RealAg LIVE! with Danny Ottenbreit on farming sunshine, ag policy, and farm cats

You would not believe the amount of effort our guest went through to be able to go live today, including driving in to town for better reception. Warning, you might think he’s yelling at you, but it’s really just that he’s trying to make our producer’s job easier by not being too quiet!

Joining Kara Oosterhuis today is Danny Ottenbreit, farmer from Grayson, Sask.

RealAg LIVE! streams every weekday at 3 pm E on Youtube, Facebook, and Twitter!

SUMMARY

• We caught him reading “The Book”
• On a scale of 1 to 10, Danny’s at a 6 for stress level, which is pretty productive actually
• Southeast corner of Saskatchewan, “just” grain farmers, Danny farms with his parents. Wheat and canola
• He’d like to grow some field-crop cannabis, maybe in 40 to 60 acres, except there’s a bit of a day-length issue in Canada
• Solar! Who owns the most amount of land? Farmers.
• Danny currently has one solar panel that charges batteries for him.
• What’s a better bet: solar panels or clean coal carbon?
• Grazing? The perfect solution to manage the weeds underneath a solar panel farm, but livestock gives Danny heartburn.
• Danny was supposed to sit down with our PM, but he instead sat down with Elizabeth May of the Green Party. They talked about all sorts of things that agriculture can do.
• Agriculture and climate solutions, there’s a natural meeting place in the middle, and that’s where Danny’s trying to get to.
• “We’ve never thought outside of our own bubbles.”
• Trying to open up people’s minds, trying to meet in the middle
• How are we going to have the conversation? Danny uses a baseball analogy, just for Shaun Haney
• Should the carbon tax be tossed? It’s making things more expensive says Danny. There’s no carrots, it’s all stick.
• Monetary incentive y’all. Danny wishes there could be some sort of honour system, but that’s not how people work.
• Danny lived in Toronto for almost a year and half and the only two times he thought he needed a car was: when he needed to go to Ikea, and to go to the airport. The answer? Zipcar
• Why do the fringe groups feel they have the corner on the “environmental corner,” how come agriculture is scared to say that they care about the environment too?
• Is twitter a cesspool? The good thing about it is connecting with people way outside of your bubble.
• When stuff breaks, how fast can you find the solution?
• Danny’s not sure he’s going back to farm shows. He has to drive four to six hours to get to one.
• How did you get involved in agriculture policy? Join the APAS mentorship program.
• Responsible Grain code of practice? The way you roll-out a program like this matters, and the way and stage that you include agriculture in an issue like this matters.
• Farm cats. The number one rule is don’t name them.

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