Damian Mason is a dynamic speaker, author, entrepreneur, and agriculture expert with a passion for sharing insights on farming, business, and rural life. As …
46:563.1K views · 3d ago · 46:56
Guest: Farm Profitability
Can changing your business change your profitability? Certainly. Yet, plenty of farmers and agribusinesses don’t know whether they made money until they file their taxes. By then it’s too late to act. Alex Locklear, CEO of Good Agriculture, joins Damian to talk about running a farm or ag business like an actual business.
3:023K views · 1w ago · 3:02
Guest: Ag Commentary
I explain why the economics of American agriculture in 2026 should make us think twice before encouraging our kids and grandkids to enter the farming business. According to Farm Bureau data I reference, nine major agricultural commodities would have lost money in 17 of the last 22 years without government support. If that's the financial reality, why are we pushing the next generation toward a capital-intensive business that depends so heavily on taxpayer subsidies?
48:403.5K views · 1w ago · 48:40
Input costs are sky-high, commodity prices are low, and another $8 billion in aid just hit the Farm Belt. Can American agriculture stand on its own? Alicia Mooney who, along with her husband, farms 7,000 acres in northeast Arkansas and keeps the books for thousands more, joins Damian from one of the hardest-hit farm states.
3:163.6K views · 2w ago · 3:16
Guest: Ag Commentary
Are farm subsidies sustainable? I'm not asking whether American agriculture can survive without government assistance. I'm asking whether the government can keep writing the checks! In this episode, I examine the future of agricultural subsidies as roughly $60 billion in government support flows toward America's farm sector this year. Will those payments still be coming five or ten years from now?
50:153.5K views · 2w ago · 50:15
Guest: Hidden Farm Debt
Farm debt is at a record $605 billion, and that may not be the whole picture. More farm credit now comes from equipment companies, input suppliers, co-ops and private lenders, and that debt is hard to measure. Dr. Jenny Ifft, agricultural economist at Kansas State University, is working with USDA to size it up. She joins Damian to explain why vendors have become lenders and why “0% financing” is never really free.
3:153.3K views · 3w ago · 3:15
Guest: Ag Commentary
I challenge the way we talk about sustainability in agriculture. Everybody loves the term when it comes to marketing food, but what about economic sustainability? Can an industry really call itself sustainable if it requires billions of dollars in government assistance to remain financially viable?
1:06:3330K views · 3w ago · 1:06:33
Why is farmland ownership increasingly difficult for younger generations? Damian Mason and Vance Crowe examine the growing wealth divide between Baby Boomers and Millennials and what it means for the future of American agriculture.
3:045.5K views · 4w ago · 3:04
Guest: Ag Commentary
American farmers receive just 14 cents of every dollar Americans spend on food. Yet, for more than a century, we've justified agricultural subsidies by arguing that they keep food cheap. See the contradiction? Listen to more great content here
47:344.8K views · 1mo ago · 47:34
Thousands of new companies have flooded the crop input market with products in the last decade. All promise farmers a better answer. So who survives the shakeout? Galynn Beer with Tidal Grow Agriscience joins Damian to sort through one of the most crowded input markets agriculture has ever seen.
3:142K views · 1mo ago · 3:14
Guest: Ag Commentary
We waste roughly 30% to 40% of the food produced in this country—and much of it gets wasted after we’ve already invested the fertilizer, fuel, transportation, refrigeration, processing, packaging, and distribution needed to get it from the farm to the consumer.
48:1110K views · 1mo ago · 48:11
Guest: Farm Debt Crisis
U.S. farm debt is projected to reach a record $625 billion in 2026. Farm interest expense is approaching $33 billion, and government payments are providing a significant share of net farm income. Is American agriculture beginning to look like it did before the 1980s Farm Crisis?
3:552.5K views · 1mo ago · 3:55
Guest: Ag Commentary
America wants cheap food. But what happens when taxpayers end up subsidizing both ends of the food system? I explain why America’s long-running cheap food policy has created what I call “bastardized economics.” On one end, government payments are projected to account for roughly 29% of net farm income. On the other, billions of taxpayer dollars support SNAP, school meals, and other nutrition programs.
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