We start to by asking ourselves if we had to get rid of caffeine or sugar, which would we get rid of? Then we hear about Riley’s new bison birth story. Afterwards we dive into the question of the week. We talk about how urbanization effect conservation and what to do if someone offers you stupid money for your land.

Tabitha Panas was one of thousands of USDA employees fired on Valentine’s Day with no warning. The reason was “performance”, but we know first hand that Tabitha gets incredible results at her job. So what’s going on? Why did DOGE fire her and others. We get into her side of the story to start the podcast. We also discuss the future of conservation and the people who are entering the industry. We spend a long time at the end of the episode doing a mental exercise on what would happen to the ecology if all humans left Iowa right now.

We start this episode with a listener question from Zach. We talk about how to make money on farms that isn’t necessarily mono crops (corn or beans). It’s a tough question, because conservation and making money don’t always have a huge overlap on their vin diagram.

Then we jump to our conversation with Rob Sand. Our founder, Carroll Hoksbergen, joined us for the conversation. We talk about water quality, today’s ag practices, Iowa cancer rates, white-tail bow hunting, and the corruption in Iowa’s government.

Hal Herring is an acclaimed writer on all things public land and outdoors. He has fought ruthlessly over the years to help preserve our Public Land and to save our natural resources. And frankly, he’s a really nice guy.

In this episode, Nicolas and Kent talk to Hal about what it would take to protect our current public lands. They also get into what does leasing public land, and whether or not it is good for Americans and the landscape. Hal is a sharp man with deep and thoughtful opinions, and we recommend people give him a listen.

We start this Coffee Time Wednesday podcast by discussing the convenience of highly concentrated industries, especially in agriculture. It comes with pros and cons. Then we answer our listener question. We discuss in depth how to eliminate copious amounts of Canada Goldenrod. There are pros and cons to each of these methods.

We finish the episode by circling back to invasive super hogs. They’re becoming quite an ecological problem, and it should be addressed. Super hogs (or wild hogs or super pigs) do 2.5 billion dollars of damage ever year in the United States alone, not including Canada or Mexico.

Chad Graeve joins us from Pottawattamie County and the Loess Hills to talk about how we can increase our quality of life by having less. We also discuss alternatives to glyphosate, and how to use fire and grazing. If you have never been to the Loess Hills, we highly recommend. We have been hiking at Hitchcock Nature Preserve several times now, and it is stunning every single time.

Join us for another awesome episode of The Prairie Farm Podcast. In this episode discuss how honey locust are affecting the flora and fauna of water ways. We also answer a fantastic question about establishing a prairie over 10 acres. What’s really interesting about this question is whether or not if would actually be better for humanity if we did have the exact landscape of 1491. Prairie would be everywhere. Buffalo would roam. Birds would be too numerous to count. But would it be good?

Kyle Lybarger from Native Habitat Project joins us to discuss how he fights to protect some of the South Eastern Prairie’s most endangered species. He tells many stories of prairies that he has reclaimed, saved, and reconstructed. We also discuss how hunting practices affect conservation.

In this episode Nicolas, Kent, and Riley discuss some of the major conservation headlines of our time. First we dive into the dust storm that swept through Illinois last week. Then we bring everyone up to date on CRP (conservation reserve project)’s open enrollment. We’re very excited that it opened. Then we dive into the sneaky deal that congress tried to do with selling Federal Public Lands. We are less excited about that. We end with our announcement of our merch line.

Ryan Kurtz is the Program Advisor for Natural Resources at Hawkeye Community College. He joined us to talk about what the future of conservation looks like, considering he is with the future generation regularly. We also discuss burning prairie and how to manage a high quality prairie. Ryan has a lot of experience in native prairies, and gives great advise, especially with burning, in this episode.

We start this one with a little fun question about how useful Farm Bureau… Considering we don’t want to get sued, we answer this question with some personal stories. Then we discuss why Vermeer, an agricultural manufacturing company, would work towards drilling Helium3 on the moon.

Travis Frank, host of The Flush, joins us to share haunting stories of fishing, hunting, and how he aims to make a difference in the hunting/conservation world.

Some of these stories are truly bone chilling. We also talk extensively about the moon and fishing and how the two are related intimately.

Friends… May is a CRAZY time of year for us— especially early May. So we kept this one short and sweet. We answer a question from a guest about planting prairie into mulch that comes from timber stand improvement. Then we move on to some interesting conservation news about the founder of Fortnite.

Dr. Julie Meach, a paleontologist from Des Moines University, joins us to talk in depth about the Pleistocene era, dire wolves, and conservation in science. She goes in depth about what the scientific community is saying about the experiments and whether or not she thinks the Dire Wolves will help humanity and the earth’s ecology.

We start this one off with an incredible question from a listener, Travis. He asked how to interseed more diversity into his grass dominate fields. Nicolas attempts to answer, then Kent brings the topic which is an article about Human Extinction.

Val Van Kooten, former Director of the Pella Historical Museum, joined us to discuss the founding of Pella, IA as the founders settled in Iowa. The Schulte family was good friends with Abraham Lincoln and were pivotal into making their region of Iowa into what it is today.

Human biosolids used as fertilizer are proving to LITERALLY be deadly. It got one farmer to have his farm deemed unsuitable to farm. It’s no joke. But why? Isn’t manure (human or otherwise) good for the soil?

Check out this episode of the Prairie Farm Podcast to find out more!

Steve Hanson is one of Iowa’s best habitat managers and is a retired hunting guide and long time land realtor. When sitting down with him, we discuss land prices, tariffs, and protecting our hunting resources. He also tells some hair raising stories about his hunting escapades.

Regulation can be frustrating for some people. But it place a vital role in making sure human’s “progress” doesn’t destroy the world and resources we rely on. Nicolas, Kent, and Riley discuss DOGE and its role in pulling away regulation. Is this good or bad? Join us for another riveting episode of Coffee Time Wednesday!

Chase and Jackie Burns join us to discuss how they are bringing life back into their small town. I mean… this town is tiny! They have opened a small retail store.

The rural Midwest is plagued with ghost town syndrome, and it will take people like Chase and Jackie to step up and do something about it. See how they are doing it.