Popular Pig Podcast Episodes

Navigating Economic Volatility in Agriculture | Matt Erickson

About the Guest

Matt Erickson is currently the Agriculture Economic and Policy Advisor for AgCountry Farm Credit Services, Farm Credit Services of America and Frontier Farm Credit where he provides perspective, insights, and commentary that help connect conditions in the agricultural economy to individual producer impact and resulting impacts to the organization.

Before his role at Farm Credit, Matt accumulated approximately fifteen years of policy and agricultural economic experience in Washington, D.C. Most recently, he served as Chief Economist at the United States Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry under the leadership of former Chairman Pat Roberts (R-KS).

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Advancing Swine Genetics Through Digital Phenotyping | Dr. Eric Psota

About the Guest

Eric Psota is the Digital Innovation Manager at PIC North America. Since joining in 2021, he has been responsible for developing advanced technologies for digital phenotyping using computer vision and machine learning. Specifically, he specializes in multi-object tracking, pose estimation, animal identification, anomaly detection, real-time systems, and edge computing. Prior to joining PIC, he was a researcher at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where he remains on the faculty as an adjunct professor.

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Navigating Change in Swine Farming and Finance | Steve Malakowsky

About the Guest

Steve Malakowsky is the Director of Swine Lending at Compeer Financial. He started as an analyst in 1997 working with swine clients and today leads the Swine Sales team for Compeer. Steve is rooted in the industry, serving as the Allied Industry representative as both a delegate and member of the nominating committee for the National Pork Producers Council.
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The Journey to Reduce Piglet Crushing with SmartGuard® | Matthew Rooda & Abe Espinoza

About the Guests

Matthew Rooda is the Founder and CEO of SwineTech, Inc., where he leads the development of innovative solutions for the pork industry. Through SwineTech’s flagship product, PigFlow®, pork producers are empowered to enhance operational efficiency, optimize resource management, and improve pig care through automation and workforce innovation. (more…)

Next-Generation Biosecurity for Swine Health | Dr. Scott Dee

About the Guest

Scott Dee earned a DVM, MS, and PhD from the University of Minnesota, is board-certified in veterinary microbiology, past President of the American Association of Swine Veterinarians, past Chair of the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) Council on Biologic and Therapeutic Agents and currently serves on the AVMA House of Delegates. After 12 years in swine practice and another 12 years in academia, Scott joined Pipestone Veterinary Services as Director of Applied Research, where he served as Director of Discovery and Innovation for Pipestone for 12.5 years.
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Building an Investable Agriculture Ecosystem | Glenn Argenbright

About the Guest

Glenn Argenbright has 30 years’ experience operating and running a variety of private, pre-IPO, and public technology companies. He has founded over a dozen startup ventures, resulting in three public offerings, nine exits, and billions in shareholder returns. His background includes expertise and projects in software, firmware, middleware, hardware, enterprise, SaaS, consumer goods, and Web and mobile applications.
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Teaching Grit and Leadership Beyond the Farm | Chad Greenway

About the Guest

A native son of South Dakota. Chad Greenway was born and raised on a hog, cattle, and crop farm in Mt. Vernon, SD. He learned the value of hard work, resiliency, and perseverance working daily on the family farm. Growing up in a small rural community Greenway was thrust into leadership positions at an early age on the farm and in the community.

Greenway attended the University of Iowa on a football scholarship. While at Iowa, Greenway was named 3-time All Big Ten and was a 2- time All American. Greenway was on the leadership council all four years of college which is the highest honor voted on by his peers. Greenway graduated with a degree in Communication Studies in December of 2005. (more…)

Navigating Ag-Tech Innovation and Investment | Joel Harris

About the Guest

Leadership & Advocacy

Joel Harris is an active member in Iowa’s biotechnology industry through both of his roles; CEO of Genvax Technologies and Executive Director of the Ag Startup Engine. As co-founder and CEO of Genvax Technologies, Joel is leading his team to develop mRNA + nanoparticle vaccines for livestock. The Genvax team is targeting multiple diseases, most notably swine influenza and the foreign animal disease African Swine Fever. This work requires unique and extensive collaborations that Joel has initiated with state and national leaders in the human and animal biotechnology space, government groups such as the USDA Center for Veterinary Biologics and IEDA and supporting stakeholders like United Animal Health, Iowa Corn Growers Association and Johnsonville Ventures. During 2023 Joel will be networking with government leaders to advocate for support for emerging technologies and bringing those technologies to Iowa. (more…)

Leveraging Data for Smarter Farm Equipment Decisions | Kyle McMahon

About the Guest

After experiencing first-hand the frustration of finding and valuing farm equipment for his corn and soybean farm in Iowa, Kyle McMahon founded Tractor Zoom to better connect good data and investment decisions for dealerships, Farm Credit Associations, Farm Service Agencies, banks, auctioneers, and farmers. In addition to his work at Tractor Zoom, Kyle remains involved in row crop production and swine operations, and has a background in private equity and other entrepreneurial ventures. (more…)

Innovating Swine Health with Elanco’s Non-Antibiotic Solutions | Jenna Seltzer & Angela Vaske

About the Guests

Jenna Seltzer Bio:

Jenna was raised on a diversified grain and pig farm outside of Lebanon, Indiana. Growing up, she was heavily involved in 4H and FFA. Jenna attended Kansas State University where she earned her bachelor’s degree in animal science in December of 2019 and master’s degree in applied swine nutrition in the summer of 2021. Jenna then started with Elanco as a swine account manager in Kansas and Nebraska.

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