Ep. 241: Farmer Sues the USDA, A Race to the Bottom, and the Screwworm Arrives!

This week's lineup is loaded. The FTC just opened its first real antitrust investigation into fertilizer pricing, a Wisconsin farmer took the USDA to court over discrimination and won, and cattle prices are sitting at record highs while the screwworm threat creeps toward the border. Plus AI moving into the field, a hard look at why everybody copying everybody is killing small ag, and our Made in America pick. In this episode we get into the FTC fertilizer antitrust investigation, including why prices jumped overnight with no supply change and how that seems dirty. We break down the USDA discrimination settlement and how dairy farmer Adam Faust ended race- and sex-based preferences in federal farm programs like EQIP, loan guarantees, and Dairy Margin Coverage. We talk record cattle prices and the New World screwworm, with beef at all-time highs, the herd at a 75-year low, and the parasite Texas declared a disaster over. We dig into AI in agriculture, from cutting herbicide use 70% in the field to the data center land grab eating up rural farmland, water, and power. We get into why an oversaturated market is a race to the bottom for small farm operations and how to actually stand out instead of copying the crowd. We run our Top 3 occupations besides farming, hand out our Made in America pick with Crocodile Cloth, and close it out with a few words on glyphosate, Shawn Ryan, and the conversation the loudest critics keep dodging. Real talk from real farmers, row crops, cattle, and everything in between. New episodes weekly. Follow on Spotify so you never miss one. Go check out Agzaga! It is the ultimate online farm store. American owned and operated. Go check out their site and get what you need. Be sure to use the code TalkDirt20 to get $20 off your order of $50 or more! Visit them at: https://agzaga.com  👉 Listen now, hit subscribe, and leave Logan and Bobby Lee a 5-star review to keep the dirt talk rolling every week!  Follow us on social media: Talk Dirt to Me Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkdirtpodcast/  Bobby Lee: Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=hurricane%20creek%20farms Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/hurricanecreekfarm/ YouTube- https://www.youtube.com/c/HurricaneCreekFarms Logan: Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/LHFarmsTN Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/lo.hanks/ YouTube- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqYpTjKQtOMABFOc2Aw3_Ow