Show Notes
Kent tells the story of the cleanest kill of his life, a muzzleloader buck stalked through standing corn on the wind. Then Nicolas runs through 17 little-known programs that help beginning and small farmers get started, from savings matches and apprenticeships to cost shares, and why marketing matters for farmers.
hokseynativeseeds.com (for all your native seed, backyard prairie, hunting mixes, CRP mixes, native pasture mixes, and more) iowacovercrop.com (for all your cover crop mixes, waterway mixes, forage mixes, small grains, and more)1. PFI Savings Incentive Program: https://practicalfarmers.org/programs/savings-incentive-program/2. PFI Labor4Learning: https://practicalfarmers.org/programs/labor4learning/3. PFI Cost-Shares: Grazing Infrastructure: https://practicalfarmers.org/programs/grazing-infrastructure-cost-share/ Extended Rotations: https://practicalfarmers.org/programs/cost-share-for-extended-rotations/ Produce Safety: https://practicalfarmers.org/programs/produce-safety-cost-share/4. Land Stewardship Project Farm Beginnings: https://landstewardshipproject.org/farmbeginnings/5. Minnesota Down Payment Assistance Grant: https://www.mda.state.mn.us/downpayment6. Nebraska NextGen Beginning Farmer Tax Credit: https://nextgen.nebraska.gov7. Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship: https://www.dga-national.org/programs/dairy-grazing-apprenticeship8. North Central SARE Farmer Rancher Grant: https://northcentral.sare.org/grants/apply-for-a-grant/farmer-rancher-grant/9. Farmer Veteran Fellowship Fund: https://farmvetco.org/fvfellowship/10. American Farmland Trust Brighter Future Fund: https://farmland.org/brighterfuture Farm to Stay (with Airbnb): https://farmland.org/farm-to-stay11. Organic Farming Research Foundation Farmer-Led Trials: https://ofrf.org/research/farmer-led-research-trials/12. Oregon Farm Corps: https://www.oregonfarmcorps.org/apprenticeship13. California Healthy Soils Program: https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/oars/healthysoils/14. Washington Sustainable Farms and Fields: https://www.scc.wa.gov/sff15. Tennessee Agricultural Enhancement Program (TAEP): https://www.tn.gov/taep.html16. Kentucky Agricultural Development Fund: https://www.kyagr.com/agpolicy17. NC AgVentures Farm Grant: https://agventures.ces.ncsu.edu/application-for-ag-ventures-grant
More from The Prairie Farm Podcast
Pierce Nelles, Hoksey Native Seeds’ new marketing manager and a Driftless fly fishing guide, joins the crew to talk trout. Why cold water matters, how a prairie stretch ran three degrees cooler than pasture, Iowa stocking, spawning seasons, and what hunters and anglers really think about conservation right now.
Tommy Hexter bought a tiny local food market at 20 and grew it to nearly seventy Iowa producers. We talk food hubs, pay-what-you-can groceries, why Walmart can’t tell you where your eggs came from, running for the statehouse at 24, and why Iowa’s soil should make it America’s food capital.
Harvest has the Hoksey crew running on fumes and fighting old combines, so naturally we’re talking tractors. Nicolas, Kent, and Judd dig into how John Deere, Case IH, Allis-Chalmers, Oliver, and Ford got where they are, why farmers stay loyal to one color, and what right to repair means today.
Iowa DNR state deer biologist Jace Elliott sits down with Nicolas and Kent to talk about the new trail camera ban on public land, drones for deer recovery, nonresident tags, crossbows, and chronic wasting disease, including surprising new data on genetic resistance that has even the experts rethinking a few things.
Harvest is here and the crew is running on fumes. Nicolas, Kent, Riley, and Judd talk through a stacked week of native seed harvest, then dig into the science of sound: how traffic noise steals sleep and health, and why birdsong, running water, and prairie soundscapes actually lower your stress.