00:00 Keeping the kids in agriculture, what will compel them to stay on the farm or work in this industry? Do they want to? Are you making it so that they want to? 00:10 That's what we're talking about in this episode. Special episode that is of extreme ice cutting the curve. Welcome to extreme Ag Cutting the Curve podcast, 00:18 where real farmers share real insights and real results to help you improve your farming operation. This episode is brought to you by TIVA Corp, 00:27 providing farmers with the most technologically advanced products and innovative ideas to meet their quest 00:33 for higher yields, top quality and maximum profit. Visit tiva corporation.com. And now here's your host, Damien Mason. 00:42 Hey there. Welcome to another fantastic episode of extreme Ag Cutting on the curve. I've got the young guns next stream, ag, as I call it. 00:48 That's right. This is the next generation from the founders of Extreme Ag, along with Mark K's son, Caleb Kouts 00:55 of TIVA Corporation that is sponsoring this special series. It's a four part series, if you like it. 01:00 There might be more by the time you're hearing this one. Um, we're talking about the next generation 01:06 and then how they view coming back to the farm, working on the farm, staying in agriculture. You know, there's a lot of other shiny objects. 01:12 All the things that are happening outside of our industry lures our young people away. 01:18 These people stayed in agriculture, will their kids stay in agriculture? We're delving into all that. 01:23 What will make people wanna stay in our wonderful industry? The one we love so much, the 01:28 world's most important industry. Um, Danielle, I'm gonna start off with you because somehow I like to start off with you. 01:33 Is this what you wanna do or is it yes or is it forced upon you? And then the question is, 01:39 'cause you're pregnant, are you gonna force it onto your kids? So it's not been forced upon me. 01:46 It was always, if this is what I wanna do, the opportunities there, and if it's not what I wanna do, then 01:53 my parents were gonna be there to support me no matter what. And I appreciate now where I'm at in life more 02:01 that I wasn't forced into that spot. And I think I'll be the same way with my kid. Vern, we recorded a lot of stuff together. 02:10 You're doing more and more stuff. Hell, you're doing panels at the commodity Classic. Is this what you want? 'cause you know what? 02:17 I met you and was at your farming operation and you told me, or your parents told me, your parents told me 02:24 that your teachers at school there in uh, uh, Iowa wanted you to become a nuclear engineer. And you said, I'm gonna go home and farm. 02:34 And like they threw their hands and said, what in the hell's wrong with you? Boy, you could be a nuclear engineer. Is this what you want? 02:39 Or do you wanna be a nuclear engineer? No, this is what I wanted. That was a conscious choice 02:45 that I didn't wanna be a nuclear engineer. You know, I had good grades and stuff and everybody thought I should go 02:50 to graduate school or do something. But this is what I love and I can, I can apply that, that drive, that 02:58 good grade intelligence, whatever you wanna call it, to this, to running this business and doing better every year. 03:05 Is this what you want, Jackson? You're still at that cusp. You're just 20, what is it? Four, five? 03:10 Yeah, 25. You're 25. Is this what you want? It's still time to get out. Yeah. This is what I want. 03:17 Like my parents always told me, they're like, you know this, this always be here. Like you, we always got that safety net, you know, like, 03:23 if you wanna go try something, go try something. But I, I love it. I wouldn't do anything else like this is farming's a 03:30 great way of life. You know, you get to do something different every day. Be outside, get to see different things. 03:35 You know, there's so many opportunities with farming. Caleb, there you are taking over, starting to get more responsibilities at Teva Corporation. 03:46 Just what you want, or was it thrust upon you? It's always what I wanted. I mean, there were, I knew I wanted to be involved in science somehow. 03:54 Uh, there were a lot of jobs that got tossed around your kid. You know, you, uh, that involved that. 03:59 But at the end of the day, when you get to an age that you actually decide, you know, you're actually setting a life trajectory. 04:05 This, there was no other path I was gonna take it. It fulfilled that, that science role, that, uh, intellect that I wanted to follow. 04:13 And I got to be in, you know, work with my family and work with a great community of farmers. And so, no, there was, it's, 04:22 and my parents didn't push me to do it. My dad, you know, like Danielle was saying there, uh, I was offered the opportunity, 04:29 but I wasn't forced by any means. And because that I appreciated all the more, Why are you here j uh, uh, Alexander 04:38 Here to farm? I feel like that's what, that's what put me here. You know, that's why I'm, that's why I'm here. 04:43 And I, not that I wasn't pushed by any means, um, you know, like you guys were saying, it was always an option. 04:49 You know, if I didn't want to go with it or pursue with it, I could do something else and, and always come back. 04:53 But I just, you know, this has been my dream ever since I was a little kid. You know, being able to have my own ground 04:59 and, you know, follow in my grandfather and dad's footsteps, you know, that's always what I've looked up to. 05:04 And I'm always trying to be, you know, one step ahead of him. So no, it wasn't, it wasn't pushed. 05:09 And when you were 16, you didn't wanna be in farming. Now here you are. Is it, is it what you want now? And then more importantly, is it 05:19 what you think your kids will want? Uh, it is definitely what I want now. Um, I, you know, as a kid, you know, 05:26 I didn't decide I wanted to do it till I was, you know, 16, almost 17, uh, wasn't forced 05:32 to want to farm. I was forced to work. Uh, and I was forced to work on the farm because I mean, as, as we all know, there, there comes a, 05:43 uh, you, you got a little chip on your shoulder or you, you got a little edge on everybody else when you come off of a farm. 05:49 Uh, it's hard work as far as my kids, um, you know, they're, I, I'd love to see 'em come back. Uh, I, I, I'd absolutely love that, 05:59 even if they brought a different aspect to it. Um, if they don't wanna do it, they don't, they don't have to do it. 06:05 So, you know, we'll just, but I, but I absolutely would love to see 'em come back. Well, you're the only one that we're recording 06:11 with right now that's actively engaging in farming, who has children. So that's why I asked Caleb, you've got kids, 06:19 you're a little older than some of the, uh, farm kids here on our call. You're 32, you've got children. How many again? 06:27 I've got a daughter. Just one daughter right now. All right. Do you see her being the next generation of Tiva Corporation, 06:33 or do you say, Hey, you know what, if you want this, this is fine. And she says, I don't. And you say, it's fine. 06:41 We're just gonna grow this business. And, you know, I guess we'll find a buyer. What, what's, what's it like for you 06:45 to think about her departing agriculture? 'cause she has no interest in it, and maybe you, maybe you only have one daughter and that's it. 06:52 And she's, she leaves then, then what? I definitely have the latter approach. I mean, I would love for her to come back. 06:58 I'd love for the opportunity to get to work with my kids or my kid, whatever it ends up being. 07:02 And, you know, just the way that I've got to work with my dad. But at the end of the day, I want her to have a job 07:08 that she enjoys as much as I do mine. And if that ends up not being ag, then, you know, we'll, we'll keep trucking along and we'll see what it brings. 07:18 Danielle, you're pregnant right now. You're gonna have a baby, uh, this spring of 2024. Um, maybe you'll have another one after that. 07:27 Uh, do you want your kids to, do you want your kids to be in this bus? First off, do you think you're gonna stay in this forever? 07:33 You're only still 26 years old. Are you staying here? Yeah, I'm, I'm not planning on going anywhere. You're gonna stay in ag. 07:41 Do you want your kids to be in this business? I would love to see my kids come back and be involved in the farm, 07:48 but I want it to be what he wants. I don't want it to be forced upon him. If, if he doesn't love what he does every day, I want him 07:56 to find what he loves every day and go do it. By the way, you keep saying he and him, It's a boy. 08:03 Okay, Well, I hope it is. That's what they've told me. Yeah, the boy, they, they told you it was a boy. Uh, but here's the thing, you're a girl. 08:10 You're the only girl on the call right now. Yeah. You're the, uh, the most involved girl. Uh, next generation, next extreme ag. 08:18 Um, did that make it more or less pressure or was it even a factor about you coming back into the industry? 08:25 Your degree is in agriculture from NC State, so it, it's obviously you were pursuing it. What was it like, uh, 3, 2, 1, 5 years ago 08:36 For, I mean, my personal experience, it hasn't really affected or changed it anyway, I think than how it was for my brother 08:44 or anybody else coming in. That's a male. But the difference is, is I was involved at a young age and I was constantly there, 08:53 but I've definitely not just come in and pulled the whole, like, I'm a girl, I'm not gonna do that card. 08:59 Like, I've been in the ditch with there with the guys. I've put irrigation in, worked on combine, worked on a planter, come home, filthy and disgusting. 09:10 So it wasn't like I pulled the whole like, I'm a female, I'm not gonna do this. Right? Or like, I still got out there and worked with them. 09:17 So I don't think it has, that's what's made it not be any different for myself. Wern, you're getting married this summer. 09:24 You just turned 25 today, the day we're recording this temple. Rhodes encouraged you to go ahead 09:31 and start having babies promptly because you're getting old. I said, dear God, son, you understand how genetics works. 09:38 You've been in charge of the cattle herd. There's a chance you're gonna have a cheese. You start, you start inseminating your girlfriend, wife, 09:45 and there's a chance you're gonna have a kid like cheese. I mean, there's, there's a real concern there. 09:49 I mean, the hair alone, if you had a kid that just had that cheese, that cheese hair, I mean, that should be concerning, I would think. 09:56 Yes, Yes. You're describing my nightmares right now. Y'all All right. Whether you have, whether 10:03 your kid is, whether your kid is like a cheese or not, which would be amusing for me if he is, um, just to observe you raising such a thing. 10:12 Um, did your kid go, come back and, and, and be in this business? Um, I think it's about finding the right balance, right? 10:21 Of showing them how rewarding this lifestyle is and in instilling in them the work ethic, but leaving them room to pick what they want 10:29 to do if this is the best path for them. Your father has spoken a lot and obviously went through tragedy last summer when your 10:36 middle sibling, uh, Colin was killed. And your father talked way before any of that ever happened. When I first came to your farm in Crawford County, Iowa, 10:46 about the legacy and about keeping the kids in the agriculture. And he said, he said on video that I have it on recording 10:52 for an episode, we did that his entire drive was to make it so that if his sons wanted to be in agriculture, and he's not saying sons versus daughters, he has none. 11:02 So it was just his kids wanted to be in agriculture. He said, I want make it so that the opportunity was here, they could come and, and roll into this, uh, this business. 11:11 Because I had friends, he, him, he said, I had friends that there wasn't a place for them to go. And I can relate more to that. 11:18 There was no farming operation of scale that I could have gone and jumped into when I was 23 years old. 11:23 So this is something that gets kind of personal, you know, obviously it's still got some pretty raw emotion from 11:29 burying your brother just, uh, in July, I assume you think about that. Yeah. Yeah. That was, 11:36 it was always the dream to farm with my brothers. That was, that was my dad's dream. That was all of our dream. 11:41 And, um, we, we were there for a little bit, but now I'm, I'm lucky I've still got one great brother that I I'm, that I love to farm with. 11:49 And, you know, we want to, we want to build a business. We wanna make a better business for that next generation, that they have that opportunity if they want it. 11:59 And to have that there, I'm sure it's hard to think about. And I'm, I'm, uh, sorry I brought up the hard question, 12:05 but I think it's something we all think about. So you talk about siblings and then you talk about your own kids. 12:09 So, uh, Danielle, your one brother, uh, is now back for a month working on the farming operation. Your other sister's still like in high school, 12:18 I think like 18 years old, right? Yeah. Yes. So she's still in high school. Um, when you think about what this, 12:25 when you think about do the next generation, you gotta think about your own generation. Your brother wasn't necessarily right on it. Now he is. 12:33 You were always right on it. I'm gonna stay in agriculture. So I think we gotta go around the table here 12:37 and think about, I mean, none of my siblings stayed in ag. Well, a couple did. Uh, you know, so, uh, out of nine, so 12:45 what, what's, what's the thing that you think keeps it, what's the compelling reason when you look at your siblings, then you look at your, your next, the, 12:52 the ones that come after you. Jackson, you got any thoughts on this? You've got a sister. She's not an ag. 13:00 I mean, I don't really know. I mean, she, uh, she never had the, the drive to do it, you know, and that's okay. 13:06 And they never forced her. They, they gave her the opportunity to come out here, you know, and, and get involved in it, 13:11 like kind of how Danielle is. And everybody said, you know, they, they all want you to get a taste of the lifestyle, 13:17 but then it's, it's up to you or it's up to them, you know, if, if that's the kind of lifestyle they want to live and pursue, you know, 13:25 if they do, you know, you're happy for it. But if they don't, you know, you, you wish 'em the best and let 'em do something they 13:29 wanna do every day with their life. Caleb, you got siblings? Yeah, I have a sister, younger sister. 13:36 But she's not involved in Eva corporation? No, sir. Her passion's laid, laid other ways. You know, she, uh, she is definitely our, um, 13:45 our creative mind in the family. And so she followed that passion. Well, you got two siblings. 13:53 They're not, they're not, one of them is completely uninvolved and, and PR probably is gonna stay that way. 13:59 And then the other one seems to be involved in agriculture. Take me there and then take me, take me forward. 14:06 Uh, yes. I've got two sisters. Um, actually one that's four years older and one four years younger. Um, my older sister married a farmer here in town, 14:17 so she helps manage his farms, kinda does the books and and whatnot for him. And, and my younger sister is 14:29 kind of like Caleb's. She's the more artistic type. Um, actually lives in DC now, so probably will be back in Arkansas within a year or so. 14:41 Long story short, uh, both were given the wait, wait, Wait, wait. Once they go to, once they leave Arkansas 14:47 and go to Washington, DC they don't come back. Are you not familiar with the Clintons? They leave Arkansas. They go to dc They never come back to Arkansas. 14:54 They go and be like, become senators in New York and stuff like that. Are you not familiar? Uh, yeah, well, she's actually recently married to 15:03 a guy in the military and he got stationed first in Alaska where she was, and then now in, uh, DC So his, 15:12 he is gonna be back in Fayetteville selling insurance, I think. Um, do you think That they thought because they're girls, there's no place 15:18 for at Miles Farms or, and I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm just curious. Or do you, or do you think 15:23 that it had nothing to do with it? Uh, you know, I mean, they were both offered the opportunity. 15:29 My dad and my little sister, really, my little sister and our entire family didn't get along for a while. Uh, she was, I mean, and, 15:38 and I would, she, she's actually matured here in the last two years to is to, 15:42 but done become a pretty good friend of mine, actually. Uh, she was kind of the black sheep, but, uh, both of 'em got the opportunity, um, 15:51 just wasn't interested. And then Sidney k knew that she was gonna be in farm with her husband, um, who was also offered the opportunity, 16:00 you know, once, you know, before I decided I wanted to farm, they were both offered to come back. 16:05 He gets to farm with his dad and his brother, so, you know, you can't fault a guy for that at all. 16:10 Um, they have a nice big farm just north of us. You got a blended family, Alexander, there's you, there's an older sister. 16:21 Think she's pretty well moved away from agriculture. Yeah, you got little temple. Are you gonna be farming with these siblings? What's 16:30 It called? It's a bunch of us. It's five of us all together. I'm the middle one. Um, so Morgan, she's the oldest. 16:36 She, she goes to, she went to dental school, so she's gonna be a dental, um, hygienist. And then, uh, so my little sister, she does the cow side. 16:44 By the way, the one thing that would make me absolutely run like hell from Chestnut Mary Farms would be if they said, you've got to involve 16:51 or be w working alongside Madeline. If that happened, I would be gone. I just, I can't, she's a fire rock. Be done. Be done. 17:01 She don't, she don't take any crap from anybody, that's for sure. She's, she's, she's a, she's a show cattle diva. 17:07 I mean, she's just, it's too much. Uh, but yeah, yeah, it's, uh, you hit it right on the head there. 17:13 So she does the show cows. And then of course, me and little t we, we do the farm stuff. 17:17 And then my older brother trip, he's, he's off, you know, kind of doing his own thing and, and, uh, has a, 17:23 Not ag, not ag, No, no, not Ag. Nope. Just so it's just me and me and little t uh, that do the ag. 17:30 Um, so yeah, Opportunities. Okay. There's opportunities for you guys. We talked about the, 17:37 the legacy in another, in a different episode. We're talking about now the opportunities. You guys have a really nice situation. 17:42 Most all of you coming into the family business and all that, does that drive you to create opportunities for the next generation or does 17:49 that not matter at your age yet? I mean, is that something that you start thinking about when you're 40 or 50 years old 17:55 and right now you're not even on your radar. Whoever wants to take that question, take it. Let, let me answer that one first. 18:01 'cause I'm the one, you know, that does, does have kids. Um, and Daniel's got one coming, so, 18:07 and I guess Caleb does too. Anyway, long story short, I got two boys that I the drive to, I mean, to want them to be here. 18:18 It, I can't see how our dads didn't push us harder to do what we're doing. Um, just the urge of wanting, you know, the selfish, 18:26 the selfishness of wanting to keep your kids and work beside your kids. Is there, it, it's hard not to act on that. 18:36 It's hard not to force your kids to do this. Uh, anybody else think that? Uh, you know what, 18:44 I'm in a little different situ situation. You know, we're not tied to, you know, land like you guys are. 18:50 We've got business and, you know, it's important. And like I said earlier, I'd love for my daughter to come back and work, but, uh, if, if it doesn't happen, 18:59 it doesn't happen kind of thing. My, my is not necessarily, I guess, opportunities for her to be here. 19:04 I, I think there's always that opportunity. It's that the work that she could do here would be easier in the work 19:10 that I've had to do here. You know, there are a lot of 18 plus hour days you put in whenever guys are starting to get planted. 19:17 I mean, you guys know that. You guys know it better than anyone else. Uh, and I may not be planting, but I'm helping. 19:22 I'm getting things ready for everyone to plant. And so I would, I would love for it to be, uh, you know, her to be able to do what she wants to do here 19:30 and not have to, to work nearly as hard to do it. We're moving into a downturn, agricultural, uh, revenue year, um, from where we have been, 19:41 but also we had three amazing years. Um, who knows, I've been around a good bit longer than you. And I pay attention to the economics of agriculture. 19:50 I think we could be in, um, kind of a struggle economically, revenue for the next decade, meaning nothing close to 19:59 what we just came through, which was very, very good. You go through 10 years of not so good at economic times, is it going to then make you wanna say, Hey, kids 20:10 fly, get outta this business. What do you think? It's, it's a predictive thing. I get it. 'cause you haven't been through it yet. 20:16 Would that be something that would be, would it be the economics? Would something else change 20:21 that would make you think about the opportunities that you would be approached by somebody, whether it's your own kid or not? 20:26 What would change the recommendation to stay in this industry? Anybody? I think if you're looking for it as an opportunity of, 20:34 you're strictly looking on the money side of it and the economics then that you're looking to get in the business for the wrong reasons. 20:42 You know, it needs to be something that you love, something that you want to do. And so I would never turn someone away, 20:47 whether it be my daughter or someone else wanting to come into work for us based on what the market looks like. We're an agriculture 20:55 Look, Danielle and Lane, Danielle and Lane, were both nodding their head when you're talking about if you're doing it just for the economics 21:00 of the wrong reason, Danielle go first. I mean, everybody knows that in I, you're gonna have ups and downs. 21:08 We're taught that from a young age. But you have to love what you do day in and day out. Because there's some, there's days that are just, 21:18 everything can go wrong. And it's like that in any industry, but you're with your family working alongside them. 21:25 So you're having to balance family, life, business and your love for what you're doing while still paying your 21:35 bills that are coming in. 'cause you still have a power bill, you still have a mortgage that you gotta pay 21:39 if it's not paid off. So you have to love it every day. Lane, you were nodding your head also, uh, I mean, Caleb said, if it's just about the economics, 21:48 then maybe you're not in this right reason. Um, what do you think Couldn't have, you couldn't have put 21:53 that into better words. Uh, if if money is your, um, only reason for being in it, then your heart's not in the right spot. 22:03 Your heart's gotta be in that field. Your heart's gotta be with the people you work with. I mean, there's 36 guys that work here. We're a family. 22:12 We don't work together. We work or we don't work. They don't work for us. They work with us. I mean, um, not just in my kids, 22:20 but the guys that are here, their kids, their wives. I mean, it's, it, it's, if you're here, if you're here for the money, you ain't here for the right reason. 22:27 Jackson didn't nod his head, by the way. Jackson admitted. You're a money hungry little bastard. 22:34 You have no interest in being in agriculture unless you can make out and make a whole bunch of money. Right. Because that's where I am. Right? Come on. 22:41 Well, I mean, like, you know, this, this is one of the only jobs, like they said earlier, like, we don't get to pick what we buy equipment for 22:47 and we don't get to pick what they, what we sell our crops for. You know? So like, you always gotta keep trying stuff 22:52 because I don't think it's never gonna train change. If you love it, you're gonna keep finding ways to keep advancing in it. 22:58 You know, it's just who we are. Are there opportunities, Vern? Um, or, you know, are there opportunities for someone 23:06 that's not joining the family business has been around since 1881? I mean, it's hard for you to, this is the one you know, 23:12 but you also have friends from Boyer Valley, FFA on down. What's your perception? 23:21 It, it, it seems to be getting harder and harder for a, a smaller farmer to have that as his only source of income. 23:30 Um, that's a more difficult opportunity to have a large enough operation to support multiple families. 23:35 Yeah. Do you think there's more opportunities looking forward 10, 20, 30 years from now, whether you have kids or not? 23:44 I don't have kids, but I can look down the road. I think the opportunities for a young person in agriculture are going to be there. 23:50 I don't think it's gonna be necessarily in large scale commodity production. 'cause that's gonna continue to face consolidation 23:55 unless you're born into it or whatever. There's like that. I think there's going to be opportunities in different value added things. 24:02 I think we're gonna see, uh, some, some changes in our food system that, uh, an entrepreneurial person can hop in on. 24:10 Am I, am I seeing things right or what's, what is a, what does a perspective look like from someone that's in their twenties or early thirties? 24:18 Like you all, I'd absolutely agree with you. You know, covid kind of really accelerated that, that people wanna know where their food comes from 24:27 and um, an opportunistic, smaller scale production that you can bring that direct to market, whether it's meat, honey, dairy, different things. 24:37 There's a, there's a lot of opportunity in that for someone who's willing to go out and do it. Anybody see any, any other agricultural, 24:45 I mean, am I right? When you look down the road 10, 20 years from now, do you see it beyond what you guys are doing currently? 24:54 Uh, what's, what's it look like? What do you guys think it looks like? I think there's no dichotomy. 25:01 We're seeing you where, like you and Verna said, you know, there's a, there's this really open market that's, uh, this opportunity depending on 25:11 the avenue you take it. But I think we're also seeing, you know, we talked another episode that the average age 25:15 of the farmer's 57, you know, that we're gonna Stand. You guys keep making it younger. He said 57 and a half. 25:21 You said 57. Last article I read. 59 and a half. Are these people getting younger? I don't know. Danielle Jackson, Alexander, 25:28 you're never wrong about anything. You don't even have any weaknesses. Am I wrong here? What's going on? I have no weaknesses. Remember? 25:34 Uh, yeah, I don't, I don't know. I mean, just trying to just, just talk about the whole thing. 25:40 You know, I think this year we're definitely gonna learn a lot. You know, it's gonna be scary. 25:44 But, you know, we're pressed with a lot of stuff. And I think, you know, that's when you learn the most when you're under this, you know, this amount of pressure. 25:50 'cause you wanna do, you know, what's gonna make your farm the most money, but not, well, not the most money, 25:55 but you wanna be able to get by and you want to use what you think is gonna work and what you know is gonna work. 26:00 Um, so I think this year is gonna be a, you know, it's gonna be a good year. We're gonna see where it takes us. 26:04 There's a grand tradition. Thank you, by the way. And if I haven't told you already, dear listener, this episode, this special, the special series, uh, 26:11 with the next stream, ag Young Guns that brought you by TIVA Corporation, go to TIVA Corporations. Tiva like the, the company makes sandals. 26:18 TEVA, TIVA Corporation. They don't make sandals. They make, they make carbon based products. They make sugars that make your crops 26:25 Excel, TVA Corporation. Go to tiva corporation.com. There's a grand tradition. And it's not just in this country, it's everywhere. 26:33 It's just humanity. You always complain about the next generation after you. Oh, they're stupid, they're soft, they're lazy, 26:40 they are irresponsible. Whatever. I had to hear this. I'm a Gen Xer and I had to hear from the baby boomers 26:45 that my generation didn't wanna work. And I'm like, I've been working since I was eight. I I've worked 40 hour weeks when I was eight. 26:50 I dunno what you're talking about. Oh, you, you don't have any loyalty to the corporation. Whatever this thing, it's always something I 26:56 don't gripe about your generation. I mean, I'd probably make a few observations. My friend Alexander has, shall I say, a little bit 27:06 of an outsized, um, uh, opinion of himself. But other than that, I like you, Alexander, seriously, you're the only, you're the only person your age. 27:14 You're the only person your age that I can pick on because the others are so soft. Oh, wait a minute, I did it again. See? 27:18 Anyway, yeah, I'm not really doing it. But let me think. Lemme Go cry in the corner. Damien, 27:22 lemme go cry in The corner. Oh, oh, actually, uh, find your safe space. Isn't that the other one? We're all supposed to complain. 27:27 That's we're supposed to gripe about. So anyway, in all seriousness, what do you think, um, the, are the complaints about your generation? 27:36 Are there any, is there merit? And then also, why do you think, what do you think when you look forward that the generation 27:43 before you is wrong about? And that's, that's completely fine. 'cause usually it's the older one, 27:48 b******g about the younger one. But I want you guys to tell me about your stuff and then what you see moving forward. 27:52 You've got, you've got smart guys, you're smart gals, you're smart, you've got good eyesight, you're looking at stuff. 27:58 So gimme take me there to go first. Danielle has a smug look on her face. Danielle, your generation, what are we getting wrong? 28:07 And then what is, what are we getting wrong about ourselves? What are we wrong about? What do you see? 28:12 Come back to me. I'm thinking, oh my goodness, now you're looking from Jackson. Jackson. You just got come back to me by Danielle. 28:18 So I'm coming back to you. What are we wrong about the generation before you, your old man's generation, 28:25 your Uncle Stewart's generation, Damien Mason, the moderator's generation. What are we wrong about when we talk about you 28:31 and what are we wrong about in general that you see about us? I think one thing that, that y'all's generation's wrong 28:38 about us saying young people don't work like our age don't work, but we're all proving factors that we all do work. 28:43 You know, there is some people that get out there and we hustle, you know, but because that's the only lifestyle we know. 28:49 But then you got, I ain't gonna talk bad about our generation, but I am, you know, you got some people that generation don't even know where their food come from 28:56 or what farming is nowadays. I think getting on a tractor just, you know, drive to daddy end and drive to daddy and don't do no work. 29:02 So that's where I'm at with the generation stuff. Well, the thing about the next generation doesn't work has been, I got told 29:09 that even though I'd been working since I was eight, and I think there's one before us got told that. So that's been going on for a while. 29:15 It seems like that's the go-to, because remember somebody somewhere apparently, uh, and, and it's true. 29:20 I guess there were, you know, 10 year olds were working in coal mines a hundred hour weeks at one point in our, 29:25 I'm not sure that we all wanna return to that. Uh, what are we wrong, Vern? You're a thoughtful guy. And here's the good thing about you. 29:32 You kind of bridge multiple generations, your physical age and then your emotional age. 29:38 You're in a couple different generations. Um, You gotta admit, that was funny, Vern, on your birthday, was that the best gift you've got 29:48 That was being on a podcast with you is the best gift. I'm gonna get this whole birthday. See now he's funny. That's called, that's called the, I 29:57 I'm giving you a hard time and acting like I'm being complimentary. Uh, humor, He's getting his brownie points in. 30:05 Maybe a little sarcasm too. But, um, I think there's a, there's a common misconception that this generation just wants to push everything down 30:15 to technology and do everything new and, and burn down all the older generation's ideas and thoughts. And I, I don't think that's accurate at all. 30:24 I think from looking back, we can learn a lot about how we need to go forward. I, one of the things I take some inspiration from is 30:31 before the chemical revolution, when we had all these silver bullet chemicals and the GMO revolution, when all 30:37 of a sudden Roundup was a silver bullet, what were they doing that was more an integrated pest management style that we can apply in the future. 30:45 Whether there's regulation limiting our chemicals, whether there's, whether that's just a better way to form or more profitable if we can increase ROI with that. 30:53 So I, I like to look back to look forward in some cases. And, you know, I I don't just disrespect the older 30:59 generation, the older generation, how they were doing it. I think, you know, there's a lot to learn. 31:05 I like that. Mostly I like the subtle sarcastic slam that he really meant when he said the greatest birthday gift involved is being on what he meant was the worst thing about 31:17 my birthday so far is having to be on a podcast with you. That's what he really meant, by the way. All right, Caleb. 31:24 Um, where were we on that? Generational, uh, your old man is about a little older than me. You're in your early thirties. 31:30 What do you, what do you look at and you see generational differences because we're talking about keeping the kids in agriculture. 31:36 There's always gonna be a little bit of gripe. Usually it doesn't boil over into full-blown, uh, chasm. Um, what do you think? 31:45 I think mine is the, the same issue. I think that our generation is seen, you know, we're always in our phone, so our face is 31:51 always in the screen, you know? Uh, and I, I think that's false. You know, we grew up, uh, in, in the transition, I remember, 31:59 uh, you know, VCRs and cassette players, but I also remember iPods and, you know, the cloud. So I, I've lived through it, 32:07 but then I see, you know, like my wife's little sister, she's 13, and it's like, man, you know, you're always in a screen. 32:15 Or like Vern said, you know, this idea that we're gonna push, you know, everything down, technology that we're gonna lose the, uh, the idea that we 32:23 as the people that made machines know more than they do, and we're gonna rely more on them than we do ourselves. 32:28 Well, there is a, there is a merit, or at least justification. Younger people are on their screens a tremendous 32:35 amount more than older people. I mean, so there's the, the, the stereotype or the gripe has some basis in reality. 32:41 It's always a matter of, should it be generalized towards everybody and all that. And where stereotype Alexander your generation 32:49 to Temple Rhodes, what do you see besides a man that needs a notepad versus writing stuff on his hands when he needs to give himself a note? 32:57 Aside from that, what do you see? Uh, I see a lot of good things, honestly. Um, the bigger About your generation or about the one before you? 33:07 No, I mean, no. Our, our gener my generation. Um, you know, just being, being, you're Being self-congratulatory. 33:13 Yeah. We go, I can't even get a sentence out now. Um, you know, just being open-minded and, and seeing, you know, the different, 33:22 the different strategies of how to conquer something. You know, it's not always about, you know, the one ways right way. 33:27 There's multiple different ways that you can achieve the same thing. And, um, I think just being open-minded 33:32 and, you know, I feel like the, in the older days it was probably harder to see, you know, of, of stuff we see now, you know, with newer products 33:41 and all the technology we have out now, it was kind of harder to see that, to be open-minded, you know, and trusting in stuff that works and, and that, 33:48 and that kind of stuff. You yelled at me for interrupting you, which is something temple does commonly. 33:56 So I wanna make sure I allow enough time for you to Mess it all up. I, I lost train of thought and everything. God, 34:01 I wanna make sure I allow you enough time for subsequent thoughts. All right. Um, lane, uh, you're, 34:07 you're out there in the field. You're 30 and your old man's 55. Uh, what do you see? What do you think he's right about wrong? About? 34:14 What do you right about, wrong about? I mean, it's, you're, you're right there and then, and then you're thinking about your kids coming into it. 34:20 So gimme your observations. Um, I used to despise the word millennial. Yeah. Uh, didn't like to be called a millennial, 34:29 and which is sometimes if you, if you Google it or whatever, it's like the late eighties, like 87, 88 to late nineties. 34:40 Uh, I, I think we get misrepresented by the generation behind us. Um, but if you look at generations ahead of us, 34:55 it, it is continually getting worse. Whether or not it was my dad's parents down to my dad's generation, down to my generation, 35:02 to the next generation. The further we go, the less people want to do anything. Uh, it's not, it's nots. 35:11 I shouldn't be sing how you say that. It shouldn't be singled out to one specific generation because it's the generation ahead doing it to the next one. 35:23 Yeah. Uh, but I, I do, as far as I generation as the all forsaken word of millennial, uh, we get misconceptions, misconception, mis skewed. 35:37 However, whatever. I don't do good with these vocabulary words. My dad says that a lot. 35:41 Um, I think it's not as bad as people say. I think it does get worse as generations keep going, but I think that's just a snowball that started 35:53 back in the Revolutionary War. My buddy Alexander's probably wondering, why didn't you pick on him about Arkansas and vocabulary? 36:03 You had a perfect softball toss to you, Damian. That's what he's thinking, right? Is that what you're thinking? 36:07 Perfect. Yeah. Anyway, um, we're getting outta here. 'cause I want, I think that's a good topic we hear a lot about, okay, we're gonna have some, 36:16 some downturn in the economy and then young people don't wanna be in this business. I don't know, like, I, like I said, 36:21 lane just talked about every one of you just talked about it. We hear so much, oh, the young people don't do this. 36:25 They don't wanna work all that crap. There's any reality that the kids that are five years, 10 years behind you won't come into this industry. 36:38 Yeah. Alexander's not in his house. Let's go with you. I, I think so, and it, you know, this is just not saying it's not anywhere else, 36:45 but especially for us, you know, when I graduated high school and our graduating class, there was only two, three guys 36:50 that come from farm and families, you know, at their father farmed, their grandfather farmed. And you know, I think around here, the big part is, 36:57 is these old guys that own these farms and run 'em back in the day they passed on and didn't have anybody to hand it to that, you know, 37:03 had the passion to farm. Um, which then calls, you know, these big guys, these big money guys come in 37:08 and buy 'em all up, you know, which takes away the, the chance for us to, to expand our operations, our upcoming operations. 37:15 You know? So I think that's the biggest thing is, you know, we don't really have the, that, you know, 37:20 the ag experience in our schools and, and, and stuff like that to, you know, for people to get involved with it, is what I'm trying to say. 37:27 Jackson's nodding his head. You're in a, you're in a school system that's right next to suburbia. 37:32 Anyway, that's one thing that's about urban sprawl. That's about all different topics there. But to the person that's five years, 10 years from now, 37:39 what if their thing isn't because isn't because they, uh, weren't from a farm? What if maybe are, 37:47 are we gonna run out young people coming into our industry? I would say that's the thing. 37:51 Like it's, if you're, if you're not born to the farm or something, it's really hard to get started because you know it every, like in our area, it's, 38:00 you can buy land for 30, $40,000 an acre. You know, like who, who can afford to get started in that, you know, coming from, from not a background. 38:07 So it's, it's hard to see the next generation being able to, to stay with it unless you're actually born 38:14 into this generation. 'cause they're, I mean, Into this industry. Yeah. Yes. Sorry. 38:19 But it's, it's gonna keep dwindling down, I think until you got your, your main areas. Until people realize the importance of farmers, 38:26 We're gonna run out of people in this industry. Danielle, I don't think we're gonna run out of people, 38:32 but I think we're gonna run out of people that have the skillset that's needed. Because as it keeps going 38:39 and the technology keeps growing, they're gonna have to increase the skills that are needed. So you're gonna need more people that have the drive to want 38:47 to know more, to want to learn the new technology. And that's, I don't know that we'll run out of 'em, but I don't think they'll be as many of them to go around. 38:55 One thing that I'm noticing is people, young people from, not from an agricultural background, 39:03 but then from a tech background or scientific coming into it because they've been brought into it. 39:08 And that's nice. They're, they're, their skillset and proficiencies might be great in laboratory or whatever, but the practical is really, really a struggle 39:19 because they weren't out feeding the calves, bailing the hay, doing the things, you know, walking the bean fields and all that. 39:25 That's where I actually see the, we might be able, money will bring people in and they'll have a proficiency and a skillset, but it won't be in the production ag stuff 39:34 and the learning curve for that when we've been around it our whole lives is a hard one. That's what I think. Vern's nodding his head. 39:41 Caleb, who else wants to take that and run out and get us outta this whole episode? Yeah, it's, it's an interesting question 39:49 and I don't know the answer to it. Like you said, commodity production is consolidating, so it seems to me that there's less opportunities 39:57 than there are people to fill in. There's people wanting that opportunity that can't get it, but then you don't develop 40:02 that skillset to the next generation. I don't know how the cycle all works. It's a complicated question. 40:09 Well, usually economics and, uh, you know, fix the whole thing. So we'll see if that happens. 40:14 Caleb, you got anything on the way out the door here? I think we'll see, uh, a disconnect, uh, a little bit. Uh, to go off what Danielle is saying, 40:21 I think we're gonna see the skillset need to change to be more technical, but I think that it's gonna be a difficult hurdle of not losing, 40:29 like you, like you said, Damien, the practical side. You know, uh, we've seen it here at Tiva. You know, I came in with very scientific, very, uh, 40:38 you know, textbook style approach and then to, you know, marry that with dad's practical, you know, agricultural background experience was what has, 40:49 you know, moved us to the next level. But, you know, if we don't, if we don't tackle that hurdle going forward, we may see a little bit 40:56 of disconnect going, going on. Yeah. Actually to like, to Vern's point, uh, things like, and this has happened before, and keeping the kids in on the 41:05 farm, maybe not keeping the kids in the industry probably. So we just need the kid that wanted to farm. 41:12 And because of the consolidation things you guys have all talked about, maybe they work in an ancillary 41:17 aspect of agriculture. And that's, uh, you know, this, this, it's been going on for a long time. I, I'm kind of one of those people. 41:23 Uh, all right, this is, uh, a fantastic topic. Keeping the kids in agriculture. Danielle, Venable, Jackson, Henderson, Connor, Vern Garrett, 41:34 Caleb Kouts, lane Miles, my friend Alexander Evans. Until next time, this is a series brought to you by TIVA Corporation. 41:43 Go check out TIVA Corporation. It's a great topic. We've covered four topics. This is the, uh, the, the fun thing. 41:49 If you know what, if you enjoyed this, we might just be rolling out some more of 'em. Who knows? Thanks for being here. 41:54 Check out all the cool stuff@extremeag.farm, extreme Ag Farm, hundreds of videos that these people right here that you're seeing right now 42:00 will shoot on their farms that can help you up your farming game. Also, hundreds of episodes. It's like a library. 42:04 It's all free. Cutting the curve, go and check it out. Extreme ag.farm. So next time, thanks for being here. I'm Damien Mace. 42:09 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 42:18 of your farming operation.