There are many day or or week of celebrations that seem to only fit a small niche of people, but this is National Ag Week and even if we don’t work in agriculture, that’s what produces the food that eventually lands in our grocery stores, restaurants and homes.

This week as spring starts, many farmers are entering the busy season or making final preparations for it. With that in mind, we checked in with a dozen farmers — nine of whom farm is different states coast to coast and north, south and in the middle. And a few of our past international guests as well! We asked them what they would be doing on the farm and to share a bit more of what is happening with them.

An AI generated transcript for episode 311 is available.

National Ag Week & A Presidential Proclamation

The week (March 20-26, 2022) is National Ag Week, and Tuesday is a day of focus on agriculture in Washington, DC. In fact, since the 1970s, this Tuesday has been National Ag Day. This year’s proclamation of ag day by President Joe Biden reads in part:

On National Agriculture Day, we recognize the invaluable contributions of American farmers, farmworkers, ranchers, fishers, foresters, and other agricultural workers, who have practiced their craft for generations and touch the lives of Americans every day.  Their tireless efforts growing crops, raising livestock, and distributing food, fuel, and fiber sustain America and the entire world.  They put meals on our plates, clothes on our backs, and roofs over our heads.  Along the way, America’s agricultural workers serve as stewards of the land; ensure the safety and health of animals, plants, and people; and strengthen our rural communities with economic opportunities. (continue reading here.)

Farmers We Hear From For National Ag Week

We heard from a diverse range of farmers, growing different crops in different conditions. Several have been on the show previously (we will link back to those episodes) but several haven’t yet. We decided to put together a short video showing where each of them is from & the crops they grow. If there is someone you really want to hear more from, be sure to let us know!

We put the audio in as we got each report so we do a bit of zig zagging around the country! Here’s who all is featured.

Rebecca Larson Talks Sugarbeet Processing & More

Some of you may remember Colorado’s Rebecca Larson from our episode on growing & enjoying sugar. I still want some of those fun cookies she makes! She’s getting ready for Easter but also updates us on last year’s crop & the prep for this year!

Watermelons Going in the Ground

Rachel Syngo with Melon 1 in Florida tells us her family farm is planted. Now they are working with their network of farmers to move up the East Coast through Georgia, the Carolinas and further up and west! She says they will begin harvesting US-grown watermelons in early April and keep going through Labor Day  and I am ready for it!

It Isn’t National Ag Week in England, But Flower Farming is Still Going Strong

The sun has been shining on Ben Cross’ part of the English coastline and that means he has lots of alstroemeria growing in the greenhouses! He says they don’t have an ag week, but he shares the story of sustainably grown flowers we discussed throughout the year.

You Will Hear the Peeps!

Chicken farmer Lauren Arbogast in Virginia decided to update us on her farm from the chicken house. She was checking on all the chickens and you can hear the peeps & chirps (or cheeps?) in the background. Lauren also works off farm as a teacher and looks forward to class projects for ag week. She’s excited for spring but like lots of us, dealing with rising prices.

A Lesson in English History & A Farming Update

We talked about a cheese-a-day with Farmer Tom, I knew he was cut from a different cloth. So in this update it doesn’t surprise me at all that he shows us his farm and gives us a history lesson. He’s got a community garden underway too!

Growing Grass Seed in the Pacific Northwest

We haven’t had Marie Bowers on the show yet, but love that we were able to get an update on what’s happening in Oregon and growing grass seed — the grass for pastures, lawns, etc. Marie talks with us about some of the challenges weather and rising fertilizer prices are giving farmers this year.

Things are Poppin’ in Indiana with TheFarmersLife

Growing almost every kind of corn there is (including popcorn & waxy corn) soybeans Brian Scott is still selling some of last years crop as he gets ready for the 2022 planting season. Weather for him has been fairly typical but he knows some folks not too far away have been dry. Although he hasn’t bee on the podcast before, he’s also a regular with videos (check out TheFarmersLife on Youtube) from time with his son to a tour at a new-to-their-farm 18 wheeler.

Priyanka is Moving Countries & Crops

Priyanka Gupta talked to us about the humble grasspea and the potential it has in a shifting climate previously. At the time she was in Morocco, but she’s recently moved to Canada where she will be working with wheat. She gives us an update on how things are going with both important food crops.

Cleaning Up After Storms in Tennessee

Farming with his brothers in West Tennessee, Bob Walker grows cotton, corn, soybeans and has some cattle. They are working in the fields getting ready for planting, making sure the fields will drain well, and more. They are still feeding cows as they wait for pastures to green up and still looking for some calves to be born. He’s like family, so eventually I’ll drag him on the podcast. LOL.

Selling Hay, Straw & Teaching about National Ag Day

New Jersey farmer Caroline Etsch says they are keeping busy selling hay & straw to some of their neighbors in the Garden State. They also have some corn go out each week to feed chickens — so she says she helps with our chicken nuggets! Like Lauren, Caroline plans to spend some time talking with schools about ag week.

Working with Cameras for Live Feeds

Cattle rancher Derek Klingenberg goes by Farmer Derek on YouTube and it sounds like that is keeping him busier than the farming side of things this week. He’s got a series of live cameras on the Kansas farm, some of them allow for people to feed either the cows or wildlife! Sometimes there isn’t much going on and then you see something dramatic. Lots of us had been checking in on the live owl feed as there was a precious egg in the nest but sadly nature (and at least a raccoon) had other ideas. He also has a bunch of fun videos — playing trombone for cows, doing parodies of pop songs, etc.

Lots of Challenges But It’s Spring & that Brings Potential

Several farmers have mentioned price increases and John Peterson echoed that saying that since their family farm sells directly to folks (remember the episode about turkey farming?), they are having that conversation with people one-on-one. He also mentioned the anxiety that poultry farmers around the country are feeling with the avian flu threatening flocks. Biosecurity efforts are tight as they seek to keep the turkeys in top health. But spring also gives John a lot of reason to have a positive outlook, and he looks forward to getting the birds outside and to start working toward our Thanksgiving dinners!

Wrapping Up Produce Season in Arizona

With his farm in Yuma, Arizona, Jon Dinsmore’s busy season is winter when he and others are busy growing all the types of lettuce and other greens! He’s getting crops on the group to provide cover through the summer — he grows wheat, sudangrass (wonder if Marie grows that seed?) and more. He also mentioned schools sharing info with his kids.

Want to learn a little something more?

I wish I had thought about making this offer in the audio, but it didn’t occur to me until everything was finished. If you would like to share more of the learning experience with a young person in your world, please choose one of the lesson plans we have available on our food and farm education page (or in our TPT Grounded by the Farm store). Just let us know via the Contact Us page which one you would like before midnight April 1 and we will email it to you at no cost!

The post Celebrating National Ag Week and the Start of Spring! appeared first on Grounded by the Farm.

Family farm transitions are tough to discuss. A lot gets wrapped into it…. not only are you talking about things like retirement or potential death of an older generation, but it means changes in how things are done, recognizing the contributions of younger generations. And many times all of this is wrapped up with generations of family legacy and how best to honor that.

It’s a conversation that farmers acknowledge is tough and some farmers want to farm until they die so the thought of handing over control before them is uncomfortable. But others focus on the outcome they want… successful operations for generations to come.

While Debbie Lyons-Blythe and her husband Duane are planning to be around for decades, they have also chosen to have this conversation openly with their five children, all of whom are now adults. Debbie was nice enough to discuss all of this with us. I think it provides those of us who’s families don’t farm a lot of insight into some of the generational family dynamics that it takes when planning for the future of a family farm.

And for Debbie, having a good farm transition, where expertise and relationships are built among their children, is the only way she thinks they can secure the ranch’s future.

Ranching on the Prairie

Debbie & Duane’s family have both been ranching in Kansas for generations. They are on the ranch Duane took over when his father died young. Immediately deciding to run an operation at 14 was a dive in and swim hard, but Duane felt compelled to continue the family’s legacy. While Duane’s farm transition to running the operation wasn’t ideal, he was able to keep the place going successfully. Later and Debbie & Duane started a family, they decided she’d be full-time on the ranch and Duane would keep the off-farm job to bring home a regular paycheck and keep insurance. They’ve evolved in several ways over the years.

Their operation is in the Flint Hills, which is an area of rolling hills in eastern Kansas. She says they have areas that have stayed in native grasses for generations and she gladly says she’s a grass farmer. Some of those grasses have taproots that go deeper than trees too! She said the earliest settlers in the area found the top soil was so thin that farming is only possible in a few areas, but that native grassland had fed healthy buffalo herds and cattle started being brought in.

The changes from one generation to the next can seem subtle to the outside, but managing risks and looking for returns to the ranch and the land are both paramount. Debbie says she & Duane moved from Hereford cattle to Angus, which may not sound like a big move to some, but the goal of genetic improvement that pays off for customers and the ranch both was reason to make the change. Now they are part of the Certified Angus Beef program so if you buy beef in a grocery store, it could be from their place! And the sons wanted to return to some of the crop production the family had been doing in the past on the land well-suited to that, so they’ve gotten back into growing wheat and things in the past few years as this farm transition takes shape.

We’ve All Seen Farm Transitions Gone Bad

If people in Hollywood wanted to create a reality TV show that would bring all the drama agriculture has to truly offer, I think farm transitions would be the thing to capture. You have fiercely independent people, finances, hopes, dreams, wills and blood, sweat and tears all on the line.

I’ve heard of older farmers who refused to discuss farm transitions even as their children neared early retirement ages among their peers in cities. And I’ve seen young farmers walk away from family operations moving across the country when they couldn’t get any communication because they felt the future was just too uncertain.

Knowing all of that, Debbie says she & Duane have tried to keep the conversation fairly open as their children grew from littles to the amazing adults they are today. All of the five children will own stakes in the land and will participate in some of the decisions but Debbie says those who have come back to live and work on the property will be earning a larger part of the stakes in the farming and ranch operations.

Debbie says communicating, helping each other know what hopes and dreams the rest of the family has is the best path for this farm transition. It’s not easy work, but knowing that all the family wants to see this generation be happy, have a chance to grow and honor the land…. that’s worth the effort it takes.

Of the five children all in their mid- to upper twenties, the three sons (Trent, Eric & Tyler) have all decided to return to the ranch while the two daughters (Meghan and Allie) have found their passions led to other careers. Four of the five have gotten married or engaged and you can see the crowd likes to be together in Eric & CeCe’s prairie wedding photo. It really captures the beauty and happiness of place.

From left to right: Tyler & Katie, Trenton & Brier, Eric & Cece, Debbie & Duane, Allie & Jeff, Meghan & Lance

Growing Multiple Businesses

The Blythe family is excited that several of the younger generation are choosing the ranching life. Debbie says balancing that excitement with the fiscal reality that the ranch has been supporting one household for decades and four households is a radical shift. Each of the households have to look for ways to build consistent income as well as to build equity in the ranch. Debbie says right now that means several off-ranch jobs and later may mean building additional businesses because it’s not as simple as buying a lot of land and adding more cattle.

The oldest son Trent was the first to come back to the ranch. He’s putting his degree in wildlife and outdoor enterprise management to use building an outfitter / pheasant hunting business called Level Creek Outfitters. Eric and Tyler moved back to the area more recently and are working full-time off the ranch while working the ranch evenings and weekends. They are also trying to find the right side hustles to help create income for their households.

A Look Around the Blythe Ranch

One of the the pieces I most love in getting to know farmers / ranchers is seeing the land they work. Debbie has done a few live videos and I pulled this one knowing you will enjoy getting to know her and the ranch dog Roo!

Finding the Blythes Online

So often listeners want to follow the farms/ranches we feature and Debbie like most others is active on social media and Instagram is her favorite channel. You can find her at @KidsCowsandGrass on Instagram and Facebook as Kids Cows & Grass / KS Cattle Ranch. She also has posted a range of content on the KidsCowsandGrass.com website over the years. She’s posted recipes like the best meat seasoning and tips for cooking prime rib, as well as how they train new cow hands on the ranch.

Trenton’s Level Creek Outfitters is on Instagram @levelcreekoutfitters and Facebook Level Creek Outfitters. The website goes deep on information from the types of hunts, licensing, costs and more — check out levelcreekoutfitters.com.

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