Ep. 1 Introduction

00;00;08;10 – 00;00;18;20
Riley Smith
Good morning. Good morning. This is your morning coffee and Ag markets with your host, Riley Smith. Beside me, I got Dr. Hunter Biram. Morning. How are you?

00;00;18;25 – 00;00;20;11
Dr. Hunter Biram
I’m fantastic. How are you doing, Riley?

00;00;20;12 – 00;00;22;22
Riley Smith
I’m doing great. What do you think about this?

00;00;22;25 – 00;00;41;04
Dr. Hunter Biram
Man, I am so excited about this podcast and this newsletter that we’ve got cranking up. I mean, for us to provide timely, relevant information on a weekly basis, is, something that I think we’ve needed for a long time and something that I’ve been wanting to do since I’ve started, but I just haven’t had the time to do it.

00;00;41;04 – 00;00;58;27
Dr. Hunter Biram
And fortunately, that’s why you’re here on the team. so maybe we could start by talking about your background, who you are, and maybe even how you came to be with Cooperative Extension. Tell us about your education. and just, you know, just tell tell us your story. What should the world know about Riley Smith? Well.

00;00;58;29 – 00;01;21;28
Riley Smith
Okay. Well, I got my high school education at Beebe High School, where after I graduated, I went on and got my associates degree at ASU-Beebe, Arkansas State University. For those who don’t know what the acronym is. From there, I graduated with my associates in Animal Science, and then I moved on to the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, where I completed my bachelor’s in AG Business and Management.

00;01;22;01 – 00;01;48;01
Riley Smith
And then Dr. Michael Popp picked me up and I finished my masters up there. after that, so I did some job searching and got a hold of you and then moved on to Cooperative Extension. Now I’m a program associate here. my main job description here would be doing this podcast, producing and hosting it, as well as helping with the newsletter that we’re going to be posting along with the podcast.

00;01;48;04 – 00;02;13;02
Riley Smith
So with that, a little bit about myself and my background, where I come from, was originally born and raised in Beebe, Arkansas. I grew up my granddad rode crop farmed, so I did grow up in a farming background, but at the same time my dad was heavily involved in the livestock industry. He grew up where he grew up farming, but he also cowboyed and did all that as well.

00;02;13;05 – 00;02;38;13
Riley Smith
And so with that, I grew up around a lot of cattle, working cattle and also rodeo as a small kid all the way. And now I’m still doing it. Not as much as I did, but. So I have been in a very diverse background in the agricultural industry. I had several jobs, high school and through college that was involved in the hog industry.

00;02;38;13 – 00;03;09;03
Riley Smith
So, one job that sticks out to me is, is I moved to Highfill, during my college career and was actually a herd manager for a big ranch, out of Highfill, I oversaw 800 head. And, I mean, that was a milestone in my life that everything that I had been taught and, and brought up in that I got to actually apply and learn some life lessons, life lessons, and some work put the practices to work, I guess, is what I’m trying to get at.

00;03;09;03 – 00;03;31;14
Riley Smith
So I definitely have been blessed to be brought up and then industry in that world, it’s taught me a lot, and it’s made me who I am. So that’s, that’s pretty much the background on me. I would like to talk about just kind of who you are. What’s your background? Your education is. And I get to let the let the public know who Dr. Hunter Biram is.

00;03;31;16 – 00;03;54;00
Dr. Hunter Biram
Yeah. So, I’m also an Arkansas boy, born and raised, was, actually born in Newport, Arkansas, but raised in floral, Arkansas. And, they’re on a farm. well, a cow calf, a cow calf operation, broiler chickens, peaches. And which, by the way, we’re fit. We’re taping this. And, in the summer of 2024, and this is, argument, the best peach crop that we’ve ever had.

00;03;54;00 – 00;04;10;04
Dr. Hunter Biram
So we’re really excited about that. you know, with light frosts that, that’s a risk that the peach Orchard faces every year. so, you know, that’s just a little side note on the farm, the current state of the farm and, the farm, obviously still their farm family’s still there. And, I love engaging with them.

00;04;10;04 – 00;04;25;23
Dr. Hunter Biram
It helps me to be a better extension economist to continue to engage with farm activities. so, yeah, I’m born and raised there. I went to Midland High School. For those of you, who know all those small school names, there’s a little one day school. we have an elementary in floral and a high school in Pleasant Plains.

00;04;25;23 – 00;04;49;05
Dr. Hunter Biram
And so that’s where I got my high school education. And then, from there, I went to Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, and that’s for Dr. Bert Greenwalt, for our listeners. You know who Bert Greenwalt is? Picked me up and, dusted me off and, you know, made me into a great economist. Sent me off to Mississippi State, and I work with, Keith Coble on my master’s degree there, where I learned a lot about, you know, the federal crop insurance program.

00;04;49;05 – 00;05;09;16
Dr. Hunter Biram
Farm bill did a lot of research in that area. And then Keith sent me off to Kansas State University. I work with, Jesse Tech and got my PhD, working with just, Kansas State University, in ag economics. And then from there, you know, John Anderson and his crew, whenever, you know, our current extension director, he actually was department head whenever he hired me.

00;05;09;16 – 00;05;37;07
Dr. Hunter Biram
And so he hired me as department head, and he found me. And, you know, he also, continue to polish me up, and now I’m, you know, working here as a, as is professor extension specialist with cooperative extension in ag economics. And, so I think my story can be best characterized by, you know, strong man who led me and found, found something in me and saw something in me that I didn’t see in myself and continue to make me into a better person so that I can be the economist that I am today.

00;05;37;10 – 00;06;00;14
Riley Smith
I can 100% get behind that. Because if it wasn’t for if it wasn’t for the strong man in my life, I know that I wouldn’t be where I’m at today without them. And, and, something that I’ve heard on, on some other podcast that the guys that I’ve listened to is called standing on the Shoulders of Giants. And that’s one thing that I see, that really don’t happen much anymore.

00;06;00;16 – 00;06;18;09
Riley Smith
I know it still happens, but, I mean, you don’t really appreciate the raise and the way you were brought up until you get older and you get put in those of situations that they were put in. And so I can greatly appreciate that. And I think everybody listening could do so. And what do you think about this is the first episode.

00;06;18;12 – 00;06;38;02
Riley Smith
This is our introduction episode. So further to come we’ll get we’ll get into the meat and potatoes of it here in a minute. We’ll get down. As Michael Dale says, we’re going to pick a bone with you and get down to it. but we’re going to talk about the goals of this podcast and the newsletter, the what’s the whys in the house, why we’re doing this.

00;06;38;04 – 00;06;55;25
Riley Smith
the first thing I really want to target, though, is the name of the podcast. Why we come up with that. You know, I grew up in a coffee shop with my granddad, my granddad. and I know I talked a little bit about him, but that’s one of the giants that I sit on. He, farmed for over 40 years.

00;06;55;28 – 00;07;13;26
Riley Smith
And then he retired farming in 06 and went to work for DuPont pioneer and then Armor Seed Company, selling seed and he also, he also had a cook wagon. That’s what he was mainly known for. He had a cook wagon. Then he went around to all the co-ops and stuff in the fall and winter meetings and cook steak.

00;07;13;26 – 00;07;35;21
Riley Smith
So everyone, anyone listening, they might know Dale Smith, but, growing up, the big thing as a kid was to go to the coffee shops every morning at five, six o clock, right before daylight. It didn’t matter. He went up there to listen to all the men talk, and my dad and my granddad, I was fortunate enough to bring brought up and that.

00;07;35;22 – 00;08;02;25
Riley Smith
And I think with this being a really I know it’s to for everyone to listen to and we want to educate everyone, but we are producer based. We’re trying to trying to reach our information to the producers and ones growing our food, the to try to help, educate, inform and hopefully make a difference. And so that’s what I want to kind of just talk for a minute on is where we caught up with the name.

00;08;02;27 – 00;08;04;12
Riley Smith
what do you think about it?

00;08;04;14 – 00;08;24;11
Dr. Hunter Biram
I think that’s fantastic. I think, that’s where a lot of, rich conversation can come from or from those, coffee shop, chats. I mean, nothing like a nice small eight ounce styrofoam cup. If it’s even eight ounces. It’s really small, as all I know, small styrofoam cups and filling it with, I grew up.

00;08;24;11 – 00;08;41;14
Dr. Hunter Biram
I was raised on Folgers. but I know Maxwell House is another one of those out there that people may be, more acquainted with. But the point being that really, I did not grew up in a coffee shop. I grew up in a greenhouse. And, you know, I was around all the people that helped us, raise plants on the farm.

00;08;41;14 – 00;09;12;05
Dr. Hunter Biram
And that’s one thing that my grandpa always had was a cup of coffee. I mean, that guy, you you did not work on the farm without there being coffee in a pot, and, especially to start the day. And so I think, we hope that this idea of morning coffee is, like. We’re hoping that this will start your day or start your week when your plan to release on Monday mornings, first thing in the morning, hopefully, as you’re going to work, you’ll be able to, tune in and check in on what’s happening with, agricultural, issues more related to the economy.

00;09;12;05 – 00;09;30;05
Dr. Hunter Biram
The macro economy could be, policy related issues. We got a lot of those coming up. could be a market update. you know, there going to be many different topics that we’re going to release on a weekly basis on Monday morning. And so fantastic title. I think it’s very, very, well-suited for the idea that we have here.

00;09;30;12 – 00;09;36;05
Dr. Hunter Biram
This is how we’re going to start the week and how we’re going to start the day. so, yeah, I think it’s fantastic.

00;09;36;07 – 00;09;57;14
Riley Smith
So thank you for your introduction. glad to have you on here. we do have one man that’s out of the. He’s unfortunately in Jonesboro so he couldn’t be here with us today, but, Dr. Hunter Biram going to introduce him because he’s. He will be on the podcast, some as well. Dr. Biram.

00;09;57;17 – 00;10;19;25
Dr. Hunter Biram
Yeah. So, you know, I want to say that even though we use the word unfortunately, I’m very excited that we have this person in Jonesboro where he’s at and used to go ahead and, you know, break the tension, right. The anticipation. We have, Mr. Scott Stiles back with us in, extension ag economics, and we could not be more excited about that.

00;10;19;25 – 00;10;41;13
Dr. Hunter Biram
So Scott comes to us with, as me, you know, 23 years of extension experience. I mean, this guy had a fantastic marketing program providing, you know, updates on what happens, what’s happening in the road crop markets, you know, helping producers make risk management decisions on pre and post harvest marketing. I mean, the guy who lives, eats, breathes, sleeps the markets.

00;10;41;13 – 00;11;03;28
Dr. Hunter Biram
And for those of you who know him, I’m not saying anything new. but. Yes, Mr. Scott Stiles, you know, Scott is, you know, Scott is fantastic. he’s such a nice guy and well-respected man and a well-respected economist. And, so, for my knowledge, I mean, his his his education, stints in Arkansas State as an undergraduate and going to Mississippi State for his master’s degree.

00;11;03;28 – 00;11;22;26
Dr. Hunter Biram
So he’s a fellow bulldog like me. And, from there, he spent most all of his career, working for extension, being based out of, actually the Arkansas State University campus. I remember his office was right down the hall from Dr. Greenwalt whenever I was around. So, we are back. Scott took a little bit of a sabbatical, and that’s come back to us.

00;11;22;26 – 00;11;48;26
Dr. Hunter Biram
And, we’re very excited, excited to have him just pretty much continue the program that he already did. And, you know, again, in the crop marketing space, in the, price risk management space with local cash marketing, maybe even, looking at, risk manager strategies, using futures and options. you can guarantee if it’s coming from Scott, it’s going to be the truth and it’s going to be a, it’s going to be a very good risk management decision.

00;11;48;28 – 00;11;55;00
Dr. Hunter Biram
I’m going to I’m going to slightly pivot here. I didn’t know when you wanted to bring in, our other.

00;11;55;02 – 00;11;55;26
Riley Smith
So, yeah.

00;11;55;28 – 00;11;57;05
Dr. Hunter Biram
We’ve got a distributor who.

00;11;57;06 – 00;12;19;16
Riley Smith
Also is a. So Dr. Hunter is going to be on here quite often. He’s going to be our co-host for our podcast, but we also have, another man with us today that’s going to be in quite often, Dr. Ryan Loy. And we’re going to bring him in, let him introduce himself, talk about him for a second. What he has to say, about the introduction in this podcast and, and get his thoughts.

00;12;19;18 – 00;12;26;20
Riley Smith
And we’re back. We took a pause for the cause. Now we got Dr. Ryan Loy and with us in the studio. Dr. Ryan Loy how.

00;12;26;20 – 00;12;27;12
Riley Smith
Are you doing?

00;12;27;12 – 00;12;28;09
Dr. Ryan Loy
Well, Riley. And how.

00;12;28;09 – 00;12;28;19
Dr. Ryan Loy
Are you?

00;12;28;19 – 00;12;47;06
Riley Smith
I’m good. I’m doing good. I wanted to bring you in. you’re going to be in here quite often as well, talking about topics that we cover in the newsletter and in to discuss with me about what’s going on in the in the economic world and in the world. So I would like the public to get to know who you are and what’s your education.

00;12;47;06 – 00;12;49;28
Riley Smith
And your background is. So if you don’t mind.

00;12;50;01 – 00;13;08;15
Dr. Ryan Loy
Of course. Absolutely. Well, thank you for having me today. And thank you to Dr. Hunter Biram for also having me. my name is Ryan Loy, and I’m actually one of the newer extension economists for the, University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture. And I come here way of Oklahoma. I’m actually originally from Texas. but I grew up in Texas.

00;13;08;15 – 00;13;27;07
Dr. Ryan Loy
And then after high school, I decided I wanted to go up to Oklahoma State. Now, people might be like, how did you end up in Texas? Or how did you go to Oklahoma from Texas? Well, for me, I grew up in a pretty big city. I’m from the DFW metroplex, and so most people in that area aren’t familiar with agriculture, and you can’t really blame them.

00;13;27;07 – 00;13;43;12
Dr. Ryan Loy
It’s just a big city. There’s not a lot of ag production around there. And what I saw when I was a kid was most people thought, well, food comes from the grocery store. There’s they don’t understand the plight of a farmer, and I don’t know why, but I just said, I want to get out and really work with producers, work with farmers.

00;13;43;12 – 00;14;01;21
Dr. Ryan Loy
And so that’s what I did. I joined FFA, I was a big part of that in high school, and that was really kind of my introduction to agriculture as a whole. like I said, my family’s not a farm family. and from there I really was into FFA. I still wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted to do in agriculture, but I knew I wanted to stay in it.

00;14;01;21 – 00;14;21;28
Dr. Ryan Loy
So I went to Oklahoma State. I got my degree in agricultural economics. I actually got all three of my degrees from Oklahoma State. So I’m kind of a unique position there. So I got my, my bachelor’s, master’s and PhD from Oklahoma State and graduated there last May, so May 2023. And so I’m just actually celebrating my one year anniversary here.

00;14;21;28 – 00;14;40;27
Dr. Ryan Loy
So it’s been really exciting. And I’ve been feeling really blessed to be able to get out in Arkansas, meet the producers, understand the issues here, and understand how we can use the university’s resources and our skill set to really help out agricultural production here in Arkansas. It’s so important. you know, AG really turns the wheels here in Arkansas.

00;14;40;27 – 00;15;08;17
Dr. Ryan Loy
And so it’s really important that we support that group of people. So that way everybody else in the world is supported as well. I’m really excited for this podcast, you know, mainly because this is a good opportunity for us to connect more with producers and bring them in in the conversations that we have at the university. And furthermore, this is a way to get timely information to them, whereas the timely information may be available online, but this is a way that we can all put it together and give them a one stop shop to see all of their needs.

00;15;08;19 – 00;15;24;20
Dr. Ryan Loy
Anything from prices to weather to big macroeconomic events that might be happening. And so that’s really what I’m excited about here. And so I really appreciate you giving me the time to introduce myself. And I look forward to continually doing this podcast and providing information I can.

00;15;24;22 – 00;15;46;13
Riley Smith
We appreciate you and everything that you do. I do want to ask you before you step out 100 steps back, and I do want to ask you because I know that you may had a conversation about the name only trying to come up with it. So I’m just curious, what do you think when when we brought up the idea of morning coffee and ag markets in your mind, what did you see.

00;15;46;15 – 00;16;08;12
Dr. Ryan Loy
In my mind? What did I see? And what’s very funny is that the, the old farmer at the donut shop early in the morning or at the gas station early in the morning isn’t really unique to just rural areas. It’s actually very funny. It’s, something that even big cities have. And maybe they’re not farmers, but they’re all they’re all the, the, you know, the old heads that go and meet up and talk and they’re the wise ones.

00;16;08;12 – 00;16;23;09
Dr. Ryan Loy
And so that’s exactly what I pictured. I pictured a group of guys sitting at a coffee shop right when they open and they’re just sitting there talking about everything. And so that’s something I saw growing up. Now again, it they may not been farmers, but you still it’s the same idea. And that was what was in my head when I heard that.

00;16;23;09 – 00;16;27;13
Riley Smith
Yeah. As my daddy always said, he said that’s where you go to solve world’s problems.

00;16;27;14 – 00;16;36;05
Dr. Ryan Loy
That’s right, that’s right. They’re the wise ones. Right. So that’s exactly what I thought. And I the second I heard it, I going, I know exactly where you’re heading with this. And I thought it was a great idea.

00;16;36;05 – 00;17;00;21
Riley Smith
Well, we, appreciate that. And, you know, it’s it’s not just for producers is for everyone. This he said it’s not just in the rural areas where, like, I grew up, you had the donut shop, you had the coffee shop, you had the gas station, you had several different places that you could go and get in a different group of men or women for that matter, and talk and listen and talk shop with them.

00;17;00;23 – 00;17;28;13
Riley Smith
But it’s also in those urban areas where you can go and get a little bit of life advice and wisdom when you need it. That’s right. And in the store today, and have a good laugh before you go off to work. That’s right. So this is what we hope to attend with with this podcast too, is is not just to inform and educate, but also to have fun and bring light to somebody that may be having a bad day or starting their day off bad that they might learn something today and go, I didn’t think about that.

00;17;28;13 – 00;17;47;16
Riley Smith
And so we’re excited about it. we’re going to bring Dr. Hunter Biram back in. We’re going to ask him a few questions and talk about, the podcast and the newsletter. We’ve been talking mainly about the podcast, but it’s important that we also talk about the newsletter because it’s going to contribute to this as much as is the podcast does it.

00;17;47;19 – 00;18;13;00
Riley Smith
So we’re going to bring bring him back in. Dr. Loy, thank you for joining us today. And before you go, I do want to ask you, I’m going to ask you three questions and a trivia question real quick. So these two questions are more of a, professional format. So what do you hope to achieve with the podcast slash newsletter with not the book, not out of the book answer.

00;18;13;01 – 00;18;15;07
Riley Smith
I want I want to hear your take.

00;18;15;10 – 00;18;34;28
Dr. Ryan Loy
Absolutely. Really what I want to get out of this podcast, and what I want to get out of this newsletter is to provide information to the producers. And as you mentioned earlier, not just producers, maybe people that are interested in agriculture that don’t know where to go to get this information. They don’t know how to get this information, where to grab it from the internet, what we’re going to do all that for you.

00;18;35;02 – 00;18;49;15
Dr. Ryan Loy
And this is a way for us to keep in constant contact with those producers outside of the winter meetings, when we go and actually meet them in person. This is a way to stay in touch constantly. And so that’s what I’m most looking forward to. I’m looking forward to the interactions. I’m looking forward to the calls of questions.

00;18;49;17 – 00;18;57;08
Dr. Ryan Loy
I’m even looking forward to the calls. Maybe somebody disagreeing on what’s going on. I’m just looking forward to chatting in any way, shape or form. So that’s what I’m most excited for.

00;18;57;16 – 00;19;12;09
Riley Smith
Well that’s good. So the second question I have for you then, is what do you hope to inform the public more about that? You think that maybe a topic that you think that don’t get enough light on it, that people in John Q public should know more about?

00;19;12;12 – 00;19;32;03
Dr. Ryan Loy
Absolutely. And so I’ll first answer that with a broad question, a broad answer. And then I’m going to go down into a more specific answer. The broad, issue I see is that I want to educate more on how much the macro economy, meaning the global economy, or even just the United States economy as a whole, really impacts agriculture.

00;19;32;05 – 00;19;59;21
Dr. Ryan Loy
You know, our markets are so connected nowadays via the internet, via whatever technology you can name. And so with being connected, that means that at most everything has a ripple effect somewhere. And so to understand that, I think being ahead of the game and so to understand when you read a news headline, understanding how what that can mean to agriculture, what that can mean to you on a per acre basis, more importantly, right now is really a function of understanding interest rates.

00;19;59;21 – 00;20;19;19
Dr. Ryan Loy
They’ve been such a big hot topic and without guidance, getting into much of the details, just understanding when you see those headlines about inflation measures or where interest rates are heading, understanding what that truly means. And it doesn’t just mean that your gas is more expensive at the pump, it doesn’t just mean the burger is more expensive, it may mean that you’re not going to have the labor union.

00;20;19;19 – 00;20;25;09
Dr. Ryan Loy
You’re not going be able to buy that land that you need. You’re not going be able to rent it. So those are some big things I’m really interested in getting into.

00;20;25;16 – 00;20;35;01
Riley Smith
Okay. Well, that, I’m excited about so your personal question is what is your favorite thing to do outside the office?

00;20;35;03 – 00;20;50;08
Dr. Ryan Loy
Oh, absolutely. So some of my favorite things to do I would say top is definitely going to be I like to fish a lot. That is something I really like to do and get out to get outdoors and really do that. I live down in Saline County, really close to the saline River, so I’m always going up and down the saline River.

00;20;50;10 – 00;21;04;03
Dr. Ryan Loy
but I also enjoy, just hunting, fishing. I love the outdoors, but I love playing video games just as much as I like getting in the outdoors. So my loves for things are kind of all around. But those are the two things I really enjoy doing.

00;21;04;03 – 00;21;10;26
Riley Smith
Well, I’m. I’m with you on the fishing port. If you want to go fishing any time, you just holler, oh, I will, all right. We took another pause for the

00;21;10;26 – 00;21;14;16
Riley Smith
cause. We got Mister Dr. Hunter Biram back in here,

00;21;14;17 – 00;21;14;25
Dr. Hunter Biram
Mister.

00;21;14;25 – 00;21;15;21
Dr. Hunter Biram
Dr., professor.

00;21;15;24 – 00;21;41;28
Riley Smith
You know mister Dr., professor. So we got him back in here. Ryan. He kind of ran out of here after that question, but I was going to tell you he’ll have another one next time, so I’ll let him. I’ll give him a heads up so he can study for it next time. So, after talking to Dr. Loy I wanted to get your input on the newsletter more or less in the podcast, because we haven’t touched on it.

00;21;41;28 – 00;21;53;13
Riley Smith
Really? But what’s the goal? what’s the goal of the newsletter? What are we trying to accomplish with the newsletter? How is it tie into the podcast?

00;21;53;16 – 00;22;17;03
Dr. Hunter Biram
Yeah. First foremost, the newsletter is, designed to inform and to inform on, timely and relevant topics, relevant to the agricultural economy. And so that could be the Arkansas economy, could be the US economy, could be the global economy. But we’re going to inform first and foremost and provide, unbiased, knowledge, unbiased, I mean, truth.

00;22;17;03 – 00;22;37;16
Dr. Hunter Biram
And then the day is what it is. I mean, we’re here to provide truth and to, to, help, help producers make informed decisions when it comes to booking fertilizer, when it comes to, doing pre harvest marketing or post harvest marketing, when it comes to that crop insurance decision, when it comes to that farm bill, it aka plc decision.

00;22;37;16 – 00;22;46;21
Dr. Hunter Biram
So we’re we’re here to help inform decision making and to, better inform, risk management decisions.

00;22;46;23 – 00;23;11;03
Riley Smith
So kind of with that, you know, you think about it, something that’s part of my job description that I didn’t also I didn’t mention was is looking at input prices and, and for our producers listening, we understand that we’re we’re not trying to consult. We’re trying to inform what the prices are doing, what they’re going to do.

00;23;11;06 – 00;23;25;03
Riley Smith
We’re trying to forecast that and help, maybe help a producer think about or even look at his decision making, what he’s going to do. And we’re not trying to tell him what to do. And so it’s.

00;23;25;03 – 00;23;42;26
Dr. Hunter Biram
Good to provide options. Yeah, good to provide options. Like here’s a say here, here where the markets are. And this is why the markets are behaving the way that they are. It can be driven by just seasonality, but it can be driven by events such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine. You know, those that obviously we saw what impact that had on the supply chain.

00;23;42;29 – 00;24;00;23
Dr. Hunter Biram
so it could be things that are more, you know, with what us, eggheads would say, you know, or more like the, more of the technical theoretical underpinnings of why some of these things happen, but sometimes it’s just these random events that happen, these shocks that happen that can also drive the markets. So we want to provide some information on that.

00;24;00;26 – 00;24;16;11
Dr. Hunter Biram
As to, you know, what’s driving the market and what should you do about it? Should you do anything about it or should you just, you know, hold your cards close to you, hold your chips close to you? Or should you go ahead and, make some risk management decisions?

00;24;16;13 – 00;24;28;28
Riley Smith
Yeah. Is is I learned in, at college the little bit that I did learn, you know, we’re, we’re providing, wouldn’t you say, we’re providing the methodology behind what the prices are doing?

00;24;29;02 – 00;24;42;08
Dr. Hunter Biram
It helps to explain. It’s really good to have an explanation for why certain, price changes are happening. Because it helps us to understand our world, better so that we can make future decisions based on what we’ve learned.

00;24;42;08 – 00;25;05;25
Riley Smith
Right? Right. Right, right. Well, it sounds wonderful. Like I’m excited, for the future and what this podcast and newsletter is going to bring. and I hope that it’s able to help a producer or even even somebody that’s not in the industry learn something about ag economics and in agriculture in general. So with that being said.

00;25;05;25 – 00;25;24;26
Dr. Hunter Biram
From RIley, actually, if I can pause this, it might be helpful to talk about just the format of the newsletter, just generally. So, okay, you know, you know, what we had in mind was we’re thinking maybe a 3 or 4 paragraph, you know, write up. And then at the end of each newsletter, there’s going to be maybe 1 or 2 figures, but we’re also going to provide local market information.

00;25;24;26 – 00;25;47;00
Dr. Hunter Biram
So it could be crop and some crop prices. We’re going to provide crop price information for the various row crops that are produced in Arkansas, as well as, input price information for the this for the state of Arkansas. So, we’re we’re we are here to gather local information to provide, our Arkansas stakeholders with, with the, information that that they need to make those informed decisions that we talked about.

00;25;47;02 – 00;26;00;13
Dr. Hunter Biram
But we’re also going to have some figures on, you know, what’s the current state of or what’s the what’s the weather forecast look like is going to be rain this week. Is it going to be dry? as well as and we know that this has been a hot topic in recent memory. We’ll talk more about later with the Mississippi River.

00;26;00;13 – 00;26;23;17
Dr. Hunter Biram
So we’re gonna provide some insight as to what’s happening on the Mississippi River or implications for marketing on that as well. So short write up on a relevant topic, maybe one figure from that, but also some week to week you’re going to continue to see the same information. in regard to, you know, crop markets, input price markets, weather, other things that, may drive that decision, making it the farm level.

00;26;23;17 – 00;26;32;14
Riley Smith
Right. So and with that, we’re going to tie this in to the podcast. So each week at seven or well we’re going to record at seven.

00;26;32;16 – 00;26;34;26
Dr. Hunter Biram
But I mean, but it’s going to be about 8 a.m.. That’s my tough.

00;26;35;01 – 00;26;53;08
Riley Smith
Yeah. Yeah. But so each Monday at 8 a.m., we’re going to release our podcast episode along with that will be the newsletter. That’s right. That way you can actually if you don’t want to listen to this podcast, go find the newsletter. You can read up on what’s going on in the in the ag markets. that or do both.

00;26;53;09 – 00;27;08;26
Dr. Hunter Biram
Yeah. These are designed to work in, parallel to one another. So, you know, one is going to be, excuse me, one is going to be more of a written piece, that that you can read on your own time if you don’t want to listen to us. he and ha in the studio in here. but, I mean, you can listen to both.

00;27;08;26 – 00;27;18;26
Dr. Hunter Biram
I mean, if you want to listen about this will be to there maybe a few things in the podcast it might not necessarily be talked about in the newsletter. but the intent is that the newsletter and the podcasts are going to run parallel to one another. Right?

00;27;18;28 – 00;27;28;14
Riley Smith
Right. Sounds good. Well, I want to ask you, the three questions that I asked Dr. Loy earlier and, you have a trivia question as well.

00;27;28;18 – 00;27;29;09
Dr. Hunter Biram
Okay.

00;27;29;11 – 00;27;33;28
Riley Smith
So what do you hope to achieve with the podcast slash newsletter?

00;27;33;28 – 00;28;02;09
Dr. Hunter Biram
Personally, I think, you know, I’m all I’m all about sharing the truth. I’m all about sharing unbiased information. I think that is what sets extension apart. that’s what sets the land grant system apart from any university in the world is, you know, extension provides us, is an unbiased source of information. I think, you know, there are going to be some topics that, you know, they’re they’re going to be tough to talk about.

00;28;02;09 – 00;28;22;10
Dr. Hunter Biram
And there may be some findings from some research that we do that are going to be tough to talk about. But you can guarantee that we’re going to be providing unbiased information. you know, based on all the training that we’ve had, with all the modeling and the stats and all that crazy stuff, you can, you can be guaranteed that you’re going to get some, that you will get unbiased information, that you’re going to get the truth.

00;28;22;10 – 00;28;32;20
Dr. Hunter Biram
And, we want to be able to, again, provide confidence and empower producers to make, risk management decisions so that they can continue to farm.

00;28;32;22 – 00;28;47;26
Riley Smith
Right? Right, right. So I know we’ve talked about a few topics that we’re going to talk about in the next few weeks, and I know you’re excited about them, but I want to know, what do you hope to inform the public more about risk?

00;28;47;29 – 00;29;14;12
Dr. Hunter Biram
This is the short answer. Risk I think, risk is so important for us to understand. I think knowing how we assess risk personally is very important. I think knowing how, others assess risk is very important. you know, why is insurance important? Why does that matter? We will talk about that. What is a risk? How do you measure a risk?

00;29;14;15 – 00;29;36;27
Dr. Hunter Biram
what what what is a risk defined as my hope, as as we continue to build this out, is that people will tune in and they’re going to get sick of hearing me talk about risk. so as long as I really as long as I’m around, we’re going to be talking about what risk is and how can we manage it, how can we make how can we mitigate, how can we maybe there instance where we can eliminate it as well.

00;29;37;04 – 00;29;41;06
Dr. Hunter Biram
But if you can’t eliminate it, how can we manage it?

00;29;41;09 – 00;29;43;20
Riley Smith
Well, it sounds like exciting material.

00;29;43;21 – 00;29;57;01
Dr. Hunter Biram
Oh man. Always exciting talking about insurance, but I’m saying that kind of tongue in cheek. I know that, most people don’t don’t talk about insurance, but, you know, I think managing risk more generally, apart from insurance is a very important topic, especially in agriculture.

00;29;57;01 – 00;30;00;20
Riley Smith
I don’t know if it’s the insurance or the price of insurance that people get more mad about.

00;30;00;24 – 00;30;04;03
Dr. Hunter Biram
Hey, both. Absolutely. Both.

00;30;04;05 – 00;30;11;09
Riley Smith
And well, so with that being said, we’re going to move on to your personal question. So what is your favorite thing to do outside the office? You know.

00;30;11;09 – 00;30;30;05
Dr. Hunter Biram
This this is this is a cliche answer, but it’s it’s really it is truly, what I love doing that. Spending time with my wife and my son just had a son. He’s eight months old now and been married to my wife for almost five years now, and I just love being with them, spending time with them, my wife and our garden, we, we love gardening.

00;30;30;08 – 00;30;49;27
Dr. Hunter Biram
And, we got tomatoes, cucumbers and squash. And, I love talking with, Anthony, here at the extension office about, about his program and horticulture and, he’s actually, shown me some really cool, you know, like the there’s a really nice marigold that he’s come out with or that he showed me and, a really cool bell pepper.

00;30;49;27 – 00;31;05;19
Dr. Hunter Biram
And so I’m, I’m, I’m all about trying new things, growing my own stuff, and, having fun with that. It helps me stay connected to the farm, even though I live in little Rock. so, yeah. Gardening, spending time with family. I, you know, I’m I’m I’m kind of like a Dr. Loy. I do like the game every now and then whenever I have time for it.

00;31;05;19 – 00;31;24;11
Dr. Hunter Biram
But I also love reading. I love reading, I’m a big, big theology nerd, so I love learning about, various, you know, various approaches to, you know, how we study, the Bible. And so I’m all about learning about that and reading books on that. And, I like to nerd out. I loved learn it the other day.

00;31;24;14 – 00;31;25;28
Riley Smith
I love learning be a sponge.

00;31;26;06 – 00;31;26;18
Dr. Hunter Biram
Oh, yeah.

00;31;26;23 – 00;31;35;09
Riley Smith
Always, always told me he said, you’re never too old to learn. Yeah. So try to learn something every day, even if it’s just one thing.

00;31;35;09 – 00;31;36;27
Dr. Hunter Biram
So, 100%.

00;31;36;29 – 00;31;45;07
Riley Smith
So. Okay, so we asked Dr. Ron earlier about his trivia question, and he’s not.

00;31;45;07 – 00;31;48;09
Dr. Hunter Biram
Too thrilled about it. He is not happy, with us at the moment.

00;31;48;16 – 00;31;58;24
Riley Smith
It’s okay. He’ll get another shot. So the blank of 1862 established land grant universities.

00;31;58;26 – 00;32;18;26
Dr. Hunter Biram
That is hilarious. That you would ask that you ask that question even though you just, asked, astronaut. And for those who are listening and, you know, you’re not ever going to see us in the studio, only two people can fit in here at once. So it’s not like I’ve been sitting here the whole time, but, but I can’t hear what’s going on from the outside.

00;32;18;28 – 00;32;39;18
Dr. Hunter Biram
so I think it’s very unfair, but I will admit, I knew the answer to this question before you asked it, even though you did tee Ryan up for it before. It is the Moral act of 1862 that established the land grant system. I feel like next time, though, you’re going to come up with a question and just totally just get me off base, which is fine, which is fine.

00;32;39;18 – 00;32;54;28
Dr. Hunter Biram
But, nonetheless, a very important policy. I’m. I’m digressing now, but nonetheless a very important program. Very important policy. You know, Abe Lincoln signed it into law. and it’s the reason that we are here today.

00;32;55;01 – 00;33;02;17
Riley Smith
Well, so the reason why I tell you that these questions one, I know that you as a big history buff, when it come to the extension and, you know, you can thank.

00;33;02;19 – 00;33;03;26
Dr. Hunter Biram
Bert Greenwalt for that.

00;33;03;28 – 00;33;13;25
Riley Smith
I know that you knew a lot, so I thought it was only appropriate that we started out with those. but I can guarantee you the next time that it’ll be trivia questions from something completely random.

00;33;13;25 – 00;33;21;13
Dr. Hunter Biram
So ask me about the random sports facts, about things other than baseball, and I’m going to be lost, so.

00;33;21;16 – 00;33;45;15
Riley Smith
Well, that’s great. I’m so happy to have you in today. And I’m glad that, we got or got our introductions out. And we’re hoping that, we’re hoping that it’ll, inform. We can inform like we’re trying to say, but at the same time, have fun with it, and everybody can can, get it, gain something from this.

00;33;45;18 – 00;34;10;28
Riley Smith
So I wanted to thank you guys for joining the podcast this morning. Thank you again for joining us this week on the episode of Morning Coffee and Ag Markets. We hope you enjoyed it. Y’all come back next week is we’ll be talking about we’ll be starting our first ever episode with a, topic base. So we hope you have a great rest of your week enjoying your morning coffee and listening to us and catching up on the markets and enjoying and probably a good laugh as well.

00;34;11;00 – 00;34;14;16
Riley Smith
So until next time, we’ll catch you on the flip flop. Bye bye now.