AG Bull
Tommy Grisafi is the main host and content creator for Ag Bull Media.
The Ag Bull Podcast showcases agriculture's top talents in a long-form video format. The Ag Bull Trading Podcast is a deeper discussion of trading with analysts and key players in agriculture nationwide.
Futures trading involves risk of loss and is not suitable for everyone.
AG Bull
Rachel Fishback | How A Farm Mom Turned A Pandemic Pivot Into A Platform For Pork
We sit down with Rachel “Iowa Farm Mama” Fishback to explore how a pandemic pivot led to Pride of Pork, why TikTok makes farms feel close, and what the economics look like from rust-hit beans to double-cost hog barns. We trade notes on DIY media, clear audio, and why thin relief checks don’t match uneven pain across the countryside.
• launching Pride of Pork and pork industry news on Acres TV
• why casual video builds trust and reach
• iPhone vs cameras, confidence over perfection
• audio quality as the non‑negotiable for podcasts
• DIY media versus old news gatekeepers
• yields, soybean rust pressure and prices at harvest
• running older equipment and auction strategy
• aid math, basis differences and fairness
• consolidation in pork and rising barn costs
• health insurance strain on farm families
• how to watch on Acres TV and follow on TikTok
If you're out there and you're in the hog business, drop a comment down below. How much more is it expensive to build a hog building than it was five, six years ago?
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Thank you, Tommy G
How are we doing everyone? Tom Grasapi, Eggbull Media, Egg Bull Trading, the Egg Bull Podcast. Well, I want to do something different, and I'm part of this group on Acres TV. You gotta check out Acres TV. And I meet all these people and I see all these people and all these people have these videos. And I don't talk a lot about hogs or pork. I'm a corn bean cattle guy. So if you wanted to talk about pork, who would you get? You get the pride of pork. Let's bring her in the show. She's giggling because she's like, what type of intro is that? How are you doing, Rachel?
SPEAKER_00:I'm great. How are you, Tommy?
SPEAKER_01:Good. We had a little testing of the cameras and the mics, and I asked who was talking in the background, and it was actually my own voice backfeeding. So we figured all that out. And I know you're from Makers TV. I watch your shows. I watch your reels. I watch your social media. I see you on TikTok. My family sees you on TikTok. And I don't know a lot about you, but we're going to learn a lot right now. So the stage is yours. We're going to do a lot more camera on you than me. People appreciate that. And I know you're from Iowa and you are the Iowa Farm Mama. The stage is yours. Tell us a little about yourself.
SPEAKER_00:Well, thank you. I'm honored to be here. Yes, I am Iowa Farm Mama on social media. I farm with my brother Vinny in Southeast Iowa. And this year I launched Pride of Pork and pork industry news. You can find that on Acres TV. I love talking about the pork industry.
SPEAKER_01:So you got the farm economy out there. We'll get to that in a little bit. We you got corn, beans, and pork is something that you would be all involved in, right?
SPEAKER_00:Yes. So my brother and I, we raise corn and soybeans here in Southeast Iowa. And I do a lot of work in the pork industry.
SPEAKER_01:And the kids are involved. I see the you make some videos with your son.
SPEAKER_00:Yes.
SPEAKER_01:He's a bitch.
SPEAKER_00:He's hilarious. He keeps us on our toes.
SPEAKER_01:He farms. Go ahead.
SPEAKER_00:So yeah, he farms. I have four kids and they're all grown except for my youngest. She's a senior in high school.
SPEAKER_01:So you better give them all a mention. Otherwise, they're gonna be like, Mom, you did a podcast. You didn't only mention the brother, you know. Come on.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so my setup. Yep. My oldest, she's getting married here this month, and to another farmer and a livestock hauler. My second daughter, Riley, she's in Iowa City, and Clay. And then my youngest Tessa, who's a senior in high school that is into nursing and wants to go into the nursing field.
SPEAKER_01:That's all good stuff. Wonderful. My oldest daughter's actually a nurse here. All right. I'll pop in just so they realize that why we have the camera on you, not me. I'm down in Nashville today, and I drove down yesterday with my daughter. She is a nurse here. And right there in the studio with the graphics, but I'm using my trading background. I didn't have time to switch over. So many things talk about. And I did ask you before we start filming, how did you get into the filming and video stuff? And then you had a good answer. Do tell.
SPEAKER_00:How I got started into filming and making videos. It was just the whole 2020 saga that we all went through. I was working for a construction company and I did their marketing. We couldn't do open houses. So I thought, let's just start doing videos so we can show people kind of the work and what it's like to be in a hog building. And that's kind of where it all took off. And then I also, in the same time frame, I was I decided to do my Iowa Farm Mama because I was working with my brother. And I thought, what a better way to figure out how to do video than practice with it on the evenings and weekends. And so that's how I started my Iowa Farm Mama social media.
SPEAKER_01:That really took off. That seems to do well. Of the social media platforms, tell us uh where people can find you and which ones. What do you and then tell us what you like? Like I think I know the answer, but go ahead.
SPEAKER_00:So you can find my Iowa Far Mama on TikTok and Facebook, and then YouTube, but I haven't done a very good job at updating my YouTube. Pride of Pork, you can see that on Facebook and LinkedIn as well. Not on TikTok, but on Acres TV, you can. And then my pork industry news. I have that on YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook, TikTok. I think I got them all.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so three different things and kind of for three different purposes, right?
SPEAKER_00:Yes.
SPEAKER_01:Why do I feel like you lean more towards TikTok, or is that just the algorithm that I see your stuff on there?
SPEAKER_00:I like TikTok because I feel like I can see a lot of people that I know, a lot of more personalized video concepts. And I just I feel like I'm I'm watching someone standing in the farm shop with me. And it's just more casual. So that's what I like about TikTok.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. And as far as filming, or uh is it as simple like if someone's never done this and they're in agriculture and they want to get in this, is it as simple as using your iPhone, using some complicated stuff? What are you doing to uh create content?
SPEAKER_00:So I use my iPhone for more of my casual, more candid videos. I I do have other cameras that I use for my video shows. But but yeah, if you're if you're wanting to get into video, absolutely. It's more just getting the confidence up to do it.
SPEAKER_01:Rob Sharkey gave me bad advice when I started, or good advice. Did I say he gave me bad advice? That is too funny, but he gave me good advice. I was asked him telling him I wanted to do this stuff, and he said, uh, oh, I want to do this right or that right. And he's like, just get started. It'll be horrible in the beginning, it'll get better. Price still is horrible, but I'm very comfortable doing it. And I guess part of that uncomfortableness is hearing yourself, seeing yourself. What are people gonna think? And to be honest with you, I don't think people think about anything else but themselves in the selfish world. I don't think there's one person worried about what I look like on the screen today, to be honest with you. So maybe it's different for you. Do tell.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and I mean, that is a lot of a lot of it that you have to overcome is just doing it and and being confident in doing so. And uh, Rob and Emily, they're great people, they're great. I call them cheerleaders for all of us. You know, they're out there also doing interviews and and working with all of us, and and it's they're so right. And so, you know, you just got to start doing it. And it's awkward, don't get me wrong. It is awkward when you start, but it's just something that if you do it enough, the more comfortable you get with it.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's fun. I I I sure I've met so many people. I have a new video series out with uh my friend Jim Wiesmeyer. And so what happens, like you and I are podcasting right now, we're talking. People probably wonder why you're popping in, popping out. I'm not gonna edit this. So everything you see here, folks, this was never edited. There was some little pictures or something that pop up. Some people go through tremendous amount of work to just make sure it looks perfect. So everything you hear today, everything you see today is unedited. That at best, it'll go through some AI software that maybe levels out our sound or something. But other than that, I I notice people are very they're very forgiving of a lot of things in a video. But when it comes to a podcast, when this goes over to Spotify and Apple, people are not forgiving for poor sound quality. I'm sure you've heard that, right?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I've heard some of that.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, you're listening to podcasts in the car in the tractor. If it sounds horrible, you're like, oh hell with this, I gotta go. This thing's horrible. So the if it's a audio only, people want to sound well and just talk about whatever you want. But if it's video, they're a little bit more like, eh, whatever, it looks like they filmed that on an iPhone 3 or something. Who cares? Don't really care so much. But they're getting into fancier, fancier stuff. I like when it comes to media, the fact that in the old days, like say you're doing something with you know the pork industry, for you to go tell your story, you would have to have someone from the news come out, they'd have a little camera person and tripod, they'd mic you up, you'd talk, and then you'd wait a few days and you'd see yourself on the news. You can do everything, everything a major media company can do. You may edit it or touch it up or do something, and then cut it into shorts and everything else. Talk about that a little bit. So you have every advantage a major media company does right there from Iowa. You never told everyone where you're from. Did you tell everyone where you're from?
SPEAKER_00:Oh, I don't know if I did. Yeah, Southeast Iowa, south of Iowa City.
SPEAKER_01:The best, right?
SPEAKER_00:What?
SPEAKER_01:It's the best. All of Iowa's the best.
SPEAKER_00:Yes. Exactly. I I mean, we we are very fortunate that we can all take a video and hopefully for the best for the better. You know, people are using these videos for the good.
SPEAKER_01:Well, there is uh all types of ways to make money in videos. I have a subscription service, and one of my partners here at work, they said, You got three new subscribers today. What are you doing? I said, I swear I'm keeping my clothes on, it's all legit. You know, we're just talking about corn beans, soybeans, cattle. I and the guy at work said, I'd pay you money to keep your clothes on. So don't go to the dark side. That is a whole wild world over there of what's going on and all that. And I see some of that in the YEG community too, which is fine, whatever. Who am I to judge, right?
SPEAKER_00:Right. Yeah, it's it's kind of a fine line between voicing your personal opinion or you know, I I guess I look at everyone that's out there farming, and I know how hard it is, whether you're small or whether you're big. You know, we all have our own challenges, and I just I hope I'm not ever bashing anyone for what they're doing or the way that they choose to do it.
SPEAKER_01:So I like that. Well said. So politically correct, too. Speaking of politics, politics affects agriculture. We got tariffs, we got uh price of soybeans tanked at harvest. How were your yields out there this fall in Iowa?
SPEAKER_00:Our yields they were pretty average, pretty good. Yeah, besides the prices, you know, going down. So yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Those nasty traders. What about uh rust? That was a big I did a speech in Iowa a few weeks ago, and a lot of people talked about Rust. Was that a problem by you?
SPEAKER_00:We did. We had a lot of rust down here, so well, we need to work on that.
SPEAKER_01:I guess we prices were low. Some people maybe didn't spray, and that was a problem, right?
SPEAKER_00:And then we it was really, it's not a problem we've really ever seen. And even people that sprayed had you know troubles with it showing up. So I don't know what it was.
SPEAKER_01:Are you guys green equipment? What color equipment?
SPEAKER_00:We're whatever cash flows. We have a lot of red equipment.
SPEAKER_01:I like that, right?
SPEAKER_00:So we have a lot of older equipment. Um, my brother and I, we farm a couple hundred acres that we rent for my grandparents, and we just started this journey together a couple of years ago. So it it's you know how it was in 2020 when everything skyrocketed, you know. We yeah, we go to auctions. My brother loves auctions, and our equipment is a lot older, but it gets the job done. And like I remind him, you know, we just need a certain amount of horsepower to do the work that we're doing.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, well, it's uh the economics of farming aren't working out right now. All right, the other day we announced that we're giving away money to farmers. I don't know that we're giving away, I'm not saying that right. That's gonna piss people off, but uh that there is now this$12 billion farm package. I don't think people who watch news realize how little that is and how if you spread all that across agriculture, it's not gonna be much when you when you look at corn farmers, beans, hogs, sugar beets, all the stuff they grow in California. A lot of stuff was affected by tariffs in in China, but it's just not gonna be enough, right?
SPEAKER_00:Right. It's not a great big bonus check that anybody's going to receive, I don't think. But you know, I saw one guy, is it like$35 an acre? I think.
SPEAKER_01:I was just talking to a client before this, and he said, Tommy, what do you think it is? And I said, just figure I've heard$30, I've heard$50. Go with$40 an acre just for conversation, right?
SPEAKER_00:So yeah, I mean, some people will get a nice check depending on how much they they run, you know, how many acres they run across, but they also have a lot of equipment to pay for and inputs as well.
SPEAKER_01:Right. And different people were affected by a different basis. So North Dakota farmer who so much depends on China to buy it out of the PW is totally different than someone from a great healthy part of Iowa where they have crush plants and everything else, where you have a bungee or someone processing this thing. So everyone's gonna get the same amount, but everyone got hurt differently, and I think that's what upsets people. I had in the questions and stuff. What what's the when I I watch all your stuff and I feel like I know you, but I I was saying, like, well, who do you work for? And really you work for yourself, right?
SPEAKER_00:I do, yes.
SPEAKER_01:So talk about what pride of pork? What's your what are you most excited about that you're doing?
SPEAKER_00:Um, you know, I'm just excited about sharing the pork industry in a different way. Uh you know, I the pork industry has been good to my children and I over the years. I'm in Washington County. It is one of the largest counties in the state of Iowa producing pork and and you know, my kids and I just really appreciate that industry and what it's done for our family. And I enjoy being creative with my brain and my artistic side and you know, showing people the different, I like to call it the busy town, you know, the Richard Scary storybooks when we were growing up, you know, the the buses and the buildings and the people moving around. The pork industry is no different. And you you look at a pig farmer, and then you've got the livestock haulers and the integrators and the guys or women delivering feed, veterinarians. There's just so many different moving parts that a lot of people don't get to see behind the scenes. So I love sharing that.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that's well said. You got something against cattle people?
SPEAKER_00:No, not at all.
SPEAKER_01:Cattle people. What volatility they've had in uh cattle is it's sad. Yeah, they had uh a big run up, big run down. It it's very expensive now to be in the cattle business and the hog business. I've noticed my friends who are in the hog business, they're getting bigger or they're getting out. Do you see a lot of that consolidation?
SPEAKER_00:I mean, I've I hear about it a lot. But you know, like for our family, you know, back when I was married and we built hog buildings, that that was a just a nice cushion for our household to be raising pigs for integrators. So so yeah, I don't know if it's people retiring and wanting to downsize or if it's people younger wanting to grow.
SPEAKER_01:What about I heard it's super, super expensive to build a hog building versus what it was five, six years ago. You want to talk about that a little bit?
SPEAKER_00:Oh, it's horrible. You know, 2020 when all of our input started going up, just the cost of a building and per pig space, just I don't even remember the numbers. It was just going up so drastic. And those prices just have not gone down, which is heartbreaking. You know, back a few years ago, everyone's like, oh, it's just for a little bit, it's just for a little bit, and they just don't come down. So you see a lot of people selling existing hog buildings because they don't want to update them, but there's a lot of remodeling going on in hog buildings, so it's it without going over the math, because I don't know it. I don't either.
SPEAKER_01:That's okay. Is it safe to say a hog building's probably doubled from 2019 to 2025 the cost of it?
SPEAKER_00:I think it is if not doubled very close to it.
SPEAKER_01:All right, let's do this. Let's do this. If you're out there and you're in the hog business, drop a comment down below. How much more is it expensive to build a hog building than it was five, six years ago? But I have several clients in Iowa who do this, and they say, I want to say a young man told me I'm gonna build another building, it's gonna cost me twice as much as it did seven years ago for the exact same building. Whether it be I wouldn't doubt that everything, yeah, building costs, labor. Yeah. One of the things that bothers me, I don't know if it bothers you, is health insurance. I work for myself, health insurance, wife, two kids, two two shihtsuos. Not that the government cares about the dogs, but just giving them a shout out. Tell me about health insurance. Is it something that's on your mind?
SPEAKER_00:A little bit, you know. I actually have a meeting tomorrow about mine. It's just I want to go back to 2015 or 2010, you know. Back then the health insurance seemed expensive, and now I'd love to have those prices.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's a it's it's a real issue. Well, we got to keep being creative, working, promoting agriculture. Agriculture's not going away, it's just changing. Tell me about your relationship with Acres TV. I had I like what they're doing over there. Tell people about Acres TV if they don't know.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, I love what Acres TV is doing. So Acres TV, it's a free streaming platform. There's a lot of us over there doing our own type of shows, and it all revolves around agriculture. So it's just you can log in, you can watch it, you can watch it on your smartphone. It doesn't cost you anything, your computer. There's some apps it's on on your smart TVs as well.
SPEAKER_01:So they could work on Roku and all that, and it's free, correct?
SPEAKER_00:Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, if I was sharper, I would have put a nice pop-up up of Acres TV. Well, I like Akers TV. Do you ever look at who watches your stuff? Do you ever keep track of who's watching your videos and do people comment on them or get a hold of you? Or I don't know if I would know you. I might know you from social media, but I definitely say I met you through Acres TV.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I watched that a little bit. I think with being new, I could do a better job at that. So but but yeah, you know, I see more of attraction from social media that I'm posting, you know, at people commenting for me.
SPEAKER_01:Any tips on what makes certain TikTok videos go crazy more than others?
SPEAKER_00:No. I I don't know what it is. It's you know, I think it's just posting your your mind and where you're at and keeping it updated and fresh. So yeah.
SPEAKER_01:What's the most you've ever seen a TikTok video of yours pop?
SPEAKER_00:A couple million. Like I know over, yeah, I've had a couple go over a million. So I'd love to have more.
SPEAKER_01:That's pro style. I had one go 125 a few weeks ago when the ice and plant closed, and I just did a I did a video with someone, but then I just broke down a little short from it, and that just took off and it wasn't paid or anything else. It's interesting how uh TikTok. I was a little scared to use TikTok, but now that we did you know, TikTok's gonna be banned. No, it's not banned, it's shut off for a day. But now that it seems like TikTok's here to stay, it looks like the government works something out with Oracle. TikTok's not going away, and from a corporate level. Or myself, it can be, you know, in what we do, we have to stay compliant. And so we just can't put stuff out there. If you're talking about brokerage or trading, or if it's just podcasting and videos, we could do whatever we want. But when you're involved in markets, you're regulated by people and stuff. So you got to kind of be careful what you say. And then you have to be able to keep track of what you put out there. And it's possible to do that now through TikTok. So that's not yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. No, it's possible to keep track of a lot of things with the different analytics and it's utilizing it and checking it. And yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Good stuff. All right. Tell people again the three ways to find you, how to get a hold of you. There's there's like 10 ways to find you, but uh if you had to point someone to one place, where would you point them to?
SPEAKER_00:Well, TikTok, of course. And then if you're on Acres TV, I hope you are, especially if you're watching this and following farming and agriculture. Go log in and and support some of the other creators as well.
SPEAKER_01:And that would be Iowa Farm Mama, right?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, my show on Acres Pride of Pork, or I have a tab for pork industry news.
SPEAKER_01:TikTok handle though.
SPEAKER_00:Iowa Farm Mama and Pork Industry News.
SPEAKER_01:Excellent. I wish I had some graphics of some hogs or something. I have some cattle. I feel bad. You kind of got uh gib there. But with that, we'll have you back on again. I do need to educate people more on what's going on in the pork industry. Overall health of the pork industry, you'd say, is okay?
SPEAKER_00:I I think the markets are going back up, especially for the people with pigs.
SPEAKER_01:Well, good. We'll leave it with that. We're visiting today with Rachel Fishback. She is Iowa Farm Mama, and she's all over the place. Wasn't as easy as just putting one social media, but we have Iowa Farm Mama, Pride of Pork, Pork Industry, catcher on Acres TV, or I'm gonna point them to TikTok. With that, we'll talk real soon, okay?
SPEAKER_00:Thank you so much, Tommy.
