Podcast Extra: Navigating Macroeconomic Shocks with John Kempf and Dr. Michael McNeill - Acres Eco-Ag Conference 2025
Regenerative Agriculture Podcast
AEA Marketing
4.7 • 548 Ratings
🗓️ 8 January 2026
⏱️ 73 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this Podcast Extra, John Kempf speaks with Dr. Michael McNeill at the Acres U.S.A. Eco-Ag Conference in December 2025. During their conversation, they field questions from the audience and dive deep into the intersection of macroeconomics, history, and the future of farming.
Topics discussed include:
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The historical context of the 1962 "Adaptive Program for Agriculture" and its intentional design to reduce the American farm population.
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Personal reflections on the 1980s farm crisis and the role of high-interest rates in driving farm bankruptcies and consolidation.
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Strategies for developing resilient farming systems that can withstand economic shifts, political changes, and climate volatility.
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A vision for a "major reset" in American agriculture within the next five years, shifting toward either massive consolidation or smaller food-as-medicine operations.
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The critical role of collaboration and mentorship between older and younger generations to facilitate land transition and knowledge sharing
Additional Resources
To learn more about Acres U.S.A, please visit: https://www.acresusa.com/
To listen to a previous Regenerative Agriculture Podcast episode featuring Dr. McNeill, please visit: https://advancingecoag.com/podcast/disease-resistance-and-regenerating-soil-with-michael-mcneill/
About John Kempf
John Kempf is the founder of Advancing Eco Agriculture (AEA). A top expert in biological and regenerative farming, John founded AEA in 2006 to help fellow farmers by providing the education, tools, and strategies that will have a global effect on the food supply and those who grow it.
Through intense study and the knowledge gleaned from many industry leaders, John is building a comprehensive systems-based approach to plant nutrition – a system solidly based on the sciences of plant physiology, mineral nutrition, and soil microbiology.
Support For This Show & Helping You Grow
Since 2006, AEA has been on a mission to help growers become more resilient, efficient, and profitable with regenerative agriculture.
AEA works directly with growers to apply its unique line of liquid mineral crop nutrition products and biological inoculants. Informed by cutting-edge plant and soil data-gathering techniques, AEA's science-based programs empower farm operations to meet the crop quality markers that matter the most.
AEA has created real and lasting change on millions of acres with its products and data-driven services by working hand-in-hand with growers to produce healthier soil, stronger crops, and higher profits.
Beyond working on the ground with growers, AEA leads in regenerative agriculture media and education, producing and distributing the popular and highly-regarded Regenerative Agriculture Podcast, inspiring webinars, and other educational content that serve as go-to resources for growers worldwide
Learn more about AEA's regenerative programs and products: https://www.advancingecoag.com
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome everyone. I've been really fascinated by the topic of macroeconomics in general, |
| 0:08.0 | understanding how our banking system works, and understanding how macroeconomics really influence agriculture |
| 0:18.0 | and how they influence farming and the rise and decline of civilizations |
| 0:22.4 | throughout history. |
| 0:24.5 | And when I was having this conversation with Taylor one day and he asked me, he said, well, |
| 0:30.6 | I think you need to talk about this topic at the conference. |
| 0:34.7 | Well, I had all well-meaning intentions to come prepared to this talk |
| 0:42.5 | with lots of notes about specific reports that I had written, specific documentation. |
| 0:49.9 | Thanks to me not having enough to get done, none of that happened. |
| 1:01.5 | But when I was here, I realized there were several people here who I didn't realize we're going to be here, |
| 1:06.6 | who had actually lived through some of the experiences that I wanted to talk about. |
| 1:18.6 | And so what better opportunity than to get some friends up here on the stage and actually have a conversation about some of the things that have happened over the last 60 years around American agriculture and agricultural economics? So I'm very pleased and very delighted to let all of you know that Michael McNeil is here today and he's going to be joining him here on stage to talk about agriculture economics |
| 1:28.1 | because he got the inside story. |
| 1:30.0 | So please welcome Michael. |
| 1:37.5 | Thanks for being here, Michael. |
| 1:40.2 | Yeah. |
| 1:41.6 | All right, so the, we, in a certain sense from, we know that farm economics and farm financial condition is very stressed in the countryside right now. We stand in, I think you could arguably say we stand in very perilous conditions. Many farming operations do. And I think it is important for us to realize, particularly for myself, many of us in the younger generation, |
| 2:09.6 | to recognize and understand how we got to this place. |
| 2:14.6 | It's been very fascinating for me. I grew up listening to my grandfather's stories. |
| 2:20.3 | My grandfather was a conscientious objector during the Second World War. He was born in 1918. |
| 2:26.3 | After the war, after his war service was over, he came back home, got married, bought a farm, |
| 2:32.3 | was a small dairy farm, and he paid for that farm in four years |
... |
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