AgWatchers

#96 Absolutely offal

Want to set up your own butchers?We talk about our favourite topic, meat but with a twist. In this episode, we have a chat with former backpacker Jim Arrowsmith who set up the now successful butchers Pacdon Park. A butcher in country NSW supplying British small goods throughout the country, from pork pies to haggis. Pacdon is the largest supplier of haggis in Australia at up to a tonne per week. Keen listeners will know we love offal. Hear all about the issues of setting up your own butchers, supply chain issues, and the seasonal demand for haggis. 

#95 Living in the shadow of war

We chat with Masha Belikova, a grain reporter for Fastmarkets/Agricensus. Masha lives 200k from the Russia/Ukraine border. A frank discussion about what it's like living under the shadow of a conflict, the impact on grain markets, and why the western news is causing anxiety. Remember to share with your networks. 

#94 Will Russia invade?

A quick market update. We cover the impact of Omicron on Matt's health, processing and prices. Then off to grain where we discuss the major issue at the moment - concerns about a Russian invasion of Ukraine.Sharing is caring, remember to send to your friends, family and contacts. 

#93 Commodity Conversations

For the first episode of 2022, we have a chat with Jonathan Kingsman, retired sugar trader and author of a number of books on the commodity trade. We talk to Jonathan about what he learned from his conversations with commodity traders around the world.A must-listen podcast if you want to understand commodity merchants.His books include Commodity Conversations, The New Merchants of Grain, Commodity Crops, The Sugar Casino and Crop to Cup.You can follow Jonathan on twitter @jckingsman or his website commodityconversations.com

#92 Bring on 2022

It's the end of another big year. We talk about what we think were the big events of Ag marketing during 2021, and what to look out for in 2022. 
This year we covered a huge range of topics and industries, thanks to all of our guests. Thanks to those named below who subjected themselves to the podcast during 2021!
Nathanial O'Hare, John Droppert, John Francis, Pat Coole, Trent Osmond, Michael De Kleuver, Brett Hosking, Ryan Milgate, Josh Lamb, Michael Gooden, Warwick Long, Andrew Freshwater, James Stacey, Nigel Hart, Mary Obrien, Mae Connelly, Andy Jacobs, Kerry Lonergan, Jessica Wallace, Chris Lawson, Benjamin Bodart, Corey Ryan, Corey Nesteroff, Justyn Peters, Gabby Chan, Jackie Peacock, Chick Olsson, Simon Keustenmacher, Nathan Cattle, Dwain Duxson, Patrick Hutchison, Angus Street, Andrey Sizov, Fiona Simson, Mark Allison, Zac Halman, Ryan Hoiberg aka Chris, Andrew Henderson, Richard Riordan MP, Tim Neale, Steve Bolt, Doug Fitch, Switter, Senator Susan McDonald,  David Mckeon, Tim Worledge, Marcelo Artal, Hugo Boudet and finally Andrew's mum. 

#91 La Nina and unhappy farmers

We have a chat with Hugo Boudet, an analyst from AgFlow, based in Geneva. We have a chat about La Nina, the EU harvest and why EU farmers aren't happy with the EU government environmental regulations. 
 
 

#90 Sheep shape and fertilizer glimmer of hope.

The sheep flock is rising, and so is the fertilizer price. We've had a whole bunch of questions this week on both the state of sheep and the fertilizer market. We thought it was worthwhile having a really quick update. We cover the sheep turn off ratio and the herd rebuild, the forecasts for lamb pricing, the updated fert model pricing and the light at the end of the tunnel for fertilizer pricing. 

#89 The robots are coming for your grain.

Our podcast sometimes gets berated for lacking intelligence, so we thought we would bring some artificial intelligence onto the podcast. AI is all around us at the moment, from netflix to amazon. It isn't getting all that much attention from the point of view of helping farmers price grain. We have a chat with Marcelo Artal, CEO of Hedgit. We find out what AI is, the opportunities for AI to assist farmers price grain and a whole lot more. 
 
 
 

#88 Wet effect on grain and livestock

A quick market update on the impacts of the wet weather on livestock and grains. 

#87 As raindrops say, two’s company, three’s a cloud.

Rain is impacting the supply chain in Australia and now Canada. You might have seen the images in the press this week of Vancouver and the deluge they have received. We bring back Corey Nesteroff to tell us what is happening and the supply chain impacts of the floods. These rains are impacting the main port for grain and fertilizer exports in Canada. We also talk about the impact of the rains on our own crop. 

#86 Live from Global Grain

In a first for our podcast, maybe the first for any ag market podcast we record to a live audience in Geneva at the Global Grain conference. We chat with Dave McKeon, CEO of GrainGrowers and Tim Worledge, editor of Fast Markets. The chat was all about what is happening in the grain space. What is happening with the barley tariff, the impact of the wet weather and what is happening with government intervention in markets. 

#85 Chinese military helping our market.

We have a quick chat with Michael De Kleuver about what is happing in the wool market. We talk about how Chinese energy woes have impacted wool processing, but also recent military uniforms purchases have assisted the market.We talk about our reliance on China for wool (+90%), and how early-stage processing could feasibly move here.
As always a bunch of topics, including something for everyone. 

#84 A COP out

We have a quick update on the markets. Topics covered include livestock, a moan about COP26, fertilizer woes and the harvest pressure on grain. 

#83 Sirloin or soy, T-bone or tofu?

We have a chat with Queensland Senator Susan McDonald. This conversation covers a wide range of topics with a focus on fake meat labelling, climate change and the livestock industry. 
 

#82 Geneva Grain Unconventional

We have a chat with Swithun Still, a 'veteran' grain trader based out of Geneva with a focus on the black sea region. We talk through a bunch of topics including how he survived the 2010 export ban, how he may be related to @wheatwatcher (he's probably not) and how he got into the industry. 

#81 Sheep and grain update (kind of)

100% serious, 10% of the time. A quick update for a Friday afternoon. We talk about the sheep yarding numbers being low, the controversy of sheep types and Andrew dials it up for the grain update. In this episode, we find out that @wheatwatcher can't do a Scottish accent.

#80 We Doug into Ag Data

We have a chat with Doug Fitch, CEO of AgWorld. We cover a range of areas, from data ownership, connectivity, how Australia is too small for agtech and also a couple of tangents. As always a fun conversation!

#79 A Bolt out of the Blue

We have a chat with Steve Bolt, Corrigin wool grower, leader of the livestock leaders and chair of the WoolPoll panel. In this discussion, we introduce the new six for six sense segment. We have a chat about the sheep industry in WA, live export, advocating for agriculture and the coming wool poll. Remember sharing is caring - send to your friends. 

#78 Hitting the Neale on the head of AgTech

We have a candid chat with Tim Neale of Datafarming about a whole range of things. Tim is a forthright speaker, and doesn't hold back on his opinions of agtech. Our type of guest!We cover off on the craziness of money in agtech, farming getting more efficient (and reducing input costs) and the pitfalls that agtech innovators are falling into. 

#77 Meat and two grains

A quick market update. We cover off on Canola for this year and next. The issues of a wet harvest and protein premiums. The rampaging heavy cattle and the risk of covid restrictions on lamb processing. Remember, sharing is caring.