AMES, Iowa – An educational podcast called “County Roads,” which was recently introduced by Iowa State University (ISU) Extension and Outreach, has been designed to help farmers better understand the business, financial, and legal aspects of running a farm.

Episodes feature Kristiana Coutu, director of ISU’s Beginning Farmer Center, and Tim Christensen, ISU Extension and Outreach farm management specialist.

“The name for the podcast was Tim’s idea,” Coutu told Farm World. “We considered a few names, but in the end, we decided on County Roads. Our goal is to focus on real issues that matter to farmers – the issues you’d hear about traveling from farm to farm down Iowa’s county roads.”

She said it is a useful resource for both new and experienced farmers. Developed by ISU’s Beginning Farmer Center, the podcast’s first episode was released May 5, with new episodes posted twice a month, on the first and third Tuesday.

“Tim and I both enjoy podcasts,” she said. “You can listen when you want, and where you want, whether you’re on a tractor in the field, or driving to your kids’ sporting events. We both get questions from farmers about a multitude of business and legal topics, so we decided to turn the themes of those questions into podcast episodes. We hope the listeners will enjoy the conversation.”

Through a business and legal lens, County Roads explores the realities of running a farm, providing timely, relevant information for both beginning and experienced producers. Fit for newer and experienced farmers, listeners can expect straightforward conversations covering key topics such as production, financing, land access, labor, taxes and farm succession, all grounded in how farms actually operate.

As long-time podcast listeners themselves, Coutu said she and Christensen both appreciate being able to access information they’re interested in on their own schedules: “With that in mind, we created County Roads to focus on topics important to farmers, with conversations grounded in both the business and legal sides of agriculture. Our hope is that farmers can tune in without taking time away from the farm.”

She said the feedback has been positive, and people have been very supportive and encouraging: “There is a lot of interest in farm succession planning, as we expected. As we launch more episodes and reach more listeners, we are hoping for more feedback and input. We’d like this to be as interactive as possible and provide information folks want. We have an episode on leasing coming up later this summer that we are really looking forward to.”

Stay up to date on new episode releases by visiting ISU’s Beginning Farmer Center’s website at: https://beginningfarmer.iastate.edu or subscribing to the podcast at: https://countyroads.podbean.com. County Roads is available on most podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and Audible.

For more information, contact Coutu at kcoutu@iastate.edu or Christensen at tsc@iastate.edu.