Beyond The Bushels
Beyond The Bushels is where real farm stories and practical strategies come together. This isn’t just another ag podcast—it’s a place where we get past the surface to hear the heart of farming. From generational transitions and growing pains to new tech and old tractors, each episode puts the spotlight on the people behind the work—their values, their challenges, and the wisdom they’ve earned along the way.
Some are just getting started. Others have weathered decades of droughts, markets, and midnight repairs. But they all have one thing in common: a deep-rooted commitment to doing it right, passing it on, and building something that lasts.
Powered by Traction—the farm management software that connects your numbers to your acres—Beyond The Bushels is more than acres and yields. It’s about legacy, resilience, and the everyday moments that define life on the farm.
Beyond The Bushels
Harvest, Heart, and Handing It Forward with Tracey Clifford (Indiana)
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Tracey Clifford didn’t plan on coming back to the farm—until life changed her course. A third-generation farmer from northeast Indiana, Tracey spent years with FSA (county office to state leadership) before returning home in 2021 after a tragic accident. What followed was a humbling, hope-filled rebuild: learning her lane alongside her dad, trusting a tight-knit crew, and discovering that surrender and faith can lift the heaviest loads.
In this episode, Tracey shares the shift from spreadsheets to head carts, why harvest is her happy place, and the shop-day memories that stitch a family together—Reese’s in the cab, cooler-room days, and deer-season traditions with her mom. She also walks through forming a family corporation for succession, the calm that comes from knowing your cycles (and letting go of what you can’t control), and the small-town help that shows up when it counts.
Most of all, Tracey talks about carrying Josh’s legacy forward through the Josh Clifford Memorial Foundation—scholarships and start-up grants that help young people step into agriculture, from first heifers to greenhouse dreams to judging teams that need gas money. It’s a story about grief turned into good, family turned into team, and a future built one faithful yes at a time.
🎙️ Pass the Mic
• Ethan’s question to Tracey: “Where do you see genetics going in the future? How much more can we get out of seed than we do right now?”
• Tracey’s question for the next guest: “Where do you see agriculture growing most in the next 10–20 years—and where will the next generation need to step up to fill the gaps?”
Thanks for listening to Beyond the Bushels, where farm stories go deeper than yield.
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