We’ve been everywhere, man.

Well, not really, but we have visited with guests from around the country on our Farm Progress podcast, “FP Next,” powered by John Deere, throughout 2024.

We kicked off the first season of “FP Next” back in December 2023, just introducing ourselves to our listeners. Since then — over the course of 30 episodes — we’ve talked with several farmers, including a farmer who operates in Iowa and Brazil. We’ve visited with numerous Farm Progress and Farm Press editors about the important ag topics and news they are covering in their own regions. But with food always on our minds, we also ask many of our guests where to stop in their own area for the best burger, steak, barbecue or food in general.

For instance, in our latest “Shop Talk” episode with Shelley Huguley, a farm wife and editor at Southwest Farm Press based in Olton, Texas, we talked about the true challenges of continuous drought and how the landscape in her part of Texas has changed as weather patterns have changed.

We always ask

But we had to ask Shelley for a recommendation about where to stop for the best food around Olton. She mentioned her favorite spot, Rejino Barbeque. Likewise, when we previewed the New York Farm Show last February, Chris Torres, editor at American Agriculturist, pointed us to the hot beef sundaes at the show, which he noted that you had to wait in a long line to obtain.

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Kevin Schulz, editor at The Farmer in Minnesota, recommended Carl’s Gizmo at the Minnesota State Fair as his favorite fair food. And Mindy Ward, editor at Missouri Ruralist, said that we needed to stop by Treloar Bar and Grill if we ever got down to Marthasville, Missouri.

FOOD TOUR: Here are some places that have been recommended by guests from around the country on the Farm Progress podcast “FP Next,” powered by John Deere, throughout 2024.

Farm Progress national events manager Matt Jungmann has lots of favorite stops. He loves a burger at the Bunkhouse Bar and Grill in Grand Island, Neb., because that is where he and the team stop to eat after Husker Harvest Days is complete each year, and after that meal, he gets to go home.

But Jungmann also loves The Colorado Grill in Boone, Iowa, in the years when the Farm Progress Show is held in Boone. When it is in Decatur, Ill., he suggests Doherty’s Pub and Pins.

More than a burger

When we talked with Andy Bishop, chair of the Cattlemen’s Beef Board, he didn’t talk about food — he talked about bourbon, mentioning his favorite place is Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfurt, Ky.

As for us, Curt recommends the enormous Walt’s Burger at Wiebelhaus Recreation in his hometown of Crofton, Neb. Sarah says that the Cure Burger at Herd and Horns in Fargo, N.D., is truly the best.

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Although we won’t make it around to all these great food spots across the country, we might try to hit a few of them down the road. In the meantime, you can be sure that we will be asking for more local food suggestions as we enter Season 2 of “FP Next” beginning in January.

Learn more about “FP Next” by visiting farmprogress.com/program/fp-next.