Making anything entertaining is a tall order. Making things informative is a bit easier. By hard or easy, I mean the amount of time it takes to write, record, edit, etc., a podcast. Some things could be a straightforward interview. If it's the right person and the right subject, it will take care of itself. But to make things glib or funny, you've got to dedicate more time to the process.

I'm not trying to be down on the process. In fact, I just bought a new digital recorder for field and office use and spent $300 on this one, more than 2X what I've paid for any of the last 3. And part of the reason I spent so much was to gear up to do more telephone or on-site interviews that could be converted to podcasts.

But I guess a central question is this: Do farmers actually use podcasts to any extent? I'm not finding anyone to speak of who downloads podcasts and takes them to the field. Most anyone with a smart phone now has a builtin MP3 player. When I ask if they're downloading anything to theirs, most farmers talk about music. I haven't done a full-blow survey. Just random, unscientific questioning.