Farming Podcast | Quebec Field Day Preview: Skip Row Corn & Yield Trials
In this episode of the Cutting The Curve farming podcast, host Damian Mason and guest Sam Coutu take a deep dive into corn yield trials, skip row corn, and fertility management ahead of the Quebec field day.
Listeners will hear how side-by-side trials are structured, comparing high versus low population, late soybean planting, and field-proven agronomic programs, which provide transparent results and real farm insights.
Sam and the XtremeAg team use soil test data and cross-regional collaboration to compare input strategies, focusing on increased yield, cost-effective fertility, and direct performance data. Attendees will benefit from practical learning, bilingual panels, and honest discussions on what works and what doesn’t, helping reduce yield challenges and improve profit margins.
FARMING TRENDS
“There will be takeaways for sure for everyone who's coming.” – Sam Coutu
Skip Row Corn & Yield Optimization
• Examining skip row vs. traditional corn planting• Studying high vs. low population effects• Leveraging Quebec’s longer daylight for yield gains
Comparative Agronomic Trials
• Testing population and fertility strategies• Soybean fertility and hybrid comparison• Sharing soil test data for tailored programs
Field-Proven, Transparent Results
• Direct side-by-side comparison in real-world plots• Honest review of both successes and failures• Learning from mistakes and local adaptation
Maximizing Event Learning
• Bilingual sessions for inclusive access• Local dealer and equipment presence• Open Q&A panels for farmer-driven discussion
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00:00:00 We're taking our show on the road. We're talking about the field day, August 15th, north of the border in Quebec with our friend Sam Katu. 00:00:09 And what you can learn when we get north of the St. Lawrence Seaway in this special edition of Extreme Acts cutting the curve. Welcome 00:00:16 To extreme Ag Cutting the Curve podcast, where real farmers share real insights and real results to help you improve your farming operation. 00:00:26 And now here's your host, Damien Mason. Hey there. Welcome to another fantastic episode This's, a special episode of Extreme Act Cutting the curve 00:00:34 because I'm excited to have my friend Sam Katu on. Sam is our Extre Act guy, north of the border. He is in the French part of Canada. 00:00:41 That would be Quebec or Quebec, depending on if you want to call it a que or cup. But the point is, we're gonna be there, Saint Norbert, 00:00:48 spelled like Saint Norbert. If you're Anglo like me, August 15th, 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM you're gonna learn about skip row corn, 00:00:56 high population versus low population and what that might determine on yield. Also, his soybeans went thin quite late, 00:01:04 but he's got fertility experimentation going on. There's also going to be challenges, challenges between some of the extreme ag guys with their recommendations versus Sam 00:01:14 paired up with a fertility company. This is kind of a cool thing and see whether the guy from Arkansas 00:01:20 with his recommendations can compete with the guy who's right there like Sam. So anyway, Sam is kind of a big deal. 00:01:28 Spray tech, nature's Alpine Agro Liquid are gonna be there and I'm gonna be there. 00:01:32 Tell me what we can expect to see when we're in St. Lubert. Yep. Thanks for having me today. 00:01:40 So, uh, we're gonna, we're gonna see what, what is nice, uh, it's, it's been, it's been a challenge to do 00:01:52 'cause uh, to get the product from the states and, uh, from different places. Uh, so we're gonna have, uh, lot to, um, 00:02:04 lot of new things for year to experiments, you know, so we have spray tech with their adjuvant, their plus F uh, we have, uh, uh, agro liquid with our, 00:02:16 their circuit. Uh, we're gonna have, uh, Raz Alpine, which is kind of the, the deal around here. 00:02:25 It's mainly the, it is mainly the, the main company we deal with, with our fertilizer here. 00:02:31 So it's nice to have other company to compare and see, see the results, you know, Skip row corn, uh, I saw, I saw it when I was at, uh, 00:02:41 Johnny lls in Tennessee. Um, do, what do you expect to see on your skip row corn in your, uh, in your geography? 00:02:52 If we can take advantage of the longer days here, that's really the main, the main goal. Okay. So the goal on the skip row corn, you're obviously, 00:03:03 we saw it in Tennessee, but you're 800 miles north of Tennessee, 600 miles north of Tennessee, you get an extra hour 00:03:11 and a half daylight, maybe two hours of more daylight. Yeah, Maybe. Yeah. 00:03:16 And so the idea is with more spacing, you get more sunlight per plant. Per plant. You can spend less, 00:03:22 are you spending less money on seed or is the advantage just that yield? So on the seed, it's the same as 00:03:31 what you don't seed in between the rows. You see that on the row. Okay. So it's a, it's a, it's a more, your, 00:03:39 your spacing is greater or is is closer, it's just that you have more room between rows. Yeah. So I simulate a 32 population Yep. 00:03:49 But on two rows instead of three. So it ended up with 43,000 and a half. Yep. Yep. 00:03:58 So you're same population, 32,000 per acre, but you're doing that, uh, in, On the row, you're really close. 00:04:05 Okay. So the benefit by August 15th, that corn's gonna be, we're gonna know whether it, what it, 00:04:11 what it's gonna do. Oh, yeah. So the, the ears are gonna be there and we are gonna have to see what it's gonna look like. 00:04:18 Compare to the high population that is really 45 just behind it. Just yeah. 00:04:26 And the low population, which is a 32. Okay. So you're, you're doing skip row and high population versus low population, or does it, 00:04:34 or does all of the have skip row? In other words, are you doing three different things? High population, low population, and skip row? 00:04:40 Yes. Okay. And so in your neighborhood, I know that it's a neat thing, only about 1% of the entire province, Quebec is in farmland, 00:04:50 and that's mostly all not too far from you. So we're gonna have a bunch of your neighbors coming over. Are you, has anybody in your neighborhood 00:04:56 done skip row corn? Nope. Okay. So you're gonna have a lot of interest in that? Yep. Okay. I think so 00:05:04 Talk to me about the challenge plots. You've got Kelly and Chad and Matt Yep. And Temple doing different stuff. 00:05:10 Yeah. So I send, uh, what the soil looks like here. I send the, the test, the soil tests Yes. 00:05:22 To the guys. And they gave me back what the, what population they want and what fertilizer all they want it. 00:05:31 And it's so far, it's really nice to see the difference between the guys. Okay. So who, 00:05:37 and then the challenge plots, each of you pairs up with a representative from a fertility company? Yes. 00:05:44 Uh, no. So the guys, they ask me, I want, can you have this, this, this, or this? And depending on what I can get, I put what they want. 00:05:54 Okay. Because some of the products that say that we used in the United States is not available to you. Yep. All right. So right now, so on corn, 00:06:04 We have, we have more and more product available, you know. Yeah. Thanks to extreme Ag. 00:06:08 And we're, we're really pushing to make, to, to make them come here. So Kelly and Chad did a corn plot, and then Matt 00:06:16 and Timber did a soybean plot and you did one of each, right? Yep. All right. Are you gonna win? 00:06:23 I hope so, but you know, I'm, I'm kind of the, the check strip where I'm doing what I'm doing local to compare, and it's gonna be nice to compare 00:06:34 what they are doing. Yeah. So you're doing what normally you would do in St. Norbert, Quebec, 00:06:42 and Matt is saying, let's do this crazy stuff. And you're thinking it is either work or it's gonna fail because he's based on Arkansas. 00:06:50 Yep. Which one has you most excited? Uh, slots right now? Yeah. I would say Chad. 00:07:02 Chad's. Yeah. See, he's cheating. He's been to your farm and the other guys haven't. Yep. He knew what he is getting into. All right. 00:07:11 Soybeans, are you concerned that we're not gonna have a good representation because we're going to because they went in late? 00:07:17 Or you think they'll still look fine? Understand. Yeah. They went, they went really late. But we're gonna, we're still gonna have a good idea of, uh, 00:07:26 it's a new Z series from Pioneer, and it's, it's already, it's, it's young. It's really, it's been planted on, I think it was June 12th. 00:07:37 Okay. It's, it's already help and it's already doing things. And, uh, now we're, we're gonna have it, 00:07:44 what is gonna be nice also is we have, uh, variety plots. And, uh, when we plant the beans, there was some, 00:07:54 I wasn't there, but there was more space that they left. So we came back three weeks later 00:08:00 and planted the same, same hybrids just beside it. So we're going to see the effect of late later planting. Yeah. So that's cool. 00:08:13 So you're gonna be able to do, uh, we can experiment with time of planting as well as variety. And then obviously you're doing fertility changes up 00:08:22 on the, on the soybeans. Yeah. That, that was the trickiest part. The, the ary. That's a, that's a challenge when the you do. I do. 00:08:31 I the guys, I know the guys have a, a special planter for their field day plots. That, that was my, my planner for every day, you know, so 00:08:41 Yeah. You didn't use it, you did not use a special piece of equipment for your plots. 00:08:45 You just did what you normally do in your rest of your fields. Yes. All right. 00:08:50 So if I come to this, which I am coming to it. Yep. Tell me, tell the person listening and watching this, why they need 00:08:57 to come to this. First off, Because you're gonna be there Because I'm gonna be there. 00:09:02 Right. And we're gonna do a pla we're gonna do a panel after. So tell us about the schedule. 00:09:06 We start at 10:00 AM we go to 3:00 PM Yeah. So in the, in the morning, we're gonna have four session in the different test bots. 00:09:15 Mm-hmm. Uh, after that we're gonna have a launch on site. And after the launch, we're gonna have the panels with you 00:09:24 and the, the, the, the guys that the extreme high guys are coming. Yep. And we're gonna have four more session after lunch 00:09:32 Out in the field. Yep. Out in the field. And we have an interpreter. Yes. We uh, we hire two, 00:09:40 we're gonna have two interpreters. Okay. For the panels. And also they're gonna be in the field for some, uh, 00:09:48 specific stations. Perfect. Yep. And then the other part of this is, uh, lunch. Now wait a minute. Am I getting, am I getting like poutine 00:09:58 or am I, uh, what, what are we having? Uh, it's more like, uh, barbecue. Okay. Yep. 00:10:06 And, uh, it's not already all set up, but it looks like we're gonna have some, uh, wild meats. Some what? Wild meats. 00:10:17 Like Canadian, Canadian, caribou, caribou, reindeer. What are we talking About? Uh, more, more like 00:10:22 wild hogs. I like it. I like it. And then the night before, I'm gonna get there and visit you and we're gonna go through all this 00:10:28 and I'm gonna drink two Labatts. Is that okay? I can find you that. Okay. Thank you. Answer me this, um, about the, the thing that you want to do 00:10:39 that you've been to a bunch of our field days and stuff, and here in the United States. 00:10:42 What thing are you gonna take from the field days that you're like, here's something I really wanna make sure that I do at ours. 00:10:48 Uh, that I learn from somebody else's. What I really wanna do. Yeah. You're dividing up your crowd. 00:10:57 You're doing four stations, you're giving 'em lunch. Yep. Why would you, why would you, Sam, come to this field day? 00:11:06 Because it's gonna be a nice opportunity to see new companies, see different guys, uh, from the states, uh, different idea than from what we have locally here. 00:11:24 Yep. Uh, different mindsets, mindset. So there will be takeaways for sure for everyone who's coming. 00:11:32 I like it. I think there's gonna be a lot of good stuff. 'cause we've already had a couple. 00:11:35 Yours is the second to last Simple Roads is the final field day of the year. We've got yours. And August, 00:11:41 we also have Johnny Verell's on August 5th, we have Kevin Matthews in North Carolina on August 7th, you're gonna be at yours and I'm gonna be there as well. 00:11:48 August 15th, uh, in St. Norbert. And, uh, it's gonna be a fantastic day. It's all hands on. Lots of question. The panel is, uh, some 00:11:59 of the extreme ag guys and, and you and I'll be hosting that. And we make it very interactive. 00:12:05 That's the thing that everyone understand, right? They can ask whatever questions they want. Some of the ideas that our guys come up 00:12:12 with might sound a little crazy, but, uh, you're gonna see some of them in play right there. So 00:12:16 Yeah. And with the, the interpreter, it's gonna be really nice. Everybody's gonna be fluent. 00:12:21 It's gonna be easy to, to understand. And as we have done other Field day in the past, other farms with Americans and the translation wasn't something PRIs. 00:12:34 Right. And it's, that's something I really want to have on my field day at the interpreter. Yeah. A couple years ago, Chad 00:12:42 and our girl Shelly came up to your part of the world and there were several hundred people at a field day. We want to do the same thing. We wanna make it there. 00:12:49 If you want to register, these are free to attend. Anyone can attend. Yep. You don't have to be an extreme Ag member. 00:12:55 You've got to go on and register. Um, you can go to Extreme Ag Farm and Register. It's free to attend. And the lunch is free. 00:13:02 There's companies you can talk to. You're gonna hear from spray tech nature's Alpine Agro Liquid. You are gonna 00:13:08 Have, and we're gonna have also local sponsors. Yeah. The local retailer, Local retailers and local, uh, grain buyers 00:13:17 or bin bin sellers, whatever, are gonna have different, different stuff on site. Also, Did you get a free grain bin out of this deal? 00:13:27 You got a grain bin company there? Yeah, I hope so. My grain leg Equipment, there're gonna be some equipment people there. 00:13:34 Yeah. John Deere's supposed to be here. My local deer dealer is supposed to be here. That's fantastic. So you can come out 00:13:40 and kick the bricks and see all kind of stuff. Yep. Uh, I'm excited about it. It's gonna be great. It's gonna be great. 00:13:47 And then, uh, and then you'll learn and you'll see what Sam does, and Sam can tell you he'll his mistakes. 00:13:53 That's the good thing. Also, at extreme ag, we're not afraid to admit our mistakes. Sometimes you go to these seed company events 00:14:00 and everything is a big success. Oh, just buy that seed. We're not doing that. No. And We're, I, I'm really humble. 00:14:06 Um, there's 14 different corn, uh, hybrids and the pioneer plots, and there's one or two that it's, it's been planted just 00:14:15 before A big rain heaven. And there's one or two that the population is not that great, but it's nice to see 00:14:24 the do's and don't, you know. Yeah. We always tell don't plant before a big rain heaven. Yeah. But just that morning we had two. 00:14:33 So, so that's good because some of the, some of the field days, they would go out and mow down 00:14:38 everything that didn't look good. You're showing everyone, you're showing everything. That's good. Yep. All right. 00:14:45 I think we're gonna leave it there. So you want to hear from all these companies and see what they have to offer. 00:14:49 It's not a big sales pitch. It's very informative. You just heard Sam admit that he's gonna leave up even his duds, his failures. 00:14:55 He's gonna let you see everything. We were taking the mask off, man. Warts and all. Because you get to see everything. 00:15:02 The guys from XtremeAg are gonna be there. Sam's gonna be there. I'm gonna be there, gonna have a panel. 00:15:10 Lots of questions, lots of information so you can help farm better. I'm excited to extreme ags first 00:15:16 venture north of the border. Yep. International Relations. Huh? It'll be great on ice. 00:15:22 Yeah, it's gonna be fantastic. And the bad thing is I just saw that the exchange rates getting better for Canada 00:15:28 and worse for Americans. So I'm afraid I'm gonna need a loan from you when I get up there. Sam, can you loan me some money? Oh 00:15:32 Yeah. You just eat, just have less. One less beer. One less beer. Okay. His name is Sam here too. So check it out. August 15th, 10:00 AM 00:15:43 to 3:00 PM That's Eastern time zone. We want you to be there. Go on the website, extreme Ag Farm and sign up and register. 00:15:50 We really wanna make this a great event for you and educational. You know, it will be if you show up. 00:15:54 Sam's gonna make it that way. So I'll see you in August with our friend Sam of the north. Yep. See you there. 00:16:01 Got it. Till next time. Damien Mason here with extreme Ag in the curve. Check out all of our great stuff at our website. 00:16:07 While you're there, while you're there to register for the field days, check out some of the videos that I've done with Sam 00:16:11 and you can learn more and help you farm better. That's a wrap for this episode of Cutting the Curve. Make sure to check out Extreme Ag Farm 00:16:19 for more great content to help you squeeze more profit out 00:16:22.535 --> 00:16:24.175