The Vance Crowe Podcast

This week Vance sat down with Jay Curtis - a retired Ontario farmer, pilot, inventor and lifelong tinkerer who believes the best way to understand the world is to take it apart and put it back together again.

In this conversation, Vance & Jay discuss a number of topics including bitcoin, restoring antique machinery, piloting aircraft with a fear of flying, AI-assisted problem solving and the joy of creating something with your own hands.

Jay also shares the story behind his new Curtis Downforce Indicator —a practical invention born from curiosity and countless hours of experimentation.

This week, Benjamin Anderson returns to the podcast for a fascinating conversation with Vance about urban development, technology and the future of medicine. The two discuss revitalizing neglected neighborhoods, balancing privacy with public safety, and why long-term thinking is essential when building communities.

The conversation then shifts to Benjamin's work at AION - where his team explores the use of ultrasound and electromagnetic fields to diagnose and potentially treat disease without relying solely on traditional drugs. Along the way, they examine aging, cancer research, AI, medical regulation, and what the next generation of healthcare could look like.<...

This week Vance sat down with Chris Barron who has spent decades helping agricultural businesses become stronger.


As founder of AgView Solutions, Chris works with farming families and business owners across North America to improve communication, succession planning, leadership, and long-term profitability. Unlike many consultants, he's still actively farming himself - giving him firsthand experience with the challenges his clients face.


In this conversation, Chris explains why the biggest problems in business often aren't financial—they're human. He and Vance explore how better communication can transform family businesses, why mentorship matters more than ma...

 This week Vance sat down with Dan Kloeckener who has spent more than four decades styling hair in St. Louis - but behind the chair is a remarkable life story…
 
Dan reflects on his early years working in restaurants, the lure of easy money, his struggles with drugs and alcohol, and the unlikely path that led him into cosmetology. Along the way he shares lessons learned from thousands of conversations with clients, why gratitude became central to his life, and how faith helped him overcome decades of addiction.
 
The discussion also ventures into unexpected territory—from su...

This week Vance sat down with Monsignor Shamleffer for a wide-ranging conversation about faith, technology, human dignity, and the challenges facing society in an age of rapid change.

They reflect on artificial intelligence, the role of work in human flourishing, and why technological progress must remain focused on serving people rather than replacing them. The conversation explores Catholic and Protestant approaches to faith, the importance of symbolism and tradition, the meaning of suffering and the vocation of the priesthood.

Along the way, Monsignor Shamleffer shares insights from decades spent in pastoral ministry and what it...

Jim Rutt was a working class kid from the suburbs of Washington DC who somehow ended up at MIT, spent years hitchhiking around the country, stumbled into the world's first consumer online service, and eventually became CEO of Network Solutions and chairman of the Santa Fe Institute. He was a relentless reader — 100 books a year since age 10 — and one of the most genuinely curious people Vance ever sat down with. He died recently after a period of illness, and this episode is a tribute. 


What you'll find here is a compilation of the conversations Vance and Jim had t...

Vance finally lands the guest he's been chasing for two years — Chris LAS, host of This Week in Bitcoin, the only podcast Vance listens to every single week. They open on an unexpected topic: Chris's fully automated chicken coop, complete with motion sensors, ammonia monitors, automated doors, egg trapdoors, and local cameras running on Frigate DVR — no cloud, no subscriptions, no Google watching your backyard. From there the conversation widens into surveillance, Flock cameras showing up in neighborhoods without public votes, and why the data being collected today may be the most dangerous in 2035 when AI is powerful enough to m...

Vance sits down with St. Louis radio veteran Mark Reardon — 97.1 FM Talk — for a wide-ranging conversation that quickly reveals just how different two people's information worlds can be. Mark has been in talk radio since he was 15, has survived firings and format flips, and still believes in live local radio. But when Vance starts talking about the Bitcoin Clarity Act or Cynthia Lummis, Mark draws a complete blank — and neither of them finds that reassuring. The gap between boomer and younger media diets, they agree, is now so wide that the two groups are essentially living in different realities. 

Vance sits down with St. Louis radio veteran Mark Reardon — 97.1 FM Talk — for a wide-ranging conversation that quickly reveals just how different two people's information worlds can be. Mark has been in talk radio since he was 15, has survived firings and format flips, and still believes in live local radio. But when Vance starts talking about the Bitcoin Clarity Act or Cynthia Lummis, Mark draws a complete blank — and neither of them finds that reassuring. The gap between boomer and younger media diets, they agree, is now so wide that the two groups are essentially living in different realities.

F...

Vance sits down with data engineer Rob Long — self-described as scoring near zero on the agreeableness scale — to dig into what professional AI use actually looks like. Rob walks through his work at Bayer building "Sales Companion," an iOS app that lets sales agronomists dump field notes, photos, and voice memos after customer visits, then uses an AI agronomy agent to surface product recommendations and flag crop disease issues the salesperson might have missed. It's a grounded, unglamorous look at how enterprise AI actually gets built and deployed.


The conversation ranges widely, from the local optima prob...

Joscha Bach is back on the show, and Vance opens by asking the question almost everyone is asking right now: should we be afraid of AI? Joscha’s answer is no, and his reasons are not the usual ones. AI is creating more jobs than it removes, it’s already the most equitable technology ever built (a $20-a-month plan gives anyone in the world access to a thousand Einsteins), and most of the fear is a media reaction to a business model under threat — not a reflection of what’s actually happening in the economy.
From there the conversa...

A federal judge just blocked Alberta's independence referendum from going on the ballot in October, ruling that the citizen-led petition — which gathered 300,000 signatures in four months — should have consulted First Nations first. Vance sits down with Dustin Newman, an Alberta oil company owner who helped collect those signatures and was active in the Wild Rose party, to figure out what just happened and what it means. 
Dustin walks through why the movement exists in the first place: a centralized federal system where Ontario and Quebec decide every election, billions of dollars in equalization payments flowing out of Alberta each...

When Vance Crowe learned he needed half his thyroid removed, it sparked a deep question: what does it mean when your body's clock gets disrupted? In this candid and wide-ranging conversation, Vance brings on geneticist and light researcher Kate Crosby — someone he talks to almost daily — to explore the science behind the body's hidden timekeepers.
They dig into how the thyroid regulates hormones and why losing it might put you on "synthetic time," why vitamin D and magnesium are so tightly linked, how intense exercise can unlock forgotten memories, and the surprising ways your ancestral latitude shapes everything from...

Vance is back in the saddle, kicking off the new run of the show with Shay Falk for a wide-ranging, live conversation that starts in ag-tech and rides straight into faith, leadership, and how AI is reshaping both business and culture. 


Shay unpacks the origin story of Farm Profit Manager — how he, his brother Mac, and cousin Sam transformed a 30-year consulting tool from AgView Solutions into free software, why they bet on connection and advisory work rather than SaaS fees, and how rapid feedback, GitHub discipline, and even mermaid diagrams are helping them ship fast. Van...

Vance Crowe returns to the podcast after several months away with a vision for how AI agents are about to reshape commerce — and an explanation of where he's been. He argues the era of Google search is ending: websites built to communicate with AI agents, not human readers, will win the next decade. Using grass-fed beef as an extended example, Crowe walks through how AI agents will handle product discovery, payment, logistics, and recurring delivery on behalf of consumers, and what that shift means for small producers who have long struggled to reach customers directly. He also offers a ca...

In this solo episode, Vance Crowe shares why he is pressing pause on the AgTribes news rundown and shifting the show toward deeper, more human conversations. Over the holidays, a series of experiences brought him back to one theme: being humbled.
Crowe talks about the moments that knock people to their knees, how they open a door of understanding between people, and why the richest friendships and stories often come from facing failure, anxiety, and shame—and choosing to look for the light at the end of the tunnel.
Key Discussion Points
Getting Unstuck: He discusses a si...

In this Christmas special of The Ag Tribes Report, I pause the weekly news breakdown to share a chapter-in-progress from my upcoming book on interest-based communicating—practical ways to create deeper, more meaningful conversations over the holidays and beyond. I tell the story of a second mate who taught me it’s better to be interested than interesting, then walk through how presence turns conversations into a kind of meditation: put the phone away, make eye contact, breathe, and really listen. I cover common pitfalls like fast matching and internal tripping, why mirroring has its place, and simple tools that...

In this week’s Ag Tribes Report on The Vance Crowe Podcast, host Vance Crowe tosses the script and sits down with returning guest “NNZP,” a veteran CEO and global manufacturer who joins anonymously to speak candidly about the world economy. They dig into Europe’s rapid de-industrialization, energy policy missteps, and why cheaper Chinese imports may be a short-term fix with long-term strategic risks. NNZP explains China’s deflationary “involution,” the chasm between commanded capacity and real demand, and how that excess is being exported—pressuring Western industry and defense resilience. They explore supply-chain fragility from chips to pharma inputs, t...

In this live episode recorded at an ASFMRA conference, Vance sit down with veteran farm manager and rural appraiser Dennis Raymond of Stalcup Ag Service to bridge two audiences: an in-room crowd steeped in modern agriculture and a wider listenership curious about how farmland is owned, managed, and valued. Dennis shares a career’s worth of perspective—from juggling farm management, appraisals, and sales in northwest Iowa to navigating today’s volatile costs, interest-rate swings, and the “heartstring” realities of legacy properties. We unpack why proposals to tax absentee landowners miss the mark, how to think in ratios like fertilizer...

In this week’s Ag Tribes Report, Vance Crowe is joined by entrepreneur, farmer, and Iowa Corn Growers director Elliot Henderson for a fast-moving breakdown of four big stories shaping agriculture. They react to USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins’ media blitz and her tightly messaged take on trade, cattle, and screw worm—praising her talent while questioning how much of it reflects independent ag thinking. They unpack California’s Prop 50 and what partisan redistricting could mean for rural voices in the nation’s top ag state. They also look at the viral Danish claims linking cow deaths to the mandatory Bovear met...

In this week's Ag Tribes Report, Vance Crowe is joined by fifth-generation Texas Panhandle farmer Casey Kimbrell for a fast, candid breakdown of three stories rocking agriculture.

They unpack the touted Trump–Xi "soybean breakthrough," asking whether a 25 MMT annual commitment is progress or just a return to pre-trade-war status quo. Then they wade into the renewed push for mandatory country-of-origin labeling in beef, the packer vs. rancher incentives behind the current system, and why transparency matters more than ever. They close the news block with Bill Gates' pivot from climate alarmism toward prioritizing vaccines, and what a...

In this episode, Vance Crowe sits down with economist and FFTT founder Luke Gromen to unpack where inflation, debt, and commodities are pushing the global financial system—and what that means for farmers, savers, and investors. They explore how slow, sustained inflation erodes trust and value, why central banks keep choosing to “print the money or trigger the revolution,” and why gold and Bitcoin function as stores of energy in a world of rising fiscal strain. Luke explains the growing shift to pricing oil and other commodities outside the US dollar, the implications of central banks buying gold, the Cantil...

In this week’s Ag Tribes Report, host Vance Crowe is joined by dairy farmer and Bitcoiner JR Burdick for a fast-paced tour through the biggest stories shaping agriculture. They unpack President Trump’s viral post urging ranchers to lower beef prices and the backlash from cattle producers who point to low herd size, packer settlements, and market volatility driven by political posts. Then they dig into the looming SNAP crunch amid the government shutdown, how an AWS outage jammed up harvest logistics and farmgate payments, and the partial reopening of FSA offices to process $3B in producer payments—plus t...

In this episode, Vance Crowe sits down with author Devon Erickson to explore why he calls himself a compulsive explainer and how he sees the role of an intellectual: not to end debates, but to start them with powerful metaphors and fresh lenses. They dive deep into empathy as a writer’s core skill—simultaneously inhabiting a character’s inner world and anticipating the reader’s experience—and how that practice shapes Devon’s science-fiction novel, Theft of Fire. From first-person perspective and memory palaces to the mechanics of metaphor in thought, they wander into bigger terrain: how online discourse re...

In this solo-hosted Ag Tribes Report by Vance Crowe, Vance covers four major headlines shaping agriculture and adjacent markets after the scheduled guest drops out during harvest. The report dives into the unusual coalition of farmers and food companies backing state-level animal welfare laws like California’s Prop 12, unpacks the DOJ’s massive seizure tied to a Southeast Asian “pig butchering” crypto scam and what it could signal for government Bitcoin accumulations, assesses Nestlé’s 16,000-job global restructuring and what it may mean for supply chains and food inflation, and reacts to prosecutors seeking a prison term and restitution in the $4 m...

In this solo-hosted Ag Tribes Report by Vance Crowe, Vance covers four major headlines shaping agriculture and adjacent markets after the scheduled guest drops out during harvest. The report dives into the unusual coalition of farmers and food companies backing state-level animal welfare laws like California’s Prop 12, unpacks the DOJ’s massive seizure tied to a Southeast Asian “pig butchering” crypto scam and what it could signal for government Bitcoin accumulations, assesses Nestlé’s 16,000-job global restructuring and what it may mean for supply chains and food inflation, and reacts to prosecutors seeking a prison term and restitution in the $4 mill...

This week's episode comes from an impromptu airport ride recording, Vance Crowe captures a conversation with Thomas Nguyen, an Uber driver whose warm greeting sparks a profound dialogue about faith, culture, parenting, and restraint. The discussion traces Thomas’s childhood in Vietnam, exploring religious crackdowns and shifts through the decades, and the intricate dynamics among Catholics, Buddhists, and the state. Thomas shares how Buddhist principles of calm, silence, and nonreactivity guide his parenting and conflict resolution, using vivid metaphors—like the stone and the water, or the gift refused—to illustrate how stillness restores balance amid chaos. As a father...

In this week’s Ag Tribes Report, fourth-generation Missouri cattleman and board member Glenn Cope joins the discussion to analyze a turbulent moment for agriculture. The conversation explores President Trump’s plan to redirect tariff revenues to soybean growers, the unintended consequences of a U.S. bailout enabling Argentina’s cheap soybean exports to China, and how these actions increase price and input pressures on farmers. It also addresses the looming threat of New World Screwworm nearing the U.S. border, its potential impact on animal health and markets, mitigation tools like ivermectin and Zoetis’ Decomax CA, and the importan...

In this episode, Vance Crowe shares a keynote delivered at the inaugural Flinchbaugh Forum for Agricultural Policy in Manhattan, Kansas, honoring Dr. Barry Flinchbaugh’s legacy of courageous, civil discourse. Vance unpacks the concept of “worthy adversaries,” explaining how respect and even resentment can guide individuals toward those who sharpen their ideas, and offers practical tools for productive disagreement: steelmanning, providing “click” moments of fascination, asking “how” instead of “why,” saying “tell me more,” and diagramming arguments to debate ideas shoulder-to-shoulder rather than person-to-person. Vance also explores how the Overton window shifts what’s thinkable and why humility and openness to change are e...

In this week’s Ag Tribes Report, Vance is joined by Missouri farmer and former Missouri Farm Bureau president Blake Hurst. They cover John Deere’s latest layoffs amid a tough farm economy and what this downcycle means for equipment buyers, the Trump team’s floated idea to fund farm aid with tariff revenues (and Blake’s sharp critique of running money “in a circle”), and USDA’s push to expand U.S. ethanol exports to the UK, including a frank debate about mandates, price impacts at the pump, and ethanol as a strategic grain reserve. We also examine concerns from...

In this special edition of the Ag Tribes report, Vance reflects on the shocking assassination of Charlie Kirk and its impact on our society. This episode deviates from our usual focus on agriculture to address broader cultural issues that affect us all. Vance shares his personal experience of learning about this tragic event and the profound respect I had for Charlie Kirk, a man who consistently chose dialogue over violence. His ability to engage respectfully with those who disagreed with him was admirable, and his loss is a stark reminder of the chaotic times we live in. Vance discusses...

In this episode of the Ag Tribes Report, host Vance Crow welcomes Jared McDaniel for a deep dive into the world of Bitcoin and its implications for agriculture and personal sovereignty. Vance and Jared engage in a spirited discussion about the potential of Bitcoin to combat government inflation and preserve individual wealth. They explore the philosophical and practical aspects of Bitcoin, debating its role as a tool for freedom and its comparison to traditional assets like land. Jared shares his skepticism about digital currencies, emphasizing the importance of tangible assets and the risks of hyper-digitalization.

The conversation...

In this solo episode of the Ag Tribes Report, host Vance Crowe dives into pressing issues affecting the agricultural landscape in the US and Canada. Vance discusses the high production costs and low crop values impacting corn farmers, the closure of a Crown Royal bottling plant in Canada and its implications on US-Canada relations, and the controversial EPA decision to delist Iowa rivers from impaired status despite high nitrate levels. Vance also shares his thoughts on Bitcoin, the challenges of government intervention in agriculture, and the importance of understanding complex issues beyond surface-level knowledge.

Vance also reflects...

In this episode of the Ag Tribes Report, host Vance Crowe is joined by Tim Hamrich, a prominent agricultural communicator and host of the Future of Agriculture podcast. They delve into a trade dispute that has left harvest equipment stranded at the US-Canadian border due to steel tariffs. They also discuss the USDA's controversial decision to close a major research center in Maryland, sparking concerns about the future of agricultural innovation.

The conversation continues with a focus on the USDA's efforts to combat the threat of flesh-eating screw worms with a new facility in Texas, and the...

In this episode of the Ag Tribes Report, host Vance Crowe is joined by Jim Smith, a swine nutritionist and farmer from Northeast Indiana, to discuss the latest developments in agriculture. The conversation kicks off with a deep dive into the recent crop and WASDE reports, highlighting the challenges farmers face with plummeting corn prices despite surging global food prices. The discussion expands to cover the EPA's new diesel exhaust fluid rules, which aim to ease equipment shutdowns and save family farms significant costs. The episode also touches on the historic drop in US alcohol consumption and its impact...

In this episode of the Ag Tribes Report, host Vance Crowe is joined by Jacob Babcock, a Michigan agricultural spray drone applicator and maintainer. They discuss the growing role of drones in agriculture, particularly in areas where traditional crop dusters face challenges due to terrain. Jacob shares insights on the effectiveness of drones in crop protection and the potential for drones to complement or replace traditional methods. The conversation also touches on the broader implications of drone technology in agriculture, including the potential for increased efficiency and precision in crop management.

The episode delves into several pressing...

In this  episode of the Vance Crowe Podcast, we dive into the complexities of balancing business opportunities and personal commitments with Michael Ring, a cattle farmer and writer. Michael shares his journey of managing multiple ventures, from farming to writing, and the challenges of saying no to lucrative opportunities. He discusses the importance of setting boundaries and valuing relationships, both in business and personal life, while navigating the pressures of success. The conversation also touches on the nuances of pricing work, the opportunity costs involved, and the struggle to maintain family time amidst growing demands.

We also e...

In this episode of the Ag Tribes Report, host Vance Crowe reflects on the one-year anniversary of the show, sharing insights and stories from the world of agriculture. With no co-host this week, Vance dives into the latest headlines affecting the agricultural community, including the impact of deportation notices at an Iowa meat packing plant, Oregon's proposed agritourism regulations, and John Deere's new digital repair tool. Vance also explores the complexities of immigration, the challenges of agritourism, and the ongoing right to repair debate, inviting listeners to share their thoughts and perspectives.

Vance also delves into the...

In this episode, Vance Crowe delves into the cultural shifts that are quietly but rapidly unfolding beneath the surface of our society.  

This change, is not inherently good or bad, but it's crucial to be aware of it to avoid the dangers of mob mentality. Vance discusses how the narratives that have long defined us are being challenged by new voices and ideas that were once considered unthinkable. Figures like Nick Fuentes and Sam Hyde are gaining traction among young people, offering perspectives that challenge the status quo and the traditional Overton window of acceptable discourse.

In this episode of the Ag Tribes Report, host Vance Crowe welcomes Elliot Henderson, an Iowa farmer and director for the Iowa Corn Grower Association. 

The episode covers several pressing issues in agriculture, including the USDA's major reorganization aimed at improving farmer support, Midwest corn pollination failures, and the controversial re-registration of Dicamba for soybeans and cotton. Elliot provides his perspective on the impact of these developments, particularly the need for more innovative crop protection solutions and the implications of fertilizer tariffs on the farming economy. The conversation also touches on the potential role of Bitcoin in a...