"Farm, Flight & the American Dream" | NGP #11 (Built By The People)

From a lifelong family farm to 37 years at Honda and flying a 1958 Cessna 172 that has been in his family for over 50 years, Jeff Spencer's story is a testament to hard work, perseverance, and the opportunities the American Dream can provide. As part of the America 250 series, this conversation explores the future of family farming, the challenges facing American agriculture, the evolution of aviation and AI, and why freedom and personal responsibility remain essential to America's future. It also offers timeless lessons on excellence, resilience, and preserving the values that have shaped generations. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:21

This segment of the Next Gym Patriots podcast is sponsored in support of the West Virginia Tobacco Quit Line. If you or someone you love is ready to quit tobacco, you're just one phone call away. Trained coaches are available to provide guidance, resources, and support every step of the way. Call 1-800-QitNOW for free coaching, helpful resources, and encouragement to help you break free from tobacco.

SPEAKER_01 0:50

That's 1-800-QitNOW to take the first step towards a healthier future. Mr. Jeff Spencer, welcome to the Next Gen Patriots Podcast.

SPEAKER_02 1:04

It's an honor to have you uh as part of this 250th series uh that we are showcasing as everyday patriots like you that make up this great country. So thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00 1:14

Uh you're welcome. It's my pleasure. Yes, thank you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 1:17

So uh so everybody kind of gets to know you a little bit better. Um, what's some of your interests, hobbies, things you like to do outside of your your daily work?

SPEAKER_00 1:26

Okay, good question. Uh I enjoy farming, and uh along with farming um comes many opportunities. Uh so we like dirt biking and the UTVs, and mixed in with that is our building muscle cars and flying and uh just good times with people.

SPEAKER_02 1:45

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I mean we we don't want to forget about the flying, this beautiful plane that you have here. Um kind of tell us a little bit about the plane. What is what is it? How did you get it, and a little bit about that?

SPEAKER_00 1:56

So it's a 1958 Cessna 172, and it has been in our family uh for around 50 years. Wow. And so my father learned to fly in it, and my uncle, and and so I learned to fly in it as well. So it it means something to the family, and uh we really enjoy it.

SPEAKER_02 2:14

Yeah, yeah. It's still a beautiful plane, even for its age, taking well good care of it. Thank you. Um, so everybody has an introduction, and so we'll walk through your career a little bit. So kind of walk us through unpack a little bit here. What did you do right side of high school, all the way up to you retired, and kind of walk us through that a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 2:32

Okay. So out right out of high school, uh, this area in Ohio was pretty depressed. And so I my father was a principal and superintendent teacher, and so I followed those footsteps through college and had uh many opportunities in college to play baseball and different things. We were still farming quite a few acres at the time. And uh this is when a uh uh Honda moved into this area, and my dad was working ground in the backfield, and I went back and told him that I applied for uh the Honda job, and uh he was really wanting me to go into teaching and follow his footsteps. However, he did say that you know, try it out and you know we'll see if that works, and uh, he was very open-minded about it, and it uh it worked out very well for me.

SPEAKER_02 3:24

Yeah. So how long did you do that then at Honda?

SPEAKER_00 3:27

So I worked at Honda 37 and a half years. Wow. And at the time we were just making motorcycles, but then it expanded into several car plants across the United States. Okay, and everyone would know that history if they look into it. And uh then I got married in 1982, had two daughters, and uh we continued farming through that whole time. And uh I would work at Honda, then I would come home and farm, and uh whether it be uh many hours into the evening or the morning, uh you still get cleaned up and go to go to work the next day.

SPEAKER_02 4:01

So yeah, how was you able to balance working at Honda and then still continue to farm?

SPEAKER_00 4:06

Well, thankfully, thankfully, uh tractors have lights. And uh so it it it it was a wholesome uh vocation and my daughters really enjoyed it as well. And so we we did the horses and the dirt bikes, and we had feeder cattle and sheep and anything else you can name, and it just became part of their life uh and part of their creativity as they grew up.

SPEAKER_02 4:34

Wow, wow, that's amazing. What a legacy to keep going in your family. How long has this as now this is a family farm, correct? It is, and how long has that been going in the family?

SPEAKER_00 4:45

So we moved here in 1965, and so I was five years old at the time, and uh what's interesting, uh the house, the barns, and 30 acres, my dad purchased that for $16,000. And and the the house was built in 1857, and likewise the barn. So it was a very unique opportunity and to see the many changes that occurred in farming and many other technologies in the world along the way. Uh it just was a great place to grow up.

SPEAKER_02 5:18

Yeah, wow, that's amazing. Yeah, for sure. Okay, so as we kind of walk through here a little bit, uh we have segments that we kind of break down into here. But I kind of want to start off first off uh with the segment one, talking a little about your farming career and Honda. Um, and so for generations, family farms have helped feed communities and shape our country all over the nation. Do you think people still understand that importance?

SPEAKER_00 5:46

Well, that's a great question. Uh just throw some statistics in. In 1800, nearly every American was a farmer. By the 1960s, because post-World War II, 8.7% were farmers. Today that number is 1.3 to 1.8. So that kind of that kind of bookends your question. So ironically, uh, I've been asked, like uh, I had a specific lawyer ask me, and really was sincere, how do how where do the eggs come from in chickens? Yeah. And it was it was it was sad, but it was I was glad to be able to answer that. Uh but I think we have uh lost touch with the agricultural society because you can go to a grocery store and buy, and that's where it comes from.

SPEAKER_02 6:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:42

In a lot of people's minds. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:45

Yeah, it's a really good take on it. Wow, you know. It's it's not really a dying industry because I don't I don't think it it will ever be, but it's definitely dwindling for sure. Yeah. Yes. How are solar farms? Now this is this is one I know it's very touchy. How are solar farms affecting family farms and communities today?

SPEAKER_00 7:03

Well, in my opinion, the um we lived in a polar-based society. It's uh very few people were in the middle because you're not allowed to be in the middle. You either have to be one side or the other. So with that in mind, um, perhaps people are very concerned about the amount of farmland that is being lost in each state. And I just read an article the other day that over a million acres have been lost in Ohio due to development, uh building projects, factories, and solar panels. So as far as solar panels are concerned, when you when you look at that, change change is dynamic, because that's it wouldn't be changed if it wasn't dynamic.

SPEAKER_02 7:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:51

But at one point in time, uh our society put up electric poles and we had electricity, and people got used to those. Then they put the the massive uh electric lines up and we got used to those. Uh at one time there were no water towers. They put water towers up. Well, that's an ISO, but now people got used to those. Yeah. Uh we will adapt to whatever happens because we're we're adaptive people. The uh thought of losing farm ground for energy, I think it's been very politicized. And I think the verdict is still out on the efficiency of wind and solar.

SPEAKER_02 8:29

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And as time grows, you know, those things will get more efficient, but you know, it still takes you know people's land, people's families. So um rising, as we know, rising food cost has affected many families, especially in this last year. How has that changed farming?

SPEAKER_00 8:48

So the economics of farming, of course, you have the end user, the people that buy the product out of the grocery store. Then you have the middleman or the pro uh processor, and then you have the uh producer, which is the farmer. With that in mind, uh for the last three years I have sold my soybeans per bushel for the same price that I have that I sold them in 1979. There has not been an increase. Wow. And so right now there's uh economic stress on the farmer due to rising costs in fertilizers, uh, fuel, and uh many other uh maintenance type items. Costs have tripled.

SPEAKER_02 9:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:33

The price for the commodity has stayed or went down, and so it's uh very challenging for the local farmer to stay in business. I just read where the largest farmer is out west and they had had like 440,000 acres and they filed bankruptcy. So it's a we're it's a very serious situation right now for the American farmer.

SPEAKER_02 9:58

Yeah, wow, and that's something that's not really emphasized or talked about a lot. You know, this is true. Yeah. Yeah, it's something to definitely catch back up on for sure. Um so now I kind of wanted to move into aviation, and you know, we're with this beautiful plane. Um, but talk a little bit about the process. I don't know if it's just different, varies from state, I'm sure not really, but as a as a federal stance, what's the process of becoming a pilot certified just to even fly this this plane?

SPEAKER_00 10:25

Okay. So what you uh what you typically do now, if you want to be a glider pilot, you can solo at 14 and fly a glider. And then uh you can get your private pilot's license, then you can solo at 16 and get your private pilot's license at 17. Okay. So what you would do is go to the local airport, say, hey, I'm interested in flying. And a lot of times they'll take you up for a uh just a welcome flight or just a you know to find out to see if you'll really like it or not. And and if the juice will start flooding and say, I really like this, then they will put you with an instructor and then you'll go the basic, you would learn the basic uh characteristics of flight. You know, and so you would you know go out and learn how to take off and land, take off and land, and you get that, and then you would learn probably 75% of the training is emergency procedures.

SPEAKER_02 11:19

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 11:19

And you learn how to fly the airplane as a result of those emergency procedures because uh when everything is going good, it's easy. But when everything is not, you rely on training. Yeah, and so then you solo, let's say you solo at 16, and at that point you're allowed to go out by yourself. And solo means the the instructor gets out and he'll ask you to do three takeoffs, three landings. And then you've you've officially soloed. And then you work up from there. You go out and fly by yourself and do uh maneuvers that you had worked on with the instructor, and you continue your flight training with the instructor, and then you can become a private pilot at 17, and then you can take passengers at that point in time.

SPEAKER_02 12:03

Okay. Now, what's the length of that process? Um, like how how long would that take? A year, two years?

SPEAKER_00 12:09

And that's a great question. Um, the it's the aptitude of the person. Okay. So you can take a lesson once per week, once per month. How it's designed however fast you want to do it, because if you know somebody's working, then they and a family, they have to work all that in. Uh and you can take ground school to accelerate that as well. Um, but it is a uh it's a uh worthy activity for achievement. I would encourage everybody to do that.

SPEAKER_02 12:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:38

And once you do it, if you never fly again, you've achieved something.

SPEAKER_02 12:42

Yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah, for sure. For someone who's never sat in a plane, what is it about aviation that keeps you coming back?

SPEAKER_00 12:51

So every time I take off, I push the throttle in and I take off, and I just kind of uh as I look out the window and things are rushing by, and then it's magic, the plane lifts off. And of course, we know that it involves fluid dynamics and molecules and all that, but it's just I look at the out at the wing and it's like this is still unbelievable. Yeah, and the view from uh in the sky on a sunset or even a sunrise is just amazing. At times we can go above the clouds, and it's like you just want to jump out into that cotton. Yeah, you know, it's just it's surreal, it really is. And yeah, and it's and you see uh sights that you never get to see on the ground. Yeah. And it's a freedom because there's no politics, there's no law enforcement, there's no anything in the air. It's just a total freedom and a total, you know, uh a very peaceful time.

SPEAKER_02 13:48

Yeah, yeah. It's a real deep connection with yourself, yeah. You can tell. Yes. Yeah. As conversations continue um around pilot shortages and the travel demand, what do you see as a long-term solution to this?

SPEAKER_00 14:03

Well, as we all know, the autonomous, the autonomous aircraft, I mean, wars are being fought with autonomous aircraft. Yeah. And with the navigation systems that are uh getting uh better and better and more accurate and more dependable, I believe that will be the the future of uh aviation in the commercial side. On the GA side, flying is flying, and everybody wants to just fly. Right, right. But as far as people movers go, probably one day we'll be looking at autonomous airliners, I believe.

SPEAKER_02 14:41

Well, that that kind of leads me into my my next question. Do you think AI will ever replace pilots?

SPEAKER_00 14:48

Well, AI tap into a consortium of experiences very quickly. And of course, if you have that ability, if pilots had that ability, it would be a different game. Right. So AI can be used uh to perform that activity in a very effective manner. The systems, the systems that uh give AI its brains, shall we say, it has to be foolproof. Yeah. Because it cannot it can almost, but it cannot think and feel and speak and see as a human can. It never will. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:35

Yeah. Do you think it's ever possible as far as like a robotic stance that you know, you know, obviously they have like autopilot and stuff nowadays. Do you think that's advanced further in in the years to come?

SPEAKER_00 15:46

Sure. Uh I was talking to uh a friend of mine, and he said that he's got a system on his airplane that his wife can, if something happens to him medically, he can push a button. The airplane will vector, pick 10 airports, choose the best one for an for an ILS landing, which it's an instrument landing system, okay, and will automatically set up, because it's got autopilots, it'll automatically set up, make the landing, pull up, pull up to the uh terminal, shut the engine off, and tell you to get out.

unknown 16:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:26

That exists today. Wow. So um we're not that far from that with autopilot.

SPEAKER_02 16:33

Yeah, yeah. Have you experienced any of those things yourself flying? As far as as a pilot, have you experienced any of that technology or anything similar?

SPEAKER_00 16:41

Uh I've ridden with friends that have high-end aircraft. Okay. And uh, yes. I mean they can just incredible. Uh they can go uh let's say up to three to five layers deep on a redundancy in the cockpit. Yeah. And it's just amazing. Where this, if something happens to me, my wife's gotta land it, you know. So it's uh it's just the way it'll be at this point in time. Yeah, yeah. What's the longest flight you've ever had with this plane? So that I've had with this plane, uh, we've been out to Iowa before, okay, and uh we've been in into Michigan pretty far and uh Virginia, Manassas, Virginia. Okay, okay. My dad has flown uh to Canada and and much further distances. Wow.

SPEAKER_02 17:23

So this plane has definitely been around, that's for sure. Yes, it has. Wow, that's amazing. So as we kind of run into our last segment here, um into the America's 250th anniversary, um, as we celebrate this anniversary, what does this milestone mean to you personally?

SPEAKER_00 17:42

So uh in reflecting, and I have reflected on that because I was around for the 200th bicentennial in 1976. And it was a special time in reflecting on what the uh what the fathers had to do to create this uh great land that we live in, and uh and keep freedom. You have to have laws to keep freedom. It's not not for the lawless, it's for the law abiding. And what they had to go through and their foresight on what we would be uh experiencing even today, freedom is not dynamic. Freedom is very static. And with that in mind, the ancillary activities around freedom are what are dynamic, yeah, and we have to keep those in check that we don't uh degrade freedom, the static uh issue of freedom. So with 250 coming up, uh it's a very honorable situation to reflect on our country, and our country has not always done its best for whatever reasons, and that probably is true with any country, right? But nevertheless, I am it's the best country on earth, and I'm very proud to be an American in this country, where I live, and the county and the township that I live in. Yeah, yeah. I'm very proud of that.

SPEAKER_02 19:06

And something I really want to focus on here briefly, um, you know, you you talk about being American, and so I really want to talk a little bit about freedom briefly, because I think we we often forget the freedoms that we have. I mean, there's many countries you just wouldn't be able to just take off, I mean, in your plane. And and for those of you who don't know, he has a a grass landing strip at his on his property. There's many countries you couldn't do that just to have that freedom. Explain why freedom is worth fighting for.

SPEAKER_00 19:37

Well, that's a great question. Um, because typically we now we use the term we take things for granted. But if you look up the definition of taking things for granted, that means you don't appreciate what you have. I appreciate what I have. So I'm not taking things for granted. However, if I if those items and activities that I do today are taking away taken away from me, yeah, then I would say, wait a minute. I would not say, well, I took that for granted. That is not the case, but that would be a freedom that is taken away from me.

SPEAKER_02 20:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:13

And I would look on that as uh a little disappointed. Yeah. But I understand laws, and sometimes folks get that mixed up between laws to help the skies be safer versus that's my freedom, that's my right. We get those mixed up sometimes as humans. Yeah. And we have to keep that clear.

SPEAKER_02 20:35

Yeah, yeah. We have to keep it clear between a safety net and between just man rule. It's two different things. That is correct. Yeah, yeah. And what role do industries like aviation play in America's next chapter?

SPEAKER_00 20:50

Well, uh they are people movers, we know that first and foremost. And we also have an element called the military. We have a great military, the best in the world. And it defends this great country. And we have top top-notch equipment and we have top-notch pilots. So, with that being said, we have to continue on the cutting edge of technology in air power, because if you own the skies above you, then you're safe. Yeah. But if the day you don't own the skies above you, it's over. For example, when uh Hermann Gring in Germany in World War II saw the P-51 Mustang above his above his head, he said the war is over. If you cannot own your skies, then you will not survive.

SPEAKER_03 21:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:42

So I believe in air power. And air power is the uh I believe is the best deterrent for aggression.

SPEAKER_02 21:49

Yeah. Where do you see it as far as an industry like with drones, though, and and being used with companies, and how do you see that?

SPEAKER_00 21:56

Great point. So so drones and so forth. Is aviation, they are spraying the fields today. They can run across the field. We used one, we used one uh some time ago, and we saw we and uh we were drawn to weed pressures in the field. So we didn't have to spray the whole field. We could go right to where those weed pressures were, knock the weeds out, and have a cost down. Just from a simple drone and looking from the top down, even from what the airplane can't, yeah, you know, the drone can stop and take a picture. Yeah, I have to keep moving in this above stall speed. Yeah. And so it was very useful to see where maybe uh groundhogs or you know, or pressures or something, environment pressures, were on the crops. Uh or where a tree went down, we had to go back and get it cleaned up. And we can we can do that more efficiently with drone technology. It's probably more cost efficient. Oh my. Yeah, yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:54

That's amazing. Yeah, especially to be able to spray the fields like that. Yes. It's remarkable. Um, so if you could leave one message for Americans celebrating the 300th anniversary, what would you want them to remember? That's a deep question.

SPEAKER_00 23:12

That's a deep question. I'm pausing. I think sometimes science is golden. That's all right. I believe we all must reach within ourselves and not let daily events that occur and not let social media media define us. Yeah, that's good. Don't let anything define you. And we let that happen too much. It affects us. Yeah. So my motto is don't let anything define you, whether it be another country, whether it be another uh fad or controversy, or you brought up solar panels. Yep, we need to talk about it, but I do not let it define me. Yeah, I'm not a different individual because they're putting up solar panels. I won't let it define me. Right. And I believe that we need to check ourselves as a human race and not let it define us. Debate, discuss, decide, move on.

SPEAKER_02 24:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:13

Looking forward, I think it's it's uh very a very precious thing to preserve this freedom. And we know that uh there are movements coming in. We can look at New York and see the movements coming in, the pressures, and it's changing our capitalistic society. And I think we have to be very careful when we start going down those roads because the capitalistic society uh allows you and invites you to uh be what become what you would want to be and dream to be what you whatever we want to be, yeah. And that is available through freedom.

SPEAKER_02 24:56

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Allows you to dream and achieve those, yeah, yeah. That is correct. As you brought that up though, I'm gonna stand on the controversy side just for sure for the sake. Why why do you see though, you know, a lot of times you see on the social media or whatever in articles the stance of, but everybody should be equal or should get equal.

SPEAKER_00 25:19

Why do you have a different viewpoint of that, if you would like to share in a capitalistic society, typically you can work hard and people will notice and give breaks. You can make your own breaks, you can set yourself up. And you can work hard as we did on the farm. We worked hard. We worked day and night. I got off of a tractor to play baseball, I got back on when baseball was over. We worked all night. And you when you saw the sun come up, that's pretty cool because you saw it go down. And you're still out there, you're still out there farming. And it gives you it gives you part ownership of the ground, and being a good steward to the ground uh through freedom allows you to achieve those dreams.

SPEAKER_02 26:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:13

So if I put the hard work in, then I will be rewarded for that. Versus if I don't put the hard work in, then I won't, I don't deserve to be rewarded for that. Right.

SPEAKER_02 26:26

Yeah, yeah. As so this next question, as we wrap it up here, this next question I ask in every interview, and the reason behind it is because everybody has an interesting point of view on this. In your own words, how would you define success?

SPEAKER_00 26:43

That's a great point. So, success. Now there's a couple different ways to look at success. Having been a manager, there is statistically okay. But and I'll answer it in this way. I had a management philosophy that I taught my people. The first one was do your best. And you know in your soul whether you did your best or not. Only you know in your soul you did the best. Admiral Rickover was interviewing Jimmy Carter. It's in Jimmy Carter's book. Jimmy Carter scored very high. He was in a top 10 in his naval academy uh class. And he wanted to get into the nuclear submarine uh project. So Admiral Rickover was a father of nuclear submarines, and he asked, he asked all the questions, and uh Jimmy Carter was feeling pretty good. He said, Pretty good, until he asked one question, because it was easy for Jimmy Carter to go through that. And he said, Sailor, did you do your best? And he says, I just paused and he says, I couldn't lie to my soul. Yeah, I couldn't lie to my soul. And he says, No, sir. He says, You're dismissed. He did not get into it. So I believe doing your best is your best. It's not it's measure it's measurable by you only, right? But I expect it. Yeah. The second one was excellence. Those two items. When you do something, do it your best and do it as excellent as you can. We can line trash cans up. And you can say, when's good when is good good enough? Or you can say, I'm gonna scribe a line, I'm gonna put the edge right there, and that's I can measure that excellence. And so that is within oneself as well. Do your best and always do excellence.

SPEAKER_02 28:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:49

Pursue excellence.

SPEAKER_02 28:50

Yeah. Yeah. And you can tell that you've used that motto in your life as you've landed now in your your you know retirement years. You it's very, very evident. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Well, Mr. Spencer, once again, thank you so much for joining us. It's been a pleasure to have you on, and thanks for being on this special series honoring the 250th anniversary. My pleasure. And until next time, we will see you guys in the next video.