The Business of Agriculture Podcast

Why do American farmers pay significantly more for seed and crop protection products than farmers in Brazil? A new study commissioned by the National Corn Growers Association finds that U.S. farmers face substantially higher crop input prices, with some products costing nearly twice as much as comparable inputs in Brazil. In this episode, Damian Mason speaks with NCGA Chief Economist Krista Swanson about the economic, regulatory, and market forces behind the price gap. They examine regulatory compliance costs, patent protections that can delay generic competition, market concentration among seed and crop protection companies, and the potential influence of U.S. farm payment programs on input pricing. Krista also explains what NCGA means when it calls for greater transparency from agricultural input suppliers and why pricing visibility matters for farmers, agribusiness professionals, and policymakers. This conversation provides a detailed look at crop input costs, agricultural competition, seed pricing, crop protection markets, and the economic pressures affecting the competitiveness of American agriculture.
 
The Business of Agriculture with Damian Mason is brought to you by:
Ag View Solutions
Tidal Grow Agriscience
Nano-Yield 
Life Scientific
Also, make sure to check out DamianMason.com, XtremeAg's The Cutting The Curve Podcast and The Granary. 
 
This content is protected. ©Damian Mason, all rights reserved.

More than 200 million acres of the American South are covered in timber. The South produces one-third of America's lumber, with paper and cardboard as an important by-product. Bobby Dobson, timber investor and land broker, and Spencer Smith of Saunders Real Estate join Damian Mason to break down an industry that looks remarkably familiar to anyone who follows corn and soybean economics. Pulpwood prices down 46% from their peak. Ten major mills closed in three years. Sawmills running below capacity. Brazil growing a merchantable timber tree in half the time we can. The next generation of loggers opting out of the business. Yet timberland values are up nearly 50% since 2018. Outside investors are pouring in. Recreational buyers are paying premium prices to hunt whitetail or just own their piece of the country. Sound familiar? The commodity is struggling. The land underneath keeps going up. The parallels to Midwest row crop agriculture are impossible to ignore.
The Business of Agriculture with Damian Mason is brought to you by:
Ag View Solutions
Tidal Grow Agriscience
Nano-Yield 
Life Scientific
Also, make sure to check out DamianMason.com, XtremeAg's The Cutting The Curve Podcast and The Granary. 
 
This content is protected. ©Damian Mason, all rights reserved.

Could a new federal tax incentive reshape investment in rural America?
Most agricultural producers, landowners, and agribusiness professionals have never heard of Rural Opportunity Zones, yet this new federal program could unlock billions of dollars in private investment for agriculture and rural communities.
In this episode, Damian Mason sits down with Chris Rawley, CEO of Harvest Returns, to explain how Rural Opportunity Zones work and why they may become one of the most significant agricultural investment opportunities in years.
Whether you are an investor with capital gains from farmland, a business sale, stocks, or other appreciated assets, or an agricultural entrepreneur seeking funding for expansion, this episode explains how the program is designed to connect investment capital with rural development projects.
Topics include:
How Rural Opportunity Zones differ from Opportunity Zones
Capital gains tax deferral and potential tax reduction benefits
Eliminating capital gains tax on future appreciation after a qualifying 10-year investment
Funding opportunities for grain handling, cold storage, food processing, agricultural manufacturing, livestock facilities, and rural infrastructure
Why traditional agricultural financing often cannot provide this type of equity capital
How farmers, ranchers, landowners, and agribusiness operators can determine whether their projects qualify
The boundaries for these new Rural Opportunity Zones are being established now, making this an important time to understand how the legislation could affect both investors and agricultural businesses.
If you are interested in agricultural investing, rural economic development, farmland, tax strategies, agribusiness financing, or expanding your operation, this conversation provides an early look at a program that could significantly influence rural America for years to come.
Learn more about Rural Opportunity Zones here:  https://www.harvestreturns.com/opportunity-zone-fund
 
The Business of Agriculture with Damian Mason is brought to you by:
Ag View Solutions
Tidal Grow Agriscience
Nano-Yield 
Life Scientific
Also, make sure to check out DamianMason.com, XtremeAg's The Cutting The Curve Podcast and The Granary. 
 
This content is protected. ©Damian Mason, all rights reserved.

The U.S. butchers 600,000 head of cattle, 2.5 million hogs, and 185 million broilers every single week. Where all that product goes — and what it means for prices and profitability — is more complicated than most people realize. Michael DiSabato, animal protein analyst and founder of Highline Consulting Group, breaks down the economics, the numbers, and the outlook for beef, pork, and chicken in one of the most data-rich episodes The Business of Agriculture has produced. The consumer was supposed to trade down when beef prices went through the roof. They didn't. The fake meat companies were supposed to steal market share. They flopped. And now protein snacks — jerky, bars, shakes — are a multi-billion dollar growth category that's adding consumption occasions without cannibalizing the dinner plate. Michael and Damian dig into the K-shaped economy and what it means for premium cuts, why beef prices aren't coming down anytime soon, the surprising inversion in chicken pricing where thigh meat now costs more than breast, the pork industry's missed innovation opportunity, and why the only real long-term threat to protein consumption is one nobody in agriculture wants to talk about — fewer people. If animal agriculture is the bright spot in an otherwise tough ag economy right now, this episode explains exactly why — and how long it can last.
 
The Business of Agriculture with Damian Mason is brought to you by:
Ag View Solutions
Tidal Grow Agriscience
Nano-Yield 
Life Scientific
Also, make sure to check out DamianMason.com, XtremeAg's The Cutting The Curve Podcast and The Granary. 
 
This content is protected. ©Damian Mason, all rights reserved.

A map went viral on X showing Iowa — one of America's most productive agricultural states — imports 90% of its food. Cue the outrage. Cue the gubernatorial candidates. Cue the narrative that our food system must be broken. But is it? Damian Mason brings back specialty crop grower Steve Strasheim to work through the real reasons big ag states don't feed themselves. Climate. Infrastructure. Economics. Distribution. Processing. Consumer behavior. The answers are less inflammatory than the Twitter thread that started this conversation — and a lot more interesting. Steve grows 45 different vegetable crops on five acres in rural Iowa, runs an on-farm retail store, and has watched the direct-to-consumer market change dramatically since COVID. He knows firsthand what it takes to actually move from bulk commodity production to crops that directly feed consumers. Will a 65-year-old corn and soybean farmer climb out of their air-conditioned, self-driving tractor to grow and sell lettuce to the general public? Not likely, and that's just one of the problems with the "Ag states should feed themselves" argument. Can Iowa feed itself? Probably not entirely. Should it? That's a better question.
 
The Business of Agriculture with Damian Mason is brought to you by:
Ag View Solutions
Tidal Grow Agriscience
Nano-Yield 
Life Scientific
Also, make sure to check out DamianMason.com, XtremeAg's The Cutting The Curve Podcast and The Granary. 
 
This content is protected. ©Damian Mason, all rights reserved.