Audio Recording

Lessons From the Delta continues — this time from the edge of a 120-acre on-farm reservoir. In Part 7 of the Purdue Commercial AgCast mini-series, Chad Fiechter and Todd Kuethe visit a rice farm in Arkansas to understand how farmers are managing water, labor, and costs in ways that look very different from the Midwest.

Rice farming in the Mississippi Delta offers a look at how farms operate under tighter labor, water, and capital constraints. In this episode, farmers share insights that translate beyond rice—highlighting how production intensity shapes equipment decisions, timing, and risk management in ways Midwestern producers can apply.

A chance encounter in the Mississippi Delta leads to a closer look at how farm robotics are being used to address labor shortages and improve efficiency. This episode explores small autonomous machines designed for precision weeding, highlighting how automation is evolving from concept to practical field application.

The Northeast Rice Research and Extension Center plays a critical role in supporting U.S. rice production, located in a region responsible for a large share of national output. This episode explores how research, water management, and production systems come together to support rice farming in the Mississippi Delta, highlighting the complexity and intensity of the system.

Farmland investment platforms are creating new ways for investors to participate in agricultural land ownership. In this third episode of the Lessons From the Delta series, Colson Tester of AcreTrader explains how farmland opportunities are sourced, evaluated, and structured while local farmers continue operating the land.

In Part 2 of the Lessons From the Delta series, Chad Fiechter and Todd Kuethe speak with Aaron Shew about farmland valuation, land market transparency, and rice payment systems. The discussion explores how limited sales data, capital intensity, and milling economics shape risk and long-term farm business decisions.

In this episode of the Purdue Commercial AgCast, we launch a new mini-series: Lessons From the Delta. After traveling to Arkansas and the Mississippi Delta region, Chad Fiechter and Todd Kuethe share what stood out most about crop diversity, irrigation intensity, farm structure, and regional economics.