The Generational Crisis That Could Destroy the Family Farm

Barn Talk

Tork and Sawyer Whisler

Business

4.9 • 1.7K Ratings

🗓️ 3 May 2026

⏱️ 75 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Welcome back to Barn Talk! In today’s episode, you'll get a front-row seat for a deep, honest conversation with Luke Schultz, a fifth-generation cattleman from the heart of Kansas and a seasoned ag lender at Conterra Ag. Known as the “Force of Nature,” Speaker A shares how his upbringing in the Flint Hills shaped his approach to both ranching and banking. Speaker B and Speaker C dig into everything from the evolving world of agricultural lending, to multi-generational farm transitions, to the state of the cattle market and creative ways producers are adapting in uncertain times. From stories of Mormons feeding gum to hard truths about land consolidation, succession planning, interest rates, and capitalizing on long bull runs in livestock, there’s wisdom for every listener, young or old, in or out of agriculture. Plus, you’ll hear candid thoughts on trades vs. college, the unintended effects of pop culture on rural life, and what it really takes for a farm family to thrive across generations. If you’re interested in the real stories, challenges, and innovations happening on America’s farms and ranches and want to hear it from folks who truly walk the walk this episode is for you. Pull up a seat and join the conversation! JOIN THE BARN TALK NEWSLETTER & GET LIVE EVENT ACCESS: We're on a mission to get 10,000 subscribers, and once we do, we're hosting a live event at the barn! Sign up to get exclusive access to tickets and details.👇🏻 Help us get there: https://www.joinbarntalk.com SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST ➱ https://bit.ly/3a7r3nR SUBSCRIBE TO THIS’LL DO FARM ➱ https://bit.ly/2X8g45c LISTEN ON: SPOTIFY ➱ https://open.spotify.com/show/3icVr4KWq4eUDl7Oy60YMY APPLE ➱ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/barn-talk/id1574395049 Follow Behind The Scenes👇🏻 ● Barn Talk Instagram ➱ https://www.instagram.com/barntalkshow ● Barn Talk TikTok ➱ https://bit.ly/3qciekS ● Sawyer’s Instagram ➱ https://bit.ly/3BtX0n4 ● Tork’s Instagram ➱ https://bit.ly/3LGZJxS ● Sawyer’s X ➱ https://x.com/SawyerWhisler ● Tork’s X ➱ https://x.com/TorkWhisler 00:00 Promoting the Barn Talk newsletter 05:36 Banks exiting agricultural loans 12:15 Discovering a career in ag finance 19:09 Consumer demand for premium cattle 24:18 Cow-calf production cost dynamics 31:16 Conservative lending practices 34:58 Reflecting on modern farming comforts 43:07 Discussing Fed leadership stance 45:26 Understanding production and financials 51:58 Impact of Yellowstone on cowboy brands 57:27 Challenges in cooperative farming 01:01:31 Helping businesses avoid foreclosure 01:07:12 Parenting and career advice 01:12:52 Importance of family support ------------------------------- ⚠NO FINANCIAL ADVICE / DISCLAIMER⚠ The Information discussed and shared on Barn Talk is provided for educational, informational, and entertainment purposes only, without any express or implied warranty of any kind, including warranties of accuracy, completeness, or success for any particular purpose. The Information contained in or provided from or through this podcast is not intended to be and does not constitute financial advice, investment advice, trading advice, or any other advice. The Information on this podcast and provided from or through our content is general in nature and is not specific to you, the user or anyone else. You should not make any decision, financial, investment, trading or otherwise, based on any of the information presented on this podcast without undertaking independent due diligence and consultation with a professional, professional broker or financial advisory. Understand that you are using any and all Information available on or through this website at your own risk. RISK STATEMENT– The trading of Bitcoins, alternative cryptocurrencies, NFTs, individual stocks, etc. has potential rewards, and it also has potential risks involved. Trading may not be suitable for all people. Anyone wishing to invest should seek his or her own independent financial or professional advice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	All of the food we eat and much of the clothing we wear comes from plants and animals that are raised on farms.
0:05.7	Farms are different in type, in size, and even in name.
0:54.7	Welcome to Barn Talk. What happens at the barn stays in the barn, but not today. We're going to let it all out for you guys. Today is going to be a great guest episode. We got a lender coming from Contera that's also a cattle farmer, cattle rancher out in Kansas. So there's a lot of good stuff. I think we're going to talk about on this episode. I think you're going to get some value and you're going to enjoy it. If you do get any value, all that we ask that you do to help us out here at Barn Talk is to share the show with the people that you know. The more that you guys do that, the more of this show grows, and it's kind of the ticket to admission to watch or listen to the show. We just found the best way to grow a podcast
1:00.8	is through word of mouth and through you guys just sharing it with the people that you love. So
1:05.8	we appreciate all you that do that. Another thing you can do to help us out here at Barn Talk is
1:10.7	leave a review on Spotify or Apple. It takes you can do to help us out here at Barn Talk is leave a review
1:11.2	on Spotify or Apple. It takes you two seconds. It really helps our credibility as a show so we can get
1:16.9	more credible guests to come to the podcast and have great conversations with us. And the more
1:22.9	of those reviews pile up, the better it makes our show look. So we appreciate you all that do that.
1:29.0	Last thing you can do to support Barn Talk is to go sign up for our weekly newsletter at
1:35.9	join barn talk.com. We're putting out a weekly newsletter all about agriculture, the trades.
1:42.6	Basically, anything that's going on in rural America that we
1:45.8	think is worth sharing and sharing our perspective on, we're talking about it on there.
1:50.0	And we'd love to interact with you guys. You can reply to the newsletter. We have a goal right
1:55.6	now that if we ever, when we reach 10,000 subscribers on that newsletter that newsletter we want to throw a live event right here
2:03.4	on our farm at the barn and meet you guys interact with you guys have some great speakers come to
2:08.4	the farm to give some value and put on a pretty kick-ass event drink some bushlight drink some
2:13.6	bourbon you know all the good things how are you doing i'm doing good and i just wanted to tell everybody, we're not going to spam you when you sign up. I promise, I won't send you any of my pyramid schemes, you know, it's just the newsletter. It doesn't cost you anything. No shirtless picks. You're not going to send any shirtless picks, right? No, no. That hasn't been as lucrative as I thought it was going to be anyway. I really thought that... Oh, I thought no feet picks either or your hands. Well, I used to be a hand model until I smash that one finger right there. It's a little crooked now. Yeah, I had big things. And then, you know, my modeling career kind of went to hell when they shut down Abercrombie and Finch because that used to be me when you walked in there on the wall. They're still going. Abercombe's still going.
2:54.4	They changed
2:54.5	their marketing. I don't get royalties anymore. So yeah, all I got, all I got is this in the
3:00.1	newsletter. So, you know, please feel sorry for me and support us. You shaved your beard. I did shave. Yep.
3:05.6	I don't know. The goatee was getting to be problematic.
	...

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