Discourse, Not Discord with Ryan Martin

Send us Fan MailRyan Martin has never been particularly afraid to say what he thinks, even when his opinion runs against conventional wisdom.Ryan is a meteorologist, grain originator, farmer, seed salesman, and one of the two people who encouraged me to start the Patio Pondering Podcast. So, with Episode 100 right around the corner, it seemed appropriate to finally invite him onto the patio for Episode 99.What followed wasn't really a conversation about weather.We talked about why agriculture struggles with uncertainty, our fear of being wrong, what failure actually means, how farming has changed Ryan's perspective, and why relationships may matter more than we sometimes admit. We wandered into farmers advertising themselves, the changing scale of agriculture, opportunities for the next generation, and whether we spend too much time protecting the status quo.But one idea kept resurfacing: listening.Ryan believes good conversations require us to hear what someone is actually saying, even when we disagree. Near the end, he put it another way: agriculture needs more discourse, not discord.  That's probably a pretty good description of what we try to do here on the patio.Join Ryan Martin and me for a conversation about agriculture, relationships, uncomfortable questions, and the value of occasionally being willing to admit we might be wrong.