Agriculture Today

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Practical agriculture guidance, one segment at a time.

The gist

Agriculture Today is a workday-ready agricultural news and advice program built around direct conversations with extension specialists, economists, veterinarians, and students. Episodes move quickly from grain prices and cattle vaccines to pond turnover, hay quality, weeds, weather, horticulture, and farm programs.

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About Agriculture Today

Agriculture Today is a daily-style agricultural information program shaped around direct, utilitarian conversations. Its center is Kansas, but the subject matter reaches into national markets, animal health, weather systems, public programs, and production decisions that matter well beyond one state. The show moves fast. A single episode can start with grain futures and USDA reports, shift into New World Screwworm risks, and close with advice on fertilizing tomato plants. Another can pair feeder cattle and packer economics with pokeweed management and pond turnover. The tone is practical rather than glossy. Specialists explain what producers should look for, what can be controlled, and where weather, markets, pests, or policy limit the options. That gives the show a steady extension-service feel: useful, current, and built for people with fields, herds, equipment, ponds, gardens, or agricultural responsibilities to manage. Livestock coverage is especially concrete, ranging from cattle vaccination choices and syringe care to hay quality, dairy cooling systems, beef-on-dairy genetics, and summer heat stress. Crop and land segments bring the same level of specificity to erosion, soil health after heavy rain, harvest mapping, drone spraying, wild onion, wild garlic, soybean herbicide timing, and peanut yield forecasting. Markets are not treated as scoreboard chatter. Grain prices, exports, feeder cattle values, loan programs, and processor pressure are framed as conditions producers must navigate. The show also makes room for students, research projects, and K-State team achievements, so it is not only about immediate problems. It documents the educational pipeline behind the industry. Agriculture Today is best for listeners who want clear agricultural guidance in short segments, with credible voices and little ornament. It is not a personality-first talk show. Its value comes from the steady accumulation of field notes, market context, animal-care reminders, and extension expertise.

Made for: Agriculture Today is for producers, ranchers, growers, ag students, extension-minded landowners, and rural listeners who want timely, usable information. It also suits anyone tracking Kansas agriculture through markets, weather, livestock, crops, and public programs.

What sets it apart: The show stands out by combining quick radio pacing with specialist-level detail from agricultural, veterinary, economic, horticultural, and environmental voices. It connects markets, field conditions, animal care, and policy to decisions producers may need to make immediately.

In their own words

Agriculture Today is a daily program hosted by Shelby Varner and distributed to radio stations throughout the state. It features K-State agricultural specialists and other experts examining agricultural issues facing Kansas and the nation. Kansas State University has produced daily, ag-related broadcasts since KSAC radio first went on the air in 1924. Send comments, questions or requests for copies of past programs to [email protected]‑State Research and Extension is a short name for the Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service, a program designed to generate and distribute useful knowledge for the well‑being of Kansans. Supported by county,…

As heard by us

Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026

Agriculture Today connects agricultural markets and farm management through practical interviews grounded in prices, production risks, technology, and animal care.

Shelby Varner keeps Agriculture Today close to the decisions that shape a farm's working day. Interviews with agricultural specialists connect cattle prices, grain reports, exports, dairy genetics, field mapping, and spraying technology to their practical consequences.

Read our full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

Cattle prices meet the vaccine cooler; your to-do list probably has room for both.

Press play if you want

  • to understand why feeder cattle prices don't tell the whole story when packers are losing money
  • to catch the easily missed part of cattle vaccination: keeping doses cool until they reach the pasture
Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →
grain markets and USDA reportscattle prices and livestock economicscrop weeds and herbicide timinghay quality and forage managementlivestock health and heat stressKansas weather and severe stormssoil, water, and erosion concernshorticulture and garden care

Talks about

Podcasts like Agriculture Today

Episodes

  1. 1

    2218 - Using Data for Fields and Spraying...Heat Impacting Livestock and Humans

    Hidden gem

    Deepak Joshi, K-State Agriculture Precision Specialist, says combine yield data can become yield maps that show high-, low-, and medium-performing parts of a wheat field.

    Jul 7, 2026·28m·2 clips
  2. 2

    2217 - Cattle and Cutout Prices...Pokeweed in Fields

    Hidden gem

    Elliot Dennis says feeder cattle futures posted a broad sell-off, with CME futures down about $11 per hundredweight and packers losing about $200 a head around the July 4 week.

    Jul 6, 2026·28m·1 clip
  3. 3

    2216 - Grain Market Response to Reports...Can Humans get New World Screwworm?

    Hidden gem

    Daniel O'Brien says the June 30 USDA report pushed grain markets higher because corn stocks came in at 5.295 billion bushels, below the 5.408 billion estimate, while winter wheat planted acres fell to 31.52 million.

    Jul 2, 2026·28m·1 clip
  4. 4

    2215 - U.S. Landmark Legal Decisions...Soil, Water and Crop Quality

    Hidden gem

    A $2,000 Michigan tax dispute, a $76,000 auction sale, and a Roundup preemption ruling anchor Agriculture Today's legal segment with K-State and Washburn Law Professor Raj McOwen.

    Jul 1, 2026·28m·2 clips
  5. 5

    2214 - Understanding More About Hantavirus...Goat and Sheep Breeding

    Jun 30, 2026·28m
  6. 6

    2213 - Calm Cattle Market...Starting to See Brown Recluse Spiders

    Jun 29, 2026·28m
  7. 7

    2212 - Waiting on USDA Reports for the Grain Market...Corn Disease Concerns

    Jun 26, 2026·28m
  8. 8

    2211 - What is Popular in Dairy Products...How the Perception of Dairy has Shifted

    Jun 25, 2026·28m
  9. 9

    2210 - Communication Between D.C. and Producers...Summer Learning for Youth

    Jun 24, 2026·28m
  10. 10

    2209 - What is Being Expected for Farm Income...Cattle in the Feedlot

    Jun 23, 2026·28m
  11. 11

    2208 - Cattle Report and Factors for the Market...June Cattle Management Needs

    Jun 22, 2026·28m
  12. 12

    2207 - Grain Market Price Trends...Getting a Handle on Mosquitoes

    Jun 19, 2026·28m
  13. 13

    2206 - Making Sure Cattle Have Enough Water...Feeding Pigs for Market

    Jun 18, 2026·28m
  14. 14

    2205 - OBBBA Creates Financial Change for Agriculture...A Look from Above for Wheat

    Jun 17, 2026·28m
  15. 15

    2204 - Extension Involvement for Wildlife Specialists...Weather Damaging Kansas Crops

    Jun 16, 2026·28m
  16. 16

    2203 - Taking a Look into the Cattle Market...Weed Management After Wheat Harvest

    Jun 15, 2026·28m
  17. 17

    2202 - Corn and Sorghum Conditions...Record Soybean Crush

    Jun 12, 2026·28m
  18. 18

    2201 - Insurance for Annual Forages...Controlling Weeds in Wheat Before the Combine

    Jun 11, 2026·28m
  19. 19

    2200 - Farm Service Agency Loans and Look Ahead...Beetles and Rootworms in Kansas Crops

    Jun 10, 2026·28m
  20. 20

    2199 - Picking Out a Crop for Double Cropping...Helping with Weed Suppression

    Jun 9, 2026·28m
  21. 21

    2198 - More Tightening of the Cattle Market...New World Screwworm

    Jun 8, 2026·28m
  22. 22

    2197 - Crop and Price Conditions...Trying to Control Sericea Lespedeza

    Jun 5, 2026·28m
  23. 23

    2196 - Pests in Crops and Alfalfa...Grain Expectations in Ukraine

    Jun 4, 2026·28m
  24. 24

    2195 - Scam in Rural Real Estate...How Kansas Wheat is Doing

    Jun 3, 2026·28m
  25. 25

    2194 - Invasive Species in Water...Dredging of Sedimentation

    Jun 2, 2026·28m
  26. 26

    2193 - Financial Sentiment Impacts on the Cattle Market...Mitigating Heat Concerns

    Jun 1, 2026·28m
  27. 27

    2192 - Ongoing Grain Market Seasonality...Cotton Thrips

    May 29, 2026·28m
  28. 28

    2191 - Looking at Fields from a Drone...Helping Have Healthy Animals

    May 28, 2026·28m
  29. 29

    2190 - Programs at FSA for Drought and Disaster...Getting Cattle Enough Mineral

    May 27, 2026·28m
  30. 30

    2189 - Cattle Trade and Weather...Chinch Bugs Concerns

    May 26, 2026·28m
  31. 31

    2188 - Grain Trade Deal...Understanding the Past Week of Weather

    May 22, 2026·28m
  32. 32

    2187 - Considerations for Sorghum Planting...Early Weaning for Drought Management

    May 21, 2026·28m
  33. 33

    2186 - Did the Court Decision Go To Far?...Clean Fields for Sorghum

    May 20, 2026·28m
  34. 34

    2185 - Wildlife Trapping Options...Noxious Weed List

    May 19, 2026·28m
  35. 35

    2184 - Beef Market and Drought Conditions...Brush Management

    May 18, 2026·28m
  36. 36

    2183 - Market Changes from USDA Reports...Water Infrastructure for Rural Kansas

    May 15, 2026·28m
  37. 37

    2182 - Factors that Contributed to 2025 Farm Income...Farm Income Around the State

    May 14, 2026·28m
  38. 38

    2181 - CRP and Forage Programs...Tour of Kansas Wheat

    May 13, 2026·28m
  39. 39

    2180 - Grilling to Celebrate Beef Month...Clothes for the Hot Summer

    May 12, 2026·28m
  40. 40

    2179 - Concerns in the Cattle Market...Controlling Volunteer Corn and Gramoxone

    May 11, 2026·28m
  41. 41

    2178 - What Crops are Planted...Fields Getting Too Much Rain

    May 8, 2026·28m
  42. 42

    2177 - Going to Veterinary School at K-State...Coming Back to be the Dean

    May 7, 2026·28m
  43. 43

    2176 - Understanding Agricultural Experts in Cases...Farm Safety for Kids

    May 6, 2026·28m
  44. 44

    2175 - Deterring Birds with Lasers...E15 for Farmers and Customers

    May 5, 2026·28m
  45. 45

    2174 - Cattle Market Cash and Contracts...Concerns for Kansas Wheat

    May 4, 2026·28m
  46. 46

    2173 - Grain Market Volatility...Will we Have a New Farm Bill?

    May 1, 2026·28m
  47. 47

    2172 - Tariffs Disrupting States...State Impacts from Imports and Exports

    Apr 30, 2026·28m
  48. 48

    2171 - FSA Drought Program...Stunted or Low Performing Alfalfa

    Apr 29, 2026·28m
  49. 49

    2170 - Making Decisions for Cattle Turnout...Sharing Extension

    Apr 28, 2026·28m
  50. 50

    2169 - Cattle Market Factors and Impacts...Encountering Snakes

    Apr 27, 2026·28m
  51. 51

    2163 - Grain Prices and Exports...Will we See More Rain in Kansas?

    Hidden gem

    Agriculture Today covers April 16 grain markets with K-State grain economist Daniel O'Brien, including wheat futures up 19.25 cents, corn exports at roughly 87% of the USDA's 3.3 billion-bushel goal, and uncertainty from weather and fertilizer prices.

    Apr 17, 2026·28m·1 clip
  52. 52

    2162 - Champion Meat Evaluation Members...Peanut Production

    Hidden gem

    Agriculture Today episode 2162 features Riley Miller and Olivia Nitschke describing K-State’s national champion meat animal evaluation team and its three-day contest.

    Apr 16, 2026·28m·2 clips
  53. 53

    2161 - FSA Program Loans, Rates and Deadlines...Cutting and Maintaining Quality Hay

    Hidden gem

    David Shimm of the Kansas Farm Service Agency describes more than 5,500 Kansas producers holding over $1.3 billion in FSA loans, including refinancing up to $400,000 at 4.75%.

    Apr 15, 2026·28m·1 clip
  54. 54

    2160 - Cattle Vaccination Choices...Taking Care of Vaccines and Syringes

    Hidden gem

    Agriculture Today features K-State Extension Beef Veterinarian A.J.

    Apr 14, 2026·28m·1 clip
  55. 55

    2159 - Cattle Market Reactions and Slaughter...Fertilizer Recommendation Tools

    This episode of Agriculture Today covers cattle market reactions, fertilizer recommendation tools, and the impact of spring rain on water sources.

    Apr 13, 2026·28m
  56. 56

    2158 - Wheat, Grain Sorghum, Corn and Soybean Domestic and International Market

    Apr 10, 2026·28m
  57. 57

    2157 - Wheat Rust Outlook...Understanding Biofuels in the U.S.

    Apr 9, 2026·28m
  58. 58

    2156 - Who Owns the Data of the Farm...What is Included on a Feed Tag

    Apr 8, 2026·28m
  59. 59

    2155 - Feral Swine Damage and Management...Being Aware of Ticks

    Apr 7, 2026·28m
  60. 60

    2154 - Increases in the Cattle Market and Demand...Seeing Already Planted Corn and Getting Planted

    Apr 6, 2026·28m
  61. 61

    2153 - Grain Market Impacts and Prices...Planting Soybeans in the Field

    Apr 3, 2026·28m
  62. 62

    2152 - Weevils and Aphids in Alfalfa...Winter Canola Freeze Concerns

    Apr 2, 2026·28m
  63. 63

    2151 - Programs for Farmers....Learning Opportunity for Women in Cattle

    Apr 1, 2026·28m
  64. 64

    2150 - Kansas Feedlots Inputs and Outputs...Ag Tech Day for Youth

    Mar 31, 2026·28m
  65. 65

    2149 - Supply of the Cattle Market...Agriculture in Brazil

    Mar 30, 2026·28m
  66. 66

    2148 - Factors Outside of the Grain Market...Mites Damaging Wheat Fields

    Mar 27, 2026·28m
  67. 67

    2147 - How Wheat is in Kansas...Combination of Issues for Wheat

    Mar 26, 2026·28m
  68. 68

    2146 - States Impacting Food and Agricultural Laws...Marestail Control

    Mar 25, 2026·28m
  69. 69

    2145 - Aquatics Impact from Prescribed Burning...Ag Day

    Mar 24, 2026·28m
  70. 70

    2144 - Tight Cattle Market...Peer to Peer Learning for Youth

    Mar 23, 2026·28m
  71. 71

    2143 - Grain Futures, Cash, Transportation and Exports...Erosion Concerns After Wildfire

    Mar 20, 2026·28m
  72. 72

    2142 - Looking in Alfalfa and Wheat Fields for Pests...The Hemp Hype

    Mar 19, 2026·28m
  73. 73

    2141 - Using CRP and Hearing from Around the State...Giving Crops and Herbicides their Best Chance

    Mar 18, 2026·28m
  74. 74

    2140 - Mealworms for Poultry Protection from HPAI...Teamwork for Avian Research

    Mar 17, 2026·28m
  75. 75

    2139 - Input and Output of the Cattle Market...Preparing Irrigation Systems

    Mar 16, 2026·28m
  76. 76

    2138 - Kansas Commodities...Grain Market Economics and Impacts

    Mar 13, 2026·28m
  77. 77

    2137 - Managing Ground After Wildfire...Putting Cattle Back Out on Forages

    Mar 12, 2026·28m
  78. 78

    2136 - Planning for Long-term Care to Protect the Farm...First Hollow Stem

    Mar 11, 2026·28m
  79. 79

    2135 - Wildlife Around Brush Piles...Annual Medical Exam

    Mar 10, 2026·28m
  80. 80

    2134 - Market Demand in Cattle...Ryegrass Control

    Mar 9, 2026·28m
  81. 81

    2133 - March Grain Market Expectations...A Mixture of Weather

    Mar 6, 2026·28m
  82. 82

    2132 - Price Changes for Crude Oil and Gas...Neospora, From Canine to Cattle

    Mar 5, 2026·28m
  83. 83

    2131 - Where the FSA Director has Been...Water Meetings in Southwest Kansas

    Mar 4, 2026·28m
  84. 84

    2130 - Starts of This Year's Crop Pests...Evaluating Damaged Brome Fields

    Mar 3, 2026·28m
  85. 85

    2129 - Livestock Market Trade and Storage...Price Discovery Numbers

    Mar 2, 2026·28m
  86. 86

    2128 - Grain Market Supply and Demand...Cattle Care After Fires

    Feb 27, 2026·28m
  87. 87

    2127 - Livestock Risk Protection for Feeder Cattle...Kansas Cattle Risk Management

    Feb 26, 2026·28m
  88. 88

    2126 - Prairie Fires Tax Hurdles...Broadcast Seeding Legumes

    Feb 25, 2026·28m
  89. 89

    2125 - Livestock Pond Health...Bull and Female Selection and Sale

    Feb 24, 2026·28m
  90. 90

    2124 - Cattle Market Report and Factors...Mineral Supplementation

    Feb 23, 2026·28m
  91. 91

    2123 - Grain Market Adjustments and Futures Prices...Customer Service in Agriculture

    Feb 20, 2026·28m
  92. 92

    2122 - 2025 Losses for Crop Insurance...Animal Welfare and Heavier Cattle

    Feb 19, 2026·28m
  93. 93

    2121 - Producer Access and Programs with FSA...Nutritional Impact on Milk Yield

    Hidden gem

    This episode covers FSA programs for beginning farmers, research on dairy cow nutrition's impact on milk yield and reproduction, and emergency planning for livestock.

    Feb 18, 2026·28m·1 clip
  94. 94

    2120 - Over-the-Top Dicamba Rules...Cattlemen's Day Looks Into the Future

    Feb 17, 2026·28m
  95. 95

    2119 - Meat Demand Market...Winter Kochia Control

    Feb 16, 2026·28m
  96. 96

    2118 - Grain Market Report...Macroeconomic Topic Impacts

    Feb 13, 2026·28m
  97. 97

    2117 - Changes to ARC and PLC...What Growers Should Evaluate

    K-State experts discuss how ARC, PLC, and crop insurance work together in modern farm risk management.

    Feb 12, 2026·28m
  98. 98

    2116 - Pesticide Problems and Decisions...Wildfire Awareness

    This episode covers pesticide shield laws and litigation, Kansas Wildfire Awareness Week, and a discussion on leaky gut in cattle.

    Feb 11, 2026·28m
  99. 99

    2115 - Social Media Videos of Wildlife...Kansas Wheat Fields

    This episode of Agriculture Today covers wildlife social media misinformation and the condition of Kansas wheat fields, plus previews K-State Dairy Days.

    Feb 10, 2026·28m
  100. 100

    2114 - Cattle Policies and Processing...Cost-Savings Weed Management

    This episode covers cattle market updates, processing capacity, and site-specific weed management for cost savings, along with a preview of K-State Junior Beef Producer Day.

    Feb 9, 2026·28m