Ag Emerge Podcast

So good we gave it a reboot! And we think we'll have you doing your own system reboot as we talk research on plant, microbe, and soil interactions. It’s hard to believe we’ve been doing the AgEmerge podcast for a year and a half. Today we’re doing a reboot with a podcast we recorded early on in our podcasts, why? Because this is some cool research that's helping us understand the incredible interaction between plants, microbes, the soil. And honestly, it’s a big deal. Dr. James White is Professor of Plant Biology at Rutgers University and he and his students conduct research on beneficial microbes that inhabit plant tissues. In this part one of a two-part podcast, he discusses the rhizophagy cycle, a mechanism where plants attract microbes and acquire needed nutrients. But even more interesting, there’s also a mechanism where plants can actually cultivate their most beneficial microbes and then populate the soil with those microbes so they can maximize nutrient acquisition. We’re looking at the soil, plant, and microbe interaction from a whole new perspective. We explore what plants are actually doing to help bring those microbes in through the root hairs, take a listen.

In today’s episode, we meet Megan Silcott. She’s a Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo graduate, where she earned her undergrad degree in Agricultural Science with minors in Ag Business, Ag Communications, and Spanish, and a master’s in Agricultural Education. Following undergrad, Megan worked for a commercial fertilizer company and learned the ins and outs of bulk production, sales, and marketing. In 2011 she transitioned to a lecturer within the Animal Science and Agricultural Education and Communication Departments at her alma mater. She advised the Western Bonanza Junior Livestock show and managed the Brock Center for Agricultural Communication. Megan taught multiple agricultural science and communication courses with a focus on leadership development. Outside of the university, she served as an officer for the San Luis Obispo County Farm Bureau and a board member of the Center for Growing Talent by the Produce Marketing Association. Originally from Santa Maria, California, Megan and her husband Dean call Nipomo, California, home. Dean is the Operations Manager for C&M Nursery and oversees citrus and avocado production. They have two young kids who enjoy helping Dad on the ranch, Jeeping, and dirt bike adventures. Megan has a love for horses and keeps two Quarter horses on their property for riding and unwinding. She joined the team at Ag Solutions Network in July, 2020 as the Marketing Director. Got questions you want answered? Send them our way and we’ll do our best to research and find answers. Know someone you think would be great on the AgEmerge 2021 stage or on the podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to [email protected] We’d love to hear from you!

What’s the win-win product of integrating livestock on the land? Grateful Graze will tell you it’s great-tasting pastured protein. In today’s episode, we’re continuing the conversation we began a few weeks ago on the podcast when the Bottens Family Farm livestock team discussed the fifth principle of soil health that promotes the synergistic role between plants, animals, and soil. Today we’ll continue the conversation as we examine the product of good soil health practices. Grateful Graze markets the pastured and grass-fed proteins raised on Bottens Family Farm. Listen in as Monte talks about what it looks like to market the finished product that includes grass-fed beef and lamb, pastured chicken and eggs, and coming soon, pastured pork. Brooklynn Moore, the Grateful Graze Customer Care Associate is part of the conversation where we explore everything from processing to connecting with the customer. There's a lot of lessons learned, and as always we’re breaking up those old ag paradigms with some exciting new opportunities. https://www.gratefulgraze.com/

On today’s podcast, take a rest from the tractor seat and hop into the office seat for a fresh view of one of your most important resources, your data. More than ever, as we explore new practices in regenerative agriculture, the importance of accurate, timely, data collection and practices can be critical to the success of an operation. Today we’re discussing what growers are doing to capture costs and get a true picture of what is happening on their farms and ranches. We often talk about the five soil health principles but today we’re going to discuss the eight information silos that a farm needs to manage their operation with our guest Norm Brown, president of FBS Systems, Inc. FBS develops and markets integrated software systems to agriculture’s top managers. Norm is also a co-founder and board member of the Mutual Agricultural Software Alliance, LLC. and he’s a Certified Agricultural Consultant and past president of the American Society of Agricultural Consultants. Norm is also a partner in an Illinois farming operation that raises 2,000 acres of corn and markets 60,000 hogs per year. He’s a graduate of Iowa State University and the Illinois Agricultural Leadership Program and Norm serves on the Farm Financial Standards Council. https://www.fbssystems.com/

On today’s episode, the livestock team from Bottens Family Farms, joins us to talk about livestock integration and what that diversity means for the farm and the soil. You’ve heard us talk so much about the soil health principles and today we’re going to focus on the last of those principles, livestock integration. This fifth principle describes the synergistic role between plants, animals and soil. Livestock are an important part of soil health and today we’ll explore the journey Bottens Family Farm and their livestock team has taken to integrate livestock in a regenerative system. This is a learning experience and it’s not sugar coated. It’s a real discussion of the challenges and opportunities presented when integrating livestock back onto the land. The key words today are management and training, with those two operative words, this team has done a lot of discovery to make this system work.

Steve and Monte have long discussed, researched, and evaluated the use of cover crops, but not only that, they’ve discovered so much through this journey. Join us as they explore what they’ve learned and what the future of cover crop management looks like, the equipment available today that has improved the adoption of these practices. One point they hit home is treating your cover crop like your cash crop. We also explore what cover crops look like within specialty and perennial crops. Steve Groff and his family, farm 215 acres of cash grain crops, cover crops for seed, pumpkins, hard squash and heirloom tomatoes in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. For the past 25 years, his Cedar Meadow Farm has conducted thousands of cover crop research trials- out of which he developed the Tillage Radish- known and used around the world. Steve is the founder of Cover Crop Coaching which educates farmers and farm advisors about effective cover crop use. He recently founded Hemp Innovators to help farmers learn to grow CBD hemp. He also does international regenerative agriculture consulting and is the author of the upcoming book “The Future-Proof Farm; Changing Mindsets in a Changing World”. Check out Steve’s website, social media and his new book : https://www.stevegroff.com/ https://twitter.com/CoverCropCoach https://www.facebook.com/steve.groff.77 Got questions you want answered? Send them our way and we’ll do our best to research and find answers. Know someone you think would be great on the AgEmerge 2021 stage or on the podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to [email protected] We’d love to hear from you!

AgEmerge focuses on changing paradigms. When you change paradigms, you change how you think about things. In agriculture, we’ve had to change how we think about things, things like tillage, soil biology, mono-cropping, soil health, fertilizer, and how we use, the list goes on and on. Mark Twain once said, “What gets us into trouble is not what we don't know. It's what we know for sure that just ain't so.” Today Dr. Richard Mulvaney joins us on the podcast as we discuss how we think about nitrogen. A native Illinoisan with a longstanding interest in soil science and agronomy, Richard Mulvaney has been a faculty member at the University of Illinois since 1983. He teaches introductory soils and courses in soil fertility. Dr. Mulvaney has been active in research concerning N transformations in soils, the long-term environmental effects of N fertilization, and the use of soil N testing to optimize fertilizer N management. He was one of the speakers on the AgEmerge stage last January and he delivered some paradigm-change thinking that really struck home. Got questions you want answered? Send them our way and we’ll do our best to research and find answers. Know someone you think would be great on the AgEmerge 2021 stage or on the podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to [email protected] We’d love to hear from you!

In this wide-ranging episode, we take an inspiring soil journey through the eyes of Dr. David Montgomery, telling us his story of exploring how soils shaped human civilizations. That exploration resulted in his book “Dirt, The Erosion of Civilizations” and lead to more learning as he investigated the connections between the geology and biology of the soil. Dr. Montgomery delves into the messy nature of nature and how we’ve come to understand the connections between microbial ecology and the health of crops. Key discoveries of how plants get their nutrition and tee up their defense systems have given us a greater understanding of plant and microbial partnerships. Those partnerships go even further as we understand the nutrients and compounds from plants that serve to benefit human health. Not only that but in the midst of a pandemic, we’re learning how farmers, who are like-minded in their practices, are working together to provide food that nutrient-dense food directly from farms to consumers. And there’s more work to be done as we traverse the world of federal programs, current commodity channels, and other old models, looking for solutions that strengthen our new paradigm. We’ve heard a lot about the “unintended consequences” of our farming practices but today we put a finer point on it as we discuss the “unintended benefits” of the work being done in regenerative agriculture. There’s more at play here than simply soil health. David R. Montgomery is a MacArthur Fellow and professor of geomorphology at the University of Washington. He is an internationally recognized geologist who studies landscape evolution and the effects of geological processes on ecological systems and human societies. He has authored more than 200 scientific papers and 5 popular-science books, and has been featured in documentary films, network and cable news, and on a wide variety of TV and radio programs. When not writing or doing geology, he plays in the band Big Dirt. Connect with him at www.dig2grow.com or follow him on Twitter (@dig2grow). Got questions you want answered? Send them our way and we’ll do our best to research and find answers. Know someone you think would be great on the AgEmerge 2021 stage or on the podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to [email protected] We’d love to hear from you!

Today Dr. LaKisha Odom joins us on the podcast. Dr. Odom is a Scientific Program Director at the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research where she pursues her commitment to promoting the use of innovative science, collective impact, and the development of public private partnerships to tackle today’s complex challenges in food and agriculture. She is also extremely committed to cultivating increased diversity in a new generation of food and agriculture scientists. At FFAR, Dr. Odom spearheads scientific direction of the Soil Health challenge area and manages a portfolio of projects that address issues in sustainable water management, plant efficiency, ecosystem services, crop pest and disease detection, and developing the next generation of food and agricultural leaders. Dr. Odom received her B.S. in Environmental Science from Tuskegee University, her M.A. in Environmental Resource Policy from The George Washington University and her Ph.D. in Integrative Biosciences from Tuskegee University. https://foundationfar.org/

Accelerating change: Learning, problem solving and how this pandemic is affecting American agriculture. Warren Graeff joins us today on the AgEmerge Podcast. Warren is the Senior Vice President, Agriculture Market Manager at PNC Bank and leads the Ag Banking Group throughout the PNC footprint. Since joining PNC in 2007 he developed and implemented the mission and strategy for the PNC Ag Banking Group to provide farmers and agribusinesses with a full range of deposit, credit, and financially related services. We tap into Warren’s wealth of knowledge in agriculture, leadership and finance while exploring the current conditions, challenges and opportunities we are seeing in agriculture. We discuss the current situation as we navigate the COVID-19 and the effects this pandemic is having on our global food system and distribution models. Technology, automation and data are at the forefront, and implementation is being ramped up to address these challenges.

Today, Nutritional Therapist Emily Collingwood joins us on the AgEmerge Podcast. As a nutritional therapist Emily consults with her clients, helping them to identify and solve diet-related health concerns. Emily is also the creator of the Facebook Group called "Green Avocado Gang!" where she shares ideas, recipes, and encouragement for her followers as they develop healthy eating habits. Emily shares her personal journey of how she uses nutrient-dense foods to help address and solve the health issues she was facing and in turn, she wanted to use her knowledge to help others find solutions too. This podcast explores the importance of building the relationship and conversation between the farmer and the consumer and understanding how food is impacting human health. Emily discusses what she’s looking for as she sources her food, and later, Monte goes deeper into those ideas and what they look like in today’s farming operation. There’s important work to be done to build soil health and growing nutrient-dense food because what we grow has a tremendous impact on people’s health and lives.

This week on the AgEmerge Podcast... Dr. Wayne Honeycutt Dr. Honeycutt is the President and CEO of the Soil Health Institute where he leads the Institute’s programs to safeguard and enhance the vitality and productivity of soils. Among his wealth of experience, Dr. Honeycutt has served as the Deputy Chief for Science and Technology with the USDA-NRCS in Washington, DC, and as a Research Soil Scientist with the USDA-ARS just to name a few. His experience in research in the field of soil health is extensive and you can check out his full bio on the Soil Health Institute website to really appreciate all the work he’s done. We cover so much ground in this discussion from soil health, research, measurements, profitability, leadership, public policy, and education. We’d also like our listeners to know that this podcast was recorded shortly prior to the events of COVID-19 in the US. Our discussion with. We recognize the efforts across the agricultural landscape to continue to produce nutritious food for our country and the world especially during this difficult and unprecedented time. Thanks for listening. Soil Health Institute Website https://soilhealthinstitute.org/ Soil Health Policy Catalog https://soilhealthinstitute.org/resources/catalog/ Dr. Honeycutt's Bio https://soilhealthinstitute.org/leadership/ Got questions you want answered? Send them our way and we’ll do our best to research and find answers. Know someone you think would be great on the AgEmerge 2021 stage or on the podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to [email protected] We’d love to hear from you!

Today on the AgEmerge podcast, Zara Khan joins us as we discuss how satellite technology can be leveraged to create value in agriculture. Planet has developed the largest constellation of Earth-imaging satellites, which are capturing near-daily imagery of every field across the globe. What’s exciting about the work Zara is leading is that we are just at the beginning of unlocking the potential of this vast and unprecedented empirical dataset. Zara also shares how the technology is being used by other actors such as government and humanitarian agencies. You can also learn more about Planet by visiting their website, following them on Twitter, and watching media reporting by NBC, 60 minutes, and other news agencies. WEBSITE: www.planet.com TWITTER: https://twitter.com/planetlabs NBC STORY: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/tiny-privately-owned-satellites-are-changing-how-we-view-earth-n1042386 60 MINUTES STORY https://www.cbsnews.com/news/private-company-launches-largest-fleet-of-satellites-in-human-history-to-photograph-earth-60-minutes/

Learn about a digital hub for crop scouting, field observations, and treatment decisions in our podcast with guest Liron Brish, the CEO of Farm Dog. Farm Dog provides digital pest and disease management solutions for growers, agronomists, and Extension Agents across 1.5 million acres. In addition to being Farm Dog’s CEO, Liron serves on the California Department of Agriculture grant review board, the Advisory Board of the iPiPE integrated pest management initiative and is a partner in farm-to-fork restaurants in Texas. https://farmdog.ag/

In today’s episode, we’ve got a wide-ranging discussion recapping the great ideas explored at this year’s AgEmerge event including Dr. Dwayne Beck’s recommended book list. We’ll talk about Monte’s travels to the Grassfed conference and what he learned from Dr. Fred Provenza, a speaker at the conference. Also, what does it look like to implement a stacked enterprise model? Monte will discuss some ideas and experiences that lead to wanting to explore this model. There’s a little something for everyone as we continue to seek out innovation, technology and successful practices that support soil health principles. Recommended reading from Dr. Beck: Plowman’s Folly: Edward H. Faulkner Conquest of the Land: W.C. Lowdermilk The Worst Hard Time: Timothy Egan Dirt - The Erosion of Civilizations: Dr. David Montgomery Civilization Critical - Energy, Food, Nature, And The Future: Darrin Qualman Other books referenced in today’s podcast: Nourishment - What Animals Can Teach Us About Rediscovering Our Nutritional Wisdom: Fred Provenza Got questions you want answered? Send them our way and we’ll do our best to research and find answers. Know someone you think would be great on the AgEmerge 2021 stage or on the podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to [email protected] We’d love to hear from you!

Walter Lynn combines his wealth of experience as a CPA coupled with his desire to further soil health initiatives into a great portfolio of knowledge. He’ll tell you how he learned that you can’t have economic and financial rewards without biological capital and that’s just one of the great nuggets of info we’ll tap into today. He's worked with clients across the states and serves as the current chairman of Holistic Management International in Albuquerque, NM and the current CEO of Understanding Ag, LLC.

We’re mixing it up a little today on the AgEmerge Podcast. We’ve just gotten back from the AgEmerge event in Monterey, California and we’re pretty pumped up from all the learning and exchanging of ideas that went on. The venue and the food were pretty great too! This episode is a recording of our panel discussion we held while at the conference. Three of our panelists are growers from California and the other three are their support team from California Ag Solutions. This is a real, unprompted, unfiltered discussion centering around how they’ve chosen to adopt regenerative ag practices in their operations. They talk about how they felt implementing some of these practices and what might have made them reluctant to adopt some of these changes. They discuss some trainwrecks along the way and what they’ve learned after making these bold steps toward change. It’s a high energy discussion that’ll leave you excited about trying something new on your farm. We hope you'll take a listen and we look forward to this new year as we bring you speakers who are busting out of that old ag paradigm, building soil health and leaving a legacy.

Today on the AgEmerge podcast, Matt Foes joins us as we discuss the exciting work Matt’s doing on his own farm taking what he’s learned over the years and designing a systems approach to growing corn and soybeans as efficiently as possible. Matt is from north-central Illinois where he grew up on a corn and soybean farm. Matt has his bachelor's in chemistry and a master's in weed science and has contributed significant research and agronomic support in the seed and chemical industry. What’s exciting about the work Matt is doing is that he’s taken what he’s learned over the years and designed a systems approach. Matt is quick to point out the importance of working with other people and learning alongside them and then assembling that knowledge in a new and unique way. Our conversation looks at the challenges facing farms today everything from labor and working capital to rethinking passes across the field. Matt talks about applying the golden rule to growing crops, and oh yes my favorite, how 2019 messed up my spreadsheet!

Dave Williams joins us today on the AgEmerge Podcast. Dave is the Chief Commercial Officer at CalCom Energy. His business is focused on working on the economic side of energy with its customers. Dave talks about understanding energy consumption and where the opportunities are to make money in those energy markets. Dave works on the Executive Team to implement CalCom’s strategic vision of being a leader in sustainable energy technology and financing solutions for agriculture and water. Dave’s team provides technical and financing solutions to save customers money and maximize returns.

Wondering what all the AgEmerge excitement is about? Monte and Kim discuss all things AgEmerge like all the emerging trends in agriculture, not to mention the great lineup of speakers including Dwayne Beck, Keith Berns, and Zach Bush. You won't want to miss this discussion and you won't want to miss AgEmerge 2020 in Monterey, California. Join us January 7th - 9th in beautiful Monterey for a conference that will leave you energized and equipped for breaking out of the old ag paradigm. It's not too late to be part of this awesome event! For more info and to register, visit www.agemerge.com

Mallory Krieger, Director at Terra Elossa, joins Kim as they discuss how her background in conventional agriculture and other life experiences led to the work she's doing today. Mallory's work is transforming Midwestern agriculture using a holistic and integrated approach. Mallory uses social science-based strategies to develop systems that address the environmental problems that have resulted from industrial agriculture. Check out more information at: www.terraelossa.com www.organicagronomy.org www.pastureproject.org

Today Zach Bush, MD joins Monte and Kim on this episode of the AgEmerge Podcast. Dr. Zach is a triple board-certified physician and internationally-recognized educator on the intersection of the microbiome with human health/disease and our food production systems. His work is giving new insights into root-cause solutions in the sectors of farming, big pharma, and Western Medicine at large. Zach’s work in both for-profit and nonprofit arenas alike is creating avenues to foster collaborative action for all stakeholders in the global community, promoting a regenerative future of health for the planet and our children. Learn more at www.zachbushmd.com

You’ve got data? Agriculture is full of data, collected from every tractor, planter, combine, plant, you name it, there’s no lack of data. On this episode, Monte and Kim talk about how blockchain can harness the masses of data in agriculture to wrangle everything collected into a useful system. Then, Kim is joined with Erin Vincent, she’s a software developer, but more than that, she’s a proponent of blockchain and the possibilities in agriculture. She joins us on this episode of AgEmerge where we discuss not only what blockchain is, but the unlimited opportunities to harness data for future use in agriculture.

Join Monte and Kim today with their “State of the Union” as they cover all things soil health from their travels this summer, including the National Strip-Till conference and the Farm Progress Show. One key concept they discuss is how the soil health principles are solid and transfer uniformly across the globe but the practices are always local and can even vary from field to field, depending on soil types, cropping system rotations, irrigations, water availability, etc. They discuss the compounding effects of what our rotational decisions make over time when we look at maximizing diversity. What does that diversity mean for soil health and what are some other benefits that can be gained by implementing that diversity. Monte talks about a little painful learning process this year in soybean intercropping, adjusting their harvesting technology and the great things they discovered through a significant challenge in those beans. They talk about the importance of soil residues, even where we’re producing vegetables. We don’t need to be killing our soil to meet food safety regulations. We need adaptable food safety regulations and residues that are safe for the crop we are growing.

On today’s episode, Tom Cotter joins us from his farm in Austin Minnesota. Tom and his family have been farming for more than a century. We discuss the ways they’ve developed effective soil health practices utilizing cover crops, interseeding, diversity, organic crops, and canning crops as well as grazing livestock on their farm, They’ve also ventured into the hemp market and are learning what that means for soil health and human health. Tom joins us from one of his fields where he is sitting and reflecting on the soil and the bounty of cover that surrounds him. Tom says observation is one of the important keys to recognizing what’s happening on the land and in the soil. Take weeds for example - Tom looks at them not as weeds, but as signals indicating something is wrong in the system so rather than just getting rid of them,he investigates what he can learn from them. Tom is focused on building healthy soils that in turn builds healthy nutritious food. So grab a glass of tea, relax listening to the natural sounds from the field and join us for a great conversation with Tom Cotter.

Bob Recker of Cedar Valley Innovation joins us on today’s episode. Bob is focused on row configuration oriented around sunlight harvest. His research is working on harnessing that sunlight to create the opportunity for improving soil health, utilizing cover crops and companion crops. We talk about ideas where we can go beyond that 60” row and what we can do with the rest of that sunlight interception. Bob stresses that he is looking at advanced farming practices, generating ideas that are worthy of more investigation and practical research. Producers are taking the work Bob has done and using it as a baby step to identify what works in their individual operations. You can learn more about the work that Bob is doing at http://cedarvalleyinnovation.com/

Keith Berns joins us on today’s episode of the AgEmerge Podcast. Keith and his brother Brian operate their family owned business in Nebraska, Green Cover Seed. Green Cover Seed is sharing the benefits of how cover crops can improve farming practices through continued research, education, and by offering the highest quality seed. Today we talk about not only the cover crop benefits Keith has discovered, but maybe even as important, how to think about and maximize soil biology. We’ve got a great discussion about cover crops and water as well as the economics of carbon and that’s just the start. Keith reminds us that cover crops are just one of the tools in your toolbox you can use to improve your soil health system. Keith will be one of the thought leaders presenting paradigm-shattering concepts in a short presentation and one-hour breakout session. Learn more about the AgEmerge conference at www.AgEmerge.com https://www.greencoverseed.com/

In this installment of the AgEmerge podcast, we’re delving into how our brains process change and what we can do to think critically and differently. You might ask: “what does that have to do with soil health and regenerative ag?” Well, as we work to examine and implement emerging ideas and technology in agriculture – thinking differently is key to the success of this endeavor. Today we are joined by Holly Green. Holly Green is the keynote speaker for AgEmerge 2020 and she gave us a glimpse of her paradigm-shattering concepts in thinking differently. She is an experienced business leader, author, highly acclaimed keynote speaker, and behavioral scientist. She’s worked on guiding leaders in incorporating innovation and thinking differently into their lives. She talks about having strategic agility and how to develop the ability to move fast, with focus and flexibility. All key concepts when we are challenging the old ag paradigm. https://thehumanfactor.biz/ www.agemerge.com/hollygreen

On this week's episode of the AgEmerge Podcast, Monte & Kim talk with Cary Crum, a Customer Account Manager at California Ag Solutions. Cary Crum hears the phrase “that is crazy and will never work” and proceeds confidently. He’s passionate about finding the best farming practices and is driven to help farmers in California bring their operations to the next level with a systems approach. He talks about the revelations he’s had over the years about the principles of soil health, and both the rewards and challenges that growers encounter during the process of transforming an operation to regenerative practices. Cary and California Ag Solutions are co-hosting the California Silage Conference with Connor Agriscience and DeKalb Seed on July 24th in Pixley, CA. This is an event focused on improving the quality of your silage production and storage to produce more milk. Register at www.californiasilageconference.com

On this episode of the AgEmerge Podcast Monte and Kim sit down with Brad Schmidt – a farmer from South Dakota, agronomist for Ducks’ Unlimited, AgEmerge alumni, and soil health enthusiast. As you can tell from his introduction, Brad is all-in for changing the face of agriculture. It’s heartening to listen as Brad expands on his experiences over the years describing how he and his family converted their farm from conventional to regenerative practices. Brad goes on to explain what those changes look like for them today. They also delve into some of the different Ducks Unlimited conservation endeavors including soil health. And in exciting AgEmerge news, Monte announces AgEmerge’s 2020 headline speaker. https://heartlandheritagefarms.com/

The corn belt has had a trying time this year due to a lot of extreme weather. On this episode of the AgEmerge podcast, our hosts, Monte & Kim talk about how implementing the five principles of soil health has helped Monte’s farm in Illinois. They also discuss the market in Western regions and the benefits of creating cropping plans for more than just a perfect year. Cover crop video: https://www.facebook.com/bottensfamilyfarm/videos/381412612463178/ Jason Mauck’s field day: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1lpLu7FUz-_Pr4NboQcpKyzy_x9m2c5GiBl2ro1SLq7k/edit#slide=id.p Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255

On this windy episode of the AgEmerge Podcast, Monte Bottens & Tristan Wright talk about all of the out-of-the-box ideas that Tristan is implementing on his farm in Roll, Arizona. This is a challenging area for growers, with high heat, high ET, salty soils in the valley floor, and very porous soil in the Mesa. Tristan has decided to make some radical changes on his operation to overcome some substantial challenges. He is switching to no-till and integrating cover crops to increase the water holding capacity. He’s even considering integrating livestock to add more carbon and further restore the soil.

Join us as we dive into a great discussion with Steven Brockshus Founder and CEO of Farmland Finder, a land intelligence tool which helps farmland owners, appraisers and brokers save time when researching farmland sales. Steven was one of the winning entrepreneurs at the AgEmerge conference in January and went on to win the American Farm Bureau Federation’s Rural Entrepreneur of the Year. This past month Steven was named one of AgGrad's 30 under 30. https://farmlandfinder.com/

Today on the podcast we continue our conversation with Dr. James White. In this Part #2 installment Kim Sheese and Monte Bottens discuss with Dr. White the implications and applications of what we’ve learned about the rhizophagy cycle. This knowledge may help us to understand and think about some of the things we’ve seen with virulent diseases that we’ve seen in the corn belt, or in produce, or cotton. The rhizophagy cycle is a mechanism where plants attract microbes and acquire needed nutrients. But even more interesting, there’s also a mechanism where plants can actually cultivate their most beneficial microbes and then populate the soil with those microbes so they can maximize nutrient acquisition. We’re looking at the soil, plant and microbe interaction from a whole new perspective. We explore what plants are actually doing to help bring those microbes in through the root hairs. This is exciting research with real-time applications. Take a listen!

Today on the podcast Dr. James White sits down with Kim Sheese and Monte Bottens to elaborate on his rhizophagy cycle research. Join us as we explore what’s going on in the plant, microbe and soil rhizosphere, it’s fascinating! The rhizophagy cycle is a mechanism where plants attract microbes and acquire needed nutrients. But even more interesting, there’s also a mechanism where plants can actually cultivate their most beneficial microbes and then populate the soil with those microbes so they can maximize nutrient acquisition. We’re looking at the soil, plant and microbe interaction from a whole new perspective. We explore what plants are actually doing to help bring those microbes in through the root hairs. This is exciting research with real time applications - take a listen.

Buckle up and hang on for a fun ride with Jason Mauck, a farmer from Gaston, IN, the CEO of Constant Canopy, and a 2019 AgEmerge speaker. Come ready to explore, as Jason joins Kim this week to learn about the research, activities and thought processes behind the work he’s doing in his fields. Tune in to hear more of Jason’s ideas on capturing sunlight, growing quad row wheat, incorporating chickens in his fields, and the overall benefits he’s seeing by building soil health. It’s always a thought-provoking time with Jason as he pushes the envelope to explore great ways to bust out of the old ag paradigm. Follow Jason Mauck on Twitter @jasonmauck1 Jason is hosting a field day at his farm in Indiana on June 21, 2019. For more information about his field day, visit www.constantcanopy.com AgEmerge is bringing thought leaders like Jason Mauck to the stage so that other growers can learn from hands-on successes and failures. To learn more about AgEmerge, visit www.AgEmerge.com Subscribe to our mailing list to get the most up-to-date information about the Podcast, Conference, and relevant content for forward-thinking growers.

From one of his test plots in Five Points, California, Dr. Jeff Mitchell talks with Monte about a few of the studies he’s conducted over the years. Listen to their discussion about his observations in yield, carbon, and microbial activity when comparing conventional tillage to no-till plots with and without cover crops. Some of these studies have been ongoing with recorded observations starting in 1999! Jeff also shares some insights from the 15 different plot trials being conducted to monitor how cover crops affect soil-water content and water depletion. Jeff wants to continue and grow the conversations that began at AgEmerge. If you’re interested in learning more, you can meet Jeff at his test plot in Five Points, California on Friday’s between 9AM - 12PM. Email Jeff Mitchell at [email protected] for the location. For more information about AgEmerge, visit www.AgEmerge.com

Monte had the opportunity to catch up with Scott Park after a soil health conference in Paicines, California. Scott Park is the owner of Park Farming Organics in Meridian, CA and was a speaker at AgEmerge 2019. Monte & Scott talk about the logistics of implementing livestock on their fields, and how they can create a revenue stream while reducing compost cost and building microbial activity in the soil. Learn more about AgEmerge: www.AgEmerge.com Learn more about Park Farming Organics: http://www.parkfarmingorganics.com/

Kim Sheese & Monte Bottens sit down and talk about what inspired the AgEmerge Event and Community. For more information about the AgEmerge Event and Community, visit www.AgEmerge.com