Root of the Matter

About Root of the Matter

A podcast created by the Tennessee Farm Bureau where co-hosts Lee Maddox, Amy Beckham and Thomas Capps take turns interviewing folks on issues, events and news with the goal of getting to the root of the matter on what is defining our most important industry, agriculture. “Root of the Matter” is inspired by a column written by the late Melissa Burniston Bratton, but has the same goal as she had for her article – sharing the important stories of farmers and those involved in agriculture.

Publisher

Tennessee Farm Bureau Federation

Category

leisure · news · science

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

27 Oct 2021

Latest episode

6 Nov 2026

Latest episodes

45 of 155 episodes have a transcript.

1. 

   6 Nov 2026TRANSCRIPT

   Beyond the Farm: How USDA Research Shapes Agriculture | ROTM

   Host [Host Name] interviews USDA Under Secretary Dr. Scott Hutchins about how USDA research advances agriculture and informs its future.

2. 

   30 Oct 2026TRANSCRIPT

   Rice in the Volunteer State | ROTM

   Host Carl Shultz shares his family's pivot to rice farming in Dyer County, Tennessee, highlighting the region's suitability and Tennemo Rice's farm-to-consumer model.

3. 

   28 Oct 2026TRANSCRIPT

   Higher Grocery Prices Don’t Mean More Farmer Profits

   Chad Smith, a farmer, explains to host [Host Name] why rising grocery prices do not translate to increased farmer profits, revealing the hidden struggles of farm country.

Inside a recent episode

Beyond the Farm: How USDA Research Shapes Agriculture | ROTM

Published 6 Nov 2026 · Transcript excerpt

[…] And so one of the things you're trying to do is to get better information, first of all, collected and then distributed through this modernization of the statistics system that we have in place, right? And that's been an ongoing goal, I think, for for many years, actually, since USDA started in 1862. […]

Who has been a guest on Root of the Matter

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Dr Scott Hutchins
• Carl Shultz
• Chad Smith
• Shelby Vannoy
• Jim Cortese

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

2 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

2 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 40 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

57

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

60