Farming Podcast | Kelly's Field Day - Cover Crops, Biology & A Soybean Challenge

00:00:00 Field days 2025. We're talking about what you're gonna learn, what we've learned in field days past with Kelly Garrett 00:00:05 and Mike Evans in this short, fun episode of extreme Ag cutting the curve, It's extreme ag cutting the curve podcast, 00:00:12 cutting your learning curve, and improving your farming operation every week. This episode of The Cutting the Curve podcast is powered 00:00:19 by Nature's bio kay technology delivering enhanced nutrient cycling, greater plant health, 00:00:24 and elevated stress mitigation leading to increased crop yields. Visit natures.com. 00:00:30 And now let's get ready to learn with your host Damien Mason. Hey there, this is another great episode. 00:00:36 You know what we do here at Extreme Ag? We try to share as much information as we possibly can to help you farm better, and one way we do that is 00:00:43 through our field days. You know, we have seven field days scheduled for the year 2025, uh, at all the locations. 00:00:48 There's gonna be in Arkansas, there's gonna be in Tennessee with Johnny Verell, uh, North Carolina, with the Matthews, 00:00:53 uh, we even going to Canada. That's right, we're crossing the border. Probably gonna get nicked for 25% going each way. Who knows? 00:00:58 We're gonna go up to Sam Q two's and Quebec. We're also going to be at Temple Roads, and we're gonna be at Kelly Garrett's in, uh, Arian, Iowa 00:01:07 and Northwest Iowa. We're gonna be there on June 26th. It's a always a great time. I've worked every one of the 00:01:13 field days they've had up there. So Mike Evans and Kelly Garrett are gonna share with you what we've learned from Field day's past 00:01:19 and one of the big overarching themes that they have for this year. And then as well as 00:01:23 some of the companies we're gonna be working with. Mr. Evans, you said, Hey, we don't even necessarily know some 00:01:27 of the specific products we're gonna use yet. Here we are recording this, uh, third week of April. But what we do know is we're gonna continue to do 00:01:34 what we do at Garrett Land and Cattle, push the envelope, trying new things, always looking at 00:01:38 how we can have a balanced plant. Talk to me. Yeah, I mean, we're gonna definitely look at, uh, mineral Nutrition in the plant 00:01:47 with some of the sponsors that we got. I know Agro Liquid's got a challenge plot, which is gonna be very intriguing. 00:01:52 I, I can't remember. I think Matt and and Johnny are gonna be up there with their programs in, in Kelly's field. 00:01:59 So, um, it'll be interesting to look at, you know, their programs versus what we've been doing. Um, and just do some comparisons there. 00:02:06 And then, then looking at, um, the other companies, what, what we can do to better be better balanced plants 00:02:14 and see how that rolls out. One of your big themes, Kelly, has been in 2022, it was stress reduction, stress mitigation, uh, 00:02:23 then you moved on to reduction of synthetic fertility, particularly nitrogen. That's been one of your other overarching themes. 00:02:30 Obviously you were ahead of that, you were about carbon getting more carbon into the ground. You famously said famous, at least in my mind, 00:02:37 you said nobody talks about carbon because no ag retailer can make a nickel trying to sell you carbon 'cause you can grab it out 00:02:43 of the air, et cetera, et cetera. So the overarching theme now is balance. Tell me about that. Yes. Well, we have learned, you know, 00:02:52 from calibrated agronomy and the SAP testing that we perform, if we can find a balanced plant, 00:02:58 and to me the definition of balance is 95% nitrogen assimilation in the plant. If we can achieve that, then we can produce a plant 00:03:08 that is very healthy and the properties of that plant, the yield, the health, the uh, disease, re the disease out competition, you know, it, it, 00:03:18 it does the, the plant is just all around healthier. I'm stumbling around here, Damien, but it, it never ends. And we can do that. It doesn't cost any more money. 00:03:27 We're reallocating that nitrogen spend to the micronutrient spend to achieve this 95% assimilation with all of nitrogen that comes outta my soil. 00:03:35 I'll be really truthful. We sometimes struggle to get to that 95%, but we're still making great strides 00:03:42 and we see special things happen when we get there. Well, it's not like you're against, um, doing fertility, but two of the companies we're gonna be working 00:03:50 with at your field day, agro liquid nature's two companies we love to work with. We're getting smarter about applied fertility. 00:03:56 We're getting more, uh, cost. It's not even that we're saving a lot. We're reallocating one of Chad Henderson's favorite things. 00:04:02 Reallocating. Reallocating. Um, what are you doing specifically there? You may not know the exact product, 00:04:08 but it's, I'm sure it's gonna be like last year they did, uh, an all liquid post application 00:04:13 or at time of planning application, no dry fertility at all for Temple. Kind of a similar thing in Iowa this year. 00:04:19 Yes, and, and no, we're not against fertility at all. We just want to use the SAP test to measure what fertility we need. 00:04:26 My, my new statement is how do we manage what we don't measure? And before we always believe that we just need all 00:04:32 of this nitrogen, whatever the producer thought. We just need all of this nitrogen. Now we know through the validation of our rapid soil test 00:04:39 and the SAP test, we need less nitrogen. We need more phosphorus, more potassium, and the specifically more micronutrients. 00:04:47 So what we will be doing with most of the companies at the field day is using their different forms, their different micronutrient packages to see 00:04:55 what we can, uh, see what we can accomplish. Mr. Evans calibrated agronomy, integrated ag solutions. You wear a few hats, obviously. 00:05:03 Then you also work for the agronomic company here. Lessons. 'cause there's always this thing, I go to these field days. 00:05:09 Every, every seed company has a field day and they walked you by and they say 300 bushels, 300 bushels, three oh bushels. 00:05:16 I've never been to a seed field day where they said, God, this is a turd. The test weight was 49 pounds 00:05:23 and it yielded 130 bushels even under prime conditions. Never ever has said it. Our field days are pretty damn honest. 00:05:29 Tell me some takeaways, honest takeaways from past field days that you as an agronomist are like, damn, I'm glad we did this 00:05:37 because doing it at scale would've really harmed us. We learned some lessons here. Gimme some takeaways from past field day in trials. 00:05:46 Oh, I think, um, things we've learned, uh, tweaks to our in Forrow program. Um, sometimes doing small scale stuff gets your eyes open 00:05:57 through a few things, um, that, uh, large scales, uh, you don't maybe as pay attention as much, put it that way. You can see it in a smaller scale and, 00:06:06 and watch it, uh, watch it little more, uh, what's the word I'm trying to use more frequently? There we go. And, uh, you know, I think that's the takeaways 00:06:17 and that, I think field days too, just to your point, I've been to grew up in the retail business. We went all, you know, had the field days. 00:06:25 A lot of times it's just a free meal for the farmer. Mm-hmm. Um, there's not a whole lot of information. 00:06:28 I think these field days provide some more touch points, not only with extreme ag guys, but just the sponsors 00:06:34 and have some, uh, great knowledge transfer. Not that we don't feed our people. By the way, June 26th, if you come 00:06:40 to the Garrett Atlantic Cattle Field Day in Crawford County, Iowa, you will be fed. 00:06:45 And there's this field day's in the afternoon. It's like a three to seven, three to eight kind of PM thing, right? 00:06:51 Yes. And Farm Credit is sponsoring the meal at this year's field day. Oh, there you go. Thank you very much. Farm credit. 00:06:57 All right. Um, at your field day last year, I'll give you the takeaway. It was, uh, with our partners FMC 00:07:03 that will not be participating in this year's field day. And it was all about a herbicide trial. 00:07:07 And I'm telling you, most field days would've gone out through the Bush Hog and said, oh, this, uh, was just exp it looked like crap. 00:07:13 What did we learn? We learned that, uh, you, you had some mistiming of herbicide application. The field was weedy, 00:07:20 but we used it as a learning experience. In other words, we show the warts and all. I was kind of excited about that. 00:07:26 It was weedy. There was, uh, lack of balance in the soil right there, which didn't allow the herbicide to work the way it want, 00:07:32 you know, so the takeaway to me there was, you know, we need to not only balance the mineral nutrition in the plant, 00:07:38 we need to balance it in the soil to allow the herbicide to work correctly. Spray tech's gonna be involved. 00:07:43 You may not know the exact product mix. One of the things that I think, uh, I've taken away from working with spray tech, uh, adjuvant, 00:07:49 uh, foam control, uh, drift control. Where do you think you're going to, how will you use them, do you think Mr. Evans? 00:07:57 Um, I mean, they've got some really good foliar pro products that we've used, uh, in the past. 00:08:03 Um, I don't know what drew in the crew has got up their sleeve yet, but I'm sure they're gonna bring something to the table. 00:08:09 Um, that'll be exciting to work with. Um, you know, the, I think the one thing too we've learned with spray tech is that, that adjuvant and, 00:08:17 and spray control is a huge thing. You know, one thing, you know, outside the field data we've done this year, 00:08:22 we're being able to have their products in the tank is drop down our pre-plant, uh, gallons per acre 00:08:28 and be a little more efficient that way. So, um, I think that's, you know, one thing we could talk about in the field day as well, um, 00:08:36 is what Kelly's changed on that piece of the operation. We're Recording this on April 24th. 00:08:41 The planters are rolling. You started rolling this week. Is any of the product 00:08:45 that you're gonna be using at field days already on the planter this week? No. No. 00:08:55 So all your stuff's gonna be more post application? Yes. Okay. So everything we see on the field day, 00:09:01 everything we see on the field day is gonna be happening not at time of planting. Right. You know, the things that we do in the field day, 00:09:08 a lot of it will be more towards the R stages, things like that. So the applications won't have been made yet tip necessarily 00:09:16 at the end of June, but we'll be able to talk about it. We'll talk about the plan and things like that. Be because, you know, what's a SAP test 00:09:23 and when we're trying to keep up with that nitrogen release, when the corn is in the reproductive stage, 00:09:28 is typically when we see the biggest gains. Got it. I wanna hear about, uh, a couple of other companies that we're gonna be working with, uh, 00:09:35 UPL concept, agritech and Biot Till and Biot Till's new. We did something with them, uh, to us. 00:09:41 And I wanna talk about the cover crop, uh, because I think that's where you're gonna go with that. Uh, before I do that, I wanna remind you, 00:09:45 as your farm operation grows, so do the challenges, superior grain equipments, grain storage systems are built to make your job easier as a farmer 00:09:53 and help your grain reach its full potential. Are you losing grain quality? Are you missing out on harvesting opportunities 00:09:58 because your grain setup is lacking? Modern efficiency, superior grain can help from general mix flow dryers 00:10:05 to durable storage, get the flexibility to market your grain on your time visit with the experts from Superior Grain Equipment, 00:10:11 this year's Farm Progress show in August in Decatur, Illinois. Or you can visit them online anytime@superiorbins.com 00:10:18 bio till we had them on here. And we talked about cover crops. Is that what I'm talking about here? Yes. So you're gonna do a field day for cover crops. 00:10:25 People are like, oh, I've never seen this before. Again, this goes against the grain. Most field days you go to are all about 00:10:31 how much yield we get and you just buy our stuff. Uh, we'll make you millionaires. You're actually saying, let's help you conserve your soil, 00:10:37 let's get the soil microbes working. You do that with cover crops. Well, you know, TJ and I have become pretty good friends. 00:10:42 He's a wealth of information. It's helped us out a lot in our intensive rotational grazing and our cover crop species, things like that. 00:10:50 TJ's doing something pretty interesting on his farm in Minnesota. He's putting cover crops out in like 2, 3, 4 inch tall corn. 00:10:57 Yeah. And he's choosing species of plants that don't compete with the corn. Uh, the corn then actually out, well outcompete it, 00:11:04 it, this is not a yield. The goal obviously is not to have a yield penalty to the corn, but to collaborate with the corn. 00:11:11 And so TJ has worked to, uh, identify the species of plants that do that. We're talking about using turnips and annual rye grass 00:11:20 and a, uh, uh, an African kale, I believe is what it is, if I remember correctly. We're gonna put that out early. 00:11:27 We believe there will be some weed suppression from this. We believe there'll be some moisture retention. 00:11:32 We of course, believe that there will be some conservation and erosion control from this. 00:11:36 And then, uh, foremost, or most importantly to me, uh, when that starts growing in June 00:11:42 and things like that, you know, last year we had such a problem getting the cover crops to germinate because of the dry months 00:11:49 of August, September when we seed them. If we put this out in June, we really hope to get some good growth out of it 00:11:54 and accomplish all the things I already mentioned. Plus, I hope to have some extra cow feed when we turn the cows out. 00:12:00 Then we're gonna make, we're making a revenue stream out of the cover crop because of the cow feed. 00:12:04 That's my ultimate goal. The only thing that hurts you, and by the way, if you're listening to this or we're watching it, 00:12:09 you can go back and watch that episode with TJ and Kelly and I, and we talked about it 00:12:13 and we even talked about the, the one inherent risk if urinated a particularly dry year, putting cover crops in at such an early point in the corn's 00:12:22 growth cycle could compete for moisture. And you could end up, of course, if it's a drought year, you're probably screwed anyhow, but, 00:12:27 and you're probably looking at crop insurance claim. Anyway. So that was an interesting topic. Go and watch that episode because we've been doing these, 00:12:34 putting, cutting the curves now for four years. Hundreds of episodes just like this. Plus all the videos these guys shoot on their farm. 00:12:40 It's all free for you@extremeag.farm, also on our YouTube channel. Hit subscribe when you go there and check out our new show. 00:12:46 The grain reach shot here at my farm in Indiana at my own farm tavern. Eventually Mike Evans is gonna come there. 00:12:52 Um, I mean, we almost need to build up for that. We almost like need to like maybe like get the right decorations in place. 00:12:59 I mean, you can't just have him walking into an old building. I mean, it needs to, it needs to shine. Anyway. Big deal. 00:13:05 Kind of a big deal. Just seen him back in his football playing days. I mean, he still actually, his muscles 00:13:12 had definition back then. I mean, I'm just saying. Alright, concept agritech, um, you've used their stuff. 00:13:20 I think, um, this might be the first or second time that they've been at a field day. What do you expect to see or 00:13:25 what do you think you'll be doing with them? They have some interesting products as well. They have some nice carbon based products. 00:13:32 They, uh, they do really well. You know, spray tech, agri, liquid, all of them. Concept Agritech is another example 00:13:38 of a really good solid company with, with some good agronomists and good products. And, you know, they haven't identified it all yet 00:13:45 because like we talked about, a lot of it'll be foliar. They're busy with other things with the planting. So we're pushing that, those 00:13:51 decisions down the road a little bit. And, and really, Damien, it'll probably depend on the SAP test, what is needed. 00:13:56 Right. But, you know, it'll, it, I'm, I would assume it'll be some of their micronutrient products, things like that. 00:14:01 So Evans, you're talking about SAP testing. You and I did something with calibrated agronomy talking about the advantage of SAP versus tissue. 00:14:08 Uh, and, and, and it's fascinating. Will this be the first year that you're really gonna go full tilt? 00:14:13 If you're, if you're on the microphone at this field day and you're talking to farmers 00:14:17 and you're say, here's where we would've done something two years ago and we're so much better at it now because of SAP testing. 00:14:22 Do you see this being an overriding theme for this year's, uh, field day? Yeah. Yeah. We've come a long ways in our research 00:14:29 with SAP data, um, especially last year, we've, we've got a very robust, uh, data set that we've, um, been able 00:14:36 to glean a lot of information out of. So we're pretty confident in what, what the data tells us and how we can go approach it, um, from a solution aspect. 00:14:44 So yeah, I mean, it, it's a, it's a powerful tool in our toolbox that we use, uh, for every grower that we're consulting with. 00:14:52 So the person that's at your field day says, yeah, but SAP testing is really expensive. You're gonna tell 'em you get your payback because why, 00:15:01 Uh, you get your payback. 'cause you're, you're solving the problem, the plant's telling you, I mean, 00:15:05 whether you're deficient copper or you're not assimilating nitrogen. Right. Um, you know, probably the biggest tool 00:15:13 that SAP provides is it's a two week window into what the crop's going to show you. I mean, it'll pick up deficient visual deficiencies 00:15:20 before they're even visual in the plant. So, um, if, if we're doing a, uh, pretty regimented SAP schedule testing schedule, 00:15:28 you'll pick up your deficiencies before the plant shows 'em. Do you, so you can stay ahead of the curve there. 00:15:34 Are you done doing tissue sampling at Garland and cattle? Is it all gonna be sap? Either? 00:15:39 No testing at all or sap, because you think tissue sampling is yesterday's, yesterday's technology. Yeah. 00:15:44 I can't remember the last time we took a tissue test. Yeah, Yeah. We, 00:15:49 yeah, we do some tissue just to do some, some comparison stuff a little bit. And it's got a few places on, on accumulation of nutrients, 00:15:57 but for the most part, we're making all our recommendations off of SAP sampling. It's a company called UPL, um, newer, uh, 00:16:04 business partner here with XT Extreme Ag. And I am, I'm excited to see what you're going to do with them. 00:16:08 Do you have any idea what you might do with them on your field day? They haven't given you the orders yet. 00:16:14 They have not different crop protection strategies, things like that, but we don't have all the final, uh, decisions yet. 00:16:22 So one thing about you, you're always, uh, like I said, I went through all of your, your themes, uh, from stress mitigation to carbon 00:16:29 before that to, you know, uh, out plant balance and all that on your thing with like, for instance, the cover cropping, because you're 00:16:37 as good at the cover cropping as really anybody in extreme ag and you do it in northern climate when people try 00:16:43 to tell you it won't work because it frosts too early or you lose soil temperature, whatever. Is this the year that we start talking about the biology 00:16:51 and, and the benefit there? Because at field days they talk a lot about products. I don't think they talk as much about 00:16:57 the organisms within a living soil, Good soil health, uh, which to me is biological life is extremely important, you know, 00:17:09 and, and there are different products out there and, and we try some of 'em and things like that, uh, with varying degrees of success. 00:17:15 Uh, but the biological life is something that's ultra important. And, uh, we historically have had some trouble 00:17:23 with the biological products, and I think it's because we have biology in our soil. That's one of the, uh, great properties of the Iowa soil 00:17:31 that, you know, temple and Matt give me a hard time about it is that, and, and the cover crops and the no-till. 00:17:38 Um, and the different things we try to practice, I think really promote, promote biological life in our soil. Last year we were at your place. 00:17:45 You hadn't had a drop of rain in about a month. It was actually pretty, it was actually, we, we definitely let our warts show. 00:17:53 Um, we hope it's not gonna be that way this year. How's it shaping up Evans? Are we gonna, are we gonna have another return of last year 00:17:57 where things look so crappy because there's no rain? Or is it gonna be a good year? Uh, right now, I tell you, um, no, I mean, we, Kelly 00:18:07 and I were talking a couple days ago. That's some of the best planting conditions. He, I've, since I've been around, we've had, 00:18:13 and Kelly made the comment that's best he's ever had in his farming career. So, um, soil's in good condition, uh, 00:18:20 where the field day plots is, is pretty well prepped and ready. Um, I'm pretty excited about it. 00:18:25 We've been getting some rains here, so I I don't foresee it. Um, being like last year, 00:18:31 Your field day on some of the flattest ground you farm, which means only about a 15 to 20% slope. Is that rock? Is that probably what it's like? 00:18:38 Is that what we're talking about, Kelly? Uh, that's right. We're we, we have to, we have to dig in ledge 00:18:43 to make the table set low. We're going to, we're going to the bunny hill compared to the Mount Everest. 00:18:49 Uh, which still means, yeah, it's 20% slope. Um, I'm excited about it. So why something that says, I'm thinking about I should go 00:18:56 to one of these extreme ag field days. Uh, gimme the pitch. Why should they do that? Either of you. Who's got it, Kelly? Why should they 00:19:01 come to your field day? The Education, it's not like a normal field day. Again, you, you go to a lot of sea corn field days 00:19:06 and it's a free meal, things like that. Uh, the companies that come to these field days really have a nice 00:19:12 message to share with you. So come knowing that you should walk around, ask questions, network with people, things like that. 00:19:19 The, the education and the, the people you can meet, uh, can become very valuable in your operation. 00:19:26 My favorite Iowa farmer besides you guys, Jerry Rice always at your field day. So I hope that Jerry comes here. 00:19:32 And by the way, not the football player from the four, nine ERs, uh, the other guy, uh, Evans, get outta here. What do I need to know if I come 00:19:37 to your field day, what am I gonna learn this year? Gimme one big thing I'm gonna learn. What am I gonna learn when I come there? 00:19:41 What are you gonna tell me? Well, I thought Kelly was gonna say, come there 'cause you're gonna be there, Damien. 00:19:46 That's all I need. So, but, uh, um, you know What we always say, Evans, you should leave the humor to a professional for God's sakes. 00:19:54 I mean, think about the people that are listening to this. They, they didn't do it in for amateur hour. 00:19:59 All right, you're funny. What besides me, why, why else should they come? Uh, I just radiate what Kelly said. 00:20:05 I mean, I think it's the networking, not with even with the sponsors, but just the growers and the other members that are there and, 00:20:11 and bouncing ideas off and, uh, just having conversations. I think's the biggest thing, um, learning from each other is 00:20:18 what, what extreme mag's all about Seven field days in 2025. We are going starting May 22nd at Henderson's Farm, 00:20:25 Chad Henderson's farm in northern Alabama, near Huntsville, Alabama. We go from there to McGee, Arkansas, that's the Delta. 00:20:31 Or as our friend Matt Miles calls it, little Vietnam are difficult farming conditions, a hundred plus degrees. 00:20:36 And not to mention the alligators and the bugs. Anyway, we're gonna be there on June 12th. We're going from there two weeks later, 00:20:42 June 26th at this failed day with Kelly Garrett and Mike Evans and all the entire cast and crew of Garrett Land and Cattle. 00:20:49 Maybe even Vern will show up. Anyway, then we're going from there to August. We've got three in August. 00:20:54 We are gonna be at, uh, Johnny Verell's, August 5th, Matt, uh, Kevin Matthews on August 7th. 00:20:58 I'm looking at the calendar. And then August 15th, we're going to be in Canada. That's right. American Dollar buys a lot in Canada. 00:21:07 I encourage you to go to that one. Hell, you might come home with a farm. Who knows? It's only like 70 cents now. 00:21:11 Uh, 70 cents to spend a dollar in Canada. And then we finish up August 21st. We're gonna be at Temple Roads, 00:21:17 Chestnut Manor Farms in Eastern Shore, Maryland. Thanks guys. Appreciate you being here. Appreciate you having us. We're gonna see you in June. 00:21:25 We're gonna see you in June, if not sooner. So next time. That's Mike Evans with Calibrated Agronomy. 00:21:29 And that is Kelly Garrett. Garrett Land Cattle. And I'm Damien Mason. This is extreme ag cutting the curve. Thanks for tuning in. We hope to see you at all 00:21:35 or at least one of the field days this year. That's a wrap for this episode of Extreme ags Cutting the Curve Podcast. 00:21:41 Make sure to check out extreme ag.com for more great content. Cutting. The curve is powered by Nature's Bio. Kay. 00:21:48 Check out natures.com to learn more about how Bio Kay can improve your farm's. 00:21:53.045 --> 00:21:53.485