Episodes
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The 70-Day Farm Marketing Opportunity Most Farmers Are Missing
There's a 70-day window to turn a national labeling initiative into real marketing momentum for your farm, and most farmers don't know it exists. The American Pastured Poultry Producers Association (APPPA) has filed petitions with USDA and FDA to establish consistent "pasture raised" standards…
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Facebook Campaigns for Farmers: Organic vs Paid Marketing
Facebook is one of the most talked-about marketing tools in the farming community. But when does it actually make sense to use it? In this episode, I sit down with Jeff from Regenerative Success to talk through: The difference between organic posting and paid Facebook campaigns Whether you need a...
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Do You Know Your Numbers? The Foundation of Farm Marketing
Before you worry about websites, social media, or sales funnels, you need to answer one basic question: do you actually know your numbers? In this episode, I break down why understanding your costs, margins, and unit economics is the foundation of effective farm marketing. If you don't know what…
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Fencing 101: A Beginner's Guide to Livestock Fencing
If you're starting a livestock operation, your fencing system can make or break your farm. In this episode, I sit down with Matt Cadman of Shady Grove Ranch—an experienced farmer and engineer—to talk through the essentials of livestock fence systems for beginning farmers. We cover: How to choose...
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Algorithms, Livestock, and a Walk in the Woods
In this reflective solo episode, I take a walk through the spring woods with my dog, Zip, and share thoughts on content creation, social media algorithms, and connecting with a small but meaningful audience. It's an unfiltered moment to talk about farming, marketing, and why I create videos with...
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Planning Seasonal Farm Content
In this practical episode, I share a game-changing approach to farm marketing that follows the natural rhythm of your operation. Learn how to use your grazing chart as more than just a livestock management tool—transform it into your marketing roadmap. I'll walk you through identifying key...
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Choose Your Farm Customers with Content
You have the power to attract your ideal farm customers - isn't that liberating? When you consistently create content around your farm, you're building more than awareness - you're crafting a recognizable personality. If you regularly share your passion for raising chickens, you'll naturally…
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Mental Health Content for Farmers
Mental health is one of those tricky subjects to talk about because it is so different for everyone. After spending over 15 years working in agriculture, I have found that as much or more than any group, farmers should be doing more to address their mental health. Because I find mental health...
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$1 Million Dollar Pastured Poultry Farm with Joe Koopsen
From backyard chickens to profitable pastured poultry: Join us as Joe shares his journey scaling a thriving broiler chicken operation. Discover the financial realities of farming at scale, innovative wholesale strategies, and how his Michigan farm evolved from just 3 chicks to a multi-state...
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Digital Marketing for Farms Making $100k-$1M a Year with Bryan from SmarTech
Are you a small farm making $100k to $1M in gross annual revenue? How are you reaching your customers? What are you business goals? Customer retention? New customer acquisition? Increasing average order value? Selling a specialty product? Marketing is about knowing your numbers, having goals, and...
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Should You Email Farm Customers in 2025?
In this episode of the Growing Farms Podcast we are going to discuss the state of Email in 2025. To answer a question from my friend Sidney, we're going to discuss why email is still relevant, what types of customers you are targeting, and what are some tactics for sending email marketing. We…
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Context
We kick this season of podcasts off with a discussion about context and demographics and their role in farm business and marketing.
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Hey Farmers - Don't Make Viral Videos
I share my thoughts on creating farm marketing content in 2025. It is easier than ever to start, and the good news is that you don't have to worry about going viral. This audio is from a video I shot for YouTube. The crunching noise is me walking my dog through the woods.
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Poultry Mastermind Group - Q1
In this Episode of the Growing Farms Podcast I bring in a couple of my friends from around the country to give their perspective on what life is like on their farms in the first quarter of the year. We all manage mixed livestock farms, with a diversity of sales avenues for our products.…
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How To save The World Farming
It's the year 2050. My grown daughter looks me in the eye and asks what I did to help make the world a better place. What do I tell her? Belief: What do you believe in? When you woke up this morning, you got up with at least one core belief - something in your mind that defines how you see the...
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How to Raise Pigs in 2022 - Small Scale Farming
In this episode of the Growing Farms Podcast we will discuss all of the decision-making that goes into raising pigs in 2022. There are a lot of things to think about, and a lot of variables outside of your control. where are you going to process? what breed should you raise? how do you manage…
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Email Marketing For Farmers
In this episode of the Growing Farms Podcast we discuss: why email is still foundational to your marketing how to get your first 100 subscribers what to write in your emails how to grow your list over time Whether you are just starting a farm or you are looking to grow your business, this episode...
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Farm Brewery Update - January 2022
In this episode of the Growing Farms Podcast I give you some perspective on what my farm brewery business looks and functions like. We are all on different paths, and I share these monthly updates to give more depth behind the farming and business advice that I share on other episodes.
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Instagram for Farmers - 2022
Many of us know how to use Instagram, but do we know why we use it? What are you accomplishing, and is it worth your time? In this episode of the Growing Farms Podcast, host John Suscovich discusses Instagram best practices, his strategy on Instagram, and he shares several accounts worth…
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Pasture Based Farm Thrives During Pandemic
Today on the podcast I am joined by my friend Dave Shields of Pastured Life Farm in North Central Florida. Dave and his wife Ginger have been raising animals on pasture and direct marketing them to customers for years. It just so happens the farming and sales model they set up is perfectly suited...
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APPPA - Ginger Shields
John: Hey there friends and fellow farmers. Welcome to another episode of The Growing Farms podcast. I am your host, John Suscovich, and today's episode is going to be an "Ask APPPA" show, the American Pasture and Poultry Producers Association. At one of the annual APPPA conferences I brought my...
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GFP102: When Farming Gets You Down
It can feel like the to do list gets longer before it gets shorter, that at times the world is out to get you, or things aren't going your way. It is ok to want to quit, but what defines us as people is how we react to being in these situations. Work toward a better life, hang in there, and...
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GFP101: Farming Motivation
Think of the reason you do what you do. Whether you are farming or thinking about starting a farm, why are you doing this? The key to keeping a business going, and creating a lasting lifestyle is to find what drives you, and let it keep driving you forward. I would love to publish the podcast...
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GFP100: Getting Rid Of Experts
Who are "they" exactly? They told us it can't be done. They told us you cannot make money farming. They told us you can't raise sheep without a heavy parasite load. They said you can't have 0% mortality in the brooder. They said that you have to farm this way or that. I'm not saying that educated...
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GFP099: What keeps you up at night?
There is a lot to farming that will keep you awake at night. Is the brooder closed, are all the birds in, are the predators out, is the greenhouse warm enough, did you remember to check this or that? Then there's all the life stuff that keeps you up at night. On today's episode of the Growing…
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GFP098: Best Farming Advice Ever
With all that advice and information floating around how do you tell what is good and what is not? With a wealth of knowledge at your fingertips, what's the best advice? That is what Troy and I tried to capture with today's farm podcast episode. The best piece of advice we have ever gotten.
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GFP096: Farming By Not Farming
The most common question we get here at Farm Marketing Solutions is "how do I start a farm?". That question comes from all walks of life and all corners of the globe. Seriously, we're data nerds and our analytics say we get visitors from over 97 different countries. Because there are 7 billion...
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GFP095: Farm Work Life Balance
Working to find a balance that works for you between farm life, home life, and your personal life is the ultimate goal of sustainability. You want to be a member of your community, a member of your family, and at the same time take some time for yourself. In this episode Troy & John discuss their...
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GFP094: Why farm at all?
It is a pleasure to bring back the Growing Farms Podcast with my good friend and mentor Troy Bishopp. In today's episode we tackle the topic of getting into agriculture as a hobby or profession. What draws people back to the land? Once they are there what keeps them working when things get...
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GFP094: Farming Makes Your Purge
It's a cliche as this point that "farming is hard". Yeah, we know. Anyone that has tried to work the land knows full well how ruthless Mother Nature can be and how unforgiving the farm can seem at times. What gives me hope for the future is that the current generation of farmers getting into...
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GFP093: 2017 Farm Plan
2017 Farm Plan - Camps Road Farm With each new farm season there are adaptations based on what you have learned from previous years as well as adapting to what your goals are for the coming year. We are making some big changes on our farm this year and I am really happy to be able to share them...
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GFP092: Pigs Escape and Growing Chickens
Chicken Tractor Plans APPPA - American Pastured Poultry Producers Association Feed Testing Pasture Fencing I Use Support the Show on Patreon
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GFP091: Farm Update
This farm podcast episode updates you on my: Pastured Poultry Pastured Pigs Apple Orchard Hop Yard Book release!!!
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GFP089: Pigs on Pasture
Raising pigs has to be one of the most fun things that I do on farm. I truly enjoy almost every part of it. I mean, don't get me wrong, they could smell a little better every once in a while but who can turn their noses up at their floppy ears, curly tails, and curiously happy demeanor? I get my...
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GFP088: My Background
No matter what you've done before you got into farming, it applies. It all applies!!! Granted some of us are going to get into farming full time and run our own farms and others are going to be happy with a backyard garden. The important thing here is that we're all willing to get our hands…
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GFP087: Urban CSA and Apothecary
I have been in love with the idea of more farms appearing in urban settings. That is how we bring food to the masses and help wrangle that ugly beast called food security. Clever uses of otherwise untapped resources. On today's farm podcast episode we visit one of those urban farms to see how it...
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GFP090: Welcome Back!
Farm Marketing Solutions on YouTube Ask Voices with Diego Footer and Me, John Suscovich Camps Road Farm Kent Falls Brewing Company Neversink Spirits
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GFP086: It Is My Birthday
I'm a day older than I was yesterday, but today I got to use a whole new number. I've made it to 31 and I'm pretty happy about it. In this podcast episode I talk about what my plans are for the farm this year and why they are that way. Then I go over what's happening on Farm Marketing Solutions…
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GFP084: Starting a Farm Crawl
There was a problem that I now had a farm stand, I did a lot of work to make my farm beautiful and accessible, but no one was showing up. How do you get people on your farm without breaking your marketing budget? The answer: Farm Crawl A farm crawl is a one day event where multiple farms in the...
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GFP083: 5 Lessons Learned On Farm This Year
I know we have all learned a lot this year. There have been good times, there have been bad times, and everything in between. This farm podcast episode focuses on five lessons learned by one of the Farm Finance Challenge participants Jonathan Woodford of Sugarwood Acres. Better record keeping is...
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GFP082: Managing Employees
I am super pleased to bring Curtis Stone back on the show for another episode to talk all about managing the farm, employees, and growing more farmers for the future. We cover the nitty-gritty of harvesting information on farm and what to do with that information once you have it. Managing...
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GFP081: On The Shoulders Of Giants
What separates professionals from amateurs is experience. There's no getting around experience. You can read all the books, watch all the videos, take all the classes, but until you try and do whatever it is you're trying to do it's all just theory. What I cannot help be be fixated on these days…
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GFP080: Welcome Back!
Hello everyone! The podcast was on hiatus as we deal with the technical issues of a 3 year old website and podcast. Technologies change and I was unable to farm and keep on top of the changing times. But that's OK! Because the Growing Farms Podcast is back. Back with the every other week…
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FFC004: Lightbulbs
Topics covered in this farm podcast: John & Scott do not like Skype Windows 10 might reinvent how we look at garbage John's going on vacation, Scott too has gone on vacation Is there valor in working long hours? Hours Tracker App on iPhone for logging work hours Accepting that things will not be...
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GFP079: How to Start a Hop Yard
Topics covered in this farm podcast include: Mistakes made when starting a hop yard What hops are How hops are grown How many plants can you fit per acre for production Sometimes there's just no choice but to spray Insight into the Craft Beer Industry's effect on hop production Where do you find...
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FFC003: Talking Nonsense
Scott's microphone is marginally improved, though slightly robotic John's feelin' good post-meltdown and the farm's running smoothly Bears! A bear on the farm There are B.S. artists out there. Dr. Oz is one. The Food Babe is another The Food Babe makes some pretty outrageous claims John gets...
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GFP078: Commercial Kitchen on Farm
Have you considered diversifying with a commercial kitchen? Diversifying your farms' offerings is always a good idea. Many of the guests who have been on this podcast have talked about it, and it is a large part of my business model. Have you considered diversifying with a commercial kitchen? On...
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FFC002: I Call Shenanigans
Scott traveled to Iceland and Denmark John tailoring FMS to different situations than New England farming John disliking possessions/responsibilities as it relates to travel Scott taking stock of possessions while moving, realizing there's very little Micromanagement and preventive measures to...
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GFP077: Permaculture Voices
What we are about at Permaculture Voices.. How can you change the world if you can't make a living in the process? It's too common for people within the permaculture and sustainability movement to do work that they care about, but scrape by financially. And the reality of that is, at the end of…
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About this show
Inspiring and educating the next generation of farmers and homesteaders with practical pasture-based livestock production information, farm marketing advice and strategies, and a boat load of good feelings!
Hosted by
John Suscovich