By Julie Tomascik
Editor
With over 250 episodes and more than 26,000 downloads, the Texas Ag Today podcast continues to reach audiences near and far.
Texas Farm Bureau Radio Network launched the podcast in September 2020. It’s hosted by veteran farm broadcaster Carey Martin, along with the largest and most-experienced farm news team in the Lone Star State that includes Tom Nicolette, TFB senior network producer, and Jessica Domel, TFB multimedia reporter.
“We cover everything happening in Texas agriculture with contributions from our in-house team of three full-time farm broadcasters and 12 contributing reporters spread out through every region of Texas,” Martin said. “We bring our listeners the news that affects their livelihoods on Texas farms and ranches. That may be the latest legislative news from the state capitol or the latest policy initiatives from Washington, D.C.”
The podcast also brings regular reports on crop and livestock conditions and includes a daily segment on crop, livestock and energy markets.
And it’s growing in popularity and rankings.
Texas Ag Today is ranked in the Top 100 Business News podcasts on Apple Podcasts, and it is ranked as the 11th agricultural podcast in Feedspot’s “Top 30 Ag Podcasts of 2020.”
“Our focus is on full-time production agriculture, but we also branch out to cover other issues that are important to rural Texans,” Martin said. “A few examples would be our regular lawn and garden report from San Angelo horticulturalist John Begnaud, our daily wildlife report and our daily veterinary report from Dr. Bob Judd.”
Texas Ag Today is just another way that the state’s largest farm and ranch organization provides information about agriculture to members and anyone who wants to learn more.
“The most satisfying achievement is to see the steady growth of our listener base,” Martin said. “Each month, the downloads increase, meaning we are keeping a loyal audience and adding to it each month. There’s still huge potential for growth, and we’ll keep working to reach more listeners.”
The podcast has been downloaded in 34 countries outside the U.S., with the most downloads coming from Canada, Japan, Brazil, United Kingdom, France, Taiwan, Sweden, Russia and Mexico.
Listeners can subscribe to Texas Ag Today on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify and anywhere you can listen to podcasts.
It is also available on the TFB website.
“One pleasant surprise has been the willingness of radio stations to air Texas Ag Today as a morning radio show. It is currently heard on 10 radio stations each weekday morning, and we hope to expand that to over 20 stations by the end of the year,” Martin said.
The Texas Farm Bureau Radio Network is the state’s number one and most listened-to agricultural radio network. The network features over 115 affiliate stations and rates highest for Texas farmer and rancher all-day listening.
For a complete list of affiliate stations and more information about the Texas Farm Bureau Radio Network, visit texasfarmbureau.org/radio.