- [Announcer] Montana AG Live is made possible by  the Montana Department  of Agriculture,   (guitar thrumming)   the MSU Extension Service,   (guitar thrumming)  the MSU AG Experiment Stations  of the College of Agriculture,   (guitar thrumming)  the Montana Wheat  & Barley Committee,   (guitar thrumming)  Cashman Nursery & Landscaping,   (guitar thrumming)  the Northern Pulse  Growers Association,   (guitar thrumming) and the Gallatin Gardeners Club.
(guitar thrumming) - Good evening, welcome to another edition  of Montana AG Live, originating tonight from the studios of KUSM  on the very dynamic campus we  call Montana State University,   and coming to you over your Montana Public Television system.
I'm Jack Riesselman,  I'm retired professor  of Plant Pathology.
I will be your   host this evening.
We got an interesting  program tonight.
We're gonna talk about some  of the new industries  in the state, some of the industries, AG industries, that have gradually disappeared.
It's a dynamic industry, so we're gonna really take a close look at it,  what's working and what's not,  what's in the future.
If you have questions concerning the AG industries in the state,  we have an expert here tonight  to answer those questions.
Before we get to her, I'm gonna introduce the entire panel.
Way on my left is Mary Burrows.
Mary's back again this week.
She had a tough week.
She spent the night on the road  because of a delayed plane, got in at seven o'clock in the morning.
I'm glad you're here, Mary.
I'd still be sleeping myself.
(Mary chuckles)   (Mac coughs)   Our special guest  this evening, Christy Clark.
Christy is a director of Montana Department of Agriculture.
We've had Christy here  numerous times before.
She's doing a great job for  agriculture in the state.
If you have questions about what the Department of Ag does, and what it does for our state,  hey, tonight's an excellent  opportunity to call in  and find out what's going on  with the Department of Ag.
Tim Seipel.
(Tim chuckles) Tim has a numerous bunch of different titles,   (Tim laughs)   but I just prefer  to call him weed (indistinct).
So if you have  questions about weeds,  and if you live in Montana, I guarantee you, you have weeds.
So if you are  concerned about those,  call that in.
We are having a little trouble  with the phones right now,  but I hope we get  'em fixed in a bit.
If not, you can  email us or Facebook.
So all those ways, you   can get your questions in.
And, Mac Burgess.
Mac is a small farms,  truck farms,  (Mac chuckles)  or whatever you wanna  call it, agronomist.
And he works a lot with developing small farms,  especially crops in the state  and, no, it's not Halloween   by the looks of it   on the front here,  but we can grow some  really fancy different  types of vegetables   and we're gonna get into   that a little bit tonight.
But before we do all that,   our phone answers   are Nancy Blake.
She'll be here in the studio.
And remotely, we have  Judge Bruce Loble, taking questions remote.
So, Christy, tell us  a little bit about  the Department of Ag.
- Thank you, and thanks for  the opportunity to be here.
I'm always happy to talk about  the Department of Agriculture.
So we are one of the smallest  agencies in the state, which is kind of ironic, because we have one of the largest footprints in the state.
And we're basically  separated into two divisions.
We are the marketing division  and we are the  regulatory division.
And both of them are  equally important  as we advance  Montana ag products.
Without a strong regulatory environment, you know, we have to register our pesticides, we have to educate and license our applicators,  without that being, and also our State Grain Lab doing all of those inspections.
If we didn't have that,  we would not have near  the success that we do  in the international  and national markets.
And so, that's basically  what we do at the department.
- You know, I've worked with  the Department of Ag for,  I hate to say how many years.
I'm not going to,   because it would date me.
But it's been a great  organization to work with for,   I won't say half century,  but it's getting  pretty close to that.
And I do wanna thank them  for all the work they  do for the state,  because Montana agriculture  is tops in the nation.
There's no doubt about it.
Some of our crops here   are better than any other   place in the country.
We're number one in pulse   crop production now.
70% of the lentils, correct?
- Yes, 70% of the lentils   are grown in Montana.
- So, you look at the state,   we are highly productive, but not only highly productive,   it's high-quality.
- High-quality.
- So, and quality,  believe or not, really sells.
And we'll get into trade teams with some of this  as we get through the  rest of the program.
Before we do that,  I've got a couple questions  left from last week,   but we've all had   enough of winter.
(panels laughing)  I think.
(chuckles)   (panels laughing)  We're all waiting for spring.
But this question came in through email to me,   and they want to know   what crops to plant early,  which nothing's  gonna get in early.
So, garden crops.
Field crops.
- Crops.
So, is it too late   to plant peas?
- No, it's not too late.
(Tim laughs)  It's not possible where I am, but... (Mary chuckles)  You know, I plant peas  on the first of April  every chance I get,  and then I do it again  the second and the  third week of April.
I don't think that it really  matters much once you, as long as you get 'em in by the end of April.
And I think we've still  got a good chance for that.
- Yeah, I think we  have plenty of time,  but-  - But they say  as soon as the  soil can be worked.
Peas,  peas can tolerate cold  soils pretty well.
Carrots are another one, too.
- Radishes, spinach.
- Yeah.
- Lettuce.
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
- Yeah, field crops.
How about spring wheat?
When can you-   - Yep, earlier the better.
- Yeah, for barley.
- For disease.
Yep, barley.
We're avoiding wheat  streak mosaic virus.
I mean, you're gonna   have to manage the weeds,  which we'll see what  happens when the snow melts and it flushes.
That's always a-  - It is gonna melt.
- A narrow window.
(Mac laughs)  And then you're trying  to get it out into the field, and that's always tough.
At least, it was tough for me.
Last year, we had   the cold spring and the quick turnaround was pretty hard.
- You know, we talked a  little bit before the program.
A lot of years, we have barley that's five, six inches high by now.
And the Park City area,  the Clark Fork, the  Yellowstone, Fromberg, Joliet.
They're still snowing the   ground and building shed, and it's past April Fool's Day.
So, we need some warm  weather definitely.
Christy, this question  came in last week.
I didn't bring it up,  because we really didn't have  the expertise to address it,   but it came from Dillard.
And this person says,  they see nonstop trucks of  beef passing through Dillon,   probably on I-15.
Is Montana beef being mostly  exported out of the state  and the country outta  state and the country?
And is it... Is that why they cannot afford to buy beef?
So that's all your.
- Well, I sympathize  for the price, the  retail price of beef.
I still like to see our   producers get a good price for calves in the fall.
But the truth is, that we've  struggled a little bit with...  We're always going to  be an export state.
We just overproduced,   we just produced way   more than we can consume.
But on that, we did invest   a large amount of money.
It was the COVID relief money,  a large amount of that money  that came from the  federal government.
It was about $17 million that  the Department of  Ag put out in grants  for meat processing  infrastructure.
And that, in a short  amount of time,   in just two years, that doubled the slaughter numbers in the state of Montana,  which I think is  pretty significant.
I'm a pretty firm believer that if you want things to change rapidly, put an investment in it.
And so, we were fortunate  that the governor gave us some  of that COVID relief money  and let us do a grant program  for meat processing plants.
And I think it has   made a difference.
- You know, last week we also had a question, and we kinda...  We do a lot of  dancing around answers  around here once in a while.
(Mac chuckles)  But somebody wanted to know  why we're not having  more Montana lamb?
I mean, I love lamb, but if I buy lamb in this state,   unless you buy a   complete carcass, it's generally from down under,  and not from Montana-grown.
- That's a challenge.
I mean, it is.
I don't think that we have a large population  that consumes a lot of lamb.
And so, I think to get that,  I mean, part of what drives  a market is the consumer.
And there's a  shortage of consumer, or a consumer gets comfortable looking for,  you know, a foreign  source of lamb,  then that's what they  tend to go towards.
I do know that there are,  there is getting to be more and more direct marketing lamb.
And I think is, you know, the silver lining for COVID for me  was when, you know,  people started   to really care about where   their food came from, and meat in particular.
It's easy to go to much easier now than it is, than it had been to get consumer direct meat.
And I've seen lamb popping   up in that category,  and I think you'll see  more and more of that.
And we recently visited the Ellis Ranch,   and they've transitioned,  I mean, an  interesting operation, they have transitioned into a fine wool market.
- Right.
- And they have partnered with Duckworth,  to Duckworth,  and they put out some of the  nicest high-end wool clothing that comes, you know, basically straight outta Montana  into those clothes.
And it is... - [Nancy] Thank you for calling.
- Beautiful stuff.
- It is.
We had John on the program   a couple years ago,   and he brought a nice   wardrobe along to show us.
And that was nice,   but I still prefer   the lamb chops.
(panels laughing) - Okay.
(laughs) - So anyway.
From Malta.
Mary, this person is thinking they would like  to grow some peas this year.
They have a source of seed,  but they want to know,  is it too late to  have the seed tested  and what do they test it for?
- So they can send a seed sample  to the Montana State  Seed Laboratory,   and the Regional Pulse   Crop Diagnostic Laboratory   will test it for disease.
So the Seed Lab test  it for germination, vigor and a whole bunch of different things,  and then we'll test  it for disease.
And for P, the primary  concern is sscochyta blight.
There are a number of viruses.
So, if they know the  origin of the seed,  they can ask the grower what  they might be concerned about.
But we do recommend ascochyta  as kinda the routine thing.
- Okay.
- It's getting a little late,  but, you know, if you're  not gonna plant for a month,  they might be okay.
- I have not been up to Glasgow,  but I talked to a gentleman  up there probably 10 days ago, and he said they still had knee-deep snow, so.
- Yeah, yeah.
As of, you know, insurance   use a seed treatment   that's effective against a   broad range of pathogens, and you can get your results after you plant.
- Okay, thank you.
Couple questions here.
One from Facebook, and  I'll ask that first.
"What is the Department of Ag   and MSU doing to promote   farm to table producers?"
And number two,  this person has heard of a  program called, "Eat Montana."
So, who wants to answer   or explain what those are?
- Mm-hmm.
I can take the local food.
We do a lot to promote  local food in Montana.
And what we're seeing is,  we do a lot through  our grant programs.
We have Growth Through Ag grants   that really encourage   innovative ag ideas that,  that can expand agriculture.
We're seeing a lot of  local food hubs pop-up and that's just,  you know, that's just an area  where people bring their food and people that wanna buy it come and buy it.
And it's...
There's one in Billings,   they're getting to   be pretty popular.
We also have the Local  Purchase Food Program,  and that's a federal grant,  where people can apply it to  the Department of Agriculture  for a grant to  purchase local food,   and especially get that   local food out into areas  that we would consider  food deserts maybe, or where they don't have as much access to it.
- Okay.
- And so we've done, we've done quite a bit.
I mean, there's   always more to do.
We always encourage,  you know, like I said,  the meat processing,  all of that.
We're really seeing the producers that have time and have energy or have a kid at home that, or, you know, a kid that wants to come back home.
That vertical integration  is a really good  economic opportunity.
- All right.
- I can speak to the MSU side of that.
- All right.
- Of course, we have a big   research enterprise here and the squash on the table here  are a product of the  specialty Crop Block Grant,   coming through the Montana   Department of Agriculture.
But in my role as a teacher,  we also have a lot of  impact on students.
So, a recent thing,  this spring semester, the students in a class about introduction  to sustainable agriculture,  have an assignment,  where they're to eat  Montana foods for two days.
And, you know, we  don't get too strict on where their salt comes from.
(panels laughing) They're just gonna write a paper about it,  but I wheeled in all a bunch  of squash and every student,  and the class got a  couple of squash of a,   you wouldn't see for sale   in the grocery store.
And these are Montana-grown   and going on six   months in storage   and still in great shape, eating wise, so.
- You know,  my wife has seen  enough pumpkin soup   when she did a few tours,   (Mac laughing) that she probably doesn't appreciate this.
But can you use these  for squash soup?
- Oh yeah, yeah.
- Pretty good?
- Yeah, yeah.
- We might have to have a   squash cook-off sometime.
- Yeah.
- Right.
- How about a-  - And all the variety here.
You know, some of them were better in November   than they are now,   but pie soup.
- Maybe we could add lamb,  a lamb cooker.
- Now we're thinking.
(laughs)  - Ooh, yeah.
- There we go.
(Jack laughing)   - Maybe with some wontons.
(Mary laughs)  - Sounds like a plan to me.
(panels laughs) Here's one that I just,   fascinates me,   it's from Glasgow.
This person would like  to know the best way  to get rid of  prickly pear cactus,  and he would like to  know how it's spread.
For example,   if the collar drives a   lawnmower over the plant,   will it spread it?
- If you drive a   lawnmower over the plant,  it won't spread it.
There are a number of  herbicides out there  that you can use to  spray on prickly pear.
And a lot of people do that  to reduce prickly pear.
Sometimes it's usually  a broadleaf herbicide,  like a 2,4-D or  something like that.
If you mow it, it will stay.
It will probably regrow out of the ground, but it won't establish.
That chunk of plant  that you chop off,  the lawnmower won't establish.
It won't establish.
- It might give your mower  a flat tire though.
- Yeah, maybe.
(panels laughing)  Yeah, you might want,   yeah, you might wanna have   a good flat tire in there.
You know, usually there's   some grazing management   that goes along when you   get a lot of prickly pear  or depending on where  you are on a slope,  how hot or dry it is.
It can make a big difference  in how much prickly  pear you end up with.
- Okay, thank you.
We had a question come  in via email this week that wanted Christy to talk a little bit about  the feeding of barley  sprouts to cattle.
They saw a picture on one   of the local TV stations that showed cattle with Christy and the governor feeding sprouts to cattle,   and it's very successful.
So I told Christy  about that question,  so she brought a  picture of it down.
So if we could have that pop-up,  and, Christy tell us  what they're doing.
- Sure, so the picture  is at the McCafferty  Ranch outside of Belt.
And the governor and I visited  there a couple of weeks ago,  and it's a really innovative  feeding system that,   they call it hydroponics,  but it's not quite traditional  in the sense that I  think of hydroponics.
- [Jack] Okay, we got  another picture of.
- [Christy That's not the right one.
(laughs)  - Yeah, this is a trade team,  but the one with the  trays and the cattle.
We'll get it up   here in a minute.
- Okay.
- But go ahead, Christy.
- Okay, so, but  basically what it is,   they're just using barley,   maybe a little   bit of field peas,  and they're sprouting that.
And in a short amount of time,   they're just feeding   that out of a tub grinder  to the cattle.
And the cattle do remarkably well on that.
And they are adding a  little bit of roughage  to the diet as well.
But they have created an  almost a drought proof type   of feed for these cattle,  and they're finishing  cattle on it.
They're called grass-fed,  grains sprout-finished cattle.
And that's not the  picture either, but.
- That's still the wrong one.
- [Christy] We'll get there.
- [Jack] We'll  find it eventually.
- Eventually.
But in the picture, you can see the tubs where they're growing the barley and,  and it's just, it is particular system is all automated.
And so, the,   you know, the cost   to get started, you would have to reach out to McCafferty Ranch  to talk to them about that.
The cost to get started is like anything  where there's  equipment involved.
It costs the money, but- - There we go.
(coughs)  - But, it is,  there it is.
But it's a really   effective tool,  and you can see the  tubs in the picture,   and that's where,   that's the tubs of   sprouted barley.
And they get about to that point   and they throw 'em   in the tub grinder and they feed 'em to the cattle.
- So I wanna know,  I mean, I'm not a  sprout salad type guy.
I mean, I like corn on the cob.
I like the basics.
The cattle relish   that, do you know?
Compared to feeding them corn?
- We saw them feeding the cattle   and they all came   up running for it.
And so, it does,  they said, you  know, additionally,  they don't see some  of the health issues  that they do with some  of those real high  carbohydrate types of feed.
The cattle have never  bloated on this.
They seem to do  really, really well,  and they have a pretty  robust, I would say,  market for their meat.
You can go on their website  and you can order the steaks,   but I believe it's very   highly sought after, too.
So they finished  well, they taste good, and the cattle seem generally much healthier than they do on some of those...
I know when I was ranching,  we had our cattle get  into the feed one time  and bloated several of them,  and it's a horrible  thing to see.
But they said they've  experimented with  this sprouted barley  and they haven't experienced  those sorts of health issues.
- Okay, sounds great.
I was fascinated, by the way.
- It is fascinating.
- Yeah.
- Absolutely.
- I like new  innovations like that.
Now whether it will  take off statewide,   probably not, but   you never know.
- But you know, as we  struggle with drought and, you know, loss of pasture,  as you know, we get squeezed  a little bit in Montana.
We have a lot of people that wanna move here and they wanna live on the land,  and they wanna take it out of  maybe agricultural production.
I think we're feeling a squeeze  and that they are  literally growing this in a 40 by 60 building.
- Okay.
You know, we mentioned that,  and I looked at your website,  and we'll get into this now,  because you mentioned  people wanna grow  their own things own.
When I used to run around  the state 20 some years ago,  our average farm size in the  state was roughly 3,000 acres.
It's dropped down to now around 2,300 acres.
Between Christy, Mac, can you explain why our average farm size has decreased?
- Well, I would say  that probably speaks  to the diversification of  our agricultural landscape.
Our portfolio in agriculture  has expanded greatly.
We have cut flower farms now.
We have people growing grapes,  and, Mac, you can  certainly speak more   to those specialty   crops than I can.
But I think that's   also a good sign the family farm is still alive.
- Exactly.
- I'm okay with that,  because that means  that we're not having,  you know, 50,000 acre  corporate farms taking over.
We're still very  much a family farm,  family ranch state.
And just as a  marketing technique,  that's what appeals so much,  especially to some of  these foreign buyers  that are coming in.
They see us and there's still an essence,   I suppose, Ellis and   Yellowstone has maybe done  a few things to  elevate that as well.
- Ooh.
(laughs) - But.
(laughs)   But, go ahead, Mac.
- Yeah, Jack, I think the,   you know, the typical   grain farm growing wheat-  - Will you still make-  - Wheat and barley and peas  is still several times  that size actually.
And that average is biased by a- - [Tim] And those have probably gotten larger over time.
- I agree.
- When you finish it,   there's probably   that 10,000, yeah.
- Yeah.
- But the proliferation of small farms.
Anybody who can grow  $1,500 worth of,  any agricultural product can-  - Qualify.
- Can qualify a farm.
And there's a lot,   like you said,  with a huge diversity of  different products out there   for local economy,   for-   - Mm-hmm.
- It's been fun to see the change in the state,  because historically, we  were just basically a wheat  and barley and alfalfa  and cattle state.
- And we really  still are in the big.
- We are, but we're  much more diversified  than we were 25, 30 years ago.
- Yeah.
(Mac coughs)  - A viewer from Stevensville  via Facebook is interested   in the latest in   controlling hoary alyssum  in the horse pasture.
And that weed has  become a major problem  in this state.
- Yeah.
Jane Mangold has a nice extension publication on hoary alyssum if you go to msuextension.org,  or to the MSU Extension page,   and you can find it there.
I think, in general, there's some herbicides that you can use within a horse pasture.
Maybe, yeah, I would   actually call Jane Mangold  and ask her exactly how to  do it in the horse pasture.
There are some group two sort  of ALS herbicides you can use,  but might damage your grass and you might be better off using something like aminocyclo,  aminopyralid or  something like that.
- Now that's toxic to horses.
That's the reason  we're concerned about  that weed primarily.
- It is.
- Yes.
Yeah, it can be  toxic to horses, yep.
- Yep.
In fact, we're having Jane here.
We're not, on next   week, on Easter,  we're gonna be eating lamb.
I am, anyway.
(Mary laughs) But we're gonna have Jane here in two weeks,  and I will ask her to bring  in some hoary alyssum, so people actually know what it looks like.
- Yep.
- You know, it may be a little early  because there's still snow.
But as soon as   the snow goes out,   it's a white flower plant,  it's pretty easy to identify.
- Yep.
- Mary, this person  from Havre still  has some snow on the ground.
They are concerned.
First, do you anticipate any winter-kill?
And number two, will  the wheat be healthy,   emerging so late and   breaking dormancy so late?
Any issues there?
- So, I used to talk  about winter wheat  and as long as the  snow was covering it,  there shouldn't be a problem.
It went dormant,  and we've had a pretty long,  I don't anticipate  too much winter-kill  unless in the spring,   we have some germination,  then we get a really,  really hard frost.
That's happened   before, for sure.
For disease-wise,  I would say, (tsk-tsks) dwarf bunt is probably of a concern,  because that infects.
During those long winters,   only winter wheat and   then snow mold, of course.
We've got two different kinds of snow mold that will affect the winter wheat and that can certainly cause some winter-kill.
- Is that the same snow mold that we'd see in the turf grass?
- Yeah, very similar.
- One of 'em is, yeah  - Yeah.
- But reality, you'll see probably more of it  in turf grass than you will.
Although, you know- - I've seen it, though.
- Have you seen a lot wheat?
- Yeah, yeah.
- Is it grow in circles?
- That Conrad area,   especially, you'll   get a lot and.
- It will recover,  though, will it not?
- Unless it dies.
- Okay.
- Yeah.
(Mac chuckles)   Some guys have interceded  some spring weed  in it or, you know, called it, but- - Okay.
From Conrad, you just  mentioned Conrad.
This person says  that the average age of the Montana producer is roughly 58 years.
That's the ag farmer producer.
They wanna know,  "Does the Department  of Ag doing anything  to encourage young producers  to get into the agricultural  farming industry?"
- Well, I mean,   we certainly hope that the kids will wanna come back, right?
Or even that, even if you haven't been a farmer necessarily, that you'll find an opportunity to be one if you want.
And part of that again,   is the diversification of   our agricultural portfolio and just giving,  we do a lot, we do a lot with grants and value-added grants, but it's more than that.
It's more about just  telling the story.
The governor and I are out  on the road every month doing  a major media event,  and the intent of those events  is really just to be an  inspiration to other people  and hopefully inspire  people to come back.
The governor has   made a huge push, a Comeback Montana Plan, come back to your roots,  come back home, and has really  rolled out the red carpet  for anybody that  would like to do that.
And so, I'm hoping that,  that we'll see more of that.
I know, I mean, my kids are back on our place  and agriculture's challenging.
I mean, it's challenging  and family dynamics  can be challenging.
And so, hopefully, we'll see more and more  of these young  producers come back.
Diversifying, you know,  some of them have  started growing hops  on five or 10 acres,   you know, on part   of the operation  or, you know,  other opportunities  to have a little bit more of  their own type of operation   in the midst of a   larger operation   to supplement their income  so that the place can  support more than one family.
- Yeah.
I'll put my two cents  worth in right now, which I like to do anyway, but.
(Mac chuckles)   Agriculturally, right now,  we are as healthy in the ag  industry as we've been both, the animal side, the production side, commodity side.
Prices have been good,  costs are up, there's  no doubt about that.
But economically, I think the  farm operations in the state are doing quite well right now.
And you see that in  the enthusiasm in  agriculture right now.
And I like to see that.
- [Nancy] Okay.
- Question from Columbus.
This person sees all   these squash on the table.
(Mac chuckles)   And they're not   a big squash fan, because they can never get them to store well.
And what's the secret  to storing squash,   carrots, potatoes,   things like that?
It's all yours.
- Squash, carrots and   potatoes, something else.
(Jack laughs)   So these are all   harvested here in Bozeman   on September 20th, so they're six months and a couple weeks old.
But these have all been stored in an environment at 50 degrees Fahrenheit in about 50% humidity,  which is pretty ideal.
And it's not a difficult environment (coughs) to achieve,  but it's not, it's something, it's not in the refrigerator, and it's not out on the counter.
If you were to   just leave 'em out  on your counter in your home,  we run our home a little bit  on the cool side of normal, they'll last four months easily.
And then the different  varieties probably  is the biggest thing  that some of your more  typical winter squash  you might see in the store  that are great in November,  like the delicata  or the acorn squash aren't the best keepers.
These ones look okay and  they probably would eat okay,  but these were better to eat,  you know, late  fall, early winter.
But if you wanna have  a good eating squash into the spring months,   some of the kabocha types,   the winter sweet.
That's a heirloom there   called Lower Salmon River.
I cooked one of those up today.
- That's beautiful.
- And these are   bread for storage.
And so, really the secret   is finding the genetics   that are bred for storage,  and a producer that's gonna  let 'em get ripe for you.
And that's something  that can happen  in your local food economy.
You won't see  these in the store.
And if you do see squash in the store right now,   you know, they're   probably spaghetti squash  or butternuts that  were grown somewhere a thousand miles south of here, and they're not gonna be as good a quality as a kabocha type that's been in storage.
- [Christy] These look so fresh.
(Mac laughs)  - You know, we'll go  back a little bit.
- Yeah.
- And probably before your time too, Christy,  but there was once a  big push in this state  to produce kabocha squash to  export to the Japanese market.
And we can put this out as a word of caution.
A couple things happened.
Number one, a lot of people saw dollar signs, so they grew four or five acres.
- Yep.
- And no contract.
(Mac chuckles)  Nobody to pick 'em, and cattle will eat 'em.
And that's what happened to 'em.
So, if you're growing some   of these specialty crops,  make sure you have a market, and I can't stress that enough.
We've gone through   fava beans here.
A lot of other different crops.
Jerusalem artichoke was a big one in the 80s,  it didn't fly.
So be a little bit   cautious there.
But if there's a market, hey, the diversification is great.
No doubt about that.
Okay, we talked  about grapes earlier.
Here we go, are you ready?
(Mac chuckles) This is from Frenchtown,   "The collar has a   raised bed garden in the middle of several Oregon grape bushes.
The roots of the surrounding  Oregon grape bushes  keep growing up in the  collars raised garden,  and decimating it."
How does she get rid of those aggressive roots   without hurting   the Oregon grapes?
- Hmm.
No, she wants to get rid of the Oregon grapes.
- No, she does not.
- She wants to keep   the Oregon grapes.
- Grapes,   but she wants the roots   to stay out of her garden.
- I would just move the garden somewhere else.
(panels laughing)   - Yeah.
(panels laughing)  - [Christy] Plant  more grapes.
(laughs) - That's probably the simplest way to do that.
(Mac chuckles)  From Havre.
This person saw the Ag Pulse  show a couple weeks ago.
And with all the new products,   is there a venue,  where retailers can view these  products through the state?
They really thought the Atlanta beer was unique.
So, do we...  You know, if we're producing  somebody's new products,  how do we introduce  'em into the market?
- Well, I mean, there's several different ways.
The Department of   Agriculture does,  we do Trade Show Assistance.
So, if people want to  attend trade shows,  they can certainly do that.
We do a Montana Food  and Beverage Show,  where we showcase all  of the Montana foods   and beverages that   are produced here.
And we cater that to   restaurants and the parks,  and mostly wholesale.
It's not really  open to the public,  but that's an opportunity  for those wholesalers to come  and see what's new,  what Montana's has innovated.
I mean, that's where we showcase things like  the Lentil Crunchers.
There's a new company,  41 Grains outta circle  that is milling their  own chickpea flour  and making it into some  really delicious brownie mixes   and cookie mixes.
And so, we do that  through the marketing, but then also, Department of Commerce,  that's not us,   but Department of Commerce  also operates a Grown  in Montana website,  and a Made in Montana website.
And you should be able to find  all those products on there.
But then people need to register  to be a part of that as well.
- Right.
- It's free, but if the people that are making the products don't register,   then it's,  people aren't gonna  know how to find them.
- Yeah, I saw a   couple years ago.
Isn't there a show  someplace every year  where they put out  all these products?
- Yeah, the Made in   Montana show is in Helena.
- Okay.
- Usually in February.
- And can anybody go to that?
- Yes, it has a wholesale day on Friday,  and then the public  day is on Saturday.
- Okay, thank you.
That answers that question.
We've had two or three questions over the last couple weeks.
I'm gonna throw a   curve at Tim here.
What's the best way to  get rid of sagebrush?
- Well, sagebrush control, you know, we've,   people have put a   lot of herbicide,   broadleaf herbicide on it.
There's a number of  products that are out there,  Grazon, what I think works.
These 2,4-D products we've, - [Nancy] Okay.
- We've used a lot  of 'em in the state.
I think if you ask   your ag retailer,  they would,  they would tell you,  they would've a good  herbicide for you.
People have used other  methods in the past,  burning, chaining, railing.
There's been a lot of things,   tools that people   have implemented.
The problem with putting mechanical disturbance in a sagebrush area is,  you're gonna have cheatgrass  as soon as you put  that mechanical  disturbance in there.
And so, I would say avoid   the mechanical disturbance  if you can.
And really, don't   disturb that soil,  that soil, if you can.
I would say talk  to your ag retailer  about a herbicide that might,   could be used for   sagebrush control.
- Okay, thanks, Tim.
This is an interesting question.
This person would like to know  how Montana introduces other  countries to Montana products.
And I think, we'll get  into trade teams there because I know the Wheat and Barley Committee   hosts trade teams, the ag,   the animal science group.
Tell us a little bit  about how that happens   and a little bit   about trade teams,  and I know we got a  photo or two of that.
- Yeah, so, I mean,  if anybody is interested in  participating in a trade team,   reach out to the   Department of Agriculture.
I think we're gonna post our website up there,  and just talk to  our marketing team.
We're always looking for people  that are willing to  host a trade team when we bring them here.
And we are pretty,   we're very specific about   what the trade teams do.
They're here either for wheat,  barley, pulse crops  or livestock genetics.
We do a lot with all of those.
And so, Wheat and Barley  handles their own trade teams  and you'd have to reach out to the Wheat and Barley Committee specifically for them.
And then the pulse crops,  that's the Department  of Agriculture.
Reach out to us.
There is a U.S.  Dry Pea and Lentil,  that's a more of a  national organization  that does a lot of the  marketing for the pulse crops.
And then, livestock genetics,   again, reach out   to the department.
We,  how we choose countries is  really not up to us as much.
It's more up to the national organizations.
Those trade teams  are funded somewhat,  like the livestock  genetics in particular  are funded by the  federal government.
And so, it's called USLGE, U.S. Livestock Genetics Export.
And so, it's a membership organization that the Department of Agriculture belongs to.
But it gets a lot  of federal funding.
And so, yeah,  there's part of our,  there's some of our  trade team footage.
And so, we've really  put a lot of emphasis on the South American, Latin American markets.
They seem to be really hungry for our products.
Pulses, in particular, have  been very popular there.
But, you know, barley tends  to be still extraordinarily  strong in Mexico.
We have two large barley, two large beer brewers, both of them in Mexico.
And the last statistic  that I heard was  70% of Mexico's beer is using Montana-sourced barley.
- [Jack] That's pretty high.
- It's pretty high.
So you can drink a Corona   with a free conscience.
- You know what, I   like Corona, too.
(Christy laughing)  And Pacific, though.
(Jack laughs)  - Well,  it's probably Montana barley.
That's why it's so good.
- It is pretty good,  especially good if you're down   on a Mexican beach   staying warm this winter.
(Christy laughing)  - It's not that  good when it's cold  and snowy and both.
(panels laughing)   - Okay.
We have a caller, I'm not sure we can handle this one tonight.
(coughs) But I'll  throw it out there.
He wants to know the best  plants to grow in their garden  and yard to have  pollinators thrive.
Tim, you got any   thoughts on that?
Mac?
- I think lots of blooming.
Think of the early season plants  that you might have  in your garden.
And then I think, think   of the late season plants  that you might have  in your garden.
And I guess for me,  I think of having,  you know, it's early,  but I think I'm having some  of those late  season aster species  that might be around  like a goldenrod, liatris, the dotted gayfeather might be, is another good one you can find  at some of your local  horticultural shops.
I think those would, those would be a couple of them.
I think you want 'em  to be nice and showy.
And I always look for a little bit more green  once we get to August  and they'll still be blooming.
- My cilantro is  always, like, a high.
- Oh man, yeah,   cilantro and dill,  and they're so easy.
- Yeah.
- Is annuals.
- One of my favorite  annual flowers   for that kind of   thing is Phacelia.
It starts with a PH, Phacelia.
It's an annual.
You can direct   seed in the garden  and bees go crazy for that.
- And then the sunflowers.
The bees love 'em  and the birds love.
- Yep.
- Yep, sunflowers.
- What about dandelions in the spring?
- Yep.
- Yep.
Some entomologists have  said to me that dandelions,  too many dandelions  is a little bit like  the high fructose corn  syrup for our world.
(panels laughing) So, there's a trade off.
(panels laughing)   It's good, it's nutrition,  but it may not be  the best nutrition.
- But they do promote  the "No Mow May," which for us is probably "No Mow June."
- Yeah.
- Right.
(Mary laughs)  (Mac laughs)  - Echinacea is a fun,  you know, it's a perennial.
- Yeah.
- You can start from cedar  and buy it at a garden  center.
(coughs)  - All right.
- They do well here.
- Enough of the pollinators.
(panels laughing) - We could go on and on.
(panels laughing)   - That's true.
A person from Helena,  your background,  wants to know,  or, "Is the Department  of Ag doing anything   to encourage more organic   small farms in the state?"
- Well, we are also,  I believe number one  in organic production  still in the state.
We have a very robust  organic program, and yes, we interact with them.
We attend board meetings and we have an organic,  two organic specialists in  the Department of Agriculture.
So, if people are  interested in that,  they need to reach out  to Georgana Webster.
She is the know-all  of everything organic and she's a certified inspector.
Organic is actually set by USDA,  but we do operate  it within the state,  and a lot of states  don't do that.
- Yeah.
- But we continue to do that,  because we just think that  that's such an important part  of Montana's  agricultural economy, that we wanna make sure  that those people get  good customer service,  and that if they have issues  or if they wanna start, that they'll have a good resource that's local.
They don't have to go to the federal government.
- You know, we operate an   a certified organic farm at MSU for these squash and other things.
And our certifying agency  is Montana Department  of Agriculture.
And I would say that compared to other places  where I've done that.
Having that local voice,  you know, a lot of the  details of organic inspection  are at the discretion of the  inspector to a certain extent so that you can adapt to unique locations and we are one,  and I really do appreciate  having local folks come out  to do the inspections.
- Nice.
- That's how- - Our motto is,  educate before you regulate.
(panels laughing)  - Good point.
Okay, I have a question back to this squash.
Before we get there,  this is the one time,  every spring we  answer this question.
(Mary chuckles) From Bozeman.
Mary,  (Mac chuckles)  fire blight.
- Oh.
- Prevention control.
- Well, if you,   to prevent, grow a   resistant variety.
- Yeah.
- A lot of, there are some antibiotic sprays   you can spray when   they're blooming,  but unless you're in  an orchard situation,  the timing is so fine.
I wouldn't recommend  it for a homeowner.
(paper rustling)  Pruning now when the  trees are dormant  and prune the symptoms  of fire blight,  and then beyond that to where  the wood isn't brown anymore.
And then clean your pruners,  so you don't spread it around, and then talk to your neighbors, 'cause, you know, that's where it's coming from.
- And avoid overhead irrigation.
- Yeah, that's a good one, too.
- Yep.
- Yeah, I've lost enough trees  because my neighbor's  sprinkler system.
- Yeah.
- Sprays them.
- And don't over fertilize trees.
- Absolutely.
My argument there is you don't fertilize trees.
- Yeah.
- Especially in Montana,  because you want 'em to grow  at a slow rate of growth, because you can get winter injury if you push them to that.
- Yeah, but if you do some   good variety selection  with some resistance,   you give it away-   - Practically all   the apple trees that you're gonna find for sale  in a reputable nursery  around here are gonna be or- - Yeah.
And there are other hosts   of the disease, of course,  but apples are usually  the primary concern.
- Is there an apple  industry in the state?
- Yeah, there is, yeah, on the west side.
And then there's that  Heritage program,  the Heritage Orchard.
- [Jack] Heritage Orchard?
- Yeah.
- I think, the commercial apples   are mostly in the   Bitterroot Valley  and there are a couple you  pick type places here in the-  - Yeah, there's some  Butler's cidermakers around.
- But, there's lots of people  with home apple trees  all over the place.
- Well, I understand that.
But, you know, I'm talking   like the old Peter Fay,   Rocky Creek farms,   an apple cider production.
- They still have a press.
- It's still there.
(laughs)  - Okay.
(Christy laughs)   Sounds sounds like a plan.
- But I see Montana McIntosh  apples for sale in the store.
- Yep, yep.
- The (indistinct)  - And that's a great apple,  by the way.
- That's a good apple.
- It is.
- Yeah, very good.
Well, I have guys for you Mac.
Helena quickly wants to know is,  "Helena a zone three  or a zone four?"
- I couldn't tell you.
(laughs)   (panels laughing)  - Depends on where  you are in Helena, so.
- We'll find out.
- Yeah.
(laughs)   - Depends on the year and   how cold the frost is.
- What difference  does it make, right?
- It's like Bozeman,   that probably a zone two.
- I don't know, seriously.
So that's the  minimum temperature  that occurs during the winter and there's not that many crops  that really matters  for the zone three, zone four line,  especially if it's  buried in snow, right?
- Well, I think, Bozeman is zone four, right?
I think, so, Helena is probably-   - Well, this year, we were   in zone two and a half,  weren't we?
(laughs)  - Okay.
(Mac laughs) - Question for Christy.
They've heard about  Value-Added Grants.
This comes from Choto, kinda your old stomping grounds.
- Where I'm from.
- Yeah, "What does the department doing to encourage Value-Added Grants in the state?"
- Well, we've put a  tremendous emphasis  on Value-Added Grants,   and we still operate our   Growth Through ag program.
And that's primarily focused  at Value-Added Grants.
It's up to $50,000,  or a hundred thousand  dollar loan that are,  they were zero to low,   very low interest.
I don't know with it,  you know, change in interest  rates if that's gonna,   that'll probably   vary a little bit.
But we've also, we've taken that grant program,  and instead of just saying, you know, up to $50,000, we've broken it up into some smaller pieces.
And we've really   started to do more of a business incubation model,   where we have some   smaller models,  you know, some smaller grants,   a $5,000 grant or   a $10,000 grant.
If people need, you   know, just smaller steps,  smaller bites of the apple, I think we found that sometimes going from zero to 50  was a little bit overwhelming.
- Overwhelming.
- And it was a challenge  for those producers.
They need to grow  with their own pace.
And so, now we have more   of an business incubation,  Trade Show Assistance.
You know, if they have a product that's going really well   and they've got a   good local market,   you know, maybe it's time   that we help them get to some bigger markets,  some, you know, maybe  a national food show or something like that.
So we've tried to do a lot, and then there's always,  you know, just a good  old GTA grant for, you know, infrastructure building  for great innovative  value added ideas.
- Okay.
- And a lot of these  have started, you know, Ellis started with a GTA grant.
- Sounds great.
Phone number's up.
They can get ahold  of you and find out,  can't they?
- They certainly can.
- Okay.
- Yes.
And my email's there, yes.
- I appreciate it.
Mac, they like to squash.
(panels laughing)   But they have a little bit   of a problem storing them,   and they want to know how   they should bring them  in before long-term storage.
Is there a trick that you   do before you store them?
- You know, in an ideal world,  they would sit out in a warmer and sunnier temperature to kinda cure, to harden off the rinds.
And oftentimes, we're  not able to do that  in our climate here.
It's a, you know, the eve   of the first hard frost,  they will take a little bit  of a frost in the field.
In fact, I like   to let that happen   to kill the vines   before harvesting.
But, you know, and  then in ideal world, they would sit in a sunny field for 10 days or two weeks or so,   and barring that.
We'll put 'em on a trailer   at a smaller scale.
We put 'em on a trailer  and bring 'em indoors  through a frost  and then put 'em out  in the sun again.
- Okay.
- But yeah, they wanna be warm  for the first couple of weeks,   just to kinda start   drying down a little bit,  and then to that 50 degrees  Fahrenheit if you can.
But really, you know, at 70,   they're gonna keep   for many months.
- Outta lighter in the light.
- I don't know that it matters.
- Matters?
- Yeah, dark.
I wouldn't go outta your   way to put light on them.
- You direct seed into the bed or do you plant?
- We transplant all of ours.
We put 'em on plastic  mulch to grow 'em.
You can direct seed 'em.
Some years it seems  like they keep, they catch up, but other years,  that transplant is worthwhile.
Gosh.
You know, they don't take transplanting particularly well.
So you,  it's a two and a half,  three-week-old plant when you  transplant with one true leaf.
And any bigger than that,   I don't know that   it's worthwhile.
- Yeah, they just stall out.
- Yeah, that's what I've found.
I've actually  become a fan of the, I've just easier to direct seed  than it is to deal  with the transplants is what I've changed my-  - Yeah, that often is  the case.
(chuckles)  - Yep.
(Mac coughs)  - All right, well, you have  that problem solved, correct?
- Yeah.
(panels laughing)  - A comment, I have  to read this one.
It's from a Billings call  and a long retired  extension agent says,  "Montana has two  types of sagebrush."
I did not know this.
"One is called big sagebrush   and the other is   silver sagebrush.
Each requires a different   control solution.
So, first step is to  identify that plant."
And thank you, John  Rainey in Billings.
(panels laughing)   I bet it is.
- [Tim] We actually have   nine species of sagebrush.
(panels laughing)  We won't go too far into it, but he is right.
And the difference is,   big sagebrush has   one single stalk,  and if you kill that stalk,  then the whole plant will die.
The stem of the tree, basically.
But silver sagebrush, it regerminates from below.
It's actually rhizomanous one.
So, if you kill the top of it,   it'll still regrow   out of the sides,  or still regrow from shoots.
And that's why we  need two different-  - So, can you mow it?
- You can certainly  mow silver sage,  but it won't kill it.
It'll come back   and back and back and it'll stay in there.
You know, it won't be as robust,  but it will still be there.
- Okay.
So, we learned   something tonight.
- We did.
- And thanks, John.
From Hamilton, Christy.
This person says, "In addition  to the problem of drought  that cattle producers face,  and they do, and  we've had three years.
Please speak about the additional cost of fuel   and chemicals that affect   cattle production."
So, you wanna jump  on that a little bit?
- Well, I think we're seeing  that across the board,   input prices are   just astronomical.
And, you know, I applaud that  the market prices may be up,   but my concern is   that we are going   to get a lot of those   soaked up with an increase in input costs.
I don't know how you get around,  you know, high fuel,  high fertilizer.
I don't know how you get  around any of those prices.
And, I mean, I wish that   there were a silver bullet   or a magic wand for that.
But it's just the reality,   I think, of the economy   that we live in right now.
- I agree, and boy, some of the chemicals like,   one is commonly   used in the state and large number is glyphosate.
And the price of glyphosate,   Tim, has doubled   or tripled, yeah?
- It did, but now it's come  back down a little bit.
They've caught up on production.
Things are a little bit better   and the price come   down a little.
- And you can at least get it.
- Yeah, you can get it,   and, yep.
- Fertilizer costs  coming down at all?
- I have not paid that much  attention with fertilizer.
- I think they're down.
- The last time I looked  they were, yeah, kind of like,  more towards normal for sure.
- And fuel prices   are down a little.
- Yeah.
- But, yeah.
- Yeah.
It all helps.
- It all helps.
I mean, and then,  I mean, the, you know, taxes.
I'll just talk a little bit of government  because that's my job,   but, you know, we   are in a surplus  in the state of  Montana in tax wise.
And so, I mean, we have,   the legislature has passed   the governor's tax bills and I do think that that is gonna trickle down,  I mean, at least some  business equipment tax relief.
It's gonna hit that,   you know, 5,000 farms and   ranches probably will be in that middle category,  where they will be taken off   the tax roles for   their equipment.
Maybe some of those  things will ease   that burden a little bit.
- Yeah.
We had a tax commissioner on, I don't know, several years ago,  and I was shocked to find out  that each chicken you produce  in this state has a tax on it.
Each cow has a tax,  each pig has a tax.
I'm not sure about horses, but I assume so.
I was fascinated by that.
Is that still in place?
- Well, I think what they're  talking about is the, it's through the Department of Livestock,  and it is the assessment fee.
Well, not really   an assessment fee.
It's the livestock fee,  and that does go to operate  the Department of Livestock.
And so, that's the funding source for them.
- All right, now I know.
- Okay.
- All right, from Helen, our caller says, they saw you on a PBS show called Pacemakers.
- TasteMAKERS.
- TasteMAKERS.
- TasteMAKERS, yeah,  it's a great show.
That was so fun.
- It said good job.
And so, what is it?
(Mac laughing)  - Oh, TasteMAKERS, you  should check it out.
It's a nationwide PBS show,  and they feature local  regional producers   all across the country   of various kinds of food.
And we were on there  with Patrick Burr,   Roots Kitchen and Cannery,  and they featured the  relationship between  the university  student farm and this,   you know, small pickle and   jam shop here in Bozeman  who ships things nationwide.
And he says every time that  episode airs nationally,  they get orders for,   you know, a dozen jars of   jam to Atlanta, Georgia.
- Wow, that's cool.
- Wherever it shows  in that nationwide,  they get a big rush of order.
So they make pickled  beets and dilly beans   and a bunch of specialty,  like a plum jam and... - Okay.
- All from things grown in here.
- Oh.
- Nice.
- Not that I don't like food,   which is pretty   obvious.
(laughs)   (panels laughing)  But I have to look  at that and see that.
- [Mac] So, yeah.
- Okay.
From Helena, the collar   has pear and apple trees.
If you have pear trees in Helena, you're doing quite good.
One of the two trees  had fire blight, which has been cut out.
Caller wants to spray  a copper fungicide.
Should you spray all the trees  or just the affected trees?
And what is the best  time to put it on?
And I'm not sure copper will help that much.
- Yeah.
- Fire blight is a bacteria.
- It is.
- Yeah, it has been,   copper has issues.
- It said copper has been used traditionally.
- It's not, yeah.
- It doesn't work.
- It's not very effective.
- No.
- And I don't think he   used streptomycin anymore.
- Probably not.
- No.
So, pruning and manage.
- I did have a friend  working on a phage  that would go  after the bacteria, but they're having trouble formulating it.
So, it was UV resistant  enough to get into the tree.
So, I haven't seen  it marketed anywhere.
- Okay.
Yeah, we got have several other questions, try to get to 'em here in a hurry before the time's run out.
This person from Lake County  has way too much  grass in his alfalfa.
Can he get rid of it or should he start over?
- Way too much grass  in your alfalfa?
Well, if you wanna  get rid of the grass,  you can use a grassy herbicide that will kill all of the grass,  but it may leave you  with a big open stand   that you'll have to put   some alfalfa back into it.
- I wonder if that might point  to a phosphorus or potassium.
- Yeah, it could be be.
- Fertility situation.
- Depends on how   the stand is, too.
- Yeah, yeah, and, yeah, it can depend on a lot of things  with how many plants  are still alive there.
- If you have a   lot of dandelions,  then it is time to start over.
Yeah, and that's what happens.
- But, if you gotta  take it out of alfalfa  for a couple years.
- Yep, and then I   would go to, like, one of the hay barleys, the winter wheat, forage wheat,  something like that  for a couple years.
- Okay.
Moore Coller runs   a fertilizer pen and the fertilizer cost is down $200 a ton from last fall.
- Good to know, thank you.
- Yeah,   thank you for the comment.
And we accept  comments all the time.
Not the nasty ones,  we get a few of those.
But if they're half reasonable, we'll take them.
Is there still a Groundwater  Protection Program run by the Department of Ag?
- Absolutely.
- This comes from Fairfield.
- Yes, it is.
And we still monitor  wells twice a year.
And we've actually expanded that  to a couple other locations.
- Okay.
What are they searching for,   do you know by any chance?
Is it nitrates or?
- It is, they're,  yeah, I mean, they're looking  for fertilizer residue.
- Okay, probably  nitrates something.
So, okay.
From Helena, huh.
This, I need to find out.
What is a teasel plant?
- Oh, a teasel plant.
This right here is the teasel.
You know, I was up  in Polson this week  and I went through  the Ninepipe's area,  and I've stopped and I was,   didn't have to   stand in the snow,   so I was excited.
So, teasel is a plant.
It's a weed in Montana.
It's actually a   biennial species.
It will really grow  around riparian areas,   wet hay pastures,   things like that.
The first year, it's,  you'll see just the  roset on the ground.
The second year, it'll  grow up beyond it.
It's historic use   was the teasel.
The head of it was actually  used to carve wool,  and was introduced  into the United States  in the 18th century.
And so, it became a weed in a lot of places   where we have had some   livestock or wetter areas.
So, to manage it really,  you can do a number of  things to manage it.
You can mow it when it  bolts if you want to, it'll kinda knock it down, but, and there's a number of broadleaf herbicides, 2,4-D gets it fairly well, too.
I think it might been listed  in a few counties  as an noxious weed.
- It looks kinda noxious to me.
(Mary chuckles)   - Yeah, it's a tough one.
It forms, it doesn't spread  large distances very fast, but it forms very dense stands,   especially around   ephemeral ponds.
- Okay.
We've had a ton of calls,  both, all three weeks that we've been live this fall about voles, skunks,  moles.
Steve Vantassel will be on in a couple weeks,   week after Easter.
He's with Depart of Ag also.
And this guy knows more about  controlling these critters   than anybody else.
We're getting right  down to the wire.
I'm gonna ask you   a quick question.
Raspberry grass control.
- Raspberry grass control,   grassy herbicides.
You can use,  you group one, post, select,   things like that.
- Okay.
- Fluff it in.
- With that, folks,  especially I wanna  thank Christy tonight.
Christy came down from Helena.
She's done a great job   with the Department of Ag.
We've had a lot of fun   with the Department of Ag.
We'll be back in two weeks   with Steve Vantassel.
Thank you for watching.
Have a good week.
Good night.
(guitar thrumming)   - [Announcer] For more   information and resources,  visit montanapbs.org/aglive.
(guitar thrumming) - [Announcer] Montana Ag Live is made possible by  (somber music)  the Montana Department  of Agriculture,   (guitar thrumming)   the MSU Extension Service,   (guitar thrumming)  the MSU Ag Experiment Stations  of the College of Agriculture,   (guitar thrumming)  the Montana Wheat  & Barley Committee,   (guitar thrumming)  Cashman Nursery & Landscaping,   (guitar thrumming)  the Northern Pulse  Growers Association,   (guitar thrumming) and the Gallatin Gardeners Club.
(guitar thrumming end)  (gentle music)