In this week’s Ag Tribes Report, fourth-generation Missouri cattleman and board member Glenn Cope joins the discussion to analyze a turbulent moment for agriculture. The conversation explores President Trump’s plan to redirect tariff revenues to soybean growers, the unintended consequences of a U.S. bailout enabling Argentina’s cheap soybean exports to China, and how these actions increase price and input pressures on farmers. It also addresses the looming threat of New World Screwworm nearing the U.S. border, its potential impact on animal health and markets, mitigation tools like ivermectin and Zoetis’ Decomax CA, and the importance of border policy and fly control. With a government shutdown stalling USDA services during harvest, the discussion highlights how delayed loans, payments, and data disrupt cash flow and accelerate consolidation. Glenn offers insights on the Bitcoin Land Price Report from the Ozarks, the Peter Thiel paradox on land values, and his “worthy adversary” perspective on RFK Jr.’s stance on agricultural tools like Roundup, emphasizing the necessity of no-till and modern inputs for efficiency and environmental outcomes.
The report includes the honoring of the memory of Ryan Whitehouse of the Illinois Farm Bureau and encouraging the recording of family stories—through Legacy Interviews or simple, intentional conversations—to preserve memories that shape understanding of the past and strengthen connections.
Legacy Interviews - A service that records individuals and couples telling their life stories so that future generations can know their family history. https://www.legacyinterviews.com/experience
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Unknown:
The Ag Tribes Report is brought to you by Legacy Interviews, a video service that captures people as they really are so the future knows who they really were. Here are Legacy Interviews guests, Mark and Stephanie Mendenhall, on the unexpected ease of their experience.
[00:00:17] Unknown:
What'd you guys think? How was it? Much easier than I expected. Yep.
[00:00:21] Unknown:
Much easier. You made us feel very comfortable. Was this something that weighed on you for a while? He had her ideas on it. Well, he looked at it and said, well, we'll just wing it. Because, you know, you give this list of figured out this out and figure this out. Oh, well, we didn't get that done. What what we remember, we remember, and what we forgot, we tell the kids later. Tomorrow, I'll say, god. Why didn't I tell this story? Or why didn't I tell them about this? You do a good job of asking questions. Welcome to the Agtribe's report, a breakdown of the top stories affecting the culture of agriculture with your host, Vance Crowe.
The report begins in three, two, one. Let's begin.
[00:01:04] Unknown:
Welcome to the Ag Tribes Report. I'm your host, Vance Crowe. Each week, I bring on a new cohost that represents one of the many ag tribes throughout US and Canadian agriculture. This week, I have my friend and, fellow board member, Glenn Cope, who is a, a fourth generation cow calf operator in Southwest Missouri, otherwise known as the Ozarks. Glenn is not only on FCS Financial, but he is also on the board of MFA Oil. And I've gotten to know Glenn and, highly respect him, and I'm really excited that he decided to come on. So welcome to the show, Glenn.
[00:01:41] Unknown:
Lance, great to be on. Thanks for having me.
[00:01:44] Unknown:
So what have you been paying attention to lately?
[00:01:47] Unknown:
Well, lots going on, I think, in the in the ag world, particularly with the new administration. I think, from still a lot of things, particularly in the tariff realm that has got some farmers concerned. And, you know, some people have a lot of concerns with the tariff. You know, I I we've had this huge trade deficit with all these countries that we've propped up forever. And, we've gotta balance that somehow, and Trump's solution to that is to do these tariffs. And, you know, that seems like agriculture more than any other industry suffered as a result. But, you know, farmers are pretty patriotic people, and, we've we've kinda took it on the chin with that.
But also, Vance, there's been a lot of production in in the row crop sector of the business. You know? It seems like farmers can't stand prosperity. So two or three, four years ago when corn was $7, we we high prices cure high prices, and the droughts that we've had the last few years have not seemed to really diminish, yields overall. Technology, genetics, just farmers resiliency, it seems like, has just kinda played into that. And so, you know, it seems like, you know, when I was a kid, I I remember Bill Clinton in one of his State of the Union speeches talked about how we needed to buy more of our things from China because if we supported China, they and propped up their economy, they would move away from communism. Well, that hasn't happened.
And, it seems like China more than ever is more of our adversary. You know, what they're doing with their military, what they're doing in the South China Sea. It's caused a lot of concern, and Trump's wanting more stuff produced here in The US. And and his again, his answer has been tariffs, and I don't know if that's I don't have the silver bullet, but it seems like, he's trying to move the needle in that direction. And, obviously, that's been a concern for price.
[00:03:48] Unknown:
Well, we have got a lot to talk about in particular around tariffs and president Trump. So tonight, what we're going to dive into is president Trump directing tariff revenues to support farmers hit by trade disputes. We're also gonna talk about The US bailout of Argentina leading to cheap soybean exports and undercutting American producers. We're also gonna talk about the new world screw worm, which is getting a lot closer to The US border. And finally, we're gonna talk about the government shutdown disruptions to, things like USDA services. We're also going to, talk about the Bitcoin land price report. We're gonna hear Glenn's take on the Peter Thiel paradox, and we'll also hear about his worthy adversary.
And we're gonna try and do that in just 30. But before we get started, I did want to, have, a moment to recognize the work of Ryan White house. Ryan was a member of the Illinois Farm Bureau. I knew Ryan for more than ten years, and it was a shock to me, late last week when I found out that he had passed away. Ryan was a, a member of the Farm Bureau community in Illinois, and he was one of those people that if you met him, even if you didn't know anything at all about agriculture, you were welcomed in. He, wanted to hear what you had to say. He had all sorts of great counterpoints and wanted to discuss, and I I I just I am devastated by the loss of Ryan. I know his family is from Normal, Illinois. It's just just outside of where I grew up, and I wanted to mention him and, and honor his memory.
So let's get started with story number one. Donald Trump directs tariff revenues to bail out soybean farmers amid the trade war. On October 1, president Trump announced that he would use revenue from tariffs to provide substantial support for American farmers, particularly soybean producers affected by China's reduced purchases. In a Truth Social post, Trump blamed China for using US farmers as pawns in the trade negotiating, noting China's failure to meet soybean import commitments. Treasury secretary Scott Besant confirmed eight announcements soon, emphasizing Trump's backing for farmers who supported him. This comes as US soybean exports to China have halved in early twenty twenty five with farmers facing low prices around $10.50 a bushel and storage issues.
So this became a hot issue on x, when I came out and said, hey. I'm not so sure that tariff payments are gonna help farmers as much as they think it is. It's gonna make prices go up. But what do you think, Glenn? Should Donald Trump be offering the some of these tariffs to soybean farmers to compensate for the loss they've had in this trade war?
[00:06:32] Unknown:
Well, farmers have taken, kind of on the nose from the tariffs, obviously, and there's he's talked about all the revenues that The US has had as a result of the tariffs. And I think China has kinda had some, give and take with us trying to trying to even the playing field by what, just a couple of years ago, we were sending 10 to 15% of our soybeans here in The US to China. Now it's zero essentially. So, yeah, absolutely. These tariff, revenues need to be going to farmers. It won't make them whole, but maybe it'll help them kinda keep the lenders at bay in the in the short term because, you know, this is this is a challenge.
I you see a lot of these farmers, particularly in Eastern Arkansas, that are just really struggling to keep the farm afloat. And, obviously, we've had overproduction the last few years. We've got over buy, but, certainly, the tariffs have played into that. So, yeah, we've gotta send this tariff money to these farmers.
[00:07:35] Unknown:
Yeah. I mean, I I definitely feel for farmers who like, if you get 15% of your market just cut out right out from underneath you, and the Chinese, it appears, are trying to use the the fact that, so much farmer support is under Donald Trump. If you just stop buying soybeans, you can maybe crack the the back there. So it makes sense to me that Trump wants to do this, but man, oh, man. Pumping more money into the, farm economy, whether it's through tariffs or through the printing of money, seems like it's going to continue to do the things that farmers are suffering under right now, which is high input prices. The price of everything, tractors, fertilizer, labor, everything is going up. Seems like this will only exacerbate that.
[00:08:23] Unknown:
Absolutely. You know, if there is a little bit of consolation prize, finally, the senate has confirmed a a a fellow Missourian, Richard Fordyce, as USDA under secretary for farm production and conservation. Richard's a good friend of mine, and, he lives it every day. He he's corn and soybean producer, and he raises cattle like myself. And so he gets it. But now that the government shut down, getting those payments out is gonna be a challenge. But, you know, president Trump chose a good one when he put that guy in in charge of, under secretary of farm production conservation. Richard Richard did a good job, and, he knows what farmers are going through. And, I hope that I hope there's some light at the end of the tunnel.
[00:09:12] Unknown:
Yeah. I I personally like that, Richard Fordyce is from Missouri. I've met Richard, but, I like it because Missouri is such a, a diverse state. Right? You have the one third is is, row crops. One third is, mostly cattle, but also poultry, you know, the livestock. And then a full third is, ag businesses. And so somebody coming from that background is gonna have a big wide open picture of what the agriculture system is really like and what do you need to do in order to keep farmers going.
[00:09:45] Unknown:
Absolutely. You know, Vance, I'm strictly in the cattle business, so a lot of this, I don't understand in terms of, government payments for for those guys. But, you know, farmers don't wanna farm for for, for government check. They wanna they wanna produce according to the market, and and we've come up a lot against a lot of challenges of late. And, you know, in the cattle business, we've had it pretty good, especially the last six months. And, in fact, it's probably as good as it's ever been, and we can't believe what these feeder cattle prices have been. But, my heart goes out to these crop guys that are really strong.
[00:10:27] Unknown:
You can tell just by the way conversations are happening on x that people are more stressed, than they've ever been. It's it's definitely something I hope clears up, but I don't know how quick that'll happen. Alright. Moving on to story number two. $20,000,000,000 bailout to Argentina sparks, soybean export surge and undercutting American farmers. In late September, The US approved a $20,000,000,000 bailout part package for Argentina amid its economic crisis, including a currency swap line from the Federal Reserve. Shortly after, on September 26, Argentina suspended its 26% export tax on soybeans enabling a cheap sale to China.
Over 1,000,000 tons booked immediately with 10 plus cargo shipped. This has fueled tensions as leaked texts from treasury secretary Scott Bessens reveal White House frustration over Argentina's move, which undercuts US farmers already strained by trade wars and low prices. Democratic senators like Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren have called for halting aid arguing that it harms American producers who lost market share to Brazil and now Argentina. US soybean exports to China dropped 29 in 2025 just like we were talking about. And, basically, everybody's saying it in instead of talking about these numbers, China, since the tariff war, has not bought a single soybean. And now the very people that were going to help out, they just shipped, 10, cargos to China. What do you think of this, Glenn?
[00:11:59] Unknown:
Well, it it seems like The US, every time we try to help somebody, they, they turn around and stab us in the back. I remember South Korea several years ago wouldn't take any US beef because of Mad Cow or any any little excuse. They was, refused to take USB. And, I got to think of, you know, we've got American troops over there in South Korea protecting them from the North Korea. Because if we weren't there, the North Koreans would come across the border, take over South Korea. And here we are again helping out a country that, is is sort of stabbing us in the back and skipping all these beans to China that that we ought to be shipping from US here ourselves. And so that's frustrating.
It seems like this is just kinda par for the course, though.
[00:12:49] Unknown:
Yeah. I mean, I don't have any sense. Is 1,000,000 tons of soybeans, is that a lot for what China needs, or is that not so much? Any idea?
[00:12:59] Unknown:
Well, I suspect it's a lot for Argentina. No. I I being a cattle guy, I'm not real familiar with all the numbers surrounding, exports and and China's demand. To me, it sounds like a lot of lot of bushels of beans, Vance, and so, certainly, that's something that could could be helping out, bolster the price of soybeans here domestically.
[00:13:21] Unknown:
Yeah. And it certainly puts China in the in the position where they don't they they have more leverage in the in the conversation. You know, they can want to not buy soybeans, but if they wanna keep producing pork and being able to provide the food staples for their own countrymen, they can't grow it themselves. If they can't get it from The US and they can't get it from our allies, then that means they're probably gonna come to the bargaining table a lot easier. So this does seem like it stings a little bit.
[00:13:46] Unknown:
You know, for years, we didn't worry too much about Argentina, Bill, in terms of production because their infrastructure, the roads to get their crop to market, their their, shipping, everything was just way behind the times. And here of light, they've really come on board, and they're they're forced to be reckoned with. And, certainly, when China sees us as an adversary, they're gonna, source as much of their commodities from from South America.
[00:14:15] Unknown:
You know, I was initially very excited about Javier Millet, the president of Argentina. I thought, hey. They're they're getting rid of their, socialist communist, you know, overlords and all of this corruption. But it was very, very quick into his tenure that, he was a part of one of these cryptocurrency, you know, pump the price up way high and then sell it, and then basically mocked people by being like, well, if you're dumb enough to buy it, then that's your problem. And me any anybody that touches something and, like, cryptocurrency and deals with it without integrity, you should just assume that they will not deal with you with integrity on any other issue. And so I went from being a big fan of his libertarian chainsawing to not thinking very much of him, and it turns out this is probably the right perspective to have. Yeah. I agree.
Alright. Let's move on to story number three. This is one that, probably hits a little close to home with you, Glenn. We have been talking about new world screwworm for months now. This is that small larvae that, embeds its way into cattle. If, once it hatches, it can fester and kill the cattle. It is a terrible situation. It's a problem that happened in the seventies and eighties, but we fought it back all the way to Colombia. But now it is back. And, Glenn, you are a cattle rancher. What is going on? What's the latest with this? And, where where do you think we go from here?
[00:15:39] Unknown:
My answer, I don't know. You know, my dad, is 74, and he talked about this thing back in the season growing up. He said it was awful. If if he cow or he had a cut on them, this thing would just burrow into way down into the flesh. He said it was just extremely inhumane. And so, you know, The US was able to eradicate that, and, we pushed it, I guess, well into Central America, if not farther south. And they've kind of not been doing their job as far as, keeping that thing at bay. And so I it's it's 70 miles south of the line, last reported. And Vance, it's I think it's a matter of time. It's not if or but when we find that thing north of the border again. And I don't know what this what the damage will be to the beef market.
Initially, I think there'll be a stock factor that certainly will come into play. We're enjoying some record high, cattle prices right now, and so we certainly don't want that to go away. But our bigger concern is what this is gonna do to the animal herd and what this particularly is gonna do to tech tech, cattle business. And, you know, it I guess they're working what the how they treat this is they, they radiate, fly larvae and flies, and they release them out to the wild, and they breed with, female screwworm, flies, and they produce aero lake.
And that eventually will cause it to go back south again and may advance it. It it got me worried.
[00:17:17] Unknown:
I mean, I I think that everybody that's looked at it very close is worried. Apparently, the FDA just recently conditionally approved, Decomax CA injectables from Zoetis, And, I know that ivermectin is another way that they treat it, but I think that once it's in The United States I was talking to some animal pharma guys, and they said it is not if, it is when, just like you. And that, you know, this is gonna really scare people when they are seeing the imagery of it. There was that woman that had contracted, new world screener, disease while she was traveling in Central America and came back to The United States and died. And it's not just that it will impact cattle. It can get into human beings, and it is a brutal way to go.
[00:18:03] Unknown:
Yeah. Absolutely. Again, we're enjoying some great cattle prices right now, and it's been a long time coming. And we're finally in the cattle business being able to build some equity. And so, again, we can't stand prosperity very long in any segment of agriculture. It seems like I I hope that this is short lived. Time will tell. Maybe as much ado about nothing, but in the short term, it's it's got folks concerned, and we just gotta gotta be, on top of our game here. Make I think a one way that cattlemen can kinda try to eradicate this, make sure we got a good pour on probe that we make that we we put the products on the backs of cattle to keep, flies from even landing on them to begin with. That's that's one way that we're gonna kinda counteract.
[00:18:56] Unknown:
Well and another way to keep it out is, to keep that border shut. I know they tried to do a thing, you know, once this was starting to go. They opened it, then they shut it again, but let's just keep that thing shut. We can let American farmers sell American beef to Americans. And, and if that keeps the price up, then I'd rather have that than New World Screwworm flying around The US.
[00:19:16] Unknown:
Amen, sir. And I tell you, that's if they ever open the border back up, which will happen in this I don't know. Well, I think the wall of metal that'll just come come flooding across the border. We'll see prices, take a hit, I think. But,
[00:19:33] Unknown:
in the meantime aren't gonna want this. The only pressure the only way they're gonna get that pressure is if, the packing houses do or consumers start throwing a fit about prices. I mean, that's why we started importing eggs from Turkey and South Korea is because people were so worried about that. But I think it's a a great time for farmers to be getting the word out that one of the thing yes. Cattle prices or beef prices are high, but a lot better than having new world screw worm here.
[00:19:58] Unknown:
Yeah. And we haven't seen a whole lot of pushback from consumers on high beef prices. Now, Vance, I don't want beef prices I don't want beef to be a luxury item. I don't want it to be like lobster, something, you know, where folks just buy or on a on a birthday or a or Christmas or something. But, certainly, big prices are high. But, in the meantime, these are the levels we as we produce kinda need them to be to kinda make our payment and and, build some equity and have something to pass down to our kid.
[00:20:34] Unknown:
Well, make a hay while there's sunshine as they say. Alright. Moving on to story number four. Government shutdown disrupts USDA services delaying farmer payment and aid. The US government shutdown began at midnight on September 30 due to funding lapses from partisan disputes severely impacting the USDA during peak harvest. Over 42,000 employees, half the workforce are furloughed, closing most farm service agency offices and halting new loans, payments, and data releases. Key disruptions include delayed 2,000,000,000 in halting, new loan payments and oh, in, emergency commodity assistance, disaster aid for weather damaged crops and conservation, reserve program reimbursements exacerbating cash flow crises for farmers facing a 25% income drop. Loan processing stops, stranding refinancing needs while research crop, progress reports, and organic certifications all pause.
Glenn, you are a good old American, that is a patriot, but I suspect you don't love government spending. So where are you at on government shutdowns?
[00:21:45] Unknown:
I don't mind them. Give our government is our the bureaucracy is absolutely loaded and and needs to be cut. But having said that, the timing for this from USDA and and the farmers that are suffering right now, the timing could not be worse. I mean, guys are a lot of real crop guys are at breakeven on or or below breakeven on on what corn and soybean prices are and and, you know, fossil levels are, what, $800 a ton. Our if the input costs are just out of sight. And, I don't think we've experienced a lot of drought this year throughout The US, but certainly there's pockets. And and so some of that emergency relief, if it's delayed at all, it's just gonna just add and compound to the problem that already exists.
[00:22:38] Unknown:
You know, we today's stories were a lot about a lot of the crises that are happening to agriculture right now. And, I remember a a mentor of mine telling me, you know, whenever you look back on history that there's usually, like, a very simplified, over simplified version of what happened. It's this one thing that happened. But the truth is if we look back on history and ag really does have a stutter step here and really have some challenges and and maybe getting knocked down on its rear for a while, It's not gonna be just because of tariffs. It's gonna be tariffs, and our allies weren't on our team, and our, the the government shutting down, and what farmers were expecting they couldn't do. It seems like there is a whole lot lined up against farmers right now.
[00:23:21] Unknown:
Yeah. And what this does, Vance, is is just exacerbates, consolidation in in farmland. You know, years and years ago, it took several families to take care of a farm. Now it takes, several farms to take care of a fam in terms of of what the return is per acre. And so, you know, you've got these private equity groups that are gobbling up this farmland and and because they've got the capital to do it. And anytime that we see a really, challenging economic situation approach, again, we see more consolidation of farmland. And that breaks the heart because I I I like to see small farms be able to make it and, and just anymore just, like, more more acres.
That's that's that's a sad reality.
[00:24:16] Unknown:
Well, it is, it is a rough time out there. That is gonna do it for our news stories today. Moving on to the Bitcoin land price report. This is where we, make a comparison between the price of Bitcoin and, and land. And today, Bitcoin's price is up at a $120,500 per Bitcoin, which, is a pretty big walk up from the last couple of weeks, but, still just a little bit below the all time high of 124,000. So, Glenn, what county are you from? And, tell me a little bit about the land out there. Yeah. So I'm from Barrie County,
[00:24:54] Unknown:
Missouri. So McDonald County would be the southwestern most. We are one county east. So our county joins Arkansas. We're in this the heart of the Ozarks here. Pretty rough country, rocky, hilly. And if you've been to Branson, that type of rain, we're just west. So, not very conducive for corn and soybean production, but we are in the heart of cattle country. So that's what we produce here on our farm.
[00:25:24] Unknown:
Yeah. And, if somebody were gonna put up a little bit of, rangeland pasture
[00:25:36] Unknown:
acre probably now. Before COVID, it was three to four. But, unfortunately, like everything else, land awesome. Just skyrocket. I'd say between 7,000.
[00:25:49] Unknown:
Well, let's call it a cool 6,500. So that means at a 120,500, that means 1 Bitcoin would buy you 18 and a half acres, or, you could get point zero five, the yeah. One Bitcoin would buy you 18.5 acres. So, Glenn, how does that sit with you? Do you think, Bitcoin is worth 18 and a half acres out
[00:26:14] Unknown:
there? Well, I'm not, real versed in the Bitcoin world being an old cowboy, but, I do like my land. So I'd if I had any Bitcoin, I would probably
[00:26:26] Unknown:
turn Turn in the land. What do you know about about Bitcoin, Glenn? What's your what's the amount that people in your world, in your tribe, how much do they know about it?
[00:26:36] Unknown:
Very, very little. You know, I I I don't know very much myself, and so, I know it's something that I need to be more versed on, and certainly, it's the future, man. And I appreciate what you do and try to educate farmers, right, and folks in agriculture about the importance of Bitcoin. The the dollar may be something we don't even deal with in the twenty years from now, but, in the short term, I'm slow to adapt, I guess.
[00:27:05] Unknown:
You know, though, Glenn, I mean, we've known each other now almost a year, and I I would say you, like the other people on FCS Financial Board, you're open to learning. You just don't have somebody in your world that's sitting there talking about it. And it's hard to learn about a technology that nobody's around talking to you about. And so it can seem like something that's far away or maybe not that important. I I get it. Very true. Very true. Well, I did, I gave a talk at the, Flinchbaugh Forum for Agriculture, which was held in Manhattan, Kansas, and I stood up and told a group of 250 policymakers that I think the people engaging with Bitcoin today are going to be, farmland homeowners tomorrow.
And, I I don't know. Maybe you could check out that talk and and give me feedback on on what you thought, but I just published that today. Send me a link. Alright. Moving on to the Peter Thiel paradox. This is where I'm gonna ask Glenn, what is one thing that you believe that almost no one you know agrees with you on?
[00:28:05] Unknown:
Well, I I think I'm I'm probably not alone in this, but, my dad and a lot of his peers think that, land values are gonna plummet again someday. They lived through the eighties, and and dad bought this farm that I live on in 1983 and made 60% interest rate. And, folks that bought land back in the seventies, they saw land go down, prices go down by a third, and he said, boy, these days are coming. Those days will be here again. And I I disagree with that. I I we've seen too much urban sprawl from the Springfield and Branson area. I don't I think I think this is is universal, Vance. I don't think this is necessarily specific to my part of the world, but guys are buying 40 acres to hunt on and and, folks are moving out of the cities, trying to avoid urban all the in an urban air. They can do their job from home, with technology and the Internet today, and, so many folks are working from home. And so they're coming out into our part of the world and working these farms just kinda being divided up into smaller track. And, and I I disagree. I I think land values are they may plateau, but they will never recede in price.
That's just my thoughts.
[00:29:26] Unknown:
Yeah. I mean, I gotta tell you, Glenn, I think you failed this one because I absolutely agree with you. I don't think land prices in dollar terms are ever gonna go down because the government is going to continue to print money, and that money has gotta find a home. And I think a lot of people say, hey. I'd rather have, land than I would to put this money into my savings account because if if I leave it in my savings account, it's worth less. And at least land I can raise cattle on or hunt or something. So I'm in total agreement with you. I I don't think land prices are going down at least in terms of dollars.
[00:30:00] Unknown:
Yeah. We had opportunities to buy land years ago that that thought was overvalued, but now looking back, it was pretty much so, it passed up opportunity.
[00:30:12] Unknown:
There you go. I mean, that's the hardest part about, any kind of investment. Right? You have to believe something that people will only agree with you after the fact. You have to believe things that other people don't believe, and you're you're gonna make any money. Alright. So now moving on to the worthy adversary. Glenn, who is one person that you respect but you strongly disagree with?
[00:30:35] Unknown:
Well, you probably got this before, but, I respect this guy, and I respect what he's trying to do. But that's Robert f Kennedy right now. You know, I respect what he's trying to do is in terms of trying to make America healthy, eat healthier. We've got too much, obesity and diabetes in our country. But, when he's targeting farmers and some of the tools that we have in our toolbox, saying that they're not safe, that makes him an. This morning, I was round up I was using round up on some past and I'm gonna put in some wheat, some to raise cattle on this winter and and after spring. But, Roundup's safe. Vance and I know in your former life working at Monsanto, you you you were well versed in that. But Roundup and some of these that we use, there there are tools in our toolbox that I think not only, helps make our jobs more efficient, which we have to be, but, there's so implants and that we use in our cattle. They make, cattle the cost of gain cheaper. They they, feed conversion so much better.
And the one, implant and that we use in in a in a steer, for example, I think it has estrogen, but, like, a a head of cabbage, head of lettuce has, like, a thousand times more estrogen than what we're given a a steer. That that really that's your much more that will speed conversion and and that sort of things more efficient. That's what we need to do. We gotta do more or less if we're gonna feed a growing world. So, I guess he would be my adversary. I I again, I respect respect what he's trying to do in terms of we've gotta eat more healthy. We've gotta do away with these ultra processed foods. But, again, it's a choice.
But, I respect what he's trying to do, but when it comes to the tools that we have in our toolbox as farmers and ranchers, him going after those things, he's my adversary. 100%.
[00:32:45] Unknown:
So just out of curiosity, Glenn, if you didn't have Roundup to to use on your field, like, what would your dad have been using?
[00:32:54] Unknown:
We would have tilled our ground, which we we've we've done in the past, and we would have till to if we wanted to go from fescue to, let's say, crabgrass or or alfalfa or something else that that we could cut for hay, we we would well, we've been told that tillage we've got to do away with tillage because of the runoff and soil erosion. Well, Roundup lets us use no till we rented a drill off the county and and we've been planting wheat the last few days. So, that's what we'd have to do is we'd have to till plow deep, you know, and then and disk. And so there would just be runoff if we're at a big rain event.
[00:33:36] Unknown:
You know, it's so easy when people, talk about getting rid of something. They don't they don't have to have an answer for for what would be the the opposite of that. And that's why I'm always saying, farmers, if you're getting something taken away, just show people what you did before. Because they often perceive, we're using Roundup because we're either too dumb, we don't we don't know that we that this is this terrible chemical, or we don't care. But that's never true. You choose Roundup because it's superior than the other options, and people don't have any concept what the other options were.
[00:34:08] Unknown:
Well, the only other option is and plow. And we've been taught, you know, in elementary school that, you know, you need to get rid of your plows because, it just causes solar roads. Bad for the environment. We the soil. And and I get it, and I agree. But Roundup is the tool that we have in our toolbox to eliminate tillage.
[00:34:30] Unknown:
Well, I, I'm with you on that one. I think he is a worthy adversary, and I'm I'm also in agreement. Like, something's gotta be done on, on these other issues about American health, and I don't know. I don't know what we're gonna do. Well, Glenn, I wanna thank you so much for coming on the show. If, people found your way of thinking interesting, I don't think you're a social media guy, but, how would people reach out to you?
[00:34:55] Unknown:
Well, I'm chairman of the MFA Oil board of directors, and, I've got, my email address there. But, yeah, you know, Van, I love what I do. And and we're very blessed. I tell my kids every day, be thankful. We live where we do, and we have the occupation to do because, there's you don't have to look very far away. Folks in urban areas, they they may think they got it good, but, us out here in in rural America, we have a good
[00:35:26] Unknown:
Well, Glenn, I am so glad, to have become friends with you, and thank you so much for coming on the show.
[00:35:32] Unknown:
Thank you, man.
[00:35:34] Unknown:
Alright. That's gonna do it for the Ag Tribes report this week. As I sign off, I, I wanted to talk a little bit about something. You know, with legacy interviews, I get a chance to sit down with people reflecting on their lives and the things that happened to them and how they reacted to it. And, one of the things that happened recently was I had a very deep conversation with a woman that had had experienced a lot of tragedy. And, one of the things that she said as we were leaving was, I'm so glad I got to talk about this. I'm so glad I got to really break down what happened and think about it and think about it in the context of my life years after those things.
So while I would love to interview your loved ones, this is what we do here, all the time. And if you're interested, you can go to legacyinterviews.com. But I would really encourage everyone out there to talk with your parents, to find the time, not just fitting it in between things, but to make an hour or two to go talk about another person's life, to hear about what it was that they went through, and watch how much it can change their life, their experience of those memories, to give them a chance to reflect on it. And so I really hope and encourage that you do that. And if we can help you out, go to legacyinterviews.com to find out more. I'm gonna wrap up. We will be back next week, but I am so glad that you joined us this week. And as always, feel free to disagree.
So the conference organizer has a terrible challenge. The audience can pull out their phone and pull up anyone talking about anything. How do you find somebody that is both going to reach every single person in that audience and yet still have that spike of energy where people are electrified because they're hearing about things that they aren't used to or that make them think about things in a different way? The most important question that I ask a conference organizer is, what is it that you want people to feel? What emotion do you want them to have when we leave this talk? What's their disposition? How are they gonna interact with one another? What does this prompt in the people that are there? It's not just the information. What you're giving them is energy, a reason to be there in that moment.
Now they take that energy and they share it amongst each other. For me, the best speech is when people walk away being like, I now have a tangible skill, but they didn't necessarily readily accept it and they had to grapple with it. They set their phone down, they leaned forward, they said, how do I feel about this? And through that, an energy is created that is not about the speaker, it's about the person listening to the speech. It's far beyond motivation, it's actually giving people skills.
The Ag Tribes Report is brought to you by Legacy Interviews, a video service that captures people as they really are so the future knows who they really were. Here are Legacy Interviews guests, Mark and Stephanie Mendenhall, on the unexpected ease of their experience.
[00:00:17] Unknown:
What'd you guys think? How was it? Much easier than I expected. Yep.
[00:00:21] Unknown:
Much easier. You made us feel very comfortable. Was this something that weighed on you for a while? He had her ideas on it. Well, he looked at it and said, well, we'll just wing it. Because, you know, you give this list of figured out this out and figure this out. Oh, well, we didn't get that done. What what we remember, we remember, and what we forgot, we tell the kids later. Tomorrow, I'll say, god. Why didn't I tell this story? Or why didn't I tell them about this? You do a good job of asking questions. Welcome to the Agtribe's report, a breakdown of the top stories affecting the culture of agriculture with your host, Vance Crowe.
The report begins in three, two, one. Let's begin.
[00:01:04] Unknown:
Welcome to the Ag Tribes Report. I'm your host, Vance Crowe. Each week, I bring on a new cohost that represents one of the many ag tribes throughout US and Canadian agriculture. This week, I have my friend and, fellow board member, Glenn Cope, who is a, a fourth generation cow calf operator in Southwest Missouri, otherwise known as the Ozarks. Glenn is not only on FCS Financial, but he is also on the board of MFA Oil. And I've gotten to know Glenn and, highly respect him, and I'm really excited that he decided to come on. So welcome to the show, Glenn.
[00:01:41] Unknown:
Lance, great to be on. Thanks for having me.
[00:01:44] Unknown:
So what have you been paying attention to lately?
[00:01:47] Unknown:
Well, lots going on, I think, in the in the ag world, particularly with the new administration. I think, from still a lot of things, particularly in the tariff realm that has got some farmers concerned. And, you know, some people have a lot of concerns with the tariff. You know, I I we've had this huge trade deficit with all these countries that we've propped up forever. And, we've gotta balance that somehow, and Trump's solution to that is to do these tariffs. And, you know, that seems like agriculture more than any other industry suffered as a result. But, you know, farmers are pretty patriotic people, and, we've we've kinda took it on the chin with that.
But also, Vance, there's been a lot of production in in the row crop sector of the business. You know? It seems like farmers can't stand prosperity. So two or three, four years ago when corn was $7, we we high prices cure high prices, and the droughts that we've had the last few years have not seemed to really diminish, yields overall. Technology, genetics, just farmers resiliency, it seems like, has just kinda played into that. And so, you know, it seems like, you know, when I was a kid, I I remember Bill Clinton in one of his State of the Union speeches talked about how we needed to buy more of our things from China because if we supported China, they and propped up their economy, they would move away from communism. Well, that hasn't happened.
And, it seems like China more than ever is more of our adversary. You know, what they're doing with their military, what they're doing in the South China Sea. It's caused a lot of concern, and Trump's wanting more stuff produced here in The US. And and his again, his answer has been tariffs, and I don't know if that's I don't have the silver bullet, but it seems like, he's trying to move the needle in that direction. And, obviously, that's been a concern for price.
[00:03:48] Unknown:
Well, we have got a lot to talk about in particular around tariffs and president Trump. So tonight, what we're going to dive into is president Trump directing tariff revenues to support farmers hit by trade disputes. We're also gonna talk about The US bailout of Argentina leading to cheap soybean exports and undercutting American producers. We're also gonna talk about the new world screw worm, which is getting a lot closer to The US border. And finally, we're gonna talk about the government shutdown disruptions to, things like USDA services. We're also going to, talk about the Bitcoin land price report. We're gonna hear Glenn's take on the Peter Thiel paradox, and we'll also hear about his worthy adversary.
And we're gonna try and do that in just 30. But before we get started, I did want to, have, a moment to recognize the work of Ryan White house. Ryan was a member of the Illinois Farm Bureau. I knew Ryan for more than ten years, and it was a shock to me, late last week when I found out that he had passed away. Ryan was a, a member of the Farm Bureau community in Illinois, and he was one of those people that if you met him, even if you didn't know anything at all about agriculture, you were welcomed in. He, wanted to hear what you had to say. He had all sorts of great counterpoints and wanted to discuss, and I I I just I am devastated by the loss of Ryan. I know his family is from Normal, Illinois. It's just just outside of where I grew up, and I wanted to mention him and, and honor his memory.
So let's get started with story number one. Donald Trump directs tariff revenues to bail out soybean farmers amid the trade war. On October 1, president Trump announced that he would use revenue from tariffs to provide substantial support for American farmers, particularly soybean producers affected by China's reduced purchases. In a Truth Social post, Trump blamed China for using US farmers as pawns in the trade negotiating, noting China's failure to meet soybean import commitments. Treasury secretary Scott Besant confirmed eight announcements soon, emphasizing Trump's backing for farmers who supported him. This comes as US soybean exports to China have halved in early twenty twenty five with farmers facing low prices around $10.50 a bushel and storage issues.
So this became a hot issue on x, when I came out and said, hey. I'm not so sure that tariff payments are gonna help farmers as much as they think it is. It's gonna make prices go up. But what do you think, Glenn? Should Donald Trump be offering the some of these tariffs to soybean farmers to compensate for the loss they've had in this trade war?
[00:06:32] Unknown:
Well, farmers have taken, kind of on the nose from the tariffs, obviously, and there's he's talked about all the revenues that The US has had as a result of the tariffs. And I think China has kinda had some, give and take with us trying to trying to even the playing field by what, just a couple of years ago, we were sending 10 to 15% of our soybeans here in The US to China. Now it's zero essentially. So, yeah, absolutely. These tariff, revenues need to be going to farmers. It won't make them whole, but maybe it'll help them kinda keep the lenders at bay in the in the short term because, you know, this is this is a challenge.
I you see a lot of these farmers, particularly in Eastern Arkansas, that are just really struggling to keep the farm afloat. And, obviously, we've had overproduction the last few years. We've got over buy, but, certainly, the tariffs have played into that. So, yeah, we've gotta send this tariff money to these farmers.
[00:07:35] Unknown:
Yeah. I mean, I I definitely feel for farmers who like, if you get 15% of your market just cut out right out from underneath you, and the Chinese, it appears, are trying to use the the fact that, so much farmer support is under Donald Trump. If you just stop buying soybeans, you can maybe crack the the back there. So it makes sense to me that Trump wants to do this, but man, oh, man. Pumping more money into the, farm economy, whether it's through tariffs or through the printing of money, seems like it's going to continue to do the things that farmers are suffering under right now, which is high input prices. The price of everything, tractors, fertilizer, labor, everything is going up. Seems like this will only exacerbate that.
[00:08:23] Unknown:
Absolutely. You know, if there is a little bit of consolation prize, finally, the senate has confirmed a a a fellow Missourian, Richard Fordyce, as USDA under secretary for farm production and conservation. Richard's a good friend of mine, and, he lives it every day. He he's corn and soybean producer, and he raises cattle like myself. And so he gets it. But now that the government shut down, getting those payments out is gonna be a challenge. But, you know, president Trump chose a good one when he put that guy in in charge of, under secretary of farm production conservation. Richard Richard did a good job, and, he knows what farmers are going through. And, I hope that I hope there's some light at the end of the tunnel.
[00:09:12] Unknown:
Yeah. I I personally like that, Richard Fordyce is from Missouri. I've met Richard, but, I like it because Missouri is such a, a diverse state. Right? You have the one third is is, row crops. One third is, mostly cattle, but also poultry, you know, the livestock. And then a full third is, ag businesses. And so somebody coming from that background is gonna have a big wide open picture of what the agriculture system is really like and what do you need to do in order to keep farmers going.
[00:09:45] Unknown:
Absolutely. You know, Vance, I'm strictly in the cattle business, so a lot of this, I don't understand in terms of, government payments for for those guys. But, you know, farmers don't wanna farm for for, for government check. They wanna they wanna produce according to the market, and and we've come up a lot against a lot of challenges of late. And, you know, in the cattle business, we've had it pretty good, especially the last six months. And, in fact, it's probably as good as it's ever been, and we can't believe what these feeder cattle prices have been. But, my heart goes out to these crop guys that are really strong.
[00:10:27] Unknown:
You can tell just by the way conversations are happening on x that people are more stressed, than they've ever been. It's it's definitely something I hope clears up, but I don't know how quick that'll happen. Alright. Moving on to story number two. $20,000,000,000 bailout to Argentina sparks, soybean export surge and undercutting American farmers. In late September, The US approved a $20,000,000,000 bailout part package for Argentina amid its economic crisis, including a currency swap line from the Federal Reserve. Shortly after, on September 26, Argentina suspended its 26% export tax on soybeans enabling a cheap sale to China.
Over 1,000,000 tons booked immediately with 10 plus cargo shipped. This has fueled tensions as leaked texts from treasury secretary Scott Bessens reveal White House frustration over Argentina's move, which undercuts US farmers already strained by trade wars and low prices. Democratic senators like Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren have called for halting aid arguing that it harms American producers who lost market share to Brazil and now Argentina. US soybean exports to China dropped 29 in 2025 just like we were talking about. And, basically, everybody's saying it in instead of talking about these numbers, China, since the tariff war, has not bought a single soybean. And now the very people that were going to help out, they just shipped, 10, cargos to China. What do you think of this, Glenn?
[00:11:59] Unknown:
Well, it it seems like The US, every time we try to help somebody, they, they turn around and stab us in the back. I remember South Korea several years ago wouldn't take any US beef because of Mad Cow or any any little excuse. They was, refused to take USB. And, I got to think of, you know, we've got American troops over there in South Korea protecting them from the North Korea. Because if we weren't there, the North Koreans would come across the border, take over South Korea. And here we are again helping out a country that, is is sort of stabbing us in the back and skipping all these beans to China that that we ought to be shipping from US here ourselves. And so that's frustrating.
It seems like this is just kinda par for the course, though.
[00:12:49] Unknown:
Yeah. I mean, I don't have any sense. Is 1,000,000 tons of soybeans, is that a lot for what China needs, or is that not so much? Any idea?
[00:12:59] Unknown:
Well, I suspect it's a lot for Argentina. No. I I being a cattle guy, I'm not real familiar with all the numbers surrounding, exports and and China's demand. To me, it sounds like a lot of lot of bushels of beans, Vance, and so, certainly, that's something that could could be helping out, bolster the price of soybeans here domestically.
[00:13:21] Unknown:
Yeah. And it certainly puts China in the in the position where they don't they they have more leverage in the in the conversation. You know, they can want to not buy soybeans, but if they wanna keep producing pork and being able to provide the food staples for their own countrymen, they can't grow it themselves. If they can't get it from The US and they can't get it from our allies, then that means they're probably gonna come to the bargaining table a lot easier. So this does seem like it stings a little bit.
[00:13:46] Unknown:
You know, for years, we didn't worry too much about Argentina, Bill, in terms of production because their infrastructure, the roads to get their crop to market, their their, shipping, everything was just way behind the times. And here of light, they've really come on board, and they're they're forced to be reckoned with. And, certainly, when China sees us as an adversary, they're gonna, source as much of their commodities from from South America.
[00:14:15] Unknown:
You know, I was initially very excited about Javier Millet, the president of Argentina. I thought, hey. They're they're getting rid of their, socialist communist, you know, overlords and all of this corruption. But it was very, very quick into his tenure that, he was a part of one of these cryptocurrency, you know, pump the price up way high and then sell it, and then basically mocked people by being like, well, if you're dumb enough to buy it, then that's your problem. And me any anybody that touches something and, like, cryptocurrency and deals with it without integrity, you should just assume that they will not deal with you with integrity on any other issue. And so I went from being a big fan of his libertarian chainsawing to not thinking very much of him, and it turns out this is probably the right perspective to have. Yeah. I agree.
Alright. Let's move on to story number three. This is one that, probably hits a little close to home with you, Glenn. We have been talking about new world screwworm for months now. This is that small larvae that, embeds its way into cattle. If, once it hatches, it can fester and kill the cattle. It is a terrible situation. It's a problem that happened in the seventies and eighties, but we fought it back all the way to Colombia. But now it is back. And, Glenn, you are a cattle rancher. What is going on? What's the latest with this? And, where where do you think we go from here?
[00:15:39] Unknown:
My answer, I don't know. You know, my dad, is 74, and he talked about this thing back in the season growing up. He said it was awful. If if he cow or he had a cut on them, this thing would just burrow into way down into the flesh. He said it was just extremely inhumane. And so, you know, The US was able to eradicate that, and, we pushed it, I guess, well into Central America, if not farther south. And they've kind of not been doing their job as far as, keeping that thing at bay. And so I it's it's 70 miles south of the line, last reported. And Vance, it's I think it's a matter of time. It's not if or but when we find that thing north of the border again. And I don't know what this what the damage will be to the beef market.
Initially, I think there'll be a stock factor that certainly will come into play. We're enjoying some record high, cattle prices right now, and so we certainly don't want that to go away. But our bigger concern is what this is gonna do to the animal herd and what this particularly is gonna do to tech tech, cattle business. And, you know, it I guess they're working what the how they treat this is they, they radiate, fly larvae and flies, and they release them out to the wild, and they breed with, female screwworm, flies, and they produce aero lake.
And that eventually will cause it to go back south again and may advance it. It it got me worried.
[00:17:17] Unknown:
I mean, I I think that everybody that's looked at it very close is worried. Apparently, the FDA just recently conditionally approved, Decomax CA injectables from Zoetis, And, I know that ivermectin is another way that they treat it, but I think that once it's in The United States I was talking to some animal pharma guys, and they said it is not if, it is when, just like you. And that, you know, this is gonna really scare people when they are seeing the imagery of it. There was that woman that had contracted, new world screener, disease while she was traveling in Central America and came back to The United States and died. And it's not just that it will impact cattle. It can get into human beings, and it is a brutal way to go.
[00:18:03] Unknown:
Yeah. Absolutely. Again, we're enjoying some great cattle prices right now, and it's been a long time coming. And we're finally in the cattle business being able to build some equity. And so, again, we can't stand prosperity very long in any segment of agriculture. It seems like I I hope that this is short lived. Time will tell. Maybe as much ado about nothing, but in the short term, it's it's got folks concerned, and we just gotta gotta be, on top of our game here. Make I think a one way that cattlemen can kinda try to eradicate this, make sure we got a good pour on probe that we make that we we put the products on the backs of cattle to keep, flies from even landing on them to begin with. That's that's one way that we're gonna kinda counteract.
[00:18:56] Unknown:
Well and another way to keep it out is, to keep that border shut. I know they tried to do a thing, you know, once this was starting to go. They opened it, then they shut it again, but let's just keep that thing shut. We can let American farmers sell American beef to Americans. And, and if that keeps the price up, then I'd rather have that than New World Screwworm flying around The US.
[00:19:16] Unknown:
Amen, sir. And I tell you, that's if they ever open the border back up, which will happen in this I don't know. Well, I think the wall of metal that'll just come come flooding across the border. We'll see prices, take a hit, I think. But,
[00:19:33] Unknown:
in the meantime aren't gonna want this. The only pressure the only way they're gonna get that pressure is if, the packing houses do or consumers start throwing a fit about prices. I mean, that's why we started importing eggs from Turkey and South Korea is because people were so worried about that. But I think it's a a great time for farmers to be getting the word out that one of the thing yes. Cattle prices or beef prices are high, but a lot better than having new world screw worm here.
[00:19:58] Unknown:
Yeah. And we haven't seen a whole lot of pushback from consumers on high beef prices. Now, Vance, I don't want beef prices I don't want beef to be a luxury item. I don't want it to be like lobster, something, you know, where folks just buy or on a on a birthday or a or Christmas or something. But, certainly, big prices are high. But, in the meantime, these are the levels we as we produce kinda need them to be to kinda make our payment and and, build some equity and have something to pass down to our kid.
[00:20:34] Unknown:
Well, make a hay while there's sunshine as they say. Alright. Moving on to story number four. Government shutdown disrupts USDA services delaying farmer payment and aid. The US government shutdown began at midnight on September 30 due to funding lapses from partisan disputes severely impacting the USDA during peak harvest. Over 42,000 employees, half the workforce are furloughed, closing most farm service agency offices and halting new loans, payments, and data releases. Key disruptions include delayed 2,000,000,000 in halting, new loan payments and oh, in, emergency commodity assistance, disaster aid for weather damaged crops and conservation, reserve program reimbursements exacerbating cash flow crises for farmers facing a 25% income drop. Loan processing stops, stranding refinancing needs while research crop, progress reports, and organic certifications all pause.
Glenn, you are a good old American, that is a patriot, but I suspect you don't love government spending. So where are you at on government shutdowns?
[00:21:45] Unknown:
I don't mind them. Give our government is our the bureaucracy is absolutely loaded and and needs to be cut. But having said that, the timing for this from USDA and and the farmers that are suffering right now, the timing could not be worse. I mean, guys are a lot of real crop guys are at breakeven on or or below breakeven on on what corn and soybean prices are and and, you know, fossil levels are, what, $800 a ton. Our if the input costs are just out of sight. And, I don't think we've experienced a lot of drought this year throughout The US, but certainly there's pockets. And and so some of that emergency relief, if it's delayed at all, it's just gonna just add and compound to the problem that already exists.
[00:22:38] Unknown:
You know, we today's stories were a lot about a lot of the crises that are happening to agriculture right now. And, I remember a a mentor of mine telling me, you know, whenever you look back on history that there's usually, like, a very simplified, over simplified version of what happened. It's this one thing that happened. But the truth is if we look back on history and ag really does have a stutter step here and really have some challenges and and maybe getting knocked down on its rear for a while, It's not gonna be just because of tariffs. It's gonna be tariffs, and our allies weren't on our team, and our, the the government shutting down, and what farmers were expecting they couldn't do. It seems like there is a whole lot lined up against farmers right now.
[00:23:21] Unknown:
Yeah. And what this does, Vance, is is just exacerbates, consolidation in in farmland. You know, years and years ago, it took several families to take care of a farm. Now it takes, several farms to take care of a fam in terms of of what the return is per acre. And so, you know, you've got these private equity groups that are gobbling up this farmland and and because they've got the capital to do it. And anytime that we see a really, challenging economic situation approach, again, we see more consolidation of farmland. And that breaks the heart because I I I like to see small farms be able to make it and, and just anymore just, like, more more acres.
That's that's that's a sad reality.
[00:24:16] Unknown:
Well, it is, it is a rough time out there. That is gonna do it for our news stories today. Moving on to the Bitcoin land price report. This is where we, make a comparison between the price of Bitcoin and, and land. And today, Bitcoin's price is up at a $120,500 per Bitcoin, which, is a pretty big walk up from the last couple of weeks, but, still just a little bit below the all time high of 124,000. So, Glenn, what county are you from? And, tell me a little bit about the land out there. Yeah. So I'm from Barrie County,
[00:24:54] Unknown:
Missouri. So McDonald County would be the southwestern most. We are one county east. So our county joins Arkansas. We're in this the heart of the Ozarks here. Pretty rough country, rocky, hilly. And if you've been to Branson, that type of rain, we're just west. So, not very conducive for corn and soybean production, but we are in the heart of cattle country. So that's what we produce here on our farm.
[00:25:24] Unknown:
Yeah. And, if somebody were gonna put up a little bit of, rangeland pasture
[00:25:36] Unknown:
acre probably now. Before COVID, it was three to four. But, unfortunately, like everything else, land awesome. Just skyrocket. I'd say between 7,000.
[00:25:49] Unknown:
Well, let's call it a cool 6,500. So that means at a 120,500, that means 1 Bitcoin would buy you 18 and a half acres, or, you could get point zero five, the yeah. One Bitcoin would buy you 18.5 acres. So, Glenn, how does that sit with you? Do you think, Bitcoin is worth 18 and a half acres out
[00:26:14] Unknown:
there? Well, I'm not, real versed in the Bitcoin world being an old cowboy, but, I do like my land. So I'd if I had any Bitcoin, I would probably
[00:26:26] Unknown:
turn Turn in the land. What do you know about about Bitcoin, Glenn? What's your what's the amount that people in your world, in your tribe, how much do they know about it?
[00:26:36] Unknown:
Very, very little. You know, I I I don't know very much myself, and so, I know it's something that I need to be more versed on, and certainly, it's the future, man. And I appreciate what you do and try to educate farmers, right, and folks in agriculture about the importance of Bitcoin. The the dollar may be something we don't even deal with in the twenty years from now, but, in the short term, I'm slow to adapt, I guess.
[00:27:05] Unknown:
You know, though, Glenn, I mean, we've known each other now almost a year, and I I would say you, like the other people on FCS Financial Board, you're open to learning. You just don't have somebody in your world that's sitting there talking about it. And it's hard to learn about a technology that nobody's around talking to you about. And so it can seem like something that's far away or maybe not that important. I I get it. Very true. Very true. Well, I did, I gave a talk at the, Flinchbaugh Forum for Agriculture, which was held in Manhattan, Kansas, and I stood up and told a group of 250 policymakers that I think the people engaging with Bitcoin today are going to be, farmland homeowners tomorrow.
And, I I don't know. Maybe you could check out that talk and and give me feedback on on what you thought, but I just published that today. Send me a link. Alright. Moving on to the Peter Thiel paradox. This is where I'm gonna ask Glenn, what is one thing that you believe that almost no one you know agrees with you on?
[00:28:05] Unknown:
Well, I I think I'm I'm probably not alone in this, but, my dad and a lot of his peers think that, land values are gonna plummet again someday. They lived through the eighties, and and dad bought this farm that I live on in 1983 and made 60% interest rate. And, folks that bought land back in the seventies, they saw land go down, prices go down by a third, and he said, boy, these days are coming. Those days will be here again. And I I disagree with that. I I we've seen too much urban sprawl from the Springfield and Branson area. I don't I think I think this is is universal, Vance. I don't think this is necessarily specific to my part of the world, but guys are buying 40 acres to hunt on and and, folks are moving out of the cities, trying to avoid urban all the in an urban air. They can do their job from home, with technology and the Internet today, and, so many folks are working from home. And so they're coming out into our part of the world and working these farms just kinda being divided up into smaller track. And, and I I disagree. I I think land values are they may plateau, but they will never recede in price.
That's just my thoughts.
[00:29:26] Unknown:
Yeah. I mean, I gotta tell you, Glenn, I think you failed this one because I absolutely agree with you. I don't think land prices in dollar terms are ever gonna go down because the government is going to continue to print money, and that money has gotta find a home. And I think a lot of people say, hey. I'd rather have, land than I would to put this money into my savings account because if if I leave it in my savings account, it's worth less. And at least land I can raise cattle on or hunt or something. So I'm in total agreement with you. I I don't think land prices are going down at least in terms of dollars.
[00:30:00] Unknown:
Yeah. We had opportunities to buy land years ago that that thought was overvalued, but now looking back, it was pretty much so, it passed up opportunity.
[00:30:12] Unknown:
There you go. I mean, that's the hardest part about, any kind of investment. Right? You have to believe something that people will only agree with you after the fact. You have to believe things that other people don't believe, and you're you're gonna make any money. Alright. So now moving on to the worthy adversary. Glenn, who is one person that you respect but you strongly disagree with?
[00:30:35] Unknown:
Well, you probably got this before, but, I respect this guy, and I respect what he's trying to do. But that's Robert f Kennedy right now. You know, I respect what he's trying to do is in terms of trying to make America healthy, eat healthier. We've got too much, obesity and diabetes in our country. But, when he's targeting farmers and some of the tools that we have in our toolbox, saying that they're not safe, that makes him an. This morning, I was round up I was using round up on some past and I'm gonna put in some wheat, some to raise cattle on this winter and and after spring. But, Roundup's safe. Vance and I know in your former life working at Monsanto, you you you were well versed in that. But Roundup and some of these that we use, there there are tools in our toolbox that I think not only, helps make our jobs more efficient, which we have to be, but, there's so implants and that we use in our cattle. They make, cattle the cost of gain cheaper. They they, feed conversion so much better.
And the one, implant and that we use in in a in a steer, for example, I think it has estrogen, but, like, a a head of cabbage, head of lettuce has, like, a thousand times more estrogen than what we're given a a steer. That that really that's your much more that will speed conversion and and that sort of things more efficient. That's what we need to do. We gotta do more or less if we're gonna feed a growing world. So, I guess he would be my adversary. I I again, I respect respect what he's trying to do in terms of we've gotta eat more healthy. We've gotta do away with these ultra processed foods. But, again, it's a choice.
But, I respect what he's trying to do, but when it comes to the tools that we have in our toolbox as farmers and ranchers, him going after those things, he's my adversary. 100%.
[00:32:45] Unknown:
So just out of curiosity, Glenn, if you didn't have Roundup to to use on your field, like, what would your dad have been using?
[00:32:54] Unknown:
We would have tilled our ground, which we we've we've done in the past, and we would have till to if we wanted to go from fescue to, let's say, crabgrass or or alfalfa or something else that that we could cut for hay, we we would well, we've been told that tillage we've got to do away with tillage because of the runoff and soil erosion. Well, Roundup lets us use no till we rented a drill off the county and and we've been planting wheat the last few days. So, that's what we'd have to do is we'd have to till plow deep, you know, and then and disk. And so there would just be runoff if we're at a big rain event.
[00:33:36] Unknown:
You know, it's so easy when people, talk about getting rid of something. They don't they don't have to have an answer for for what would be the the opposite of that. And that's why I'm always saying, farmers, if you're getting something taken away, just show people what you did before. Because they often perceive, we're using Roundup because we're either too dumb, we don't we don't know that we that this is this terrible chemical, or we don't care. But that's never true. You choose Roundup because it's superior than the other options, and people don't have any concept what the other options were.
[00:34:08] Unknown:
Well, the only other option is and plow. And we've been taught, you know, in elementary school that, you know, you need to get rid of your plows because, it just causes solar roads. Bad for the environment. We the soil. And and I get it, and I agree. But Roundup is the tool that we have in our toolbox to eliminate tillage.
[00:34:30] Unknown:
Well, I, I'm with you on that one. I think he is a worthy adversary, and I'm I'm also in agreement. Like, something's gotta be done on, on these other issues about American health, and I don't know. I don't know what we're gonna do. Well, Glenn, I wanna thank you so much for coming on the show. If, people found your way of thinking interesting, I don't think you're a social media guy, but, how would people reach out to you?
[00:34:55] Unknown:
Well, I'm chairman of the MFA Oil board of directors, and, I've got, my email address there. But, yeah, you know, Van, I love what I do. And and we're very blessed. I tell my kids every day, be thankful. We live where we do, and we have the occupation to do because, there's you don't have to look very far away. Folks in urban areas, they they may think they got it good, but, us out here in in rural America, we have a good
[00:35:26] Unknown:
Well, Glenn, I am so glad, to have become friends with you, and thank you so much for coming on the show.
[00:35:32] Unknown:
Thank you, man.
[00:35:34] Unknown:
Alright. That's gonna do it for the Ag Tribes report this week. As I sign off, I, I wanted to talk a little bit about something. You know, with legacy interviews, I get a chance to sit down with people reflecting on their lives and the things that happened to them and how they reacted to it. And, one of the things that happened recently was I had a very deep conversation with a woman that had had experienced a lot of tragedy. And, one of the things that she said as we were leaving was, I'm so glad I got to talk about this. I'm so glad I got to really break down what happened and think about it and think about it in the context of my life years after those things.
So while I would love to interview your loved ones, this is what we do here, all the time. And if you're interested, you can go to legacyinterviews.com. But I would really encourage everyone out there to talk with your parents, to find the time, not just fitting it in between things, but to make an hour or two to go talk about another person's life, to hear about what it was that they went through, and watch how much it can change their life, their experience of those memories, to give them a chance to reflect on it. And so I really hope and encourage that you do that. And if we can help you out, go to legacyinterviews.com to find out more. I'm gonna wrap up. We will be back next week, but I am so glad that you joined us this week. And as always, feel free to disagree.
So the conference organizer has a terrible challenge. The audience can pull out their phone and pull up anyone talking about anything. How do you find somebody that is both going to reach every single person in that audience and yet still have that spike of energy where people are electrified because they're hearing about things that they aren't used to or that make them think about things in a different way? The most important question that I ask a conference organizer is, what is it that you want people to feel? What emotion do you want them to have when we leave this talk? What's their disposition? How are they gonna interact with one another? What does this prompt in the people that are there? It's not just the information. What you're giving them is energy, a reason to be there in that moment.
Now they take that energy and they share it amongst each other. For me, the best speech is when people walk away being like, I now have a tangible skill, but they didn't necessarily readily accept it and they had to grapple with it. They set their phone down, they leaned forward, they said, how do I feel about this? And through that, an energy is created that is not about the speaker, it's about the person listening to the speech. It's far beyond motivation, it's actually giving people skills.
Introducing cohost Glenn Cope and today’s agenda
Tariffs, trade deficits, and China as an adversary
Story 1: Trump proposes tariff-funded aid for soybean farmers
USDA leadership, shutdown hurdles, and input inflation
Stress on row-crop farmers and Eastern Arkansas struggles
Story 2: Argentina bailout enables cheap soybean exports to China
Story 3: New World Screwworm threat to US cattle
Border policy, consumer prices, and keeping screwworm out
Story 4: Government shutdown stalls USDA services
Consolidation, private equity, and farmland ownership trends
Bitcoin Land Price Report: Ozarks pasture vs. BTC
Peter Thiel paradox: Will land values ever fall?
Worthy adversary: RFK Jr., Roundup, and ag tools debate
Closing conversation with Glenn and rural life
Host sign-off and reflections on capturing family stories
