involved in our efforts, here. 

Farm+Food+Facts host Joanna Guza talks with Gary Wickham, founder and CEO of MagrowTec, about how better spray performance is reducing grower input costs and down time, and what questions to ask agronomists.   To stay connected with USFRA, join our newsletter and become involved in our efforts, here.  

Dr. Tom Richard, retired professor from Penn State University, explains how photosynthesis can be an important tool in solving our climate challenge.   To stay connected with USFRA, join our newsletter and become involved in our efforts, here. Check out USFRA’s report on the “Potential for U.S. Agriculture to be Greenhouse Gas Negative.” 

Farm+Food+Facts host Joanna Guza talks with Carla Schultz, owner of Eight Plates Farm in Michigan and a United Soybean Board farmer-leader, and Patrick Giberson, owner of Giberson Farms in New Jersey and a United Soybean farmer-leader and a USFRA board member, about the 2025 cropping year, new uses of soybeans and challenges facing the industry.  To stay connected with USFRA, join our newsletter and become involved in our efforts, here.  

Farm+Food+Facts host Joanna Guza talks with Dr. Tom Richard, retired professor from Penn State University, about agricultural energy systems and the myriad of opportunities for farmers to improve efficiency. To stay connected with USFRA, join our newsletter and become involved in our efforts, here. Check out USFRA’s report on the “Potential for U.S. Agriculture to be Greenhouse Gas Negative.” 

Dr. Jerry Hatfield, Retired Laboratory Director, USDA-ARS National Laboratory for Agriculture and the Environment and Dr. Bruno Basso, Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Michigan State University, provide three practices farmers can implement to increase nitrogen efficiency. Learn more about the study here: Enhancing Farm Profitability Through Nitrogen Efficiency and Yield Stability To stay connected with USFRA, join our newsletter and become involved in our efforts, here. Check out USFRA’s report on the “Potential for U.S. Agriculture to be Greenhouse Gas Negative.”