SPEAKER_00 0:06

And not like it is. Every farm it is a way to wonder how we're gonna make it to the next harvest. But if you're looking for every 50 question, how like it's been real head of its episode. Instead, so far we've got a 100% success rate of surviving the bad times, and when farming is good, it is really, really good. So hang in there and know you're not alone. Let's get into it.

SPEAKER_02 0:30

Yeah, I'm uh Aaron Martinka. I farm uh with my family in central Texas, just kind of between Austin and Waco. Uh corn, cotton, and wheat, and have cattle, do some hay, and uh been involved with Texas Corn uh for about 10 years now, and uh currently serve in this role as chairman of the board. So um always anxious to learn and provide input when and where needed.

SPEAKER_04 1:02

Kyla Hamilton. I farm with my husband in Shallow Water, Texas. We raise cotton, corn, cattle, and kids. I tell everyone. We have we have four kids, so that's a lot to keep us busy. My initial engagement with Texas Corn Producers actually started with some advocacy efforts they had outside of the board role with common ground and different programs like that, and then that evolved into a board seat on both the checkoff board as well as the growers association. So about 2014, I guess, is when the journey began, and then it's just evolved and spiraled, and here we are.

SPEAKER_05 1:40

And now you've got a daughter graduating and going to college.

SPEAKER_04 1:43

I do, I do. In August, we'll have a college student.

SPEAKER_05 1:48

Hard to believe. Dee Okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:54

D Vaughn. I farm north of Amarillo, little town called Dumas in more in Hartley counties, and uh grow corn, cotton, grain, sorghum, and wheat, uh, sorghum seed production. Uh been farming for about 46 years now, so a long time. Uh I'm probably, I would say the elder statesman, but nobody considers me to be a statesman, so I'd say I'm the old man of the board. Uh helped to start the Lone Star Corn Growers Association in 1989, and it was an affiliate of the National Corn Growers. There was not an affiliate of the National Corn Growers at that time. So we created the Lone Star Corn Growers Association, and then that eventually evolved into the Texas Corn Producers Association. And so I've been on that association one way or the other since 1989, and then uh been I was elected to the Texas Corn Checkoff Board uh in 1996. So I've been around a long time and seen a lot of changes. Uh served as NCGA, National Corn Growers Association president back in 2004, was on the board for five years, uh term limited out there, and then uh we helped uh Texas Corn helped start the Southwest Council of Agribusiness. I served as an officer there for six years. So been around a while, done a few things.

SPEAKER_05 3:15

Yeah, whenever I first came and interviewed for this job was 1999. And uh you and Joe Reed, I think, are the only two existing, well, Burt. Not Burt, but Wetzel. Bruce. Bruce Wetzel and you and Joe were three that were on the board then. Bruce was off for a while. So yeah, you you you're the elder statesman, you and Joe Reed uh with us, and uh quite honest, but you know, it's been a pleasure having these three, and I just have to compliment Dee for his service through the through all of these things and helping start this and being National Corn Growers President. That was just within about five years of me going to work, and that certainly helped us get better founded and grounded in what's happening on a national basis. So thank you for all that service. So Aaron, uh you've you've got your farm, and I'm thinking farm with some of your brother, your brother, and some family. Uh kind of how how is how does all that work? What do you all irrigate? Kind of what's your farming situation?

SPEAKER_02 4:35

Um, yeah, I farm with um my brother and and a cousin. And then we have about three uh other full-time employees. Um uh we primarily dry land. I do have some irrigated where we're at, we don't have that much underground water. Um, the only irrigation in our area is just kind of river bottoms from surface water or you know uh you know, shallow, shallow river alluvial.

SPEAKER_05 5:05

So you pull out of the out of all the local rivers?

SPEAKER_02 5:08

Yeah, there's one uh pull out of a little river. Um it's tributary of the brasses. Um one farm and another farm. We have some wells that we pull out of.

SPEAKER_05 5:19

Um but uh so that now is your water situation to pull there, is it kind of adequate to help you start the year, or are you starting out behind?

SPEAKER_02 5:31

Well, it's been interesting. Um navigating or learning in our board meetings. We talk a lot about groundwater issues, and I deal with a little bit of groundwater, although our groundwater issues probably aren't as stringent or as because where I'm at is a um real shallow alluvial, so it's kind of manages itself, I guess, to some degree. Um, but then also you know, on the surface water, learning about that, and kind of through the years I've been educating myself on that, you know, how water rights work and gotta watch stream flows and and kind of figure out when I can maybe pump. But then I gotta talk to the Brises River authorities or the water master and you know, give them notification when you want to pump, what rate you're gonna pump, when you're gonna stop. Um, so you know, trying to figure out what the weather forecast is gonna be and how that's gonna play into your plans and if the weatherman's gonna be right, you know. You can plan, but when the you can plan for the weather, but when the weatherman's wrong, then that changes your plans too.

SPEAKER_05 6:43

That's a real unique situation for most of Texas to be watering out of surface water and dealing with uh with that. When we come to Kaila, I don't I don't think you have any water that you have to irrigate out of surface water to deal with water bank.

SPEAKER_04 7:01

No, surface water is not a thing um where we are at all. So all underground irrigation for us.

SPEAKER_05 7:09

All out of the Ogolala? All out of the algalala. Do you have sprinkles? Do you have some subsurface drip?

SPEAKER_04 7:14

Both center pivots and drip.

SPEAKER_05 7:17

So that's the drip is uh what we're supposed to really be able to save water with.

SPEAKER_04 7:26

It is, and you know, I mean, I don't know, you say it's better and it's more efficient and all the thing, but if it doesn't rain in addition to the drip, it doesn't come up, you know. So there's there's benefits to both right center pivot. You know you can get the crop up, right? But if you're planting into dry soil, if you don't get the rain to get it up, the drip only does so good, you know. So it's pros and cons to both, but efficiency is definitely there with the drip.

SPEAKER_05 7:52

Dee, you're in an area that's pretty heavily dependent on the ogalala.

SPEAKER_03 7:58

Very much so. Uh we do have the secondary uh aquifer, the dockham, or some people refer to it as the Santa Rosa, but it's uh primarily the Dockham. And uh so we irrigate out of both of the aquifers, but the Dockham is not universal over the whole northern plains. There are certain spots where it's available and certain spots where it's not.

SPEAKER_05 8:20

So in some areas I've understood that some of that aquifer is pretty brackish.

SPEAKER_03 8:29

Down in the Hereford area, uh Oldham County. Uh I hear that a lot of that is pretty brackish. But we're fortunate in our area it's uh it's freshwater. So we're able to use it, and that gives us a lot more longevity because the Logalala is getting pretty well, it's getting pretty thin.

SPEAKER_06 8:46

Pretty thin.

SPEAKER_05 8:48

Okay. So uh, I know you talk about your kids a lot. How how involved are they all in your farm? And I think y'all have done some interesting diversity to benefit your farm.

SPEAKER_04 9:01

We have. So since they were babies, it's it's just Cole and I and our four kids. So, of course, as they grow older and get bigger, they can do different jobs. So now that they're our youngest is 10, and so they're actually helpful, right? Like they can actually do things, not just busy work. So, I mean, they'll do everything from running equipment to the basic tasks that no one wants to do, right? Like feeding animals and different things. So we we have integrated some agritourism too, where we invite the public out to the farm for different events on the farm. And so they'll run and manage that everything from the cashier side of it to stalking to you know, just general assistance. So they're whatever we're doing, they're doing it too. Fully and fully engaged.

SPEAKER_05 9:49

Makes it sound like fun doing all those activities with your kids.

SPEAKER_04 9:53

It is, it's kind of a way to.

SPEAKER_05 10:39

They haven't gotten to the point of graduating, but how how has that all worked? You know, as a young farmer, young family, how how does that work? Is it rewarding to you to do?

SPEAKER_02 10:50

Or well, it it it works because my my wife allows it to work. You know, when I'm when I when I'm gone, that that puts more work on her on her uh on her plate, and I definitely have to thank her to to uh you know thank her for you know she knows when I'm gonna be gone, and you know, kids still gotta go to school and go to sports and you know, more running, you know, running around that she has to attend to. So um, you know, it couldn't do it without her. Um, you know, my kids now, my daughter's uh uh 15 and my son's 14, and then I got a 11-year-old um daughter. And uh it's kind of neat now to see them, you know, getting older and being involved. Um, my son, he helps us during heart then during the summer, you know, when he's out of school and helps harvest, and uh, including my daughter, some she, my older daughter, she helps um, you know, help move equipment and stuff. And um it's kind of neat seeing them, you know, more in a work environment, kind of that work environment, which is kind of different than the hustle and bustle and the home home side and running back and forth to school. Um you kind of see a different you know personality of them. And uh, you know, thinking maybe, maybe it's getting they're getting shaped and molded in the right direction that you're trying to.

SPEAKER_05 12:16

So one one of our challenges is the fact that you know, getting Dee's been been working here a long time, been working in his role with some of our other board members, but having young producers, men, women, spouse, you know, together that are doing it's good to hear these stories where you've got your kids involved and the fact that that's what part of farming is. It's about the family and how you can raise them. And I can I'm gonna ask D. He's got an interesting story with with his family uh and his three daughters, which I've known a good while and where they're at and how that's playing into how you're looking down the road for your farm. So it's kind of the full picture from kids up to where you're at now.

SPEAKER_03 13:08

Yeah, my kids uh I have three daughters, and they're of course they're all grown now and and have families and uh have careers of their own. So they're not interested in coming back to the farm, but they were a big help when they were growing up. Uh they helped move equipment like uh Aaron was talking about, and they re-nozzled sprinklers and and did a lot of stuff like that. Uh just were a good help on the farm, and and they enjoy it, and they still love coming back to the farm to visit. You know, they love to come in the summertime and spend a few days and uh bring their their kids and uh my grandkids. And uh, of course, we love to have them all up and and we barbecue and eat out in the backyard and enjoy the drive around the farms and stuff and just have a really interesting time. But uh at the same time, they don't have uh uninterest in coming back to the farm and farming. And so uh actually I have uh four employees, uh four men that work for me, and uh I'm very fortunate to have uh really good quality people working for me and uh look forward to uh a couple of them are gonna I'm gonna help them get started, and uh at some point in time they'll take over the operation is my plan. So is that a hard decision to make that it wasn't your daughter's and son-in-law's or well, you know, I guess you always you know hope that your kids will do what, you know, I don't know how many generations back, the Vaughn's go back, that were farmers, but it's a bunch. And uh so you know, I know my dad was very pleased that my brother and I both decided to farm. And, you know, I guess you like to see your kids do, but you know, I'm very pleased uh with what they're doing. You know, like I say, they have great careers, and and I certainly don't uh begrudge them a bit for what they're able to do.

unknown 14:57

Right.

SPEAKER_05 14:58

You know, I I have an interesting story with these kids. So one of them was well, Jenna was kind of already out of school, probably or more further along, but got to know Keisha while she was in DC and getting her degrees, and then of course your youngest one, Lindy. We were I'll never forget being in Austin with you, getting ready to go to the Capitol. And Dee says, I said, All right, if Lindy, if we eat dinner together and all that. So here comes Lindy, right in the middle of the conversation. I find out about a boy, or her dad finds out about a boyfriend that's become a son-in-law. So I always felt like I thought part of that when it started.

SPEAKER_03 15:42

Yeah, uh, so you told us about him over dinner, and then of course, and as it turned out, he became my future son-in-law.

SPEAKER_05 15:50

I've always thought about that. I thought, I think I was out of place. But and I thought, no, I was the buffer.

SPEAKER_03 15:58

I would be treated you like your family.

SPEAKER_05 16:00

Yeah. Anyway, so that that's an interesting story. I haven't been there with y'all yet, and probably won't be, but that's that's kind of like working within this group. You just kind of become a a family. Yeah, absolutely. We have family, some of our farmers, it's former board members, and just some of the guys we worked with, they're just like all of our families, and but uh I I'll never forget that experience. I mean, never.

SPEAKER_03 16:27

Yeah, I still remember that too. We were sitting out on that patio in downtown Austin.

SPEAKER_05 16:32

It was quite a story. Uh and it was all true. So um, anyway, so Aaron, you as chairman, you've been in this role, what, about two years now? Yeah. What's what's some of the big challenges or things you've really picked up on while being a board member, but how is it different being chairman?

SPEAKER_02 16:59

Well, some of the challenges. Just, you know, as chairman, I always just think it's being a chairman is uh making sure everybody in the room is heard, you know, with corn producing in the state of Texas is so diverse with you know our different regions and our you know the challenges within those regions, and just making sure everybody's you know needs and wants are you know brought to the table and heard, you know. Um and making sure that, you know, if something needs to be acted on, you know, that the ball gets moving. Um because a lot of times, you know, issue can be brought up, but then it just doesn't go anywhere. You know, I think in the last few years, well, ever since I've been on the board, that's one thing I feel like is um this board is something needs to be done, it's it's done, you know. Um you know, talk is cheap, but it's one thing to move forward and put plans in actions and put pressure on people and where it needs to be. Um I mean it's always and the target's always moving. Um and you know, and sometimes you think, you know, the issue that you're that's current, um, and you you know, you start to work on it it maybe months or a year or two before it kind of gets resolved, and you almost forget about it. Um so a lot of times when people ask me, well, what do y'all do, or you know, what's what's some of the good things y'all done? I got to kind of scratch my head because it's usually items that we've worked on for a year or two, or well, maybe five years, you kind of forget about it, or it's just just so ingrained that you don't think about it anymore. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 18:58

Yeah. And I I can think when you came on, you'd gone to one of our leadership programs and done some things, but a lot of your area had aflatoxin issues, and about the time you came, we started getting the first labeling of some of the bio controls. And I I hear so many farmers talking about how big of a factor that was for them. And uh is that one of the things on your farm also?

SPEAKER_02 19:30

Oh yeah, I mean, you know, when I started farming, or even when I was a you know kid farming, you know, when our family was farming, I mean, there in the late 90s, early 2000s, alpha toxin was just a huge problem. And it was a problem that was getting bigger and you know, it's getting worse and worse. And um, you know, then at that time, I I remember when the you know the first product, AlphaGuard came out, and then there was some talk about uh this AF36 project, AF-36 product, and you know, it was a product out of Arizona, and just knew very vague information about it. And uh I don't know, I guess that would probably have been in about 2012, 11, 12, 13 time frame. You know, then I started getting involved with the board on 16, I think, 2016. And well then then all the dots kind of lined up. Oh, okay, I know how all this learned learned through the through the years of you know, all the work y'all done, you know, prior to my existence being on the board, all the work that y'all have done to research and get those products moving.

SPEAKER_04 20:45

Well, and that's one thing I like most about Texas corn producers is that it's so diverse across the whole state. Like we collectively as a board will go all in to whatever issue we're having where like do you like that doesn't affect us in our growing area at all. But we're all in it because it affects, you know, central Texas, down South Texas. So, like, collectively as a board, whatever the issue is, everybody's on board to find a solution and go, whether it directly impacts you or not. I mean, that's one of the things I'm kind of most proud of of our work is that it's it's not selective, it's not like we're focused on some isolated issue that affects my farm or Dee's farm. It's state producers as a whole, across the entire state, what's affecting them. And collectively, we all kind of pull together and say, here's here's what we're gonna do about it. But then to have growers from that area that can give the real life here's here's how it's actually affecting us, not just what the research says. And so it just makes you proud to know that you're actually working on things that are impacting people outside of you or your farm or your area.

SPEAKER_05 21:56

That's always been something that has been. Been unique. Our state is so diverse.

SPEAKER_04 22:02

Yes.

SPEAKER_05 22:03

You know, we refer to it as sometimes we're four or five, we've got four or five growing regions within the state that really sound like we have that many states to work for what some of the areas up north are that are smaller states and how collectively the board has always worked and expended money on projects that went to all parts of the state. Yes. Dee, you've been around a long time. I'm sure you remember some of the Section 18s and things y'all did years ago for some spider mops and stuff.

SPEAKER_03 22:38

Yeah, we worked on issues that were, you know, relative to a specific area, but maybe not to the whole state. And we were always, you know, as Kyle said, we were all all in on it. And that's something that, you know, working with the northern states as through NCGA, you know, you talk to folks in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, those states are pretty homogeneous. The whole state's basically the same climatic zone, the same, they plant all at the same time, they harvest at the same time, very homogenous in the way they farm. And so they have a real difficulty. You know, you talk to them about Texas and Texas corn production, and they really have a heart struggle to get their arms around it. That we have somebody planting or harvesting basically year-round, one or the other. You know, we have the valley planting in February and then Central Texas in March and the panhandle in April and May, and then by the time we're finished planting, well, they're harvesting in the valley already, and then it just moves up north again. And they don't understand that in the Midwest. They have a hard time understanding that. We have corn in February that's coming up, and in the panhandle, we're still covered with snow.

SPEAKER_05 23:51

Yeah. It's I remember when I first started, that was one of the real interesting things to learn more about Rio Grand Valley and their planting season and coastal bend, moving into central Texas, and how all of that was. And then you say, we're gonna have to have a board meeting. Well, we got to have a quorum to make it work, and all of a sudden it's hard to get a quorum sometimes because of you know, you can't you can't you're not gonna be a corn farmer if you're not there when it's time to plant and when you're time to harvest. And sometimes Mother Nature moves those around. So it makes our planting hard sometimes.

SPEAKER_03 24:31

Yeah, makes it difficult to have meetings.

SPEAKER_05 24:34

Yeah. One of our things we do to our association is a lot of policy work, and uh that's been really it's kind of grown over the years and what we've done and influences we've worked on. But uh how many farm bills have you worked on as a member of the Corn Associations?

SPEAKER_03 24:56

The first farm bill I worked on was the 96 Farm Bill, uh, which was called Freedom to Farm. That was when they totally decoupled uh the farm programs from the old uh allotment bases uh type where you planted your base and you had to lay so many acres out every year. They in 96 they totally wiped it all out and said, plant whatever you want, as many acres as you want. Here's you just have freedom to farm. And of course, it it didn't work exactly the way uh uh Chairman Roberts wanted it to work. He was chairman of the House Ag Committee and wrote that bill. Uh, but it didn't exactly work out. It left agriculture holding the bag uh financially. It did not provide enough support to U.S. The safety net was not adequate. And so Larry Combest came back in the 2002 farm bill and reinstated a lot of the counter-cyclical programs and stuff, but one thing they left intact was the fact that you could still plant whatever you wanted. You weren't locked into, well, you've got corn base that you've got to plant corn, you've got cotton base, you've got to plant cotton on that. You could just plant whatever. And that's that part of it's been good.

SPEAKER_02 26:11

So prior to that, if you had a farm, you had some corn and some cotton and maybe grain sorghum base, you had to plant those crops on that farm.

SPEAKER_03 26:21

You had to plant what your base was. And of course, there were set-aside programs. Usually in those days, it was anywhere from 10 to 35 percent was set-aside. So you always had fallow ground that you weren't even farming.

SPEAKER_02 26:33

I remember that as a kid, always plowing and plowing and plowing those set-aside acres.

SPEAKER_03 26:38

And of course, that's one reason why the Midwest didn't participate in the farm programs very much, is because uh they had that great rainfall, great soil, very temperate climate to grow corn, and they wanted to plant every acre every year, so they used to participate in the farm program until the 96 Farm Bill opened it up where it was they could do what they wanted.

SPEAKER_05 27:03

So it's it's quite a history that that you've been through. Yeah. I think about Aaron and Kyle, y'all have both been with us in DC talking about different things from the what's what's some of the things policy-wise we worked on that y'all can think of that's kind of been important to you.

SPEAKER_04 27:23

What comes to my head first? Like I I felt fully invested and I was making change and do it at the USMCA. And you go and then it comes, and then it's you know, we've we've seen how that has kind of not worked out the way it was intended to work out when you're initially advocating for this push. And that just that example alone in part of this is you push and you do, and you put all your efforts into this, but it's ever changing, kind of like Aaron said, the target is always moving. And so by the time you work on that issue and you get it come, here's five more that kind of almost even take precedence sometimes. And so all I mean, it just you're always on to the next, I don't want to say problem, but the next issue, right? So you you focus and you put all your efforts here, but then it's it just just resiliency. You're moving and it's it's constant to keep on top of what issues are arising, and then try and fight the good fight and move along, knowing you're never done. Your your advocacy is never complete or accomplished, or like, oh okay, we're we're good, we can relax now. Like, no, there's something or many somethings coming too.

SPEAKER_05 28:42

Aaron, do you have something you think about?

SPEAKER_02 28:45

Oh, I don't know. Um, you know, talking about going to DC and you know, bringing your issues there. Uh, I guess I've been going to DC maybe about once a year. Um I can't think of anything in specific, but there again, it kind of all starting to run together. I mean, you know, always going in there, talking about ARC and PLC or some crop insurance issue that's going on at the time. Uh, you know, and then also it's just it's not so much what issues you bring to the table, it's also just walking through the door and making sure they know who you are and you know who they are, and thank them for what they've been doing. And that way, when there is a true issue that you have, you know, they recognize you. Um, I think that's probably the most important thing is going to DC in the offices and building those relationships. I mean, I've had some of the ag AG legislative assistants that's worked for Congressman uh to my farm, you know, on a on a tractor or or on a cotton picker. And, you know, that that's real memorable for them, you know. And um that's that's what I always think is just building those relationships and uh, you know, that way they're there when you when you when you need them. And and we definitely needed them.

SPEAKER_05 30:08

I I know I can remember uh one of the legislative aides here out of central Texas that came to your farm and told me over and over about I think I were harvesting wheat or corn, something at one of those times and being on the combine and doing that. And I can remember a few years ago Senator Cruz was doing a tour through the state and uh him and his chief of staff. Well, Senator Cruz rode with Robert Gordon's son in the combine, and the chief of staff was with Patty in the tractor, and when he got out, he the chief of staff said, I know about farming now because she informed me. So uh getting those folks out and having y'all take your time to to show them around and meeting them is very important because you know when you can put a faith in a name on an issue, it it becomes a bigger, uh higher importance.

SPEAKER_03 31:09

The two things put working in public policy will teach you is perseverance and patience first, because it takes years to get policy developed and and passed into legislation. It just we finish one farm bill and we immediately basically start on another one. Same way with an energy bill or anything else. Uh Congress works slowly, and it's to a certain extent, it was by it's by design to work slowly. That way we don't get as many bad laws, hopefully, anyway. But at the same time, it's it's very frustrating at times because we'd like to get it done quick, get it done, get it, get it over with. But it doesn't work that way. And the other thing it will just teach you to uh you've got to stay involved and build relationships. It's all relationship-based. If you don't build the relationships with your congressman, with your senator, with their staff, uh, with your delegation from your state, it's hard to have influence. And so the the things you learn about are the pay the requirement to have patience and just stay with it until the the job is accomplished. And then the other thing is you got to build those relationships so you can get it done.

SPEAKER_05 32:25

All right. Yeah. So it takes time.

SPEAKER_03 32:29

It takes time.

SPEAKER_05 32:30

You know, one of the things that I think that we're all proud of, and you all have very much worked in it, is sponsoring our some of the intern programs from the universities, from letting us have interns in the office and raising up some of those folks that now we have great relationships from all of that. And so uh that's that to me has been one big shining star that I feel like y'all board members have encouraged and pushed in doing that. I I'm gonna change the subject a minute, Ona. Uh Aaron, if this puts you in a bad spot, we won't do it. But uh we've recently had some issues in the state. The most recent issue I'd mentioned is some grain trucks going around loading corn that under false pretense. And some of that's been in Aaron's area. You might kind of mention some things that happened and how farmers need to be on the lookout.

SPEAKER_02 33:38

Yeah, just when you think corn's too cheap, uh people still want to steal it. It's still valuable enough to steal. Uh, but yeah, there was um kind of you know, through a large part of the state and some of it, you know, in my backyard. Um some guys trucks pulling up and pulling up on the scale, say, well, I'm here to pick up for XYZ, you know, firm, and here's your contract number. And I mean it all matches, and you know, they get loaded up. I mean, it's the same same kind of process, it's been done thousands of times, you know, a year. And um they put on the ticket where they're going, and the grain never never went to the destination. Um, and they were never, you know, the the trucker was never sent by the broker. Um, so there's obviously some was some uh inside information shared around, you know, what elevator to go to, who to say you're picking it up for, what the contract number was.

SPEAKER_05 34:50

So um, you know, it was um it just kind of comes down to you've got to do more than just do more verification to make sure.

SPEAKER_02 35:05

Yeah, I mean, you know, talking to my neighbors and I mean, you know, the whole process is is what's been done, you know, it's commonplace. You just you know, they pull up and say who they're picking up for, but definitely gonna have to do more due diligence of making sure when they're supposed to come and who's supposed to come. Um telling where that corn went. I mean hope bad actors get get found.

SPEAKER_05 35:31

You know, and that's there's we get a call in the office, or you get calls as directors, and all of a sudden there's not much we can do about that. I mean, other than get the Department of Agriculture involved and hopefully some law enforcement and track it. But another issue, and uh we've had varying levels of things with this, there's some of our buyers that have had financial trouble and haven't been able to pay. You've worked tirelessly back a few years ago on a grain looking at about a grain indemnity fund to protect growers that didn't get paid. And Aaron's just recently had an issue with that, and I feel like I feel like our board is y'all y'all tell me, but I feel like we've done a lot of efforts trying to help with those problems. And uh how how it's personally devastating to me whenever I had a young farmer in South Texas call me and said, I had 80% of my grain sold to this buyer, and then I get a bankruptcy statement. And he's in his, I think he's in his second year of farming. My heart went out to him. That'd be a terrible time to lose your income. But do you have any comments about some of that and how we look at working it?

SPEAKER_03 36:57

Yeah, other states have an indemnity fund, which is basically an insurance uh program that provides when a grain buyer goes bankrupt, uh, provide some uh financial assistance back to cover part of the losses. And we tried to get one started here in Texas. Uh uh Daniel Berglund of our board and myself, uh, we were on the original board of the grain indemnity fund. We got the legislation passed uh by the legislature. Uh, forget what year that was, but it's been several years back. And then we uh had some, it didn't work exactly the way we wanted it to. There were some amendments at the last minute, changed it, so we had to go back to the legislature, get some stuff fixed, and then we were ready to get going. And uh unfortunately did the referendum to authorize it, it required a referendum of all the growers in Texas to vote for it, or a majority to vote for it, and it failed uh not once but twice. And so we were never able to get it across the finish line and implemented. But if that was in place for Texas, like it is in other states like Iowa and Illinois and Missouri, when one of these grain buyers goes bankrupt, the farmer would have some protection.

SPEAKER_05 38:13

Well, Aaron, do you mind making the comment about maybe what the corn board's done to help through your most recent experience, you and others?

SPEAKER_01 38:22

Yeah, so um talking about grain indemnity fund, I guess that was uh when did that was that in 2016, 17, 18-ish time frame, somewhere in there?

SPEAKER_02 38:36

Yeah, that's kind of when I just got on the board. And you know, I remember the discussion, discussions in in the room about the board. You were Daniel were obviously heavily involved, and you know, I was just trying to figure everything out at that point in time, but I remember, you know, thinking, well, probably be a good thing. And I remember you know going to a few meetings back home and making people aware of the the referendum that was going on, and you know, I wasn't against it. I can't say I was overly for it. You know, I was just I was just putting information out, hey, this referendum's going on, and you know, you need to need to you know vote with however that may be. And you know, I remember you know encountering more people that were against it at the time than probably for it. Um, they had their reasons, but now I wonder how much that sentiment has changed in the area.

SPEAKER_05 39:33

Fast forward to this year.

SPEAKER_02 39:34

Yeah, I I mean I I really wonder how much has changed now. Um I know my perspective's changed, or or you know, I was I was I was for it at the time, and but now I'd probably you know be be more of an advocate for it. I mean, through the most recent bankruptcy case, the handsome mueller deal. I mean, I did I did get hung by some of that. And uh I remember thinking back at the time, well, you know, you need to know who you're doing business for and have that relationship, but you know, all is fine and dandy until it ain't, you know. I mean, I was doing business with them and all was fine, just you know, it was all normal till the till the checks didn't arrive, you know. So uh, you know, I mean we insure our equipment, our life, you know, operating liability, we insure our vehicles, we insure our crops through crop insurance. But when it gets the elevator to the bin, as of now, it's there's nothing. We do everything to get it there, and then once it's there, we just hope they pay.

SPEAKER_05 40:36

That's that's been to throughout the years, those times, and we've had six six big ones I can think of that were multimillion dollar events. But in in our state, they were important in an area where they happened. But when you were a hundred miles, two hundred, four hundred miles away, that'll never happen to me. But that's been real real challenge, and you know, we've we've spent time we're we're yet put out a good publication about things to look for and some steps to take to help protect farmers.

SPEAKER_04 41:15

So we talked earlier about the just the broadness, the vastness of production in Texas, and everybody's always in a different stage. But your farm is very different from Dee's, and his is very different from mine. But one thing I think we can all agree on is it's really, really tough to put in a crop, harvest a crop, and make a crop and be financially sound for the next year. Like it regardless, it's really tough. So moving things like that to add that kind of like you said, like you ensure every single part of it, and then just having those discussions on how can we, I don't know that anybody on our board was directly affected by this recent theft ring, but very easily could have been, right? So, like, how do we how do we move forward? Those are the conversations we have that I'm again most proud of because again, it's really, really difficult to do what we do. So just planning ahead and and how can we make it better for the next year or the next person or the next generation, even like you you know you always learn the most whenever you gotta go through you know an ordeal or situation. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 42:30

You know, yourself and uh through this latest bankruptcy through the handsome Euler, whenever the bankruptcy filings came out, we you know the corn, you know, the board looked at, you know, that had a listing of all the Texas producers, and I think, you know, amongst staff and um board members, we've contacted most of them and kind of got everybody together. And uh I guess it was on a Zoom and kind of just got everybody talking to each other. Um and uh you know got some guidance through us some attorney and kind of got us all on the same page and moving in or you know in the same direction. And we'll see if it comes out. But uh I feel like I'm in a much much better shape with my fellow Texas producers, uh, rather than just hoping I get paid.

SPEAKER_05 43:31

Sitting at home and holding the paper by yourself. Yeah. Um Kyle, you've been real involved over time with a lot of our uh advocacy, common ground, some of those programs. You have some thoughts you might share about that and why they're important?

SPEAKER_04 43:48

Oh my goodness, why are they important? There it's it bridges the gap between what we do and where it ends up, is kind of the most simple way I can we know. What it's like to farm and to raise cattle and to do. But if you're just a mom in a grocery store, you probably don't know or even care to know sometimes what that's like. And even if you did have those questions, who would you ask? You don't know a farmer, right? Like it's not a very accessible person to have a conversation with. And then you throw all this misinformation and things out there. Like, would you even want to have the conversation if the opportunity arose? Intercommon ground. Like, yes, you would. And we're right here and we're accessible. And it's relatable because, yes, I am a farmer. My family makes a living from farming and raising cattle. But I'm a mom first. And that just within itself is relatable. Like you can strike up a conversation and have a bit of camaraderie form out of the gate, but then that trust factor is there too. And it just bridges the gap so seamlessly, so flawlessly. And then it kind of spirals into other things, like not only the food production side of it, but the education side, all of the educational efforts that Texas Corn does. Like, hey, did you know that your kids' school could access this and bring it home and they could learn hands-on? And oh my goodness, I didn't know that. And so it just that bridge, but it's it's like a safe bridge, right? It's not one of the wobbly bridges where you're hesitant to walk across and you don't really trust it. Like it, it just is organically happening in my life. Their questions are organically happening in their life, and so you just put the two things together and it kind of harmoniously creates this balance and this resource that's not only available, but trusted. Like you engage with these people and you feel that there's some weight behind it. You're not just, I don't know, like a spokesperson for a company. Like you're not selling them a prod. I mean, you are, right? They're buying what you raise, but you're not selling anything. You're just talking about what you do and how it's done. And oftentimes they don't even agree with you, right? Like, I don't think you should be raising conventionally grown corn. Like, that's okay, because over here we have organic farmers that maybe suit you better. And it's not like this villainization happens, it's just raw conversations about what we do, how we do it, and how it comes about. And so it's so important because the disconnect is going to happen and the story is going to be told from someone. I would rather it be told from firsthand us as opposed to a media outlet or something that's like a third-party disconnect.

SPEAKER_05 46:56

I think one of the things I've seen is or thought about watching all this is, you know, whether you're a farm mom or a city mom, what you feed your family is has some importance.

SPEAKER_04 47:11

And even though I raise food for a living, I still have those same questions. I still read a label and think, what does that even mean? Or what is this? Or which which one is actually better? Because that one sounds pretty convincing, you know, and so even though you're in it, you still have all those same questions. Like, I don't want to feed my kids bad stuff either, you know, and so you you you learn and you grow from it. But it it helps just to have someone that you can rely on to answer the questions that everyone's gonna have anyway.

SPEAKER_05 47:44

I I admire the work you've done. I've watched it time that you you gave. I know it's hard for as a dad, it's hard for me to be away from my family, but I can't imagine what it would have been like as my wife being gone because I wasn't a very good mom. I was home alone with the with my boys. You know, we we ate a lot of junk food, we we went to town and got ice cream and we did we had a good time, but probably I wasn't the best mom.

SPEAKER_04 48:17

Well, I'll say, like Aaron said, like it's only possible because of Cole, my husband, right? Like without his support and his just diligence through it all, you know, there was one time I went on a trip and before I leave, I like prep all the meals for the time I'm gonna be gone. So whether it's two days or a week or whatever, there's a like for every day, right? And so I got home and they were all still in the fridge. So I'm like, what did y'all eat? Like, what happened? You know, you didn't have any fruit or anything, and he looked just so serious. He said, Man, fruit loops. I'm like, okay, I guess that counts. Like fruit, fruit loops, whatever. Like, end of the day, dads do it different, but they were all alive and fed, and it it works out. So standards have shifted. I won't say lowered, standards have shifted since I've been doing this. Like, he does it his way, and they the kids probably enjoy it much more, honestly.

SPEAKER_05 49:16

We're not home. Oh, that's that's a good story. Anyway, well, Dee, I'm gonna ask you a question and the other two think about this. When you have your downtime at night, you can't sleep. What's keeping you awake? Hmm. And I know you send emails at three o'clock and one o'clock in the morning, so I know you're gonna.

SPEAKER_03 49:39

Yeah, I've always been a night owl anyway. I that's I get in my office and it's quiet. And I like if I'm gonna run the combine, that's when I like to run it. I like to take the evening shift, I come in at six o'clock and I run till 11 or 12 midnight, whatever in the morning. And uh I just like the nighttime. I just that's my thing. What keeps me up? Oh shoot. Uh water situation in the in the uh the panhandle with the ogalala and uh and the doppam aquifers. I worry about, you know, I like I told you earlier, you know, I've got two men that have been with me and they're good people and they want to start farming. And I'm like, am I doing them a favor or am I hurting them? You know, it should I tell them to go find another career, you know, or should I embrace it and help them get started, which is what we're doing. We're we are embracing it, we are helping them get started and helping them to take over the operation at one point in time. But at the same time, I kind of worry about well, am I doing them a favor? You know, is with the water situation the way, you know, in the future, with farming, you know, input cost, all the other issues that we face, you know, tough times from cyclical commodity prices, all those issues, you know, am I doing them a favor or am I hurting them? So I worry about that kind of stuff. And you know, I can say my kids are all grown and they all have careers, so I'm not, you know, they're fine. But I worry about, you know, these two guys I'm trying to help get started. I want them to be successful.

SPEAKER_05 51:15

Okay. And what about you?

SPEAKER_02 51:18

Yeah, you know, thinking about, you know, in our area is just blowing up with the concrete or you know, solar or data centers or you name it, you know, anything but agriculture. We're kind of like in the way. And it's like, well, you know, can I be there long enough for me to just keep keep going and coast out my career? Or then I think about, well, you know, if any of my kids are interested, you know, maybe my son says he is, which he's you know, up at, you know, he's been he's still kind of young, so I'm like, well, he'll got some time to figure it out, you know, but he's he's uh you know 14 now, so you know three, four, five years are gonna move by quick, you know. It's like, well, kind of like what you talked about, D. Well, should I should I encourage it or discourage it, you know? What doing a, you know, is that a is that gonna be a favor or not, you know? So I don't that's that's the things that got get me thinking. But you know, I mean, if I sometimes think if if you don't have a successor, a succession kind of like you know, in mind, like, you know, my son or something coming in, your perspective changes a lot, you know. I think like you know, do you do do you just do what gets by or do you keep building and advancing and growing?

unknown 52:46

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 52:47

Kyle, do you ever have wake up at night and wonder about something?

SPEAKER_04 52:52

You know, the saying of the hardest part about chasing your dreams is whether the difficulties are pointing you towards stopping or building resilience, right? And so deciphering like, are all of these things, like all of the droughts and all of the regulations and the input costs and all the things that we take on, like, are those signs that maybe this isn't your path and I'm just that dense? Like, ah, no, this is just part of it, or are they just building resiliency so you can keep going and you can overcome? And maybe your farmhand or your kid or whoever takes it on, and you've kind of worked out some of the kinks along the way. That's my biggest struggle. Is like, is all of this that we're doing really actually for the betterment of the long term? Or are we just really taking the hard road unnecessarily for you know whatever reason? So that and then you couple in, I worry about the things that you really just can't control, like the drought, right? Like what are we gonna do where we are it doesn't rain much or it rains too much, and there's not there's no consistency to it. And how do you how do you take a crop and you know, and you just pray is my point. Like you can stay up all night long worrying about it and thinking about it, but ultimately you just pray. And so far, we have a 100% success rate of surviving the bad times, so you just keep on going on.

SPEAKER_05 54:26

That's great. So as we look at agriculture, you know, the I'm not gonna call the yield, but the average age of the farmers or in general keep climbing. What's the best thing you can tell a young person about getting involved in agriculture, make them want to do it? What would you what would you say? What's what's been the best part of it for you? Sorry I'm making y'all think so hard.

SPEAKER_04 55:01

Just the I don't it's the word that's coming to me is the pace. The pace, the lifestyle that farming offers you is kind of like you mentioned the hustle and bustle of like the town side of our lives, like the the constant going and the pickups and drop, but like it's just I'm not gonna say it's easier. It's definitely not easier, but just the pace, the slow, like you talk to your girls coming back and just driving around and and being in kind of the beauty of what the farm itself is. Like that to me is worth it, is worth all of the other things that come with it. So just like with everything, there's highs and there's lows, and there's good and there's bad, but the good is really good.

SPEAKER_03 55:49

I think you have to have a personality type that you like to be challenged because definitely, as Kyle has pointed out, you know, there are definite challenges, droughts, there's floods, there's you know, good years, bad years. You just have to have, you know, the willingness to handle those challenges as they arise. And and but you gotta also, you know, take a lot of pride in what you do, you know. Well, we provide food, fiber, and fuel for the world, for the United States and much of the world. And it's like, you know, there's people out there walking up and down the street out there, and every one of them has something in common. They need us three times a day. And it's up to us. If somebody's not producing the food, then there's gonna be a lot of hungry people out there.

SPEAKER_02 56:37

You know, it takes a lot of self-discipline, you know. I mean, you can you're gonna get up at six o'clock in the morning or sleep in until nine. It's your choice, you know, but at the end of the day, you gotta get your get your work done. So it takes somebody with some self-discipline to you know do what needs to be done, even though it may not be the easiest thing. It won't be the easiest thing. And you know, seeing the fruits of your labor and seeing what those results will be. Anyway, seeing the fruits of your labor, I mean, you know, whether, you know, what's the right time to put out fertilizer or to plant or to spray or to harvest, and you know, you don't you won't ultimately see know the answers to those questions until you know months or something later, you know. And you just gotta learn to make decisions and live with them. And if you made the wrong one, learn from them. So that you can, you know, add to your database for later. Because but because it won't be the same decision to be to be made later, it'll just be the circumstances around that decision you made that you need to learn from.

SPEAKER_03 57:47

Yeah, I think you're absolutely right there, Aaron, about discipline. Uh you know, I started farming in 78, and of course, we went through the the farm crisis of the the mid-80s, and it was rough. Corn was a buck 65 in 1985, and it was a tough time. A lot of farmers went broke. There was a lot of young farmers in my neighborhood at that time, and and most of them were didn't make it. And, you know, a lot of it's beyond their control. You know, you can't control uh the markets, you can't control the weather, you know, and that takes a lot of people out. But there's also a lot of people that try to farm and they don't make it. It's cause and a lot of times it's because they don't have the discipline to get out there and get the job done on a daily basis.

SPEAKER_04 58:35

Well, and to know too, like the work never ends. You just finish that task and then you're on to something else. So it's not like you know, I don't like an office job or something, like I had a project and I completed it and now that's over. Like, oh no, no, no, no. Like it's just it's all it never ends, ever ends. So the discipline comes into factor there, like you it's just something else, right? Maybe you finish that task, but the work is ever plentiful.

SPEAKER_05 59:04

Hearing y'all talk, but I I think about this growing up on a farm. And the time I as a kid, I can remember all the time I got to spend with my grandparents because they were on the farm. And with my dad and my uncle and my cousins, we all out out there work together. And I think about how much fun that was growing up. I I thought then they were slave drivers, but I found out I really missed that. When I went to college, it's like I'm not getting to do all these things I like doing. And uh that was one of the things. And then like for me now, we we have a an operation that's my son, but I love it when my grandkids come and we get in a pickup and they'll drive to the cows and they want to run out there and catch that baby calf and pat and pet on it and all of that. And I think, you know, that might make me think the challenges are worth it. But I I've worked a couple of other jobs. They had plenty of discipline and challenge that when I ran the grain elevator for a while. That was definitely a challenge trying to keep the quality good and protecting our farmers. Yeah. So I had an editorial asked on that, so I took my opportunities. But that's that's what I think about. There's no lifestyle like a farm lifestyle. All right, thank you all today for joining us.