00:00 Bridging the gap in sustainable agriculture, helping farmers better understand additional revenue opportunities, the goals and the challenges. 00:07 That's what we're covering in this episode of Extreme Ag, cutting the curve. Welcome to Extreme ags Cutting the Curve podcast, 00:15 where real farmers share real insights and real results to help you improve your farming operation. And now, here's your host, Damien Mason. 00:25 Hey, there. Coming at you from the TER booth, commodity Classic 2024. We're talking about bridging the gap in sustainable 00:32 agriculture, helping farmers, that's our audience, better understand additional revenue opportunities, the goals and the challenges. 00:38 My guest, Amber Luin, she is with Tru Terrace. She's married to an Iowa farmer. He's Dutch, which means they're from the northwest part 00:45 of the state, probably cheap, but also our friend Kelly Garrett right here, who is a, I would say an a pioneer in this, uh, 00:53 carbon program space in sustainable agriculture, and also in getting paid for it. One of the things we did this morning, Amber, we had a panel 01:01 and we talked about getting money for practices that improve your soil health, improve the environment, and more importantly, your bottom line. 01:10 There's this problem where there's, uh, a disconnect. People believe if I'm doing regenerative type practices, if I'm cover cropping, if I'm cutting back on applications 01:19 of things, if I'm no tilling, I'm probably losing yield. Kelly, the statement you made six months 01:26 ago has been a defining statement. Say it right now. My sustainable path and my high yield path are converging and becoming one. 01:34 And I believe it's the right way to farm, to be in collaboration with Mother Nature, not competition. Yeah. There's not this idea 01:41 that now sustainability goes this way to the low yield way, and intensive management for yield goes over here 01:48 and just uses the heck out of resources. We're realizing, you're realizing you can have a, you can have your cake and eat it too. 01:54 Amber. Uh, you sat in the audience. Uh, give me your first initial reaction of what you heard on stage today when we had the four panelists 02:01 from, uh, extreme Ag and we had Mariah from your company takeaway. Well, my takeaway was really just the 02:07 opportunity for farmers. Um, like, like Kelly says, it's not just, you know, I'm like, you know, he said, I'm, I'm married to a farmer. 02:14 I understand the high yield, the high yield piece of it, but you're not actually sacrificing. 02:18 And then just the ecosystem marketplace, uh, is there to, to reward farmers, to encourage farmers to, um, you know, 02:25 provide that additional revenue income. Uh, I think that just is all very important to the bottom line. 02:31 So when we talk about the convergence and, and there's still some skepticism about that, we're not gonna get into the programs. 02:37 Let's just get this skepticism. You can prove you are getting yield, huge yield. You're setting records. You're, you're, 02:43 you're right in the running for Iowa State, uh, you know, contest yields, and you've been at this for a while. 02:48 You started cover cropping how many years ago? We started messing around with cover crops clear back in 2015 02:56 and incorporated more and more over time. Yeah. So nine to 10, 10 years, it'll be your 10th season of cover cropping, uh, coming up. 03:02 And you've got it Now. How many of your acres get a cover crop? We attempt to put 'em on all a hundred percent. 03:07 Okay. Some acres don't because of timing. Whatever Northern latitude. Yeah. You Know. Alright. What about, 03:12 what about reduction in tillage? There's a reason you reduce tillage. You have fields and Crawford County, Iowa that, 03:18 as I always joke, if they were in my part of the world, we'd put a snow machine out there, uh, a chair lift and we would just call it a ski slope. 03:25 Yes, that's true. You know, we have been minimum till, uh, almost all of my life, as long 03:31 as I can remember in 2012 when we were going heavier corn on corn and things like that, we put row 03:37 cleaners on the planter at that time. And that's when I would say we went to a hundred percent no-till. 03:41 Okay, so you're a hundred percent no-till since 12. Since 12. So obviously now you're in 03:46 your second decade of that. Did you sacrifice yield by adjusting, uh, adapting No-till in the first year? 03:52 No, I don't think we did. Uh, actually 12 was a pretty terrible drought and, uh, the moisture conservation 03:59 that year really helped out. Got it. Amber's nodding your head. Is this a story you hear? Because we know the skepticism. 04:06 I can't make any of these conservation sustainable type programs work because you know what? I have to go out there and my, my soil's different. 04:13 You hear that? Yes. And that won't work where I am. I've heard farmers from one township to the next tell me that something won't work. 04:19 You hear this? Mm-Hmm. Your response. Well, my response is yes, I hear it. I understand. Everyone's different and I think everyone's risk 04:26 tolerance is different too. And that's why, you know, at Trutter we do have a program called the Financial Assistance Program. 04:33 And so exactly what that is, is, you know, to provide financial assistance for farmers that are wanting to try these things. 04:38 You haven't wanted to dip your toes in the water for cover crop or going to no-till. That's a scary thing. I, I get that. 04:44 I, I'm married to a farmer, uh, dare I say, till it black farmer high yield as much as possible. Right? I love him, but I get it. It's scary. 04:53 Uh, and so that's exactly what Chiera wants to do, is just to really meet farmers where they're at, uh, to be able 04:58 to provide that financial assistance, try to mitigate some of those risks, even them out a little bit 05:02 to let you try it, try it before you buy it. Right. Um, and so that's a program that we're really excited about, uh, 05:08 and we're seeing really great success with. By the way, you're probably asking a question to your listener and viewer as well as our audience here, 05:13 live at the commodity class of 2024 in the Tru Booth. Tru Tru Financial Assistant Plan. Where do I get me that money? 05:20 It's not out yet. Signup begins. Yes. So signup will begin in August. And so if, if you've heard about the Climate Smart, uh, 05:29 commodities funding through USDA, there's a lot of great recipients. Tru Chair is very proud to be one of those great recipients. 05:34 And what that means is really getting money into the hands of farmers and our ag retailers 05:38 to scale conservation agronomy workforce. Um, but to also provide, uh, financial assistance for these, um, practices to encourage the adoption, 05:46 because then what does that mean? You, you start cover crop, you see the benefits, you increase your soil health, 05:51 and then you're also eligible to participate in some of those commercial ecosystems. So Tru Terra's commercial program. 05:56 And so now you're starting to stack more programs and increase that profit per acre. And so, uh, like Damien said, 06:02 that program will launch, um, in August. Uh, and we're really excited about that. So that's, you know, we're, 06:07 we're launching a little bit early in the year to help you start think about, you know, what do I wanna do in that 25 crop season? 06:12 So that's the why we're timing it that Way. Okay. So if you were in our session this morning, 06:17 and if you were not, it's all the same story. And to the listeners and viewers listening to this episode of Cutting the Curve, I want 06:24 to go ahead and toss this out there. I met Kelly Garrett because in December of 2020, 06:29 he was written up in the Wall Street Journal cover story about receiving money for carbon programs. 06:35 I said at that time, I, I, he, he'll say that I stalked him, which I had to do to find him. 06:39 And I said, Hey, introduce myself and said, I'm Dave Mason. I record this, uh, you know, this stuff. 06:43 And I said, I, I, I gotta tell you, you're the first person I've ever heard about. We've been hearing about carbon programs for a decade. 06:49 You're the first person I've heard about that actually got money. Tell me about that. So, gu, give us your, your story. 06:57 We talked about no-till since 2012. We talked about cover crops since 2017, or we talked all that stuff. 07:03 But your journey on getting money, Kelly, um, and now bringing it forward to today with programs like we're talking about 07:10 that are in the marketplace right now, because that's what everybody here wants to hear about. In the spring of 2020, extreme ag was approached, looking 07:18 for an early adopter to go into the carbon market and, and be the first person to get paid. Uh, I researched it. 07:24 I didn't really think I'd ever get paid, but all we had invested was time. So I didn't think it was a big risk. 07:30 We went through, took us about 55 or 60 hours to compile all of the, uh, paperwork, all the information. 07:36 'cause they, you know, at that time we were kind of making it up as we went along. They were trying to refine the processes. And the 07:40 Main thing is it was looking back, they, they, they said, what did you do a year ago, two years ago, 07:44 three years ago in terms of product usage? Yep. And Practices. Yes. Okay. They, uh, we had to go back with yields 07:51 and rotation, things like that, from 10 all the way to 19. Uh, and then we were gonna sell the carbon sequestered in 07:57 the years 15 through 19. Uh, we went all the way through that program, and I think it was, it was just short of 22,750 credits. 08:06 They, uh, they were worth $15 a piece, you know, a ton in a credit or the same thing, $15 a piece. Uh, Shopify bought the first 5,000 credits on 08:15 December 1st, 2020 for $75,000. And then all told between December 1st and then Labor Day of 21, 08:23 we ended up collecting all the money. We got all the credit sold. It was 341,000 in the, uh, 08:30 in the spring of 21. You know, uh, Mariah called and I became involved with Tru. Uh, you know, we, because with the, 08:37 in the first program we put in 3000 acres, which is half the farm, then Mariah called, we went into the original Tru 08:44 contract is another 3000 acres. We got about 200,000 out of that. Uh, you know, and we stayed involved 08:51 with Tru until this day. And, uh, now this summer, you know, we have to be signed up by July 1st. 08:57 We'll sell the carbon for 21, 22, and 23. Got it. Uh, your perspective from your job, uh, Amber, uh, his, he was early on 09:08 and we're gonna talk about some early adopter stuff. Uh, is that a typical start? It is, I will say it is. 09:14 And it's really fun to hear where, where Kelly came from. Right. And I, I can picture like, you know, 09:20 a few years ago when we talk about, we were just figuring it out and we're, we're working through some data on a spreadsheet, 09:25 and we're just trying to understand downstream and upstream and, and just seeing, you know, the progression 09:30 of the market since then is just so exciting. Um, I know I'm biased, right? I, I work, I get to work for Tru Tera every day. 09:38 Um, but I have a peek behind the curtain too, so I know what it means to, you know, be Kelly and, and, and be a farmer. 09:45 I know what goes on at Tru and you know, how we work for the farmer. And just really try to make that, you know, data's a big, 09:51 you know, it's a buzzword, right? When you talk about carbon programs, it's, it's a burden. And so how can we, you know, lift that burden 09:57 and truly reward? I think that's, that's the key thing here too, is like truly write the check, right? 10:02 And so that's why I get very passionate about this is because I, I do get to work for Trutter, but I also get to see behind the scenes and, 10:09 and how, you know, how we are founded on, you know, a hundred year old cooperative, a farmer owned and how we truly do work for the farmer. 10:17 And so that's why I get excited. Alright. I want to, uh, hit on a few things and we're gonna talk about the money, because let's 10:23 face it, you're trying to do this. We handed out something that talked about acres and talked about money, because let's face it, 10:28 these are business decisions. We are in a situation as we addressed this morning. Uh, and if you're listening to this episode, uh, 10:34 while you're driving or at home, let's face it, 2023 last year, farm income, we're down 25% from there. That's the projection for 2024. 10:44 We're gonna be down 25% from last year. We're gonna be down 40% from 2022. The high watermark best record, uh, revenue 10:52 and farms we've ever had. 21, 22, and 23. We're gonna come down from that precipitously. If you're gonna be losing 40% of your income, let's look 11:00 for a way to diversify income. And that's why now, uh, Kelly talks about, I've got these different enterprises, you know, 11:06 he has trucking companies, he has plant food business, but also he's got this, and this is income diversification, which any person 11:14 that's ever run their own business realize, you know, the old thing, all your eggs in one basket. This is income diversification, 11:19 which matters more on these down years. If it's 25 bucks an acre, if it's whatever, it's, and maybe that didn't matter. 11:25 It's $7 corn, it sure as heck matters. Now It really does matter. Now, you know, it's, it's, we raise corn and soybeans 11:31 and wheat and we also sell our carbon. It's like having another crop to sell. And you know, there's been people that are skeptical, 11:37 but they become a lot less skeptical when the margins get tighter. It's unfortunate that it takes that 11:41 to make people wake up and pay attention. But, uh, uh, you have another crop to sell. Why aren't you Involved? Tell me about the 11:48 money, uh, since in the last two years, how much has doTERRA, I mean, the money comes from other sources. 11:53 Mm-Hmm. Corporations. Mm-Hmm. The Spotifys, Nestle, whatever it should be. Yeah. And then it goes to you 11:58 and then it goes to the farmers. Yep. How Much? 20 million. So, you know, we're very proud of that, 12:03 that we've, you know, we've been able to reward $20 million to farmers for adopting these, 12:08 you know, these farmers taxes. A little louder for, for people in the back temple's back there on his phone. How many dollars again? 12:12 20 million. $20 million. 20 million. That's in the last three years? Yes. Okay. It's 2021. Okay. 12:17 So it's 2021. It's 20 $20 million. That's not chicken feed. $20 million. Again, it, it's not as much as revenue off 12:23 of an Iowa acre on corn bushels, but it's money that you didn't have an input cost on other than doing some practices, which you probably are doing anyhow. 12:32 Right. And it's all net. It's all net. We're doing these practices anyhow for agronomic reasons. Mm-Hmm. Here's another revenue stream that's all net. 12:40 So even though it isn't the same as an acre of corn, the acre of corn is a gross. This is a net. So one of the things we talked about in this morning was 12:47 reclaiming the word sustainable. 'cause it's got a, it's got a, a degree of skepticism. Your BS meter immediately just 12:54 starts registering like a Geiger counter. As soon as I hear the word sustainable, I've been hearing it for more than a decade. 12:59 What I said this morning though was a farmer's only sustainable if it's here tomorrow and next year and the next generation. 13:04 And for that to happen, the finances have to work. This is another revenue source that certainly on Sawyers helps. 13:12 But also it's helping your bottom line, not just with the money that comes in currently. Ideally your asset is improving, 13:20 meaning the dirt you walk on, we're is selling for $15,000 an acre. Is that accurate? Yes. That is very accurate. 13:26 You're improving your soil, you're improving your crops, you're improving your operations R-O-R-O-I 13:32 by using these practices in my opinion. And you have another revenue stream. Do we have questions from anybody in the crowd that wants 13:38 to address any of the stuff we're talking about right now? A question to clarify, money programs, history, 13:45 what you have to do, we talked this morning a little bit about some of the practices. 13:50 Um, you might be already doing them. We talked in this morning session. I thought it was very informative. 13:54 Uh, Chad brought up and, and Matt brought up, you don't have to be 100% no-till you don't have to be 100% cover crop 14:01 to still have the ability to hop in on some of these sustainability or carbon type programs. Exactly. You know, uh, my point would be if you want 14:10 to try something, try all of it on a few acres. I would, I would hesitate or I I would be reluctant to tell you to try one 14:17 or two things on many acres. You're gonna just kind of dip your toe in it. You're gonna be unhappy with the result. 14:22 It's a systems approach. Try the whole system on a few of your acres. Set a apart a of the system on all of your acres. Yeah. 14:29 You're gonna have a better experience. Got it. Your thoughts. And that leads directly, I mean, I didn't pay Kelly to say that, I promise you, 14:34 but that's exactly what our financial assistance program is, is to try before you buy. 14:39 And it's to try those things to try. You wanna go to, and I was, I was surprised. I did not think that we'd have, we did a little pilot here, 14:45 15,000 acres here, uh, in 2023. And about 80% of our enrollees went to no-till and cover crop in the same year. 14:53 Right. They didn't just gradually do that. I was surprised at that. So we are seeing that the majority of farmers are gonna wanna try the whole system approach. 15:01 Um, and that's exactly what the financial assistance program offers. Amber, the doctor's kid is always sick. 15:07 The cobbler's kids have no shoes married to a farmer. That's a tilt. Black Northwest Iowa guy. How many of your acres are enrolled in programs like this? 15:20 Yes. Yes. Well, we had about 8,000 acres enrolled in our market access program because that was a, that was a program 15:25 that we used to have, uh, just to, you know, get, uh, farmers interested in, in carbon. Like what does it mean? It was kind of a, a gateway, uh, 15:33 into the carbon market. So I twisted his arm. I got him in. You got the stubborn Dutch farmer 15:38 to change his ways. I did. Oh, it wasn't me. He already had in his brain. Right. Mr. Luzi answered my question right now. 15:45 Is it the money or is it some other persuasive method? It's because of her. Yes. Is it working? Say it louder. It does work. 15:56 It does work. And you're in your third year? Fourth year. Second. Second year. Alright. Reduc reduction in tillage. 16:02 And did you do cover cropping? Not yet. Just reduction in tillage. And then any other practices that are in comp 16:08 that helped you comply? We all start incorporating strip tills. Strip till is your next thing. Yep. Got it. Fantastic. 16:15 Anybody else got anything from the floor? You had a question before we started, Matthew? I Had a question. Can you do 16:19 flexible fuel bodies? What I mean by that is we are seed corn producers of Western Illinois 16:26 and we have to have a setback for all of our seed corn fields to prevent cross pollination. Yep. Mm-Hmm. And that setback changes depending on 16:34 where the neighbor's corn is located. So some areas of the, the corn, the beans. And then we might change the shape of corn 16:40 Seed because of the compliance to make sure the genetic production is there. The question for the person that's listening 16:45 or watching this podcast from our friend Matthew, he's a seed corn production, uh, business, uh, this, uh, in Northwest Illinois. 16:53 And he said, can we have flexible, can we have flexible, uh, bare borders boundaries, 16:59 flexible borders on the fields boundaries and the boundaries and the boundaries may move based on what your contracts, 17:04 let's say with your sea corn, uh, genetic company, et cetera, et cetera. Mm-Hmm. Flexible borders. 17:08 Yeah, absolutely. I I completely understand that. Uh, we work with farmers with very different circumstances. And so that's something that, that's what's great about Tru 17:17 is that there's actually real people that understand farming, uh, you know, kind of at ter. And so we understand those circumstances 17:23 and so we work with you directly One-on-one, uh, with that because, you know, at the end of the day, it is a, a, 17:29 a registered asset, right? And, and there are some things to work around, uh, but that's not a problem. 17:33 Other questions from anybody out here that has a question? Wanna make it as, as informative and attractive as possible? 17:38 Alright. Um, early adopters, oh, and by the way, much of this goes through your retailer. If you have a Land O'Lakes retailer, 17:46 my Land O'Lakes retailer is right over there. That'd be Dan and Cindy Blocker. Uh, so you can go making him famous everywhere he shows up. 17:54 I would like to point out though, you sign up for these programs. How hard is it? How hard is it really? 17:59 It's, it's not, It was pretty, it was pretty daunting for a early pioneer. Oh yeah. Have we made it more streamlined? Yes. Yes, 18:05 We have. Kelly, I actually, I'd love to hear your perception of, you know, now versus a few years ago and how far we've come. 18:11 Well, now being signed up in the program and you're in the database and things like that. Mike busing my retailer. 18:16 It's seamless, it's easy. Yeah. It's a Phone call. And, and in your case, he even, that's one of his services, 18:21 the officers, he, he makes it even more seamless. Mm-Hmm. Yes. For you. Okay. Um, one of the things 18:27 that we talked about in the early riser recession, um, in the early days of conservation reserve program, which was 1986, if you were already a conservation farmer, 18:37 you might get kicked out or not eligible. You were ineligible for a conservation reserve program contract if you were already doing the right thing. 18:44 If you had highly erodible ground and instead of row cropping it and tilling it every year, you said, I'm gonna put it in, 18:50 uh, a cereal grain and mix it with an alfalfa. Something like that. You couldn't get enrolled in CRP 'cause it had to be row cropped, tilled Traditionally all 18:58 that for like two of the most recent five years, you got punished for doing the right thing. Something you're excited about. 19:03 Early adopter program like our man, Johnny Rell Mm-Hmm. They've been no tilling in western Tennessee for almost 30 years. 19:09 Mm-Hmm. He still is eligible. He didn't have to stop tilling and or start tilling Right. To stop tilling to be eligible. Yeah. Speak to that. 19:17 Yeah. So that's one thing. You know, um, just to kind of show you how the market evolves, I mean, 19:21 the carbon markets are still quite young, really in the grand scheme of things. And so we're still learning. 19:26 Um, but Trutter commercially does have a long-term adopter program to be able to reward those farmers. 19:31 But one thing I'm especially excited about is we talk about that Climate smart funding that grant from the USDA, uh, 19:36 one specific pot of money per se that we have, um, is to be able to get into the hands of farmers that have been those long-term adopters. 19:43 And so, uh, that's what's exciting is, you know, this program to launch here in August, uh, we do have it in a few different 19:49 regions throughout the United States. Um, but it's exactly that. These farmers that have been standing in the back 19:54 of the room saying, what about me? I've been doing this, right, yeah. For 20 years. Yeah. And I don't get to participate. 20:00 And this is a program for them. Nobody's gonna put you on the spot. And we know this is not a contractual, uh, verbal contract. 20:06 The question that anybody has, let's listen to this right now, is how much per acre? And I know you're gonna say, well, it depends. 20:12 Just like, you know, you go to a lawyer, well, it depends, but a, an average, 20:17 anybody can at least say our average contract is this. Or the last 50 people we've signed up. It looks like that. Can you gimme a number that at least I have a ballpark. 20:26 If it's $1 an acre, I ain't fooling with it. Uh, I will tell you, for our financial assistance program, uh, you're gonna be looking at, you know, up 20:34 to about a hundred dollars an acre, um, our early adopter program. So those are those, those guys standing in the back saying 20:40 I'm doing it right all this time. Um, up to about $25 an acre. Okay. Up to about $25 an acre for the, the 20:47 Early adopter. And then if you, and do I have to have more qualifications, more issues to get the Tru Financial Assistance program? 20:54 Yeah. So the financial assistant is that, that first time, right? Yeah. You've never done these things 20:58 before in your, in on that field. So asking the questions that, uh, I think our audience has. 21:02 But before that, what questions are in here? You've got a question, you've got a question, my friend David, you said you had a lot of them. 21:08 Yeah, north Kansas, which is funny. He says North Kansas, you know, just south of Kearney, which is in another state, Nebraska. 21:15 So anyway, yes. So I was talking earlier with someone here. Uh, my son bought some land and continued to no till. 21:21 The gentleman that had been no tilling, it has passed away. Mm-Hmm. So how, how do we prove 21:26 that it's been no-till for 12 years? 10 or 12 years? That's a great question. Before you answer it. For the people that are watching 21:32 or listening, David SAS North Kansas or just south of Kearney, Nebraska says, uh, my son bought some land. 21:39 It's been in no-till for about a dozen years, but my son's only owned it for one year. One year to go back and prove the practices. 21:46 We didn't even operate it. Can I go back and prove the practices to be eligible for program money? Mm-Hmm. 21:52 Yeah, that's a great question. Uh, it comes down to a couple things. And so with our, uh, ease of enrollment platform, 21:58 we do use a lot of remote sense. And so while that's not, uh, that is not a golden ticket, we understand that. 22:04 Um, but it comes down to grower attestation. Like, you know, can you prove, you know, and you can, you can attest that you've been in 22:11 that no-till scenario. That field has been in that no-till till scenario. Uh, then we'll work with you. Okay? Yep. 22:17 So I mean, you're not talking about going to USDA 'cause that's not really something that's there. So it becomes a bit more, 22:23 a bit more challenging, but still provable. Still provable. And, and that's really like, you know, when we talk about we're 22:28 for the farmer, I mean this is a prime example of we have a, you know, through our Tru Tera retail network, uh, 22:34 we have a dedicated team at Trutter that works directly with farmers as well. Um, that's what we're here for is to work with you. 22:40 All right. I'll throw an example out there. 'cause this, since you guys like to work with farmers, there is 160 acres in 2012 that I bid on at an auction. 22:47 I didn't get it bought, but Tru Tera doesn't know that I would like to enroll those 160 acres that I actually don't own in this. 22:55 Can I still get paid? Uh, well that would be unethical. Um, so no, uh, we we don't really endorse that, Damian, 23:05 We don't endorse that. No, but you didn't say it's not a possibility. Uh, yeah. 23:10 I guess if, if there's dishonest, uh, for folks out there, then I guess they could do with the 23:14 Operator because you're not the operator of The farm. The thing is, is For FS a Yeah. 23:18 And the thing is, is that you'd have a hard time, you know, coming up with, you know, reliable, incredible information. 23:23 Um, so that'd be a challenge. Kelly, Great question. You've been sitting here quietly for a little while. 23:26 What do you got for us, uh, on all this? So you are the most well versed of most anybody on navigating all this, making it work, 23:33 making it pay, but again, contributing to the bottom line. Yeah. You know, farming this way 23:39 to me is the right way to farm. As I've said many, many times, applying for the program, implementing the program with Tru Tera is not difficult. 23:48 It's another revenue stream. It's akin to selling another crop, uh, in tough economic times. 23:55 In, in good economic times. Why wouldn't you just want all of the opportunities available? 23:59 Why wouldn't you want sell your carbon if corn's $7 or if corn's $3 and 50 cents? Is there anything you wanna make sure we get covered? 24:05 Is there anything you would like to make sure we get covered on behalf of, uh, your, your company 24:09 and then David, any more questions? Questions from your kid? No, uh, anybody? Even anybody else there? You good? All right. 24:18 I think we can about leave it there. We've covered a lot of good stuff. Um, recapping some of the big highlights from today were, 24:25 uh, that there is compliance and uh, there's, there's programs that you can get in on. It's not just one program, right? 24:33 Right, right. There's many programs and that really leads into just really the ease of enrollment that we, we strive for for farmers. 24:39 So if you just wanna go to tru tera ag.com, that'll take you to the place. You can, uh, upload some boundaries, uh, look at, you know, 24:46 what opportunities are available and maybe even what opportunities are coming soon. I guess I can remember when there was a lot 24:52 of other things that were either, um, faced a great deal of farmer skepticism. No-till in the early 1980s was a brand new thing. 24:59 And it faced tremendous amount of farmer skepticism. The Huntington County Natural Resource Conservation Service bought a no-till planter and they'd come out 25:06 and plant your acres for free if you agreed to do some trialing. We were one of those because we were so busy making hey, 25:11 we said Great, come out and, you know, making first cutting. I said, plant our first, or plant our first, uh, 25:15 our, and we did that. That was skeptical. Now you no-till everything and it works just fine and you're setting yield records. 25:22 So I've seen farmer skepticism before. I think the big challenge here is, is getting past some of the farmer skepticism. Your answer to them, 25:29 My answer to them yes. Is, you know, kind of what I touched on before is that I do have a peek behind the curtain 25:34 and, you know, I kind of joke around like, can I sleep at night or will I go to jail for this, uh, with some of the compliance work and I can sleep at night. 25:41 And, you know, my husband's a farmer, he's an agronomist, and I've seen some of the information that he comes home for 25:46 with, and we have to have a little talk and, and set him straight on, you know, what's, what's a good carbon program out there? 25:51 Um, but that's what I feel really good about. And I can be honest about that. And, you know, I, that's why I work 25:57 for RAs. 'cause I believe in it And the future. Are you gonna be doing more of this? Are you gonna be getting paid more? 26:03 Is there gonna be something else coming down? What's your vision? You're, you're, you're big picture guy. I believe that there will be more programs come down. 26:10 I believe that biofuels and regenerative fuels, renewable fuels will become more involved. And yeah, I, I think it'll get to be worth more. 26:17 It's my personal impression and, uh, that, you know, as a person that's been paying attention for a long time, 26:22 future USDA programs, future farm bills, in my opinion, are going to say, if you want to be enrolled in a crop insurance matching program, 26:29 or whatever those things are, you're gonna also be part of one of these. That's my, that's where I think things go. 26:35 Is that, is that, am I off, am I off the reservation there? No, I, I think you're correct. Yeah. 26:39 So that's what pains Me to say that. I mean, as I always say, what's Wayne? What's Wayne Gretzky's famous quote? 26:44 I'm successful because I don't skate to where the puck is. I skate to where the puck is going. 26:47 This is where the puck is going. I think you're smart to be in these sessions and to listen to this and, and basically 26:53 you can still have the skepticism, but unless we're completely off base, this is where the future is going. 26:58 Um, you know, and you can look at other countries and, and it's, it's a whole lot better here. Mm-Hmm. Um, trust me, her name is Amber Lu Sink. 27:06 She is with tru ag. Tru ag.com is how you find them and talk about these programs. His name is Kelly Garrick. 27:11 The reason we met is because of this very thing right here. Sorry. Or maybe not. Sorry. That's up for you to decide. 27:16 Buddy, thanks so much to tuning in. Thanks so much for listening to us. You know what, we produced hundreds of these videos 27:23 and hundreds of these, uh, audio podcasts, so please go and check 'em out. It's basically a library videos 27:28 that guys like Kellys shoot out in the field talking about stuff like this. From sustainability to cover crops, to nutrient utilization, 27:34 to profitability on your farm, to improving your asset. It's all there@extremeag.farm. I'm Damien Mason. Thanks so much for being here. Until next time, 27:43 That's a wrap for this episode of Cutting the Curve. Make sure to check out Extreme Ag Farm for more great content to help you squeeze more profit out 27:52 of your farming operation.