Off-farm Income

Sign Up To Receive Our FFA Stories Newsletter! Email address: SHOW NOTES INTRODUCING ANDREA BUHROW!  It is always fascinating to me to speak with students who are just getting started with the FFA and have fascinating projects and businesses.  Today's is one of those shows. Andrea Buhrow loves flowers, and she is learning to love the flower business.  She has launched her own business called "The Flower Patch" and she is using the "u-pick" method to sell her flowers in her local community.  She is currently growing sunflowers, daffodils, tulips, lilies, gladiolas and other varieties that I did not get written down. Andrea is learning about marketing at the same time.  She has a Facebook Page called "The Flower Patch" where she introduces people to her business as well as her FFA story.  It will be fun to see how this business and project develop over time. SUPERVISED AGRICULTURAL EXPERIENCE: Flower Sales HIGH SCHOOL: Ashton Franklin Center High School; Ashton, Illinois MASCOT: Raiders FFA ADVISOR: 

Sign Up To Receive Our FFA Stories Newsletter! Email address: When I first started this show I spent a fair amount of time talking about the mindsets that either keep us trapped in misery or lead us to the life that we are dreaming about.  I have got away from that a little bit.  As my journey has progressed, I have let the show progress right along with it. This morning I caught a clip of the Dave Ramsey Show on Youtube that reminded me that I should go back and talk about these things a bit.  On the clip there was a 26 year old woman that called in and said that she wanted to be retired by the time she was 40 and "never work again".  I had the same thought as Dave, but it took him a little longer to get there because he was trying to get the caller there as well.  My thought was, "you don't hate work, you hate your job".  So, let's talk about that today. The Wrong Fit A particular job, just like clothing, either fits or it doesn't.  And if you are stuck in the wrong fit, you will be miserable.  Think

Sign Up To Receive Our FFA Stories Newsletter! Email address: SHOW NOTES INTRODUCING KATHERINE NEALEN!  The "can do" spirit of the students that I get to interview for the Off-Farm Income Podcast is truly remarkable.  In today's episode I am fortunate to interview another one of those students who just blows away my pre-conceived notions of what high school students are capable of. Katie Nealen was just finishing up her junior year of high school when we recorded this episode.  She has a love for animals and she obviously has a talent for working with them.  Katie had already been awarded a state proficiency award from the State of Pennsylvania for animal care as a result of her work with animals. Katie trains and sells border collies as herding dogs for working goats, sheep and cattle.  Her business is called Kat Slash Farm.  She also captures and trains raptors for hunting and raises goats and dairy cattle. She has her sights set on veterinary school once she is done with high school, and her love of

Sign Up To Receive Our FFA Stories Newsletter! Email address: SHOW NOTES KEY IDEAS:  The Coronavirus has impacted agriculture in many different ways.  One of the most common that we are seeing throughout the U.S. is the cancellation of county and state fairs due to social distancing requirements.  This has a profound impact on our future farmers, both from the FFA and 4H. These students and members have invested capital, labor, time and feed into developing quality animals for the fair.  The payoff is normally the fair auction after the shows have taken place and the blue ribbons have been passed out.  However, this year there will be no auctions or ribbons for many of these young people. Ag Community Relief is a non-profit organization based on the concept of farmers helping farmers.  They are based in Michigan, and they got their start in 2017 by sending hay and fencing supplies to ranchers in Kansas and Oklahoma in the wake of the devastating Starbuck Fire.  Since that time they have grown, changed

SHOW NOTES KEY IDEAS:  In episode #165 we asked the question, "what positive impacts will you have in farming?"  In this episode we look at a non-profit organization that does nothing but good in agriculture.  They are an organization that will come in and plant, harvest or hay on someone's farm when there has been a major injury, illness or natural disaster. The interview is with the president and founder of Farm Rescue, Bill Gross.  He is a full-time pilot for UPS, now living in Seattle, Washington.  But his roots are in North Dakota where he grew up on his family's farm.  He and his brother now own the family farm.   Farm Rescue started with an idea about benevolence in farming by Bill.  But it quickly grew into a larger idea where people whose livelihood is threatened by a formidable event can get free assistance so they do not lose everything they have worked so hard for. CONTACT INFORMATION: Bill's email address: billgross@farmrescue.org Website: http://farmrescue.org Telephone: 1-701-252-2017 Wh

Sign Up To Receive Our FFA Stories Newsletter! Email address: SHOW NOTES INTRODUCING CODY COLLINS!  In today's world, is there really any person we would describe as a "non-traditional" FFA student.  Perhaps not, but at one point in time a student who did not come from a farm might have been considered "non-traditional".  Cody did not have any prior connections to agriculture or the FFA except for his older sister being an FFA member.  She pushed Cody to join, and he has not looked back. Cody describes himself as going "all out" for four years in the FFA and having a wonderful time.  Cody had no knowledge of agriculture when he began, but today he has developed a passion for agriculture.  He described himself as being welcomed with open arms by everyone in the FFA and agriculture. Cody tried every career development event that he could, excelling in public speaking.  Cody followed in his sister's footsteps going into the FFA and his brother's footsteps working at McDonald's.  In Illinois there is a sta

Sign Up To Receive Our FFA Stories Newsletter! Email address: I have been toying with the idea of a show about rural crime for a couple of years.  During that time I have been following rural crime stories on the internet and noticed a trend.  Countries like the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada and Australia seem to have a lot more rural crime, especially violent rural crime, then the United States. I tried to figure out what the difference was, and my best hypothesis is the 2nd Amendment.  In the United States there is a perception that rural people and farmers are well armed and know how to shoot.  There is also a perception that land owners are allowed to shoot trespassers.  I believe that these two perceptions create a significant disincentive for criminals to commit crimes in rural areas. However, in countries in which this is not the case, it appears to me that people in rural areas are perfect targets.  They are isolated from their neighbors, and the response time from law enforcement will natura

Sign Up To Receive Our FFA Stories Newsletter! Email address: SHOW NOTES INTRODUCING HUNTER AUE!  Our guest today has a passion for rough stock.  Hunter Aue grew up in the Central Valley of California in a family involved in the bull business.  This is something that Hunter was drawn to, and he began raising and promoting his own bulls for both individual competitions as well as rodeos. Hunter has a variety of bulls of different ages that compete both with and without riders on them.  His goal is raise bulls good enough that they are ridden in the National Finals Rodeo.  At age 18, he is well on his way and he got started early! Hunter has been seeing success already, both in the bull business and in the FFA.  Hunter has had a bull that was ridden in a PBR (Professional Bull Riders) event in Fresno, California, and on the FFA side of things he was just named a California State Proficiency winner for what he has been doing in the bull business. When you go to a rodeo and the announcer states the name o

Sign Up To Receive Our FFA Stories Newsletter! Email address: SHOW NOTES KEY IDEAS:  In the course of the past 843 episodes of the Off-Farm Income Podcast I have interviewed about 500 FFA students.  Many of these students have told me that they plan on going to veterinary school once they finish their bachelor's degrees or if they get accepted sooner. Veterinary school is very difficult to be accepted to in the first place, and then the challenges of the academics are significant as well.  On top of both of these factors is the cost.  This is not an inexpensive course of study.  Many students enter veterinary school with a vision of what they want to do or what their practice will look like after graduation.  However, the amount of debt incurred paying for tuition and the need to service that debt dictates other decisions when they begin their veterinary career. There are alternatives to a significant amount of student loan debt if you wish to become a veterinarian.  On today's show I am fortunate to

SHOW NOTES KEY IDEAS: Bill Sandusky is retired from the military and now makes a full-time living with a portable saw mill.  Bill describes a great business model that would have even more applicability for a person who has timber on their farm.  This business could easily be a full-time income for anyone, and would be a great supplemental income for those of us in agriculture and living in rural areas. Farmers in the eastern half of our country and some of us in the West have timber on our land.  The wood on that land is valuable.  However, if you mill it into lumber you increase the value of that agricultural product immensely.  If you are looking to be self-sufficient on your farm and timber is available, or if if you are looking for a way to bring in extra income this interview is designed for you! ADVICE FROM BILL SANDUSKY: MENTOR: Find a person who is already doing this and tag along.  See how they do it, and let them teach you about the mistakes that they have already made so you can avoid those. HYDRA

Sign Up To Receive Our FFA Stories Newsletter! Email address: SHOW NOTES INTRODUCING LANDON WENGER!  Our guest today is very good at keeping a secret!  At almost the moment that we finished our interview, he ended the call and proposed to his girlfriend!  And, I would not be including this in the show notes if she had not said yes.  Congratulations to the happy couple! Well, Landon Wenger is certainly laying the foundations for the rest of his life.  At age 19 he has been named as a state winner in Ohio for agricultural sales entrepreneurship proficiency.  This stemmed from him purchasing his own Christmas Tree farm when was just sixteen years of age!  It is called "Wenger's Winter Greens" and he has been steadily planting trees every year so that he has trees to sell every year. I have always been curious about how this business works with the slow return on investment.  In today's episode Landon will help to break all of that down for us.  He will also talk about his vegetable production business and

Sign Up To Receive Our FFA Stories Newsletter! Email address: Is it selfish to not speak out about something if your motivation for staying silent is to not risk losing material things? I don't know the answer to this question.  But there is a point in time in which everyone will finally speak out. My time came with the killing of a person inside the area of Seattle being called "CHOP" and law enforcement not being allowed into the zone to render aid, make arrests or conduct an investigation. I received some backlash due to my opinion from people on one side of the issue, and I had other people assume that I was with them on other issues because of my stand.  In today's episode I want to set the record straight in the case that this follows me back to the podcast. Where Off-Farm Income And Matt Brechwald Can Be Heard:   Member Of The National Association Of Farm Broadcasters

Sign Up To Receive Our FFA Stories Newsletter! Email address: SHOW NOTES INTRODUCING ALYSSA LOREDO!  There are some entrepreneurs out there who are household names - Oprah Winfrey, Sarah Blakely, Mark Cuban and Bill Gates are just a few.  I am predicting that our guest today, Alyssa Loredo, will be on that list one day. Alyssa is as fired up about being an entrepreneur as any student that I have ever interviewed.  And, she is putting it into action as well as anyone I have ever spoke with. Alyssa discovered her first entrepreneurial opportunity a few years ago in the form of "Buffalo Bob's Wild Game Jerky".  Since then she has been buying and distributing this jerky all over California.  She is using every tool at her disposal to open up new markets and to create new accounts, and she is having great success. Alyssa lives in Merced, California and she is servicing stores from Bakersfield to the Bay Area to near Sacramento.  She is also selling on Amazon and is warehousing inventory in the garage of he

Sign Up To Receive Our FFA Stories Newsletter! Email address: SHOW NOTES KEY IDEAS:  A lot of farms rely on agritourism as a means of producing income or marketing their products and services.  When social distancing measures were put in place due to the Coronavirus these practices went by the wayside.  Fortunately, there is an alternative.  And even as restrictions ease up across the nation, the ability to have people visit your farm virtually can be of great benefit. Long before the Coronavirus, back in 2018, a group of people in the dairy industry in the Northeast noticed that it was logistically impossible to have students from cities like New York visit farms due to sheer numbers of students and the difficulty in getting buses full of kids out of the city, through all of the traffic. It was at that point that they started developing and practicing virtual farm tours so students in large cities could still learn about agriculture.  This has grown over time into a practice that is used for both educ

SHOW NOTES Today we revisit episode #048 of the Off-Farm Income Podcast to profile a very interesting business - Rabbit Tea Fertilizer. This is a great business idea that I wanted to share with all of you again.  I hope that this is the right idea for you or can inspire you towards the correct idea! If you are interested in this business you will need to start with a quality rabbit hutch! KEY IDEAS: ADVICE FROM RAMONA & CHRIS: RESEARCH: You have got to know your market, and you have to find it through research. EXPERTISE: You should know more about about your particular business than anyone else.  This comes from your research combined with your experience. TIME: You are going to need a lot more time to devote to your business than you are initially thinking.  Make sure to set aside enough and you should probably increase your estimate of time you will need for the business by 50%. PLAN: Plan everything out.  Not just so you know how to get where you are going, but so you know where you going to. RAMONA AND

Sign Up To Receive Our FFA Stories Newsletter! Email address: SHOW NOTES INTRODUCING MAKENZIE VOSS!  Interviewing FFA students gives me the opportunity to speak with female students who are breaking gender norms all the time.  Today's episode has to be #1 on that list. I have interviewed many female students who are diesel mechanics, welders, doing construction, etc.  In today's interview with Makenzie Voss I get to profile another female student who is a welder, and who rose to such heights that she found herself as the only female present in a competition full of males. Makenzie Voss has a passion and significant talent for welding, and she is already working in the industry while she is attending college.  She has so much talent that she was encouraged to enter the Skills U.S.A. Competition for the state of South Dakota.  Then, she won! Makenzie went on to the national competition to represent her state.  When she got there she found out that she was the only female contestant among a field of onl

Sign Up To Receive Our FFA Stories Newsletter! Email address: I had a realization about ten days ago that I could make a better profit off of my farm with less effort and risk by switching over to raising nothing but goats.  I gave it some serious consideration for a while.  When I finally really thought about dispersing my entire cow herd, I just could not bare the thought.  Thus, I got my answer to the question on today's episode. I would like to know what your answer to this question is? Where Off-Farm Income And Matt Brechwald Can Be Heard:   Member Of The National Association Of Farm Broadcasters

Sign Up To Receive Our FFA Stories Newsletter! Email address: SHOW NOTES INTRODUCING JACOB MAYES!  It is pretty common knowledge that getting hired as a full-time firefighter can be a really significant challenge.  A lot of people desire this career, and therefore there are usually a lot of applicants for just a few positions.  This can look like a deterrent, but it doesn't have to be. Our guest today is Jacob Mayes.  He is now in college, studying agricultural education.  He is also minoring in fire science.  You might wonder where this combination of interests come from.  The truth is, Jacob is simply a very high achiever. During Jacob's time in the FFA he rose to the level of being his chapter's president as well as his section's president.  But his story doesn't stop there.  When he was fourteen years old he started volunteering at his local fire department in the capacity that was allowed for his age.  Over time he has continued to develop this passion as well, and now serves as a volunteer fire

Sign Up To Receive Our FFA Stories Newsletter! Email address: SHOW NOTES KEY IDEAS:  This show has always been about helping you to achieve your farming and/or rural lifestyle.  For the first five years or so we focused specifically on small businesses in agriculture.  However, about a year ago, with the input of the audience, we decided to broaden the topics we covered here to help in more ways than just small business. Today's episode is an example of the great opportunities that were opened up to all of us when we expanded our scope.  I know that there are people in our audience who are considering or who have even begun a non-profit business as their way of living and working in agriculture. Starting and sustaining a non-profit business can be a very challenging thing to do, and we want to offer you any advantages that we hear of.  One such opportunity that has recently come to my attention is a $75,000 grant offered by FLM Harvest called "Seed To Succeed".  The non-profit organization that is awar

SHOW NOTES KEY IDEAS: ADVICE FROM AARON JUERGENS: FIND GOOD PEOPLE TO WORK WITH: Aaron states that partnering with people you enjoy is hugely important.  When picking a business partner what they bring to the table regarding how easy they are to work with is just as important as their expertise or ability to make money. AARON JUERGEN'S PERSONAL HABIT THAT IS CONTRIBUTING TO HIS SUCCESS: STAY POSITIVE: Aaron's advice is to stay positive and find what is working and why things are going to work out.  Dwelling in the negative drives employees away, leads to failure and does not inspire your staff. BEST BUSINESS ADVICE THAT AARON JUERGENS HAS RECEIVED: MAINTAIN YOUR DEBT LEVELS: Aaron uses debt to start and grow his business.  However, he is very consciencience about how much debt he takes on, and he does not borrow on items that do not have a return either in his business or personal life. BOOK RECOMMENDATION: CONTACT INFORMATION: Aaron Juergens' Linked In Page: LINK Aaron Juergens' Twitter Page: @aaronjuergen