At a recent session of the annual Cow - Calf College that was held at the Meat Animal Research Center near Clay Center,  Zac & Ken Herz from Lawrence Nebraska talked about his construction of bedded manure pack beef barn.  Mike LePorte talks with Zach about this concept. Zac Herz interview

Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman talks with Mike LePorte about the Governor's Ag Conference, taxes along with some U.S. Senate politics.  Listen to the entire interview here: Govenor Heineman

CME Group has announced that it will establish a $100 million fund designed to provide further protection of customer segregated funds for U.S. family farmers and ranchers who hedge their business in CME Group futures markets.  In light of the recent MF Global failure, in which a clearing firm violated CFTC regulations and misused customer monies that should have been kept segregated, CME Group is adding this extra security measure to protect the country's food producers who are using CME Group futures markets to hedge their crops and livestock that feed the world.

Under the Family Farmer and Rancher Protection Fund, expected to be in effect by March 1, 2012, farmers and ranchers using CME Group products will be eligible for up to $25,000 per account in the case of losses resulting from the future insolvency of a clearing member or other market participant.  Farming and ranching cooperatives also will be eligible for up to $100,000 per cooperative. If losses in a future failure total more than $100 million, participants will be eligible for a pro-rata share of the fund, up to $100 million.  This new fund is expected to be backed by an insurance policy and will not be available retroactively.

The Family Farmer and Rancher Protection Fund, will serve as an additional layer of customer protection in addition to current CFTC regulations and CME Group exchange rules. 

Ken Rahjes talks with CME Group Chef Operating Officer Bryan Durkin about this plan. Listen to the interview by clicking on this link: Bryan Durkin, CME Group COO

The National Farmers Organization re-elected Paul Olson, a Wisconsin farmer to a third term as President.  Ken Rahjes talks with him about the priorities that came out of their annual meeting. Paul Olson NFO

Growers have until March 15, 2012 to take advantage of several offers from BASF Crop Protection to help them manage risk, increase efficiency and maximize yield.

The offers expiring March 15 include partial purchase price rebates for certain BASF High Yield Package product purchases (Investment Advantage), interest-free financing on qualifying purchases (Finance Advantage), and as much as 20 percent savings on select products (Headline Advantage). An additional offer, Insurance Advantage, allows qualifying growers to reduce their crop insurance premiums.

Ken Rahjes talks with Jayson Ward, BASF Product Manager talks about these Advantage programs.

Kansas Senator Jerry Moran joined Bob Brogan to talk about the U.S. Department of Labor's announcement that it will withdraw and re-evaluate the parental exemption portion of the proposed regulations effecting agriculture.  He also talks about where they are in the process of the next farm bill.  You can hear the entire interview by clicking on the highlighted link.    

The latest numbers are in from the Federal Reserve and they show continued strength in the agricultural economy and rural/country banks.  Ken Rahjes talks with Jayson Henderson of the Kansas City Federal Reserve - Omaha Branch.

Jayson Henderson - KCFR-Omaha Branch

Research being conducted at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln shows that irrigated corn production is possibly better for the environment that dry land efforts.  Mike LePorte talks with Dr. Ken Cassman

Dr. Ken Cassman

Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman talks with Mike LePorte about the priorities he has for the state during this legislative session. Click on the link to hear the interview.


Governor Dave Heineman

Although her rein as Miss America is over,  native Nebraskan Teresa Scanlon says she will remain a strong advocate for agriculture and looks forward to doing more in the future....  RRN's Leslie Smith talks with her as she reflects on the past year...



Former Miss America Teresa Scanlan

Many people have enjoyed the above normal temperatures the first week of January, but that has caused some concern for wheat farmers.  We caught up with Bob Klein, Western Nebraska Crop Specialist at the West Central Research & Extension Center in North Platte.  He says one of the big things that farmers have going for them is that planting conditions were prefect last fall.  It is still too early to tell what impact the warm temperatures will have on the winter wheat crop, one thing that would be good is to have a nice blanket of snow to protect it from the normal winter cold winds & temps. Listen to the interview by clicking on the link:
Bob Klein

Mike LePorte talks with UNL Forage Specialist, Dr.. Bruce Anderson about the current condition and outlook for  alfalfa and other hay.   

Dr. Bruce Anderson

Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson talks with Frank Snyder about his decision not to seek re-election. Senator Ben Nelson

2011 will go down as a very interesting year for agriculture. Record land values, record commodity prices, flooding on the Missouri and Platte Rivers and how agriculture would come out if a farm bill was pushed through quickly.  The Nebraska Farm Bureau released a list of their top 5 agriculture news stories for the year, Ken Rahjes talks with Nebraska Farm Bureau President Steve Nelson 

 Nebraska Farm Bureau President interview

The new President of the American Soybean Association, Steve Wellman from Syracuse Nebraska talked with Mike LePorte about the upcoming year.

Steve Wellman interview 

Bryce Anderson has been DTN's ag meteorologist and fill-in market analyst since 1991.  It is always good to get his take on what the weather has in store.  Mike LePorte talked with him on December 19th.    

Bryce Anderson interview

A very popular presenter, Dr. David Kohl, professor emeritus at Virgina Tech made his annual fall pilgrimage to Nebraska to talk with attendees at the Farmers and Ranchers College in Bruning and other folks.  He looked at the future of agriculture with Ken Rahjes on November 30th  . To hear the extended interview click here: David Kohl interview