Soil Sense

Latest Episodes:

Our Soil is Our Strength with Nancy Kavazanjian Aug 21, 2023

Show notes

Nancy Kavazanjian and her husband Charlie Hammer farm in the south central part of Wisconsin where they grow corn, soybeans and wheat in rotation. Over the years they have been innovators in no-till and strip till farming, and were the first in their area to regularly use cover crops. We'll talk about her farm and her soil health building practices, but we also get into things like how she looks at soil biology and what prompted them to want to implement prairie strips and pollinator habitat and the experiments she's still conducting on the farm.

“We've been farming together for over 40 years, and when we started farming, we took a motto for our farm and it was “our soil is our strength.” Because we knew as crop farmers here in the middle of dairy country that what we could do best was to grow good crops. And we knew to grow good crops, we needed good soils. And what that has involved has evolved over the years. So we were early adopters of no-till, and we're now mostly either no-till or strip tillers.” - Nancy Kavazanjian

Kavazanjian talks candidly about what has worked and what hasn’t worked on their 2,000 acre farm, and the questions they’re still asking themselves about how to be the best stewards of the land they can possibly be. The area they farm historically was glaciated leading to lots of rocks and inconsistencies in their soil types.

“I think maybe because I didn't know what I didn't know I wasn't afraid to try things. I didn't know that women weren't supposed to go to those meetings 45 years ago; the crop meetings and the machinery meetings. You know, a lot of times I was the only woman. There wasn't a woman on staff, but I didn't know I wasn't supposed to be there, so I was always there. I didn't know that we shouldn't be trying things.” - Nancy Kavazanjian

This Week on Soil Sense:

Meet Nancy Kavazanjian who farms with her husband Charlie Hammer in the south central part of Wisconsin where they grow corn, soybeans and wheat in rotation.
Explore their soil health journey in no-till, strip-till and cover crops that complimented their operation

Thank you to the Soy Checkoff for sponsoring this Farmers for Soil Health series of the Soil Sense podcast. This show is produced by Dr. Abbey Wick, Dr. Olivia Caillouet, and Tim Hammerich, with support from the United Soybean Board, the University of Missouri Center for Regenerative Agriculture and the Soil Health Institute.

If you are interested in what soil health looks like in practice and on the farm, please subscribe and follow this show on your favorite podcast app, and leave us a rating and review while you’re there. Check out the Farmers for Soil Health website at FarmersForSoilHealth.com.

Planting Green with Trey Hill Aug 09, 2023

Show notes

Not every soil health building practice is going to work the same way on every farm. That’s one of the reasons we call it a journey. Sometimes, it can lead to unexpected places like in this episode's example, figuring out how to plant green. We are joined by Trey Hill of Harbourview Farms in Maryland. He has an interesting story of how practices such as cover crops, no till and planting green have made farming more fun for him and improved his soil without sacrificing yields.

“One day he was planting green and the turn rows had been killed off, and he is like, Trey, come out here.You gotta see this. You gotta quit killing these cover crops. This is just planting beautifully. And this was two people that shouldn't have liked it. We were both kind of looking at each other going, what's going on here like this? This doesn't make sense. Neither one of us should believe this or agree with it but we both saw it and we're like, wow.” - Trey Hill

For years, Trey has been a vocal advocate for engaging with consumers and environmental groups to find solutions that are both great for the planet and for farmer viability and profitability. Trey grows corn, soybeans, wheat, barley and peas on just over 10,000 acres. Trey shares that this transition hasn’t always been easy. Adjusting from a “procedural standpoint” to not being able to scout his fields and do stand assessments has been difficult. He goes on to share the benefits that make that adjustment well worth it.

“In a drought, we definitely do better and I think that I like it in the spring. I think it keeps the soil a little more even temperature. We don't get as much replant unless it's from slugs, but we get a lot better emergence if the cover crops are there. We're seeing a lot more earthworms. We're building organic matter. We're doing a certification now for regenerative practices…We’re seeing some pretty significant increases which makes me feel good.” - Trey Hill

This Week on Soil Sense:

Meet Trey Hill of Harbourview Farms in Maryland where they produce corn, soybeans, wheat, barley and peas
Discover Trey’s unexpected journey from cover crops to planting green
Explore their transition to no till and cover crops and the effects Trey is observing
Learn more about the Farmers for Soil Health Program

Farmers for Soil Health with Jack Cornell Aug 07, 2023

Show notes

United Soybean Board director of sustainable supply Jack Cornell joins us to kick off this brand new season of Sense Sense. Changing any practice on the farm, no matter how well intentioned and well researched, comes with risk. A new collaborative effort called Farmers for Soil Health is rolling out in 20 US states to try to help take some of that risk off the table. Farmers for Soil Health is a collaboration in partnership with the Soy Checkoff, Pork Checkoff and National Corn Growers Association to create a farmer-led cover crop program that advances the use of soil health practices, meets sustainability goals and improves farmer profitability.

“It's important that technical assistance is right along with the financial assistance to mitigate any risk to a farmer.” - Jack Cornell

Jack explains his role with the Farmers for Soil Health program as helping to create sustainability and profitability for farmers through project development, program management, and creating partnerships.

“I love problem-solving with a farmer. It's always a fun mental exercise. And when I walk on a farm, I never say you need to be doing cover crops and no-till. I go, what is the thing that drives you insane that you just can't handle? And then I think through a sustainability approach to help them solve that issue...Our program is farmer led and farmer driven.” Jack Cornell

This Week on Soil Sense:

Meet Jack Cornell, director of sustainable supply at United Soybean Board and leader of the Farmers for Soil Health Program
Explore the purpose and initiatives of the Farmers for Soil Health program

Season Six Reflections and What’s Next for Soil Sense Aug 01, 2023

Show notes

This episode is our chance to close out season six, set the stage for season seven, and talk about some big changes that are taking place. Those big changes include Dr. Abbey Wick’s new job, but also a big shift in the scope and direction of this podcast. Of course we will remain focused on what soil health looks like in practice and the curiosity, collaboration and communication needed for systems change on the farm. But in doing that we will also be expanding across the country.

“The thing that I thought about in taking this job was our network maps with Soil Sense and thinking about how our target was North Dakota and we had all these dots in North Dakota, but then all of a sudden it was being listened to all over the world and so that kind of scaling almost made it more comfortable for me…that it is totally possible to translate soil health and the concepts and the structure and the framework for delivery of information and network building to a global scale. I know we can do it.” - Dr. Abbey Wick

Soil Sense is also expanding its borders beyond North Dakota. Through the Farmers for Soil Health Initiative we will be incorporating many other states in the discussion. You should expect “a lot of the same types of stories that you’ve been hearing but with a more expanded scope.” Soil Sense will continue to focus on the “people leading the way when it comes to soil health, but also addressing the realities of the challenges that they’re facing locally.”

“Sometimes those behind the scenes roles that people are playing are really important. Like the farmers will say they can't get to where they're going without a crop advisor, without an organization that's giving them information or helping them, or testing what they're doing or giving them feedback or even just having a conversation about it.” Dr. Abbey Wick

This Week on Soil Sense:

Close out season six of Soil Sense and explore the exciting news and new directions for season seven
Discover Abbey Wick’s new role with Syngenta and her new platform for taking soil health practices globally

Making Agronomy Fun with Jason Hanson & Kyle Okke Jul 25, 2023

Show notes

In this episode we take you back one more time to Agronomy on Ice in Devils Lake, North Dakota. We hear from the man who started it all, Jason Hanson, along with his partner in crime on the Agronomist Happy Hour podcast, Kyle Okke. Jason has been a regular contributor to Soil Sense and we featured both him and Kyle on our Agronomy on Ice episode last April. We talk to the guys about their knack for making things fun when it comes to learning about agronomy and soil health, their approaches to soil health as independent agronomists, Jason’s experience with the Trusted Advisor Partnership, what they’ve learned from their podcast, and more.

“It feels to me to some degree, like how Agronomy on Ice started. It's just like, here's an idea. We implement something that gets more people involved, ideas come in and then all of a sudden, boom, it takes off. And then you’ve got people like, “Hey, I wanna be a part of this. I’d like to join. I see what you're doing.” Or they kind of hang back and then it registers.” - Jason Hanson

Both Jason and Kyle have left corporate ag retail jobs to start their own independent agronomic consulting businesses: Jason several years ago with Rock and Roll Agronomy in Webster, ND; and Kyle Okke just this past year with Agile Agronomy in Dickinson, ND. The two also joined forces with Bridget Readel to form Ag Mafia which put on Agronomy on Ice and is offering training, coaching, and other media services.

“I absolutely really enjoy what I did before and I'm very thankful for the opportunity I was given and the development I got and just everything, crop protection and adjuvants and all that. But for me it was time. And doing this on my own has been the best move I felt like I could make because it's a lot of fun to be able to be impactful to the local group of farmers and retailers that I work with.” - Kyle Okke

This Week on Soil Sense:

Join Jason Hanson of Rock and Roll Agronomy and Kyle Okke of Agile Agronomy, both hosts of the Agronomist Happy Hour podcast
Discover their career journeys and what projects they are working on right now
Explore the future of biological inputs to better manage water, soil and pests

Soil Health in Sugar Beet Rotations with Mike Van Eps Jul 10, 2023

Show notes

Mike Van Eps of Centrol Ag Consulting has been a crop consultant for over 20 years in the Southern Red River Valley. He’s in the heart of sugar beet country but also scouts a lot of acres of corn, soybeans, and wheat. He joins us to discuss the soil health building practices he implements with his growers including things like rye strips, spring barley, and increasing strip tillage. We also talk more generally about some of the barriers to adoption of some of these practices, approaches that are successful and some that aren’t in his area, and a little bit on his experiences with the trusted advisor partnership.

“We're able to maybe push the limits, but tradition and people are set in their ways. It's difficult to change those habits, but we are. We're starting to see changes to where we can begin to do some more less tillage, more conservation type planting, cover crops, integrating into our rotation in front of sugar beets.” - Mike Van Eps

Changes in technology have allowed for expansion of sugar beet soil health practices. Producers have access to GMO crops, availability of different herbicides and because of that use of cover crops. “There weren’t a lot of options” to battle wind erosion with cover crops prior to these advances.

“I have yet to have a field of rye blow. Last spring was a disaster for wind erosion for us. We replanted 20% of our sugar beet acres from wind sand blasting. It was just an awful spring including where we had spring barley cover crops. They blew out as well. But the rye, it's big enough and aggressive enough where it doesn't move…it’s a little early in this season to tell yet but I have complete confidence that we’re going to weather anything that mother nature can throw at these sugar beets right now where the rye is.” - Mike Van Eps

This Week on Soil Sense:

Meet Mike Van Eps of Centrol Ag Consulting
Discover soil health building practices for the sugar beet producer

Root Biology with Dr. Christopher Topp Jun 27, 2023

Show notes

Dr. Christopher Topp is the principal investigator and associate member at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis, Missouri. Topp runs a root biology lab where they develop techniques to study root systems both in the lab and in the field. They work with a number of novel imaging approaches to better understand root and soil biology beyond the current state of the art. Ultimately, he hopes this knowledge will be used for the benefit of farmers to improve the productivity and sustainability of agricultural systems.

“The fundamental observation is that, we know so little about root systems…And this has real important impacts on plant health, plant productivity, soil health and our ability to meet the challenges of the modern day which are to at least not decrease the amount of soil we have and the quality of it, if not to actually regenerate it, but also to to feed a growing population under challenging conditions.” - Dr. Christopher Topp

Founded in 1998, the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center is a not-for-profit research institute with a mission to improve the human condition through plant science, research, education and outreach. They aim to have an impact at the nexus of food security and the environment.

“The mindset is to develop new technologies or bring them in from other areas and really learn how to apply them to roots. Once we do that, once we can see them or measure them in a meaningful way, then it's really every plant scientist's dream…Once we're able to get a good idea of what's the best kind of root system for a particular environment, we can then learn about mechanisms that allow us to breed or otherwise develop technologies that can improve root systems.” - Dr. Christopher Topp

This Week on Soil Sense:

Meet Dr. Christopher Topp, the principal investigator and associate member at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis, Missouri
Discover the work being done at the Danforth Center and the impact they can make for future farming practices

A Crop Consultant's Approach to Soil Health with Brett Peterson Jun 21, 2023

Show notes

Bismark-based crop consultant Brett Peterson has been working at Centrol Ag Consulting for the past 15 years alongside farmers to provide the best agronomic advice possible. He doesn’t sell products but is paid to make his clients farms the best they can be such as by building the health of the soil and the productivity of the system. Peterson discusses what’s working on the farms he works with on the east and south sides of Bismark. We cover how he incorporates soil health principles into his agronomic advice, how irrigation changes his approach and the process of considering and adopting new ideas on-farm.

“We work with a lot of large clients and the thing is you need to make sure that you're not stopping the process and slowing up the farm…So I would say that's the biggest thing. First and foremost, you gotta just look at it. Is this even possible with a large amount of acres? Because at the end of the day, we have to get across the land and we have to make money doing this too.” - Brett Peterson

Peterson shares that practices like intercropping are very difficult to incorporate in large operations. He’s noticed that the use of rye has encouraged producers with large operations to start some cover crop initiatives. Education, conferences and communication between producers has also helped these advances. He goes on to share soil building practices in between potato rotations and how the occasional required tillage can actually benefit the soil.

“No-till isn't the end all be all. You have to really find that perfect mix of really light tillage but preserving that top layer of organic matter and whatnot to keep that ground cover. It's kind of a teetering cycle that we're dealing with right now.” - Brett Peterson

This Week on Soil Sense:

Meet Bismark-based crop consultant Brett Peterson of Centrol Ag Consulting
Explore the soil health practices he is using in his part of the state on large acre productions
Discover the benefits he has seen to light tillage and the potential pitfalls he has observed in going full no-till

A Systems-Based Approach to Carbon with Nick Reinke Jun 13, 2023

Show notes

Nick Reinke, is not only the CEO of HabiTerre but also grew up on a farm, worked in soil health with an agricultural coop, and has a background in ag finance. He is uniquely qualified to help us explore how all of this “carbon talk” fits into soil health practice adoption, company involvement and sustainability goals. HabiTerre uses deep science and technology to quantify environmental outcomes for agriculture. But where many other companies focus on trying to measure soil carbon, Nick says HabiTerre looks at things in a really comprehensive systems context. Their goal is to try to determine how productivity and environmental sustainability relate to farming outcomes like productivity, nutrient management, and soil health. Nick says he was most excited to join HabiTerre because he saw too many people focused on soil carbon measurement missing the picture of what that means for real farm outcomes.

“I saw something just fundamentally groundbreaking about the technology that he had developed. So a lot less dependency on manually gathered data and still generating really accurate outcomes. But again, getting back to that systems perspective. Not just looking at soil carbon, but let's think about this through the lens of the farmer… Like how does this relate to inputs? How does it impact productivity? Things like that. So that's where I've been really excited to kind of join this scaling team here.” - Nick Reinke

Reinke shares that HabiTerre is collaborating with the National Association of Conservation Districts in creating field specific scenario modeling for what future soil health practices could produce. This “feedback loop” to farmers will serve as another “value added tool” for agronomists and advisors to use in order to support on-farm changes and practices. Furthermore Reinke breaks down the role agriculture plays in big corporations reducing their scope 3 emissions and why practices on the farm are of a great interest to them.

“Well, if you're gonna track progress, you're gonna need a lot better data, that's just logistically and cost prohibitive. It's very difficult for them to get. So we're trying to streamline that process. And the big thing that I don't wanna lose there is streamlining that process means more of these resources go to farmers…So if we make that quantification piece more efficient, that's more resources to farmers.” - Nick Reinke

Dairies and Soil Health with Brett Blackwelder Jun 08, 2023

Show notes

Brett Blackwelder traveled from West Central Minnesota to participate in the Agronomy on Ice event and that's where this interview was recorded in February of this year. Blackwelder farms with his dad and brother in Chokio, Minnesota. Together they have a 320-cow dairy and about 2700 acres of cropland. When it comes to their dairy production, they knew they needed to either get bigger, get automated, or get out. They chose to embrace robots. A big part of his job is managing the automated part of their operation. Blackwelder shares his views on soil health, the relationship between the row crop side of their operation and the dairy, and how they have managed the transition to using robots on the farm.

“You just see stuff on the internet about how we're wrecking soils, especially on the dairy side with silage. We don't have any cover in the fall and seeing firsthand soil blowing like crazy the way it was so I wanted to at least try to do something … just to make ourselves feel like good stewards.” - Brett Blackwelder

The Blackwelders refer to themselves as “lifelong learners” and are slowly implementing more soil health practices including reducing tillage and adding cover crops to avoid bare soil. Learning how to keep packing wheels on his implement and how to time the process of the cover crop planting has been part of the learning process. Other learnings are involved in the introduction of more automation in their dairy operation. He has noticed “the less time you spend in the barn, the more milk you get.” Flying the cover crop seed on was another new practice they tried.

“You know, our time is so valuable still at the farm where if we had to inter-seed it or do something ourselves, that actually probably would be more expensive in our case.” - Brett Blackwelder

This Week on Soil Sense:

Meet Brett Blackwelder from Chokio, Minnesota where he farms a 320-cow dairy and about 2700 acres of cropland with his family
Discover how a dairy producer like Brett made big changes to improve his family’s soil health on the crop side of their operation

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