Welcome to Farmside Chat

We learn so much more about each other and our great country when we sit down and have candid conversations. One of the best parts of my job is traveling to farm country and meeting with each of you to hear your stories, and then bringing those stories back to Washington to share with our lawmakers and leaders.

Agriculture has a great story to tell, and we need to bring more folks into the conversation about what it takes to grow a safe and sustainable food supply. And that’s just what my new podcast, Farmside Chat, is about.

On this monthly podcast, I’ll be meeting with lawmakers and industry leaders, your Farm Bureau leaders, and farmer and rancher members across the country. I hope through each of these conversations, we’ll all learn more about each other, what our neighbors are facing, and how we can work together to strengthen agriculture in this great land.

The first episode of Farmside Chat is a special conversation with my friend Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue.

As many of you have heard me say, my Farm Bureau journey began when my daddy told me that if I wanted to make a difference on the issues impacting our farm, then I needed to get outside my fencerows. I have been following that advice ever since, and this new podcast is another exciting step on the journey.

When we, as farmers and ranchers, talk about sharing agriculture’s story, we have more platforms and opportunities than ever before. There’s really no excuse for any of us not to get outside our fencerows. Yes, the challenges in farm country are great today, but so are the opportunities.

The first episode of Farmside Chat is a special conversation with my friend Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue. I wanted the chance for all of you to hear more of his passion for agriculture and his mission in leading USDA, and I am honored that he would join me in this new venture. As with all good friends, we may not always see eye to eye, but we do agree on what’s most important: serving God and our neighbors.

In each of the chats we’ve recorded so far, I have been reminded again and again about how much we share across agriculture and our Farm Bureau family, and how the values driving us are the same values shared by consumers in rural and urban areas alike. We all want what is best for our families: to honor our heritage and provide a safer, brighter future. I hope these honest conversations will help unite us in purpose and bring a greater understanding of agriculture to consumers well beyond our fencerows.

*Farmside Chat is available on iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, SoundCloud, and Stitcher, as well as on the AFBF Voice of Agriculture website.