The Prairie Farm Podcast

Ep. 396 How We Run Our Prairie Farm and What It Takes To Start One

Kent Boucher turns the mic on Nicolas Lirio for a look back at Hoksey Native Seeds' first year after Carroll. They cover an auction gone sideways, a lost recording, stubb

Ep. 395 (Coffee Time) Do Prairie Fires Keep Flies and Ticks Away And Wendell Berry Tribute

Fire may be the cheapest pest control tool on the prairie. Nicolas, Kent, and Riley break down research showing burned pastures cut horn flies on cattle by 41% and slash

Ep. 394 How Big Meat Packer and Giant Grocery Stores Are Ruining Agriculture

Barons author Austin Frerick joins Nicolas and Kent to unpack why American butter turned white, how JBS and Cargill captured the food system, what a chicken contract actu

Ep. 393 (Coffee Time) TRIVIA!! How much have you learned the past 100 episodes??

Riley takes the host chair for a Prairie Farm Podcast trivia showdown. Nicolas and Kent face 20 questions pulled from past guest episodes, covering prairie food plants, p

Ep. 392 What This Weather Scientist's Studies Tell us of The Midwest's Climate Future

Iowa State agronomy professor Dr. Brian Hornbuckle joins Nicolas and Kent to talk weather, water, and the Iowa landscape. We get into corn sweat, why rain is coming in bi

Ep. 391 (Coffee Time) Which Prairie Species Are Invasive to The Rest of The World

Nicolas and Riley dig into milkweed banned in the EU, broomsedge, ragweed's 7.4 billion euro allergy bill, and the 2016 Palmer amaranth scare. Plus bare soil temperatures

Ep. 390 What Pesticide Companies Are Doing In Washington to Make Billions

Sarah Starman of Friends of the Earth joins Nicolas and Kent to break down pesticide tort immunity: who is lobbying for it, how the EPA got captured, and why only 1.4% of

Ep. 389 (Coffee Time) Should We Use Farmland for Solar and Who Wins... A Bison or Bull?

Nicolas is back from three weeks off, and the crew digs into solar on farmland: how many acres each Midwest state would need, whether panels wreck the soil, and the hard

Ep. 388 The Status of Farming According to Bankers and Where is Agriculture Headed

Join Nicolas and Kent as they sit down with Robert Poppe, Vice President of Marion County Bank. Robert unpacks the realities of ag lending, the true cost of farm consolid

Ep. 387 (Coffee Time) Bringing Back Grazing, but Importing Beef and The Iowa State Fair By The Numbers with Aaron Van Wyk

Another NicoLESS coffee time and we are talking bovines and the state fair with our friend and fellow farmer Aaron Van Wyk. Hoksey Native Seeds McKay Insurance   

Ep. 386 How Jon Judson Created Some of The Best Reconstructed Prairies in The Midwest

Join Nicolas and Kent as they visit Diversity Farms owner Jon Judson, a veteran Iowa prairie reconstructionist. From local seed genetics and tough site preparation to int

Ep. 385 (Coffee Time) Mad Max on Cars, Conservation and Farming

We are joined by the talented Alex Hoksbergen this week for Coffee Time Wednesday. Enjoy!   Hoksey Native Seeds Iowa Cover Crop

Ep. 384 Gubernatorial Candidate Rob Sand

Iowa auditor and gubernatorial candidate Rob Sand joins the Prairie Farm Podcast to talk clean water, cancer, and conservation. He lays out a plan for the biggest prairie

Ep. 383 (Coffee Time) Is Ethanol ACTUALLY a Quality Energy Investment? And a Farm Bill Update

Coffee Time Wednesday is back. Nicolas, Kent, and Riley debate which famous conservationist they'd most want as a friend, why the Farm Bill stalled over SNAP, and whether

Ep. 382 Secretary of Ag Candidate Chris Jones

Retired water scientist Chris Jones (author of The Swine Republic and now Democratic candidate for Iowa Secretary of Agriculture) joins Kent and Nicolas to talk nitrate,

Ep. 381 (Coffee Time) Why Are Wildfires Breaking Out Across The Whole World?? (And we’re hiring)

Coffee Time Wednesday takes on the world on fire in August 2026, from Oregon's largest wildfire ever to France's biggest evacuations since World War Two. Kent, Nick, and

Ep. 380 Gubernatorial Candidate Zach Lahn

Join us as we welcome Zach Lahn back to the Prairie Farm Podcast. We dive into Iowa's rich history, the urgent need to address water quality and cancer rates, and practic

Ep. 379 (Coffee Shop) Cyclospora Lettuce and the Ins and Outs of Crop Insurance

Join Nicolas, Riley, and special guest Nick Moats as they dive into the realities of farm insurance, food supply chains, and the value of sitting still in a deer stand. P

Ep. 378 Why Emulating the Bison is the Secret to Profitable Farming w/ Peter Byck

Peter Byck, director of Carbon Nation and Rooted So Deep, joins The Prairie Farm Podcast to discuss the massive benefits of AMP grazing. We explore how regenerative pract

Ep. 377 (Coffee Time) The Canadian Fires and the Depletion of the Colorado River

Join Nicolas, Kent, and guest Aaron Van Wyk for Coffee Time Wednesday as they dive into the environmental impact of massive wildfires and the looming Colorado River droug