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Tommy Grisafi is the main host and content creator for Ag Bull Media.
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AG Bull
AG Squawk with Davis Michaelsen | Jesse Allen Breaks Down What Rural America Is Saying
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We track a market day where grains catch a bid, livestock feels pressure, and crop tour talk starts to confirm that field problems can be bigger than they look from the road. Jesse Allen joins us to connect the dots between ag policy gridlock, land-use fights like data centers, and the shifting realities of how farm broadcasters reach rural America today.
• outside markets, ethanol stocks, and energy inventory notes that shape the backdrop
• grain and livestock settlements, plus what the day’s price action suggests
• crop tour confirmation and why the market reacts to proof
• Jesse’s path from rural Iowa to national ag radio and digital shows
• farm bill odds before the midterms, SNAP error-rate debate, and the vote-count reality
• data centers, prime farmland, generational land transfer, and rural broadband gaps
• cattle market headwinds, packing consolidation, and the K-shaped beef demand story
Visit Agbull.com. Give us a call, 855-737 Farm.
Tommy's Premium Subscription: www.agbull.com
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Futures Trading involves risk of loss and is not suitable for everyone. Past profits are not necessarily indicative of future results/profits.
Opening And Market Snapshot
SPEAKER_00The markets seem to suspect what a number of us have opined for a while now. Looks pretty good from the road, but once you get out there, it may be a little different story. Today I'm going to chat with a fellow broadcaster and see what trends he's keeping an eye on just by showing up to work each day. From behind the big blue bodacious microphone of Ag Bull, your pal Davis Michelson, the handsome newsman for Ag Squawk in the afternoon. So glad that you are along for the ride. It's going to be a great conversation today. Jesse Allen, VP of National Ag Content for Farm and Ranch Media, and the host of Agriculture of America. I'm sure that you are familiar with him. I he and I have only had limited contact. So this is going to be sort of an organic first face-to-face between me and Mr. Allen, and I'm super psyched about it. I want to pick his brain and see what's what are his guests talking about on his program. They they cover everything from policy to markets to agronomy. I'm sure that there's a lot in there. We're going to pop the top of his noggin open and see what we can find. Rustle around in there just a little bit. But before we do, of course, we'll hit some news and uh talk about the settlements today. May I first send you over to Agbull.com. Agbull.com, take your marketing by the horns with AgBull Intel. Dial us up on the old-fashioned phone at 855-737 Farm. That's 855-737, followed by the word farm. Agbull.com. You won't be disappointed. In some some outside market news, gold moved higher. Moderna pulling stocks higher and creating some headaches for shorts. Tommy wanted me to make sure and mention all of that for all of you metals folks, your you gold bugs out there. The ethanol numbers moved in the wrong direction in the weekended August 14. Production fell while total ethanol stocks posted gains to 24.121 million barrels. And if I'm going to be honest, gang, that's a little heavy for my liking. I'd like to see somewhere closer to 20. But uh here we are at 24.121 in the most recent report. Some more energy items. U.S. crude oil inventories, according to the Department of Energy, increased, although supplies at Cushing, Oklahoma fell sharply on the week. Gasoline stocks grew slightly, while distillate inventories careened lower week on week, just in time for harvest. Am I right? You hate to see that. Well, to the good refinery utilization bested expectations by a wide margin. So at least we have that. Let's go to the tail of the tape, beginning with the opening bell. Corn, soybeans, and wheat were all higher in early session trade, and before too long, soybeans and wheat were up double digits. Cattle futures were under early session pressure with feeders leading the decline. Meanwhile, lean hogs crept higher through morning trade, however, gingerly. So December Chicago wheat touched seven bucks and then fell back from session highs around lunchtime. Corn and beans likewise retreated slightly off session highs ahead of noon, but all maintained decent ups. Meanwhile, cattle came off session lows, but remained under moderate pressure as hogs pulled back slightly. Let's uh take a look at those settlements. Thanks to plus five hundred software. Let me mention plus five hundred, me and my entire squad use plus five hundred T4 software to keep track of futures and options, updated up to the minute real
Settlements And Crop Tour Signals
SPEAKER_00time quotes and a host of other features right at our fingertips. If you're looking for the best in real time quotes, look no further than T4 from plus 500 plus 500 over to the plus 500 here on my computer screen. Look at this, look at this. December corn at 498, up a dime on the day. November beans 1237 and a quarter. That's up 20 and one half cents. We're getting some confirmation from some crop tours, and it there's one big one kind of going on this week, but there have been others who have who have similar findings, and it may just be the the idea that we're confirming some of the some of the problems out in the fields are a little bigger than they appear from the road. And we've certainly got a response out of corn and beans today. Meal was higher, soybean oil higher as well. Over to the wheat market, the December Chicago wheat up 16 and a quarter on the day, 697 and 12. And your KC wheat at 776 and three quarters, up 18 and 1 quarter cents. Clicking on my livestock screen here, October feeder cattle, 322.05 at settlement. That one's down 427 and 12. The live cattle, your fat cattle in October, 217.22 and a half, a buck seventy lower. I might need to have a quick conversation with Jed Sidwell, our resident cattle guru, tomorrow if pressure like this continues down. Out to the Jan 27 feeder cattle, down 475 at 305.42 and a half, knocking on 300 bucks in the January feeders. Over to the lean hogs, a little brighter picture. Up 77 and a half on the day, 81 and 50 on your October lean hogs. Now, just real quick, there's there's a tradition started. If you've been with with Ag Squawk in the afternoon since the start, you might have remembered a conversation I had with the Mr. Ted Hamer, a
Corn Near Five And A Bet
SPEAKER_00farmer from central Iowa. Shout out to Wow, that's loud. Shout out to Ted Hamer in uh central Iowa. Now, a few years ago, he dared me. If December corn gets to five bucks, I have to sing Barry Manilo, Looks Like We Made It. And I think I'm gonna carry that over into Agskwok as you know, as just part of my personal bag of tricks. The December 26th corn contract is at 498 gang. I could be playing myself singing a song about corn, Looks Like We Made It. It's a special version that I wrote, but that could be coming up in tomorrow afternoon's show. I don't know. I've got Kip Tom, Ambassador Kip Tom tomorrow. I don't know if that's if that's the forum, but you know, five bucks is is five bucks. All right, with that, let me bring in my guest today. I'm super psyched about this. This is gonna be cool. Jesse Allen now joins us. Jesse, uh, thank you so much for taking the time to be with us here on Ag Squawk.
Meet Jesse Allen And Music Life
SPEAKER_00I know you've got a busy broadcast day every single day. And uh I just like I said before, I want to pop the top and and see what's in the root around a little bit and see what's on on your mind. Let me start with a warm hello. Welcome. How's it going, buddy?
SPEAKER_02Davis, brother, it is good to talk to you, connect with you, popping the top off my head and rooting around a little bit. That could get scary. We we will have to see where this goes. But uh, hey, you know, hats off to you and uh and joining the Ag Bowl team. I've been following along a little bit. Tommy is a good friend of mine, of course, Tommy Grissafi. And you know, I've been I've been watching, and you've been doing some really awesome stuff uh in the afternoons with Ag Squawk band. So I'm proud to be a guest with you and and uh get to chat a little bit. So thanks for the invite, man. I appreciate it.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. You're you're very, very kind. And uh Tommy will be sending you a check for those comments as soon as we're done here. I see you've caught the uh the guitar disease too. It's incurable as far as I can tell. I I see you've got guitars in the background there. I see cowboys. I we may just be kindred spirits, Jesse.
SPEAKER_02We we might be, Davis. We might be. You know, the the quick background for folks who who don't know me. I know you mentioned at the top I host Agriculture of America, syndicated talk show, radio stations, Sirius XM every day. I have our afternoon market talk program, which I did here, you know, I do that every weekday. It's video, YouTube, and a few radio stations syndicated as well. That's you know, more markets focused. But you know, I lead our content, as you mentioned, for farm and ranch media nationally, but I'm also a singer, songwriter, producer, and live just outside of Nashville, Tennessee. So that's the guitars, man. You know, that's I got that bug. I've got music out on Spotify and Apple and all that stuff. Although I don't tour that much anymore. Dad life is kind of taking taken over and and being a farm broadcaster is kind of taking center stage. But like you, I'm sure, I I caught the music bug early, man. And it it you can't get rid of it. You cannot get rid of it. So I don't know.
SPEAKER_00I may have gotten rid of it. I I moved I moved to Kansas City about four years ago and didn't know how it was gonna go, you know. A small town kid, pretty good compared to most of the people around me, but you know, most of the people around me were were hogs and corn plants, so it's it was hard to to gauge. I didn't know how it was gonna go. And I got here to Kansas City and got hooked up with a dueling pianos outfit and just played and played and played and played. And brother, I I wore myself out. I uh I mean, I I suppose I would do it again maybe someday, but right now I just absolutely don't feel like it. I'm a little bit like you. I'm having a good time and finding enough of a creative outlet right here in front of the the big blue microphone, and I I don't know. Maybe we're getting older and wiser. Is that possible?
SPEAKER_02That's that's possible. I will I will say this, you know. I came from I I love to say this. I grew up in north central Iowa. Marble Rock was my hometown, a hundred people soaking wet. I love that analogy. Uh so kind of similar, but I I had told myself, hey, I'm gonna move to Nashville. Like I've done I've been back and forth for years. I want to do this, and I left. I took a siesta from farm broadcasting for like six months before I got hired with the company I'm with now, and I was actually uh working at a hot dog cart. We can get into that if you really want to and get a little wild here. But long story long, I moved here soon after I moved. I met my now wife, things like that. And at the time we were trying to tour out of Nashville, and man, it just grinds on you. I distinctly remember we did a weekend in Wyoming. We were just outside of Casper, Wyoming, and I just remember being so worn down driving a truck at a trailer from Nashville to Wyoming and back, and we'd been on the road the week before, like I hadn't been home, and I'm just like, man, this isn't working. The independent touring artist, at least the way I was doing it. I'm like, I need a break, this isn't working. So I think, yeah, a little burnout too. And then things changed with the career, farm broadcasting, you know, excitement. I love what I'm doing, serving rural America, and and yeah, here we are. And so who knows? Maybe I'll go back on the road someday or at least put out some more music. I mean, I got plenty sitting there. I who knows? Uh the the world is my oyster, everything is open. I'm happy to do whatever we do.
SPEAKER_00So look at that. I love that. I love that. Yeah, and it's not that I'm not playing, it's just I'm I'm here in the basement doing recordings and geeking out over every little thing. You know, Adobe Audition calls my name on a daily basis, and I get in there and track and track. It used to be, you know, I don't know if you've ever uh recorded the tape, but you're a little bit limited, you know, you can kind of do mix downs and double up tracks and stuff, but with Adobe, I haven't found the found the top end of tracks for better or worse.
SPEAKER_02When I started my radio career out of college, some people, if you're really into radio and satellites, you know, technology and all and transmitters and all that, you'll understand this. But I used Marty receivers, and this was even in the 2000s, but it was short, you know, short distances for sports programming and this and that. And I learned from old school broadcasters. And well, you get shocked by a shortwave RF transmitter once or twice, you learn a lesson real quick, Davis. Well, let's let's talk about your start.
SPEAKER_00Did you go to school for broadcasting?
SPEAKER_02I did. I went to Simpson College, uh, just south of Des Moines, Iowa. I went for music originally and got
Becoming A Farm Broadcaster
SPEAKER_02there. And listen, I love my experience, and they have a phenomenal music program, but it was all opera-based. And I'm going, this isn't me. I grew up at a bar restaurant. My dad was a drummer. They they ran a bar in Marble Rock for 30 some years. I'm like, I grew up on rock and roll, man, and country music, not opera. And so I segueed out of that program and was like, well, what else can I do? You know, I've always liked journalism. I mean, I always, you know, uh when I was little, I would like wake up in the middle of the night and turn on CNN and watch Connie Chung, you know, like like every five-year-old does. Of course, you're drawn. Yeah. And I was like, Yeah, I'll give I'll give this a shot. And it just it snowballed from there and ran my campus radio station, took some internships at WHO Radio in Des Moines and my hometown stations in Mason City, Iowa, at KGLO 1300 and 939 the country moose. And through those internships and relationships, my hometown stations in Iowa, they ended up needing a farm director. And I'm going, Well, I know AG, I don't know how to read markets, I'm fresh out of college here. I like, but they're like, I will teach you. And well, now here I am leading a national talk show for agriculture. So there you go. But that's it's a career that I kind of fell into, but also uh it was a natural fit for me because growing up in rural Iowa, surrounded by the farm and surrounded by the great things that our farmers and ranchers do every single day, this was just a natural fit for me. And it's it's I've been blessed so far. So knock on wood. Uh that's what I always say.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, amen. Well, yeah, and it I was I was broadcasting for a few years before it sort of occurred to me all those years of monkeying around with music, you know, in in different capacities, being on on stages and playing for people and interacting with people in that sort of capacity. I really do feel like that helped set me up to become comfortable in this chair here as a broadcaster. I wonder if if you've ever had similar thoughts.
SPEAKER_02100%. I am the biggest like introvert when I am not behind a microphone, but when I'm behind a microphone, I'm an extrovert, and that's just the way I am, and that, but that's all that stage time and everything else has made me comfortable talking live on the radio every day, doing video podcasts and audio podcasts and and this and that, and not being afraid to go get an interview from somebody. Like it's just it's natural for me. So I I would agree 100%, 100%.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, me too. You and I have a I think a mutual friend when I started I was the news guy for Market Rally before it became Agri-Talk in the afternoon. Before that, Mike Adams was doing agri talk in the morning. Speaking of broadcasters, a fantastic broadcaster, tremendous respect for Mike. I called him Lightning Mike. If you know Mike, you might know why that's kind of funny. He didn't seem to mind, but Mike gave me kind of my first shot at hosting a show. He would, you know, travel, and every once in a while he'd be like, Hey Davis, why don't you why don't you take my show for me? And so I'd kind of cut my teeth, Mike Adams's show. And if I've got it right, Mike was your predecessor in the role that you're in now. Is that right?
SPEAKER_02You are you're correct with a slight addendum to that. So Mike Adams, of course, started AOA with my company when he left Agri-Talk. They they started their own show, and it was Adams on Agriculture when Mike started it, and then it turned into AOA Agriculture of America. You know, we we kept the branding, we loved that, but there was a little bit of a period there where Mike Pearson hosted the show. Oh, okay. And then when he took over for Max Armstrong on this week at Agribusiness full-time, that's when the seat opened up and I was brought in. And at the time I'd been with the company already, so then I was brought in to host AOA, and now we kind of snowballed from there. So that's there's the addendum to that history a little bit. And the show is almost a decade old. I think we celebrated, I believe, this year's eight years, so a couple more years, and we'll be at the decade mark for AOA. And to your point about Mike Adams, phenomenal broadcaster and phenomenal human being. And I've learned a lot from Mike, and it's funny too, is you know, he would ask you to host for him when he was doing the show and whatnot. And now I get to ask him to host for me sometimes when I need a fill-in or need a vacation. He has still been willing to come back on the air. And he it's like he never missed a beat. He I say, Here's your guest list, you know, I'll help him fill segments, or I'll say, Hey, uh, you know, if you want to get a farmer buddy or whatever on, here's an open segment. But I give him the guests, I give him the topics, and it's like he never left. And that's the beautiful thing about how good he is as a farm broadcaster. And I mean, uh immense respect for Mike. And I know he'll have some time for me coming up here this fall, filling in again as I get some time away and whatnot. And so it's it's really cool that I can I can have that ability to call him and say, Hey, I'm traveling, or hey, I need a couple days off. Can you do the show? And he's unless he has something going on, he's usually willing. And most of the time, I'm just interrupting his golf game these days, anyway. So, you know, he's he's happy to slide into the chair and and be on the show a little bit.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, see, you you get a long respected veteran career broadcaster to fill in for you. I get Tommy Grissafi if I have a travel day or something. You know, I'm not Tommy, hey, love Tommy.
SPEAKER_02Infamous farm broadcaster in training, maybe. Is that is that a good way to put it for Tommy?
SPEAKER_00I think infamous will do, just infamous will do. Let's let's get to some issues. This is the part where I pop the top off your head, and I may be showing some deficiencies in my own coverage here, Jesse, but we don't talk about the farm bill a whole
Farm Bill Politics And Timeline
SPEAKER_00lot here on Ag Squawk. And I've seen you know, I've seen it come up on your show uh more than a few times. I have a thought on this, and just tell me if I'm just completely all wrong on this. Midterm elections are coming up, and the farm bill just not a sexy issue for candidates to hang their hats on. But if I can sort of narrow this in, what are the chances we get a farm bill finished up before the November midterms? Let's start there. Would you care to handicap that?
SPEAKER_02I yeah, I I can take a swink at this. I before the August markup that happened, that they, you know, the vote failed and we had to go to you know recess or whatever, I would have gave you probably 70% odds. I'm I'm leaning more on a good day 50-50 at this point, and it's probably less than 50%. And and here's the thing, they're saying it without saying it. And I've talked to numerous senators about this, and I've asked them point blank, do you believe that election year politics are playing a role here? And they say, oh no, no, no, you know, we work good with each side and this and that. But when you read between the tea leaves, it is what it is, and and quite frankly, we have lost bipartisanship in DC and and in many areas of what we're doing. And the farm bill is a prime example. We used to be able to sit down, hammer out this farm bill, figure it out, and move on, but now we just have to keep kicking the can down the road, and we're working off the 2018 farm bill that was probably written in 2016. So we got a decade-old farm bill, right? And we just can't seem to get this thing over the finish line. And I know right now it's the debate over Snap and the error rates, and Democrats want two-year delays, Republicans are offering one. I've said, you know, to people, well, just split the split it in half, go a year and a half, you know, whatever. Like, let's compromise here a little bit. We'll see when they come back in September. And and that'll be the thing is we presume that the Republicans will have the full Republican conference there. They'll vote it out of committee, but then when it gets to the floor, that's a totally different story. And that's where my skepticism sits is is that between now and the election, are they finally going to get this across the finish line? I hope they do in the Senate and then bring it to conference with the House. And they've talked about having some things ready to go ahead of that, so make the conferencing smoother. But listen, rural America needs the farm bill to get done. And I know a lot was passed in the one big beautiful bill last summer, and that's great. And they've updated a lot of things, but there's still certain pieces that have to get done with the farm bill that couldn't get done last summer in order for all of this to make sense and work. And I, for one, as a farm broadcaster, I am tired of talking about the farm bill. We've been doing it now for three or four years. I'm like, that let's move on to other issues that need to get tackled here. Like, just put your heads together and figure this out and come together and break some bread, have a steak, cook some chicken, eat some salads together, whatever, and get this done.
SPEAKER_00Uh maybe maybe a glass of wine would help.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you know. I just I I I presume for all intents and purposes, this is going to get out of ag committee in September. It will get out of the ag committee when McConnell's back and Tupperville's there and everything else. But beyond that, on the Senate floor, I don't know. It sounds like the majority leader is going to give it floor time, but it's it's it's a simple thing. What I've learned about covering DC politics and ag politics, it's a math equation. Do you have the votes or not? You can you can look at all the different angles, but at the end of the day, do you have the votes or not?
SPEAKER_00No.
SPEAKER_02Right now, I don't know if they have the votes.
SPEAKER_00I would I would tend to agree. And I speak with authority. You mentioned tea leaves, and I do actually happen to have an ag bowl teapot right here in front of me with tea in it. So uh I've I've seen I've seen the tea leaves, and you're exactly right, sir.
SPEAKER_02Well, the way this is going behind me, there's a bottle of whiskey. I mean, that's about where I'm at at this point with the farm bill.
SPEAKER_00So I'm coming right over. I'm coming right over. Let's hop to another another topic because there's there's a lot I want to get to here, and I don't want to get get too bogged down. I saw a video uh on YouTube, so it must be true. A video of a Texan running for office saying that data centers are related in proximity to stillborn
Data Centers And Prime Farmland
SPEAKER_00calves. I don't have any confirmation on that. Let me just open the data center conversation with that sort of outlandish claim. You know, first of all, have you heard of you know problems with uh farming with ranching around data centers? Let's just say data centers and go.
SPEAKER_02I have not heard that one. You'll have to send me the link to that video because now I'm very curious here. But I think the biggest thing I'm hearing with with data centers, and this is the chief argument that I even have too. I'm going, hey, uh, you know, I know that we're seeing this AI explosion, these data centers, this could be, you know, a big thing, uh especially rural economies and more. But it's kind of the same thing whether we're talking data centers or we're talking putting up housing developments or high-rises or whatever. Don't take prime farmland out of production to continue to, you know, continue the urban sprawl. That's where my opinion's at there. But I'll say this you have a lot of mediocre land that's been put into production. Maybe that's more of a candidate for this. I'm no expert on data centers, and I know one way or another, you know, people are going to figure out how to build them. But my big thing is from an agriculture standpoint, leave prime farmland in production and and some of that marginal land that probably doesn't need to be in production, maybe that's the candidate for this. And and some people may disagree with me on that in general and say we just don't need to build them at all. And hey, I'm I'm not for or against, but that would be my common sense thing is don't put prime farmland in this conversation. You know, find that marginal land that that makes sense that probably you know, someone put it into production six years ago, and it it's half the yield of what you get with your normal farm ground. It's like, okay, maybe that's the areas that we need to look at building these things. I I don't really know, Davis. It's this whole data center conversation, it's it's a wild one at that. And the other thing that goes with it though, too, is like I think about rural broadband and connectivity in these rural areas, and you're putting up all these data centers in these rural areas, and yet I know of a couple people. I have a co-worker who went to Starlink finally because her farm is still on a copper line.
SPEAKER_01Oof.
SPEAKER_02Wow. I mean, those are the types of things I wish we would figure out in rural America, instead of you know, worrying about putting up a 10-acre data center. It's like, hey, can we get everyone connected to you know today's standards on internet and things like that? I don't know. That's that's my hot take, I guess, if that's even a hot take on data centers. That's my opinion on it.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, well, and it's it's no secret, be it be it uh row crop farming, other crops or or ranching, there does seem to be a sad trend. Well, and and I'm guilty of it, and apparently you are too of moving off the farm and not coming back to, you know, and so at some point, and I've said this before on the show, you've got little Susie raising her family, you know, here in Kansas City, and you've got Billy off in Seattle working some computer job, the farm comes up for grabs and they inherit it, the data center is able to bid up for that ground in a way that the farmer who's been driving around that piece of property just salivating for 30 years, now it's finally available. I just wonder if if they can even compete for for that ground, and if you know the the next generation, I I think that there's risk there that we lose that. And I agree, you know, once it's out of production, that's all she wrote.
SPEAKER_02And and you know, funny you bring this up. I had Paul Shadig from Farmers National Company on the show with me this morning. I know you just had him on a few days ago. He said I was supposed to say something to you about a story about his hometown that was wild or whatnot. He passed that message on from when he was on with me this morning. But we talked about that generational transfer of farmland ownership. And you make an excellent point. I mean, there's some folks that they moved away from the farm, and when everything push comes to shove, they don't want to farm. And so they just like, okay, well, how can we make the most money? And they just sell it off. And that's the unfortunate reality for some of these conversations and situations. It's not everybody, though. And I think there is a bigger percentage of farmers and ranchers, from what I understand and from who I talk to, they're trying to figure out this generational transfer to keep good farmland and good ranch land in production into the next generation.
SPEAKER_00So yeah. Let me quick draw something random on you. Top of your head. Ready? Here we go. Okay. Elton John or Billy Joel.
Music Hot Takes And Mashups
SPEAKER_00Elton John. Okay. In sync or backstreet boys.
SPEAKER_02In sync all day.
SPEAKER_00I'm sorry, the proper answer to that one is neither. Neither. You were close. So close. Two out of three. Unfair for me to do that to you, but yes. I'm a Beatles guy as well. I don't know. I just never the Stones just never never did it for me the way that the Beatles did.
SPEAKER_02They both they both have their their their you know their wins, their losses, etc. I'm I'm there with you. And you know, the Elton John Billy Joel thing, like, I just never really into either, I guess. I'm more of a rock country guy. I mean, I'm definitely a big country guy. That's the kind of music I produce and and write and perform. But you know, blues too. I'm a big Stevie Ray Vaughn nut. But even rock too. 80s, 90s, you know, this and that. I'll throw this back at you. Uh uh Van Halen or Van Hagar?
SPEAKER_01No.
SPEAKER_00I gotta say both. It's two different bands. I would argue it's two different bands. You know what's funny? I after a 30-year lapse in communication, I uh married a high school sweetheart. That's why I'm in Kansas City. Married married a local gal here, but in uh 1987, I took her and it was an hour to get to Cedar Rapids from where I lived. I came and picked her up, and we went to go see Van Hagar on their first tour. It was 5150, their first tour out on Halloween Eve at the then Five Season Center in Cedar Rapids. I'm a little partial, I guess I would have to say Van Halen. Van Halen. You can't beat Diamond Dave.
SPEAKER_02I the only reason I thought of that is because I've been seeing Diamond Dave on TikTok lately, and he's he's a little off the reservation, it seems like, but uh that's that's what made that come to mind. Is I'm going and I'm kind of sad. I had a chance to go see David Lee Roth here in Nashville earlier this year, and I couldn't go that night. Good reason. It was my son's second birthday, so you can't go. But the next night, my father-in-law is one that had tickets, he went to David Lee Roth, said it was a good show, but then the next night I went to see Joe Satriani and Steve Vai with him. Killer show at the Ryman. Yeah, yeah. But no, that's what made me think of that. Was I just been seeing Diamond Dave on TikTok and stuff lately, and just I'm laughing at some of the stuff he's saying, you know. So that's what made me think of that. I'll all right. I'll throw one more at you. We'll go we'll go 90s rock here. Okay. I gotta think of what's I'll go, I'll go with this Pearl Jam or the Foo Fighters.
SPEAKER_00I think Foo Fighters. If nothing else, longevity. Yeah. For me, you know, 10 was about all I needed out of Pearl Jam. And then they kind of got into this Neil Young thing, and I'm not a big Neil Young guy, but I don't know, Foo Fighters, you know, and what a great story to come out of Nirvana, what a tragedy. I almost got to go see Nirvana, and then the show was canceled or something in the early 90s, and then Kurt left us, and to see Dave Grohl uh sprout from that to me just gives the Foo Fighters huge props. I played a lot of Foo Fighter songs in bands too, so maybe maybe it's a little unfair.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I I I I respect that. I I'm kind of the same. Like I was, you know, Pearl Jam 10. I mean, that was kind of my, you know, that's where I started stop with Pearl Jam. But I mean, I listen to a lot of 90s grunge and and late 90s rock and early 2000s rock, and you name it too. I I don't know. I've got so many different influences, it's it's wild. But we could we could sit and talk, I mean, we could talk about our favorite bands for probably six hours. I feel like I need a cigar and a glass of bourbon here at this point.
SPEAKER_00So I've actually I've got cigars, you got bourbon, I think, uh between the two. Speaking of uh speaking of Soundgarden, then we're gonna move on to the cattle market quick, but I'm actually involved in a project right now with my weird music friends, and we just do recordings and stuff, but they want to do a mashup of Black Hole Sun by Soundgarden and Blackbird by the Beatles, and I think I've got it. It's it's quite the interesting brew of tunes there. I'm a big Soundgarden guy. I've seen them, seen them a couple of times. Another great that left us Chris Cornell.
SPEAKER_02I love doing mashups. I'll I'll say this one real quick. Touring trying to make Sweet Home Alabama. I mean, obviously, you know, legendary, it is what it is, but after you do it night after night after night, we started adding in All Summer Long by Kid Rock, Werewolves of London, and Uptown Funk. Wow. Well that's one mashup.
SPEAKER_00That's a good mash right there.
SPEAKER_02That's a good the Uptown Funk one was a little interesting to fit in there, but we made it work. But everything else kind of just fit. And oh, Fresh Prince of Bel Air, too. I would do a little, I would like wrap a verse of that over the story all about how yeah, I would wrap a little bit of that coming out of like all summer long, you know, and then go into Werewolves of London and then uptown funk back to Sweet Home, Alabama, and then by that point we're like 12 minutes deep into the song and and people are drinking and having fun, and and yeah, so anyway, back to when we get back on topic. I'll stop rambling, Davis.
SPEAKER_00No, no, no, because then that makes me think of uh just the two of us, and I always have to do the uh the Dr. Evil rap in the middle when I perform that one, but uh Cattle
Cattle Market Risks And Meat Demand
SPEAKER_00Market has had an awful lot thrown at it. Speaking of throwing a lot out there, this is quite the mashup. New world screwworm, now packing plant closures, growing U.S. imports alongside declining exports. You can tell I'm reading my notes here, and now I'm hearing rumblings of perhaps consumer demand beginning to defalter. Your your 30,000-foot view on the cattle market right now. Of those issues, is there one that sticks out as the most important?
SPEAKER_02I will say the screwworm news at this point, the market's digested it. We know it's here, and and producers are fighting it, and USDA is trying to push it back, and this and that. So I don't know how big of an issue that is for the market. I think the packing consolidation definitely is an issue, and reality is, you know, for Tyson, that news last week, it's all about the Benjamins, it's all about the bottom line. I mean, it just is what it is. They're looking at the lowest herd in 75 years, and they're saying, well, we gotta move our operations where the cattle are. It's unfortunate for those communities affected, it's unfortunate for the ranchers and the industry as a whole, but it just it seems fairly black and white to me on this. On the demand side, though, and I shout out Glenn Tonsor, Kansas State University. I talk to him every month on AOA for the meat demand monitor. He's been tracking this. And you know, we hear this talk about a K-shaped economy right now, Davis, and it really feels like that that's being felt when it comes to meat demand. The folks who are up at the top of the K, they go to the store and they see beef prices where they're at, and they kind of shrug and they don't care. I mean, it doesn't phase them. They're able to afford it. The folks at the bottom of the K that you know go and look and man, man, eight-ounce New York strip, you want $25 or $30 for that for one of them, or ground beef is pushing nine dollars for $80-20 or whatever, you know, eight dollars, whatever the case is. Like the folks at the bottom end of the K are starting to feel the pinch. And the MDM data I know, for one, and I'm sure there's other data out there, is starting to note that as well. And so I think the demand story for the final few months of this year is gonna be a big talking point for this cattle market, for the hog market, et cetera, et cetera. Because unless things start to come back, it just feels like that K is getting wider and bigger, and it the situation's gonna get worse. And I have to think at some point it's gonna have an effect on overall meat demand. I just don't know when that shoe drops, if it drops, but I just I get the feeling it's gotta happen at some point here.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_00Agriculture of America.com. Let me just send a shout out, a little call to action. Agriculture of America.com is at least one way to get more from you, right, Jesse
Multimedia Ag Media And Listener Trust
SPEAKER_00Allen?
SPEAKER_02Yes, agriculture of America.com is a great way to start. You can find links to all of our radio affiliates, Sirius XM. We're on there every day. We've got the weekend show on Sirius now, too, every Saturday and Sunday at two Eastern. That's best way podcasts, of course. And then my afternoon show, Market Talk, Market Talk A G dot com. That's another way. Find links to the YouTube channel. There's interviews from both shows there, tons of content. We have a mobile app you can download, all the stuff. It's all there on the websites. Best way to do that, check it out there, find how you want to listen to the show, or if you want to reach out and yell at me for something I said here on Ag Squawk, or if I say something you don't agree with on one of my talk shows in the morning or afternoon, I'd love to hear from you. Send me a note, let's talk. I I say this and I give this line to new guests and this and that, people who've been on with me before all the time. It's a conversation with me. Uh, it's I, you know, I want to hear as many sides of an issue as I can. I welcome everybody. You know, just let's talk about things, let's keep people informed, let's drive some thinking about what's going on in agriculture. Yeah, that's the way I look at it. End of story. It's just a conversation. So yeah.
SPEAKER_00One of the things that I've found to be going on in agriculture, even back when I was in radio, at some point, because you did just straight up radio with no camera for a while, right? You must have. Yeah. At some point it was decided that they they needed jokers like us to show our faces. I've been calling myself the handsome newsman for 12 years, and then they put a camera in front of me, and it's like, oh no, I really built this up. Here we are. I wonder, has that has the introduction of a camera changed how you do things, how you think about broadcasting when you're there in the hot seat behind the microphone? I see you use like a broadcast style microphone rather than the headsets with the little mic on it. I'll use those on the road, but I don't care for them. You know, I like the I I like the SM7B, I'll be honest. I I just wonder if you if you might talk about that and sort of the the the changing face of Ag Media as it stands today. I wonder if you have any thoughts.
SPEAKER_02Uh I I have probably way more thoughts than we have time on this one, Davis. But to your point, I mean, yeah, I got an SM7B here as well. I mean, I that's what I love. I'm on the road. I will use a headset also, kind of the same thing. It's more out of ease of use versus anything else. You know, the video stuff, I mean, COVID really started that. And, you know, the StreamYard platform that you use, I use it every day. I was one of the first to start using it right around COVID. And it was it was like, okay, this is our way, you know, we don't want everyone in studios, so we can remote in with video and this and that. And it's just kind of spiraled now to well, everything's video, and everybody thinks video first or podcast first. I still think radio first. And I'll explain that because when I'm when I'm doing the show live or if I record some things or whatever, I'm thinking in radio time intervals. I have hard time segments. I know you guys had them too when you were hosting, you know, and doing stuff as the newsman with agri talk and whatnot. I mean, it's I'm thinking in in 10-minute intervals and this and that, and where I can edit things, et cetera, et cetera. If you watch some of my videos, you'll see me reintroduce a guest at like the 10-minute mark if I'm going long. That's my edit point. You know, that's my natural edit point. So I'm always thinking radio first. The video is just the necessary evil at this point. I mean, we gotta find ways. If I can record an interview, video, have the audio as well, and can share it and post it in multiple different ways and get that mileage out of one interview. I mean, that's just I gotta reach people where they are. And if they're not listening to the radio, even though a lot of people still do, and the research does say that YouTube, podcasts, mobile apps, you name it, just being able to provide that content wherever anyone is, I think is important. And as far as the changing ag media landscape, I mean, that's the other piece of this, too, is that farm broadcasters are still the most trusted source in rural America. I I uh anyone can fight with me on that, but even too, you know, podcasters who are speaking this language every day, they're farm broadcasters too. We're all doing the same thing, we're all trying to have conversations and keep people in agriculture and across rural America informed. And I think it's awesome that there is more people out there in the space. I think it's great that we continue to work together and play in the sandbox and do all these things, and you know, you don't have to be chained to here or there or whatever. It's like I, you know, you can people can go out and if you want to be, you know, in this space, you can sure try and do it. I mean, it's I just think it's uh awesome where we are, and I know it's gonna continue to evolve. I don't think radio in itself is going away anytime soon. I know it's definitely changing, it continues to evolve and change, but uh you know, I I think just making sure that we are multimedia in ag media, I think is the bottom line these days.
SPEAKER_00So my uh my dad was a broadcaster, he was the farm director at WMT for a for a short while back in the day, and then he wound up doing the weather because Conrad
NAFB And A Bigger Tent
SPEAKER_00Johnson, I don't know, couldn't show up all of a sudden. They're like, Ronnie, get out there! You gotta just hold up the thing and point and uh whatever. But he actually was a Dome Award winner at one point. For the National Association of Farm Broadcasters. I'm a member because, you know, as of my renewal, just not too much, you know, less than a year ago, I was on what you might call conventional radio. I no longer have a footprint there, and I'm curious, and and maybe we're getting into waters you're not comfortable paddling in, and that's fine. I am gonna start moving us up the chute toward the exit here pretty quick, but I'm just curious, what is the National Association of Farm Broadcasters thought on all of this? How does how is the NAFB reacting, responding to kind of these these shifts that you and I were just talking about?
SPEAKER_02I am on the board of directors, full disclosure. I'm a regional vice president. You may or may not have known that before you asked me that question.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I figured you would know.
SPEAKER_02We're having the conversations, and and quite frankly, I've been a big proponent to say that hey, we need each other, things are changing, and and our doors are open. I mean, we want we want folks like you, Davis. We want you to be a part of our organization so we're all part of the broader conversation. And I know there's some folks who don't think they belong or they don't want to belong, or this or that, but you know, a lot of what we're doing as an organization, we're also trying to make sure that we provide value to our membership, and that's been one of the big emphasis and changes, not necessarily change, but emphasis that we've been putting out there as a board here this last year, and we're continuing to drive that message. So my thoughts on that is we understand the landscape. We're trying to make sure that we are very much welcoming and inclusive of folks. And I quite frankly want folks in who, you know, maybe don't have the traditional radio tie, but you know, they're speaking the language every day, they're communicating with farmers and ranchers. In my opinion, they are a farm broadcaster, even you know, because even if you're a podcaster, well, guess what? Your reach is broad. That's the way I look at it. Some folks maybe don't agree with me on that, but that's why we have an organization, that's why we have conversations, that's why we vote on things. But I'm I we are very much welcoming of folks and the way that our organization is right now, you could be a member still, Davis, even though you're not tied to a traditional radio organization. So uh I you know you want to talk after this, you want me to get you signed up? I certainly can, buddy. We can extend that membership.
SPEAKER_01I'll have to be included. I appreciate it, brother.
SPEAKER_00Are you in your uh you'll be in Kansas City in November? You coming down to KC?
SPEAKER_02So I actually will be missing my first convention in 13 years because my wife is expecting our second baby boy at the early part of November. So congratulations, yeah. Thank you. And so I said, traveling to a convention as much as I love my my farm broadcast family. I said, I'm gonna have to pass this year, and so it'll be important for me to stay home. But you know, I'll miss folks there, but you know, uh nothing wrong with getting a little bit of a break. So I will miss the miss the festivities this year, but it's for a very, very good reason.
SPEAKER_00So absolutely, absolutely endorse. Well, and I was gonna say, you know, maybe we can find a little bourbon if you're here in town, but uh, you know, I'm in Nashville from time to time, and I'm I'm sure they've got bourbon in Nashville.
SPEAKER_02You gotta come down to see the uh Ag Bull South headquarters uh for Tommy Grassafi. So, you know, when you come on down, we could find some bourbon and a and a good steak and and we'll make Tommy pay for it.
SPEAKER_00You're talking my language right there, brother. Uh Jesse Allen, let's uh let's head toward the exit, but let's let's just put a semicolon at the end of our conversation here because uh I'd like to continue to talk to you. I got a whole list that that we didn't even get to. I I like to do a few things with my guests right at the end of the shows, and you're no exception. If you're looking out your window, I don't know if
Weather, History, Trivia, Sign-Off
SPEAKER_00you've if you can see out a window right there. I can't see out of mine, I'm in the basement. What's the weather like in Nashville today, in your area?
SPEAKER_02It has been hot, and it's been oppressively hot. It's finally cooled off a little bit. Uh, it's a little overcast today. I have to mow my yard, and I've been putting it off because it's been pushing fields like 110, 115. So but we're talking storms tonight, maybe, sounds like. Uh so uh I'd say better weather than we've had the last several weeks here. I'll put it that way.
SPEAKER_00Okay, very good. Well, if I'm checking in with the National Weather Service, severe thunderstorms and heavy rain are expected across portions of the mid-Misissippi Valley into the Ohio Valley and portions of Arizona. Dangerous heat persists in the south and the southeast. While building into the southwest, overnight lows will be so warm that when combined with oppressive dew points, little to no relief. Sorry, buddy, in the uh scorching daytime highs will be available. Just a couple of more things. I've got some items of mild interest from history today. In 1893, Frank Wisner on this date, August 19, invented the root beer float. I don't know if the root beer float needs an inventor. It feels like an inevitability that root beer and ice cream would just be combined together. It seems weird that they would pick out a date that this guy invented it. There must have been a whole thing involved. John Stamos, American actor, born this day in 1963. Apparently he he's done some stuff with the Beach Boys, which I you know I sort of knew him from full house, but uh yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Jesse and the Rippers, man. Jesse and the Rippers for Life.
SPEAKER_00That's that's the haircut, too, right there for Jesse and the Rippers.
SPEAKER_02That is the Jesse and the Ripper right there.
SPEAKER_00Now this is kind of creepy. We're not gonna end on this, but this is creepy. In 1973, August 19, the real Texas chainsaw massacre occurred. I didn't realize that there was actually a I mean, I'm you know I didn't think there there was an actual Texas chainsaw massacre, but apparently it was today in 1973. With that, one more thing. One more thing. It's today's Ag Bull Injustice.
SPEAKER_01Your Honor, I object!
SPEAKER_00You're gonna know this one. You're gonna know this one. I'm pretty sure. I thought this was gonna be a tough one, but it's pertinent. Michael Jackson's hit song, Thriller. There's a monologue. You're gonna know who did the monologue. The question is who did the monologue on Michael Jackson's thriller? Oh.
SPEAKER_02You're setting me up like you know I'm gonna know this, and it's on the tip of my tongue. Why can't I think of who this is?
SPEAKER_00Maybe this is less fair than I thought. Because that's the whole idea. I'm supposed to ask a question of the guests that I don't think they can answer, that I maybe not would have been able to answer.
SPEAKER_02Maybe see, and here's the thing if you ask me, you know, like who played the the guitar solo on on Beat It, for instance, or whatever. Yeah, Eddie Van Halen. Yeah, I know that. You asked me the monologue and thriller, and for whatever reason, my brain is not clicking right now, Davis.
SPEAKER_00He did it in one take, apparently, according to popculture.com. Vincent Price. Yes. You might remember him as the uh the tiki guy in the cave in the Brady Bunch Goes to Hawaii episode. Vincent Price. Well, Jesse Allen. This has been an absolute treat. By the way, I read that Michael Jackson used a good old SM7B for it, might probably just an SM7 to record the vocals on Thriller. Hey, some of them that I read.
SPEAKER_02They are a gold standard. It's either that or you're working an RE20 from Audio Technica, and I've just always gravitated to the sure.
SPEAKER_00So you're speaking my language. You're speaking my language, dude. Hey, let's have lots more conversations, buddy. And and seriously, sometime if we're in proximity, we should get together and sit down and cut into a couple of stakes and see what happens. Jesse Allen, thank you so much. You've been very generous with your time. I know you're a busy guy. You got way more going on than I do. Thank you for being here and spending some time on our silly little show today. Appreciate it, brother.
SPEAKER_02Davis, I appreciate the invite very much. Anytime, brother, you just say the word, happy to come back. We'll make time, we'll make it happen, man.
SPEAKER_00Roger that. Roger that. Well, and thank you, beloved viewer, for watching agri talk. Uh, agri talk. Wow. Agri, Ag Squawk. Now I can't even say it. Ag Squawk, Guillermo. I need an edit. No, thanks for uh joining us here on AgSquawk in the afternoon. Please punch. I'm all giddy. I'm all giddy from the conversation. We can catch you up on the markets and the things you need to know on that side today and every day at Agbol.com. Take your marketing by the horns with Agbol Intel. Visit Agbol.com. Give us a call, 855-737 Farm. And one more, thanks to Trade the News for keeping my whole squad on top of what's moving the markets. News you can trust, news you can use, trade the news for usable news. That's trade the news. Judge Sidwell back first thing in the morning to get you ready for the day. And then I've got a conversation with His Eminence Ambassador Kip Tom tomorrow on Ag Squawk.
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