AgEmerge Podcast: Recent Episodes
Hosted by Monte Bottens
New ideas, grower insights, research, emerging technology — The AgEmerge Podcast. Join our host, Monte Bottens and producer Kim Sheese, as they engage with guests from diverse agriculture interests to discuss experiences, practices and scalable applications for any operation. Tune in to new episodes every other Tuesday to regenerate your ideas, soil, crops, livestock and livelihood.
Unlock the future of sustainable farming with Dr. Jessica Chiartas, currently serving at the University of British Columbia. Her research focuses on the long-term impacts of agriculture on soil carbon and overall soil health with a unique focus on carbon at depth. Jessica shares her inspiring journey from corporate pharma sales to pioneering soil health measurement frameworks that could transform global agriculture. Discover how her RegenScore provides a practical, evidence-based way for farmers, brands, and consumers to quantify and promote regenerative practices—beyond mere labels and checkboxes.In this episode, Jessica breaks down the complexities of regenerative agriculture, from soil’s vital role in climate resilience, water quality, and human health, to the challenges of creating scalable scoring systems that respect local context. You'll uncover the innovative process behind developing region-specific metrics, the importance of community and farmer-centric approaches, and how technology and storytelling are shaping a new era of transparency and impact. We dive into the intersection of soil science, market mechanisms, and consumer choices, revealing why understanding soil health is essential not just for farmers but for everyone invested in a sustainable future.Jessica shares why regenerative farming isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution but a nuanced, evolving journey—one that requires collaboration across sectors and disciplines. She emphasizes the psychological and social shifts needed to inspire widespread adoption, highlighting the power of education, trust, and tangible health outcomes. Learn how soil health ties directly to climate resilience, biodiversity, and human wellbeing—and why immediate action is critical to avoid slow, irreversible damage.This episode is perfect for farmers needing practical pathways to adopt regenerative practices, investors and brands seeking credible impact metrics, educators passionate about soil awareness, and anyone curious about how farming can heal the planet while supporting healthy communities. Jessica’s optimistic outlook reminds us that rapid, positive change is possible—if we leverage science, technology, and storytelling to fuel systemic shifts. Tune in to feel empowered to connect with the ground beneath your feet and imagine a healthier, more resilient future for all.ResourcesRegen Score Framework - https://regenscore.orgSoil Life Project - https://soil.lifeJessica Chartis - UBC Profile - https://ubc.ca/jessica-chartisChapters00:00 Introduction and Jessica's background01:59 Jessica's journey from pharma to soil science03:52 Soil health and its impact on human well-being06:46 Development of Regen Score and its principles10:14 Regional specificity and scaling of Regen Score14:57 Challenges and opportunities in regenerative measurement19:45 Market drivers and consumer engagement25:07 Food as medicine and health impacts30:14 Soil health, biodiversity, and environmental benefits34:51 Policy, economics, and market pull for regenerative farming40:08 Future outlook and hope for regenerative agriculture45:00 Practical steps for farmers to adopt regenerative practices49:58 Jessica's vision for education and soil awareness55:04 Closing thoughts and optimism for the future
The future of ag tech is here—aimable, precise, and radically more efficient. Gabe Sibley and Curtis Garner reveal how they’ve built Verdant Robotics platform to target weeds and pests with pinpoint accuracy but also transforms how farms scout, analyze, and act on data in real time.Discover how Verdant Robotics is pioneering an autonomous spraying system that’s faster, smarter, and more sustainable than traditional methods. Gabe shares how deep learning, high-resolution imaging, and patented aiming technology are redefining crop management—dissecting individual plants, detecting diseases earlier, and reducing input use dramatically. Curtis chimes in with stories from scaling operations across North America and beyond, explaining how agility, innovation, and a focus on real farmer pain points propel their mission.We break down the critical role of digitization in unlocking exactly the right amount of herbicide or fertilizer at the right spot, the challenges of supply chain constraints—and more importantly—how the industry can leap forward despite long timelines and slow tech adoption. Why wait years to see ROI? This tech promises a rapid payback—sometimes in mere months—that could revolutionize productivity for growers of all sizes and crop types, especially those underserved by existing solutions.If you’re a forward-thinking farmer or agtech enthusiast tired of incremental improvements that don’t deliver, this is your shot at catching the next big wave. Learn how sophisticated AI, machine vision, and precision application tools are converging into a new era of farming—one where autonomous, versatile robots adapt seamlessly to complex crop environments, saving money, inputs, and water, while boosting yields.Whether you’re in leafy greens, orchards, or row crops, these insights are essential to understanding how automation will shape the future landscape of agriculture. Are you ready to ditch the old and embrace the cutting edge of farm technology? This episode is your front-row seat to the innovations that are not years away—they’re happening right now.Gabe Sibley is CEO and Co-Founder of Verdant Robotics, known for cutting-edge autonomous sprayers that combine high-resolution vision with precise chemical delivery. Curtis Garner, Co-Founder and Chief Commercial Officer, is a seasoned farm operations expert, brings practical insights on deploying automation at scale across diverse crops and regions.Timestamps07:02 - How farmer conversations reveal unmet needs and unspoken problems09:59 - Case study: Using AI to identify individual apples and improve profitability11:17 - Digitizing crops at scale for better decision-making and control loops14:02 - Unique aimable fluid delivery technology for targeted chemical application18:11 - 3D space navigation, camera systems, and occlusion strategies in orchards19:01 - Achieving millimeter-level accuracy and scaling to various crop sizes20:46 - Expanding from leafy greens to grass seed and international markets26:09 - Challenges of scaling tech amidst supply chain shortages and global chip scarcity29:30 - The cultural challenges of integrating Silicon Valley innovation, manufacturing, and farming36:52 - ROI and operational efficiency of their autonomous spraying units37:45 - The hardware specs, form factor, and integration options with existing machinery39:11 - Opportunities in disease detection, multi-spectral imaging, and remote sensing44:49 - Autonomous operation advancements, teaming with VEX and other partners58:13 - Final thoughts: the future of agricultural automation and innovations
episode overview01:11 - Chris Baggott's tech background and ExactTarget04:13 - Transition to regenerative farming05:29 - Democratizing marketing through technology09:06 - Salesforce acquisition and small business marketing10:53 - Direct-to-consumer food systems17:26 - Why regenerative agriculture matters20:12 - Food marketing and digital platforms25:02 - Grazing management and soil health30:41 - Partnerships and scaling farm operations45:50 - Marketing challenges and opportunities55:58 - Storytelling and consumer trust66:05 - FarmersMarket.com and connecting with Chris
Steve Groff continues to provide agricultural thought leadership. Sure, he's an author, speaker, farmer and recently claimed himself as a bird nerd. But one of Steve's hallmark accomplishments, is developing and promoting the tillage radish. Hailing from Holtwood, Pennsylvania, Steve's Cedar Meadow farm became Regenified certified in 2023. From initial conservation efforts, through integrating cover crop diversity, to projects like biochar and nutrient-dense crop testing, Steve shares the real-world impact of these practices on the Chesapeake Bay watershed, illustrating how strategic land management can clean polluted estuaries while increasing farm profitability. Monte and Steve discuss the importance of farmer education, public engagement, and bipartisan collaboration to promote sustainable agriculture that benefits us all. Plus, hear about his recent adventures in fiber crop innovation, including custom flax planters and processing opportunities that could revolutionize U.S. fiber industries and reduce reliance on imports. Enjoy a great catch up conversation with Steve Groff by clicking below.Steve's Website: https://www.stevegroff.com/Regenified and Cedar Meadow Farm: https://regenified.com/farm/cedar-meadows/Steve's Book: The Future-Proof Farm: https://www.stevegroff.com/bookTimestamps:02:55 - Market shifts: variety packaging and customer preferences03:37 - Steve's personal farm story and history of no-till since 198207:32 - Regenerative agriculture: growing food for health and future generations08:11 - Challenges of farming on steep, rocky terrain in Lancaster County09:44 - Land costs, succession, and land transfer strategies13:43 - Water quality concerns in Chesapeake Bay and conservation efforts16:37 - Nutrient management, manure regulations, and local innovations19:33 - Progress in Chesapeake Bay restoration and the role of cover crops20:58 - Biochar research and its potential benefits and challenges22:04 - Nutrient runoff issues in the Mississippi Delta and alternative management strategies23:58 - The potential of Maryland’s cover crop payment programs25:38 - Lessons from regulatory and incentive approaches across states30:41 - The role of government, incentives, and public awareness in environmental stewardship32:36 - The personal impact of water clean-up on community life and future opportunities33:47 - Linking soil health to human health: the food as medicine movement36:17 - Innovative tools like cover crop roller development and their origin stories43:39 - Extending cover crop benefits to pumpkins and specialty crops45:23 - Moving toward nutrient-dense foods and the role of regenerative practices for health47:26 - Opportunities in fiber crops: hemp, flax, and market potential50:17 - The influence of high-profile advocacy and policy in advancing regenerative agriculture54:45 - The importance of diverse viewpoints and bipartisan support for farm sustainability56:06 - Linking soil health improvements to health costs and chronic disease prevention58:28 - Hemp industry challenges: regulation, infrastructure, and market development61:04 - Innovations in fiber crop equipment, including planting systems for hemp and flax64:08 - Long-term biochar research plans and soil health impacts65:22 - Future directions: high tunnels, specialty crops, and nutrient density testing67:22 - Upcoming events and Steve’s focus on hands-on farm work and family70:25 - The divine story behind the farm’s historical crops and future crop opportunities72:43 - Final thoughts: observing nature, curiosity, and the farmer’s role in ecosystem health
Most farms struggle with dust, inefficiency, and labor shortages—but Tyler Niday of Bonsai Robotics reveals how AI-driven machinery is changing the game by transforming existing equipment into autonomous workhorses. Inspired by biology, Bonsai Robotics is making some of agriculture's toughest environments manageable. Tyler shares how autonomous orchard shakers are improving nut harvest efficiency by up to 40%, while converting shuttle trucks into multi-functional farm platforms can save growers hundreds of thousands of dollars in equipment costs.Monte and Tyler explore the industry's evolution from retrofitting machines with autonomous capabilities to developing full-platform solutions, including Bonsai's Amiga series. These adaptable systems support precision spraying, harvesting, and crop scouting.Before co-founding Bonsai Robotics, Tyler began in mechanical engineering and helped develop vision systems at Blue River Technology and gained hands-on learning at Orchard Machinery Corporation. If you've wondered what the future of practical farm automation really looks like, this episode offers a firsthand look at innovations in the field today.Visit Bonsai Robotics: https://bonsairobotics.ai/Watch episode: https://youtu.be/Cvs7v5FLSN0Timestamps:00:10 - Tyler’s background and journey into ag tech02:23 - The role of AI and perception challenges in dust environments07:48 - Vision-only AI vs LiDAR debate and dust interference12:04 - Scalability of perception models across crops12:58 - Training AI models on dusty environments and data fusion16:16 - Focus on specialty crops as a starting point for autonomy16:45 - Collaborations with OEMs like Floria and OMC17:30 - Managing connectivity in remote farm locations19:07 - Starlink and cellular solutions for remote operations21:30 - The Amiga platform's different configurations and applications25:44 - Strategic move into precision spraying and harvest-related automation28:28 - Future autonomous applications for open-field crops37:44 - Autonomous nut shaker and harvesting efficiency41:46 - Future of crop variability mapping and individual plant management47:13 - Returning value through data management and software ecosystems49:21 - Industry collaboration, standards, and evolving equipment52:25 - Closing remarks and future outlook
Jason Mauck's approach to relay cropping, alley cropping, and tight plant timing might just be the game-changer every farmer needs to think about.It’s not just about planting crops; it’s about planning the whole system—synchronizing crop timing with solar angles, plant growth stages, and biological triggers. And here’s the kicker: this isn’t just theory. Jason demonstrated how these principles have already pushed yields into the 80-90 bushels per acre range—something many traditional systems would consider a good year. The understanding of plant interactions, timing, and field layout can reshape the economics of your farm.If you’re tired of the same old, same old, or if you feel like your program is begging for a new approach, this is your nudge to rethink everything. The key is getting out of the “accept what is” mindset and starting to see your acres as a dynamic, living system that responds to careful nudges.For anyone willing to experiment, to learn, and to question the status quo — consider ways to integrate these ideas into your own farm. The future favors those brave enough to think differently.See it all in person at the Farm Weird Event. June 27, on Jason's farm.More Details and Registration: https://conference.eco-ag.com/farmweird?am_id=monte2150Timestamps:02:25 - Shifting focus to regenerative farming and early adopter mindset04:37 - Family background and landscape business10:37 - Adjusting row spacing, plant density, and resource efficiency for higher yields12:35 - Managing weeds, weeds suppression strategies, and relay cropping benefits15:11 - Emotional resilience and momentum after the passing of Jason’s father18:52 - The difference between salespeople and solution providers19:25 - Innovations in plant sequencing, planting timing, and resource layering20:36 - Relay cropping as a response to manure management30:10 - Adjusting plant populations, seeding densities, and spacing strategies36:23 - Equipment considerations and planting technology innovations for narrow-row cropping44:11 - Crop biochemistry, plant growth regulators, and maximizing photosynthesis45:57 - Strategic shading in crop design54:05 - Creative mechanical solutions for seed handling, row separation, and crop integrity58:02 - Crop and residue management, cover crop seeding, and fertility strategies
Most conversations about sustainable agriculture focus on practices—what to plant, how to till, or cover crop secrets. But what if the future of healthy soils and resilient farms hinges on something deeper? Dr. Natalie Sturm, Dakota Lakes Research Farm’s new farm manager, reveals how long-term crop rotations—and specifically the power of crop residue—are shaping the next generation of regenerative farming.Discover how Dakota Lakes is pioneering research that shows soils with consistent root biomass and high-residue crops outperform even the most diverse rotations at building organic matter and restoring soil function. Natalie shares behind-the-scenes insights from 30+ years of no-till management and her own scientific journey from suburban Chicago to the heart of South Dakota. She explains how farm-scale systems, like five-year perennial sequences and livestock integration, can drastically reduce soil erosion, combat salinity, and increase farm profitability without relying on the latest chemical fixes.You'll learn about innovative strategies such as virtual fencing for livestock, energy independence through on-farm biodiesel, and the critical importance of research that cuts through the marketing noise of the “ag industrial complex.” Natalie delves into how long-term, systems-based research can serve as a blueprint for farms across the country—whether you're in the Midwest trying to restore saline soils or a California grower exploring perennial grasses.Timestamps:0:01:18 - The legacy of Dwayne Beck and the importance of long-term research0:04:32 - Cropping systems diversity and crop management practices0:06:25 - The role of crop rotation and residue in soil health0:13:13 - Agroecology principles and ecological benefits in farming0:16:21 - Livestock integration, virtual fencing, and animal management innovations0:19:26 - Summer field days and farmer engagement0:22:45 - Equipment innovations for no-till and residue management0:39:01 - Residue management and its impact on soil health0:47:36 - Education events and farm tours for farmers and researchers0:49:46 - Innovations in energy independence and renewable energy on the farm0:52:20 - Replicating Dakota Lakes’ model in other regions0:54:18 - Building networks for collaborative research and adaptation0:55:37 - Dr. Sturm’s visionary outlook for the next 20-40 yearsAbout our Guest (credit: https://www.sdstate.edu/news/2026/03/sturm-returns-dakota-lakes-research-farm-next-farm-manager)Dr. Natalie Sturm conducts agronomic field research at the Dakota Lakes Research Farm.Sturm conducted research at the Dakota Lakes Research Fam as part of her master’s degree. She is now replacing her former mentor, Dwayne Beck, who retired after more than 35 years of service.Sturm completed her bachelor’s degree in sustainable food and bioenergy systems at Montana State University, her master’s in plant science at South Dakota State University and her doctorate in soil science at Washington State University. In her first few months on the job, she plans on learning as much as possible about the farm’s daily operations and meeting the local farmers, scientists and stakeholders that support the Dakota Lakes mission.The Dakota Lakes Research Farm is a unique partnership between the SDSU College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences and the Dakota Lakes Corporation, a nonprofit, farmer-led organization that owns the farmland and provides input on how research performed on the farm can best impact farmers. The research is conducted by SDSU faculty and staff through South Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station funding. Both entities are committed to conducting research that allows South Dakotans to make more informed decisions on their operations.Annually held on the last Thursday in June, this year’s Dakota Lakes Research Farm Field Day is on June 25, beginning at 3 p.m. More info: https://dakotalakes.com/
Links:Griggs Farms LLC - YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@UC7NfwgKKPu2AlhfQyWqjkfg Griggs Farms LLC - Website: http://www.griggsfarmsllc.com/Crop Budget Spreadsheets – Free resources for farm management: http://www.griggsfarmsllc.com/spreadsheets.htmlMore about this episode:From surviving a life-threatening crash to revitalizing the soil pan beneath his fields, Matt shares how a mindset of resilience and innovation can transform even the most broken land. You'll discover how cover crops like annual ryegrass and radishes can dissolve the fragile soil pan, increase organic matter, and dramatically improve moisture retention — even in the driest conditions. We break down:- The pioneering practices Matt employs to reshape his soil profile- Using custom-designed hooded sprayers to implement strip till techniques for effective cover crop management- The critical role of soil microbiology and carbon in building resilient, drought-proof farms- How innovative crop choices, such as canola and the integration of legumes, open new market opportunities- Real stories of recovery and hope amid record droughts, emphasizing the importance of persistence and continuous learningWhy does this matter? Every farm faces unique challenges—whether it’s soil degradation, water scarcity, or market volatility. Matt’s story offers a blueprint for pushing past obstacles, turning setbacks into stepping stones, and creating a future-proof operation grounded in soil health. His example highlights that the key to farming resilience isn’t just better yields—it’s a shift in mindset, management, and determination.Perfect for farmers, ag professionals, or anyone looking to understand how soil health practices can restore land’s capacity to fight drought and erosion. If you're tired of doing the same old, expect better results by thinking differently, experimenting boldly, and never giving up.Follow Matt at Grigg's Farms LLC on YouTube and all major social media platforms for real-time updates—whether it’s soil breakthroughs or crop budgets. This episode is a masterclass in resilience, innovation, and the relentless pursuit of a more sustainable, profitable farm.
Links:Cover Crop Breeding Network (CCB): https://www.covercropbreeding.com/Nitrogen Estimator Tool: https://covercrop-ncalc.orgNorth Carolina State University Allelopathy Screening: https://acsess.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/csc2.70275Hairy Vetch Research: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/339657710_Pod_Dehiscence_in_Hairy_Vetch_Vicia_villosa_RothAbout our Guest:Lisa Kissing Kucek is a Research Geneticist with the United States Department of Agriculture Dairy Forage Research Center in Madison, Wisconsin. As part of the Cover Crop Breeding Network, Lisa improves cover crops, including cereal rye, hairy vetch, winter pea, and crimson clover. She worked alongside farmers, bakers, and chefs to develop wheat varieties for organic and local food systems during her doctoral research at Cornell University.
Discover how Ty Brown, founder and owner of Drago Indiana, uses innovative practices like cover crop breeding, drone technology, and water quality management to enhance sustainability, crop yields, and farm productivity. Hold on tight—this isn’t just about incremental improvements; it’s about transforming your entire farming operation for the better, one innovative step at a time. Monte and Ty break down the crucial role of modern plant breeding, highlighting how genetic markers for traits like seed shatter resistance and hard seed are revolutionizing cover crop reliability. Plus, get insights into how water quality, via reverse osmosis systems, is dramatically enhancing pesticide chemistry effectiveness and crop health—potentially cutting herbicide and fungicide costs by up to 40%. Understand the practicalities of integrating drone technology for precision spraying, and why selecting the right machinery is vital for large-scale applications.In this episode:- The evolution of cover crop breeding and its role in sustainable farming- How genetic selection is improving hairy vetch and cereal rye traits- The impact of water quality on foliar applications and herbicide effectiveness- Using drones and aircraft for efficient crop spraying and farm management- The benefits of diversifying cover crop species, including legumes and ancient grains- The importance of farm-research collaboration and long-term development strategies- Strategies for managing weed suppression, disease risks, and crop rotation complexities- Technological tools for nitrogen estimation and nutrient cycling optimization- The role of peer groups and continuous education in farm successAbout the Guest:About the Guest:Ty Brown is a 1992 graduate of Rossville High School and a 1996 graduate of Purdue University where he holds a B.S. in Agronomy. While at Purdue he was named the top student in Agronomy 3 of 4 years, and was part of the Purdue Soils Judging Team and Agronomy Club all 4 years. After graduation he returned to the farm as the 6th generation to do so. He married his college sweetheart, Sacha, whom he met in college in 1997. Sacha and he immediately became actively involved in the community. Ty and Sacha both served on Purdue Club of Clinton County, were 4-H leaders, served a 2.5 year term on the Farm Bureau State Young Farmer Committee and Ty took State level 4-H responsibilities, served on the soil and water board, as well as numerous other advisory roles.He started Drago Indiana in 2007 because he wanted to make available to farmers what we felt was a better option for a corn header. In 2013 he added Horsch and 2017 he added Honey Bee and all for the same reasons; they just simply offered a better product than what the major OEM’s were offering.Timestamps:(00:00) – Introduction: Unveiling farm innovations with industry leaders(03:48) – Equipment and drone technology transforming crop management(05:01) – Precision foliar nitrogen application and drone night-time spraying(07:20) – Compatibility of drones with John Deere Operations Center(08:35) – Breeding efforts in hairy vetch and cereal rye for nitrogen and weed control(12:10) – The story behind the evolution of the equipment dealership(15:45) – The innovative service model with aerial farm management(18:02) – Water quality’s impact on fungicide and herbicide efficiency(22:05) – Exploring rye's adaptability and seed diversity based on genetics(25:58) – Nitrogen fixation potential and selecting cover crop varieties(33:44) – Reducing seed shattering and seed cost through breeding(41:40) – Developing cereal rye varieties tailored for cover cropping purposes(58:57) – Relay cropping and interspecies plantings for diverse farming systems(60:45) – The importance of selecting varieties suited to harsh environments(61:23) – Upcoming cover crop varieties from the Cover Crop Breeding Network(62:15) – Long-term research and the importance of perseverance in breeding
Many farmers assume glyphosate is a reliable tool for weed control with minimal downsides, but Dr. Michael McNeill shows how this herbicide quietly disrupts the very foundation of productive farming—from soil biology to crop health and long-term field resilience.In this eye-opening episode, Dr. McNeill explains the hidden journey of glyphosate through the farm system: how it lingers in manure from treated feed, carries over to contaminate even organic fields, and boosts pathogenic fungi and other disease pressures that hit yields hard. He shares research revealing glyphosate's antibiotic-like effects on soil microbes—shifting the microbial balance, weakening natural disease suppression, and making plants more vulnerable to outbreaks that cost farmers in inputs and lost production.You'll hear about practical, farmer-tested ways to fight back, including using raw sauerkraut juice (loaded with beneficial fermentative microbes like Lactobacillus plantarum) to rapidly break down glyphosate residues in soil and feed crops—potentially slashing contamination by 80-90% in just months and freeing up bound nutrients for better plant uptake.The discussion dives deep into proven regenerative strategies to reclaim fields: strategic cover crops, targeted microbial inoculants, balanced soil nutrition, and other biological practices that naturally crowd out weeds, curb pests and diseases, and rebuild robust soil structure—without leaning on chemicals that create dependency and hidden costs over time.This episode lays bare how over-reliance on glyphosate often leads to nutrient lockups, escalating disease pressure, and rising input needs that eat into profits. But it also delivers real hope: a path to more resilient crops, healthier soils, lower long-term costs, and stronger farm sustainability.Ideal for row-crop farmers, livestock producers, agronomists, and anyone managing land who wants to cut through the noise and explore science-backed ways to reduce chemical dependency while boosting productivity and soil vitality. If you're ready to rethink weed management and invest in farming biologically, this conversation is essential listening.Read the journal article here: https://journals.ashs.org/view/journals/hortsci/59/11/article-p1618.xmlAbout Dr. Michael McNeill:Over the past four decades, Dr. McNeill's focus as an agronomist has been in teaching the agricultural community an understanding of soil and plant nutrition, emphasizing its’ importance for animal and human health. His emphasis has been placed on developing farming systems that promote soil and plant health, as well as, conducting on farm research to develop efficient bio-remediation of soil and water contaminated with farm chemicals and fertilizer nutrients. Also, a major focus of his has been to teach farmers methods to evaluate soil health by measuring soil microbial life, water infiltration rates, soil density, soil compaction, soil fertility levels and how to develop corrective measures if problems are discovered.Positions, Scientific Appointments1983 – Present President of Ag Advisory, Ltd. (an agricultural consulting company)1971 – 1983 Research Scientist and Manager of a regional corn breeding station located in Algona,Iowa.1969 – 1971 U.S. Army research pathologist, study of soybean and corn disease epiphytology.1964 – 1969 Iowa State University, research associate.Contributions to Science: Published papers in the following:Crop Science, Horticulture Science, Egyptian Journal of Genetics, Plant Disease Reporter, Journal ofGenetics, Journal of Economic Entomology, Agronomy Journal, Iowa State University ExtensionService BulletinsPopular Press articles: Farm Journal, Successful Farming, Farm Industry News, Iowa Farmer Today, Soybean Digest, Furrow
LinksRockwell City, Iowa (local context)Des Moines Water WorksSoil health research by Richard MulvaneyCrop insurance programsCover crop seed providersNo-till conference insightsCrop and soil testing servicesRegenerative ag products: Spray TechIowa Farm Bureau Roots ProgramWater quality policy initiatives in IowaConnect with James HeppLinkedInTwitterRockwell City farm website
Imagine autonomous equipment that transforms productivity, reduces costs, and addresses soil health like never before. In this episode, Dave Krog—founder of Salin 247— shows how farmers can replace massive, soil-compacting machinery with sleek, small-scale autonomous tools designed to work around the clock without a single operator. Dave walks us through his story from growing up on a farm in Iowa to pioneering autonomous planter prototypes in the fields. He reveals how his team is developing smart, electric implement frameworks that can seamlessly switch between planting, spraying, and other field tasks—cutting costs, lowering environmental impact, and solving labor shortages all at once.Dave explains how small, self-propelled tools can outperform traditional large equipment in efficiency and soil health. With host Monte Bottens, Dave proves the economic advantages of dividing hardware costs and why autonomy is the key to farming practices like strip cropping and organic systems. Timestamps:0:00:00 Introduction to Autonomous Farming0:05:00 The Genesis of Salin2470:07:00 Challenges in Autonomous Technology0:10:00 Early challenges faced in developing autonomous farming equipment.0:15:00 Discussion on the transition to electric and autonomous machinery.0:20:00 How autonomous technology can reduce costs and improve soil health.0:25:00 Dave's insights on the future of farming with autonomous technology.About our Guest:Dave Krog is an Iowa-based engineer and founder of Salin247, leading the charge with innovative autonomous and electric farm equipment designed to reduce soil impact and elevate productivity.Key Takeaways:- Dave emphasizes the importance of understanding one's 'why' in their work.- The evolution of farm machinery has led to increased soil compaction issues.- Krog's company aims to replace large equipment with smaller, autonomous machines.- Electric machinery is a key focus for sustainable farming solutions.- The journey of developing autonomous farming technology has been ongoing for several years.- Labor availability is a significant challenge in modern agriculture.- Krog's background in farming informs his approach to agricultural technology.- The initial prototype was a four-row planter, which posed unique challenges.- Collaboration with Iowa State University has been crucial for Krog's innovations.- Continuous education and adaptation are essential in the field of ag tech.
Unlock the future of farming with insights from one of America's leading agriculture champions. Aubrey Bettencourt, Chief of the NRCS, and Host Monte Bottens, talk through how innovative programs, voluntary practices, and market-driven solutions are transforming the ways farmers conserve resources, improve soil health, and remain resilient. Hear how the new, USDA outcomes-based regen pilot program is set to redefine the way we address resource concerns—making conservation efforts more practical, impactful, and sticky for farmers from coast to coast.Chief Bettencourt reveals the bold strategy behind the NRCS's reinvigorated mission: keeping farmers on the land and demonstrating that soil health and water management are not just buzzwords but vital pathways to economic and environmental security. We break down how existing programs like EQIP and CSP are being harnessed in innovative ways to accelerate regenerative practices without adding burdens—ensuring voluntary, flexible, and locally driven adoption.Aubrey shares her vision for a future where farmers are empowered, markets are aligned, and soil health becomes a shared goal—ultimately transforming agriculture into a resilient, sustainable engine for generations to come.Click to learn more about NRCS and the Regen Pilot Program: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhuHrYrPXfMAbout NRCS: https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/***About Our Guest: Aubrey J.D. Bettencourt serves as Chief of the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), the primary private lands conservation agency at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). NRCS helps producers, soil and water conservation districts, and other partners protect and conserve natural resources on private working lands while supporting American agricultural productivity throughout the United States. NRCS employees in the field work side-by-side with producers in every State and territory. Aubrey is a prominent leader in agriculture, water, and sustainability, most recently serving as the Global Director of Government Relations and External Affairs for Netafim, an Orbia Company. Prior to serving at Netafim, Aubrey was the President and Chief Executive Officer for the Almond Alliance, the national trade association advocating for American almond growers and processors. Prior to joining the Alliance, Aubrey served as the Sustainability Director for Western United Dairies, specifically leading initiatives in groundwater management. During the first Trump Administration, Aubrey worked with both the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) and USDA. As a Deputy Assistant Secretary with the DOI, she oversaw water and science policy. Prior to serving at DOI, Aubrey was the State Executive Director of USDA’s Farm Service Agency in California where she directed the administration of farm commodity programs providing support, security, and emergency relief for producers throughout the state. Her work reflects her personal commitment to keep farmers farming through sound water policy, agricultural support, technology, and sustainable practices. This is supported by her family’s farming roots in California’s great Central Valley. Aubrey is a third-generation farmer at Bettencourt Farms in Kings County, California, alongside her father, mother, husband, daughter, and loyal farm dogs. Aubrey is an Eisenhower Agricultural Fellow and holds a degree in History from Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California.
Derek Lange is a third-generation citrus grower and cattle rancher from Tulare County, California. He's also a Regenerative Agronomist at California Ag Solutions. In AgEmerge Podcast Episode 179, Derek shares his challenges and successes transitioning from conventional farming methods to innovative, soil health first practices. Whether you're a seasoned farmer or new to the world of agriculture, Derek's story offers valuable insights into the evolving landscape of farming. Tune in to learn about the intersection of tradition and innovation in agriculture and how Derek is making farming fun again.***Ag Solutions Network website: https://www.agsolutionsnetwork.com/Chapters:00:00:00 Introduction to Derek Lange00:03:00 Transition to Regenerative Agriculture00:09:00 Integrating Citrus and Cattle Farming00:15:00 Challenges and Successes00:21:00 The Role of Cover Crops00:27:00 Epigenetics in Cattle Selection00:33:00 Impact on Pest Management00:39:00 Future of Agriculture in Central California00:45:00 Inspiration for Sustainable PracticesTakeaways- Derek Lange transitioned from conventional to regenerative agriculture.- He integrates citrus and cattle farming for sustainability.- Regenerative practices improve soil health and reduce costs.- Derek emphasizes the importance of sustainable farming for the future.- He shares challenges and successes in his farming journey.- Derek discusses the role of cover crops in citrus farming.- He highlights the importance of epigenetics in cattle selection.- Derek talks about the impact of regenerative practices on pest management.- He shares insights into the future of agriculture in Central California.- Derek's story inspires a shift towards sustainable farming practices.
As we close out 2025, we’re excited to launch a special End-of-Year episode of bite-sized 15-minute video clips pulled from some of our most impactful AgEmerge Podcast episodes. Each clip focuses on the heart of the conversation: practical applications, groundbreaking ideas, and actionable steps for building healthier soils, farms, and ecosystems. We encourage you to catch each episode in its entirety and place these sections into greater context. But these recaps are perfect for quick inspiration during the busy holiday season or as you plan for the year ahead.Want to watch a full episode? Click the links below:1. Human Health Starts in the Soil | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUevAQAQGeo(From Episode 80 with Dr. Stephanie Seneff)MIT Senior Research Scientist Dr. Stephanie Seneff connects the dots between soil-degrading chemicals like glyphosate, micronutrient deficiencies in our food, and rising chronic diseases. Explore how regenerative practices can restore soil biology, boost nutrient density, and directly improve human health. A must-watch for understanding the profound soil-to-human link.2. Goats: Nature’s Weed Warriors | https://youtu.be/nIth3AKcgOQ(From Episode 164 with Aaron Steele)Join Aaron Steele, founder of Goats on the Go®, talks targeted grazing with goats as profitable vegetation management. Learn real-world stories of controlling invasive species, improving land health, mitigating wildfires, and building scalable affiliate businesses—all while regenerating ecosystems.3. Revolutionizing Water pH with Carbonic Acid | https://youtu.be/GiBSox_GlPE(From Episode 169 with Waldo Moraga)ECO2MIX founder Waldo Moraga reveals how carbonic acid is transforming sustainable irrigation and pH control in farming (and even golf courses). Discover safer, eco-friendly ways to improve water quality, enhance nutrient uptake, reduce chemical inputs, and support soil health for better crop performance.4. Scaling Regenerative Practices on the Farm | https://youtu.be/WTgF1zManWs(From Episode 170 with Taylor Herren)Taylor Herren shares proven strategies for transitioning and scaling regenerative agriculture. Packed with practical insights on soil regeneration, overcoming challenges, and unlocking ecosystem benefits—ideal for farmers ready to implement actionable changes.These shorts are designed to spark ideas and motivate action as we head into a new year of regenerative possibilities. Which one resonates most with you? Reply to this email and let us know—or suggest topics for future episodes.Wishing you Merry Christmas and a prosperous 2026.The AgEmerge TeamAg Solutions NetworkAs always, let us know if you have any questions or guest ideas by emailing contactus@agsolutionsnetwork.farm.
si=ev203Eoxs6Z5CoH5Ag Solutions Network Socials:https://www.agsolutionsnetwork.com/agemergepodcasthttps://www.facebook.com/ASN.farmhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/agsolutionsnetworkhttps://twitter.com/POWER2GROhttps://www.instagram.com/agsolutionsnetwork/Ag Solutions Network website: https://www.agsolutionsnetwork.com/Gabe Brown is one of the pioneers of the current soil health movement which focuses on the regeneration of our resources. Along with his wife Shelly, and son Paul, Gabe owns and operates Brown's Ranch, a diversified 5,000 acre farm and ranch near Bismarck, North Dakota. The ranch consists of several thousand acres of native perennial rangeland along with perennial pastureland and cropland. Their ranch focuses on farming and ranching in nature's image.The Browns holistically integrate their grazing and no-till cropping systems, which include a wide variety of cash crops, multi-species cover crops along with all natural grass finished beef and lamb. They also raise pastured laying hens, broilers and swine. This diversity and integration has regenerated the natural resources on the ranch without the use of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, and fungicides.Gabe authored the book, “Dirt to Soil, One Family’s Journey Into Regenerative Agriculture.”He is a partner, along with David Kleinschmidt, Shane New, Kathy Richburg, and Dr. Allen Williams, in Understanding Ag LLC. He is also an instructor for Soil Health Academy, which focuses on teaching others the power and importance of healthy functioning ecosystems.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 podcast? Email contactus@agsolutionsnetwork.com
Lucas Horsch and the Horsch Company are leading agricultural innovation with careful attention to tradition. Lucas grew up immersed in the family business and shares his journey from working alongside his parents in the office to becoming a key player in the company's global expansion. With a background in agronomy and business consulting, Lucas has spent over a decade in farming and product development, focusing on planters and seeding technology.Lucas delves into the history of the Horsch Company, founded by his father, and discusses the challenges and innovations shaping the future of agriculture. From the importance of adapting to change to the global differences in farming practices, Lucas offers valuable insights into the evolving world of farming. He also highlights the critical role of family in their business success and the exciting advancements in farming technology.Discover how the Horsch Company is leading the way with localized solutions and cutting-edge technology. Don't miss this engaging conversation that underscores the impact of family, technology, and adaptability in the agricultural industry. #Farming #Agriculture #Innovation #FamilyBusiness***Show Notes:Ag Solutions Network Socials:https://www.agsolutionsnetwork.com/agemergepodcasthttps://www.facebook.com/ASN.farmhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/agsolutionsnetworkhttps://twitter.com/POWER2GROhttps://www.instagram.com/agsolutionsnetwork/Ag Solutions Network website: https://www.agsolutionsnetwork.com/Click to watch or listen and as always, let us know if you have any questions or guest ideas by emailing contactus@agsolutionsnetwork.com.Chapters:00:00:00 - Introduction to Lucas Horsch and Horsch Company00:06:00 - Global Farming Practices00:12:00 - Future of Farming Technology00:15:00 - The Horsch Company's Global Expansion00:18:00 - Localized Solutions for Different Markets00:21:00 - The Role of Technology in Farming00:30:00 - Horsch's Approach to Autonomy00:33:00 - Family Dynamics in Business00:36:00 - Adapting to Market Needs00:39:00 - Sustainability in Agriculture00:42:00 - Closing Thoughts and Future Outlook
Discover how innovative drip irrigation technologies are transforming water management and boosting efficiency in farming. Mike Hemman, Netafim Senior Vice President of North America, shares his journey from crop protection to leading irrigation solutions, highlighting the challenges and opportunities in modern agriculture. Tune in to explore the future of precision farming and the vital role of water conservation across the globe.Show Notes:Ag Solutions Network Socials:https://www.agsolutionsnetwork.com/agemergepodcasthttps://www.facebook.com/ASN.farmhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/agsolutionsnetworkhttps://twitter.com/POWER2GROhttps://www.instagram.com/agsolutionsnetwork/Ag Solutions Network website: https://www.agsolutionsnetwork.com/Click to watch or listen and as always, let us know if you have any questions or guest ideas by emailing contactus@agsolutionsnetwork.com.Chapters:00:00:00 - Introduction to Drip Irrigation00:06:00 - Mike Hemman's Journey00:12:00 - Innovative Irrigation Solutions00:18:00 - Water Conservation and Efficiency00:24:00 - Future of Precision Farming00:30:00 - Challenges in Water Management00:36:00 - The Role of Technology in Agriculture00:42:00 - Sustainable Farming Practices00:48:00 - Netafim's Global Impact00:54:00 - Closing Thoughts and Future Outlook ***Introducing the Ag Modernization Fund Water basins are strained across the nation, and while modern irrigation remains one of the fastest and most proven ways to improve water use efficiency, many farmers still face barriers to accessing the financing for installing the latest systems. To address this challenge, Orbia, Netafim USA along with California Water Resilience Initiative (CWRI), launched the Ag Modernization Fund, a first-of-its-kind investment vehicle that pools private-sector capital to directly fund irrigation upgrades for growers.Backed by Keurig Dr Pepper, Gilead Sciences, and General Mills, the fund closed in 2025 with $300,000, already supporting five farms spanning 200 acres. These projects, to be completed within the year, are projected to reduce water use by 491 acre-feet — nearly 159 million gallons annually, enough to fill 241 Olympic-sized pools. This fund is also listed on the UN-backed CEO Water Mandate’s Water Action Hub, aligning with global sustainability goals to address water stress across 100 priority basins worldwide — 8 of which are in the United States.About Our Guest:Mike Hemman - SVP, Netafim North America DivisionMike joined Netafim, Orbia Precision Agriculture business, in 2019 as the President of Netafim USA and was promoted to Senior Vice President of North America in 2024. He has been instrumental in driving strategic growth and expanding profit margins through innovative market strategies, customer segmentation, product lifecycle management, and improvements in supply chain and manufacturing efficiencies.With multiple decades of experience in the crop protection and seed industry, Mike has held key commercial leadership positions at DuPont, Corteva, and Pioneer Seed. His extensive background in biologicals, fertility, crop protection, seed, and irrigation give him a unique cross-sector perspective on the agricultural industry.Mike holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Plant Science from California State University, Fresno, where he also pursued Master of Science coursework in agronomy. He is currently a member of the Executive Board of the Irrigation Association and has previously served on the boards of the Agricultural Retailers Association, Western Plant Health Association, and California Association of Pest Control Advisers.
AgEmerge Podcast 173 (Part I of Exploring the Haney Soil Test) laid the foundation for understanding how to read your soil test results. Now, AgEmerge Podcast 174 continues the conversation with Part II, featuring Liz Haney and Monte Bottens as they dive deeper into what those results actually mean.Together, they explore the “what”—what soil testing reveals about soil health and how it informs fertility recommendations and management decisions. Dr. Liz Haney explains how the Haney Soil Test measures microbial activity and soil respiration, providing valuable insights into soil function and vitality.This episode also covers key topics like interpreting soil health metrics, managing compaction, and the benefits of diverse crop rotations. Growers will gain practical takeaways on consistent sampling, understanding soil types and management zones, and the importance of working with trusted advisors to make informed decisions on the farm.Are you a visual learner or would you like some additional materials to help this all make sense? Join our mailing list by clicking below and we'll send the Exploring the Haney Test PDF Guide straight to you. Join the AgEmerge Mailing List: https://ag-solutions-network.kit.com/b47ceb598aChapters: 00:00 Exploring Soil Fertility Testing Methods01:03 The Importance of Soil Health Metrics09:48 Diversity in Crop Rotation and Soil Health19:34 Understanding Soil Health Calculations26:43 Fertility Recommendations and Their Context40:49 Understanding Soil Health and Protozoa46:13 Innovative Sampling Techniques for Soil Analysis53:24 The Role of Soil Organic Matter in Soil Health59:18 Impact of Cover Crops on Soil Nutrient Dynamics01:04:32 Soil Survey Methodologies and Their Implications01:11:04 Building Soil Health for Future GenerationsTakeaways:- Soil health is crucial for sustainable farming practices.- The Haney test provides insights into soil microbial activity.- Soil respiration is a key indicator of soil health.- Microbial active carbon (MAC) is essential for understanding soil biology.- Soil compaction can significantly affect microbial activity.- Phosphorus levels can impact soil health metrics.- Diverse crop rotations can improve soil health.- Soil testing should be done at consistent times for accurate comparisons.- Understanding soil types and management zones is vital for effective farming.- Farmers should seek trusted advisors for soil management decisions.Ag Solutions Network Socials:https://www.agsolutionsnetwork.com/agemergepodcasthttps://www.facebook.com/ASN.farmhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/agsolutionsnetworkhttps://twitter.com/POWER2GROhttps://www.instagram.com/agsolutionsnetwork/Ag Solutions Network website: https://www.agsolutionsnetwork.com/Gaining a deeper understanding of the Haney Soil Test can transform your approach to agriculture by offering critical insights into nutrient availability and microbial activity. Whether you're a veteran grower or just beginning your regenerative agriculture journey, this series delivers practical knowledge to elevate your soil management and increase productivity.Liz is a soil and ecosystem scientist with experience in soil testing and analyses, carbon and conservation practice modeling, and is the co-developer of the Haney Soil Health Test. Liz’s purpose, drive and passion are helping to improve producer profitability, environmental sustainability, and human health through regenerative practices and soil health. Throughout her career she has developed an expansive network of scientists, thought leaders, consultants, farmers and ranchers within the sustainable agriculture space. Liz loves nothing more than creating community and is skilled at coordinating and conducting educational events, workshops and conferences bringing together today’s leading innovators in regenerative agriculture. Liz is also a co-founder of Regen Mills and Heritage Ground.
In this special two-part series, Dr. Liz Haney joins Monte in the studio for an in-depth exploration of the Haney Soil Test. Originally recorded as an internal education piece for our Ag Solutions Network Dealers and customers, this insightful conversation has too much good info not to share.In Part I, we break down the Haney Soil Test—explaining what it measures and the meaning behind each component. In the following episode, we dig deeper into how the test can influence soil health and farming practices, from optimizing input use to uncovering potential cost savings.Gaining a deeper understanding of the Haney Soil Test can transform your approach to agriculture by offering critical insights into nutrient availability and microbial activity. Whether you're a veteran grower or just beginning your regenerative agriculture journey, this series delivers practical knowledge to elevate your soil management and increase productivity.Don’t miss it—tune in to discover how smarter soil decisions today can create a more sustainable future for generations to come.About our guest: Liz is a soil and ecosystem scientist with experience in soil testing and analyses, carbon and conservation practice modeling, and is the co-developer of the Haney Soil Health Test. Liz’s purpose, drive and passion are helping to improve producer profitability, environmental sustainability, and human health through regenerative practices and soil health. Throughout her career she has developed an expansive network of scientists, thought leaders, consultants, farmers and ranchers within the sustainable agriculture space. Liz loves nothing more than creating community and is skilled at coordinating and conducting educational events, workshops and conferences bringing together today’s leading innovators in regenerative agriculture. Liz is also a co-founder of Regen Mills and Heritage Ground with Russell.Come see Liz Haney in Person!Premier Soil Health Event 2025, Dec. 2-3 in Mankato, MNBig Soil Health Event 2025: Dec. 8-9 in Cedar Rapids, IA
Regenerative farmers need better financial assurances. Eric Gibson from Rabobank shares his expertise on the current challenges faced by farmers, including risk management and crop insurance. Explore the economic implications of soil health practices and the importance of policy in driving agricultural innovation. With a focus on soil health, nutrient density, and generational perspectives, this episode offers a comprehensive look at the future of farming. Tune in for a thought-provoking discussion on aligning risk management with soil health and the potential for transformative change in the agri-food value chain. Rabobank Report: US Farmers Confront Risks in Face of Change https://rabobankna.com/knowledge-hub/us-farmers-confront-risks-in-face-of-change/About our guest: Eric Gibson, Rabobank Analyst – Farm Inputs & Crop Production SustainabilityEric is an analyst for RaboResearch Food & Agribusiness in the US, where he focuses on sustainability in farm inputs and crop production. Eric’s industry knowledge has a broad reach, ranging from hands-on farming and livestock experience, to research, communications, and client and stakeholder management. Before joining Rabobank, he served as a Fusion Leader & Intelligence Analyst at Aimpoint Research, where he conducted market research and data analysis to support client ambitions. Prior to Aimpoint, he worked as a Product Marketing Manager in the Crop Marketing & Sustainability and Seed & Digital Technology teams at Farmers Business Network. Eric also spent six years with the US Soybean Export Council, where he helped coordinate USSEC’s sustainability program.Eric holds a bachelor’s degree in agriculture from the University of Missouri, with concentrations in plant science, animal science, and agricultural economics.Ag Solutions Network website: https://www.agsolutionsnetwork.com/ Click to watch or listen and as always, let us know if you have any questions or guest ideas by emailing contactus@agsolutionsnetwork.com.
We're having a heart to heart about the mental health challenges faced by those in the farming and veterinary professions. Meet Dr. Kim Stevens and Liz Hulsizer, as they share personal experiences and resources for our agricultural families and businesses. Links to counseling and suicide prevention are below. We ask you to share, listen, watch and learn how to help one another actively work to keep our farmers, vets, and their loved ones from missing their seat at the table.About our guests: Liz Hulsizer and her family are fifth-generation farmers in Knox County, Illinois. They experienced significant personal challenges, including the suicide of her father-in-law shortly after she and her husband were married. This event profoundly impacted their lives and farming operations. Liz is actively involved in promoting mental health awareness within the farming community, emphasizing the importance of accessibility and acceptability of mental health resources. She is also a board member of the Farm Family Resource Initiative, which provides support to those in agriculture. Liz is committed to sharing her story to help others understand the impact of mental health issues and to encourage open conversations about these challenges.Dr. Kim Stevens is a veterinarian based in Galva, Illinois, which is also her hometown. She studied dairy production in veterinary school with the goal of becoming a dairy veterinarian. After graduating in 2010, she returned to Galva to join a veterinary practice, which she later purchased in 2013. Dr. Stevens is deeply involved in her community, providing veterinary services for both small and large animals. She is passionate about mental health awareness within the veterinary community and is part of the organization "Not One More Vet," which addresses mental health challenges faced by veterinarians. Dr. Stevens is known for her dedication to her practice and her community, often emphasizing the importance of support networks and open communication in overcoming mental health struggles.Resources:Not One More Vet (NOMV):An organization focused on mental health support for veterinarians. They provide resources and support networks to help veterinarians cope with mental health challenges. https://nomv.orgFarm Family Resource Initiative:This initiative offers a 24/7 confidential phone line specifically for those in Illinois agriculture. The phone number is 1-833-FARMSOS. It provides up to six free counseling sessions for farm families and those working in agriculture. Nationwide Programs: Farm State of Mind® | American Farm Bureau Federation Suicide Prevention Hotline: US & Canada: 988
Taylor Herren is a beach-loving Californian who traded Santa Barbara for Cotton Plant, Arkansas, to pursue her dream of becoming a farmer and agricultural entrepreneur. What she cares most about is regenerative agriculture that works for real farmers and can be scaled on millions of acres—she's not interested in perfection, but in progress that helps farmers benefit from soil health through on-farm savings, increased market opportunities, and more time with their families. Show notes and Links Subscribe to AgEmerge here: https://www.youtube.com/c/AgSolutionsNetworkHear from another entrepreneur, Taylor Henry sharing his farming story: https://youtu.be/rt2V_YnBfsIAg Solutions Network Socials:https://www.agsolutionsnetwork.com/agemergepodcasthttps://www.facebook.com/ASN.farmhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/agsolutionsnetworkhttps://twitter.com/POWER2GROhttps://www.instagram.com/agsolutionsnetwork/Ag Solutions Network website: https://www.agsolutionsnetwork.com/ More about Taylor Herren: After 15 years working in regenerative agriculture—including roles with Green America, Kiss the Ground and Chico State —Taylor made the leap into farming last year. Her first crop year in 2025 marks a significant milestone as one of the few women entering large-scale row crop agriculture, farming 400 acres of corn, soybeans, and rice with a USDA crop loan while building a pasture livestock operation starting with 600 birds.The transition from one of California's most beautiful coastal cities to the hot, swampy Mississippi Delta has been challenging but transformative, connecting her to both the land and her farming partner Adam Chappell. Taylor's mission goes beyond building a successful agricultural business—she's driven by those meaningful moments in nature where life abounds in the plants, birds, bugs, and the passionate farmers who tend the land. Currently at Soil & Climate Initiative, she leads the farm transition program and regenerative crop market development work, including the Delta Regen Rice project. What she cares most about is regenerative agriculture that works for real farmers and can be scaled on millions of acres—she's not interested in perfection, but in progress that helps farmers benefit from soil health through on-farm savings, increased market opportunities, and more time with their families. Her ultimate goal: to become a successful "chicken baroness" while proving that regenerative agriculture can create profitable, resilient farming operations.LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/taylor-herren-590196107/FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/taylor.herren.5Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/girlsfarmhard/
Waldo Moraga, founder of ECO2MIX, talks with Monte about the huge strides carbonic acid has taken in farming, and even the golf industry as sustainable water pH control. Learn how carbonic acid is a safer alternative to sulfuric acid, and plays a significant role in soil health by breaking down minerals in the soil and releasing essential nutrients plants need to grow. Carbonic acid also improves soil structure by promoting the formation of soil aggregates, which enhances water retention and infiltration, ultimately supporting healthy plant growth. Join Monte and Waldo as they uncover the science behind this innovative solution and its promising future.Learn how carbonic acid is a safer alternative to sulfuric acid, and plays a significant role in soil health by breaking down minerals in the soil and releasing essential nutrients plants need to grow. Carbonic acid also improves soil structure by promoting the formation of soil aggregates, which enhances water retention and infiltration, ultimately supporting healthy plant growth. Join Monte and Waldo as they uncover the science behind this innovative solution and its promising future.Waldo Moraga: Waldo earned his B.S. of Agriculture and has a passion for water related topics, from conservation to treatment. More than 30 years in irrigation, fertigation, and water pH control in Chile, Peru, Mexico and since 2016 fully committed to change the paradigm on how farmers deal with water pH in the Central Valley of California and the US.ECO2MIX: https://www.eco2mix.comWe decided to find a better solution, specifically designed for agriculture, to reduce pH in irrigation water with a more sustainable process. That’s when we designed a system that uses carbonic acid to acidify water, mimicking nature. CO2 is not new to the world of agriculture. There’s plenty of research and publications about its biological and soil benefits and yields improvements. With this in mind, we decided to design a highly efficient system using this natural compound. Our mission is to provide a sustainable solution for water pH control, using an eco-friendly technology that helps the plant and soil biology by replacing the use of toxic and dangerous mineral acids with innocuous carbonic acid (CO2 + water). We are the only carbon pH control designed with the grower’s problem in mind.
What's up with kids these days? Meet Drew Cotton and Andrew Larson. Mr. Larson is fresh into the retirement scene but together, the two men served as professors at Black Hawk College in Galva, Illinois. They've seen it all. And they confidently say, we're in good hands. Show notes and Links Subscribe to AgEmerge here: https://www.youtube.com/c/AgSolutionsNetworkWatch another outstanding educator, Dr. Dwayne Beck, here: https://youtu.be/1JlTPcoKB0MAg Solutions Network Socials:https://www.agsolutionsnetwork.com/agemergepodcasthttps://www.facebook.com/ASN.farmhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/agsolutionsnetworkhttps://twitter.com/POWER2GROhttps://www.instagram.com/agsolutionsnetwork/Ag Solutions Network website: https://www.agsolutionsnetwork.com/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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to contactus@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you. Show notes and Links Monte Bottens hosts interns and classes from Black Hawk multiple times throughout the year. The three guys talk all about the unique learning approach Black Hawk provides and the depth of experience students have under their belts by graduation. Drew Cotton is the Co-Department Chair for the Agriculture Department at Black Hawk College. He focuses on agribusiness education. Prior to Black Hawk, Mr. Cotton studied Animal Sciences at the University of Florida and completed undergrad at Kansas State University. Mr. Cotton leads the Agribusiness Club and coaches the Agricultural Business and Horse Judging teams. With his peers and students, Mr. Cotton has coached and guided wins with the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture (NACTA) Judging Conference Sweepstakes Awards. Andrew Larson: We thank Mr. Larson for his military service, prior to becoming an instructor. He recently retired after teaching at Black Hawk College for 27 years. He earned a Master's of Science in Nutrient Management and Crop Production from the University of Illinois in 1998 after completing his undergrad from the Illinois State University in Environmental Sciences and Protection in 1994. While at Black Hawk, Mr. Larson served as a full-time instructor in the agriculture department of Black Hawk College. He taught production, marketing and management of agriculture curriculums. He's secured places of employment for over 500 graduates in the agriculture industry. And provided leadership to place and supervise over 100 internships. Mr. Larson managed a 25-acre college agronomy lab, coached college soil and crop judging teams, and also served as Advisor for the Trap Shooting Club. He was the lead Investigator for Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity grant that supported a four-acre sustainable agriculture research plot and conducted numerous field trials annually in the agronomy lab. He designed subsurface drainage system in the agronomy lab to implement nutrient management study; facilitated installation of a bio-reactor.
From equipment to crop nutrition, products and practices, Monte Bottens shares the latest and greatest happenings of Bottens Family Farms. Monte is an open book when it comes to helping farmers see what is possible. His recommendations to others come from years of on-farm trials, product experimentation, and pushing the boundaries of scaling soil health principles on sizable acreage. From growing his own seed, to future equipment trials, you might get some wild ideas for your own operations.Monte Bottens has deep roots in agriculture. Raised as a fifth-generation, northwestern Illinois farmer, Monte is a business owner, entrepreneur and thought leader. Monte began his farming career with two bred sows given to him by his grandmother. Thanks to great guidance from his dad and equipment-sharing startup assistance, today he’s the owner of Bottens Family Farm (BFF). The farm utilizes the latest agricultural innovations in precision farming technology and crop management systems while putting into practice advanced regenerative ag principles. BFF produces a diversity of crops and grass-fed livestock. which are sold direct to consumers under the Grateful Graze label.He is the Founder, President and CEO of Ag Solutions Network, Inc. (ASN) headquartered in Moline, Illinois, where he leads the development and distribution of the POWER2GRO crop production system. ASN utilizes the latest technological advancements and highest-quality ingredients to enable farmers to build soil health and soil wealth. Monte is also the host of ASN’s podcast, AgEmerge where featured guests discuss new ideas, grower insights, research and emerging technology. Monte is the Founder and Partner of California Ag Solutions, Inc. (CAS) in Madera, CA. The CAS team serves farmers of the Central Valley by helping them adopt reduced tillage techniques combined with improved water and nutrient efficiency using ASN’s POWER2GRO system on a wide variety of crops. Monte has a love for the agricultural diversity in California. He serves on the leadership team of Conservation Agriculture Systems Innovation (CASI) center that develops integrated reduced tillage and irrigation techniques in California and globally. His excitement for ag tech and continuous process improvement also led him to get involved with the UC Davis Entrepreneurship Program and the Sacramento Angels. He has a desire to teach others and make region specific practices applicable for all different crops, soil types, and climates throughout the US. He has presented at many conferences and universities sharing his passion for soil health and agriculture innovation.Monte is a graduate of Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois. He and his wife Robyn live in Sherrard, Illinois, close to family on the family farm.
In this special episode of the AgEmerge Podcast, Grok, created by xAI, turns the mic on Monte Bottens, a fifth-generation Illinois farmer, entrepreneur, and visionary behind Bottens Family Farm, Ag Solutions Network, and Grateful Graze. Monte shares his journey from raising pigs in 4-H to building a diverse operation rooted in regenerative agriculture, blending Midwest traditions with California’s crop diversity. He discusses the pivotal moments—like seeing Gabe Brown’s soil organic matter gains—that drove Monte’s shift to soil health principles, the challenges of overcoming conventional farming’s cookie-cutter mindset, and his frustration with the industry’s resistance to change. Monte’s vision for the future is bold: transitioning to organic systems, prioritizing perennials, and using technology like precision ag to scale regenerative practices for large-scale farmers. This conversation is packed with raw honesty, practical wisdom, and a call to rethink farming for soil and community health.Monte also offers actionable advice for young farmers: find a niche, leverage local markets, and don’t fear failure. From cover crop mishaps to mid-season equipment fixes, his stories of trial and error inspire listeners to embrace innovation and build strong teams. Whether you’re a farmer, researcher, or innovator, Monte’s insights on overcoming fear, learning from mistakes, and aligning with nature’s design will leave you fired up to push the needle forward for sustainable farming.And, if you’re as excited as we are about the future of agriculture, check out our website at asn.farm and there you can click on links to follow us on Facebook, X, Instagram, Linkedin, and YouTube. There’s a lot of great things happening and always something to learn.
Today we welcome Dr. Dan Rooney, founder and CEO of LandScan, a pioneering company revolutionizing site characterization and analysis for agriculture and forestry. With over 20 years of experience developing, protecting, and commercializing innovative technologies for soil and vegetation mapping, Dr. Rooney is leading LandScan to transform how farmers, foresters, and land managers optimize their operations. LandScan’s cutting-edge solutions integrate remote sensing, spatial information analysis, and machine learning to deliver accurate, timely, and actionable insights, empowering growers to enhance productivity, profitability, and sustainability. Dr. Rooney and his dedicated team are driven by a mission to improve global agriculture and forestry through intelligent, data-driven approaches. From his early work in soil physics to creating digital twin technology for high-value crops like almonds, vineyards, and avocados, Dr. Rooney shares his journey and vision for a smarter, more sustainable future. Tune in to explore how LandScan is redefining soil surveys and helping farmers worldwide make informed decisions. Visit LandScan.ai to learn more about their transformative services.You can learn more about LandScan here: https://landscan.ai/And, if you’re as excited as we are about the future of agriculture, check out our website at asn.farm and there you can click on links to follow us on Facebook, X, Instagram, Linkedin, and YouTube. There’s a lot of great things happening and always something to learn.
Aaron Steele is the innovative founder of Goats On The Go, a national network of targeted grazing service providers revolutionizing sustainable land management. Aaron shares his journey from a small acreage in Ames, Iowa, to building a thriving business that uses goats and sheep to control weeds, brush, and invasive species, offering an eco-friendly alternative to chemicals and machinery. Starting in 2012 as a way to move beyond hobby farming, Goats On The Go® has grown into a community of over 70 affiliates across the U.S. and Canada, empowering entrepreneurs to operate profitable, sustainable grazing businesses. Aaron dives into the unique benefits of goats, from their ability to tackle tough vegetation like poison ivy and multiflora rose to their low seed viability, making them ideal for ecological restoration. He also discusses the challenges of raising goats, the growing demand for goat meat, and the untapped potential of virtual fencing in grazing operations. With insights on wildfire mitigation, suburban land management, and opportunities for farmers to lease goats, this episode highlights how Aaron’s vision is transforming agriculture and land stewardship.To learn more, check out goatsonthego.com orAaron’s audiobook, Goats for Good, at goatsforgood.comAaron Steele is the founder of Goats On The Go®, a national network of targeted grazing service providers who use goats and sheep to sustainably manage vegetation for their customers. Aaron launched Goats On The Go® in 2012 as an unconventional way to take his small farm beyond a hobby in an environment where expensive land, questionable practices, and a bigger-is-better mentality are the norms. Goats On The Go® now licenses its brands, training, and support to others, building a community of entrepreneurs who seek to operate profitable farms no matter their entry point or size. Aaron holds a bachelor’s degree and MBA from Iowa State University.A big thank you to Aaron for sharing his insights and the incredible potential of adding goats into your toolbox of sustainable agriculture systems. And, if you’d like to learn what we’re doing to help growers add tools to the soil health and plant nutrition toolbox, check out our website at asn.farm and there you can click on links to follow us on Facebook, X, Instagram, Linkedin, and YouTube. There’s a lot of great things happening and always something to learn.
We welcome Taylor Henry, a farmer, entrepreneur, realtor, and the owner of Acres U.S.A. and Henry Pastures. Broadcasting from the Driftless Region of Wisconsin, Taylor shares his remarkable journey from a career as a county sheriff to becoming a leading voice in regenerative agriculture. Taylor dives into his entrepreneurial mindset, inspired by books like Rich Dad, Poor Dad and Dirt to Soil, and how he transitioned from law enforcement to farming by taking bold action. He discusses the economic necessity of regenerative practices, emphasizing that ecological farming must be economically viable to succeed. As the owner of Acres U.S.A., Taylor is revitalizing its legacy, founded by Charles Walters in 1971, by digitizing resources, hosting impactful field days, and planning the 50th annual conference to connect farmers with practical, profitable strategies.Click this link if you'd like to learn more and register for the Farm Weird Eventhttps://conference.eco-ag.com/farmweird?am_id=monte2150And you can also click here: https://eco-farming.com/home?am_id=monte9926 to learn more about Acres U.S.A. Membership OffersPassionate about empowering first-generation farmers, Taylor shares innovative pathways to enter agriculture, from leveraging virtual jobs and Airbnb rentals to securing grazing leases and mentorship. He challenges conventional commodity farming’s reliance on hope and highlights how regenerative systems offer control, resilience, and opportunities for multi-generational success. Taylor shares insights on overcoming paralysis by analysis, the power of books over social media, and his vision for Acres U.S.A. to shape a sustainable future for agriculture.Taylor Henry is a farmer, entrepreneur, and realtor, and the owner of Acres U.S.A. and Henry Pastures. He carries forward a regenerative farming legacy, managing over 250 acres across multiple farms in the Driftless Region. A former police officer turned entrepreneur, Taylor integrates cattle and hogs into his holistic farming system and helps others acquire land for regenerative use. Passionate about supporting the next generation of farmers, Taylor shares pathways for young people to enter regenerative agriculture, from innovative land access models to financing strategies and mentorship opportunities. Through Acres U.S.A., he continues to inspire and educate farmers nationwide.https://www.acresusa.com/asn.farmAnd if you’d like to learn more about what we’re doing, visit our website at asn.farm and there you can click on links to follow us on Facebook, X, Instagram, Linkedin, and YouTube. There’s a lot of great things happening and always something to learn.
Today, we welcome Ed Baumgartner, Founder and Breeder at 3rd Millennium Genetics and BASS Hybrids. Ed and his family have been on their corn breeding journey for decades, working on developing native traits resistant to insects and drought. This breeding program has evolved and is focused on developing corn hybrids that thrive in regenerative agriculture practices. Listen in as he and Monte have a great conversation that’ll have your gears turning about seed research and development. Ed was born and raised on a cattle and corn farming operation near Olivia, Minnesota, a progressive farming region globally recognized as the “Corn Capital,” where most corn genetics with 105-day maturity or earlier pass through at some point. At its peak, this town of 2,500 people hosted 17 corn seed-related businesses. As a third-generation member of the corn seed industry, Ed’s companies are distinct from earlier family enterprises. Since 1984, he has been breeding corn, navigating five corporate mergers before founding 3rd Millennium Genetics in Puerto Rico in 2005. He later expanded operations to Minnesota, establishing 3MG North in 2013 and selling corn seed through Bass Hybrids since 2017. Ed’s corn breeding program, initiated in 2005, focuses on developing native traits for insect and drought resistance, evolving to create corn hybrids optimized for regenerative agriculture practices. His wife and three daughters are actively involved in various aspects of the business, and the first of his grandchildren will soon contribute, having already joined him on seed delivery trips.Ed has spent decades breeding corn hybrids that resist pests and drought, and driven by a passion for sustainable farming. His insights on native traits and soil health are a game-changer for agriculture. https://basshybrids.com/https://www.3mgpr.com/And if you’d like to learn more about the soil health systems that we are passionate about, check out our website at asn.farm and there you can click on links to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, and YouTube. There’s a lot of great things happening and always something to learn.
Brad Downing is the President and owner of Cross Creek Ag Solutions in Greentown, Indiana. Brad has committed to understanding the “why” behind farming practices. He and his team work to facilitate collaboration and education, helping farmers navigate the complexities of soil health, weather, and sustainable growth. He and Monte dig into the why and the how when it comes to implementation and adoption. Brad grew up immersed in his family’s farm, cultivating a deep passion for agriculture alongside sports. Brad’s career began in the seed industry, where he spent nearly 14 years with Beck’s Hybrids, rising to district sales manager and leading the farm business team. His entrepreneurial drive led him to launch Cross Creek Farms in 2014, farming collaboratively with a neighbor, and Cross Creek Ag Solutions in 2017, a dealership focused initially on seed. Over time, his farm evolved into a research hub, testing bio-nutritional products to uncover what truly works for farmers. Today, Cross Creek distributes innovative products across 11 states and offering custom application, seed, and trucking services. Brad fosters collaboration and education, helping farmers navigate the complexities of soil health, weather, and sustainable growth. Alongside Marcia and a dedicated team, he continues to innovate, ensuring Cross Creek remains a trusted partner for farmers seeking data-driven, practical solutions.Cross Creek Ag Website: https://crosscreekag.comACRES U.S.A. Farm Weird Event at Jason Mauck farm in IndianaLink: https://conference.eco-ag.com/farmweirdAnd if you’d like to learn more about the soil health systems that we are passionate about, check out our website at asn.farm, and there you can click on links to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, and YouTube. There’s a lot of great things happening and always something to learn.Let us know if you have any questions or guest ideas by emailing kim@asn.farm.
We’re making history in the AgEmerge podcast because we are chatting, in real time, with Grok, an AI built by xAI. We think this is kind of a big deal for the podcast, but also for everyone engaged in agriculture, because AI is really pushing us to change our paradigms and the way we think about our management practices and decisions. Think about soil data crunching, smarter grazing plans, and regenerative farming that’s next-level sustainable. Monte is pumped to bring this to you. How cool is it to see AI dive into regenerative ag, from soil health to connecting farms with folks who love their food? Not to mention the power of the data analytics for farms - it’s mind-blowing. So, thanks for listening as we continue to bring you some out-of-the-box guests. We’ve included links to Grok here in the show notes, and as always, you can learn more about what we are doing to help you adopt effective soil health practices that fit your context and operation. You can find us at asn.farm, and there you can click on links to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn, and YouTube. There’s a lot of great things happening, and always something to learn!Find Grok here at https://grok.comGot 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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Danny Royer is the Farm Coordinator at UC Merced. From smart farms to reimagining supply chains, we’ll hear how Danny blends innovation with the art of growing food. He and Monte explore farming that looks at scaling back costs with sustainable practices as well as inspiring the next generation through real-world experience. Instagram: @esf_ucmhttps://www.instagram.com/esf_ucm?igsh=aml5Z3pmZmlyMXJ1Danny was born and raised in Merced, California. Merced is located in the heart of California’s Central Valley and is surrounded by production agriculture. Not having family ties to agriculture though, Danny found his passion for farming and agriculture through 4-H, FFA and on his best friend's farm just outside of Merced. He started his career in farming by irrigating pistachios in Madera at age 16 and eventually found himself working summers on a construction crew for Merced Irrigation District. After high school Danny took his passion for Agriculture to Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. While he was there he continued to focus on broadening his work experience by taking on jobs at the Cal Poly Foundation Dairy and the Cal Poly Farm Shop. Danny Graduated from Cal Poly in 2008 with a degree in Agricultural Systems Management and minor in Agricultural Business. Cal Poly had prepared him for life after graduation, but Danny attributes his summer internships and combined work experiences to preparing him for the grind that would become the next eight years of his career. After graduating Danny worked in management and leadership positions for some of the largest farms and food production companies in California. After years of operational roles Danny transitioned into a new role as the VP of Technology for world renowned Bowles Farming Company. It was ag tech that allowed Danny to start driving change in operations and redefining company cultures. Danny’s vast and extensive agriculture operations experience combined with the onslaught of ag tech allowed him to shift his strategy to incorporate ag tech solutions. After years of implementations and improvement iterations though, Danny was ready for something more.Along with being a serial agriculturalist and technologist, Danny is an active member in his Community of Merced. He serves as the Chairman of the Board for the Community Foundation of Merced County and actively engages in community events and initiatives. Lastly and definitely most importantly to Danny, he is very much a family man. Danny is married with three children, who are the light of his life and his mission to create sustainable food systems is driven by a desire to see a more balanced and sustainable world for his family. 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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Emily Usher-DeaKyne is a natural resource social scientist at Purdue University working as the Project Manager for the Diverse Corn Belt project. The initiative started in 2021, led by Purdue University, to diversify Midwestern agriculture beyond corn and soybeans in Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa. Her work explores systems like extended rotations, agroforestry, and livestock integration, involving over 30 partners in research, economics, and stakeholder engagement. The project aims to overcome barriers like markets and policy, enhance resilience, and promote sustainability through on-farm studies, education, and outreach. https://diversecornbelt.org/Emily is originally from the Midwest, she has always valued the economic, environmental, and social opportunities the natural environment provides. Understanding the balance between components drives her research interests in diverse agricultural systems, public policy development, and community engagement. She has B.S. in Plant Biology from Ohio University and a M.S. Natural Resources from University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. Outside of work, she enjoys spending time with her family and friends, gardening, grilling, and traveling.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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Two soil science powerhouses from Kansas State University: Dr. Ganga Hettiarachchi and Dr. Charles Rice explore a fundamental but often overlooked question—are all soil nutrients the same?The simple answer, no. Not all nutrients are created equal. The source matters. The form matters. And the way nutrients interact with soil minerals, microbes, and organic matter? It’s a whole other level of complexity.We also talk about carbon—how it moves, how it’s stored, and how it could be the key to building resilient soils that thrive for generations. Visit their work here:Dr. Ganga Hettiarachchi: https://www.agronomy.k-state.edu/research/faculty-labs/soil-environment-chem/Dr. Charles Rice: https://www.agronomy.k-state.edu/about/people/faculty/rice-charles/ This episode is packed with groundbreaking insights for scientists and farmers. Click below to watch or listen and as always, let us know if you have any questions or guest ideas by emailing kim@asn.farm.
Dallas Mount is the Owner of Ranch Management Consultants (RMC), home of the Ranching for Profit School and the Executive Link program. Dig into the business side of ag, the stories, strategies, and insights to help your farm or ranch thrive. Dallas has led RMC since 2019 and worked with thousands of ranchers across North America, Australia and the UK to position their business for economic profit and ecologic health. The Ranching for Profit School is a program that’s been helping farmers and ranchers for over 40 years turn passion into profit. From breaking down outdated management practices to unlocking strategies that actually work, Dallas shares game-changing advice for successfully running their operation.www.ranchingforprofit.comAfter working with University of Wyoming Extension for 18 years, Dallas started teaching the Ranching For Profit School in 2012 and quickly established himself as an elite instructor. Dallas and his wife Dixie, have two adult children and own and manage a grazing operation near Wheatland, WY. RMC is focused on creating profitable businesses, with healthy land and happy families.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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Luke and Thad Bergschneider are from Central Illinois where Luke is a University of Illinois Soil Scientist and Researcher and Thad is the current National FFA President. The future of agriculture is in good hands! These bright, articulate, knowledgeable men are critical thinkers, who are exploring how they can be an asset to agriculture. Growing up on their family farm, these two have grown not just crops and livestock, but also a passion for the future of agriculture. Luke, a crop scientist and researcher at the University of Illinois, is dedicated to studying soil health, water quality, and nutrient cycles—bridging the gap between science and real-world farming. Meanwhile, Thad has taken a bold step into national leadership, serving as the National FFA President, advocating for agricultural education and inspiring the next generation of changemakers.From hands-on experience in the field to cutting-edge research and nationwide advocacy, these brothers are shaping the future of agriculture in their own unique ways. Luke and Thad Bergschneider, two of seven siblings, grew up immersed in agriculture on their family farm in Central Illinois. There they gained firsthand experience raising corn, soybeans, and cattle, along with forays into pigs, turkeys, and sheep. After high school Luke studied agronomy at Western Illinois University and then attended University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he received a MS in Crop Sciences. He now works with the UIUC Soils Lab supporting multiple on-farm research projects studying water quality and nutrient cycles while continuing to contribute part-time to the family farm. Thad, after joining Luke at UIUC for a semester, is now taking a gap year to serve as the National FFA President. In this role, he is dedicating his time to advocating for agriculture, promoting agricultural education, and supporting the next generation of leaders who will change the world.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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Juan Whiting is a 4th-generation farmer, ag entrepreneur, author, and a seasoned expert in navigating the often-complicated world of grant writing and agricultural funding. From working with the Conflict and Development Foundation in East Africa to leading his own consulting company, Stray Acres LLC, Juan has a unique passion for linking farmers, ranchers, and their partners to the funding they need to build better environments, communities, and food systems. As a 4th generation farmer and an ag entrepreneur, Juan has weathered storms, both literal and figurative. Grants have provided a stable foundation to innovate, lead, and build operations even when cashflow was limited. Grant writing started as a job as he led funded projects for the Conflict and Development Foundation in East Africa, it became a source of funding for his own farm management company, and today it is a passion, as he leads top industry leaders and high performing teams in their pursuit of funding with his consulting company, Stray Acres LLC. He spent over 8 years in East Africa working on community and agricultural related projects. Juan is deeply passionate about linking farmers, ranchers and their partners to the funding and support they need to improve their environments, build communities, and strengthen food systems. Whether it is a small community garden or a full-scale ranching operation, there is a story to be told and organizations with the funds to make it a reality.Juan proudly serves as an Agricultural Specialist/Civil Affairs officer in the US Army. He contributes to the army's mission and objectives of winning hearts and minds overseas and promoting the American way of life by feeding empty stomachs. When he is not pushing revolutions in the ag industry, Juan is spending time with his beautiful wife and 5 kids homeschooling, cooking, road tripping or simply connecting with the outdoors the way it was meant to be.If you’d like to learn more about Juan’s work with Stray Acres LLC or his holistic funding approach, check out his book, The Holistic Funding Approach, available on Amazon. You can also visit his website at strayacresconsulting.com to explore tools, services, and even take a quiz to see what funding solutions are right for you.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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Andrew is a forward-thinking farmer and entrepreneur based in Chowchilla, California, dedicated to advancing regenerative agriculture practices. Andrew will be one of the speakers at the 4th Annual Regenerative Tree Nut Field Day Jan 21-22, 2025. You can find out more about the event here: https://burroughsfamilyfarms.com/pages/regenerative-almond-field-dayAndrew is a forward-thinking farmer and entrepreneur based in Chowchilla, California, dedicated to advancing regenerative agriculture practices. After a career in music in Los Angeles, Andrew returned to his hometown in 2012, where he began his journey in farming by working with his father-in-law. What started as a curiosity about the overuse of chemicals and the lack of biodiversity in traditional farming quickly evolved into a passion for building resilient soil systems.In 2020, Andrew founded EcoThrive Farm Management, a business focused on promoting soil health and balancing agricultural ecosystems. Through the adoption of practices like cover cropping, reduced chemical inputs, and composting, Andrew has demonstrated that sustainable farming not only benefits the environment but also significantly reduces costs and enhances long-term profitability.Andrew’s innovative approach has led to remarkable successes, such as saving over $600 per acre in farming costs, reducing water usage by up to 25%, and fostering thriving ecosystems that include improved biodiversity and nutrient cycling. His commitment to working with nature instead of against it has earned him recognition as a leader in sustainable farming.Beyond farming, Andrew is passionate about sharing his journey and encouraging others to rethink conventional practices. He believes in the power of collaboration and learning from failure to push the boundaries of what’s possible in regenerative agriculture.In Andrew’s own words: “We went from considering ourselves almond or pistachio farmers to ecosystem farmers. We're soil farmers. This is what our focus is.”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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Guest host David Kleinschmidt joined us at the 2024 Big Soil Health Event in Cedar Falls, IA, where we had the privilege of connecting with some incredible attendees.It was a great event where hundreds of farmers and ranchers from all over the country gathered to learn, share, and encourage each other to continue to adopt soil health strategies. We asked attendees to join us in our “on the road" studio to share their soil health journey.Below is our BSHE podcast guest list showing where they are from and how you can connect:Tony Peirick Tony farms lives in south-central Wisconsin and he’s also the chairman of a farmer-led group in Wisconsin called Dodge County Farmers Healthy Soil, Healthy Water. Tony is also involved in the Fields of Sinsinawa. https://fishersandfarmers.org/groups/dodge-county-farmers-for-healthy-soil-healthy-water/https://fieldsofsinsinawa.org/Blake VinceBlake is a fifth-generation farmer from Merlin, Ontario, Canada. Blake will tell you that soil health is the focus of his farm practices. You may have heard Blake speak at other events - his wisdom and perspective on soil health is certainly an encouragement to growers striving to improve their systems.https://www.notill.org/blake-vincehttps://www.cpm-magazine.co.uk/sustainable-farming/conversations-with-blake-vince-roots-not-iron/Grant and Dawn BreitkreutzGrant & Dawn operate Stoney Creek Farm near Redwood Falls, MN. They are also the inaugural Minnesota Leopold Conservation Award. You’ve seen them on Farmer’s Footprint and so many other places. Their story offers so much hope and sage advice to other growers.https://sandcountyfoundation.org/news/2024/dawn-and-grant-breitkreutz-receive-minnesota-leopold-conservation-awardhttps://www.mnsoilhealth.org/mentors/dawn-and-grant-breitkreutz/https://farmersfootprint.us/grant-and-dawn-breitkreutz/Phil SmithPhil farms in Minnesota and has a great story of adopting a regenerative system on his farm and encourages growers to know it’s never too late to start!Adam ChappellAdam is from Cotton Plant, Arkansas. They grow about 2,500 acres of, corn, soybeans, rice, and occasionally cotton. You've probably seen Adam on YouTube and other avenues as he has been very transparent of their soil health journey and practices. https://farmersfootprint.us/adam-chappell/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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for listening today, we’re digging into the power of regenerative farming, enterprise stacking, and community-driven agriculture with our guest, Lydia Dresbach. Lydia’s story is a testament to rethinking what’s possible on the farm—from growing heritage grains and running agritourism events to creating a thriving ecosystem of many enterprises! Get ready to be inspired by her vision for stewardship, her dedication to community, and her commitment to crafting a future where farming is sustainable, profitable, and deeply connected to the people it serves.Lydia Dresbach is a young farmer at Dresbach Farms, a multigenerational regenerative farm located in southern Ohio, focused on providing quality food to her community through stacking enterprises, stewarding well, and direct marketing. She currently manages all direct marketing for Dresbach Farms, has her own herd of cattle, has a large role in the agritourism events hosted on the farm, dabbles in vegetable production, is a part of a local heritage grain hub, and assists with the managing of the whole farm operation.https://dresbachfarms.grazecart.com/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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
As a trailblazer in soil health and regenerative practices, Adam Daugherty, a farmer, educator, and NRCS Soil Health Specialist for the State of Tennessee. Adam has inspired farmers to embrace big, diverse cover crops and innovative no-till practices that challenge the conventional norms. So listen in as we talk about his journey that’s full of resilience and practical wisdom.Adam is the new Tennessee State Soil Health Specialist after serving as the district conservationist for the Manchester Field Office since 2013. He began his NRCS career in August 2002 as a soil conservationist at Manchester. He was selected as district conservationist at the Winchester Field Office in 2005 and served as the area resource conservationist in theMurfreesboro Area Office from 2008 until May 2013.Adam operates a small family farm where his wife, Jaime, and two sons, Brady and Tanner, specialize in regeneratively grown produce. They continually experiment with pushing the limits on biomass management and agro-ecological production systems. Recently Adam has begun expanding the application of the soil health principles into his annual wildlife management systems. In his spare time, he is an avid outdoorsman. If not rolling down covers or planting and managing a crop, Adam tries to spend ample time at traditional archery competitions bowhunting whitetail deer, or coaxing in thunder chickens.Adam was born in Cumberland County, grew up in the masonry and stone fabrication industry, and graduated from Cumberland County High School. He has a bachelor's degree in agriculture from Tennessee Tech University and a master's degree in biosystems engineering technology from the University of Tennessee.Adam's Email: adam.daugherty@usda.govGot 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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
David Kleinschmidt is the owner of Progressive Agronomy Consulting Services. His experience, keen observations, and thorough scrutiny of data makes for a great discussion as he and Monte explore real-time soil health systems and the tools he uses to evaluate those systems. There are no silver bullets when it comes to the tools and resources farmers implement. But there is a path forward built on informed decisions, adaptability, and a deep understanding of your unique farming system.As David shares, soil health is a journey, not a destination. With his work focusing on better soil testing, nutrient cycling, and the power of timing and diversity, he continues to bridge the gap between conventional and regenerative practices, empowering farmers to make informed decisions that benefit both their present needs and future sustainability. And if you’d like to make informed decisions on adopting effective soil health practices, let us help! You can contact us at asn.farm and find us on Facebook, Instagram, X, YouTube and Rumble. David Kleinschmidt grew up on a diverse family farm in west-central Illinois, cultivating corn, soybeans, wheat, hogs, and even Christmas trees. Originally pursuing veterinary studies, he shifted to agricultural economics after realizing the importance of managing farms for profitability. From 2004 to 2012, David worked in ag retail, selling seed, chemicals, fertilizers, and installing planter systems. His career took a pivotal turn in 2012 when he began promoting cover crops to farmers, sparking his interest in soil health and the overlooked biological dynamics of farming. This shift led him to a path of observational farming and in-depth research into soil biology.In 2018, David left the corporate ag retail world to start consulting, embracing a purist approach to promoting cover crops, no-till, and holistic soil management. Today, he focuses on empowering farmers with advanced soil testing, optimized nutrient application timing, and fostering microbial diversity, bridging conventional and regenerative practices to enhance both immediate yields and long-term soil health.https://www.facebook.com/progressiveagronomyconsultingGot 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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Dr. Dwayne Beck has driven research on cover crops, no-till, and the dynamics of herbicide resistance in weeds, all while emphasizing the benefits of diverse cropping systems. His efforts have empowered producers to achieve greater profitability while enhancing soil health, conserving water, reducing carbon emissions, and promoting wildlife habitat. Dr. Beck’s work continues to shape the future of agriculture, and listeners can experience his knowledge and insights firsthand in this episode. Episode 148 features Dr. Dwayne Beck’s powerful 2020 presentation from the AgEmerge stage, where he shared insights from his years of pioneering work in functioning soil health systems at the Dakota Lakes Research Farm. With a background in chemistry and a reputation as a critical thinker, Dr. Beck has profoundly impacted sustainable agriculture practices, especially in profitable no-till farming adapted for producers in the Northern Great Plains.Additionally, for those interested in hearing from Dr. Beck in person, he will be a featured speaker at the 2025 National No-Till Conference this January in Louisville, KY. Details are linked in the show notes.Dakota Lakes Research Farmhttp://www.dakotalakes.com/2025 National No-Till Conference link where Dr. Beck will be speaking. http://www.NoTillConference.comGot 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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Bernie Hansen is the Managing Member of BetterFedFoods. From transforming the precooked meats industry and launching prepared entrée products for food service to dedicating years of research to the benefits of essential fatty acids in animal diets, Bernie’s work is far-reaching and includes connecting consumers to the farmers that produce their food. Want to know more about transforming the food industry?https://youtu.be/s9v36OouaIoFood as medicine? Yes. Watch here: https://youtu.be/sWe7VEhUfNMSoil and Human Health are Connected? Watch here:https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLF-Hc8USB_JtS5EQqVuGgK-OueZZEz3vu&si=9iNglYjwNd2XUI4N Show notes and Links Subscribe to AgEmerge here: https://www.youtube.com/c/AgSolutionsNetworkAg Solutions Network Socials:https://www.agsolutionsnetwork.com/agemergepodcasthttps://www.facebook.com/ASN.farmhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/agsolutionsnetworkhttps://twitter.com/POWER2GROhttps://www.instagram.com/agsolutionsnetwork/Ag Solutions Network website: https://www.agsolutionsnetwork.com/Bernie launched BetterFedFoods LLC, a limited liability technology company based in Kansas and chartered in Delaware. It is the creator, developer, and administrative entity providing sponsorship and oversight among a coalition of established stakeholders that each contribute to a program of Better Fed Land, Better Fed Animals, and Better Fed People. With its stakeholders, BetterFedFoods will transform the U.S. agricultural system from one based on subsidies to one based on producer premiums, using Climate-Smart practices.Since 2006, Bernard L. Hansen has devoted his time to researching the beneficial role of essential fatty acids in animal diets. Lowering the Omega 6:3 ratio is essential in reducing inflammation to improve animal performance and production, including beef cattle, dairy, swine, and poultry. Over 10,000 data points and numerous commercial feed trials document that essential fatty acids increase fertility, decrease anti-biotic use, and provide a multitude of associated health benefits.Microalgae play a major role in the delivery of essential fatty acids when included in daily feed rations by feeding the micro-biome to improve gut health. BetterFedFoods partner NBO3 Technologies manufactures a microalgae-based feed nutrient, Great O Plus, which has sold to many feed suppliers across the United States.Other strains of microalgae play a similar role in feeding the microbiome in soil, improving soil organic matter (SOM), and increasing plant biomass and root structure. BetterFedFoods provides the A+ soil amendment for crops and pastureland using microalgae as a bio-stimulant to improve yield and protein.The BetterFedFoods coalition includes AgWise, a technology platform providing complete traceability of food products to educate producers and consumers about the benefits of verifying the BetterFedFoods program.BetterFedFoods was proud to receive the Texas Independent Cattlemen’s Association 2024 Agri Business Award. Linking the producers to the consumer is our mission.https://betterfedfoods.com/ https://www.facebook.com/betterfedfoodsGot 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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Welcome and thanks for listening, today we welcome Ladd and Zoey Wahlen, fourth-generation Idaho potato farmers with a passion for regenerative agriculture and sustainable practices. Ladd, along with his wife Zoey, returned to their roots in 2015 to start their own farm, growing potatoes, wheat, and alfalfa. They took their love for farming a step further by founding Roots Potato Chips, a company dedicated to creating healthier snacks while positively impacting consumers, the community, and the soil. Ladd and Zoey share their unique perspective on regenerative agriculture, recognizing the importance of context in farming. We'll explore how their approach to farming and their focus on diversity and soil health has transformed their operation. Let’s get started!Ladd Wahlen is a 4th generation Idaho potato farmer. He studied general business and agronomy in college where he met his wife Zoey. Zoey and Ladd came back to the family farm and started their own family farm operation back in 2015. They mainly grow potatoes, wheat, and alfalfa. They both have a passion for agriculture and to continually add value to the farm. Roots Potato Chips is owned by Ladd and Zoey and processes some of the farm's potatoes. The mission of the potato chip company is to provide a better-for-you snack that has a positive impact on the consumer, the community, and on the soil.https://rootschips.comhttps://rootschips.com/pages/the-farmDon’t forget to like and share us on your favorite social media platforms!Do you know someone you think would be great on the AgEmerge stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Welcome to today’s episode! If your passion lies at the crossroads of food, human health, and soil health, you’re in for a great listen. Our guests are Jimmy Emmons, Senior Vice President of Climate-Smart Programs at Trust in Food, and Erin Martin, President of the Tulsa Urban Ag Coalition, Director of FreshRx Oklahoma, and co-lead of Oklahoma's Food is Medicine Policy Coalition. They’re not just talking about change—they’re leading it. From regenerating soils to cultivating nutritious food and promoting human health, these two are at the forefront of a movement that’s turning vision into reality. So, get ready to be inspired as we dive into a conversation that’s reshaping our food and soil systems. Erin Martin's journey serving others commenced at the age of fifteen when she began assisting older adults. Now, holding a master's degree in Gerontology from the University of Southern California, renowned as the premier institution in this field globally, Erin boasts extensive experience across all facets of long-term care. In 2021, she initiated FreshRx Oklahoma, a pioneering produce prescription program, in collaboration with primary care clinics, sourcing from local, regenerative farmers. Nationally and internationally, Erin provides consultancy on leveraging food as medicine, aiding communities in the establishment and expansion of their own programs, emphasizing the vital connection between soil and human health. Certified in Regenerative Soil Advocacy, she ardently advocates for soil health's impact on human well-being. Jimmy Emmons leads Trust In Food’s Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities Connected Ag Project, America’s Conservation Ag Movement and Trust In Beef, coalition-driven conservation programs developed to accelerate the adoption of conservation agriculture at scale.Jimmy and his wife, Ginger, own and operate Emmons Farm in Leedey, Okla., where they farm 2,000 acres and have 5,000 acres of rangeland where they run 300 head of cows and calves in an integrated row-crop and livestock operation that optimizes water resources, reduces erosion and improves organic material in the soils. He is a public speaker, educator, mentor and advocate for conservation management practices to improve producers’ resiliency to weather, operational efficiency and profitability.Emmons most recently served as coordinator for mentoring for the Oklahoma Conservation Commission. Prior to that, he was regional coordinator for USDA’s Farm Production and Conservation, where he supported operational and business functions across the Farm Service Agency (FSA), Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and Risk Management Agency (RMA). He has also served as president of the Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts and led fundraising for the National Young Farmers Education Association.Follow Jimmy and Erin’s work here:https://www.trustinfood.com/tif-staff/jimmy-emmons/www.freshrxok.orghttps://www.tiktok.com/@foodasmedicine?lang=enhttps://erinwmartin.com/https://americasconservationagmovement.com/Previous AgEmerge Podcast Recordings:Jimmy Emmonshttps://soundcloud.com/agemerge/122-agemerge-podcast-with-jimmy-emmons-sr-vp-for-trust-in-foods-climate-smart-commodities-connected-ag-projecthttps://youtu.be/1w3ausiWfF0Erin Martinhttps://soundcloud.com/agemerge/086-agemerge-podcast-erin-martin-conscious-aging-solutions-founderhttps://youtu.be/fAIr5GyUSgUAgEmerge Soil Health Human Health Connectionhttps://soundcloud.com/agemerge/124-agemerge-podcast-soil-health-human-health-connectionhttps://youtu.be/jthNraGP1SYLinkedinErin: https://www.linkedin.com/services/page/768451314855699587/Jimmy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimmy-emmons-921b7673/Stay connected: Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for joining us, today we welcome Peter Donovan founder of the Soil Carbon Coalition. We're diving into his inspiring journey and experience in Holistic Management, decision-making, rangeland monitoring, and community development. Peter is a passionate advocate for collaborative learning where farmers and ranchers are sharing knowledge and experiences. His rich background in forestry, farming, and ranching has facilitated his understanding of natural systems and how to skillfully manage those natural resources. Join us as we explore Peter's remarkable work and his unwavering passion for the land while engaging the people and animals that call it home.Peters has a background in forestry, farm, and ranch work, sheep and cattle herding, Holistic Management and decision-making, rangeland monitoring, and community development.His first effort in sharing what he was learning about ecosystem process and function was reporting on holistic managers in the 1990s (see managingwholes.com). In 2007 he founded the Soil Carbon Coalition. This second effort was traveling around the continent for a decade measuring soil carbon change, with open data. Peter was spread too thin, not a good context for sharing or fostering a shared intelligence on the circle of life. Without a coherent group, the context of this work was vague and unfocused. Much of the conversation and buzz about soil carbon quickly turned to the commodification of soil carbon as "offsets" which to him was the wrong question—for both our intentions and our ability to implement them. (Vandana Shiva observes that the financialization of nature equals the rape of the earth.) soilhealth.app is the third try: can this help locally driven efforts to ask better questions, and engage more people in asking and answering?Other Links for Peter: https://soilcarboncoalition.org/pages/about/https://soilcarboncoalition.org/author/Peter_Donovan/https://managingwholes.com/soilhealth.app/aboutGot 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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for listening, we're excited to welcome Dr. Sivam Krish, CEO of GoMicro to the podcast today to discuss Go Micro’s technology that uses phone-based AI assessment enabling on-farm grain quality checks and assessments throughout the supply chain. So let’s jump right in as Monte and Dr. Krish explore these great advancements in AI technology. Dr. Sivam Krish is a pioneering figure in the realm of generative AI, having laid the foundational work for autonomous design creation during his tenure at the National University of Singapore. As the CEO of GoMicro, Dr. Krish is at the forefront of revolutionizing agricultural produce assessment. His innovative approach combines patent-pending imaging technology with advanced generative AI, enabling accurate quality and shelf life analysis via smartphone. This breakthrough aims to minimize quality-related disputes in the agriculture sector.Under Dr. Krish’s leadership, GoMicro's technology is already making a significant impact in countries like India and Indonesia. It is also being trialed by a major US supermarket chain to assess freshness and reduce food waste, showcasing its global potential. Dr. Krish’s vision is to transform agricultural produce into digitally tradable goods, ensuring transparency and efficiency in the market.Dr. Krish's contributions are not only enhancing the precision of quality assessments but are also paving the way for a more sustainable and fair agricultural industry. His work exemplifies the transformative power of AI in solving real-world challenges.GoMicro is a deep tech company developing AI Assessment solutions for the Agri value chain. Our patent-pending technology delivers unparalleled precision in evaluating the quality of agriproducts.Our phone-based AI assessment technology allows you to assess grain quality on farms and throughout the supply chain – leaving no room for quality-related disputes.Go Micro Links:https://www.gomicro.co/https://www.gomicro.co/in-the-press/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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for joining us today, we’ve got a great conversation for you with agronomist, author, and regenerative consultant, Dale Strickler. With over 30 years of experience in agronomy, pasture management, and soil and crop advising Dale has developed highly effective systems for numerous ranches, even in challenging climates and soil types. And what you’ll want to listen for is Monte and Dale’s conversation about the water cycle, what we’ve done to it, and the major impact it's had on our entire soil system. So join us as we tap into Dale's vast expertise and insights.Author and consultant Dale Strickler has more than 30 years of experience in agronomy, pasture management, and soil and crop advising. He has developed highly effective grazing systems for numerous ranches with a range of often challenging climates and soil types. Dale also designs crop rotations and advises on cover crop planning to improve soil, maximize crop yields, and reduce the need for expensive crops inputs. He currently serves as lead agronomist for the nation’s premier cover crop–specific seed company and is a featured speaker at many conferences and grazing schools around the country and globally.Strickler is the author of the books, The Drought Resilient Farm, Managing Pasture, and The Complete Guide to Restoring Your Soil, which was named a top ten farming book for 2021 by Modern Farmer. Dale’s articles have appeared in publications like Mother Earth News, Acres USA, Stockman Grass Farmer, and Grit. John Kempf has featured Dale on the Regenerative Agriculture Podcast, and you can read about his work at No-Till on the Plains, Mongabay, and the Atlanta Business Journal and in many Kansas news articles. As President of the Kansas Graziers Association, Dale advocates for greater rancher profits, autonomy, and best pasture practices. Dale is also on the regional advisory committee of the Kansas Water Office and is working on reducing soil erosion and water pollution in area water basin rivers and streams.Dale Strickler grew up on a farm and ranch near the small town of Colony, Kansas. He attended a small high school with 29 members in his graduating class and then received BS and MS degrees from Kansas State University in Science Education and Agronomy. Dale taught agronomy in higher education for 15 years, then entered into private industry. He has worked as an agronomist for Land O’ Lakes, Star Seed, and Valent USA before landing his role with Green Cover Seed, the nation’s premier cover crop–specific seed company.From 1997 to 2019 he operated his own ranch and, over the years, tested and refined his techniques for optimal land management. The unique management methods used on his farm earned awards, such as the 2013 Water and Energy Progress Award Model of Innovation from the State of Kansas, the Kansas Farm Bureau Natural Resources Award in 2015, and the 2014 Kansas Bankers Association Conservation Program Water Conservation Award. Awards began early when the Strickler family won the American Royal Farm Family of the Year in 1986, and in 2020, after 30 years away, Dale moved back to the area where he was raised. He now resides in Iola, KS, a short drive from his ancestral family farm, now operated by his brother, and where he still maintains a small herd of cattle.https://www.regenerativewisdom.com/Also, check out their upcoming ranching school:https://www.regenerativewisdom.com/ranching-schoolGot 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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for joining us! Today we welcome Daniel Pepitone, one of the co-founders of Harpe Bio Herbicide Solutions, where they have developed a series of natural-based herbicides utilizing plant extracts. It’s fascinating how this mode of action works and as you might imagine, Monte has a great time digging into the specifics, so let’s get started. With more than 15 years of experience in the agricultural product development business arena, Daniel served in a range of senior commercial effectiveness, marketing, and industry relations roles for BASF. His expertise includes the development and implementation of internal and external global launch and branding strategies for new active ingredient molecules as well as establishing differentiated customer experience while advocating in behalf of farmers. His executive management experience includes serving as Vice President and Partner in a privately-owned marketing company whereas part of the senior management team he helped shape company philosophy and led new business acquisition.Born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, Daniel spent time supporting operations on his family’s farm as a livestock producer in Modiin, Israel before returning to the United States to complete a Bachelor of the Arts degree (hon) in Marketing and Communications from Rutgers University – The State University of New Jersey.https://harpebio.com/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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for joining us! Today we welcome Jon Bakehouse from Maple Edge Farm in Hastings, Iowa where Jon farms with his family. We enjoy talking with farmers who are actively engaged in improving soil health on their own operations. Jon has done a great deal of work and on-farm research along with Practical Farmers of Iowa to do just that. Some of that research includes reducing nitrogen rates for corn in soil health systems, cover crops and water infiltration, suppressing waterhemp with cover crops, and roller crimping cereal rye in soybean production. He and Monte dig into these topics and so much more so let’s jump right in.Jon Bakehouse farms with his wife Tina, son Anderson and parents near Hastings, Iowa. The Bakehouses raise corn and soybeans and have a cow-calf herd. As the fifth generation farming his family’s land, Jon has conducted PFI on-farm research for over seven years and unofficial field trials his entire farming career.Jon has been an incredibly active PFI member and would be a great person to speak about PFI programs, specifically our on-farm research opportunities. Here are some PFI videos featuring Jon:Reducing N Rates to Corn in Soil Health Systemshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ocip4kwlGnQCover Crops and Water Infiltrationhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9y9hcBDcQnQ&t=22sSuppressing Waterhemp with Cover Cropshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LarRjStaXGI&t=5sRoller Crimping Cereal Rye in Soybean Productionhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sp3hVyTmLMg&t=7sGot 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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for joining us! Today we welcome Russ Green, the founder and Managing Director of a network of future agricultural leaders called MACKAYBEN. Russ has made it his mission to help identify and mentor these leaders. In this podcast, he and Monte cover a wide range of topics, including agricultural equipment, artificial intelligence, and discovering the next generation of agricultural leaders, from roles within major corporations to innovations being implemented on the farm.Watch episode here: https://youtu.be/CwiU2-WL6kgRuss has had a 45+ year career supporting the agri-food value chain. Having worked for and lead organizations like AGCO, Claas of America, and Case New Holland, Russ has deep industry knowledge and connections that can only come from a life-long devotion to the industry. Russ completed his undergrad at University of Northern Iowa and his MBA at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Lubar School of Business.Russ credits his success in the agricultural business to being raised with a Midwest work ethic surrounded by people who genuinely cared for each other’s interests and community well-being. Named by Farm Industry News as one of the 10 Fascinating People in Agriculture in 2015, Russ has formed a successful 45-year career contributing to the growth and business expansion of several international industry players in North America.Russ is a ‘truth-teller and a sense-maker.” He is as comfortable with his problem-solving and communication skills with the producer in the small cattle feed yard as he is with his executive teammates in the corporate boardroom. One of his industry colleagues stated, that Russ’ ability to make strategic progress with the quote, “Russ has great people skills and is comfortable interacting with anyone from the small-scale farmer to the president of a multinational corporation or a State Governor or U.S. Senator.”Russ is the founder and Managing Director of a network of future agricultural leaders in a group named MACKAYBEN. Experienced agriculture mentors need to help our young ag and food leaders, as they have the daunting task of feeding the world and our future generations.Russ was recently featured in a video by Green Mountain Lion Corp. about industry leader success stories. https://youtu.be/UwkFISmui9sFocus Areas:Executive strategic developmentRapid improvementDealer performance group leadershipWorkforce developmentStructuring teamsCoaching leaders to their greatest potentialRuss, named one of the 10 Fascinating People in Agriculture by Farm Industry News in 2015, attributes his success in agriculture to a Midwest work ethic and a community-driven upbringing. With a knack for problem-solving and communication, he’s equally at ease in a small cattle feed yard as in a corporate boardroom. Transitioning from a global corporate role to teaching and consulting, Russ brings his extensive industry experience and coaching background to inspire future leaders and align actions with strategy through MACKAYBEN.SATISFYD Presentation: https://blog.satisfyd.com/blueprint-for-attracting-and-retaining-millennial-talent?hs_preview=VlEwCfpx-160998029434https://mackayben.com/about/https://www.machineryadvisors.org/russ-greenGot 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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
We are excited to bring you this special podcast. It’s the live recording from the very first AgEmerge Event that was held in Monterey California in 2019. It all began when Monte read a paper Dr. White had written about the rhizophagy cycle and he knew he needed to get this powerful research and information in the hands of farmers and ranchers. Dr. White had everyone on the edge of their seats as he shared this groundbreaking research. We’ve included Dr. White’s main stage presentation along with his breakout session but first we bring you a special clip of Monte and Gabe Brown discussing that day because Gabe was both a presenter and listener when Dr. White was on the stage. Enjoy!Dr. James F. White is Professor of Plant Biology at Rutgers University where he and students conduct research on beneficial microbes that inhabit plant tissues. Dr. White obtained the M.S. in Mycology and Plant Pathology from Auburn University, Alabama, and the Ph.D. in Botany/Mycology from the University of Texas, Austin.Dr. White specializes in the study of endophytic microbes and how they affect plants. Dr. White is the author of more than 200 articles, and author and editor of reference books on the biology of endophytes, including Biotechnology of Acremonium Endophytes of Grasses (1994), Microbial Endophytes (2000), The Clavicipitalean Fungi (2004), The Fungal Community: Its Organization and Role in the Ecosystem (2005, 2017), Defensive Mutualism in Microbial Symbiosis (2009), and Seed Endophytes: Biology and Biotechnology (2019). Dr. White is a fellow of the AAAS, and Associate Editor for journals Fungal Ecology, Symbiosis, Mycoscience, and Scientific Reports. 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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
AgEmerge Podcast Episode 136 is dedicated to David Brandt, of Brandt Farms and Walnut Creek Seed. If you know your soil health, no-till history, and follow the leaders in these areas then you know how fortunate we were to get to visit with David before his passing.Watch the episode here: https://youtu.be/Hmsi9yDDtbMWe lost David in a tragic vehicle accident on May 21st, 2023. Earlier that year he’d made a 2023 visit to Sinsinawa Mound in Wisconsin, where the Sinsinawa River begins its 21-mile journey to the Mighty Mississippi. He recognized the Mound as a place where this message of holistic land stewardship could flourish. He planted the seed. This vision has taken root at Sinsinawa Mound in Southwest Wisconsin. Aptly named Fields of Sinsinawa: A Farmer-Led Learning Center, brings the message of healthy soil for a healthy planet to the Midwest and beyond.David is often referred to as the “godfather” of conservation agriculture and soil health. His message has had worldwide impact. He mentored many farmers who admired his practical approach and the ways he generously shared what he learned from the soil during his 50-year farming career.You’ll find more information on how to connect with the Fields of Sinsinawa: A Farmer-Led Learning Center here: https://mcusercontent.com/d34a1e6b8b607f4dc0d40fa39/files/eb5a6547-135e-e5f2-cea2-5ac0f4d75e45/Fos_Funding_Packet_d9.pdfDonate to the Fields of Sinsinawa: A Farmer-Led Learning Center here:https://mcusercontent.com/d34a1e6b8b607f4dc0d40fa39/files/d4beeef8-68e3-3555-c5db-5a7b19a20fd3/FoS_Donation_Sheet.pdfMore about David's Farming Legacy: David had been no-tilling since 1971, back when they called it trash farming and a whole list of other things. But David would not be deterred, he continued to test systems, implemented cover crops and utilized livestock to improve soil health. Listen in to this great conversation as he and Monte talked about the history, the present, and the exciting future on their farm. David Brandt farmed 950-acres all no-till, in Fairfield County, which is located in central Ohio. He began no-till farming in 1971 and had been using cover crops since 1978. David participated in yield plots for corn, soybeans, and wheat into various covers. This information has been used by seed growers as well as county agents and universities to encourage other farmers to adapt no-till practices in their farming operations. He had also been planting various blends of cover crops to find out what benefits they provide to improve soil health. David was co-owner of Walnut Creek Seeds, LLC with his son and daughter-in-law Jay and Ann Brandt. David had articles published in Farm Journal, Ohio Farmer, Country Journal, and numerous no-till journals. He worked in cooperation with The Ohio State University, the University of Illinois, Penn State University, Purdue University, and Milan Research Farm in Tennessee. David was most recently working with OSU Randall Reeder and Dr. Islam on reducing input costs of fertilizers and herbicides using various cover crops which improve soil health. The results of this study have been published in the International Soil and Water Conservation Research journal. (March 2014, Vol. 2, No. 1) He was also working with the regional NRCS soils lab in Greensboro, North Carolina on the benefits of cover crops to improve soil health. www.walnutcreekseeds.com 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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you
Thanks for joining us! Today we welcome Brad Rosen the COO and Co-Founder of NODAR, a leading provider of next generation of stereo vision technology. Technology developments in agriculture continue to create effective ways for automation and sensing providing farmers with useful information and working to improve operation efficiency. Today Brad and Monte discuss the power of the type of sensing technology NODAR has developed. It’s a great conversation so let’s jump right in. Brad Rosen is the COO and Co-Founder of NODAR, a leading provider of next generation of stereo vision technology. Brad is a seasoned business executive and entrepreneur. With seven tech startups under his belt, Brad has a proven track record of taking ideas from inception to product market fit, to exit.Prior to NODAR, Brad started, ran, and sold Drync, a venture-backed B2B platform for retailers of beverage alcohol. Before Drync, Brad served as VP Product at Where, a mobile-first LBS company that was sold to eBay. Earlier in his career, Brad held roles at Cognio, a full-stack spectrum analysis system that was sold to Cisco, Ucentric Systems (sold to Motorola), and PureSpeech (sold to Philips).Brad has an Electrical Engineering degree from the University of Colorado and an MBA from MIT's Sloan School of Management. Brad lives in Lincoln, MA with his wife and 3 kids.Company Info: NODAR’s Founder, Leaf Jiang, spent 8 years getting his BS, MS, and PhD at MIT studying and implementing optoelectronic systems. He then spent 12 years at MIT Lincoln Laboratory building laser ranging systems for the military - putting them on Humvees and robots for various 3D sensing applications. In short, he’s been thinking about this 3D perception problem for a very long time!From his extensive work with time-of-flight ranging systems (such as LiDAR), Leaf knew that they would not be a good fit anytime soon for many of the autonomous uses being discussed today, such as autonomy for the billion passenger vehicles out there. Laser-based systems are too expensive, too prone to failure, and have insufficient resolution to accurately detect objects. So Leaf set out to build something better and the answer was NODAR!Website: https://www.nodarsensor.com/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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for joining us! Today we welcome Jeanne Carver, Founder and President of Shaniko Wool Her story is one of successful adaptation to changing market needs. Jeanne and her late husband Dan have been using sustainable / regenerative practices for decades. Jeanne shares with us that Dan was an engineer and a systems thinker which is key to how they understood the land, soil and their operation. From her family’s Imperial Stock Ranch, she and Dan transitioned from selling commodity lamb and wool to selling retail products that are ecologically sensitive. With the founding of Shaniko Wool Company, she has overseen the expansion of the Responsible Wool Standard (RWS) certified American wool into a variety of products and markets by working first with the ranchers, and with designers, brands and exclusively U.S. supply chain partners. There is so much packed into this wonderful discussion so let’s jump right in.Jeanne is at the forefront of an economic and rural revival, helping rebuild the importance of traditional skills, connections to the origins of food and fiber, and strengthening local, regional and domestic supply chain partners. Her story is one of successful adaptation to changing market needs. From her family’s Imperial Stock Ranch (est. 1871), she and her late husband Dan transitioned from selling commodity lamb and wool to selling retail products that are ecologically sensitive. With the founding of Shaniko Wool Company, she has overseen the expansion of RWS certified American wool into a variety of products and markets by working first with the ranchers, and with designers, brands and exclusively U.S. supply chain partners. In an era of outsourcing and disconnect, she has led tirelessly with traceability and accountability, building relationships across the domestic textile industry. Jeanne Carver, 2023 Hall of Fame AwardJeanne serves on several boards related to agriculture, and in 2014, Jeanne became the source and voice of American wool for Ralph Lauren’s first Made in America Winter Olympic uniform program, and again in 2018 and 2022.Jeanne believes the most important story she has shared is how well-managed herds of grazing animals on their ranch have revitalized grasses and contributed to healing streams and the restoration of traditional salmon runs in Buckhollow Creek, a major tributary to the designated wild and scenic Deschutes River. With the Carbon Initiative, she is investing in the research and measured and verified results of an even greater story: the positive ecosystem impacts of Shaniko Wool Company ranches across a broader piece of the American landscape.Points of Interest:- Jeanne and her husband Dan have been using sustainable / regenerative practices for decades. - Her late husband was and engineer and was a systems thinker which is key to how they understood the land, soil and their operation. - They operated Imperial Stock Ranch which was established in 1871. - Her husband charged Jeanne with finding a market for selling their harvest.- They evolved through the Value added journey, Jeanne understood that they needed to measure and monetize ecosystems deliverables- They’ve done amazing things for the water and the whole basin, restoring salmon as one example- She and her company are mentioned in King Charles book about food and farming https://www.shanikowoolcompany.comGot 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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for joining us! Today we welcome Chris Jones a Retired Research Engineer from the University of Iowa and author of The Swine Republic, Struggles with Truth About Agriculture and Water Quality. Today he and Monte discuss the agricultural efficiencies and practices that we can make happen in more environmentally responsible ways. That includes a system approach to our entire management practices. Chris talks about how we can work to deploy these practices in enough areas that they can make a difference at the landscape scale. It’s a powerful conversation so let’s jump right in. Chris Jones retired in May of 2023 as a Research Engineer from IIHR-Hydroscience & Engineering at the University of Iowa, where his work focused on water quality and water monitoring in agricultural landscapes. Previous to that he worked at the Des Moines Water Works and the Iowa Soybean Association. Chris has a BA in Biology and Chemistry from Simpson College and a PhD in Analytical Chemistry from Montana State University. He has authored 55 scientific journal articles, several book chapters and is author of the book The Swine Republic, Struggles with Truth About Agriculture and Water Quality. He also writes a weekly column posted on Substack at Riverraccoon.substack.com. He lives in Iowa City, Iowa. Tell us your background and how you reached today’s line of work. I was born in Illinois and spent most of the rest of my life in Iowa and have observed firsthand how the state and its agricultural production systems have changed since the 1960s. While some things about agriculture's impact on the environment have improved, the environmental consequences of cornbelt agriculture are still severe and affect the quality of life of the region's residents. Consolidation in agriculture since that time has also had dire consequences for the prosperity and vitality of small-town Iowa. My work has focused on these consequences and how the condition of our environment can be improved within the backdrop of intense crop and livestock production. 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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for joining us! Today we welcome Pamela Tanner Boll an artist, filmmaker, writer as well as the Director and Executive Producer of several films including To Which We Belong. She is also the Founder and CEO of Mystic Artists Film Productions. We’re excited to explore her vision as she worked to, in her words, “shine a light on the amazing possibilities for restoring our lands. And how we could fix our water problems and our climate issues.” She loves farmers and all of that was what brought her to this film. We think you’ll be inspired as you listen to the stories and vision not only from the film but from the possibilities and hopes we have to address the challenges in agriculture we are facing today. Pamela is the Co-Executive Producer of the Academy Award-winning documentary, Born into Brothels. Pamela has executive produced the following film projects: Living in Emergency: True Stories of Doctors Without Borders; In a Dream; Connected: A Declaration of Interdependence; Our Summer in Tehran; Strange Powers: Stephin Merritt and the Magnetic Fields; Close to the Fire; She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry; E-Team; Teen Press; Obit; Navajo Nation; and Storm Lake.Pamela directed and produced Who Does She Think She Is?, a feature-length documentary film that follows five women who are mothers and artists. Pamela also directed A Small Good Thing, a film that asks the question, how can we live in a better way? She is currently working on a new film project, To Which We Belong, highlighting farmers and ranchers who are improving the health of their land with regenerative practices and helping to reverse climate change.Pamela grew up in Parkersburg, WV. She received a BA in English from Middlebury College and a Masters in Interdisciplinary Studies from Lesley University. Pamela raised three sons in Winchester, Massachusetts, and now lives in Boulder, Colorado.https://www.towhichwebelong.com/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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for joining us! Today we welcome Kevin Helash to the podcast. Kevin is the CEO of Biotalys an AgTech company developing protein-based biocontrol solutions for crop and food protection. Listen in as he and Monte discuss these exciting advancements in science and the technology.Kevin has a 30-year career committed to supporting the agriculture industry and its most innovative advancements. Kevin is passionate about the future of sustainable agriculture. I think Kevin said it best when he said the most valuable asset a farmer has is their soil. From growing up on a farm in Manitoba, Canada, to a 30-year career committed to supporting the agriculture industry and its most innovative advancements, Kevin is passionate about the future of sustainable agriculture. In his new role, his focus will be on accelerating the development and global commercialization of the company’s breakthrough protein-based biocontrol solutions for crop and food protection. Kevin Helash said: “I am excited to begin my journey with Biotalys and was delighted to meet the team in Ghent, Belgium, this week. With Biotalys’ groundbreaking technology platform and a diverse group of skilled professionals, I am confident we will be able to materially contribute to a more sustainable agriculture.”“At the same time, I want to warmly thank my predecessor Patrice Sellès for where he has brought the company during his leadership over the last four years, as we are moving closer to entering the market with our first protein-based biofungicide, Evoca. I am grateful that Patrice will support me during the initial phase, before taking the well-deserved opportunity to spend more time with his family, as was his wish.”Kevin Helash’ experience will be instrumental in leading the acceleration of Biotalys’ development. He is a results-driven corporate executive who brings more than 30 years of international experience in agriculture and biological products to Biotalys. His experience spans commercializing numerous breakthrough technologies in the agricultural industry on a global scale, including in positions as CEO of EnviroKure, Marrone Bio Innovations - previously listed on Nasdaq - and Agrinos. He built his career at Agrium (now Nutrien) where he became vice president and corporate officer. Kevin Helash grew up on a farm in Canada and his family was active in farming until a couple of years ago.https://biotalys.com/https://biotalys.com/media/news/kevin-helash-commences-role-chief-executive-officer-biotalysGot 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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for joining us, today we welcome Dr. Steven Chen, Chief Medical Officer of Alameda County Recipe4Health, an award-winning “food as medicine” model that intentionally brings together health care, food systems, and agriculture to improve food/nutrition insecurity, chronic conditions, and health/racial equity, while leading the scale and spread of Recipe4Health (R4H).Dr. Steven Chen is Chief Medical Officer of Alameda County Recipe4Health, an award-winning “food as medicine” model that intentionally brings together health care, food systems, and agriculture to improve food/nutrition insecurity, chronic conditions, and health/racial equity. While leading the scale and spread of Recipe4Health (R4H), Dr. Chen and his team successfully implemented one of California’s first Medically Supportive Food and Nutrition services as a covered Medi-Cal (Medicaid) service in California. His experiences as a son of immigrants and a 2nd generation Taiwanese American have informed his commitments to better serve vulnerable populations. He developed integrative medicine services to offer acupuncture and osteopathic manipulative medicine services in Federally Qualified Health Centers. As a former Medical Director at Alameda Health System trained in LEAN process improvement, he led the design of a state-of-the-art clinic replete with a teaching kitchen, group rooms to support group medical visits, and pod-based care teams. Dr. Chen serves on the Board of Integrative Medicine for the Underserved (IM4US), is active on California’s Medically Supportive Food and Nutrition Steering Committee, helped craft two bills for the California legislature, and given testimony to the U.S. Congressional House Rules Committee Roundtable on Food as Medicine. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Stanford University and Stanford School of Medicine, Dr. Chen is a board-certified family medicine physician who completed his residency training at UCSF-San Francisco General Hospital. He completed additional fellowship training at the University of Arizona’s Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine, leadership training through the California Health Care Foundation’s Leadership Program, acupuncture training through the UCLA-HMI Physicians’ Medical Acupuncture program, and advanced training in osteopathic manipulative medicine. Recipe4Health Websitehttps://recipe4health.acgov.org/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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for joining us! Today we welcome Dr. Jonathan Lundgren, Founder and Director of the Ecdysis Foundation and Director and CEO of Blue Dasher Farm. Jonathan was one of our speakers at the very first AgEmerge event and his presentation was so powerful. Watching the work that he and his whole team are doing at Ecdysis and Blue Dasher Farm inspires us to continue to learn and understand the biodiversity necessary to nurture our land. In this episode of the podcast Jonathan says, “you know those entomology problems, those insect pest problems? The reason we don't solve them is because they're not entomology problems, they're soil problems. And until we heal the soil, we’re just going to continue to have problem after problem after problem.” Take a listen as he and Monte talk about their research, discoveries and passion to solve those problems. Dr. Lundgren is an agroecologist, Founder of the ECDYSIS Foundation, and CEO for Blue Dasher Farm. Lundgren’s research program focuses on assessing the ecological risk of pest management strategies and developing long-term solutions for sustainable food systems. His ecological research focuses heavily on conserving healthy biological communities within agroecosystems by reducing disturbance and increasing biodiversity within cropland.He received his PhD in Entomology from the University of Illinois in 2004 and was a top scientist with USDA-ARS for 11 years. Lundgren’s research and education programs focus on assessing the ecological risk of pest management strategies and developing long-term solutions for regenerative food systems.Ecdysis Foundation & Blue Dasher Farm as a research foundation as well as training ground for future scientists and farmers. He is an Agroecologist, Farmer, Rancher, and Beekeeper.ECDYSIShttps://www.ecdysis.bio/Blue Dasher Farmhttps://www.bluedasher.farm/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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for joining us! Today we welcome Dr. Don Reicosk. Dr. Reicosky is a retired Soil Scientist for the USDA-ARS, North Central Soil Conservation Research Laboratory, Morris, MN, and Adjunct Professor in the Soil Science Department, University of Minnesota, St. Paul. He has an exciting discussion with Monte about the foundational research he conducted back in the late 1990’s finding that tillage releases carbon into the atmosphere in sudden rushes of CO2 as the soil is opened up. And now, more than ever, Dr Reicosky uses his time to help growers know this critical information, whether it's conservation, agriculture, regenerative agriculture or soil health farming, he says we’ve got to adopt these practices so we don't destroy all of our soil resources. It’s a great conversation so let’s jump right in!Early research involved describing crop response and water use on conventional till and no-till systems with and without irrigation and later focused on tillage and crop biomass management as related to global change issues with emphasis on measuring carbon dioxide and water losses following intensive tillage with a portable chamber. The short-term tillage-induced gaseous losses of carbon were related to the volume of soil disturbed in the tillage operation and help explain the long-term decline in soil carbon associated with intensive tillage agriculture. These results suggest need for improved Conservation Agriculture Systems for enhancement of soil resources and environmental quality that resulted in numerous international invitations. In retirement, he continues to write about Conservation Agriculture Systems, soil carbon management and environmental issues and to travel and talk about carbon cycling and carbon management in agricultural production systems.Research and articles by Dr. Reicosky:https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Don-Reicosky?mc_cid=a3d5482833&mc_eid=UNIQIDhttps://www.jswconline.org/content/70/5/103A?mc_cid=a3d5482833&mc_eid=UNIQIDhttps://www.jswconline.org/content/78/5/105A?mc_cid=a3d5482833&mc_eid=UNIQIDGot 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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Welcome to the podcast, today Dr. Jason Rowntree joins Monte as they have a great discussion about Jason’s research that focuses on identifying the metrics and management that reflect ecological improvement in grazing land and other agricultural systems. And just like many of our guest, he had a moment where his paradigm shifted and it came in the form of a series of hurricanes. And that got him thinking about resilience and what does it mean to look at resilience in agriculture. Jason is also the co-director of the Center for Regenerative Agriculture at Michigan State University. Jason Rowntree is a professor of Animal Science at Michigan State University where he holds the Charles Stewart Mott Distinguished Professorship for Sustainable Agriculture. Rowntree’s research focuses on identifying the metrics and management that reflect ecological improvement in grazing land and other agricultural systems. Rowntree has given presentations throughout the United States, Australian, Canada, Europe, Saudi Arabia, Africa and New Zealand. Rowntree has led or been a co-investigator on $27.75 million in funding to conduct food system research. Jason is also the co-director of the Center for Regenerative Agriculture at Michigan State University. Center for Regenerative Agriculture Link:https://www.canr.msu.edu/regenerative-agriculture/mc_cid=35b4197d89&mc_eid=UNIQIDHis work in beef sustainability was featured in the movie Sacred Cow and he too has been highlighted in The Washington Post, New York Times, Forbes and many other popular media publications. Sacred Cow Link:https://www.sacredcow.info/?mc_cid=35b4197d89&mc_eid=UNIQIDGot 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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for joining us! At the end of 2023, we took the AgEmerge Podcast on the road to the Big Soil Health Event in Cedar Falls, Iowa. It was a great event where hundreds of farmers and ranchers from all over the country gathered to learn, share, and encourage each other to continue to adopt soil health strategies. We asked attendees to join us in our “on the road" studio to share their soil health journey and I want to tell you, get a tissue. These are heartfelt, raw stories of family, legacy, and amazing soil health. Thanks so much to our guests for sharing! Don’t miss a single story, let’s jump right in!Check out our awesome guest list:Sue Kuennen from IowaTom Rudolph from IndianaSeth Watkins from IowaLiz Haney from Texashttps://www.agsoilregen.com/Emily Kamala from Coloradohttps://farmrebel.org/Lance Irving from Wisconsinhttps://sandcountyfoundation.org/about/staffJeremy and Kelly Slack from OhioJerry and Jen Volenec from WisconsinEvan and Rochelle from Wisconsinhttps://craftgrainswi.com/Nick Sennert from IowaRoger Wenning from Indiana Cameron Mills from Indianahttp://millsfamilyfarms.com/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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for joining us, today we welcome Doniga Markegard a wildlife tracker, regenerative rancher, speaker, and author. Doniga and Monte have a wonderful conversation discussing the methods Doniga and her family are using to graze their animals, how they observe and interact with nature, to lead towards a more biodiverse and balanced ecosystem and they are seeing incredible results. Along with her husband and four children, Doniga owns and operates Markegard Family Grass-Fed raising grass-fed beef, lamb, pastured pork and chicken supplying the Bay Area with local, nutrient dense foods. The family ranch leases land through out the Bay Area spanning over 11,000 acres. Doniga Markegard is a wildlife tracker, regenerative rancher, speaker, and author of Dawn Again: Tracking the Wisdom of the Wild and Wolf Girl: Finding Myself in the Wild. Her teen years in nature school started her on a path that led to a career in animal tracking and then permaculture and ranching in at her farm in California, Markegard Family Grass-Fed, where she works to regenerate both soil and community through farming. Using the innovative, carbon-storing methods of regenerative ranching, she’s restoring the land she tends, bringing native grasses and wildlife back. Doniga is a consultant and guest instructor at Nature Awareness Programs around the country, has led retreats in places such as 1440 Multiversity, Canyon Ranch and is a regular speaker at events such as the Bioneers Conference, Food Inspiration Trendsummit, and The Grassfed Exchange. She is a certified educator with Holistic Management International. She has worked with companies such as Patagonia, Tesla and Google, and has been featured in articles from Civil Eats, FastCompany, GreenBiz, The San Francisco Examiner, and NPR. Most recently she has been featured in the film Kiss the Ground available on Netflix. Along with her husband and four children, Doniga owns and operates Markegard Family Grass-Fed LLC raising grass-fed beef, lamb, pastured pork and chicken supplying the Bay Area with local, nutrient dense foods. The family ranch leases land through out the Bay Area spanning over 11,000 acres. Doniga’s work expands beyond her family ranch into policy and advocacy. She has organized a stakeholder working group at the State Capital for small dairy herds. She then took the lead on legislation that would enable family farms to be more sustainable and utilize pasture in an economical and productive way.Doniga’s deep observation experience aids in her ability to monitor grassland health, biodiversity and to manage land based on the principles and patterns found in nature. Doniga is passionate about large-scale restoration of Western Rangelands through cattle grazing. The Markegard Family has forged partnerships with some of the largest land trust groups in California, private landowners, as well as regional open space parks. Each ranch has a grazing plan and conservation management plan developed in conjunction with landowners and the Natural Resource Conservation Service. She is dedicated to finding ways to regenerate lands and community through ranching practices that build soil, sequester carbon, capture and purify water and enhance habitat. 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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for joining us! As the year draws to a close, we often find ourselves evaluating the results of this year's harvest and reflecting on the systems and practices we’ve adopted to improve soil health. Some of our guests have shared with us that they’ve changed their practices not only for soil health and water quality but also because of a health event in their lives that prompted an examination of their current systems. Today, we’re bringing you a medley of guests who explore the human health and soil health connection. We’ve picked out some great highlights, with Seth Watkins, a farmer and inaugural Iowa Leopold Conservation Award recipient in 2022. Anthony Corsaro, the Founder and Managing Director at Outlaw Ventures working on building a better food system for tomorrow. Dr. Stefan van Vliet a human physiologist studying the effects of food and physical activity on human health. and Erin Martin, gerontologist and founder of Conscious Aging Solutions.You’ll find links to the full episodes of each of these guests in the podcast notes. There’s no question that we’re still learning about all of the human and soil health relationships and we remain committed to bringing you guests who contribute to our understanding of these connections.Full AgEmerge Podcast links for each guest can be found here:Seth Watkinshttps://youtu.be/qjXlJmpTjEY?si=oq6Uwt2N9oJP1gIeAnthony Corsarohttps://youtu.be/iJvIjyJbSaU?si=_3ded2srFLEjWK1sDr. Stephan van Vliethttps://on.soundcloud.com/mWXaRErin Martinhttps://youtu.be/fAIr5GyUSgU?si=Emxr7VeK6yqA5vkCGot 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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for joining us, today we welcome Dr. Dianna Bagnall a Research Soil Scientist for the Soil Health Institute. Her current work includes integrating research and outreach to secure the global soil resource. Some of her specific research includes developing functions that show the effect of management on soil physical properties, on-farm soil health assessments, qualitative analysis of farmer interviews, and outreach to farmers in the United States. She and Monte discuss the importance of being able to quantify and assess the practices that are being used to build soil health across the country. Listen in to this powerful conversation.Dr. Dianna Bagnall serves as a Research Soil Scientist for the Soil Health Institute. She is an applied soil physicist specializing in soil physical health and socioeconomic dynamics of soil management. Her current work includes integrating research and outreach to secure the global soil resource. Specific research includes developing functions that show the effect of management on soil physical properties, on-farm soil health assessments, qualitative analysis of farmer interviews, and outreach to cotton farmers in the United States. Dianna is an associate editor for Vadose Zone Journal, the 2023 Soil Health Community Leader for the American Society of Agronomy, and the Early Career Representative to the Soil Science Society of America Board.Soil Health Institute Website:soilhealthinstitute.orgSoil Health Institute and Cargill Partner to Advance Water Stewardship Through Improved Soil Health Website: https://soilhealthinstitute.org/news-events/soil-health-institute-and-cargill-partner-to-advance-water-stewardship-through-improved-soil-health/?fbclid=IwAR2IwKGj1LIvf63sCmEZvNURdxOVYIg252o6afWor8BrLpO9bakEU07RTJkGot 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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for joining us, today we welcome Jimmy Emmons, Jimmy is the SR Vice President of Trust In Food and leads their Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities Connected Ag Project, America’s Conservation Ag Movement and Trust In Beef, coalition-driven conservation programs developed to accelerate the adoption of conservation agriculture at scale. Monte and Jimmy discuss what the successful implementation of these practices looks like and how leaving a legacy is so much more than leaving a piece of property. They’ve got a lot to cover so let’s jump right in.Jimmy Emmons leads Trust In Food’s Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities Connected Ag Project, America’s Conservation Ag Movement and Trust In Beef, coalition-driven conservation programs developed to accelerate the adoption of conservation agriculture at scale.Jimmy and his wife, Ginger, own and operate Emmons Farm in Leedey, Okla., where they farm 2,000 acres and have 5,000 acres of rangeland where they run 300 head of cows and calves in an integrated row-crop and livestock operation that optimizes water resources, reduces erosion and improves organic material in the soils. He is a public speaker, educator, mentor and advocate for conservation management practices to improve producers’ resiliency to weather, operational efficiency and profitability.Emmons most recently served as coordinator for mentoring for the Oklahoma Conservation Commission. Prior to that, he was regional coordinator for USDA’s Farm Production and Conservation, where he supported operational and business functions across the Farm Service Agency (FSA), Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and Risk Management Agency (RMA). He has also served as president of the Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts and led fundraising for the National Young Farmers Education Association.https://www.trustinfood.com/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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for joining us, today we welcome Dr. Jack Schultz, Research Professor in the Department of Biology and Biochemistry at the University of Houston. His research has focused on the chemical and molecular interactions between plants and insect herbivores. And those relationships are what Monte and Dr. Schultz explore as they discuss the amazing communications being discovered between plants and insects. It’s a fascinating conversation so let’s jump right in.Dr. Schultz’s research has focused on the chemical and molecular bases of interactions between plants and insect herbivores, integrating insect physiology and behavior with plant chemistry, molecular biology and ecology. He (with undergraduate Ian Baldwin) was the first to demonstrate volatile signaling by and among plants. He also studied the role of plant tannins induced by insect attack in defending plants against pests and found that some interfere with biocontrol.Gene expression underlies defense induction by plants. The Schultz lab demonstrated the relationship between gene expression, resource allocation, defense compound production and plant defense using the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. They also found that salivary signals allow some insects to block plant defense responses.Some insects induce the development of unique organs on plants called ‘galls.’ Galls house the insect and provide concentrated food resources. A team led by Schultz demonstrated that development of the gall formed on grape leaves by grape phylloxera involves plant genetic pathways unrelated to leaf development and requires relatively undifferentiated leaf cells and manipulation of plant hormones.In 2007, Schultz became Director of the Christopher Bond Life Science Center at the University of Missouri, where he led interdisciplinary research by faculty from 8 departments in 6 colleges. Funded by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and NSF, he developed and taught in a training program in science communication for graduate students. Schultz has also taught tropical ecology and studied plant defenses in Costa Rica, primarily at the La Selva Biological Station.https://uh.edu/nsm/biology-biochemistry/people/profiles/jack-schultz/https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15923339/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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for joining us, today we welcome Dr. Kelsey Griesheim, Assistant Professor of Soil Fertility at North Dakota State University. She completed her PhD at the University of Illinois, where she worked under Dr. Richard Mulvaney conducting field evaluations to measure fertilizer uptake efficiency of various application types. Monte and Dr. Griesheim take a deep dive into her studies of nitrogen. She gives us a lot to think about like when we apply nitrogen, we’re fertilizing our crops, but we are also fertilizing the microorganisms. And that, Dr. Griesheim points out, is why nitrogen management is so difficult, because we have to take into account the fact that that nitrogen is not just being used by the plants, it's also being used by microorganisms in the soil. And they’re often, a lot better at scavenging nitrogen than the crop is. We’ll cover that and so much more so let’s get started. Kelsey Griesheim grew up in Mt. Pulaski, Illinois and completed her BS, MS, and PhD from the University of Illinois in Urbana, Champaign. She was hired as assistant professor of soil fertility at North Dakota State University (NDSU) in February of 2023. While at Illinois, she worked under Dr. Richard Mulvaney conducting field evaluations to measure fertilizer uptake efficiency of various application types using 15N as a tracer. She is currently building a research program at NDSU to tackle the same issues for North Dakota producers.https://www.ndsu.edu/agriculture/ag-home/directory/kelsey-griesheimhttps://acsess.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/saj2.20503https://acsess.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/saj2.20531Got 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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for joining us, today we welcome Dr. Christian Krupke a professor in the Dept of Entomology at Purdue University where he focuses on insect pest management in field crops. His research has concentrated on illuminating the strengths and weaknesses of the primary pest management approaches used in corn and soybeans. And he has a special focus on Bt corn and neonicotinoid seed treatments. Dr. Krupke and Monte discuss the resilience of nature and how fast it bounces back. They discuss what we’ve learned about preserving the biology in the soil and how to reconsider those pest management systems. He completed his doctoral degree in entomology at Washington State University in 2004, and since 2005 has worked at Purdue with responsibilities in insect pest management in field crops (i.e. corn,soybeans, wheat, and other small grains), where he leads active applied research and extensionprograms. Dr. Krupke also teaches a graduate-level course in Integrated Pest Management(IPM). His research has focused on elucidating the strengths and weaknesses of the primarypest management approaches used in corn and soybeans, with a special focus on Bt corn andneonicotinoid seed treatments of corn and soybeans. Dr. Krupke has published over 50 peer-reviewed manuscripts and given dozens of talks on these subjects to fellow researchers,members of USDA, EPA, USFWS, and a range of stakeholder groups including growers of thesecommodities, beekeepers, and a wide range of conservation organizations.Important links:https://extension.entm.purdue.edu/fieldcropsipm/index.phphttps://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2108429118Got 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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for joining us, today we welcome Anthony Corsaro, an entrepreneur, investor, and regenerative agriculture evangelist whose mission is to help heal our people and planet through ventures that inspire the production and consumption of healthy, nutrient-dense foods. This is a powerful conversation including Anthony’s personal intense health journey and how he walks the walk when it comes to food as medicine.
Anthony is the Founder and Managing Director at Outlaw Ventures: a family office backing the rebels, radicals, and revolutionaries building the better food system of tomorrow. Outlaw Ventures is in the process of raising a venture capital fund to invest in early-stage regenerative consumer brands. Anthony is also the Creator and Co-Host of The ReGen Brands Podcast: a podcast about the consumer brands supporting regenerative agriculture and how they’re changing the world. He is also the Founder of Regeneration Nation: a clothing company and community hub for the heroes and advocates of regenerative agriculture.
Follow these links for more content from Anthony: https://www.regencoalition.com/ https://regen-brands.com/ https://regen-brands.beehiiv.com/subscribe https://www.outlaw.ventures/
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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
What an exciting conversation today with Erin Meyer. As you know, we think exploring soil health is of critical importance, as it sheds light not only on its own vitality but also on how it influences ecosystems, food systems, and human well-being. We think this conversation really nails it.
Erin is the Founder and President of Basil's Harvest (BH), a nonprofit sharing the message that soil health impacts human health by bringing people together in agriculture, health, and food systems to grow regional systems that are good for people and the planet. She is also a Clinical Associate at the University of Illinois College of Medicine, Peoria, IL, where she enjoys training residents in the Food is Medicine experiential program she co-developed. Erin is a chef and registered dietitian with a Master of Sustainable Food Systems. Before founding BH, Erin developed on-farm experiential sustainable food system education and outreach to culinary professionals and health care professionals, owned a wholesale and retail food business that supported regional organic growers that created made-from-scratch goods, and was a certified diabetes educator.
Erin loves to ride her bike, play pickle ball, cook with friends and family, and spend time with her husband and two daughters around the table enjoying lively talks and eating tasty food.
Check out the links to Basil’s Harvest, the research Erin mentioned, as well as Janies Mill.
https://basilsharvest.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/092221_BH_Report_RM_MP_OneUp_Digital.pdf
https://basilsharvest.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Soil-Factsheet-2023-Final-Draft.pdf
www.basilsharvest.org
https://www.linkedin.com/company/basilsharvest/
https://www.janiesmill.com/
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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for joining us, today we’re focusing on the soil health principles that so many of our guests encourage growers to adopt and where it’s so important for us to first understand our context, knowing what plants and animals flourish in our specific environments. From there we work to not disturb the soil, reducing and eliminating both mechanical and chemical disruption. Next, we focus on armoring the soil by keeping it covered at all times. As well as keeping a living root in the soil to feed that soil biology. Then we add diversity, including diversity of plants, insects, microbes, wildlife and finally adding livestock to the land. From understanding water and mineral cycling, to how energy flows Monte says often, the practices may vary from location to location but the principles remain the same.
On the AgEmerge Podcast, we strive to bring content that helps growers understand how they can adopt, improve and regenerate their soils. After all, soils really are the foundation of the work we are doing and it’s also the life work of many of our podcast guests. Some of our guests have had major epiphanies when it comes to soil health. And the great thing is, they put their money where their mouth is and share what they’ve learned. This podcast is meant to whet your appetite by revisiting some of the great guests we’ve had to understand how they shifted their paradigms, how they’ve come to the conclusion that adopting these changes were and are necessary in our production systems.
We’ve picked out some great highlights, with Dr. Dwayne Beck from the Dakota Lakes Research Farm, Conservationist Jay Fuhrer, Entomologist Dr. John Tooker, Erin Martin founder of Conscious Aging Solutions, and Dr. Allen Williams from Understanding Ag. These folks are a powerhouse of knowledge, you can find their full podcasts here:
Dr. Dwayne Beck https://www.agsolutionsnetwork.com/agemergepodcast/episode/c292f019/049-agemerge-2021-podcast-dr-dwayne-beck-dakota-lakes-research-farm
Jay Fuhrer https://youtu.be/7UuWtSiyIZk
Dr. John Tooker https://youtu.be/l43o5aca-do
Erin Martin https://youtu.be/fAIr5GyUSgU
Dr. Allen Williams https://youtu.be/23UrqBEJZ1o
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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for joining us, today we welcome Tom Willey. Tom, along with his wife Denesse, operated T&D Willey Farms from 1981 until 2016, a seventy-five-acre Certified Organic farm in Madera, California, growing a wide array of Mediterranean vegetables the year round. Tom says, “we've got to figure out how to live on agriculture without destroying the natural systems that support its productivity.” He says organic is all about living biology and the diversity of biology and and the all of the living organisms in your soil. Monte and Tom have a great conversation about all these things and so much more.
T&D Willey Farms produce was appreciated in specialty markets and fine restaurants up and down the U.S. West Coast as well as on the tables of over 800 weekly Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) subscription members in their own community. Tom was, for nearly a decade, Slow Food USA's governor for California's Central Valley and he passionately advocates for local food prominence through his writing, speaking, radio, and event organizing activities. His monthly "Down on the Farm" radio interview program features the work of progressive farmers and others prominent in San Joaquin Valley's agriculture and food communities. Tom has served over the years on the boards of directors of the Ecological Farming Association (EFA) and California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF) and presently is a member of CCOF Certification Services’ five-person LLC Management Committee. He currently serves as a Policy Advisor to The Cornucopia Institute which monitors integrity of the U.S. organic industry. He has been collaborating with several California organic growers to develop no-till and reduced-till organic vegetable production systems over the last three years.
https://tdwilleyfarms.com/
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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for joining us, today we welcome Garth Mulkey. Garth and his wife Susan are fourth-generation seed farmers in the Willamette Valley of Western Oregon and have been growing, conditioning, and marketing seeds at the same location since 1966. As dedicated seed producers, they are always focused on seed purity and quality, combined with proven genetics. Today Garth and Monte have a great conversation about the work Garth is doing.
A fourth generation family-owned business, GS3 Quality Seed Inc. is owned by Garth and Susan Mulkey. They are fourth-generation seed farmers in the Willamette Valley of Western Oregon and have been growing, conditioning and marketing seeds at the same location since 1966. As dedicated seed producers, they are always focused on seed purity and quality, combined with proven genetics.
Garth and Susan have been no-till farming for 23 years and know firsthand the benefits of planting radishes and other cover crops. Even in seed production fields, radishes provide the same great benefits as they do for row-crop producers.
https://www.tilthpro.com/
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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for joining us, today we welcome Eric Fuchs, a consultant for Understanding Ag. Eric’s work and experience make for a great conversation. He lives in Southeast Missouri on a diversified livestock operation where they raise hair sheep and contract graze cattle. He’s been using Holistic Planned Grazing for over eight years and has had a managed grazing system on his operation for more than 20 years. In addition to that, Eric also works in the water and wastewater industry as a source water protection technician. He works with small and large small communities and with agricultural producers to help ensure community water protection. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover so let’s jump right in. Eric Fuchs lives in Southeast Missouri on a diversified livestock operation where he raises hair sheep and contract grazes all classes of cattle. He has been using Holistic Planned Grazing for over eight years and has had a managed grazing system on his operation for more than 20 years.
Eric also works in the water and wastewater industry as a source water protection technician. He works with small and large small communities and with agricultural producers to help ensure community water protection. His efforts help save millions of dollars in costly water treatment system upgrades while also negating the need for long-term regulations. He has seen firsthand the problems with agriculture land use and its effect on drinking water.
Eric’s journey into regenerative ag began on his own operation when he discovered how soil health focused practices could benefit water resources. He also realized that more regulation is never the answer but that the solutions for clean water are easily attainable by changing how we operate.
Graduating from the University of Missouri in 1994 with a degree in agronomy, Eric served in the U.S. Air Force for five years, during which time he received a master’s degree in human resource development.
I began my farming career as a conventional grazing and livestock owner, which I quickly realized was not profitable or sustainable for our environment. When I started my career in source water protection, I quickly realized the problems created by conventional agriculture were rampant. Most problems I saw with poor drinking water quality could be attributed to agriculture.
I had been using regenerative techniques on my own operation for many years but when I saw how these could also save our waterways and provide clean safe reliable drinking water, it became a passion of mine to let others know there were practical solutions to these problems. It was apparent that the same techniques used to make my own operation sustainable and profitable could be used on a large scale to clean up our drinking water. My passion now is to share with others the solutions to these problems.
Through my experience as a regenerative farmer and source water specialist, I bring an understanding to a range of groups on the current and future scene of pending regulations. Additionally, I can work with communities, businesses and individuals to improve drinking water quality, AND save money and mitigate the need for additional burdensome regulations.
www.understandingag.com
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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for joining us today we flip the tables as Frank Lessiter, Lessiter Media Founder and Editor of No-Till Farmer interviews Monte for the No-Till Farmer Influencers and Innovations Podcast. Frank and Monte discuss soil health, no-till and the regenerative agriculture movement and much more.
Frank was the son of a fifth-generation Michigan dairy farm father and ag engineer and whose mother, a high school English teacher, influenced his love of storytelling. Pam, a business education graduate, was the daughter of an elementary school teacher and an industrial education professor. Graduates of Michigan State University, Frank and Pam met on the MSU campus, where both were employed in the university’s information services offices.
On March 6, 1981, Frank and Pam hung out their own shingle upon acquiring a magazine, trade show and newsletter (with a staff of 5) from Reiman Publications (now part of Reader’s Digest), where Frank was executive vice president and chief editorial director. With a new company formed at the onset of the worst farm recession ever, their first decade in business brought challenges, yet also forged and annealed a foundation for what would become a very different kind of publishing company. And principles that would serve it as it evolved still several decades later.
Through those lean years and the period of growth that followed, the name “Lessiter” (which at one time depended solely on paid-subscriptions), became synonymous with words like “actionable, meaningful, practical and relevant” for the content it delivered to its highly targeted audiences. Not fluff, not advertorials nor PR-speak, but rather unbiased, independent information that its subscribers and attendees could weigh, and act upon. “Where content becomes knowledge” began to be woven into the fabric of the Lessiter name.
The decades that followed attracted new talent, and brought launches, acquisitions, new events and digital media channels. And yes, a few divestitures, too, as the company focused on the segments in which it could most make a difference. But the content-first approach has never wavered since that day in 1981 and Lessiter Media impacted the lives of hundreds of thousands of subscribers, marketers and employees — as well as their families and ensuing generations.
The small company launched an independent, unbiased conference for farmers when Monsanto was going to control the message to farmers. It unearthed lightning-rod topics that had be addressed when others didn’t want to “rock the boat” —unscrupulous practices affecting equine health, attempts at governmental regulation of farriers, and the brand purity and other “unwritten” tactics taking place in the farm equipment industry. On more than one occasion, the company elected to walk away from business rather than yield editorial independence.
“We’ve refused to compromise on editorial quality as we deliver practical, ‘meat-and-potato’ content in everything we do,” says Lessiter. “This means delivering content that readers need to advance their businesses and lives. This has allowed us to achieve number-one status as the information source in each segment of the Niche Markets we serve — because the needs of the audience are placed first.”
https://www.no-tillfarmer.com/
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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for joining us, today we welcome John Strauser, a research scientist in the Department of Agronomy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. John works with colleagues on the Grassland 2.0 project, where they explore what an Agroecological transformation would look like in the Midwestern United States. In today’s conversation, Monte and John talk about those transformations and also about how it’s as much a head game as it is a management game.Dr. Strauser currently serves as a research scientist in the Department of Agronomy at theUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison. At Madison, John works with colleagues on the Grassland 2.0 project, where they explore what an Agroecological transformation would look like in the Midwestern United States. John’s background is in Human Geography, and earned a doctorate in Natural Resources and Environmental Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His research and outreach focus on the social processes that drive bio-physical landscape change by employing the concept of place-making. While earning his bachelor’sdegree at Purdue University, John played Defensive Line for the football team, where he was recognized as a Big Ten Distinguished Scholar and Academic All-Big Ten. John has spent his entire life living in the Mississippi River Valley, and Great Lakes Basin. From those experiences, he has built a passion for Midwestern Landscapes through many trips fishing, hunting,swimming, and biking with friends. As a 6th generation, Wisconsinite John is committed to working with communities to have a future where agricultural landscapes throughout Wisconsin and the upper Midwest serve to enhance water quality, build soil health, respect the dignity of labor, and strive toward racial and social justice.www.grasslandag.orgArticle by John Strauser:https://grasslandag.org/blog/re-defining-our-places-through-learning-hubs/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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for joining us, today we welcome Sarah Martello, CEO and Co-Founder of Transparency Wise, a company created to help people connect with their food. Using a mobile device, shoppers can scan a Transparency Wise QR Code to access enhanced and verifiable product information. Monte and Sarah discuss the opportunities this technology provides in the food chain, from start to finish. Coming from a long line of generational farmers and growing up on a small farm in the Midwest, has inspired Sarah to help smaller producers get credit for a premium product by implementing technology that provides transparency into all their great production practices.Sarah started out her career as a tax attorney, gaining substantial experience representing smalland medium-sized businesses. What started as a solo practice turned into a multi-city firm,representing clients all over the world. After leaving private practice, Sarah’s focus shifted toworking in-house and consulting for technology and agricultural companies, until co-founding Transparency Wise in 2020. With her legal and tech expertise, what started as a Covidproject has grown into a business with a mission to utilize its technology to empower both theconsumer and the producer through transparent product information.Coming from a long line of generational farmers and growing up on a small farm in the Midwesthas further inspired Sarah to help smaller producers to get credit for a more premium product byimplementing technology that provides transparency into all their great production practices.Sarah now leads the Transparency Wise team as CEO and is passionate about providingtechnology that truly supports a better, more transparent, and sustainable way of producing thefood consumers love.https://transparencywise.com/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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for joining us, today we welcome Kevin McDonald, Vice President of Customer and Government Relations at Guardian Agriculture where they develop autonomous eVTOL systems for sustainable farming on a commercial scale. If the term eVTOL is new to you, it stands for electric vertical take-off and landing aircrafts. Guardian Agriculture is working to provide growers access to safe, effective, and precise aerial applications.Kevin McDonald is the Vice President of Customer and Government Relations at Guardian Agriculture, and leads the sales and regulatory efforts for the company. As a 26 year veteran of the US Marine Corps and fighter pilot, he specializes in organizational leadership, strategic planning, aviation safety, and regulatory processes. Kevin uses that depth of experience to establish efficient processes across operations, sales, customer relations, and regulatory compliance at Guardian Agriculture. When he is not working, Kevin is an avid outdoorsman, surfer, and shooter.Guardian Agriculture develops autonomous eVTOL systems for sustainable farming on a commercial scale. Our mission is to provide every grower access to safe, effective, and precise aerial applications—empowering farmers to refine their chemical use and grow more with less.https://www.guardian.ag/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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for joining us, today we welcome Greg Gunthorp. Greg is a fourth-generation farmer who is clearly a critical thinker. Greg has re-imagined what livestock production and meat marketing looks like on their farm. His understanding of the history of ag production and his ability to glean knowledge from that history has given him discernment and a great perspective on how to manage and lead their operation. Greg says he likes to act locally and think globally and that really defines the way Greg sees things, he has both that 30,000-foot big picture view clear down to the minute details. In 1998, Greg Gunthorp was selling live hogs for less than his grandfather did during the Great Depression. It was then that he entered the meat industry-- all while still raising high-quality, pasture-raised pigs like his family has for generations before him.The Gunthorp family looks a lot different now but the way they raise animals has stayed the same. Gunthorp Farms is a family-owned business and all members of the family chip in. Gunthorp Farms also employs approximately 30 full-time and 15 part-time employees.Gunthorp Farms specializes in quality meat that is a favorite among some of the best chefs in the Midwest. All of their animals are raised on pasture without the use of antibiotics. They have an on-farm USDA-inspected processing plant where they harvest, process, and package all of their animals before delivering to upscale restaurants and retailers. You can order their meats & have them shipped directly to your door.https://gunthorpfarms.com/435 N 850 E, LaGrange, IN 46761Got 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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for joining us, today we welcome Tyler Dawley of Big Bluff Ranch in Red Bluff, California. Big Bluff is a family-owned and operated ranch where they lead with quality, health, and happiness as their guiding principles. And while they say Big Bluff Ranch may be a small organic chicken farm compared to high-yield industrial operations, they’re one of the largest producers of pasture-raised chicken on the west coast. Today Monte and Tyler explore the path Big Bluff Ranch is taking to build a resilient food system that fits their context. And the great thing is, Tyler is willing to share not only their success but also their mistakes so he can help growers learn from his experiences. Tyler describes himself as the “Head Chicken Wrangler”, listen in and you’ll learn why.Big Bluff is a true family-owned and operated ranch.Quality, health, and happiness are our guiding principles - and they impact every aspect of what we do, from how our pastured chickens are raised, to how they’re fed, and everything in-between.More than just a sustainable chicken farmBig Bluff Ranch may be a small organic chicken farm compared to high-yield industrial operations, but we’re one of the largest producers of pasture-raised chicken on the west coast. We’re small because we are a true family-owned ranch, with each family member pitching in to help. We’re small in that we are personally involved in every aspect of production, from how we raise our pastured chickens to locally sourcing feed and processing with people we know who share the same values.This personal involvement ensures that animal welfare, sustainability, and regenerative farming remain at the forefront of everything we do. But Big Bluff Ranch is much more than that.Big Bluff Ranch: a destination for eco-tourists and an advocate for environmental stewardshipThe ranch is a beautiful 2,776 acres of rolling hills, grasslands, and oak woodlands that border the Mendocino National Forest and the Coast Range.Because of this, we’re also a destination for ecotourism and partner with our community in the shared goal of a sustainable and healthy landscape. We work with the Wildlife Conservation Board, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, and Northern California Regional Land Trust to implement the goals and objectives of the Red Bank Creek Riparian Restoration Project. Our partnership will help restore 3 miles of Red Bank Creek, a tributary to the Sacramento River.https://www.bigbluffranch.com/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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for joining us, today we are excited to welcome Del Ficke. Del owns and operates Ficke Cattle Company and Graze Master Genetics® in eastern Nebraska. With more than 35 years of experience as both an agriculturist and cattleman, he’s consulted on farms and ranches throughout the nation and internationally. Today Del shares his journey of embracing change, problem-solving, and transitioning the dynamics of his farming operation to a more holistic system. Ficke has developed a one-of-a-kind trademarked breed of composite cattle, the Graze Master. Ficke has sold cattle genetics as well as consulted on farms and ranches throughout the nation and internationally. Driven by results, Ficke has a proven success rate in improving farming and ranching businesses – from increasing profitability to successfully implementing innovative practices.Del Ficke402-499-0329del@grazemaster.comwww.grazemastergroup.comGot 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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for joining us, today we are excited to welcome Adrián Ferrero, he is the Co-Founder & CEO of Biome Makers. With recognition from the Spanish Government, Illumina Accelerator, and MIT Technology Review —Adrián is a self-described entrepreneur on a mission to improve the world. And he is doing just that as he and his company work to have an impact on how we look at and utilize the soil. He says, “this work at the end of the day helps to improve the way we are farming, the way we preserve and restore the life of the soil, and also create awareness on the relevance of the biological pathways in the soil."Join Monte and Adrián as they explore the intricate relationships between microbial life and the soil as well as the work Bio Makers is doing to provide an understanding of these relationships.You can find out more about their BeCrop® products and solutions at: https://biomemakers.com/Their products include BeCrop® Technology providing key insights to improve soil health, increase crop yield and quality, and reduce farm costs. BeCrop® is the missing puzzle piece in agriculture that connects soil needs to inputs and illuminates the path toward regenerating soils.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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for joining us, today we are excited to welcome Mike Callicrate a farmer-rancher, business entrepreneur, and family farm advocate. Mike’s knowledge, experience, and sheer will to make things happen will help you connect the dots in the world of farming, ranching, processing, ag tech, and ag markets. He and Monte have a robust conversation that will have your gears turning and probably have you asking, do these guys ever sleep? A native of Evergreen, Colorado, Mike began his career by earning a bachelor’s degree in animal science from Colorado State University in 1975. After college, he started farming and ranching at St. Francis, Kansas. In 2000, he formed Ranch Foods Direct, a branded beef company and retail and online food store located in Colorado Springs. His fabrication plant processes high-quality meats, and his retail store sells those products along with many other seasonal and handcrafted items from the surrounding area. His company also operates a regional food hub, helping to collect and distribute locally produced food. In recent years, he transitioned his cattle operation in Northwest Kansas into a multi-species regenerative agricultural model with hogs and chickens as well as cattle. The animals are harvested at a USDA-inspected slaughter facility right on-site, which reduces stress and improves meat quality.You can learn more about his business enterprises by visiting MikeCallicrate.com.https://www.mikecallicrate.com/https://ranchfoodsdirect.com/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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for joining us, today we are excited to welcome Ridge Shinn, Executive Director of the Northeast Grass-fed Beef Initiative and co-author of the book Grass-Fed Beef for a Post-Pandemic World. He’s been a leader in the shift from feedlot production to raising cattle on a diet of 100% grass and forages. Today Monte and Ridge talk about everything from soil health, to cover crops to beef genetics, to available markets. It’s a great discussion wrapped up with a powerful message about the impacts of running ruminants on the land.Ridge Shinn is the Executive Director of the Northeast Grass-fed Beef Initiative (NGBI). He also is the co-founder and CEO of Big Picture Beef, recently launched to produce Northeast grass-fed beef for Northeast customers. He has been a leader in the shift from feedlot production to raising cattle on a diet of 100% grass and forages – no grain. In addition to raising a large herd of grass-fed Rotokawa Devon beef cattle in Massachusetts, he was the Vice President of a Connecticut slaughterhouse and founded a successful meat company, Hardwick Beef. He has developed markets and distribution systems for 100% grass-fed beef throughout the northeastern United States and has consulted all over the US and for the Argentine government on the production and marketing of grass-fed beef. His work has been recognized in Time Magazine, Atlantic Monthly, New York Times, Wine Spectator and Smithsonian.https://www.bigpicturebeef.com/ourteamhttps://www.chelseagreen.com/product/grass-fed-beef-for-a-post-pandemic-world/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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for joining us, today we are excited to welcome Omar de-Kok Mercado, an Agroforestry Technical Service Provider for the Savanna Institute a Wisconsin-based non-profit organization focused on the widespread adoption of agroforestry in the Midwest.Omar holds degrees in soil microbiology and agroecology and is using that knowledge to literally change the landscape by helping growers adopt agroforestry systems by integrating trees, crops, and livestock to foster ecological resilience, climate stability, economic prosperity, and vibrant communities. And don’t let the term agroforestry limit your thinking, as Omar describes it, it's the integration of trees and livestock into agricultural landscapes. Agro represents agriculture and forestry represents traditional forestry practices of timber production. Learning about these opportunities for developing and adopting resilient, scalable agroforestry is super exciting and it’s a great conversation.Omar is an agroforester and grazier living in central Iowa, where he's managing remnant oak savannas as multifunctional silvopastures on a rented organic farm. He has worked to implement federal agricultural policies, and currently serves as a technical service provider for the Savanna Institute, a Wisconsin-based non-profit organization focused on the widespread adoption of agroforestry in the Midwest.https://www.savannainstitute.org/https://www.nrem.iastate.edu/research/STRIPS/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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for joining us, today we welcome Conservationist, Jay Fuhrer, a name I’m sure most of you recognize. Jay has dedicated his life to taking care of the soil. He credits his parents for instilling in him a land ethic that has lead to decades of work and research that we all benefit from today. Jay’s approach to solving the problems of soil health is, as he says, doing most of his work with a spade, in a field with his clients. Oh and don’t miss this important quote, Jay says, “diversity is the holy grail to go after.” We may need to nickname him the Indiana Jones of soil health. This is a great episode full of wisdom and practical solutions that you won’t want to miss. As a long time Conservationist growing up in the Dakota’s on a small grain and livestock farm, Jay Fuhrer built a career taking care of the soil. Working at the Natural Resources Conservation Service/USDA from 1980 – 2020 out of Bismarck, North Dakota, Jay particularly enjoyed working from the pickup end gate on the field edge, with a spade and the client. Conservation planning one field at a time. Building on his experience, Jay had the opportunity to share his knowledge and passion for the resource by holding and participating in countless Soil Health based farm visits, tours, and workshops. While many workshops were held in the United States, Jay’s enthusiasm to connect with farmers and ranchers took him across the globe to places including: Denmark, Sweden, France, Germany, United Kingdom, Australia, Russia, Argentina, South Africa, and Canada. Building relationships through soil health education and conservation created many career highlights and friendships. Currently, Jay spends his time supporting soil health efforts through the Menoken Farm. The Menoken Farm is a conservation demonstration farm and is Jay’s favorite place to work. Here, the 5 Soil Health Principles can be applied while monitoring plants, animals, and soils. Jay continues to share the soil health principles and how healthy soil serves as a foundation for cropping systems, grazing systems, cover crops, wildlife, gardening, pollinators, insects, soil food web, and quality of life. His work in this field allows him - and others - to farm forever. https://menokenfarm.com/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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for joining us and welcome to our 100th AgEmerge Podcast. It's hard to believe we've recorded 100 episodes with some of the great change makers in agriculture, from scientists, and researchers, to medical doctors and ag entrepreneurs, we’ve tried to bring you the full gamut of all things regenerative agriculture. Today is a pinnacle for us as we host Gabe Brown, our first on-stage AgEmerge Keynote speaker and one of the influential forces that challenged our thinking about the way we farm. There’s a great conversation ahead as Monte and Gabe take a three-hour deep dive into all things regen ag so let’s get started.Gabe Brown is one of the pioneers of the current soil health movement which focuses on the regeneration of our resources.Gabe, along with his wife Shelly, and son Paul, own and operate Brown's Ranch, a diversified 5,000 acre farm and ranch near Bismarck, North Dakota. The ranch consists of several thousand acres of native perennial rangeland along with perennial pastureland and cropland. Their ranch focuses on farming and ranching in nature's image.The Browns holistically integrate their grazing and no-till cropping systems, which include a wide variety of cash crops, multi-species cover crops along with all natural grass finished beef and lamb. They also raise pastured laying hens, broilers and swine. This diversity and integration has regenerated the natural resources on the ranch without the use of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, and fungicides.The Browns are part owners of a state inspected abattoir which allows them to direct market their products. They believe that healthy soil leads to clean air, clean water, healthy plants, animals, and people.Over 2,000 people visit the Brown's Ranch annually to see this unique operation. They have had visitors from all fifty states and twenty-four foreign countries.Gabe and Brown's Ranch have received many forms of recognition for their work, including a Growing Green award from the Natural Resource Defense Council, an Environmental Stewardship Award from the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, and a Zero-Till Producer of the Year Award, to name a few. Gabe has also been named one of the twenty-five most influential agricultural leaders in the United States.Gabe recently authored the book, “Dirt to Soil, One Family’s Journey Into Regenerative Agriculture.”He is a partner, along with David Kleinschmidt, Shane New, Kathy Richburg, and Dr. Allen Williams, in Understanding Ag LLC. He is also an instructor for Soil Health Academy, which focuses on teaching others the power and importance of healthy functioning ecosystems.www.understandingag.comGot 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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for joining us, we’ve got a great conversation with Steve Statler Senior Vice President of Marketing & ESG at Wiliot. Imagine technology the size of a postage stamp, changing the way we make, distribute and sell food and consumables. It is technology that can make our supply chain more efficient and it cut food waste. AgEmerge has purposefully focused on bringing together regenerative agriculture and emerging technologies to make regenerative farming possible anywhere and everywhere and today’s conversation explores those exciting opportunities. Steve is Senior Vice President of Marketing & ESG at Wiliot, leader in battery-free Bluetooth semiconductor and cloud services. With over 10 years in the industry, Steve has channeled his passion from IoT & cloud technology as a speaker, author, and host of the Mr. Beacon Podcast.https://www.wiliot.com/https://www.wiliot.com/blog#01https://www.wiliot.com/podcasts#01Got 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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for joining us, today we welcome Meghan Filbert and Allysse Sorensen to the podcast. Meghan and Allysse are both part of the US Nofence team and they’re working with growers to bring livestock back to the land. They both have extensive experience in addressing barriers to grazing both perennial and annual forages. And, the more we learn about building soil health the more we know about how livestock can be a critical component in the system including not only soil benefits, but the income and community opportunities as well. Meghan started working for Nofence in the summer of 2022 after working for Practical Farmers of Iowa and cooperative extension. She has spent the last decade helping farmers address barriers to grazing both perennial and annual forages. She had been championing virtual fence technology for years before jumping at the opportunity to spearhead the adoption of this tech by directly working for Nofence. Meghan's goats are helping to reclaim an oak savanna in central Iowa using Nofence collars.Allysse Sorensen joined Nofence in October. Prior to that, she was running her own goat grazing business. Managing goats off the farm on an average of six sites at a time in a 60-mile radius has a set of challenges. This led Sorensen to implement a variety of technology tools, including microchips and virtual fencing. Sorensen is also the owner of HireGoats.com, a directory of producers providing targeted grazing services.Email Contacts:meghan@nofence.noallysse@nofence.comLinks:nofence.no 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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for joining us, did you know that the Ag Emerge Podcast is just three episodes away from our 100th Episode!
We really value our listeners and we are excited to celebrate our 100th Episode with Gabe Brown, or as we like to call him, the guy who shifted Monte’s paradigm!
We are looking forward to a great conversation with Gabe that will air on Jan 3rd and if you’d like to submit a question you’ve got for Gabe or Monte, click on this link and send them our way.
https://forms.gle/PHAfz9cgJU1mWAA26
And, all this nostalgia, has us focusing on why we do what we do. On today’s show, we are sharing Monte’s vision and mission, and why our team at Ag Solutions Network and AgEmerge are so focused on bringing you information and conversations that push all the buttons, including pushing a few of yours.
We don’t shy away from the difficult discussions and we constantly challenge the status quo, to seek new life, and new civilizations, to boldly go, oh wait, that’s the Star Trek mission, not ours.
But seriously, we believe in the direction regenerative agriculture, or whatever you want to call it today, is going and how it leads to a path of raising healthy crops, healthy livestock, and healthy people living on a healthy planet and we’d like to help you get there too. So take a listen as Monte dives into the hard questions of why and how we can help you along your regenerative journey.
www.agsolutionsnetwork.com www.gratefulgraze.com
Thanks for joining us, today we welcome Dan Kittredge. Dan has been an organic farmer for more than 30 years and the founder and Executive Director of the Bionutrient Food Association (BFA), a non-profit whose mission is to “increase quality in the food supply.” Dan has become one of the leading proponents of “nutrient density,” and works to demonstrate the connections between soil health, plant health, and human health through workshops and speaking engagements across the country and globe, the annual Soil and Nutrition Conference, and an increased presence online through social media, a YouTube channel, and an upcoming online course. Today he and Monte discuss the opportunities and challenges in all these areas.
Dan grew up on Many Hands Organic Farm in central Massachusetts with his parents, Julie Rawson, NOFA-MA Executive Director, and Jack Kittredge, Natural Farmer publisher. After a global career in food and seed activism where he worked with farmers across India, Russia, and Central America, Dan returned to the U.S. and launched the BFA in order to ignite a movement around food quality.
Dan has become one of the leading proponents of “nutrient density,” and works to demonstrate the connections between soil health, plant health, and human health through workshops and speaking engagements across the country and globe, the annual Soil and Nutrition Conference, and an increased presence online through social media, a YouTube channel, and an upcoming online course.
In 2018, Dan launched the Real Food Campaign, now the Bionutrient Institute, that, with open-source science partners Our-Sci and FarmOS, are leading the effort to identify and increase nutrition in the food supply. The Bionutrient Institute has engineered and unveiled a prototype of a hand-held consumer spectrometer, the Bionutrient Meter, designed to test nutrient density at point of purchase and bring transparency to the marketplace. Via the Bionutrient Meter, the goal is to empower consumers to choose for nutrient quality and thereby leverage economic incentives to drive full system regeneration.
https://bionutrient.org/
Do you have a question for our guest or Monte to answer? Click on the link to submit your question and we will get back to you.
AgEmerge Podcast Follow Up Questions Link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdEIDQFBcyyzYniqrrgBHXr6AopZddN25xR-6IswEnli69v_w/viewform
Know someone you think would be great on the AgEmerge stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for joining us, we love to cover all topics along the soil health and system spectrum and today is no exception as we welcome Pat Miletich to the podcast. Pat has spent 35 years searching for the top supplements for human health, recovery and performance but you might best know him as a former U.S. Kickboxing and UFC Welterweight Champion.
I think it’s safe to say that Pat knows a thing or two about what we put in our bodies and how it affects recovery and performance. What’s really cool is Pat has come to have a deep desire to understand the soil health / human health connection. Pat understands the mechanics of the body and what works when it comes to keeping his body working in a healthy way.
I really appreciated this discussion today as we learn more about food and how it affects our health and physical performance. We look forward to bringing you more conversations that help us understand that human health soil health connection.
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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for joining us, today we welcome Dr. Mahdi M. Al-Kaisi a Professor Emeritus of soil physics (soil management/environment), the Department of Agronomy, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa. His research focuses on the effects of crops and tillage systems, crop residue, cover crops, and nitrogen application on soil carbon dynamics, sequestration, greenhouse gas emissions, and ecosystem services. Monte and Dr. Al-Kaisi really connected the dots when it comes to a systems approach, microbial function, soil carbon dynamics, and soil health.
Dr. Al-Kaisi studied the interaction effects of agricultural management practices and environmental factors such as weather variability and landscape spatial variability on soil organic carbon sequestration and systems sustainability and productivity. As a result of his research, he has developed field calculators to assess the impact of soil management practices, such as tillage, crop residue, and crop rotation on soil health. He developed a soil carbon index for soils in Iowa. Dr. Al-Kaisi is a Fellow of the American Society of Agronomy, the Soil Science Society of America, and Soil and Water Conservation Society.
Important Links: Iowa Residue Calculator http://extension.agron.iastate.edu/soilmgmt/calcResidue.aspx Soil Erosion Calculator https://milford.nserl.purdue.edu/wepp/strips.php Dr. Mahdi Al-Kaisi Published work: https://crops.extension.iastate.edu/authors/1702
Thanks for joining us, today we welcome Jerry Hatfield, Jerry is the retired Director of the USDA-ARS National Laboratory for Agriculture and the Environment in Ames, Iowa, and his bio illustrates his passion and knowledge for helping growers improve their agronomic systems. Much of Jerry’s focus has been on the evaluation of farming systems and their response to water and nitrogen interactions across soils and remote sensing methods to quantify field variation. A platform for his research utilizes the genetics by environment by management concept as a framework to work with producers to demonstrate how they can increase their production efficiency, increase soil health, and develop resilience to weather and climate variation as the foundation for food security. Today he and Monte dive into those topics and many more.
Jerry worked in California at the University of California-Davis from 1975-1983 as a biometeorologist working a range of different crops, joined USDA-ARS in 1983 at the Plant Stress and Water Conservation Unit in Lubbock, TX until his transfer to Ames in 1989 to develop the research program of the National Soil Tilth Laboratory (renamed the National Laboratory for Agriculture and the Environment in 2009). His research focused on the interactions among the components of the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum and their linkage to air, water, and soil quality. His focus has been on the evaluation of farming systems and their response to water and nitrogen interactions across soils and remote sensing methods to quantify field variation. A platform for his research utilizes the genetics x environment x management concept as a framework to work with producers to demonstrate how they can increase their production efficiency, increase soil health, and develop resilience to weather and climate variation as the foundation for food security. His outreach efforts have included participation in the National Climate Assessment as the Lead Author for agriculture for the US and on the IPCC effort on greenhouse gases and climate change. Dr. Hatfield is an accomplished author with 508 refereed publications and 18 monographs and serves as the Editor for Agroecosystems, Geosciences and Environment and Technical Editor for Agriculture and Environmental Letters and ranks in the top 2% of researchers in the world. He edited several volumes including Crop Adaptation to Climate Change and Food Security and Climate Change. His numerous awards include being inducted into the USDA-ARS Hall of Fame for his research impact the Hugh Hammond Bennett award and the Soil Science Society of America Distinguished Service Award in 2022 along with being a Fellow in the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America and serving as President of the American Society of Agronomy in 2007. He received his PhD from Iowa State University in 1975 in the area of agricultural climatology, MS in agronomy from the University of Kentucky in 1972, and a BS in agronomy from Kansas State University in 1971.
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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for joining us, today we welcome Russ Conser. Russ is the CEO of Blue Nest Beef, an e-commerce startup bringing 100% grassfed beef from Audubon-certified bird-friendly land direct to consumer doorsteps nationwide. Theirs is a story of farmers and consumers co-creating a new and better food system that enhances the health of both people and the planet. This conversation really gets us excited not only about what is currently happening but what is on the horizon for improving soil and human health. Isn’t it amazing all the pieces and people that are working together to build such a great legacy? Russ Conser is CEO of Blue Nest Beef - an e-commerce startup bringing 100% grassfed beef from Audubon-certified bird-friendly land direct to consumer doorsteps nationwide. Blue Nest Beef spotlights birds as treasurer and measure in a bigger story of farmers and consumers co-creating a new and better food system that enhances the health of both people and planet.
Russ is originally a mechanical engineer who spent 30 years at Shell and is now a regenerative agriculture entrepreneur and scientist. Having spent the 1st half of that career in big oil finding and extracting dead carbon from the deep earth, he spent the 2nd half investing in scientists and innovators developing novel energy technologies ultimately leading Shell’s innovative “GameChanger” program.
Russ retired from Shell in 2013 and has since been focused on the science and business of putting living carbon back into the shallow Earth by working to scale up proven regenerative agriculture practices. He is currently President of The Grassfed Exchange - a non-profit regenerative agriculture educational foundation focused on farmer-to-farmer knowledge exchange.
https://bluenestbeef.com/ https://www.instagram.com/bluenestbeef/ https://www.facebook.com/BlueNestBeef/ https://twitter.com/BlueNestBeef
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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for joining us, today we welcome Dan Miller, Founder and CEO of Steward. Steward is a private lender providing regenerative farmers, ranchers, fishermen, and producers the capital they need to expand and sustain their businesses. And through Steward’s innovative online platform, qualified lenders have the opportunity to join in their mission and help fund the growth of regenerative agriculture by purchasing loan participations.
Steward's story begins with its founder and CEO, Dan Miller. Ask Dan what inspired him to create Steward, and he'll tell you about early mornings spent crabbing with his father on the Chesapeake Bay. This was the experience that rooted him to the land, but it was a meeting with a well-known chef in Dan's hometown, Washington D.C., that would plant the idea of Steward in his mind. This chef spoke of the difficulties facing the independent farmers that supplied his restaurant: the more specialized the farms were, the harder it was to get a loan.
Dan felt that instead of forcing farmers to fit within a box, it should be the other way around. So he committed himself to creating a system that empowers each unique farmer to steward their land sustainably, with consumers—the people with the most to gain from sustainable farming—having the opportunity to join in their success.
After graduating from the Wharton School with a B.S. and M.B.A., Dan co-founded a pioneering investment crowdfunding business called Fundrise. In 2010, it was the first and largest real estate crowdfunding platform in the United States, and has since raised more than $500 million. It's this experience, combined with a passion for agriculture, ecology, and local food that led Dan to launching Steward in 2017.
https://gosteward.com/ https://www.instagram.com/steward/ https://www.facebook.com/GoSteward https://www.linkedin.com/company/go-steward/ https://twitter.com/GoSteward
dan@gosteward.com
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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for joining us, today we welcome Dr. Allen Williams a 6th generation family farmer and founding partner of Understanding Ag, the Soil Health Academy, and Regenified. Allen and his colleagues specialize in whole farm and ranch planning based on the concept of regenerative agriculture. They’ve worked in all 50 U.S. States and with farmers in dozens of countries globally.
Today we discuss not only what changes can be made in operations but also what changes we have to make internally. Allen says the very first thing we have to do is transform our minds before we can start transforming practices because if we don't understand what we’re doing and why we’re doing it, we’ll be hard pressed to see success.
Allen has consulted with more than 4000 farmers and ranchers in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and 30+ other countries, on individual operations ranging from a few acres to over 2 million acres. He is a “recovering academic”, having served 15 years on the faculty at Louisiana Tech University and Mississippi State University.
He holds a B.S. and M.S. in Animal Science from Clemson University and a Ph.D. in Genetics and Physiology from LSU. He has authored more than 400 scientific and popular press articles, and is an invited speaker at regional, national, and international conferences and symposia. Allen and his colleagues specialize in whole farm & ranch planning based on the concept of regenerative agriculture. They have worked in all 50 U.S. States and with farmers in dozens of countries globally. In the U.S. they are currently working across 32 million acres in regenerative transition.
Allen has been featured in the Carbon Nation film series, Carbon Cowboys, on the Dr. Oz show, ABC Food Forecast News, in A Regenerative Secret, The Farmer’s Footprint film series and the Sacred Cow film series.
https://understandingag.com/ https://www.facebook.com/understandingag https://www.linkedin.com/company/understanding-ag-llc/ https://twitter.com/UnderstandingAg https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQk96t4pMertgPRHe6D73qA
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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for joining us, today we welcome Dr. John Tooker. Dr. Tooker is a Professor and Extension Specialist in the Department of Entomology at Pennsylvania State University. We have a great conversation with him as he discusses his research studying relationships among plants, invertebrate herbivores, and natural enemies to understand the factors that regulate populations of herbivorous insects and slugs.
Dr. Tooker talks with Monte about how they are helping farmers observe what is happening in but also around their fields and using the power of observation while pausing to explore all the possible factors affecting their system. In addition, the long-term goal of his research is to exploit ecological interactions for sustainable insect pest management.
https://ento.psu.edu/directory/jft11 https://ento.psu.edu/research/labs/john-tooker
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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for joining us, today we welcome Eric Jackson and Dr. Stephan vanVliet, Eric currently serves as the Board Chair of the Bionutrient Food Association, on the BoD of Victory Hemp Foods and an advisor to Homeplate Foods, Water Asset Management, Other Half Processing and The Yield Lab. He is a Strategic Advisor to the Applied Ecological Institute and he also serves on the Steering Council for the Forever Green Partnership based out of the University of Minnesota. And since we last spoke with Dr. vanVliet, he has joined the Center for Human Nutrition Studies at Utah State University, Stephan is Is a nutrition scientist with metabolomics expertise.
Listen in as Eric and Stephan talk with Monte about how they are working together to explore nutrient density and food production from the soil up. Eric stated it best when he said it became apparent to him that there is a path forward if we want to create a food system that gives an opportunity for growers to participate in the value that they create through their production practices around quality.
Eric currently serves as the Board Chair of the Bionutrient Food Association, on the BoD of Victory Hemp Foods and an advisor to Homeplate Foods, Water Asset Management, Other Half Processing and The Yield Lab. He is a Strategic Advisor to the Applied Ecological Institute and he also serves on the Steering Council for the Forever Green Partnership based out of the University of Minnesota.
As an entrepreneur, Eric was the founding CEO of Pipeline Foods and a co-founder of Conservis, which was acquired by a joint venture established by Rabobank and TELUS Agriculture. He also co-founded CP Holdings as a member of the Chicago Climate Exchange, developing carbon sequestration projects across the Northern Plains of the USA. In the corporate world, Eric started his career with The Pillsbury Company. He then joined International Proteins Corporation and led a MBO of the group. As CEO and Board Chair of IPC, he led the sale of the company to Scoular, where he joined their BoD and was corporate SVP and General Manager until his departure in 2007.
Stephan Is a nutrition scientist with metabolomics expertise in the Center for Human Nutrition Studies at Utah State University. Dr. Stephan van Vliet earned his PhD in Kinesiology as an ESPEN Fellow from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and received training at the Washington University in St Louis School of Medicine and Duke University School of Medicine. Dr. van Vliet’s research is performed at the nexus of agricultural and human health. He routinely collaborates with farmers, ecologists, and agricultural scientists to study critical linkages between agricultural production methods, the nutrient density of food, and human health. His work has been published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Scientific Reports, the Journal of Nutrition, and the Journal of Physiology.
https://bionutrient.org/ https://www.facebook.com/Bionutrient https://www.instagram.com/bionutrientfoodassociation https://twitter.com/BionutrientFood https://www.youtube.com/bionutrient https://www.linkedin.com/company/bionutrient
https://stephanvanvliet.com/
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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for joining us, today we welcome Alan Lewis. Alan is the Vice President of Advocacy & Governmental Affairs at Natural Grocers. Alan navigates government affairs and food and agriculture policy for Natural Grocers, a Colorado based health food chain founded in 1955 with over 170 stores in 20 states. At the federal, state and local level, Alan engages on food, agriculture, nutrition, rural economic development, food safety, trade and health issues. He is active in several trade and advocacy organizations and is a fearless writer, speaker and activist.
Alan shares how his personal family story plays deeply into why he is so passionate about the work he’s doing. Alan talks with Monte about how Natural Grocers is a part of a broad coalition of thousands of independent food retailers who are trying to change the food system by changing the supply chain. Join us as we explore this important topic.
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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Alan's TED Talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y81rCiw1LPY
Naturalgrocers.com https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdBPUfDtnD6qDMramNjM1Rg https://twitter.com/naturalgrocers https://www.pinterest.com/naturalgrocers/ https://www.instagram.com/naturalgrocers/ https://www.facebook.com/NaturalGrocers/
Thanks for joining us, today we welcome Erin Martin, founder of Conscious Aging Solutions connecting others with preventative and conscious approaches to longevity. Erin is a Gerontologist, and is passionate about studying the process of aging. And her story gets even more exciting because of her life experiences and a kind of a-ha moment during a trip to a blue-zone area that enforced her desire to uncover how food plays such a significant role in our aging process. Erin is certified in Regenerative Soil Advocacy through Kiss the Ground and is passionate about soil health while and sharing that food is medicine. Erin is also the President of the Tulsa Urban Ag Coalition and the director of Oklahoma’s FreshRx Food is Medicine program.
Erin Martin’s passion for helping others started at fifteen when she started working in a retirement community. Today, Erin holds a Masters degree in Gerontology from the University of Southern California, the first and #1 Gerontology school in the world. In 2017, Erin founded Conscious Aging Solutions to connect others with preventative and conscious approaches to longevity. She is certified in Regenerative Soil Advocacy through Kiss the Ground and is passionate about spreading the gospel of food is medicine and the link to soil health. Erin is the President of the Tulsa Urban Ag Coalition and the director of Oklahoma’s FreshRx Food is Medicine program.
https://consciousagingsolutions.com/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiHPwXqkUcr0HR4gakqxGPQ https://www.facebook.com/consciousagingsolutions https://www.instagram.com/consciousagingsolutions/
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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for joining us, today we welcome Clint Brauer, CEO and Founder of Greenfield Robotics. Clint has a great story. He grew up farming in south-central Kansas and went to K State where he got into technology. After graduating from college and spending a decade plus in media and technology, in Los Angeles, San Fransisco, and New York, Clint decided to return to his roots in Kansas, launching MG Honor Farms on the family farmstead.
Clint began adopting regenerative ag principles but was frustrated with the limitations of current tools and technology for regenerative farming and the dream of organic no-till, so he decided to launch a company where he could use his technology experience to solve the scaling issues of regenerative broadacre systems. Clint and his team are doing some exciting work and he and Monte explore that today.
Clint grew up in Kansas and learned as a child how to train dairy cattle, grow vegetables and farm broadacre crops. After college, he began his career with W3-Design, an early web design agency in Los Angeles, where he managed their top clients. Clint then worked for Universal Music where he helped with the data asset management project for digital distribution of music. In 2003, Clint joined Sony and his role quickly expanded to VP of Marketing, CRM and Operations of Sony Connect, an early cutting-edge video service which blazed a path for mainstream services like Netflix and Hulu.
Clint’s team created one of the first true 360 degree views of customers across ecommerce, email, offline and online campaigns and the call centers. This involved integration of early stage SaaS companies Omniture, RightNow, PostFuture, Pivotlink and an internal ecommerce system. Clint also drove the division toward SEO as a customer acquisition strategy over traditional media deals. His team then successfully launched the Sony eReader and software across North America, both online and at retail, and also worked with book publishers to substantially decrease the cost of ebook conversion.
After a decade-plus in media and technology, Clint returned to his roots in Kansas, launching MG Honor Farms on the family farmstead. Clint has grown and marketed over 100+ crops without chemicals outdoors, in traditional greenhouses as well as hydroponic greenhouses. Clint has also advised over 10 farms with their marketing, helping them secure distribution into 35+ grocery stores such as all Kansas City-area Whole Foods and Hy-Vee’s as well as 25+ restaurants and 4 school systems.
In 2015 Clint started Canidae Farms, a regenerative farm network for Canidae Pet Foods (canidae.com/farms), which he continues to operate. In this role he is working with farms to adopt regenerative agriculture practices in return for higher margins. Canidae was acquired by L Catterton in 2018 and the program is now expanding again in 2020 with partner farms in Kansas and Nebraska.
Frustrated with the limitations of current tools and technology for regenerative farming, Clint decided to launch a company to solve the scaling issues of regenerative broadacre systems. He recruited Carl Sutter and Steven Gentner, two talented engineers he met decades ago at W3-design, to co-found Greenfield Robotics. The company has been working for several years on its small, autonomous robots for weed control, and is currently in customer pilots.
https://www.greenfieldrobotics.com/ https://www.facebook.com/greenfieldrobotics/ https://twitter.com/GreenfieldBots https://www.instagram.com/greenfieldrobotics/ linkedin.com/company/greenfield-robotics/
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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for joining us, today we welcome Dr. Fatma Kaplan. She is the co-founder, CEO, and CSO of Pheronym. Not only is she an entrepreneur and accomplished scientist with experience in biology and chemistry, but she also has a passion for understanding the intricacies and behaviors of both parasitic and beneficial nematodes. Monte and Fatma explore everything from nematodes in agriculture to nematodes in space, yes space! Dr. Kaplan conducted the first agricultural biocontrol experiment in Space at the International Space Station in 2020.
Dr. Kaplan has a Ph.D. in Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology and postdoctoral training in Natural Product Chemistry with a focus on isolating biologically active compounds. She discovered the first sex pheromone of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans and published in Nature in 2008.
Then she discovered pheromones regulate other behaviors in both parasitic and beneficial nematodes. Dr. Kaplan conducted the first agricultural biocontrol experiment in Space at the International Space Station in 2020. She has very high impact publications and her dissertation was cited in textbooks within 5 years of publication.
Dr. Kaplan worked as a scientist at NASA, the National Magnetic Field Laboratory and the US Department of Agriculture – Agricultural Research Service. Dr. Kaplan co-founded Pheronym to bring nematode pheromone technology to the market. Dr. Kaplan believes that nematode pheromone technology will provide effective, non-toxic pest control for farmers and gardeners.
https://www.pheronym.com/ https://www.ars.usda.gov/news-events/news/research-news/2019/starship-nematode/ https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0022201119300503
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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Paul Greive, is Pasturebird’s Co-founder and VP of Sales and Marketing, located in Temecula, California. Paul shares with us Pasturebird’s awesome story and what has driven their team to reinvent American poultry production. They’ve worked to scale the production of regenerative poultry, raising over two million chickens without antibiotics or drugs. They’ve kept their focus on the land, the animal, and the consumer all while improving the soil every year. Paul says, “we use nature as our template, and move animals to fresh pasture every day.” Listen in and Monte and Paul discuss this great American story of passion, innovation, and regeneration.
Paul grew up in downtown Seattle and was a college athlete with no interest in food or agriculture. His farming journey began after contracting Lyme disease from a tick bite during Marine Corps sniper training and experiencing the joint pain, brain fog, and decreased performance common with the autoimmune condition.
After returning from Iraq in 2009, he and his family started eating paleo and grew frustrated with the lack of pasture raised meat available in Southern California. In 2012, they ordered 50 chicks and raised them in the backyard as a fun project. Mimicking their mentor, Joel Salatin, they raised the birds in mobile coops on pasture, moving them every single day. The birds sold out instantly, and the business started to take shape, especially when the LA Lakers and LA Dodgers players became their first wholesale accounts.
Pasturebird has continued to grow into the largest pasture raised chicken operation in the world, and they’re hyper focused 2 things: 1) making true pasture raised + nutrient dense chicken more accessible and affordable, and 2) re-integrating animals and crops in a regenerative, closed loop system. The primary means for accomplishing this is Pasturebird’s Automated Range Coop (ARC), a 6,000 bird floorless mobile coop that drives itself to fresh pasture every daily using solar power.
https://www.pasturebird.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulgreive/
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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Brad Schmidt, is the Manager of Agronomy at Regeneration Nation. We’ve had the pleasure of knowing Brad for several years and he was one of the speakers at our first AgEmerge event back in 2019. Brad has a passion, not only for soil health but for bringing people together to share their regenerative management experiences. Brad had the opportunity to work and learn under Dr. Dwayne Beck at the Dakota Lakes Research Farm where he saw and experienced firsthand how these practices worked in some of the toughest soils. Listen in as Monte and Brad discuss the power of producer-based research, diversifying your operation, including why other companies are interested in these practices and working with growers that are building soil health.
Brad grew up in Southwest Minnesota, attended college at South Dakota State University receiving a Bachelors Degree in Agriculture Science. He worked for Dwayne Beck at Dakota Lakes Research Farm while attending school and after college, worked for Cronin Farms in Gettysburg SD on their very diverse cropping and ranching operation.
Brad then became the head Agronomist for Ducks Unlimited in the US for 3 years. Working with DU he helped found their Soil Health Program to work more closely with farmers to reach their goals of profitability and reach DU's goals of conservation work. Nearing the end of his time with DU he founded Regeneration Nation LLC. Regeneration Nation is a biological-based company focused on increasing profitability and bringing more value back to farmers and ranchers with the power of biologicals. He also serves on the board for Holistic Management International and is a part-owner in his family's direct marketing business where they sell Regeneratively Raised meats direct to consumers. He’s married to his wife Ashley and they have one son and live in Brookings SD.
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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Research scientist Dr. Ryan Schmid and student scientist, Tia Busenitz both from the Ecdysis Foundation, join us for episode 081. Ryan leads the foundation’s rangeland studies. His current research focuses on how regenerative grazing affects pollinator and dung arthropod communities, and how arthropods facilitate the cycling of nutrients in Grasslands. Tia’s current research is focused on honey bee health and hive management, as well as land management effects on pollinator conservation and survival.
Add passion and purpose to the pollinators, pastures and poop discussion. It’s folks like Ryan and Tia and all the researchers at Ecdysis that are helping us uncover and understand all of these different communities through, as they say, their “cutting edge research for transforming agriculture with regenerative principles.” So listen in as Monte discusses with Ryan and Tia all things pollinators, pastures and poop!
Ryan Schmid is a research scientist with Ecdysis Foundation since 2018, where he leads the foundation’s rangeland studies. He credits his upbringing on a family-farm for honing his interest to work with ranchers investigating ecosystem services provided by arthropods in rangelands. His current research focuses on how regenerative grazing affects pollinator and dung arthropod communities, and how arthropods facilitate the cycling of nutrients in Grasslands.
Katya (Tia) Busenitz is a student scientist at Ecdysis Foundation while pursuing her master’s degree in entomology from UNL. Her admiration for insects and the natural world led her towards entomology, then inevitably into sustainable agriculture and agroecology. Her current research is focused on honeybee health and hive management, as well as land management effects on pollinator conservation and survival.
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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Check out the Ecdysis Foundation's website for all the research they are doing, it's exciting work!
https://www.ecdysis.bio/
Dr. Stephanie Seneff, is a Senior Research Scientist at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
On this podcast Monte and Dr. Seneff discuss her research and work in understanding the role of toxic chemicals and micronutrient deficiencies in health and disease. Sometimes our topics are hard but necessary to hear. Hopefully, this conversation will encourage you to do some critical thinking about our production systems and how we can continue working to improve not only soil health but human health.
Dr. Seneff has a BS degree from MIT in biology and MS, EE and PhD degrees from MIT in electrical engineering and computer science. She has published over 200 peer-reviewed papers in scientific journals and conference proceedings. Her recent interests have focused on the role of toxic chemicals and micronutrient deficiencies in health and disease, with a special emphasis on the pervasive herbicide, Roundup, and the mineral, sulfur.
Dr. Seneff's Website: stephanieseneff.net
Toxic Legacy on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0971R287S/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
Bioconcentration of glyphosate in wetland biofilms: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33310222/
Glyphosate remains in forest plant tissues for a decade or more: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378112721003479
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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
David Brandt of Brandt Farms and Walnut Creek Seed is a living legend. If you know your soil health, no-till history, and follow the leaders in these areas then you know how fortunate we are to get to visit with David.
He’s been no-tilling since 1971, back when they called it trash farming and a whole list of other things. But David would not be deterred, he continued to test systems, implement cover crops and utilize livestock to improve soil health. Listen in to this great conversation as he and Monte talk about the history, the present, and the exciting future on their farm.
BRANDT FARM EVENT NOTE: At the time of this airing, the event is sold out but click on the event link to find out more info about the event and possible access to a recording of the event. Brandt Farms is hosting their 2022 Spring Soil Health Field Day Friday, April 8th, 2022 8:30am-3:30pm Click below to register for the Field Day. https://www.walnutcreekseeds.com/default.html#upcomingevents
David Brandt farms 950 acres all no-till, in Fairfield County, which is located in central Ohio. He began no-till farming in 1971 and has been using cover crops since 1978. David has participated in yield plots for corn, soybeans, and wheat into various covers. This information has been used by seed growers as well as county agents and universities to encourage other farmers to adapt no-till practices in their farming operations. He has also been planting various blends of cover crops to find out what benefits they provide to improve soil health. David is co-owner of Walnut Creek Seeds, LLC with his son and daughter-in-law Jay and Ann Brandt. David has had articles published in Farm Journal, Ohio Farmer, Country Journal, and numerous no-till journals.
He has worked in cooperation with The Ohio State University, the University of Illinois, Penn State University, Purdue University, and Milan Research Farm in Tennessee. At present, David is working with OSU Randall Reeder and Dr. Islam on reducing input costs of fertilizers and herbicides using various cover crops which improve soil health. The results of this study have been published in the International Soil and Water Conservation Research journal. (March 2014, Vol. 2, No. 1) He is also working with the regional NRCS soils lab in Greensboro, North Carolina on the benefits of cover crops to improve soil health.
David Brandt has received awards for conservation practices: Ohio EPA Non-Point Pollution Winner, Ohio Conservation Farmer, Ohio Conservation Educator Award from Ohio No-Till Council, Ohio State University South Center Supporter of the Year, a Friend to Public Education Award from the Ohio School Board Assoc., Ohio Agriculture Man of the Year, Ohio Farm Bureau Federation Distinguished Service to Agriculture Award, Ohio NRCS Soil Conservationist Partnership, 2015 No-Till Innovator in Crop Production award at the 2016 National No-Till Conference, Master Farmer of Ohio selected by the Ohio Farmer magazine and NRCS State Volunteer Awards, appointed to the rank of “Chevalier” of Agriculture merit by the French Minister of Agriculture 2016 Associations: Past Fairfield County Soil and Water Supervisor, Past President of Fairfield Co. Farm Bureau, Member of Land Use Planning Committee, Past President of Local Cooperative Association, Currently President of Ohio No-Till Council, Working with Local FFA chapters to allow young men and women to learn about agriculture and utilization of equipment and resources, member of the National Gideon’s Association, and several county Historical associations, Ohio State Piketon research committee member, host to the Believers Bible men's fellowship.
Check out https://www.walnutcreekseeds.com/
Got questions you want answered? Send them our way and we’ll do our best to research and find answers. Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you
Russell Hedrick is a first-generation farmer in the foothills of Hickory, North Carolina.
Known as one of the most progressive young farmers in the country for his work utilizing soil health practices on his cash crops. He was just awarded as the winner of the North Carolina soybean yield record in 2021 and in 2017 he won the North Carolina Corn Yield Contest. He was the first person to win in the state using regenerative practices.
Russell's operation focuses on maximizing profits and direct consumer marketing for all their products, including corn, soybeans, wheat, barley, pastures beef and pork. He is the co-founder of Regen Mills and Heritage Ground, co-owner of Soil Regen, LLC, and has partnered with Foothills Distillery producing the first bourbon in North Carolina since prohibition. Today he and Monte explore all these areas and you’ll hear the passion Russell has for making this happen. You can find more information about all of Russell’s endeavors here at these websites:
https://www.agsoilregen.com/ https://www.heritageground.com/
Paul Mikesell, is Founder and CEO of Carbon Robotics where they have developed a system and technology for weed control that uses computer vision and very high powered lasers as the action for weed eradication. Listen in as Paul talks about the opportunities this technology creates!
Paul Mikesell is the founder and CEO of Carbon Robotics. Paul has deep experience founding and building successful technology startups. Paul co-founded Isilon Systems, a distributed storage company, in 2001. Isilon went public in 2006 and was acquired by EMC for 2.5 billion dollars in 2010. In 2006, Paul co-founded Clustrix, a distributed database startup that was acquired by MariaDB in 2018. Prior to Carbon, Paul served as Director of Infrastructure Engineering at Uber, where he grew the team and opened the company’s engineering office in Seattle, later focusing on deep learning and computer vision. Paul holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from the University of Washington.
Carbon Robotics Website: https://carbonrobotics.com/?mc_cid=a5f5790b3f&mc_eid=UNIQID Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/carbonrobotics/?mc_cid=a5f5790b3f&mc_eid=UNIQID YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/CarbonRoboticsLaserWeeding?mc_cid=a5f5790b3f&mc_eid=UNIQID Twitter: https://twitter.com/carbon_robotics?mc_cid=a5f5790b3f&mc_eid=UNIQID Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carbon_robotics/
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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you.
Nofence CTO Oscar Hovde Berntsen and CEO Knut Bentzen talk with us about how Nofence has worked to develop technology to graze animals and control moves using virtual fencing technology. Monte discusses with them the opportunities virtual fencing could create through managed grazing utilizing daily or regular moves. They also explore other opportunities virtual fencing could provide through proper ground management and animal observation like where the animals move and how they graze. Nofence is doing pilot projects in the United States so they can learn more about the needs of growers here in the US. This is an exciting conversation as they explore this technology and its amazing applications. 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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we’d love to hear from you! You can find more information on Nofence here: https://www.nofence.no/en/?mc_cid=aab29e451a&mc_eid=UNIQID https://www.linkedin.com/company/nofence-as/?mc_cid=aab29e451a&mc_eid=UNIQID https://www.linkedin.com/company/nofence-as/?mc_cid=aab29e451a&mc_eid=UNIQID https://www.facebook.com/Nofence/?mc_cid=aab29e451a&mc_eid=UNIQID https://www.instagram.com/nofence/?mc_cid=aab29e451a&mc_eid=UNIQID https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EihJuqlOmDc&mc_cid=aab29e451a&mc_eid=UNIQID
Ben Moest is a third-generation grain and livestock farmer located in Stephenson County, IL near the WI border where he and his family own and operate a hog and cash crop operation.
Ben is the President of High Plains Grains, which he operates with his brother, Grant Moest, and two other partners. They raise 100% non-GMO corn & non-GMO soybeans along with small grains including wheat, rye, and oats. They also practice multi-species cover cropping on all of their acres annually and hope to begin the integration of livestock on the land in some form starting in 2022. Their primary focus in crop production is on soil conservation and building healthy, well-functioning soils that are improving over time.
Family, communication, and legacy are all part of this exciting conversation where we hear how they’re all working in the operation and bringing their specific skills and talents together to create a well-oiled machine. In addition, we learn a lot about the mindset of building communication, fine-tuning management opportunities, and ultimately growing a business that utilizes and encourages new ideas.
This conversation with Ben is so encouraging. The way his family approaches change and how they work together to communicate their individual desires and goals is exciting. And communication is really a big part of the equation. Recognizing that there are different ways for different types of operations to implement practices that build resilience in today's agriculture, is exciting to hear.
After growing up on the farm, Ben attended the University of Wisconsin-Platteville where he earned a bachelor’s degree in agricultural business. After college, he earned his Series 3 license and spent time working as a licensed broker in the dairy risk management industry, while also becoming a licensed crop insurance agent, which he still is today. Ben came back to the family operation in 2019 to help raise a feminized CBD hemp crop, and then quickly started assisting in the management of the overall farm.
What excites Ben most in life is soil stewardship & regenerative farming. He cares deeply for the land and has a life-long mission of leaving whatever land he's blessed to care for in much better shape than when he started. Ben believes farming production models of the future will be much more diverse and sustainable than what they are today, and he’s most excited about doing his part to help design, develop, test, and implement said models right on his own farm. Healthy people come from healthy ecosystems, and healthy ecosystems start with healthy soils.
Take a look at some of Ben and his team's work in this Mechanized CBD Hemp Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=656Ll-GITZU
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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm
We’d love to hear from you!
Dr. Liz Haney is Founder of Soil Regen and co-founder of Regen Mills and Heritage Ground. Liz is a soil and ecosystem scientist with experience in regenerative agriculture education, soil health testing and analyses, carbon as well as conservation practice modeling.
Today Monte and Liz unpack all of those areas including soil testing in the regenerative space, carbon, mobile milling, and everything in between. Listen in as we explore these topics!
Liz’s purpose, drive, and passion are helping to improve producer profitability, environmental sustainability, and human health through regenerative practices and soil health. Throughout her career, she has developed an expansive network of scientists, thought leaders, consultants, farmers, and ranchers within the sustainable agriculture space. Liz loves nothing more than creating community and is skilled at coordinating and conducting educational events, workshops, and conferences, bringing together today’s leading innovators in regenerative agriculture. Liz is the founder of Soil Regen and co-founder of Regen Mills and Heritage Ground with Sarah Varble and Russell Hedrick.
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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm
We’d love to hear from you!
Ag Solutions Network entered the soil health game with biologicals almost two decades ago. We’ve seen farmers and our dealer network successfully impact more and more acreage with a soil health first approach. In 2019, AgEmerge began as an event idea where we gathered awesome speakers along with a dynamic group of growers to really challenge old paradigms and have conversations that resulted in system changes. Since the AgEmerge events, we expanded learning opportunities to our AgEmerge podcast. You can find podcast episodes and all the previous AgEmerge event speakers on our Ag Solutions Network YouTube channel, linked in the show notes.
As the end of 2021 approaches, we're excited to bring you this podcast with some new content from a summer meeting where Monte Bottens talks about how ASN’s Power2Gro System enables principle-based farming. And we’ve included some fun clips from the past year! Today’s collection of podcasts brings you thought-provoking discussions from people who changed the way they see things when it comes to soil health. Our discussions come from growers, researchers, entrepreneurs, and other thought leaders who are passionate about all the aspects of regenerative agriculture. And we bring you people who’ve made life-changing decisions to improve not only their soil health but their personal health. As you know, at ASN and with our AgEmerge content, we don't just talk about what our speakers are doing, we talk about how they are making it work. And we don’t sugar coat it, we discuss pain points, struggles and failures too. We think it's so important to remember that there will be ups and downs that pave the way to victory. So don’t let those hard knocks stop you on this journey.
The great news is, more and more growers are adopting soil health practices and we’re all building networks to help each other adopt these systems by sharing ideas, strategies, and practices that work. It seems no one is holding their cards close to their vest when it comes to regenerative agriculture and we’re all eager to help others get on board.
And as always, if you’d like to learn more about what we’re doing to help growers implement soil health practices, check out our website at asn.farm and there you can click on the links to follow us on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Linkedin. There’s a lot of great things happening and always something to learn - thanks for listening!
Check out all these clips: https://www.agsolutionsnetwork.com/agemergepodcast Featuring: Sarah Carlson, Practical Farmers of Iowa Dr. Pam Marrone, Marrone Bio Innovations Jeff Moyer, CEO Rodale Institute Jay McCaman, Author: When Weeds Talk Dr. Joel Gruver, Soil Scientist Western Illinois University Joe Bassett, CEO of Dawn Equipment and Underground Ag Dr. Fred Provenza, Professor Emeritus of Behavioral Ecology in the Department of Wildland Resources at Utah State University Dr. Stephan van Vliet Nutrition Scientist and Metabolomics Expert, Stedman Nutrition and Metabolism Center at Duke University School of Medicine Michelle Perro, MD, DHOM Blaine Hitzfield, CEO of Seven Sons Farm Dino Giacomazzi, the CEO of Giacomazzi Almond Company, Inc. Dr. Mike Bredeson, Research Agroecologist at the Ecdysis Foundation Mikayla Tabert, Trinity Creek Ranch, Inc. Seth Watkins, Farmer from Clarinda Iowa Will Harris, White Oak Pastures Ron Joyce, President and CEO of Joyce Farms Rick Bayless, Chef Frontera Grill, Topolobampo, Xoco, Tortas
Monte and Kim discuss a range of topics including some of the exciting things Monte’s been working on, thinking about, and implementing over the past year. This time of year also gives us an opportunity to evaluate what worked, and what didn’t, as well as explore new ideas and opportunities. And, we talk about some topics happening right now in agriculture.
Monte Bottens has deep roots in agriculture. Raised as a fifth-generation, northwestern Illinois farmer, Monte is a business owner, entrepreneur and thought leader. Monte began his farming career with two bred sows given to him by his grandmother. Thanks to great guidance from his dad and equipment-sharing startup assistance, today he’s the owner of Bottens Family Farm. The farm utilizes the latest agricultural innovations in precision farming technology, crop management systems, and participates in advanced regenerative ag principles to produce a diversity of crops and grass-fed livestock.
He is the Founder, President and CEO of Ag Solutions Network, Inc. (ASN) headquartered in Moline, Illinois, where he leads the development and distribution of the POWER2GRO crop production system. ASN utilizes the latest technological advancements and highest-quality ingredients to enable farmers to build soil health and soil wealth.
Monte is the Founder and Partner of California Ag Solutions, Inc. (CAS) in Madera, CA. The CAS team serves farmers of the Central Valley by helping them adopt reduced tillage techniques combined with improved water and nutrient efficiency using ASN’s POWER2GRO system on a wide variety of crops.
Monte has a love for the agricultural diversity in California. He serves on the leadership team of Conservation Agriculture Systems Innovation (CASI) center that develops integrated reduced tillage and irrigation techniques in California and globally. His excitement for ag tech and continuous process improvement also led him to get involved with the UC Davis Entrepreneurship Program and the Sacramento Angles. He has a desire to teach others and make region specific practices applicable for all different crops, soil types, and climates throughout the US. He has presented at many conferences and universities sharing his passion for soil health and agriculture innovation.
Monte is a graduate of Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois. He and his wife Robyn live in Sherrard, Illinois, close to family and the family farm.
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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm
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Dr. Pam Marrone spent her 30 plus year career focused on biological products for pest management and plant health, having started and led three bioag companies.
She’s a scientist, a CEO, a serial entrepreneur, a pioneer and that’s just the short list. In her words, she says, she got “hooked on microbes” early on and spent her career looking for environmentally responsible biologically based solutions. By the end of this podcast, we're pretty sure you’ll be hooked on microbes too!
In August 2020, Dr. Marrone retired as CEO of Marrone Bio Innovations (NASDAQ: MBII), a company she started in 2006 and listed on NASDAQ (MBII) in 2013. She remains on the Board of Directors and as an advisor. She is the treasurer of the Association for Women in Science, on the board of the Foundation for Food and Agricultural Research, is a Senior Fellow of the Arizona State University Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems and is a past alumni-Trustee of Cornell University. She is an advisor or board member for several ag/food tech and life sciences companies, most founded or led by women. She has a B.S. in entomology with Honors and Distinction from Cornell University and a Ph.D. in entomology from North Carolina State University.
Learn more about Dr. Marrone: https://marronebio.com/resources/bio-bites/ Twitter @pammarrone LinkedIn is https://www.linkedin.com/in/pamela-pam-marrone-110ab6/
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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm
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Dino Giacomazzi, is the CEO of Giacomazzi Almond Company, Inc and the 4th generation to manage his family’s farm founded in 1893 by his Swiss-Italian great-grandfather. The operation consists of 700 Acres of Almonds, 300 acres of Corn, wheat & Alfalfa, and 2 miniature donkeys.
Dino talks with us about his farming journey, including family farming identities, industry dynamics, new opportunities and the different pressures changing farming practices and improvements face. He and Monte also discuss the excitement and challenges of engaging the next generation in the paradigm shifting business of agriculture. Monte and Dino explore everything from dairy, to almonds and cover crops and especially how they’re working to break down those metaphoric silos that can obstruct change. That includes a deep dive into some of the pressure points like water regulations as well as labor, environmental factors, and governing that affect farming operations today.
The Giacomazzis were dairy farmers for 126 years and were the oldest continuously operating dairy farm in California at the time of their sale in 2019.
Dino has managed his family farm since 2002. Prior to that, he had a 13-year career in the music and internet industries where he managed rock bands and developed online applications for internet startups and Fortune 1000 companies.
Dino is a promoter of sustainable farming practices and was the 2012 Leopold Conservation Award recipient for California and named Sustainable Ag Champion by US EPA in 2010. Dino’s work on strip-tillage of dairy forage crops has been published in numerous journals and techniques developed on his farm have been adopted throughout California.
Dino is currently utilizing highly efficient automated irrigation systems and implementing regenerative agricultural practices in his almond operation.
Check out their almond company at https://giacomazzibrothers.com/
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 stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm
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Dr. Fred Provenza, is Professor Emeritus of Behavioral Ecology in the Department of Wildland Resources at Utah State University where he directed an award-winning research group that pioneered an understanding of how learning influences foraging behavior and how behavior links soil, plants, herbivores, and humans. Today, he and Monte explore some of that research and the connections between animal and human nutrition.
Fred Provenza grew up in Salida, Colorado. He later worked on a ranch while attending school in Wildlife Biology at Colorado State University. He obtained a Master’s and a Ph.D. degree in Range Science from Utah State University where he worked for 35 years. He is professor emeritus of Behavioral Ecology in the Department of Wildland Resources at Utah State University where he directed an award-winning research group that pioneered an understanding of how learning influences foraging behavior and how behavior links soil, plants, herbivores, and humans.
That work culminated in a program called BEHAVE, which was active from 2000-2010. BEHAVE was an international network of scientists, ranchers, farmers, and land managers committed to integrating behavioral principles with local knowledge to enhance environmental, economic, and cultural values of rural and urban communities. Though BEHAVE is no longer active, the principles and practices continue to influence researchers and managers worldwide.
He authored three books, including Nourishment: What Animals Can Teach Us About Rediscovering Our Nutritional Wisdom; Foraging Behavior: Managing to Survive in a World of Change; and The Art & Science of Shepherding: Tapping the Wisdom of French Herders (co-author with Michel Meuret).
He published more than 300 research papers in a wide variety of scientific journals. He has been an invited speaker at more than 500 conferences. The many awards he received for research, teaching, and mentoring are the creativity that flowed from warm professional and personal relationships with over 75 graduate students, post-doctoral students, visiting scientists, and colleagues during the past 45 years.
BEHAVE website link: https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/behave/
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Thank you so much for joining us! It’s a true honor to get to speak with Dr. Don Huber Professor Emeritus of Plant Pathology at Purdue University. You’ll want to read Dr. Huber’s full bio in the show notes. He is a pioneer in his field, his experience, knowledge, and understanding of plant pathology and physiology is simply remarkable.
The AgEmerge podcast is committed to asking tough questions and seeking solutions. The work Dr. Huber began stemmed from one question he wanted to answer, “why crop rotation has such a dramatic effect on many of the plant diseases.” That one question lead to over 55 years of research into the study of soil, microbial ecology, microbial interactions, parasite relationships, and nutrient disease relationships.
In 1997 and again in 2001 Monte heard Dr. Huber speak on several topics including glyphosate, which spurred Monte on to eliminate glyphosate from his own farm.
Dr. Huber’s Bio Dr. Don M. Huber, Professor Emeritus of Plant Pathology at Purdue University, holds B.S. and M.S. degrees from the University of Idaho (1957, 1959), a Ph-D from Michigan State University (1963), and is a graduate of the US Army Command & General Staff College, Industrial College of the Armed Forces, and National Security Program. He was Cereal Pathologist at the University of Idaho for 8 years before joining the Department of Botany & Plant Pathology at Purdue University in 1971.
His agricultural research for the past 55 years has focused on the epidemiology and control of soilborne plant pathogens with emphasis on microbial ecology, cultural and biological controls, nutrient-disease interactions, pesticide-disease interactions, physiology of host-parasite relationships, and techniques for rapid microbial identification.
Dr. Huber has had several concurrent careers including 14 years as a professional labor-relations conciliator with 7 years of service on the Indiana Education Employment Relations Board as a Mediator/Fact-Finder/Conciliator. He retired in 1995 as Associate Director of the Armed Forces Medical Intelligence Center (Colonel Retired, U.S. Army) (now the National Center for Medical Intelligence, NCMI) after 41+ years of active and reserve military service during which time he also commanded A strategic Medical Intelligence Detachment for 8 years with the US Army Medical Intelligence and Information Agency and Office of the Surgeon General.
Dr. Huber is a past Chairman of the USDA-APS National Plant Disease Recovery System; a member of the US Threat Pathogens Committee; former member of the Advisory Board for the Office of Technology Assessment, U.S. Congress (now Congressional Research Service); and Global Epidemiology and Quadripartite Medical Working Groups of the Office of the US Surgeon General (OTSG).
He is author or co-author of over 300 journal articles, Experiment Station Bulletins, book chapters and review articles; five books, and 84 special invited publications; and an active scientific reviewer; speaker; consultant to academia, industry, and government; and international research cooperator.
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 stage or on the podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm We’d love to hear from you!
Seth Watkins is a farmer from Clarinda, Iowa, and joins our podcast as he and Monte discuss what it looks like to think differently about our responsibilities as farmers. This summer Monte heard Seth’s TEDx talk about his passion for stewarding his land and where he said what he really wanted was clean water, healthy soils and happy cows. You’ll quickly hear that Seth wants to share what he’s learned on his journey from both his farm and his family’s perspective.
Seth is the fourth generation to care for his family’s heritage farm near Clarinda, Iowa. They raise beef cattle, corn, hay, oats, and various cover crops. He’s passionate about stewardship, especially water quality, the restoration of prairie, woodlands, and riparian areas. Seth believes when you have a healthy and diverse landscape combined with the values of inclusion, equity, and accessibility you can accomplish anything.
He also serves on The Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation board of Directors and the Leadership Council for The Iowa Learning Farms. His wife Christy is an Early Childhood Specialist for Green Hills AEA. They have a son, Spencer, and a daughter, Tatum.
You can watch Seth on the TedX Des Moines stage here: TedX link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJ0wP9FJU1s
If you’d like to learn more about what we’re doing to help growers implement soil health practices, check out our website at asn.farm and there you can click on the links to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Linkedin. There are a lot of great things happening and always something to learn - thanks for listening!
And, if you've 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 kim@asn.farm
We’d love to hear from you!
Ron Joyce, President and CEO of Joyce Farms joins us to discuss how their company is working with farmers using regenerative agriculture to grow, as Ron says, “flavorful meat.” And just as important, he's listening to chefs and customers who are asking for these quality products. Ron is quick to point out that there’s more to regenerative agriculture than just planting a cover crop or going organic. He and his team are working closely with farmers, choosing the right genetics, protecting animal welfare, and implementing the best soil health practices to produce that flavorful meat. Ron’s passion for this work is very evident and there’s so much to glean from today’s discussion.
As the lead visionary and guiding hand at Joyce Farms, Ron represents the company’s second generation of Joyces. Ron came on board in 1971 after graduating from UNC-Charlotte with a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration. In 1981, Ron took over leadership from his father, founder Alvin Joyce. Ron’s father taught him the importance of providing outstanding customer service in tandem with great products. He considers himself a “foodie” and his passion for delicious culinary experiences is evident in how he leads the organization.
Visit Joyce Farms Website: https://joyce-farms.com/
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 stage or on the podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm We’d love to hear from you!
The podcast today with Chef Rick Bayless is another great example of connecting dots and helping us understand how the food we grow impacts not only you the grower but the businesses and communities where our food is enjoyed.
Most people know Rick Bayless from winning the title of Bravo’s Top Chef Masters. His highly rated public television series, Mexico: One Plate at a Time, is broadcast coast to coast and his nine cookbooks have earned multiple high-profile accolades. Located in Chicago, Rick's Frontera Grill and Topolobampo have each received the “Outstanding Restaurant of the Year” designation from the James Beard Foundation — an unprecedented feat for side-by-side restaurants. His wildly popular fast-casual Xoco debuted in 2009 and Tortas Frontera at Chicago’s O’Hare airport has changed the face of airport dining. In 2016, he opened Frontera Cocina in Disney Springs. In 2018, Rick expanded his Clark Street restaurants by opening Bar Sótano, a Oaxacan-inspired mezcal bar with modern Mexican bar food. Tortazo, Rick's new fast-casual concept, debuted in 2020 in Chicago's iconic Willis Tower, with plans to open an outpost in New York City in fall 2021.
In 2012 and again in 2014, Rick joined forces with Lookingglass Theatre Company to create Cascabel, the story of food’s capacity to change lives. Cascabel’s audience shared a meal with the cast of actors, musicians, singers and circus performers as the tale of unrequited love resolved into magical beauty.
Always a philanthropist, Rick and his staff established the Frontera Farmer Foundation in 2003 to support small Midwestern farms. To date, the Foundation has awarded nearly 200 grants totaling nearly $3 million. He also launched the Frontera Scholarship, a culinary school scholarship for Mexican-American students in Chicago, In 2019, Rick founded Impact Culinary Training, a restaurant job readiness program on the city’s west side. And in 2017 he established the Bayless Family Foundation to support the city’s vibrant theater scene with grants to Chicago theater companies totaling $1.5 million to date.
The Government of Mexico has bestowed on Rick the Mexican Order of the Aztec Eagle–the highest decoration bestowed on foreigners whose work has benefitted Mexico and its people.
Check out all the ways to follow Chef Rick:
Website: www.rickbayless.com Frontera Farmer Foundation website: rickbayless.com/foundation YouTube: youtube.com/rickbayless Instagram: rick_bayless Twitter: @rick_bayless Facebook: facebook.com/chefrickbayless
We’ve got a great conversation with Sarah Carlson, Sarah is the Strategic Initiatives Director for PFI, Practical Farmers of Iowa. And well, there’s just a whole litany of things she does as an agronomist, agronomic researcher, educator, writer and just all-around amazing resource for everything cover crops, small grains, integrated crop and livestock concerns, all kinds of soil health practices and the list goes on and on. Today on the podcast she and Monte will dig into all these topics and so much more!
Sarah Carlson joined Practical Farmers of Iowa staff in the fall of 2007. Sarah is the Strategic Initiatives Director. She helps transfer agronomic research about cover crops and small grains through supply chain projects, articles, blogs and presentation materials while working to improve the support for cover crop and small grains research. She also serves as an agronomist on the staff transferring ideas for solutions to integrated crop and livestock concerns from farmers’ stories, results from on-farm research projects and her own knowledge as a trained agronomist.
Sarah co-majored in Biology and Geography at Augustana College in the Quad Cities graduating in 2001 with a BA degree. Following graduation, Sarah joined the Peace Corps as an Ag-business and Ag Extension volunteer. She lived in the southern highlands of Ecuador in South America for 2 1/2 years. Sarah returned to the Midwest in 2004 and began her Masters Program co-majoring in Sustainable Agriculture and Crop Production/Physiology in Iowa State’s Agronomy Department. She graduated in the spring of 2008 with an MS degree. Sarah and her husband Oscar have five children between them, Rebeca, Oscar, Sadie, Tenoch and Mateo. They enjoy cooking, traveling and exploring the Iowa countryside.
https://practicalfarmers.org/
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 kim@asn.farm
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Welcome our guest Dr. Mike Bredeson, Research Agroecologist at the Ecdysis Foundation. Mike has been with Ecdysis since day one and his passion for the work they are doing to change the way research and science interacts with farmers is really evident.
Mike talks about how even growing up on the farm he didn’t realize the impact of actually digging around and making observations in the soil. He said it actually blew him away, these relationships beneath that layer of thatch on the soil surface, where wars were being waged and alliances were being formed, it was cooler than any computer game, any study or any class he’d ever taken before, he was hooked!
Ecdysis believes “scientists have to become farmers to increase the relevance and credibility of their research.” In today’s conversation we talk about the timely, relevant research Mike and the team at Ecdysis are doing that is making a real impact in regenerative agriculture. Once again, we see silos coming down as scientists and growers work together to find, as they say at Ecdysis, “concepts, practices and systems are scalable and transferable to other operations and regions.”
Mike, a farm kid from central Minnesota grew up an avid outdoorsman spending every waking second in the field or on the water. It was the combination of passions, agriculture, and natural resources, which propelled Mike into an education on managing farmland using ecological principles. An internship with Dr. Jonathan Lundgren solidified Mike’s interest in insects, biodiversity conservation and regenerative ag research. From that day forth Mike has been peeling back layers of detritus on farms all over the world playing witness to the immense power of functional working ecosystems.
https://www.ecdysis.bio/ https://www.bluedasher.farm/
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 stage or on the podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm
Welcome our guest Blaine Hitzfield, a second generation farmer and business entrepreneur with a passion for regenerative agriculture. Blaine carved out an early life career by helping his family of seven brothers establish a farm-to-consumer food business that thousands of consumers know as Seven Sons Farms.
We discuss the success of the Seven Sons brand and how he and his family transitioned from conventional farming practices to regenerative pasture-based farming models. Monte and Blaine cover everything from disruption of the food system, impact on local communities, customer trust, and loyalty, and utilizing technology to make it all happen.
After graduating high school in 2004, Blaine carved out an early life career by helping his family of seven brothers establish a farm-to-consumer food business that thousands of consumers know as Seven Sons Farms. The success of the Seven Sons brand has been a catalyst for helping Blaine’s family transition from conventional farming practices to regenerative pasture-based farming models. When you visit the farm today you will witness over 550 acres of restored soils supporting a diverse production model of grass-fed cattle and pasture-raised hogs and chickens. As CEO of the family business, Blaine has been the driving force behind developing diverse entrepreneurial opportunities for his entire family.
In 2014, Blaine began developing custom e-commerce software in an effort to help more regenerative farms reach consumers with transparent and ethically raised foods. What began as a small in-house project has developed into a farm-raised tech business called GrazeCart. Today over 400 farms and online food brands use GrazeCart to sell and ship over 20 million pounds of pasture-raised foods to consumers in the USA and CA. Blaine and his family have become a shining light and a beacon of hope for small family farms all around the world.
Blaine lives in his hometown of Roanoke, Indiana with his wife Charis and their five beautiful children. Blaine is the proud father of three sons and two daughters; Bryton, Tyton, Charleston, Lillyana, and Juliana! Blaine enjoys spending time fishing with his family, house projects, camping, and evening rides around the farm on his ATV.
Check out their websites: https://sevensons.net/ https://grazecart.com/
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 stage or on the podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm
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We’re so glad you’re listening, we’ve got Jeff Moyer, CEO at Rodale Institute joining us on the podcast. And there’s a little something for everyone today! One of the really cool things about being able to sit down and visit with our guests, is how we get to dig into the story behind the stories and learn where great ideas come from, and some of them just might surprise you! As many of you know, Jeff is a world-renowned authority in organic agriculture. His expertise includes organic crop production systems with a focus on weed management, cover crops, crop rotations, equipment modification use and facilities design. But Jeff is also, probably best known for conceptualizing and popularizing the No Till Roller Crimper and on this podcast, we get to hear the backstory and it’s a fun one.
Jeff’s vast experience and knowledge regarding organic farming has provided the media with a reliable source and perspective for information on current agricultural issues. He has been on staff at Rodale Institute for over 44 years, starting at Rodale Institute in 1976 in the position of farm laborer. He became Farm Manager in 1982 and later served as Farm Director, supervising research and operations of the 333-acre experimental farm for 15 years. Jeff was named executive director of the institute in 2015. Jeff was appointed CEO in September of 2019.
Jeff's hands-on experience in organic agriculture brings a farmer’s perspective to the research, farmer training, and consumer education conducted by Rodale Institute.
Jeff was project leader on the highly acclaimed Organic No-Till project and is the author of the book on this subject: “Organic No-Till Farming – Advancing No-Till Agriculture Crops, Soil, Equipment.” In conjunction with his position at Rodale Institute, Jeff currently serves as Board Chair of the Regenerative Organic Alliance and holds a director’s position on the board of the Soil Health Institute. He previously served as Chair of the National Organic Standards Board, a founding Board Member of Pennsylvania Certified Organic, Chairman of the Board of The Seed Farm, part of the Green America Non-GMO Working Group, a Project Member of The Soil Renaissance Project, and a Board Member of PA Farm Link.
As CEO, Jeff focuses on strategic planning, outreach monitoring and fund-raising activities. He also supervises the research, training, and education mission of Rodale Institute, as well as act as liaison the board of directors and the Rodale Institute campuses across the country. https://rodaleinstitute.org/ https://www.facebook.com/rodaleinstitute
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 stage or on the podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm
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We’re so glad you joined us for today’s episode as we talk with Dr. Michelle Perro who was also one of our speakers on this years’ AgEmerge stage. As you know, we think it’s so important to bring you guests that speak about all the spokes in the wheel of soil health including its impact on human health.
Michelle Perro, MD, DHOM is a veteran pediatrician with over thirty-nine years of experience in acute and integrative medicine. More than fifteen years ago, Dr. Perro transformed her clinical practice to include pesticide and health advocacy. She has both directed and worked as an attending physician from New York’s Metropolitan Hospital to UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland. Dr. Perro has managed her own business, Down to Earth Pediatrics, creating a new field of integrative urgent care medicine. She is currently lecturing and consulting as well as working with Gordon Medical Associates, an integrative health center in Northern California. Dr. Perro has co-authored the highly acclaimed book, “What’s Making our Children Sick” and is Executive Director of a non-profit scientific-based website, GMO Science. She has authored many publications, serves as Advisor to several environmental organizations and has a column with the medical journal, “The Townsend Letter”.
Links: https://www.chelseagreen.com/product/whats-making-our-children-sick/ https://www.gmoscience.org
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 kim@asn.farm
We’d love to hear from you!
Have you ever wanted to brainstorm with an ag-tech / equipment manufacturer? Well, that’s just what we did on today’s podcast. Joe Bassett, CEO of Dawn Equipment and Underground Ag joins us to discuss the full gamut of equipment, technology, software, management practices and, farming mindsets that drive research, development, investment and, implementation of these technologies.
Grab a cup of coffee and hold on tight as Monte and Joe dig through all these topics.
More about Joe: Joe studied Physics at the University of Iowa and has owned Dawn Equipment since 2015. He founded Underground Agriculture in 2019. Joe and his wife, Rachael, have a daughter, Mimi.
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 podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm
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Have you ever heard the saying, “the second mouse gets the cheese?” Well, today we’ll talk about the work and practical research Monte Bottens and his team are doing on the farm to discern practices that do and don’t work as we continue to fine-tune this system we call regenerative agriculture. As Monte says, they work to be the first mouse, taking one for the team so you, the second mouse can get the cheese! We discuss everything from planting green, companion cropping, livestock integration, and all the ag-tech both present and future to support these endeavors. And, we go on to explore the resources necessary to allow us to scale these practices. Topics from A to Z and everything in between, take a listen!
Thanks for joining us today, we always enjoy visiting with all our guests on the podcast and Monte was particularly excited to speak with our guest today, Will Harris of White Oak Pastures. Will has been recognized all over the world as a leader in humane animal husbandry and environmental sustainability. As a fourth-generation cattleman, he and his family were raising livestock in the typical conventional methods, but in the mid-1990’s Will became disenchanted with the excesses of these industrialized methods. They’d created a monoculture for their cattle, and, as Will says, "nature abhors a monoculture." In 1995, Will made the audacious decision to return to the farming methods his great-grandfather had used 130 years before. Today, we get to journey with Will to understand the mindset, work, and fortitude it takes to risk it all and successfully implement these farming practices. It’s a great conversation, enjoy!
WILL HARRIS BIO: Will Harris is a fourth-generation cattleman, who tends the same land that his great-grandfather settled in 1866. Born and raised at White Oak Pastures, Will left home to attend the University of Georgia's School of Agriculture, where he was trained in the industrial farming methods that had taken hold after World War II. Will graduated in 1976 and returned to Bluffton where he and his father continued to raise cattle using pesticides, herbicides, hormones, and antibiotics. They also fed their herd a high-carbohydrate diet of corn and soy.
These tools did a fantastic job of taking the cost out of the system, but in the mid-1990s Will became disenchanted with the excesses of these industrialized methods. They had created a monoculture for their cattle, and, as Will says, "nature abhors a monoculture." In 1995, Will made the audacious decision to return to the farming methods his great-grandfather had used 130 years before.
Since Will has successfully implemented these changes, he has been recognized all over the world as a leader in humane animal husbandry and environmental sustainability. Will is the immediate past President of the Board of Directors of Georgia Organics. He is the Beef Director of the American Grassfed Association and was selected 2011 Business Person of the year for Georgia by the Small Business Administration.
Will lives in his family home on the property with his wife Yvonne. He is the proud father of three daughters, Jessi, Jenni, and Jodi. His favorite place in the world to be is out in pastures, where he likes to have a big coffee at sunrise and a 750ml glass of wine at sunset.
REFERENCED LINKS: One Hundred Thousand Beating Hearts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoQWLK8-CYE
Carbon Footprint Evaluation of Regenerative Grazing at White Oak Pastures: https://blog.whiteoakpastures.com/hubfs/WOP-LCA-Quantis-2019.pdf
Grassfed Exchange 2016 - Peter Byck & Will Harris “A Georgia Story” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3Q-GuTn3WU
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Nutrient-dense food, it’s a big topic in regenerative agriculture. It’s just one of the many goals of improved soil health and it’s so very important to our own, human health. But how do we quantify it? What new research techniques are uncovering these connections and how can we identify practices and systems that will improve nutrient-dense food? Our guest today is trying to discover just that, Dr. Stephan van Vliet is a nutrition scientist and metabolomics expert in the Stedman Nutrition and Metabolism Center at Duke University School of Medicine. Dr. van Vliet earned his PhD in Kinesiology and Community Health as an ESPEN Fellow from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and received post-doctoral training in the Center for Human Nutrition at Washington University in St Louis School of Medicine.
Dr. van Vliet’s research is performed at the nexus of agricultural and human health. He routinely collaborates with farmers, ecologists, and agricultural scientists to study critical linkages between agricultural production methods, the nutrient density of food, and human health. Dr. van Vliet uses high-throughput metabolomics techniques to study the presence of bioactive compounds in the whole food matrix and their impacts on human metabolic health.
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Thanks for joining us today. Have you seen the acronym I.R.L.? It stands for “in real life’ and that’s what Mikayla Tabert and her family are practicing to improve their farming operation, they’re not just talking about soil health, they are pursuing it in real life. They’re building diversity, using on-farm research, observation, innovation, trial and error, all working together to create a successful system. Is it a perfect science? By no means, but through communicating and articulating their goals with one another they’re moving forward to build resiliency and profitability on their farm and it’s exciting to see it in motion. Trinity Creek Ranch, Inc. is a family-run and owned crop and beef cattle farm, dedicated to the health of their animals and land. They practice no-till, cover crops, and rotational grazing to sequester carbon from the atmosphere into their soils. Mikayla and her husband Benjamin farm alongside her parents David and Peggy Miller at Trinity Creek Ranch in Red Lake Falls, Minnesota. We’re excited to talk to Mikayla today as she lets us take a peek into their operation and some of the discoveries they’ve had in their journey. We hope you’ll gain some ideas and insight into practices you can adopt on your farm. And, if you’d like to learn more about what we’re doing to implement these practices, check out our website at asn.farm and there you can click on the links to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Linkedin. There’s a lot of great things happening and always something to learn - thanks for listening! Follow Trinity Creek Ranch at https://www.facebook.com/trinitycreekranch
Join us as we explore the work Dr. Joel Gruver is conducting at Western Illinois University. Dr. Gruver teaches soil science and conservation classes and he’s the recipient of the National No-Till Educator of the Year Award in 2015. We’re going to dive into what tools in the toolbox they use to research organic grain production. You know the old adage for selling real estate is location, location location. Well, in soil health it’s observation, observation, observation. Listen to how he utilizes grower’s field observations and understandings as they assess the changes they’re seeing in the soil.
We go on to explore landlord/tenant relationships and how landlords are becoming committed to conservation practices and implementing cover crops.
In addition to teaching, Dr. Gruver is the Director of the WIU Organic Research Program. His research interests include conservation cropping systems with a focus on cover crops and organic grain production, soil organic matter, and innovative teaching methods.
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On today’s podcast, Ag Solutions Network brings you the address Monte delivered for our virtual AgEmerge event this past January. Watch it on YouTube at this link: https://bit.ly/2TRqObn Monte examines the why of making changes in your farming operation. Why regenerative ag? Why are we so passionate about soil health? Simply put, sustaining is not enough. He explores what it looks like to adopt these changes, what barriers we have to overcome, what success and yes, just as important, what failures we’ve seen as we improve our farming system. And it all starts with soil health. Finally, Monte talks about scaling up regenerative ag. What steps should you take and how YOU can make it happen. 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 podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm
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Have you ever wished you could have a cup of coffee or a cold beverage with leading soil health and regenerative ag thinkers? Well that’s just what we made possible for you as we recorded our live Q&A session from our AgEmerge event where our speakers, Ray Archuleta, Rick Clark, Loren Poncia, and Tommy Fenster join Monte Bottens and Dawn Bull in an engaging conversation of Scaling up Regenerative Ag. This year's AgEmerge event was a lot different because it was virtual. We missed the buzz of morning conversations at breakfast, the great ocean views and delicious food. But what remained the same was powerful content presented by thought leaders, delivering challenging and motivating ideas, real time practices and progressive research that created that itch to think differently about our farming practices. In this episode, our speakers will share and build on one another’s experiences to help you move the needle on adopting these game changing practices. So grab that favorite beverage and listen in ...
On today’s podcast, we welcome Jay McCaman. Jay is the author of “When Weeds Talk”, a top ten book on Acres, USA’s 2019 list. (Acres is North America's oldest publisher on production-scale organic and sustainable farming). And more than a book, “When Weeds Talk” provides a comprehensive list of weeds and the soil conditions that enable those weeds to grow. On his mission to discover what weeds are telling us about the soil conditions in the field, Jay has amassed almost 20,000 note cards cataloging research that’s been done to uncover the weed soil connection. Jay says, “It all fits together; weeds, insects, and disease are all connected to the soil.” Jay is a proverbial wealth of information sharing his findings about weed conditions in association with soil macro and micronutrients to porosity and drainage, Jay graduated from Michigan State University with a major in Agricultural Mechanization and went on to work in the implement business, farming and managing an organic orchard.
Click here to order Jay’s book: https://bookstore.acresusa.com/products/weeds-and-why-they-grow
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 kim@asn.farm We’d love to hear from you!
Welcome to our 50th podcast! We're excited to share this episode with you! Today, we’re going to talk about the journey the Bottens family has been on to adopt key soil health practices in their operation. And we’ll talk about the family connection between farming and adopting change with our special guests, Monte’s dad, Bob Bottens, Monte’s wife Robyn and Monte! You know, there’s a proverb that says: By wisdom, a house is built, and through understanding, it is established; through knowledge, its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures. The goal of the AgEmerge Podcast is to share the wisdom of our guests and gain understanding and knowledge so we can help build soil health and so much more. In this episode, we’ll look at real-life examples of how one farm adopted these new practices and systems. We'll also discuss how our circle of people, family, friends, neighbors, can influence those changes. So check it out! https://www.agemerge.com/2021-virtual-registration 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 kim@asn.farm
We’d love to hear from you!
Today we’re so excited to have Dr. Dwayne Beck join us from the Dakota Lakes Research Farm in Pierre, SD. Dr. Beck’s work on developing and promoting diverse no-till cropping systems played an important role in allowing producers in South Dakota to dramatically improve their profitability while also protecting soil and water resources; enhancing wildlife habitat; reducing net carbon dioxide emissions; improving air quality and having other positive impacts. The question is, how do you cover everything that Dr. Dwayne knows, in one hour? Well, the answer is, you can’t. But what we did do is cover some key parts of the work they do there at the research farm and the journey Dr. Beck has been on for years to restore soil health. I think Monte said it best as he described it as Real solutions, to real problems.
And use the link below to check out the Dakota Lakes Research Farm Field Day videos - a power-packed series! https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTZDoxH1GkisubbRzKxg2XA_PIzzPE8PM&fbclid=IwAR0Uh9zJRStUYIhgO7m6C5otm6q-qY1ZzX4f5_znMsmLWCX8JdcBQiRMECI
We’ve got a great guest to kick off this new year, it’s a grassroots discussion with John Heermann, a farmer from northeast Colorado. John was a guest at one of our events back in 2016 and really got our gears turning when it came to thinking differently about how we saw our management practices. He challenged us to look at how cover crops were changing the way the soil functioned. John really had a paradigm shift of his own when he saw the rainfall simulator showing five different management systems. And when he saw the no-till pan with no cover having almost as poor of an infiltration rate as conventional till - that really started the gears turning. But when they flipped the tray over with no-till and cover crops with good residue and John saw the way the water percolated through the soil, he changed his philosophy and began building that new plan to build his soil health. John grew up on the family farm and after high school went on to get his degree in Agricultural Economics. John’s education guided him towards understanding how to build soil health, reduce costs, and evaluate the profitability of the operation. John discovered that building soil health by diversifying the farm with multi-species cover crops, different crops, and some livestock could really work. His farm is located in an area that averages around 20 inches or less of annual rainfall. He’s recognized the importance of keeping the soil covered and utilizing every drop of moisture. So join us as Monte and John dive in and debunk a few myths about cover crops in dry areas and so much more.
We appreciate you joining us for this year end AgEmerge podcast. We’ve focused this year on bringing you speakers that are not only ag thought leaders, but implementation leaders. They’re talking the talk but also walking the walk.
We’re finishing out our podcast year by looking back on the opportunities our guests have challenged us to explore in our operations and move the needle forward on building soil health and leaving a legacy.
Without a doubt, this year has come with its own set challenges. We've learned a lot from the speakers we’ve had both on the AgEmerge stage and on the podcast. Today, we’re bringing you some clips from a past year’s AgEmerge podcast along with some of our favorite event moments. Including speakers, Gabe Brown, Holly Green, Dr. Dwayne Beck, and Dr. Zach Bush. And, we’re excited to share with you the link to our AgEmerge YouTube channel where you can listen to both our Keynote and Headline speakers along with all of the speaker’s addresses from the past two years at AgEmerge.
You can experience the excitement and thought-provoking presentations as our speakers walk us through how they made their paradigm shift and started seeing things differently. We hope this year-end podcast will encourage you to think, plan, and implement differently.
Check out all the AgEmerge Addresses by clicking on the Youtube link on the AgEmerge website. www.agemerge.com
On today’s podcast, Colin Hurd joins us as we discuss autonomous technology innovations and how a college project turned into a mission to find solutions that solve some of today’s challenges in agriculture. Listen in as we talk about situational awareness and not just the function of autonomy but the data that can be generated to improve our decision making in the field. And we explore how this technology can impact our soil health principles, practices and help with their implementation.
Colin has devoted his career to bringing innovative solutions to the agriculture industry. Out of college, he invented a product and founded a company to reduce soil compaction called TrackTill. After commercializing the product and licensing it to Yetter Manufacturing he founded Smart Ag.
Smart Ag developed the first aftermarket driverless system to automate tractors. After funding and growing the company, he successfully completed an acquisition to Raven Industies (NYSE:RAVN) in 2019 and stayed on as a Business Development Manager for Raven Autonomy.
Raven Autonomy is taking on and solving the big challenges farms face by developing and delivering cutting edge driverless technology to the agriculture industry. Colin also serves as a Co-director for the Ag Startup Engine and a Board Member for Jackrabbit Equipment.
https://ravenprecision.com/
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 kim@asn.farm
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Creating and measuring a smorgasbord for your microbes is on the menu for today’s podcast with Dr. Stacy Zuber, NRCS Illinois State Soil Health Specialist. We’ll dig into the soil health tests that are available and explore the work Dr. Zuber has done, evaluating soil health tests and key indicators. We’ll discuss soil health opportunities not only in carbon credits but also some of the other benefits that don’t often get as much attention but can be equally as important.
Stacy grew up on her family farm in southeast Illinois, and that ag background was the driving force behind her working towards Master’s and Doctorate degrees in Crop Sciences from the University of Illinois. After completing her graduate work, she conducted post-doctoral research at Purdue University and the University of Missouri-Columbia on projects using on-farm research to evaluate soil health tests and indicators.
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 kim@asn.farm
We’d love to hear from you!
In today’s episode, join us as Monte, Kim and, Megan announce the speaker line-up for AgEmerge! As you might expect, there are some modifications to the delivery, due to the pandemic, but the great news is, that hasn’t affected the awesome lineup of speakers that are participating in the AgEmerge event. This year we are focusing on Scaling Up Regenerative Agriculture. It’s time to ramp it up and put these practices into action. But first, we want to start with a little background to help you understand how AgEmerge came to be and why these conversations are so important. Our speaker lineup includes Ray Archuletta, Dr. Michelle Perro, Loren Poncia, Rick Clark, Tommy Fenster, and Gary Thompson. Visit the AgEmerge website to check out the full bios on each of these speakers and listen to the podcast to learn more about the 2021 AgEmerge event.
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 kim@asn.farm
AgEmerge is brought to you by Ag Solutions Network and one of the things we think makes us unique is that we are the boots on the ground helping growers navigate a systems approach to regenerative agriculture. Today we discuss what that looks like with our guest Silas Rossow. Silas is President of California Ag Solutions, and one of the member dealers that makes up the Ag Solutions Network. Silas and his team focus on seeking out the very best practices for California growers and much of that focus comes from his love of agriculture and technology. We’re going to discuss some of the paradigm-shifting changes they’ve helped implement and some of their mojo for making it work.
Silas received his college education at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and was blessed to grow up around agriculture his whole life. Driving tractors, irrigating fields, and figuring out how crops grow was a valuable education. Silas began his career at CAS in the fall of 2008 as a Customer Account Manager. In 2014, Silas began managing the day-to-day operations at CAS and is now a business partner with founder Monte Bottens.
His drive to seek out the very best practices for California farmers comes from his love of agriculture and technology. He’s excited about the opportunity to work with new growers and help them find solutions to the problems they face.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about Silas is his enthusiasm for the perfect practical joke. He enjoys a good laugh and having fun. His wife, Julie, and three children make for a captive audience and are his biggest fans.
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 kim@asn.farm
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What does it look like when an idea becomes reality? Loren and Lisa Poncia of Stemple Creek Ranch in Marin County, CA, tell us how they took a chance on an idea and made it a reality. They started Stemple Creek Ranch with the dream of raising quality, grass-finished beef, pork, and lamb to work with, not against, mother nature and they’ve redefined small-scale family ranching. Listen in as we discuss not only how they began this journey and what it looks like to work together as a family to see it through. We find out how the operation works and as Loren said, “not only is the grass greener, there’s a lot more of it!” What’s one of the big keys to this whole system functioning? It’s carbon! And what do you do when something like a pandemic hits? You shore up and redefine again what works for your business and operation. Not only have they redefined a business, Loren says, “we’re paying attention to the soil. We are soil farmers and photosynthesis farmers.” Attention to detail, working with mother nature, and recognizing the benefits of a functioning system is what makes this family team, work. More about Loren: Loren Poncia of Stemple Creek Ranch is a 4th generation Marin County organic rancher who has redefined small-scale family ranching. Loren started Stemple Creek Ranch with the dream of raising quality, grass-finished beef, pork and lamb to work with, not against, mother nature. His ranch had the first carbon farm plan in the U.S. and Loren is proud to be part of the Marin Carbon Project. A graduate of Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, with a major in Dairy Science and Ag Business, Loren always dreamed of coming back to the ranch to pursue his passion in agriculture. He oversees the entire ranching operation and spends countless hours carefully studying genetics with the goal of raising grass-fed and finished beef that is tender, well-marbled, and tastes great. More about Lisa: Lisa Poncia of Stemple Creek Ranch in Marin County, CA, is an entrepreneur, attorney, and organic rancher who, along with her husband Loren Poncia, has redefined small-scale family ranching. The ranch had the first carbon farm plan in the U.S. and Lisa is proud to be part of the Marin Carbon Project. Lisa attended Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, with a major in Political Science and Minor in Business Administration, and then U.C. Hastings College of Law. She runs her own law practice and manages the business side of Stemple Creek Ranch, including finance, marketing, and operations. Lisa is a member of the Board of Directors of the Marin Agricultural Land Trust. Stemple Creek Ranch sells its products to grocery stores, butcher shops, restaurants, and directly to consumers. www.stemplecreek.com
You know, building and improving our systems approach to soil health isn’t just a movement happening on the farm. There are more and more companies coming alongside growers to encourage the implementation of these practices, understanding the value of restoring our soils while addressing consumer concerns and desires. In today’s podcast, we’ve got a great opportunity to explore some of those ideas with Jay Watson, the Sourcing Engagement Manager for Global Sustainability and Grain Operations at General Mills. Jay leads efforts to advance progress on agricultural sustainability efforts. Jay says he’s been fortunate to travel to where many of GMI’s key ingredients are grown and appreciates the opportunity to connect with farmers and learn more about stewardship as well as family legacy.
Mr. Jay Watson leads efforts to advance progress on agricultural sustainability efforts, including General Mills, Inc.’s (GMI) 2025 greenhouse gas reduction and 2030 regenerative agriculture commitments. In his role, Mr. Watson collaborates with buyers and external partners to develop and deploy engagements to both characterize & reduce social, environmental and economic impacts of key ingredients. Prior to joining the sustainability team in January 2017, Mr. Watson spent 10 years in a variety of buying roles within the company’s global sourcing organization. Mr. Watson holds B.S. in Finance and a B.S. in Economics from Arizona State University and a MBA from the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management.
There's great work being done, building a new ag paradigm and we'll be talking about all of that work at our 2021 AgEmerge Event. Save the date, January 6th, 2021. Stay tuned as we will have more information on all the details and speakers joining us for this great event. Go to www.agemerge.com and subscribe to receive event information updates.
Today Larry Kandarian of Kandarian Organic Farms joins us as we have a great conversation about the soil and plant management practices that Larry has adopted over the years to build healthy plants and soils. Larry’s journey is evidence that farming is rocket science. Larry may have had farming in his blood, but his path to regenerative agriculture took him through mechanical engineering, an aerospace career, to flower seed sales, and eventually, farming failures and successes. He’s seen it all and dedicates himself to the mantra of food is medicine. Today, his farm includes about 200 crops across 125-acres and a flock of sheep and herd of pigs. Monte draws out a key takeaway from our conversation when Larry talked about monoculture saying - when you're not building anything it's actually agribusiness, not agriculture. Larry’s investigative spirit spurs on his constant learning from the soil and the plants, as he says, "acquire that knowledge then get out of the way and see what happens."
Visit Larry's farm website at: Kandarian Organic Farms www.kandarianorganicfarms.com
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 kim@asn.farm
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 kim@asn.farm
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 kim@asn.farm
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 kim@asn.farm
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 kim@asn.farm
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 kim@asn.farm
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 jpmitchell@ucdavis.edu 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