93
Let’s hear the story of Nebraska, its communities, its number one industry Agriculture, and the people who make it happen. Sponsored by Nebraska's Law Firm® - Rembolt Ludtke.
93
Roric Paulman - Trailblazer for Ag Innovation & Sustainability
This episode features a true trailblazer in Nebraska agriculture: Roric Paulman of Paulman Farms near Sutherland. Roric is a third-generation farmer, but there’s nothing old-school about his approach. From remote irrigation technology to on-farm trials of new biologicals, Roric is constantly pushing the envelope—embracing innovation not just for the sake of progress, but to drive real, measurable returns on investment.
Welcome to 93, the podcast where we talk about Nebraska, its communities, its number one industry agriculture, and the folks who make it happen. I'm Mark Falson, your host for today's episode, brought to you by Nebraska's law firm, Rembrandt. This is episode number 41, and this episode features a true trailblazer in Nebraska agriculture. Rorik Pullman of Pallman Farms. Rorick is a third generation farmer, but there's nothing old school about his approach. From remote irrigation technology to on farm trials of new biologicals, Rorick is constantly pushing the envelope, embracing innovation, not just for the sake of progress, but to drive real, measurable returns on investment. In this conversation, we talk about what it means to farm regeneratively while keeping margins in mind. How to steward Nebraska's most precious resource, it's water, and why a future forward mindset is essential for today's ag producers. Whether you're managing a hundred acres or ten thousand acres, there's something in this episode for anyone committed to doing things better, smarter, and more sustainably. Rorick, thanks for joining us. Give our listeners a little background on yourself.
SPEAKER_02:This is my 40th crop. On my own, I'm third generation. The fourth generation runs our commercial operation. We're located in Lincoln County, Keith and Perkins, and a little bit of Hayes. And so that gives a little geographic idea where we are in Nebraska. But North Platte's the closest town. We have four kids. The youngest of the four runs the farm today. I am retired, but uh I go to work every day, so it makes it that easy. My wife's a lifelong educator uh and administrator, recently retired as well. And uh we have 13 grandkids, and so the fifth generation uh 10-year-old uh Brand, he's my right-hand man. He knows more about the farm than I do.
SPEAKER_01:So, one one thing we always ask, what's the license plate prefix on your truck?
SPEAKER_02:15. 15 county.
SPEAKER_01:So, if I'm not mistaken, I grew up in the 80s. I was a child of the ag crisis in the 1980s. That's the only reason I went to law school. I believe if I'm correct, you were impacted by the ag economy and the ag crisis in the 1980s as well. Is that correct?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I had left the farm. Um I briefly went to college, uh, didn't complete it, but met my wife of 45 years now, and um I worked in the commercial world, uh culminating in um uh a um job that I um uh in Omaha, and my dad called in 1985 and he said, Hey, do you want to farm? And I said, Absolutely, I do. And you know, I had a really good job at the time. My wife was teaching at Millard, and and uh we headed home. And we had had two children in Omaha, our two oldest, and and we got back here, and six months later I buried my dad and a massive heart attack on the farm here. And um we um the the farm was foreclosed on the feedlots and the uh farm ground, and uh I had to start over in 1985, and I was blessed to to have a group of landlords and and bankers, and we found young uh professionals, CPAs, agronomists that matched up with us, and and away we went. And so here we are uh 40 years later.
SPEAKER_01:So you're pretty well known on a lot of uh areas or ideas, and one of those areas in which you are well respected is crop diversity. Explain to our listeners uh your philosophical ideas on crop diversity and how you implement it on Pullman Farms.
SPEAKER_02:Crop diversity is a fun one because uh my grandfather always said that uh you know raising corn was like falling off a beet truck. It's pretty easy. And uh where we reside in the uh Twin Platte and we farm in the middle in the upper Republican, uh there's water allocations, so you're restricted on how much water you can withdraw uh from a well. Uh and at that time there the restriction was about half of what corn would use. You could get half, you could pump half the water. Well, you had soil and you had rain, and and I mean you figured it out, but uh the the concept worked much better it on a five-year rolling allocation if you could find crops that used less water. So wheat was one, uh dry beans was another, uh popcorn was another. I used a couple two, three inches less. So you could use those in rotation, and and lo and behold, the markets that were out there at the time, you know, everybody talked about specialty crops. Well, they've never been specialty to us, they just they they exist and and there's a market for them, and and so you know, you you attack that market, and and so that crop diversity allows us, you know, on pests, on weed control, I mean uh there's there's a multitude of agronomic benefits to uh a robust rotation. And and so we've grown, I think, uh in the 40 years, I think 13 different crops, including potatoes, sugar beets, uh sunflowers, both confection and oil, and we've grown camelina, we've a little bit of everything. White corn, uh, but today we're a large popcorn grower. Uh the bulk of our uh revenue comes from uh yellow popcorn.
SPEAKER_01:So, what guides your uh crop rotation? Uh I mean, there's certain is it markets, is it market driven, return on investment driven? How do you decide what you're going to plant in a particular piece of ground each year?
SPEAKER_02:Well, the popcorn deal is it it's it's very small. Nebraska is now the largest popcorn growing state in the nation, and it's because of our quality. And so we we strive, uh, you know, even if it was number two yellow corn, you know, it was our goal to make sure that when it left this farm, it had Palman Farm stamp on it. And so when you start developing those kind of relationships, the the the word spreads, and and and then your your commitment to conservation and stewardship of resources, uh, you know, and then ultimately now today the words you know regenerative and sustainable and all those fun things you get to say. But the the concept of those were, I mean, you had to be profitable. I always used to chuckle, they would talk about soybeans here, uh, and and we were one of the very first to grow soybeans this far west at the time. And they well, you you get you get 25 uh pounds of nitrogen and a bump in yield next year on your corn. Well, if you weren't profitable with the soybeans, what difference did it make in the year that you grew them? So it that that that is where uh we are very concentrated. Uh we have a very sophisticated um uh set of books that uh drive a lot of our decisions, uh crop inputs, overheads, lease agreements. I mean, there there's there's there's probably 30 or 40 prime factors that weigh into you know how you take it. But once you've established yourself in a market, obviously um you know you want to protect that uh by all means.
SPEAKER_01:So sustainability, as you mentioned, is a buzzword, and it means different things to different people. What does sustainability mean to you?
SPEAKER_02:I dislike the word. How's that? We we and and and it it is for many, uh, on anchor point. Uh we we challenge ourselves to it as continuous improvement. As you don't ever, you know, I mean you gotta look back and you gotta have history to to to base a lot of the the the moves that you make, but quite frankly, uh it costs so much money, the capital uh that it takes to farm, you can't afford mistakes, you can't afford misdirection. And so the your your um your diligence in the fall and the spring, in other words, after you get that report card, the yield, uh and and then the crop price, and then through that the rest of fall and the marketing, and then into the spring when you start looking at crops is is that mix is determined by you know what all of those um what all those characteristics are that that drive that decision. So you if you're not profitable, you're not gonna be around long.
SPEAKER_01:Explain for some of our listeners who maybe don't have an ag background. So the Nebraska's been blessed with a ton of uh decent rains this year. Uh other states have as well. Uh well obviously that has an impact on yields, but that also has an impact on prices. Uh explain how that works and uh sort of where you see the corn harvest going this fall.
SPEAKER_02:Well, Nebraska is an interesting state. I've got a couple of statistics that I always like to talk about from from east to west for every 25 miles. So you start in eastern Nebraska, it's around 30 plus inches of precip. And for every 25 miles, it's one inch less. So by the time you get the Scotts Bluff gearing, you're down to 14, uh, you know, 14, 15 inches. And so only state in the union that's like that. And so, you know, that that um that inherent um diversity uh in in how you can expect or anticipate rainfall events is is really hard. So in today's in today's world, there's more technology, there's more uh there's more ways to weigh conservation tillage and and uh residue management. You can you can keep and maintain your losses from evaporation much better. So you eat that that checkbook or that that soil is is is a significant uh piece of that puzzle. And you know, and and then the development of uh genetics. Uh we have better and better and better hybrids and and choices for for the the products that we grow that have some um you know some of the things on it what one that comes right to the top in that particular question is drought tolerance. So it doesn't mean that it that it can go without water, it can go longer extended periods without uh adequate rainfall, but it still has to have rain or supplemental irrigation center pivots. So the the beauty of Nebraska is our rivers and streams and our aquifer, and they're all connected, they all work together, and that of course has uh been a subject of controversy for over 40 years. So that's the blessing. The curse is that uh when it's dry, we have to withdraw uh or pump uh or divert out of rivers and streams uh for surface or groundwater irrigation, and and so so that there's two ways to look at that. You know, that that that creates a safe and reliable food supply, but conversely it it puts a stressor, and so managing that stressor is huge. Uh it it that is one of the things that we do exceptionally well, and and it's with a lot of tools, it's a with a lot of um sensors and and a lot of data.
SPEAKER_01:So, where is your farming operation uh in relation to the Ogallala aquifer?
SPEAKER_02:Right over the top of it. Oh sorry. Okay. Right over the top of it. Yep. We're of the of the acreage that we farm, uh, we're in excess of 6,000 acres and of irrigation, and that's all center pivot out of the Ogallala aquifer. And so we sit on 600 feet of saturated thickness all the way down to about 180 feet of saturated thickness of water underneath of us. And so pumping levels are from 70, 80 feet all the way down to about 240 that we that we bring the water up from. But it's it's amazing, it's resilient, it's it's connected uh obviously to the streams and rivers and lakes, so that there's a recharge component, and and so it's a system. And it's a it's a very intricate, sophisticated system that um we continue to evolve with the NRDs and with uh Nebraska Department of Natural Resources, um, you know, uh figuring out much better ways, uh, again that those those two words, continuous improvement.
SPEAKER_01:So I believe you helped co-found something called the Nebraska Water Balance Alliance. What is it and what has it accomplished?
SPEAKER_02:Well, it was a not-for-profit, and it was it was in the early 2000s as a result of uh MPVD announcing that they're gonna drill one of the largest, uh, well, it is the largest well field in the state of Nebraska, commercial well field, right around Gerald Gentleman Station, which is only two miles from my house. And these wells were right across from wells that we had, and they were deep. They were big. They were gonna pump 3,000 to 4,000 gallons a minute, and they were gonna use it to cool the plant because of lack of snow melt and rainfall above uh Nebraska and Wyoming and Colorado that fed our system, Lake McConaughey, South and North Platte, uh the Niabrara, so on and so forth. And so in those drought years of 10, 11, and 12, um the McConaughey got down to less than less than 40 percent, and they relied on that water to cool that plant. And that provides electricity for a million homes. That that's a lot. That is that is a lot of electricity, 1400, 1300 megawatts, I believe. And so um we sat down with an agreement um to uh work that out. At the time, um the CEO uh was was extremely interested in in being collaborative is you know how do we because again, the flip side of that uh irrigation uses 70 percent of the power in in a public power state, which is what we are in Nebraska, irrigation during the summer uses 70% of the electricity. 70. That's a big number uh for you know electric motors to pump. And of course, municipals and and golf courses, and I mean there's there's there's a myriad of others, but the the concept of of how this all plays out was a was a was a um a challenge. And so the water balance alliance uh at the time technology was really starting to come, soil moisture probes and and and crop canopy sensing and SAP testing, and and then there was digital imagery, and then of course now we have drones, and now we have now we have uh you know satellite, uh uh more satellites being launched and planet labs. I mean, there there's just a host of of sensory providers, plus the the ground applied equipment now, uh, you know, with sea and spray and and with all of these modules on planters and and sprayers and combines and I mean you're getting these huge data sets though that allow us uh to look at and evaluate how we manage our natural resources. It's a it's a huge deal. It's huge, and it's and it's continuously improving.
SPEAKER_01:So your name is often associated with innovation in agriculture. One of the things I'm familiar with is the innovation that you implemented regarding remote pivot and well monitoring. Uh describe for our listeners what you have done in that area and what you have seen and what impact it has had.
SPEAKER_02:Well, pivot telemetry, you know, it um What is that? I was a val I was a valley dealer and for for some time and then I I got out of that, but I did a lot of RD work. Plus, through the Water Balance Alliance, uh they brought these concepts and ideas. And basically uh the one that that was the most intriguing that that I started with was a box that uh was basically tied through a computer to the phone system. And it would simply tell us if it started or if it stopped. So if you started the machine, it would it would tell you, it would call your phone and you would get a text. And this was in the days of bag phones and and flip phones, so so you you were limited on that communication. And and it it continually progressed to where today we we send it prescriptions, uh, we can speed it up, slow it down, we can start it and stop it remotely. I mean, it it has a full suite of capability. Uh I wouldn't call it autonomous, but it it but it is certainly fully exercisable uh from your phone in real time. And so uh you could look at what it was applying, you could see if it was a planned stop or if it broke down, uh, or if it was not you know uh getting around in the in a timely fashion, or let's say that you had two of them that overlapped, or maybe it was a half circle coming up on a fence and and uh it ran through the barrier. I mean, you those are all the things that you could see. And so that progression, uh, we kept pushing that. You know, we wanted to see if we could uh evaluate the pivots or the ground, the soil, on its water holding capacity and infiltration rates. So it's no different than sand. If you got a plastic box or a glass, a glass box and you run water through sand, the water goes right to the bottom of that of that uh glass box. If it's heavy soil, you put it in there, it'll pond, you know, it'll it'll puddle before it starts to seep down slowly. So the idea was again through the water balance alliance, we started doing um variable rate applications. Well, then a lot of people got involved, and then all at once it's not that was just the machine speeding up and slowing down. And uh today it's by nozzle. You know, they you can basically do it, you know, if on that 1360-foot machine, you can control every nozzle individually. Um so spacing from 10 foot all the way down to 30 inches. Uh so that's a lot of sprinklers that you can control.
SPEAKER_01:You mentioned drones. How does your operation use drones?
SPEAKER_02:We don't currently own a drone. Uh it it's easier for us to to have a service and uh uh direct directed scouting. Uh we use digital imagery that looks at our fields every day now. They used to only come every two or three days, and and the the what they call the algorithm or how they stitched those images together and then gave you a gave you a uh a summary of what the field looked like was okay. But it it the resolution, in other words, those pixels were way too big. They were some as big as a clo uh one mile square, and finally we're down to submeter or sub you know about nine square feet is about what can account for. Well then we would just Just mark that spot and send it via uh email to a provider that would then fly a drone out, or we can physically walk out and check it. So uh the drone technology is really coming fast. They they uh there's there's some commercial spraying done here, some spot spraying. Uh so it you know it's coming fast, but no, we don't have one.
SPEAKER_01:Do you do you use cover crops?
SPEAKER_02:Oh, absolutely.
SPEAKER_01:So explain the bit explain at least your position as far as the benefit of those and the what what cover crops do you use?
SPEAKER_02:Well, we've been at cover cropping for 40 years. Um part of the part of your your um involvement with the government through the farm service agency and and uh natural resource and conservation service is they they came out and they mapped your field and they made a what they called a determination on highly erodible. And so if if you and and there was a there was a whole um um whole requirement there on how you treat that soil with residue. So in other words, if you got done, the old days of disking and field cultivating and and working the ground, you know, there's lots of trips, and but it also uh you were vulnerable to high winds. And uh then you know the the soil would blow. Well, it was a no-brainer that if you left your residue or or you left those stocks or you left those, you left that stubble, whatever you had out there as is the prior crop, that it would hold snow, which in turn helped recharge the soil you know for water for spring, but also it it reduced or eliminated any of that uh uh blowing. So so cover crops, that's how it started, was was really a wind piece. And and and basically anytime we had anything other than corn or alpha alpha, you know, but but sugar beets, potatoes, dry beans, uh soybeans, we had to plant a cover crops. So we used rye or wheat for years. And uh I always chuckled when everybody got on this kick. Oh man, you got to have cover crops. Well, now the research at evaluating the microbiome, you know, and a deeper dive into the soil, so to speak, is that those green roots year-round, so intercropping, you know, uh flying on, or or uh using a high boy into uh like a corn crop or popcorn crop and seeding, say mid-September. So when you harvest, uh that that crop can still uh continue on that those green roots, uh, that there's significant benefits there. Well, everybody said there was, but there was really no measuring stick that that allowed us to really uh put a an economic value on it because the seed costs$13 a bushel, you put a bushel to the acre, and then that drill and that tractor and that man and that fuel, uh, you know, it's not free. It's another$35,$40 an acre. And then comes spring, you know, you had to figure out how to farm through it. And so we didn't have that the tools uh that we have today, and tillage and and um uh uh no-till uh capabilities to get through that kind of cover crop, but today it exists and it's done nothing but explode. And obviously it's great. Uh, it is really good. Uh one of the questions we have to watch really close because we have a water allocation is how much water, because a green and growing crop is going to take water, how much water is it gonna take that we would have to offset uh in the absence of rain that we would have to pump to for our next crop of the following spring? So those are all things that are again constantly evolving, constantly improving and and constantly evaluating.
SPEAKER_01:Another thing among many that you're a recognized leader with is small acre strep trials. Before you scale that upwards, if at all, can you walk us through that process on your operation and why it matters to you? What is a strep trial?
SPEAKER_02:Everybody has a new idea, and everybody has a new piece, and they obviously they come in and they want to sell it to you. And and and our our thought process was, and many others, many other people do this as well, too, that um, you know, bring it to the farm and we'll put it, we'll we'll put half the planner to your product and half the planner the way we're gonna do it, and uh, you know, we'll harvest it and and we'll see what it looks like. So that could be seeding, you know, it could be seeding rates, it could be different germplasm, you know, different uh seeds or different uh different corn in the same cornfield. Uh it could be a herbicide, it could be uh technology that that uh measures soil moisture that sends it to you in real time that that would help you uh make a that decision of when to start and when to stop irrigating, um, you know, easier. So those strip trials were an important piece. Uh they're much easier today because of the of the ability of a planter. Uh it they have what they call row command now. So we individually control every row. So we can turn eight and on a we have a 36-row planter, so we we can turn on and off every row. Uh so it it's it's really it's really unique. It's really, and and most planters are like that today. We're not the only ones that have them. But it's the same thing with with fertilizers or uh biologicals. Uh, we're now able to measure those down to the the tenths of an ounce and deliver that directly to that seed. So those strip trials helped us before we made those investments uh to really see if it fit our our system. And and sometimes it would have, uh, but it would have taken a major investment for a piece of equipment for us. And sometimes we went ahead and did that because it was important uh, you know, looking ahead uh as you uh distribute your capital, uh your working capital, which is what you intend to use to trade or buy new equipment or technologies. Uh I mean you got to have a test bed. You it it's you can't just throw a dart, you know, and close your eyes.
SPEAKER_01:Soil health is an emerging priority, and I believe you also are a leader in that. What steps are you taking on your operation relative to soil health?
SPEAKER_02:Attend a lot of conferences. Uh we uh podcasts. Um there's a lot of information out there around this this whole idea of soil health, regenerative agriculture, sustainable, you know, carbon uh sequestration, carbon footprint. I mean, there's many, many things that uh you can spend your time and resources on, and and soil health is is something that we've always done. Um we probably just never put a label on it because we went from tillage, you know, which is supposedly uh not as good, but in certain cases you've got to do some tillage, to uh strip till, which we did for many years. We pioneered strip tilling and fertility uh with the strip tiller, to today we are 100% no-till. So, what does that mean? Is our planters and drills and and equipment are made to go right back out into that field with no disturbance other than where we're gonna place the seed. And so um uh there, I mean, there's some challenges with that. Um dewy mornings and you know, a little bit of foggy rain where in strip till we would have ran. We could have planted. Uh, but today you can't. The trash gets really, it just gets like rope. It's it's tough. And so uh that that whole piece with with um with with uh soil health is cultivating and understanding you know your activities. And believe it or not, uh conventional wisdom based off of a lot of the soil tests didn't address the soil microbiome. And that's been a recent uh aha moment for people at USDA ARS and many of the um the labs. Uh Ray Ward is a good example, Lance Ganderson at Regen Labs at Pleasanton. Uh I mean, there's some real leaders in our state that are that are figuring out what does that metrics look like? You know, what do we need to measure for and and evaluate uh and figure out are we inhibiting or are we enhancing those pathways uh for that plant to uh thrive in that in that soil? And and we did it typically by providing everything it needs, you know, fertility, uh the soil, water, you know, you know, short of absence of rain in a rain fed deal, but under irrigation, we provided essentially what what that plant needed. And now we're you know, now the conversation is around are are those are those good? Are those are those in in unison with what the soil is telling us? And there are some real leaders out there, some real, but but again, you know, affordability ROI. Um we we do a very limited part of that because right now there's there's not enough of a test bed. Uh we're we're anxious for our trials to come out again this year, but these uh microbials and and non uh you know non-synthetic fertilizer uh opportunities, so we use a lot of compost from the feed yards and from from um uh poultry uh from the eastern part of Colorado. And and so uh using a lot of those, uh, but what does that meant? You know, not getting things out of balance is a big deal. It's a fascinating topic, and and we we know we know just enough to be dangerous.
SPEAKER_01:So help me to understand this, because some would argue they are contrasting ideas. Idea number one be whether you call it sustainability, regenerative agriculture, whatever you want to call it, versus return on investment, making sure that you're profitable. Can you have both?
SPEAKER_02:Yes, you can. Um, and and I'm gonna say that tongue in cheek, and here's why, is you know, the the statement that I talked about earlier around continuous improvement, um you cannot afford to get behind. Now, can you afford to to have everything paid for and and exist and and uh take good care of your farm? There's 20% to 25% of producers and landowners that exist in that. If you look at the bell curve of adoption, there's 10 or 15 percent of us that that are willing to evaluate and look at at scale uh the these opportunities. And then the next 50 or 60 percent are the ones that that that get in and get out, or they they touch it and they and they you know they don't see the benefits, or they they just don't quite see you know how that that return actually came to their bottom line. So yes, absolutely there is, but it it is it is uh again um one of the things we stumbled into was there there really was not a software program that helped you do that. And so we I we I got involved with a with a startup out of California called Conservice, or excuse me, called uh granular, and uh they started looking at field level by crop, by seeding rates, profitability by acre, uh, you know, including all of your trips with your equipment and and depreciation interest and and I mean everything. And it was such a good program that Corteva bought it uh and and used pieces of it that they wanted, then they sold it off. And there's another company now called Conservice, and there's others out there, but we found that no one could put that into a short of having 20 spreadsheets, Excel spreadsheets, that no one compiled it into a into a modular single decision uh support tool. And that that's where we are today is really refining and defining, you know, how all of those things fit. And then, you know, how how can you pick and choose? How can you selectively uh uh really hone in on particular because all fields are different, all crops are different, every year's different. Uh there's a reason they call her Mother Nature. I mean, she's we don't know what she's gonna do, you know, and when she makes up her mind, it's it's her mind. So our our ability to assess and and move all of those kind of of influencers, which all of those factors are influencers, whether it's seeding rates, seed, you know, genetics, um, whether it's crop protection, whether it's fungicides, whether it's sunshine, geo, uh, GDUs, irrigation rates. I mean, all of those are factors. But compiling those into a tool that that informs and supports in real time is it it is finally starting to exist. So we're excited about AI. Uh, we're doing some things with AI to uh but again, you gotta you gotta make sure what you're feeding that thing to to get what you're expecting to come back out of it.
SPEAKER_01:So let's look 10 years down the road, Palman Farms. What's it look like? What's changed? What innovations are in place, what what would we see then that we would not see today?
SPEAKER_02:Oh my gosh, 10 years. Um I always I always go the other way, Mark. I talk about what I've seen in the last 20, and then the changes were every 15 years, then it was five, and and then it was three, and then I said two, and now it's six months. So if you flip that script, you know, that the changes that are coming towards us, they're they're rapidly uh coming. So those trip trials are important, uh, you know, to be able to put those out in front of you. Uh equipment is so expensive uh per row that you I mean you have really got to evaluate and really be able to understand uh because when you you when you're making million dollar investments for a for a piece of machinery that is that is vital to your operation, you want to be able to see that out there two or three years. And and you want to be able to see how that that feeds back into your operation. So what's it gonna look like? I think there'll be some autonomy. I think the the AI uh will be helpful. Uh I I'm I'm a bit concerned about the the differences in survivability of say a uh smaller family-owned operation uh to a mid-size, to a commercial size operation. I'm I'm a bit apprehensive about that, that I I fear uh because of the capital constraints uh or or the capital expectations, because I don't see those changing. In other words, cost of land, cost of equipment, the capex things, uh, that it's it's just gonna be hard. So, you know, really well positioned financially, uh, really trying to evaluate because I'm excited for the tools and the technology that's coming because it it it can be bar the door, innovations having a runaway. The adoption will be slow because uh again, that that difference between sitting in the chair and and going through the strip trial and really going, uh, can we do this? Uh to really uh write in that check, that that there's a quite a spread there.
SPEAKER_01:So, Rorick, we uh ask every guest who comes on this podcast one question, and that question is this if you get one word and one word only, what's your one word that best describes and explains this great place in which you operate Palman Farms and get to live and reside and have a family and appreciate all the beauty and joy that's in Nebraska? What's your one word for Nebraska?
SPEAKER_02:Well, I'm a Midwestern there, so I'm gonna say traditional.
SPEAKER_01:And can you explain?
SPEAKER_02:Sure. Um, you know, generationally, um you know, born and raised here, and typically the the farms and the and the communities, the schools, the the they're they're tightly held. They're they're champions of your you know identity and and how you see yourself and and with your community and with your family, and and I think traditional fits that extremely well. That doesn't mean that you're that you're you know you're you're tucking your head and and not you know and and letting the world run by. By no means. That that's not it. It's your you you are your value, your your base values and and how you perceive and and how you see and treat people. I think that's I think that's the key.
SPEAKER_01:Rorick, thanks for joining us. Folks, if you enjoyed this episode, consider subscribing on Apple, Spotify, or wherever it is that you find your favorite podcast. Share it with someone you like, or maybe someone you don't like, or someone who might find it of interest. And please keep on listening as we release additional episodes on Nebraska, its great communities, Nebraska's number one industry, agriculture, and the people who make it happen.
SPEAKER_00:Thanks. This has been 93, the podcast, sponsored by Nebraska's law firm, Rumboldt Ludke.
