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Listen & Watch On
About This Episode
Jake and Sabreana have the opportunity to speak to Nate Freitag, co-founder of Free Day Popcorn. His family began farming in the 1880’s, but popcorn wasn’t in their fields until 100 years later. Hear about the challenges of popcorn farming and the surprising myth Nate wants to set straight about the specialty crop.
Topics Covered
family farms, agribusiness, popcorn, innovation, farm-to-fork, harvest
Key Takeaways
Nate Freitag provides an introduction to Free Day Popcorn, his family's farming history and the start of growing popcorn commercially in the 1980s.
Nate explains the initial challenges and the decision to start marketing popcorn directly to consumers in 2015.
He describes the production process, including the importance of harvesting at the right moisture level and the use of non-GMO popcorn.
Nate discusses the benefits of the farm-to-table concept and the growing interest in knowing where food comes from.
About the Guest
In 2015, Nate Freitag co-founded Free Day Popcorn with his wife, Stacey. Based on their family farm in Byron, Neb., they grow a couple hundred acres of popcorn in addition to corn and beans - shipping popcorn to customers across the country. In addition to farming, Nate holds a master’s degree in educational leadership and teaches high school online through Insight School of Kansas.
About the Hosts
Agriculture has been part of Jake’s life from the beginning. Growing up on a Midwest farm, he never realized those early experiences were preparing him for a career in the industry. With more than 20 years of experience in irrigation technology, Jake has worked his way from robotic programming to his current role as technical sales manager, helping growers around the world optimize their irrigation systems. A self-described lifelong learner, Jake is always curious about how things work and what’s possible. Away from work, he enjoys hunting, fishing and spending time with his family.
Sabreana didn’t grow up in agriculture, but that’s where she went after earning her manufacturing engineering degree. For the past 26 years, she’s had the opportunity to hold different positions within Reinke, now serving as a sales and marketing support specialist. Having developed a deep respect for the ag industry, Sabreana now has the opportunity to expand on that by tapping into people’s stories and challenges through the podcast.
