Keep Agile Keep Farming Podcast

Episode 16 - Could craft farming knock supermarkets off their perch?

Gwen — Sun, 30 Jul 2023 18:54:09 +0000

In this episode we have St. John Craner with us – the mastermind behind Agrarian, a New Zealand-based company revolutionizing sales and marketing in agribusinesses. St. John shares insights on how farmers can take their game to the next level in direct consumer marketing.We also discuss the concept of craft farming.

Get ready to be inspired, as we uncover the secrets to breaking down barriers and building stronger relationships between the farm and the consumer.

About St. John Craner
St. John is not just a seasoned entrepreneur and rural sales specialist, but also an author, speaker, blogger, and podcaster – sharing his knowledge and expertise in rural sales and marketing far and wide.

St John has over 25 years of corporate sales and marketing agency experience in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand working for the like of McCann Erickson, Young & Rubicam and Westpac. He comes from a farming family in the UK and is a Lincoln University Kellogg scholar.

Episode 15 - Raising capital for farms in a non-traditional way

Gwen — Sat, 24 Jun 2023 19:18:11 +0000

We explore a more dynamic and direct way of raising capital for the next project on your farm, compared to making an appointment with your local bank manager.

Austin Maness, cofounder at Harvest Returns walks us through how his business is connecting farmers to experienced passive investors with a passion for agriculture.

By offering an alternative funding option to the traditional bank loan, Harvest Returns have raised more than $30m in investment capital which has helped to grow numerous farms, ranches and agribusinesses.

About Austin Maness

Some of Austin's greatest memories were spent summers as a kid working with his grandparents on their small farm. During a ten-year career as an US Army Officer, he served at several levels of command from tactical to strategic operations. Maness earned a Bachelor's degree from Texas A&M University and completed a Masters at Kansas University.

Today Austin is a cofounder and the COO of Harvest Returns and manages all facets of the company’s logistics, deal pipeline, and human resources.

Episode 14 - How easy can it be to digest Ag news?

Gwen — Wed, 08 Mar 2023 18:59:07 +0000

Have you ever thought that there should be an easier way to keep yourself up to date on news pertinent to your farming business, without having to browse through multiple websites and fight off a truckload of annoying ads and pop ups in the process?

Our guests Nick and Clara from EasyNewZ have developed an app, which helps you cut to the chase and have Ag news relevant to farming right at your fingertips at all times, in a highly digestible format. The app was launched a few weeks ago and is already achieving 6 to 10000 downloads a day.

In this episode of the Keep Agile Keep Farming podcast we learn about how this start-up team with two very different backgrounds came together and how they used their complementary skills to help farmers.

Episode 13 - Diversifizierung am Familienbetrieb mit Kürbiskernöl

Gwen — Tue, 01 Nov 2022 17:24:00 +0000

Diversifizierung ist ein wichtiges Thema für österreichische Landwirte. Wir haben Franz und Anna Gerstenmayer zu Gast, von denen wir unser sehr schmackhaftes regionales Kürbiskernöl beziehen.

Es gibt kein Patentrezept für eine erfolgreiche Diversifizierung in der Landwirtschaft. Darauf weist eine große Variabilität bei der Wirtschaftlichkeit hin, gerade auch bei der Direktvermarktung, wie Kennzahlen belegen. In dieser Episode sprechen wir einige wichtige Erfolgsfaktoren für die Diversifizierung an.

Anna und Franz sind gerade mit der Kürbisernte fertig geworden und wir haben den Moment genutzt mehr zu Ihrem Familienbetrieb zu erfahren und wie sie größere Herausforderungen überwunden haben.

Zum Gerstenmayer Hof

Der Gerstenmayer Bauernhof ist in Gedersdorf zu Hause, eine kleine Gemeinde in der Nähe von Krems in Niederösterreich. Dort kann man auch im Hofladen das Gedersdorfer Kürbiskernöl und Vogelfutter beziehen.

www.gerstenmayer-kuerbiskernoel.at

Episode 12 - How going back to Uni helped to overcome adversity

Gwen — Sun, 23 Oct 2022 10:50:00 +0000

In this episode we learn how adversity can be responsible for dramatic personal growth in ourselves. Adam Williamson, an Australian thoroughbred horse stud farm manager faced adversity in his own family and farming operation. To combat hardships brought on by extreme drought conditions he decided to go back to University to study for a degree in Precision Agriculture.

Adam’s story is a great example of the benefits of education not only early on in our lives but throughout our whole life. Going back to University helped him take control of a difficult situation and create opportunities, including a Nuffield Scholarship.

About Adam Williamson

Adam Williamson is a thoroughbred horse stud farm manager at the Vinery Stud, based close to Scone in New South Wales Australia. Adam also designs and manufactures deep-tillage and feedlot specific equipment through the company Williamson Agri that he runs in partnership with his mother, Rosemary.

In 2022 he received a Nuffield Scholarship, supported by AgriFutures Australia, which he wants to use to combat soil compaction and improve pasture management to support the long-term health of thoroughbred horses.

You can reach out to Adam on Twitter @amwfarming

and www.williamsonagri.com.au or www.Vinery.com.au

Episode 11- Don’t worry fail forward

Gwen — Sat, 01 Oct 2022 13:02:00 +0000

The fear of failure can hold us back from trying out new things and making necessary changes. We discuss the concept of failing forward with Emmy Koeleman, who recently wrote an article on applying this concept to agriculture.

The difference between average people and achieving people is their perception and response to failure." according to the bestselling author John C. Maxwell of the book Failing Forward.

In episode 11 we look at how failing forward relates to farming and our personal lives. We hope it inspires you and helps to take away the fear of failure when trying out new things.

About Emmy Koeleman

Emmy works and lives in the Netherlands, where she established her own business in 2020, providing services as an editor, storyteller, moderator and speaker in the field of agriculture. She graduated with an Msc in Animal Science from the University of Wageningen and gained more than 15 years of experience as a Chief Editor in leading international agricultural media brands before she started her own business.

Episode 10 - Farm evolution without retribution

Gwen — Fri, 23 Sep 2022 07:48:00 +0000

What happens when you keep butting heads on the family farm and good ideas or changes are not implemented because of stubbornness? We had Andy Caygeon Junkin from Stubborn.Farm explain to us what the underlying causes are and how family farms can make better quality decisions together as a team.

Andy Caygeon Junkin is a leading expert on farm succession and farm debt turnarounds, who is recognized for bringing farming families together solving their issues and smooth the path towards farm succession.

He operates his business online from the US helping save family farms.

Episode 9 - Revival of carob for sustainable and climate smart agriculture in Cyprus

Gwen — Thu, 25 Aug 2022 16:55:00 +0000

In this episode we learn some exciting facts about the carob tree from Dr. Vasilis Symeou. With the increasing reports of drought, heat and forest fires in the current news, we wanted to find a crop that is climate resilient Vasilis talks us through the advantages of cultivating carob trees in Cyprus and we find out why 2022 is a particularly profitable year for carob growers in Cyprus.

About Dr. Vasilis Symeou

Vasilis is an animal scientist working for Vettaky Ltd based in Cyprus. specializing in sustainable animal husbandry practices. He works across all livestock species in Cyprus and has also been teaching animal science related courses at the Technicological University of Cyprus in the past 8 years. He comes from a proud agricultural family and his father is a micro-olive and carob tree grower.

Episode 8 - How personalized help for farmers is just one click away

Gwen — Fri, 15 Jul 2022 07:02:00 +0000

We talk to Robert Saik, Founder of AGvisorPRO, who is a true champion for agriculture and serial entrepreneur based in Canada. We wanted to know how AGvisorPRO can make asking for help really easy and highly personalized at the very time you need it.

Rob has founded over 15 companies and has been hailed an agricultural visionary on hot topics in global food production. He is also author of the Amazon bestseller book Food 5.0 - How we feed the future.

Episode 7 - How is agtech being adopted by the livestock sector?

Gwen — Wed, 01 Jun 2022 07:51:00 +0000

Dr. Sam Hoste from Quantech solutions joins us to talk about what matters to livestock farmers in adopting new technologies and where agritech companies still need to improve to become more famer friendly.

Sam shares his experience from assisting companies in their innovations and commercializing digital solutions in the livestock sector.

Episode 6 - Sustainable beef production just got smarter

Gwen — Wed, 13 Jan 2021 20:03:00 +0000

A large-scale Australian cattle producer and a new entrant UK beef farmer give their perspective on sustainable beef production and how it can be made more profitable and measurable by using smart tools.

Ian Wheal, CEO and Founder of Breedr and James Wright, business development manager at Breedr and their diverse team bring the latest technology to a traditional industry for best quality meat-protein.

All you need is data and a network of progressive farmers. An app helps to connect the dots to produce better beef with higher welfare and less waste efficiently. It also helps to take out the guess work of buying quality productive beef animals.

Ian and James are not short of words and enthusiasm. Tune into this episode for their viewpoints and very practical apporach to beef production with a smart twist for more sustainability.

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Episode 5 – Why collaborate for agility, diversity and sustainability in agriculture?

Gwen — Thu, 31 Dec 2020 19:13:00 +0000

Making a swift Agilexit from 2020 this transition episode into 2021 features Gwen, some of her long-term pet topics and some of her take home messages from the Women in Food and Agriculture digital festival 2020, that she attended in early December.

The annual Google search report for 2020 revealed that people asked "Why?" questions more than ever before, as they searched Google for answers to all types of questions in 2020. So, we thought which "Why" question should we ask for agriculture to move into the new year. We came up with: Why collaborate for agility, diversity and sustainability in agriculture?

Whilst we don't claim to have the absolute answer to this question, Gwen gives an answer, which hopefully provides some food for thought in 2021.

As we transition into a new year and new beginnings we are looking forward to recording more Keep Agile Keep Farming podcast episodes and we are very excited about the guests we have lined up for 2021.

As we recorded this episode on the 31st of December in the last hours of 2020, we wish everybody a happy and healthy New Year and that you will have time to tune into our podcast.

Stay safe and keep agile

Gwen and Nick

Relevant Links

Year in search - Google 2020

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Episode 4 - Channeling stress into success

Gwen — Tue, 17 Nov 2020 16:46:00 +0000

We chat to Celia Gaze, founder of the Wellbeing Farm, whose story is a real inspiration for turning around a bad personal situation and overcoming obstacles when starting a new business on a farm. Yes, it is possible to competely transform your life and your farm.

Tune in to our chat with Celia to gain some inspiration and practical advice to turn your crazy idea for diversifying your farm into a thriving business and learn how a Llama played a role in igniting a business idea for the Wellbeing Farm. The unique concept which includes wellbeing, fun and sustainability is now bringing joy into people's lives as well as helping people with their stress management.

The road to this succesful business was bumpy, Cecila's enthusiasm and resilience carried her through. Celia has much to share from her experience. She wants others to benefit and prepare them for some of the potential obstacles they may encounter on their farm diversification journey.

Episode 3 - Farm diversification trends and opportunities

Gwen — Sun, 11 Oct 2020 18:07:00 +0000

The editor of the Farm Diversity Magazine shares some new farm diversification trends. Victoria Galligan has seen a lot when it comes to farm diversification and came across some quite unique projects. Her insights can serve as inspiration to anybody aspiring to diversity their farm to add another stream of farm-based income and increase the economic resilience of their farm.

A survey published by the Farmer's Weekly Magazine in October 2020 revealed that most young farmers believe that diversification is required to stay in farming. We hope this episode of the Keep Agile Keep Farming podcast will give you some ideas for what might work at your farm and points out important steps you need to consider as you embark on your farm diversification journey.

Episode 2 -Smart way to keep on top of pig health and antibiotics

Gwen — Sun, 02 Feb 2020 17:42:00 +0000

In this episode we speak to Chris Bomgaars, Founder and CEO of EveryPig about managing pig health remotely, digitizing pig records and facilitating team work on farms with their new pig management platform. Chris grew up pig farming in Iowa and therefore has firsthand knowledge of the challenges involved when it comes to managing pigs. It inspired him to come up with solutions to make pig record keeping easier, be more prepared for potential health risks and increase biosecurity on farms to save pigs’ lives. Listen in to our chat with Chris who walked us through the ins and outs of this exciting new app.

Episode 1 - 2020 Challenges Shaping Global Animal Production

Gwen — Thu, 12 Dec 2019 16:41:00 +0000

The first episode of the Keep Agile Keep Farming Podcast is out. Looking at the challenges for animal production in the 2020s, it sets the scene for topics of discussion in upcoming episodes.

We asked animal producers, vets and consultants from different countries on what their thoughts are on the challenges for their markets. On top of that we looked at the predictions influencers and decision makers whit a wider global impact on agriculture are making and some interesting statistics.

Listen to the first episode of the Keep Agile Keep Farming podcast

In upcoming podcast episodes we will initiate lively and thought-provoking debates on issues that matter to adaptability in farming.

Learning is key to keeping agile and we can also learn a lot from each other. We want to connect you to other farmers, who might be going through the same challenges as you and collectively build knowledge and develop new ideas on how to best respond to challenges and change.

It always pays to look at problems from a fresh perspective. So, we will be inviting experts from all over the world to share their knowledge with you.

We hope you like our first episode and look forward to keeping you agile and keeping you farming with future episodes.

Keep Agile Keep Farming Trailer

Gwen — Sun, 12 May 2019 18:40:00 +0000