What 30 Years of Farm Policy Did to Rural America @ JR Burdick | Ep #121

In this episode we cover why beef and dairy prices are climbing for reasons that go far beyond inflation, and what three decades of farm policy have cost rural America.

JR Burdick runs Nourishing Family Farm in north-central Missouri, milking dairy cows and raising hogs, and has sold direct-to-consumer since 2023 after leaving conventional commodity markets and USDA subsidy programs in 2022. This is his third appearance on the show.

Key topics

Why beef and dairy prices reflect a 30-year supply crisis, not inflationHow the 1994 Freedom to Farm Act shifted risk from government to farmersHow Smithfield-style integrators used farmer equity to consolidate the hog industryThe 2009 Dairy Depression and 2015 Holcomb fire's lasting effect on cattle herd confidenceWhy cheap fuel, money, and labor are gone — and what that means for small farmsDirect-to-consumer dairy: correcting consumer misconceptions and building trustJR's shift to organic farming and leaving USDA subsidy programs

Timestamps

0:00 – Intro, reconnecting with JR

2:00 – Affordability crisis: inflation vs. supply

5:00 – 1994 Freedom to Farm Act and the shift to income-based policy

9:00 – Hog contracts and the Smithfield equity play

16:00 – Ethanol/biodiesel bankruptcies and the 2009 Dairy Depression

23:00 – BSE scare and the 2015 Holcomb fire's lasting impact on cattle herds

28:00 – Cheap fuel, cheap money, cheap labor — and why that era's over