(upbeat music) - Welcome to A Shot of Ag.

My name is Rob Sharkey, I'm a fifth generation farmer from just outside of Bradford, Illinois.

I started a podcast which led to an XM radio show, which led to a national television show, which led to me being right here today.

But today, today is not about me.

Today is about Joel Barickman.

How you doing, Joel?

- Good, Rob.

- You are from Streater.

- Correct.

- Otherwise known as Manville.

- Well, yeah, Streater's the largest town, I'm just south of there, near a little community called Manville.

- [Rob] Streater, there's a saying about Streater.

- Yeah, we're not gonna go into that.

- What do you call someone from Streater?

- A Streater-ite, and, or, you know, where I'm at, you could be a Manvillian.

- Really?

- Oh, yes.

- A Streater-ite.

(Joel laughs) It's like a Canaanite.

- Yeah, something like that.

- It's a lot like that.

(both laugh) You're farming out there?

- Yeah, so I'm a sixth generation farmer on our place just south of Streater, near the Vermilion River.

So, I'm a small farmer, just under 1000 acres.

Farm with my dad, who's still living on the farm too, and my wife Katie, and yeah.

- So, growing up, were you that stereotypical farm kid?

- Not at all, no.

I grew up very much into sports, Dad got me playing baseball at a young age and most of my childhood was concentrated on that and I ended up going and playing in college at U of I, and managed to get an engineering degree while I was there and actually worked there for a number of years before I came back and farmed.

And honestly when I was in high school, I didn't expect to be back doing what I'm doing now, but life does funny things and I couldn't be happier to be where I'm at today.

- U of I, you were a pitcher?

- Yep.

- I had a friend who was a big baseball player, back in high school.

He could throw that speedball fire, makin' love like a fool.

- I, you know lyrics better than I do, Rob (laughs).

- We were at a bar, you were walkin' in, I was walkin' out.

- Oh, yeah, I got you.

- Yeah, "Summer of '69" Bryan Adams.

- Yeah, there we go, yes very clever.

- Whoo, okay.

(both laughing) That's, I mean, that's impressive, that's U of I, that's a big school.

- Yeah.

- And here you were, I mean, you had to be good.

- Yeah, you know, I was fortunate, I went to another school for my freshman sophomore year and was successful and ended up getting the opportunity to play down at U of I and it's one of the highlights of my younger years of my life.

I had a great experience down there and managed to get a good degree and worked there for awhile.

Got some good off-the-farm experience which I think is important for anybody that's gonna go into farming.

If you grew up on a farm and that's what you're surrounded with everyday of your life for your first 18 years, I think it behooves you to go do something else for awhile and get some outside perspective, so I did that, and- - Did you ever hit a guy with your pitchin'?

- Uh, oh many times, yeah.

- On purpose?

- Uh, yeah.

Guys like you.

(both laugh) - Your engineering degree.

- Yeah.

- So, when you were in college, was that the route you thought you were going to end up in?

- Yeah, you know, I kind of went into college thinking something up that alley, whether it was going to be computer science or engineering or something like that.

I was always good at math and science.

- [Rob] Really?

- Yeah.

So, you know, I kind of, I was graduating high school and it was in the back of my mind that maybe I'd come back and farm some day, but I didn't view it that well, then that means I need to get an agriculture degree.

I just wanted to go out and get a degree that was valuable in the marketplace and kind of see where life would take me at that point.

And so that's what I did and lo and behold, you know, eight, nine years later I was back at the farm.

- Yeah, that's an awkward size farm, because it's like, right there.

It's good enough for one, almost size for two, but almost there, how are you navigating that?

- Well, it is a smaller farm, you know, I have worked hard here for 10 years at building a good reputation, taking really good care of my land.

To be honest with you, I haven't gained or lost an acre, since I started farming of my own, but through hard work and relationships in the community, I've been able to develop a lot of custom work for other people.

I spray for a farmer, I do a lot of planting, harvesting for some friends and relatives, and so it's allowed me to make some nice equipment upgrades that I couldn't otherwise do with a small farm and for me the long term goal is to grow the farm but not, I'm not going to be one of those 10,000 acre farmers, nor do I want to be.

My goal is to- - [Rob] Never say never.

- Yeah, well, my goal is more so in building partnerships with people, whether it's landlords, other farmers in the area, farming's getting bigger and the equipment's getting bigger, but you can't do it all by yourself, and the idea of having a bunch of employees that I gotta manage everyday and things like that... - [Rob] Oh, that's the worst, they're the worst.

- Is not attractive to me either, so, you know, it's a long term, slow play that I'm doing, but fortunately, I have another business so I can make a little bit of money away from the farm too, that helps.

So, you know, if you love farming, and it seems like most people that do it, do love it, if you want to grow it, you gotta recycle most of the money back into the business.

- I think that's what a lot of people outside of agriculture don't understand about farming.

I can probably count on one hand the people I know that that's all they do.

Generally, farmers are like yourself.

They're farming and then they've got a side hustle or something else, or the farming's a side hustle.

The wife works, so that begs a question, why do we do it?

- For the love of it, I mean, really, I grew up around my dad who was a really hard worker and it's all he did, I mean, he was a younger man, he had other jobs, but I grew up around him as an independent business owner, a guy that woke up every day and did what he wanted to do that day, and did what was important, but had the freedom to spend time with his family when he wanted to and prioritize those types of things and to me, once I got away from the farm, and in a regular job, I noticed that if I continued on that path, I wasn't going to have that same flexibility that my dad had.

So that was a big driving factor in me coming home.

Both the family heritage of it, but just, I think, for me, it was a wonderful way to grow up and something that I hope to be able to provide for my kids someday.

- Okay, we'll get to the heritage in a second, but, yes, now I'm thinking, the decision to do this has kind of gone also with you getting married.

You just got married.

- I did just get married.

- You're a newlywed.

- I'm a newlywed, yeah.

My wife, Katie and I, just got married this summer.

I just turned 38 on Monday and my dad was in his early 40's when he got married as well, and so I guess it's a bit of a family tradition.

(laughs) But yeah, so we just got married and hoping to have a family and- - [Rob] Where'd you meet Katie?

- Ah, Bumble, to be honest with ya.

- Bumble?

- Yeah.

She probably doesn't want me to say that, but yeah.

- I don't know what that is.

- Oh, it's a dating app on the internet, you know.

- Sound like kids, that's how these kids do it these days.

- Well, when you're a farmer and you're living out in the middle of the country and you see about three people every day, you don't have a whole lot of other options on how to meet people.

- Is it farmers only?

- No, no, no, no, no.

(both laugh) Not that there's anything wrong with that.

- It was a great wedding, honestly, it was one of the nicest weddings I've ever been to.

- Yeah.

- It was a lot of fun.

- I appreciate that.

- I don't remember most of the night.

(Joel laughs) - That's the point.

(both laugh) - So, as you look forward, I mean, now you have a family, I mean you've got a wife.

You do have this agriculture, farming career.

It does allow you, it's very demanding in those times where it needs to be, fall, spring.

You have to be there.

I've interviewed a lot of people and I find that a lot of times a spouse will marry a farmer and it's hard to understand.

It's like, there's a lot of free time in the winter, mid-summer and that, but in fall and in spring it takes an adjustment for the spouse to realize that's what your husband or wife's gonna be doing.

- It does, and then even in season, there's some downtime too, you get rain and things that stop you unpredictably.

So, in season it'd be like, oh we could've done this or we could've done that, but you can't plan ahead for that, you know?

It's not like three months out you can say, "Oh, let's plan to go to a concert in October."

I'd be like, "Well."

(both laugh) I can't make those plans because I may be able to go, I may not be, but you just, it's very difficult to make plans during our busy season.

- So, when Katie had her first combine ride or tractor ride, is that when you knew, I got her?

- Ah, you know, I don't think it's quite like the song.

(both laugh) - [Rob] Thinks your tractor's sexy.

- You know, and what she's told me is that it's really, passion for something is infectious.

And, ah, I think- - [Rob] That's true.

- And that's kind of how she explained it to me, it was obvious that I had a passion for my farm and my family and what I was doing and it immediately kind of transferred to her, because she was living in Nashville before we met and I think, you know, if someone had told her two years before that she was going to end up married to a farmer in central Illinois, she would have laughed.

- [Rob] In Streater.

- Yeah.

- [Both] Of all places.

(Joel laughs) - Right by Manville.

(both laugh) So, she has no ag background?

- None, no, nope.

- Okay, that's, how's that going?

- I mean fine, we call her the utility player on the farm.

- [Rob] I mean to her face?

- Oh yeah.

- [Rob] She's okay with that?

- Oh yeah, oh yeah, she's doing a great job at it too, she takes pride in it, you know?

Especially in the busy season, I mean, you need those type of people that can provide you rides, make sure all- - [Rob] It's invaluable.

- Yeah, keeping the guys fed in the field, all those types of things are very important and she's learning from the master, who's my mother, so.

(Rob laughs) And I know she appreciates that too.

- Well see, what helps is that you understand it.

Because, I mean, we're farmers, right?

There's some dumb farmers out there that don't realize how invaluable their wives are, or their spouses, for the women out there.

- Invaluable, yeah.

- Yeah, because, if you need to get a part, just getting a ride, - Oh, yeah.

- All the little stuff like that can literally suck a day away.

- Yeah, absolutely.

- So well done on learning that.

You're a little quicker learning that lesson than I was, Joel.

- Well like I said, I learned from the master with my parents.

(Rob laughs) - You talked about the heritage and honoring the heritage of the ground.

What do you mean by that?

- I think it is valuable to a farmer, because when you're making decisions, it's not just about you.

It's about preserving this thing that has been given to you and it's almost like it's not just this thing that I own, it's like, I'm the caretaker of this, you know?

I'm the sixth person that's been given the opportunity to do this, and when I'm taking risks and making decisions, it's with that in mind, that you know, I'm trying to carry this on for the next group, or the next person, and I think it gives you good moorings for, you know, moral decision-making and good risk-taking, so.

- Not just farming, any multi-generational business.

- Absolutely, I'm sure anybody.

- Yeah, you've got the parents that built it and now you have the child coming back and you and I've both seen it, there are businesses, farms, that are very good at pushing the kid to be energetic, to be innovative and then there are ones that never want to give up the reins.

How's that working on your farm?

- A lot of credit has to be given to my dad.

When he was about 70 years old, he started pulling back and giving me the opportunity.

And a lot of people aren't willing to do that and if he hadn't, you know, I wouldn't be here where I am today.

If he had waited 10 years, till he was 80 and held onto it that long, who knows where I'd be at now, you know, in my career, family, and the ability for me to move back and farm may have been limited.

So I think that's important too, you know, for the older generation to understand.

Like, I have to do something to help steward the next generation into it, because it doesn't just happen automatically.

- Yeah, there's farmers that are in their 60's, maybe 70's that have not written a check, because the older generation just doesn't want to hand over that reins.

You don't learn like that.

- No you don't.

- And then when that farm gets transitioned, that's where you see a lot of troubles, because they've never run it.

- Right, and if you allow people to make mistakes early on, when the stakes are lower, you learn a lot from that.

And when you're a kid and somebody says, or a young person you get gifted to farm a small piece of ground, even farming, you know, I started farming 300 acres when I started.

That doesn't sound like a lot, but when you start adding up the dollars that are involved, it's significant, so putting that in the hands of somebody when they're young and letting them make mistakes before those mistakes can cost the farm is very important.

- Well and I tell you, those mistakes that I made, I'll never forget.

- Oh, yeah.

- The stuff like when Dad would say, "Oh, don't do that, that's a mistake," I mean, I'll maybe forget that, might not, but the mistakes I made, I will never forget that.

- No doubt.

(Rob laughs) - It is a big responsibility, and this again, it's not just farming, it's all multi-generational companies and that, it's on your shoulders now, right?

Your family, what generation are you?

- Sixth.

- Sixth.

For five generations, they've kept that farm in the family ground.

Now it's on your shoulders.

How you do deal with that?

- I think I circle back to what we talked about, you know, it's a responsibility and you can't just rest on the laurels either, you know, you say, well I was gifted this, I have to be conservative.

To a certain point you do, but things are changing, as we all see in the ag community.

Equipment's getting bigger, farmers are getting bigger.

And, you know, if you're going to set goals, you have to, if you're going to get strategic, you have to set goals.

You have to know where you want to go.

And everybody's goals are going to be different.

Everybody's farm is different.

Some farms have a bunch of siblings and people that all need to be employed at the farm and others don't.

I have a small farm here where it's just me and Dad.

So my goals are going to be different from somebody else's, but it's all about setting goals and making good decisions to get there.

And I'm hopeful that my farm is going to grow here over time and I'll be able to pass it on to the next generation, but I'm going to have to grow it, too, you know.

A 700 acre farm isn't going to be viable in 10 or 20 years and that's just the way things go, you know, there's nothing we can do about it, but all businesses have to grow over time.

You know, back when my dad was a kid, there was a farmer on every corner of the section, it's just not the way it is anymore.

- He'd need alternative crops.

- Absolutely.

- Like pansies.

(Joel laughs) Ever thought about growing that?

- Negative.

- No?

- No.

- Okay.

You never know, hey, if there's money in it, I'll grow it.

(Rob laughs) I met you through a leadership program.

That was what, 2016?

- It's when we graduated, yeah.

- Oh, so it was 2014?

- Something like that, '14, '15.

- Wow, goodnight that was a while ago.

- Yeah.

- So that was, it was a two year program, massive time commitment.

- Massive, yeah.

- A lot of travel, so why'd you do that?

- I had a friend that had gone through it, in the previous class, Dan Carmichael, who's a great friend of mine to this day, but he went through it and highly recommended it to me.

And I applied, and as you know, it's a process to get in.

You fill out a lengthy application and interview process, but I thoroughly valued what I did, you know, I wouldn't have met you or a number of other people from our class and outside of our class.

The networking has been fantastic.

And that circles around to one of the things I think is most important in building your farm and a business, is networking.

And we- - Why, though?

Because I know why you're saying why, but to the person listening, they're like, "You're a farmer from Streater.

Why do you need a network?"

- A lot of reasons.

So there's local networks and larger networks like we've built through our ag leadership group.

I think it's important for us to all have different types of people that you can lean on.

One of my favorite terms when people ask me about things is, "If I don't know it, I got a guy for that."

And whether it's a young guy around me that, you know, is hungry for work too and we can work together on farm work, or it's some of these older neighbors and friends that I have that can provide sage wisdom for unique problems that you come up on the farm.

Every year's different out here and younger guys like us haven't seen everything and some of these older guys really can provide a lot of sage wisdom to you and help and just, not only on the farm decisions, but business decisions, family decisions, helping you keep your priorities straight.

- Seasoned, they don't like to be called old.

- Yeah, yeah.

- Yeah, sage.

Who says sage wisdom?

- Yeah, sorry, Rusty.

(Joel laughs) - My apologies, Rusty.

(both laugh) We went to Japan, we went to Panama because they're close, I don't know how that happened.

But we saw- - Close (scoffs).

- We saw very different countries and how they go about feeding themselves and agriculture.

What was your takeaways?

- Two very unique places, and as you said, the distance between them was unique when you're trying to hit both of those in a two week trip.

- Did they not own a globe?

- I guess not.

(both laugh) Let's fly all the way to Japan, just as soon as you get over the jet lag let's come back and go to Panama.

(both laugh) But it was very unique, you know, Japan has it's own challenges there, all of their ground, I'm sure you remember, it's so cut up, you know, there used to be tons of tiny rice farms and now all that ground is cut up into small parcels that have varying ownership and it's hard to transfer that land.

- Some of them are 30 generation farms.

- Yeah, but they're finding their own ways to overcome that, they're growing specialty crops, high-end vegetables, fruits, things like that.

And, I mean, I'm sure you remember, the strawberries there were the best thing I've ever had in my life.

- They were fantastic.

- Outstanding.

- Do you remember the story about the guy that was growing the watermelons in a glass box?

- Oh, yes.

- And they were selling for, I think equivalent to like 300 bucks, US.

- Yeah, it's a gift.

- Crazy, yeah.

- And a lot of people probably don't understand, but they would grow a watermelon or a cantaloupe and when it would get about medium-sized, they'd take a glass box and put it around it, so the light can get through, and then let that thing grow.

And at the end you've got a glass box that you can give as a gift, that's got a square watermelon or cantaloupe in it, and probably the most tasty one you'd ever have in your life.

- Yeah, that's Japan.

(both laugh) On the flip side, Panama.

- Yes.

- Poverty is unreal.

- Poverty.

- Corruption is unreal.

What was your thoughts on that?

- I remember being there and I mean, downtown Panama City is like Hong Kong, you remember all the tall buildings?

- [Rob] There was a Trump building.

- And this was just before that Panama papers thing came out and the thing that struck me was at night, there was no lights on in those buildings.

(both laugh) So, you know, I'm not making any accusations, but there was some strange stuff going on there.

- Yeah, we went and we talked to their government, I think it was like their version of the USDA, and the class left, we got on the bus and we all looked at each other and said, "They are so corrupt."

(Joel laughs) And then, it wasn't two weeks, all those Panama papers came out.

- Yeah, well, when you've got an economy that uses the US dollar, and allows people to park money there, and not have to deal with exchange rate, you know.

- Okay, again, why?

Why is a farmer from Streater want to go learn from Japan and Panama?

What good does that do you?

- I mean, it's an opportunity that you'd never get on your own, it's the fantastic group of people that we went with.

It was eye-opening.

Not to say that everything was bad in Panama, but the Panama Canal, and what they're doing there is very impressive, especially the new canal.

And without that, you know, our goods would have a heck of a lot harder time getting to the Asian market that's so vitally important to our industry these days.

And not only getting there, but, you know, things coming back through there, too.

It's a vitally important asset that, fortunately, the United States built 120 years ago and it was very eye-opening and a great experience.

- Hopefully when this airs, the whole back up at the US ports will be cleared out and everything, but, you know, when they say there's 100 ships off a port, now you and I can picture what a massive problem that is.

- Oh yeah, I remember flying into Panama, we got there at night, and you could see a lot of ships out there, maybe there was two or three dozen, but it was staggering, you know, just seeing that many sitting out there.

To imagine the back ups we have right now is next level.

- If you've never seen, and the Panamax are the small ones now.

But if you've never seen one in person, they're cities.

- It's mind boggling.

- They're floating cities.

- It's mind boggling.

(both chuckle) - So what's in the future for Joel Barickman?

- Ah, you know, I hope to have a family here pretty soon and, you know, grow the farm here, looking at- - [Rob] Do you need a network for that?

- For what, growing the farm or having a family?

- Yeah.

- Well, it takes a village, they say, so.

(both laugh) - So yeah, looking to grow a family, being married helps.

- Yeah, it absolutely does, it's been a blessing for me.

We're only, what are we, six months into this or something, in our marriage, but it's been a blessing and I couldn't be happier.

- Six months, she was telling me it felt like years already.

(Joel laughs) - I don't think she said that, Rob.

- We all have our own little versions at the moment.

(both laugh) But the farm, you know growth is two different ways, in farming, right, you can get more acres or you can diversify, which is more work.

What are you thinking?

- Ah, you know, my attitude to farming is I'm not the type of guys that's going to be out there chasing down cash rent all over the place.

I think, for me, our farm right now is based on a lot of long-term partnerships with landlords and neighbors too, that I work with.

But predominantly, my goal in the farm is to grow these long-term relationships that revolve around either share crop agreements, flex leases, things like that, and I think there's benefit to both parties in that.

You know, I think there's stability, the landlord doesn't have to be out bidding at every year and arguing about how much cash rents are getting.

And they get a farmer that values the land, you know, every acre that I farm, whether it's stuff that my parents own or other people own, I treat it as if it's my own.

And I think there's a lot of benefit to that, and hopefully I'll have more opportunities for that to come and grow the business over time.

- Well and for the people that aren't in farming, a lot of times if you get on the farm, doing the custom farming or what, that lease gives you first chance to maybe rent it in the future, so it's, I think you're sitting in good shape for a lot of it.

- Some of that, and I do some custom farming for another neighbor too, that's a younger guy too, that I have no expectation for that, but all of that helps grow your business and shows people that you're a quality operator and allows you to make some machinery upgrades that you otherwise wouldn't be able to and, you know, hopefully build yourself a good reputation and grow your business over time.

- If people want to find you on social media, the internet, want to rent you ground, where do they go?

- I'm on Instagram, @farmer_joel, I used to be more active in it, but, you know, I stay on there fairly often.

Facebook and Twitter, not so much.

- [Rob] Okay, you're not on the Streater group chats?

- Not so much, no.

(Rob laughs) - Yeah, I think you have a very good understanding of what you need to do to be successful in the future.

You're one of the smarter guys that I know, not the smartest, but you're, yeah, you're extremely smart, I think you have things figured out and it's exciting to see you starting on this new venture with Katie, and yeah, I think it's only going to be ups for you.

- Thank you, Rob, thanks for having me on.

- Yeah, well, there's like 30 seconds left, now I don't know what to do.

(Joel laughs) I thought you were going to say something more at the end.

- Well, I appreciate you bringing me on, it's been wonderful, you know, meeting you in ag leadership and seeing everything that you've done here and having the opportunity to participate in it.

- [Rob] See what she's doing?

- I do, yeah.

See, now you're trying to cover up me, when I'm trying to give you compliments- - Pretty soon, when she goes like this, then we're going to be done talking, whether we want to or not.

(laughs) Joel Barickman, thank you very much.

Everybody else, we'll catch you next week.

(upbeat music)