ABOUT THIS EPISODE
We run the market closes and export sales, then dig into why USDA NASS data has become a flashpoint for farmers and traders. Kip Tom joins us to lay out what modernization could look like, from satellites to machine data, and why rebuilding trust is the real mission.
• Market settlements across corn, soybeans, wheat, cattle, and hogs
• Export demand signals and what they suggest for near-term tone
• Why USDA NASS survey participation drops from the 80s to the 30s
• How satellite imagery and radar can improve planted acres and yield estimates
• Where farm machine data fits and why it must be anonymous and optional
• Who uses NASS data across the ag supply chain and why county data matters
• Listening sessions, producer trust, and the risk of private paywalled data
• One farm one file, digital certification pilots, and reducing farmer burden
• Automation parallels with the National Weather Service and staffing concerns
• Congressional approvals, project partners, and next steps
• Weather rundown plus a few lighter notes to close
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SHOW NOTES 🔗
TRANSCRIPT 🔗
00:00:10.129 --> 00:00:12.289
Looks like we made it, everybody.
00:00:12.529 --> 00:00:15.489
Corn held a five handle through the close.
00:00:15.730 --> 00:00:19.890
Soybeans and wheat were mostly mixed, as were the livestocks.
00:00:20.049 --> 00:00:26.049
I'll run down the closes and then we'll turn our attention to modernizing NAS.
00:00:36.530 --> 00:00:44.050
From behind the big blue, bodacious microphone of Ag Bull, your pal Davis Michelson for AgSquawk in the afternoon.
00:00:44.210 --> 00:00:46.210
Glad to have all of you along.
00:00:46.370 --> 00:00:48.289
Today's going to be a good one.
00:00:48.450 --> 00:00:58.929
If you've ever complained about USDA or NAS data or anything like that, you can't complain if you don't watch this show because there are modernizing efforts underway.
00:00:59.090 --> 00:01:01.649
The discussions are underway.
00:01:01.890 --> 00:01:14.289
And uh I've got I've got former ambassador to the UN Agencies for Food and Agriculture and Indiana farmer Kip Tom today about efforts to modernize USDA's NAS.
00:01:14.530 --> 00:01:16.929
I've got some some specific questions.
00:01:17.089 --> 00:01:18.369
I want to hear what they're doing.
00:01:18.449 --> 00:01:19.729
I want to hear what's behind it.
00:01:19.890 --> 00:01:22.129
I want to talk about the tipping point.
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At what point do you decide, gosh, something's gotta be done?
00:01:25.969 --> 00:01:27.809
What was that moment like?
00:01:28.129 --> 00:01:33.569
Curious how Ambassador Tom got the gig and where he sees us going from here.
00:01:33.809 --> 00:01:35.890
Lots to discuss on that.
00:01:36.049 --> 00:01:38.209
We've we've also got some markets going, gang.
00:01:38.289 --> 00:01:39.649
I don't know if you noticed or not.
00:01:39.809 --> 00:01:45.089
We'll run down the settlements in just a moment, but we do have some exports to talk about.
00:01:45.250 --> 00:01:57.809
Private exporters report sales of 150,000 metric tons of soybeans for delivery to unknown destinations for the 26-27 marketing year, and then over to the weekly export sales.
00:01:58.289 --> 00:02:08.129
You know, sales were were decent for corn, soybeans, and wheat with each within but near the high range of pre-report expectations.
00:02:08.370 --> 00:02:10.689
Export demand appears to be fairly healthy.
00:02:10.930 --> 00:02:14.050
Just all of a sudden, we've had a decent string of soybean sales.
00:02:14.129 --> 00:02:23.969
It reaches clear into last week, and here it continues even today with that daily sale announced, and then the weekly sales have been really good as well.
00:02:24.689 --> 00:02:27.409
So let's talk about the tail of the tape in the markets.
00:02:27.569 --> 00:02:35.969
Corn and beans and wheat were higher in early session trade, with the main feature being December corn's move above five bucks.
00:02:36.210 --> 00:02:41.810
Soybeans added a nickel as winter wheat futures were fractionally to five cents higher in early trade.
00:02:42.049 --> 00:02:46.689
Not to be outdone, the cattle market was mostly higher as well, with fat cattle leading gains.
00:02:46.849 --> 00:02:53.729
Hogs took on a more mixed tone, with nearby under pressure and deferred contracts only mildly higher.
00:02:54.049 --> 00:03:02.689
Rounding into the lunch hour, corn and soybeans backed off early session highs, but remained in positive territory along with winter wheat futures.
00:03:02.849 --> 00:03:08.449
Meanwhile, livestock futures were little changed from their earlier positions.
00:03:08.689 --> 00:03:16.049
As I turn my attention to the settlements, let me mention plus 500 software because that's what my crew and I use every single day.
00:03:16.210 --> 00:03:23.090
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00:03:23.250 --> 00:03:27.650
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00:03:27.729 --> 00:03:29.329
That's plus 500.
00:03:29.889 --> 00:03:31.810
Let's look over at December corn.
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It makes me feel good to say this.
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And I did promise a song.
00:03:34.930 --> 00:03:39.009
Ted Hamer, if you're if you're watching, today just doesn't feel like the day.
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We're gonna see if we hold five overnight.
00:03:42.689 --> 00:03:47.489
And then uh and then maybe we can talk about uh a little bit of Barry Manilo tomorrow.
00:03:47.650 --> 00:03:53.409
But December corn hit right here settled out 503 and a half, up five and one half cents.
00:03:53.729 --> 00:03:55.250
Beans were mixed, as I said.
00:03:55.329 --> 00:04:00.370
The November contract down three quarters at twelve thirty-six and a half.
00:04:00.530 --> 00:04:03.329
If we look out to the May, we're up two and a half, however.
00:04:03.650 --> 00:04:05.729
So mixed higher and lower.
00:04:06.049 --> 00:04:08.849
And speaking of mixed action, I've got meal lower.
00:04:09.009 --> 00:04:11.569
Soybean oil was higher on the day.
00:04:12.129 --> 00:04:20.129
And then the winter weed contracts, the December Chicago wheat, two and a half higher on the day at seven bucks on the nose.
00:04:20.689 --> 00:04:35.570
Mostly higher on the KC wheat, although the December contract was a quarter cent lower on the day, settled out at 776 and one half, and then over to the livestocks, feeder cattle were mixed in the front end, a little bit lower.
00:04:35.730 --> 00:04:39.970
By the time we get out to the October, we're 65 higher with 322.70.
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Your fat cattle October 218 even.
00:04:43.570 --> 00:04:48.850
And once again, a little lower on the front end of the market, although it's the August contract, so you know what are you gonna do?
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77 and one half lower on your October fat cattle at 218 on the snout.
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And here's the lean hogs, mostly lower.
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You got to get clear out to the May 27 to get a seven and a half cent rise there.
00:05:03.490 --> 00:05:05.490
But the spread here seems to be taking effect.
00:05:05.570 --> 00:05:15.090
I've got October lean hog futures down a buck 27 and one half, working hard to narrow the spread at 80, 22, and one half.
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Thanks once again to plus 500 software.
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And with that, it gives me great joy to bring in former ambassador to the UN Agencies for Food and Agriculture and Indiana farmer Kip Tom today.
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We're gonna talk about modernizing NAS.
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Mr.
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Tom, Ambassador Tom, thank you so much for being with us.
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I really appreciate you spending some time with us.
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There's a lot here that I don't understand.
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And so, as I understand, you're kind of the kind of the big kahuna of this effort here.
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Is that fair?
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No, I wouldn't say that.
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I wouldn't say that at all.
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I'm uh just trying to serve a role to do what we can to make sure that uh American agriculture and everybody in our supply chain has good information, and that's the role I'm gonna play, and I plan on working hard at it.
00:06:01.490 --> 00:06:04.370
So, Davis is an honor, honor to be on your show this afternoon.
00:06:04.530 --> 00:06:07.410
Never been on it before, but uh I sure like your intro.
00:06:07.570 --> 00:06:13.330
When I can see five corn above five dollars, that makes a farmer this year feel a little bit better.
00:06:13.410 --> 00:06:15.650
But I tell you what, there's some tough areas around.
00:06:15.810 --> 00:06:24.530
You go south of us 60 miles, and you got some people starting getting eight, 10 inches of rain over the past 10 days, some upwards of 15, 16 inches.
00:06:24.689 --> 00:06:26.689
So uh it's gonna be a tough year down there.
00:06:26.770 --> 00:06:32.770
People thought they had the best crop ever, and now probably the worst crop they've had in 20, 25 years.
00:06:33.090 --> 00:06:38.610
Well, and they may have had the the best crop ever up until about what a week or two ago, right?
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Is that is that fair?
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That's fair.
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That's fair.
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I talked to people down there yesterday, they still had beans uh on flat level ground that's pattern tile drain.
00:06:47.250 --> 00:06:49.890
The creeks and streams can't get it down the river fast enough.
00:06:49.970 --> 00:06:56.290
Some of it's going into reservoirs, but uh some people had beans that were almost waist high that water sell waist high.
00:06:56.530 --> 00:06:58.050
Shoot, shoot, that's no good.
00:06:58.129 --> 00:07:00.530
Well, you're st you're still farming, aren't you, sir?
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Let's talk to us.
00:07:01.570 --> 00:07:01.970
Yes, I am.
00:07:02.050 --> 00:07:02.450
Yes, I am.
00:07:02.530 --> 00:07:03.730
I have farms.
00:07:03.890 --> 00:07:08.450
Put on your backyard itis hat and just uh what's the tail of your crop this year?
00:07:08.530 --> 00:07:09.890
How how how you looking?
00:07:10.210 --> 00:07:11.410
Yeah, you know, it's interesting.
00:07:11.490 --> 00:07:18.770
You know, if I'm talking to my banker, I would I'm just saying in general, farmers always, when they're talking to their banker, it's gonna be a bumper crop again.
00:07:18.930 --> 00:07:31.410
But if you're talking to the to the trade and everybody, I believe, you know, our own crop, I would say if I ranked it over the next last five years, we're probably gonna be trend line or probably somewhere in the middle of the last five years of yield.
00:07:31.570 --> 00:07:32.770
So respectable.
00:07:32.930 --> 00:07:34.850
I think that's on the corn side of beans.
00:07:34.930 --> 00:07:37.490
I I think we could be off a little bit.
00:07:37.650 --> 00:07:42.370
We had some troubles with some beans in this area, but nonetheless, still gonna be a good crop.
00:07:42.530 --> 00:07:43.090
Yeah, good.
00:07:43.170 --> 00:07:45.250
Well, I'm I'm sure glad to hear that.
00:07:45.570 --> 00:07:46.290
Let's start.
00:07:46.370 --> 00:07:51.090
And I sort of jokingly said that you're the big kahuna and you you gave a terrific answer.
00:07:51.250 --> 00:07:59.410
You want to just do what you can to help out the American farmer, the American ag industry get its hands on good information.
00:07:59.970 --> 00:08:04.050
Specifically, what is your role in this modernization effort?
00:08:04.210 --> 00:08:07.890
And just give us a couple of bullet points on how you got there.
00:08:08.290 --> 00:08:11.170
Well, before I tell you that, I'm gonna tell you why it's happening.
00:08:11.410 --> 00:08:22.129
I think we all sense talking to producers across the country, talking to people of elevator operators, food processors, any one of the big uh grain merchandisers.
00:08:22.290 --> 00:08:26.689
You know, we need reliable, accurate, timely information.
00:08:26.930 --> 00:08:43.889
And I think if you look at survey results that come into USGA from the enumerators across the countryside, that I think nearly 2,000 of them go out and collect this information from farmers that, you know, it used to be about 20 years ago we had a participation rate over 80%, 87% actually.
00:08:44.210 --> 00:08:48.210
This most recent survey came in, it was in around 37%.
00:08:49.090 --> 00:08:53.810
So people have had less of an interest of really filling out these surveys.
00:08:53.970 --> 00:08:55.730
They don't have the time, they're busy.
00:08:55.889 --> 00:09:01.409
So we're really looking at this in a way to try to prove the cadence, the frequency of the reports.
00:09:01.570 --> 00:09:04.370
Maybe we won't have the shocks in a market if we can do that.
00:09:04.529 --> 00:09:19.090
We can, I think USDA is looking at their current suppliers of imagery and satellite imagery, that uh that geospatial information that we have that we can use to understand what's going on in our crops, but also the surveys.
00:09:19.250 --> 00:09:22.210
So I think there's there's a combination of things we need to do.
00:09:22.290 --> 00:09:30.690
But as we analyze these companies that we're working with today, we need to say where are our gaps and where can we fill those gaps at to bring up more reliable data.
00:09:30.930 --> 00:09:33.810
As far as how I got here, that's a good question.
00:09:33.889 --> 00:09:41.330
I I was with the secretary, asked me to come in one day and wanted to talk a little bit, and uh she's she'd been willing to do this for some time.
00:09:41.490 --> 00:09:54.370
I mean, I think it started over a year ago when she had a group of farmers that showed up for I think it was the July 15th report that came out, and they were all in dismay that the numbers were what they were.
00:09:54.529 --> 00:10:00.690
And at that time, I think they were telling her then that they really didn't didn't believe NASA any longer.
00:10:00.930 --> 00:10:05.889
And so I think this has been something that's been on the on her burner, but now she moved to the front.
00:10:05.970 --> 00:10:12.769
She wants to get something done, and I can tell you, she is passionate about making sure that uh we do this in the right manner.
00:10:12.850 --> 00:10:15.330
This has got to be something that spans administrations.
00:10:15.730 --> 00:10:33.250
Obviously, there's components of it, it's got to have congressional approval, but the technologies are there today where we can really amplify the innovations that's been developed over the past uh five, 10 years to make sure we have the latest and greatest and have information at our fingertips so we can make good decisions.
00:10:33.490 --> 00:10:34.370
You know, think about this.
00:10:34.529 --> 00:10:41.649
What if we could have, we would know by satellite imagery, and it's very possible, in fact, it can happen on July 1.
00:10:41.810 --> 00:10:44.769
We know exactly how many acres planted corn, how many planted beans.
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We can start getting yield estimates in in that first day of July, measuring biomass and everything.
00:10:50.690 --> 00:10:54.690
But every week we update that and give something to the marketplace.
00:10:54.769 --> 00:11:04.930
And like I said, try to take out some of those big shocks when we go in one month for an entire report on a crop that only takes four to five months to grow, that creates a lot of havoc.
00:11:05.170 --> 00:11:12.050
And you know, farmers listen, they deal with enough variance in weather and everything else they have to deal with.
00:11:12.210 --> 00:11:16.129
Let's try to make sure we take some of the shocks out of the marketplace and give them good information.
00:11:16.450 --> 00:11:17.170
Yeah, yeah.
00:11:17.409 --> 00:11:22.769
Now, if if you would talk to a broker or a trader, they would say, leave the volatility in the markets.
00:11:22.850 --> 00:11:24.450
That's how we get paid.
00:11:25.009 --> 00:11:27.810
Well, I'm not saying the volatility is going to go completely away.
00:11:27.970 --> 00:11:35.009
Uh you know, it nonetheless, it's it's gonna stabilize it a little bit if we do go on a more frequent uh reporting cadence.
00:11:35.250 --> 00:11:46.370
At the same time, some people bring up the comment about, well, why don't we uh instead of releasing it during the trade, why don't we release it at the prior to the opening of the trade, between the night trade and a day trade?
00:11:46.930 --> 00:11:54.450
You know, I that discussion really hasn't surfaced much at USDA yet, uh, what what that's gonna look like in the future.
00:11:54.610 --> 00:12:04.050
But I think the biggest thing is is we look at the amount of data that farmers produce today on their equipment, and it's up to them if they want to share it or not.
00:12:04.210 --> 00:12:16.210
You know, some will make the choice not to, some will make the choice to do it, but that machine data could be powerful for USDA to have that to really understand what's going on and yields, what's going on, how much is planted.
00:12:16.290 --> 00:12:20.930
I mean, it's all coming into our systems, and there's ways to measure this all the time.
00:12:21.170 --> 00:12:23.810
But if we don't do this, this is what my fear is.
00:12:23.970 --> 00:12:35.889
If we don't make USDA NAS the gold standard, all of a sudden there's gonna be some company that comes out here with let's say a data co-op that says, you know, farmers, bring me your data.
00:12:36.129 --> 00:12:42.610
I will sell it to different companies, whether it's, you know, a trading house, a hedge firm, whatever it may be.
00:12:42.769 --> 00:12:47.570
Now you'll get access to some of this data, but we're gonna pay you X for this information.
00:12:48.370 --> 00:12:55.649
So if we don't get the best information coming out of NAS, we're gonna have individual companies owning this data.
00:12:55.810 --> 00:12:58.850
Well, probably going on today, I would have to guess.
00:12:59.170 --> 00:13:01.330
But we're not gonna be able to make good decisions.
00:13:01.490 --> 00:13:03.009
We're not the gold standard any longer.
00:13:03.170 --> 00:13:05.490
So now is the time for US Day to act.
00:13:05.649 --> 00:13:09.970
That's what Secretary Rollins says, and we're gonna deliver on that promise.
00:13:10.129 --> 00:13:11.409
Yeah, very good.
00:13:11.490 --> 00:13:15.570
You say you say now is the time, and I tend to agree wholeheartedly.
00:13:15.730 --> 00:13:21.250
I've been a farm broadcaster for going on what 13 or so odd years now, maybe a little longer.
00:13:21.409 --> 00:13:21.889
I don't know.
00:13:21.970 --> 00:13:22.850
I'm not much for math.
00:13:22.930 --> 00:13:36.769
It's it's been a long time, long enough that I've heard enough farmers give the side eye to USDA reports, NAS numbers, you know, data collection methods, all these sorts of things all along the way.
00:13:36.850 --> 00:13:39.330
This is going on more than 10 years.
00:13:39.490 --> 00:13:43.009
So when you say now is is the time, I'm I'm curious.
00:13:43.090 --> 00:13:44.769
You mentioned July.
00:13:45.490 --> 00:13:47.409
Was was there a tipping point?
00:13:47.570 --> 00:13:53.250
What what lever was pulled that yes, now is the time we're gonna do this?
00:13:53.649 --> 00:13:56.370
Well, I think Secretary Rollins has got a lot on her plate.
00:13:56.450 --> 00:13:56.930
Let's face it.
00:13:57.009 --> 00:14:09.330
She's done a lot to change USDA, she's done a lot to uh clean up some of the inefficiencies, and let's say, for instance, our food system, the NAS in particular, not at NAS, excuse me, but SNAP programs and things like that.
00:14:09.490 --> 00:14:17.810
But, you know, this was always been on her radar, but I think it got amplified when those farmers were at the White House back in July of 2025.
00:14:17.889 --> 00:14:21.889
And, you know, that's when we started to see the massive increase in corn acres.
00:14:21.970 --> 00:14:24.210
And they're saying, how can we have this happening?
00:14:24.370 --> 00:14:30.769
I mean, we were poorer acres earlier in the year, you know, we've everything's been filed 578s and everything.
00:14:30.850 --> 00:14:33.409
So why don't we have better information quicker?
00:14:33.649 --> 00:14:42.610
You know, the other thing on this, too, and is just statistically, you'll find out that typically after a port, half the time it trades higher, half the time it trades lower.
00:14:42.850 --> 00:14:48.769
But where it really comes into play is the the amount it trades higher or the amount it trades lower.
00:14:48.850 --> 00:14:56.370
And typically it's it's usually trades lower at a more significant amount in the data that's been searched on so far than it does higher.
00:14:56.529 --> 00:15:03.970
And let's face it, most farmers are they're long their corn, they're long their soybeans, they're optimistic that the markets are moving higher.
00:15:04.129 --> 00:15:14.769
So I think that creates some issues with farmers when they find out that their crop isn't worth as much as they thought it was going to be, but it is what it is.
00:15:15.009 --> 00:15:22.450
But I think when we get to these digital systems, I think we're gonna have the ability to really drive home the value of this data.
00:15:22.769 --> 00:15:37.970
For instance, there's been discussions had earlier on, and this is prior to going into this role, where there's a company that actually circles the earth every day, they monitor every acre every day, and they do it on five-meter resolution.
00:15:38.210 --> 00:15:38.529
Wow.
00:15:38.690 --> 00:15:43.730
They and so their their ability to update this information is quite substantial.
00:15:43.889 --> 00:15:47.970
Now, for instance, we just had these floods as you and I discussed in central Indiana.
00:15:48.129 --> 00:15:49.810
I'm getting some data on that now.
00:15:49.970 --> 00:15:53.889
They're putting the yield models to it to really figure out what's what's going on.
00:15:53.970 --> 00:15:58.850
What are the yield losses in that that block of Indiana that's been impacted?
00:15:59.009 --> 00:16:02.529
So I think it's it's bringing in those tools early on.
00:16:02.690 --> 00:16:06.930
I mean, it could be a disease, it could be southern rust in Iowa, it could be anything.
00:16:07.090 --> 00:16:12.850
So our ability now to collect this satellite data is so much better because we have radar we're using now.
00:16:13.009 --> 00:16:16.850
Uh, there's been a couple companies acquired it or can see through the clouds.
00:16:17.009 --> 00:16:23.570
So it's gonna be one layer, but it's still gonna take some people on the ground to authenticate, to ground through some of this.
00:16:23.730 --> 00:16:26.930
And again, I think the machine data can do a part of that.
00:16:27.090 --> 00:16:38.210
But it's if a farmer sends in machine data, as far as I'm concerned, and whether our operation does it, we will probably, it's gotta be aggregated and it's got to be anonymous.
00:16:38.370 --> 00:16:42.050
I don't think anyone wants their particular data to be standing alone.
00:16:42.290 --> 00:16:46.450
I think it needs to be blended with other producers to give an idea of what's going on.
00:16:46.610 --> 00:16:48.930
And again, it's got to be their choice, whether they do it or not.
00:16:49.009 --> 00:16:50.370
They own it, they control it.
00:16:50.529 --> 00:16:53.170
We can't make it mandatory of any means.
00:16:53.250 --> 00:17:07.490
It's this is about farmer choice, and I think that's what this administration is about is making sure we lift up farmers and correcting NAS and getting it headed in the right direction and modernizing it is probably the key word we want to use here.
00:17:07.649 --> 00:17:09.089
That's the direction we want to go.
00:17:09.329 --> 00:17:14.929
Yeah, it's it's interesting that you bring up machine data.
00:17:16.769 --> 00:17:29.569
Do you have a sense or or does NAS or USDA is there a sense out there for what percentage of farmers do have that data available to to upload to something like this?
00:17:29.889 --> 00:17:37.250
I mean, uh I guess it could be argued as long as it's better than say what 35, 37 percent, it's it's a better way of going about it.
00:17:37.409 --> 00:17:39.730
But uh, do you know what that number might be?
00:17:40.129 --> 00:17:44.209
Yeah, so I'm sure if you went to uh John Deere, you could probably get an idea.
00:17:44.289 --> 00:17:51.009
They're probably the predominant John Deere climate uh probably has more data, more sense of what that number looks like.
00:17:51.169 --> 00:17:57.009
But let's say we got 65,000, 70,000 farmers in the United States that produce 80% of the corn.
00:17:57.329 --> 00:18:01.889
That being the case, I would have to believe a lot of those people have that data.
00:18:02.209 --> 00:18:06.689
We know that the digital solutions on our farms has driven increases in productivity.
00:18:06.769 --> 00:18:19.250
It helps us select hybrids, it helps us apply the right amount of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, tells us when to apply crop care products, measures our yields, tells us a lot about what's going on our farm.
00:18:19.409 --> 00:18:28.689
So everybody's kind of gone this way because there's a cost saving advantage, but then there's a productivity saving also that goes with that that really increases yields.
00:18:28.849 --> 00:18:33.889
So I think the number's bigger than we think, but we got to make sure it's quality data.
00:18:34.049 --> 00:18:48.929
You know, we all know that you know you may have the latest and greatest of a John Deere or CaseIH or AgCo combine out here, but if you don't calibrate that on a frequent basis across the scale somewhere, your numbers may be off a little bit.
00:18:49.169 --> 00:18:52.849
So it's all about uh calibration, making sure you get it right.
00:18:53.089 --> 00:18:57.569
And when we're talking about calibration, let's take a moment and talk about what we're doing with satellites.
00:18:57.649 --> 00:19:12.129
So you look at satellites, how they're they've been circling the earth for a long time here, but really and using them in agriculture in this space and measuring how many acres of corn, how many acres of beans has really got refined.
00:19:12.209 --> 00:19:27.409
But now we take that information, we can start coming up with some really good satellite data early on in the year and start taking that uh combine data that comes in behind it, and that delta in between the satellite imagery and what really went on the farm comes together.
00:19:27.649 --> 00:19:30.529
And every year, every crop cycle, this improves.
00:19:30.769 --> 00:19:33.169
So I think there's a lot of potential here.
00:19:33.409 --> 00:19:35.969
And but again, we want it to be passive.
00:19:36.209 --> 00:19:37.969
We want the farmer to have control.
00:19:38.289 --> 00:19:41.809
We want to make sure that we're providing reliable information.
00:19:45.730 --> 00:19:53.089
Here's a strange question, maybe, and I I think you've already sort of touched on this somewhat, but as a reporter, I can get an awful narrow view.
00:19:53.169 --> 00:19:55.009
I've kind of got tunnel vision.
00:19:55.250 --> 00:20:00.689
Well, you know, NAS needs this data so that they can put it in the reports and and put it out there.
00:20:01.250 --> 00:20:07.569
Help me understand who who's using this data, who does it help, what is it designed to do?
00:20:07.730 --> 00:20:18.689
Maybe it's an elementary question, and I feel like we've sort of touched on it from a few different angles here, but who is who is ultimately the this data for and what are they using it for?
00:20:19.409 --> 00:20:33.009
Yeah, so the the next NASDAQ, I mean, let's face it, it uh people look at it all the way, and when we look at crops in particular, and I'm looking just saying corn soybeans, because when we talk about NAS, we've got to realize they turn out 500 plus reports a year.
00:20:33.169 --> 00:20:33.409
Right.
00:20:33.730 --> 00:20:38.929
It could be everything from cranberries to grapes to oranges, grapefruit, apples, whatever.
00:20:39.250 --> 00:20:42.769
And that is getting reviewed at the same time here or a little bit later.
00:20:43.009 --> 00:20:57.250
But when we when we say who looks at this data, it's gonna be all the way from the company producing the genetics on the seed all the way to the person delivering the food to the dinner table at consumers' homes.
00:20:57.569 --> 00:21:04.609
So, you know, grocery chains will can monitor it, or their suppliers, or their people that are involved in supply management.
00:21:04.849 --> 00:21:15.969
You could have fertilizer people looking at this and saying, yeah, look, they produced a big crop, they're gonna have to replace more fertilizer this year than they did last year because they had a bigger crop this year than they had last year.
00:21:16.209 --> 00:21:22.929
The seed industry could use it to try to understand how much seed to produce or how much to make available in certain markets.
00:21:23.169 --> 00:21:34.689
At the same time, if you're a grain elevator operator, or even if you're, let's say, somebody, a poultry integrator or an ethanol plant, you're trying to determine where you build that next plant.
00:21:35.089 --> 00:21:37.809
Well, the county level data is what we got to have too.
00:21:37.889 --> 00:21:48.049
We've got to have that county level data so they can have that information so they know where to build that new chicken feed mill grinding plant at, or that ethanol plant.
00:21:48.209 --> 00:21:54.369
And so there's a lot of different people in the supply chain of agriculture that need this information.
00:21:54.529 --> 00:22:04.609
Again, that's why we've got to be the cold standard, and we got to make sure that we don't leave this up to somebody else to do, which I'm afraid is going on today, but let's get in front of this and fix it now.
00:22:04.849 --> 00:22:05.169
Yeah.
00:22:05.329 --> 00:22:08.609
Well, and we you started out mentioning transparency.
00:22:09.250 --> 00:22:13.169
And making sure that there's good information out there for the folks that need it.
00:22:13.250 --> 00:22:14.129
And I I agree.
00:22:14.209 --> 00:22:16.049
It's 100% vital.
00:22:16.449 --> 00:22:20.209
Let's talk about the incoming data just a little bit.
00:22:21.730 --> 00:22:30.369
To what degree does your quest focus on building trust among producers?
00:22:31.809 --> 00:22:33.409
That's the biggest focus of this.
00:22:34.049 --> 00:22:39.009
The biggest focus is rebuilding that trust with the farmer.
00:22:39.490 --> 00:22:41.169
We've been in listing sessions.
00:22:41.329 --> 00:22:44.049
There was one yesterday in Indianapolis.
00:22:44.289 --> 00:22:46.609
There's one today in Springfield, Missouri.
00:22:46.689 --> 00:22:49.329
There was one in Pennsylvania a week or so ago.
00:22:49.569 --> 00:22:54.849
Minneapolis, or excuse me, uh Minnesota had one just about a week and a half ago.
00:22:55.089 --> 00:22:57.009
Tomorrow I'll be in Des Moines, Iowa.
00:22:57.329 --> 00:22:59.889
We're going to be at the state for theirs a listing session.
00:23:00.049 --> 00:23:08.369
And I think that's the biggest, or that's the single biggest theme that we hear all the time is we've lost trust in the data coming out of NAS.
00:23:08.609 --> 00:23:13.009
Now, I want to say this before we go any further: there's a lot of good people in NAS.
00:23:13.169 --> 00:23:15.329
It's led by some really great people too.
00:23:15.569 --> 00:23:15.889
Dr.
00:23:15.969 --> 00:23:20.449
Hutchins, the leads it, the under-secretary, he he knows what he's doing.
00:23:20.529 --> 00:23:21.569
He's passionate about that.
00:23:21.730 --> 00:23:29.490
He is trying to do everything in his power to make sure that we are successful in accomplishing this goal for the secretary and administration.
00:23:29.730 --> 00:23:34.529
So I think it's uh I think trust is the biggest issue as you bring up.
00:23:34.609 --> 00:23:35.409
So it's interesting.
00:23:35.569 --> 00:23:39.569
You you see it, you probably hear it from farmers, but we've got to get there.
00:23:39.730 --> 00:23:44.449
And I think if if we prove ourselves, it's, you know, it's not gonna be perfect in year one.
00:23:44.609 --> 00:23:45.969
This isn't gonna happen overnight.
00:23:46.209 --> 00:23:51.250
We're gonna do some things that could be pretty massive changes, I hope, within the next few months here.
00:23:51.490 --> 00:23:54.689
But I think as we get further out, you're gonna see continual refinement.
00:23:54.849 --> 00:23:59.730
And remember this the innovations are gonna continue to evolve.
00:23:59.969 --> 00:24:11.889
And who we may be partnering with maybe somebody different next year if they got a better innovation to really understand what's going on in in our fields across the Midwest or in the Southwest or in this Delta.
00:24:12.289 --> 00:24:19.250
I think it's it all comes down to making sure we stay relevant, and that's making sure we have access to the latest technologies.
00:24:19.569 --> 00:24:19.969
Yeah.
00:24:20.689 --> 00:24:25.889
I I want to circle back to that, but but let me move to survey fatigue.
00:24:25.969 --> 00:24:35.169
This is something something that I've experienced through the course of the career, both as a survey uh giver and a survey respondent.
00:24:35.889 --> 00:24:44.689
There that certainly we've talked about the decline in the number of responses, the percentage of responses that have come in.
00:24:45.169 --> 00:24:49.889
But Ambassador, that's that's not unique to USDA surveys.
00:24:49.969 --> 00:24:59.889
In fact, I've I've seen reports that when it comes to response rates to all government surveys, USDA response rates are actually higher than most government agencies.
00:24:59.969 --> 00:25:00.929
Have you seen this?
00:25:01.329 --> 00:25:04.769
No, I haven't seen that report, but I I guess I wouldn't be surprised.
00:25:04.929 --> 00:25:09.329
But uh again, it's uh it comes down to the quality of that survey as well.
00:25:09.490 --> 00:25:15.250
Yeah, and I think as we you know, we're shrinking the size of the amount of farmers we have in the country.
00:25:15.490 --> 00:25:27.649
So it makes those those reports very, very relevant to really understand what's going on within NASA and the data here, but I'm unaware of you know the other surveys that are out there and and the participation rate.
00:25:27.809 --> 00:25:31.409
But I think you know, people look at these surveys and they start opening the pages.
00:25:31.490 --> 00:25:33.089
I filled them out myself for years.
00:25:33.569 --> 00:25:50.769
I've had the enumerator sitting across the desk from me with a clipboard and a pencil, and and where we just verbalized what we thought we planted to this crop and how much we thought it was going to yield, and how much we had in the bin, and what did we use for chemistries and things like that.
00:25:51.009 --> 00:25:58.209
So I think there's just people are, I would say they're wanting to guard their information more when it comes to this.
00:25:58.289 --> 00:26:06.929
But when I look at the world we live in today, you know, if anyone's buying something off Amazon, they know your buying habits, they keep tracking you, following you, they know what you're gonna buy.
00:26:07.169 --> 00:26:07.889
Yeah, that's fair.
00:26:08.129 --> 00:26:13.569
If you buy an iPhone, it's listening to you all the time and knows your behaviors, it's tracking you.
00:26:13.809 --> 00:26:17.169
A lot of our information is already, I guess you could say, compromised.
00:26:17.329 --> 00:26:19.329
We're not going to be compromising information for this.
00:26:19.409 --> 00:26:21.809
This is gonna drive value back to U.S.
00:26:21.969 --> 00:26:27.009
agriculture and give us the ability to be more competitive in the global landscape.
00:26:27.169 --> 00:26:30.049
I think, you know, you don't have to travel very much.
00:26:30.209 --> 00:26:36.849
I've been to Brazil a couple of times lately and other places in the world, but our competitors have better information than we do.
00:26:37.009 --> 00:26:39.569
They're moving at a much faster pace.
00:26:39.809 --> 00:26:48.849
And if we don't get a grasp on what's going on here, it's gonna be hard for us to make the decisions to make sure that we have the economic opportunities in agriculture.
00:26:49.009 --> 00:26:56.449
We need to make sure that we have national security is being taken care of, and we need to make sure our food security is being addressed.
00:26:56.529 --> 00:26:59.329
And NASA's so circular to all of that.
00:27:01.089 --> 00:27:05.969
How deep does this modernization effort need to reach?
00:27:06.209 --> 00:27:14.849
I mean, does it need to get down to the level of the county offices and redo how things are done from there on up, or does it go even deeper than that?
00:27:15.169 --> 00:27:22.289
Well, I think when you look at one farm or one file that we've gone to now, there's some people at USGA's worked very hard on that.
00:27:22.449 --> 00:27:31.730
They had to clean up nearly 2,000 different contracts and over 500 different platforms that they were operating on the past and contract it down to one.
00:27:32.049 --> 00:27:33.969
I think that's that's the starting point.
00:27:34.049 --> 00:27:36.369
And I think the one farm or one file is gonna be good.
00:27:36.449 --> 00:27:49.089
But I think as we continue to feed this information into USDA at our local county office or what we do electronically, uh I think it's gonna continue to improve the level of data that we have to us.
00:27:49.490 --> 00:28:02.449
As an example, I I know there's a pilot program coming out next year where a farmer can go when he's done planning, he's got all his information stored on his computer that came in from the tractors, the planters, the sprayers.
00:28:02.609 --> 00:28:07.250
He can basically go through and certify his acres from his computer at home.
00:28:07.490 --> 00:28:19.409
I know there's some other systems that have done it, but this is probably one of the more broader used software platforms in agriculture, at least in the machinery side, and submit that right to USD at that moment.
00:28:19.649 --> 00:28:25.089
So we're trying to make it easier for the farmer and trying to take some burden off their table.
00:28:25.329 --> 00:28:26.369
They got enough to do.
00:28:26.529 --> 00:28:26.769
Yeah.
00:28:27.009 --> 00:28:28.849
I I know, I know firsthand.
00:28:29.169 --> 00:28:30.849
Sure, absolutely you do.
00:28:31.089 --> 00:28:35.169
And I and I know that the farmers would would certainly appreciate that.
00:28:36.129 --> 00:28:38.529
I I think you've already answered my next question.
00:28:38.609 --> 00:28:43.730
It's been suggested to move, you know, things like move the June Anchorage report to September.
00:28:43.809 --> 00:28:52.529
But if I'm hearing you, in your perfect world, there might be updates that come out maybe each week or maybe a couple times a month.
00:28:52.849 --> 00:28:54.369
Does that sound about right?
00:28:55.009 --> 00:29:09.089
You know, you have that's the goal, but I think if you you look at the technologies that's available today, we could do a lot of plant condition reports starting probably in May across the Midwest.
00:29:09.329 --> 00:29:24.449
Uh when you can take a satellite and you can look at a field and do a stand count on a cornfield and understand whether you have an adequate population in that field or not, you know you have pretty good resolution, you have pretty good data out there.
00:29:24.609 --> 00:29:32.449
So you can you can go out here now and those models are pretty effective across fixed-wing aircraft drones.
00:29:32.769 --> 00:29:36.369
I mean I'm talking about full-scale drones and also satellites.
00:29:36.529 --> 00:29:40.609
So there's no reason why we couldn't do that on a weekly basis with the satellites.
00:29:40.769 --> 00:29:44.609
I think we can move into yield models probably starting in July.
00:29:44.769 --> 00:29:52.769
I I saw some of those already where people were predicting yields on corn soybeans in certain regions of the country on July 1.
00:29:52.929 --> 00:29:55.569
So I think there's a lot of potential to make that happen.
00:29:55.730 --> 00:29:56.369
Yeah.
00:29:56.689 --> 00:30:04.769
I don't I don't mean to get uh too far into the nuts and bolts here, but uh I guess, and maybe this will be a controversial question.
00:30:04.929 --> 00:30:06.529
I don't I don't know if you have the answer or not.
00:30:06.609 --> 00:30:11.409
So if this is completely unfair and misguided of me to ask, you know, please let me know.
00:30:11.649 --> 00:30:23.250
But I'm I'm curious, it feels like you're moving some of the work off of the farmer's desk and back over to desks at NAS.
00:30:23.649 --> 00:30:28.209
And I wonder if there's a staffing component here that needs to be considered.
00:30:28.369 --> 00:30:39.969
If we're you know, if we're looking at satellite data and farm machine data and information collected by other USDA agencies, somebody's got to put all that together.
00:30:40.129 --> 00:30:41.809
Have we got the people to do that?
00:30:42.849 --> 00:31:08.609
There are providers out there right now that are collecting this data with satellites that could all they gotta do is send a file off to USDA and no know exactly in Grundy County how many acres of corn are planted, how many acres of soybeans are planted, but they can they can list every every county in Iowa, every county in Illinois, Indiana, you name the state, they can do it.
00:31:08.689 --> 00:31:13.089
So it it will take workload at the same time off the people at NAS.
00:31:13.250 --> 00:31:23.409
So we're really not moving more work to NAS, we're moving more work to digital solutions and technology and innovation to overcome this.
00:31:23.569 --> 00:31:27.009
I mean, I I bring the the comparison up oftentimes.
00:31:27.169 --> 00:31:29.490
I mean, look at our National Weather Service.
00:31:29.649 --> 00:31:34.369
It used to be, you know, we had people out, they would call in, they would look at their rain gauge.
00:31:34.449 --> 00:31:40.129
I had 1.1 inches of rain, and they would call in the temperature and the town they live in.
00:31:40.209 --> 00:31:46.129
They would look at the barometric pressure, or they may have been gauging a storm that's coming at them over the horizon.
00:31:46.369 --> 00:31:48.529
So that was an analog day.
00:31:48.609 --> 00:31:52.689
That was a day when you picked up the phone, they called it in, and then it got reported.
00:31:53.250 --> 00:31:58.609
Today it's all automated, and there is no reason why we can't do this in agriculture.
00:31:58.769 --> 00:32:06.209
Automate this, make sure that we're delivering accurate, timely information for people to make good choices.
00:32:07.089 --> 00:32:15.089
Does this require some sort of does this need to be codified through some sort of legislation once once the plan is in place?
00:32:15.169 --> 00:32:17.649
I don't I guess I don't understand how that works.
00:32:17.809 --> 00:32:23.490
Or is do you just put it into the operations manual over at NASA and work out you know all of that?
00:32:23.569 --> 00:32:24.449
How how does this go?
00:32:24.529 --> 00:32:27.329
Is it gonna take an act of Congress to get this done, sir?
00:32:27.649 --> 00:32:32.609
There's gonna be some congressional approvals that be uh that will be needed here along the way.
00:32:32.769 --> 00:32:46.129
I've already had some conversations uh offline, uh casual conversations, uh, people that are interested in this and in the members of Congress, and they too want to make sure that we modernize NAS to the point that does what we say it's gonna do.
00:32:46.369 --> 00:32:47.889
Yeah, yeah, very good.
00:32:48.289 --> 00:32:50.929
You're uh you're working with a team, as I understand.
00:32:51.009 --> 00:32:51.250
Mr.
00:32:51.329 --> 00:32:53.969
Ben Renchi, I think, is is on that team.
00:32:54.049 --> 00:32:56.129
I I can't imagine it's easy working with Mr.
00:32:56.209 --> 00:32:57.409
Renchi, sir.
00:32:59.169 --> 00:33:04.529
Ben's a good sounding board, he's he's got boots on the ground and uh good family operation.
00:33:05.009 --> 00:33:09.569
Been friends with Ben for probably 30 years and always been good to be around Ben.
00:33:09.649 --> 00:33:11.089
But yeah, he's playing a role in this.
00:33:11.169 --> 00:33:13.329
But there's there's a lot of other farmers involved.
00:33:13.409 --> 00:33:23.490
Uh, yesterday there was a farmer that flew up, D Von flew up from Texas to Dakota Fest to sit on one of those panels with farmers and and listen to them.
00:33:23.730 --> 00:33:27.809
So we've got a lot of good people that are getting involved with this.
00:33:27.969 --> 00:33:31.089
We had one yesterday, Sam Halterman, he's from Illinois.
00:33:31.250 --> 00:33:33.809
He he drove to Indiana yesterday.
00:33:33.969 --> 00:33:37.409
He was earlier, I think he was in Minnesota.
00:33:37.649 --> 00:33:39.730
He might have gone to one or two others as well.
00:33:39.889 --> 00:33:41.889
So people are passionate about this.
00:33:41.969 --> 00:33:44.849
The farmers they want to see this change happen.
00:33:45.250 --> 00:33:59.089
And you know, for someone to fly from Texas, walk away from his operation for two days, just to sit on a panel and have a conversation with different members of USTA and other farmers, tells you we want to get this done.
00:33:59.329 --> 00:33:59.730
Yeah.
00:33:59.969 --> 00:34:04.609
You've mentioned a few upcoming panel discussions, some listening sessions, etc.
00:34:05.730 --> 00:34:07.409
What are next steps here?
00:34:07.569 --> 00:34:12.929
And what does it look like a couple of months down the road if it's if it's going the way that you want it to?
00:34:13.409 --> 00:34:19.889
Well, I'm just getting onboarded on Monday as a special government employee, senior advisor to the secretary.
00:34:20.289 --> 00:34:29.809
And so work starts for me right then, but it's actually started uh kind of casually over the past month here since this initiative was announced.
00:34:29.889 --> 00:34:31.889
But I plan on working with Dr.
00:34:31.969 --> 00:34:36.449
Scott Hutchinson, the the under-secretary over at REE.
00:34:37.329 --> 00:34:45.650
And there's a number of people in IoT there that are going to do part of this and a lot of other individuals, the deputy secretary's office.
00:34:45.809 --> 00:34:49.969
There's gonna be a lot of people involved in getting this in the right pathway.
00:34:50.289 --> 00:34:52.849
There's an awful lot at stake here.
00:34:52.929 --> 00:34:55.489
I'm sure that you would agree, Ambassador.
00:34:55.730 --> 00:35:01.009
And uh it's more important now than ever, especially with the technological advances that we had.
00:35:01.170 --> 00:35:11.250
I feel like we've kind of gone through the all right, we've got early adopters, and now we've got you know pretty pretty decent adoption of new technologies on the farm.
00:35:12.929 --> 00:35:24.210
Now, here's something that we can do to use it toward toward the good of agriculture and the overarching industries that also rely on agriculture.
00:35:24.369 --> 00:35:25.250
Am I right?
00:35:25.650 --> 00:35:26.289
You're right.
00:35:26.369 --> 00:35:42.849
I mean, uh it's like I said, uh all we have to do is start looking at other industries, how they've they've taken the workload away from an analog world of paper and pencil to now are things collected by a sensor or by digitization and on into a computer file and then on to somebody else.
00:35:43.009 --> 00:35:46.690
I always encourage people that think about this and have this discussion.
00:35:46.769 --> 00:35:52.210
It's a movie, I don't know how old it is, maybe 15 years old now, called Moneyball.
00:35:52.449 --> 00:35:55.969
I always encourage people to read the book, Moneyball, or watch the movie.
00:35:56.130 --> 00:36:18.210
It's easy to watch, but it really shows how the baseball industry or baseball sport field sporting field went from collecting the information they did by guys setting up in the stands and monitoring players of how they played and everything to where they could actually take the data of what they were doing during a game and put it all together and try to figure out who's the best player to recruit.
00:36:18.529 --> 00:36:22.769
So I think moneyball is a good example of what we're trying to do with with NAS.
00:36:23.250 --> 00:36:25.089
Oh, that's a that's a terrific example.
00:36:25.250 --> 00:36:26.769
And uh I want to thank you for that.
00:36:26.929 --> 00:36:29.489
My evening just filled up, thanks to you, sir.
00:36:30.289 --> 00:36:31.730
See if I can find that.
00:36:31.889 --> 00:36:35.250
I wonder if you have any more closing thoughts on this before we move on.
00:36:35.329 --> 00:36:40.690
We're gonna talk about the weather next, and then I'm then I'm gonna cut you loose, but I want to make sure that we get it all in here.
00:36:40.849 --> 00:36:42.529
What am I missing, sir?
00:36:43.089 --> 00:36:44.369
Yeah, just watch.
00:36:44.610 --> 00:36:47.250
Watch as we go along this pathway.
00:36:47.489 --> 00:36:54.210
We want to continue to engage farmers, whether it's tomorrow or whether it's six months from now.
00:36:54.449 --> 00:37:03.569
We want to know what they think of the direction we're going and if the what we're turning out is going to meet the need of the information that they need to make good decisions.
00:37:03.730 --> 00:37:13.089
But again, it's not just farmers, it's it's our input suppliers, it's people on our on our off-take side, uh, ABCD, it's it's everybody in the supply chain.
00:37:13.250 --> 00:37:17.170
So I encourage farmers to watch us.
00:37:17.650 --> 00:37:25.809
Remember that the Rollins administration at USDA is all about building trust and making sure we are doing things the right way.
00:37:25.969 --> 00:37:31.969
So I encourage people to watch what's going on at USDA and hopefully they see some good results from this.
00:37:32.690 --> 00:37:35.009
Well, I I certainly appreciate your candor.
00:37:35.089 --> 00:37:37.969
I I love your attitude and your enthusiasm for this.
00:37:38.130 --> 00:37:40.610
It's a uh it's a much needed upgrade.
00:37:40.769 --> 00:37:52.690
I would I would definitely agree to to a service that's that's doing its darndest with what it's got, but I I do believe that there's more to be gleaned here in a in a more transparent and more successful fashion.
00:37:52.849 --> 00:37:59.009
Hey, let me ask you, uh, you're in I've I put you somewhere in north central Indiana.
00:37:59.089 --> 00:37:59.809
Is that about right?
00:37:59.969 --> 00:38:00.529
That's pretty close.
00:38:00.690 --> 00:38:06.690
Warsaw, Indiana, about halfway between South Bend and Fort Wayne, or about 80 miles uh east of Chicago.
00:38:06.929 --> 00:38:10.449
I'm sitting at 84 degrees and and sunny here in Kansas City.
00:38:10.529 --> 00:38:12.929
We've had some storms roll through the last couple days.
00:38:13.089 --> 00:38:15.089
How's how's the weather over there?
00:38:15.409 --> 00:38:16.610
Yeah, we got sunny.
00:38:16.690 --> 00:38:19.650
It's it's probably, I don't know, somewhere in the low 80s right now.
00:38:19.809 --> 00:38:21.809
So nice, nice August day here.
00:38:21.969 --> 00:38:26.929
But yeah, I think there's some light chances of rain this weekend, maybe, but we're sitting good on moisture.
00:38:27.009 --> 00:38:30.210
I think we're probably done irrigating any corn that we have to irrigate.
00:38:30.610 --> 00:38:35.250
We're probably more focused on finishing up some soybeans if it does turn off dry for us.
00:38:35.569 --> 00:38:37.569
But again, it's it's good, you know.
00:38:37.650 --> 00:38:39.809
It's we always talk about the weather, don't we?
00:38:39.969 --> 00:38:40.289
We do.
00:38:40.769 --> 00:38:43.809
Farmers always walk up how kind of what's the weather like in your area.
00:38:43.969 --> 00:38:45.489
So glad you bring it up.
00:38:45.569 --> 00:38:50.130
But well, and nobody seems to mind using satellite data to talk about the weather.
00:38:50.529 --> 00:38:53.969
Yeah, can you imagine doing this with somebody calling it in?
00:38:54.210 --> 00:38:54.849
Yeah, yeah.
00:38:55.250 --> 00:38:58.610
They're looking at the barometric pressure, and how many people would that take?
00:38:58.690 --> 00:38:59.809
You know, it'd be a mess.
00:38:59.889 --> 00:39:00.929
It'd be a mess.
00:39:01.089 --> 00:39:05.569
Well, we can do the same thing at a much greater resolution than what that is, even.
00:39:05.730 --> 00:39:06.449
Yeah, yeah.
00:39:06.610 --> 00:39:09.730
Well, let me get to the National Weather Service short-term forecast here.
00:39:09.889 --> 00:39:17.650
Scattered severe thunderstorms and excessive rainfall possible today in the mid-Atlantic, posing a risk for damaging winds and isolated flash flooding.
00:39:17.809 --> 00:39:23.730
Extreme heat warnings are in effect today for northeast Texas into southern Oklahoma and Arkansas.
00:39:23.889 --> 00:39:26.289
Heat hasn't quite broke down there just yet.
00:39:26.529 --> 00:39:32.289
Extreme heat warnings also in effect for the desert southwest today into Sunday.
00:39:32.449 --> 00:39:39.409
Ambassador Tom, before we disperse here, I would like to I'd like to offer up some items of mild interest.
00:39:39.569 --> 00:39:43.170
If I can garner your mild interest, are you are you into it?
00:39:43.489 --> 00:39:44.049
I'm in.
00:39:44.529 --> 00:39:44.769
All right.
00:39:45.250 --> 00:39:52.449
This day, August 20, 2026, and it seems appropriate for us to be talking about things going on in space.
00:39:52.769 --> 00:39:58.690
NASA's Viking Project found a place in history on this date when it became the first U.S.
00:39:58.769 --> 00:40:05.009
mission to land a spacecraft safely on the surface of Mars and return images of the surface.
00:40:05.170 --> 00:40:11.809
The craft launched on this date in 1975 and touched down on the surface of Mars 11 months later.
00:40:11.969 --> 00:40:14.849
Only takes 11 months to get to uh get to Mars.
00:40:15.009 --> 00:40:20.210
I bet because that was 1975, I bet we could get there much quicker in in the modern day.
00:40:20.449 --> 00:40:22.130
11 months is still not bad.
00:40:22.369 --> 00:40:25.809
In uh 1948, I don't know if you're a Led Zeppel fan at all.
00:40:25.889 --> 00:40:30.210
It's the birthday of Robert Plant, lead singer from Led Zeppelin, 1954.
00:40:30.449 --> 00:40:36.130
Al Roker was born, American news anchor, weatherman of certainly some note.
00:40:36.610 --> 00:40:40.210
And uh just just a silly thought for the day.
00:40:40.690 --> 00:40:48.049
Because telescopes work using mirrors, we may never know if there are any space vampires.
00:40:48.210 --> 00:40:55.809
And I would argue if there are no space vampires, there may not be Count Chocula in space either, which I don't know if that's a world I want to live in.
00:40:55.889 --> 00:41:14.449
But Ambassador Tom, former ambassador to UN Agencies for Food and Ag, and Indiana farmer Kip Tom, you've been extremely generous with your time and done an excellent job of getting the word out on this, why it's important, who should care, and and what we need to be watching for.
00:41:14.610 --> 00:41:17.009
We certainly appreciate you taking this task on.
00:41:17.089 --> 00:41:19.650
It's uh no small quest indeed, sir.
00:41:19.730 --> 00:41:21.009
We appreciate you.
00:41:21.730 --> 00:41:27.409
Davis, I would say if anything, let's get let's meet up again in a few months and get a progress report.
00:41:27.650 --> 00:41:30.849
I'll put that down in my book and my people will be in touch.
00:41:31.409 --> 00:41:36.210
In the meantime, thanks to Trade the News for keeping my squad updated on the news that moves the markets.
00:41:36.289 --> 00:41:38.130
Get useful news from Trade the News.
00:41:38.210 --> 00:41:39.650
That's trade the news.
00:41:39.730 --> 00:41:47.809
And finally, I would uh selfishly, shameless plug inbound, direct you to agbol.com where you can dig deeper with Ag Bull Intel.
00:41:48.210 --> 00:41:53.889
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00:41:59.170 --> 00:42:08.449
And then I've got the man himself, Tommy Grasophi, the 17th Sexiest Man Alive, and I will dig deep into the week's market action tomorrow afternoon.
00:42:08.610 --> 00:42:10.610
Ambassador Tom, thank you so much for being with us.
00:42:10.690 --> 00:42:14.289
Come back, y'all, tomorrow for another edition of Ag Squawk.