00:00 Are your plants stressed chances are they are you know, why because you have drought you have cold you have wet you have varying growing conditions that probably are 00:10 stressing out your plants. Then a big topic we're talking about we're gonna talk about you today right here on cutting curve with Kevin Matthews and how he is creating a 00:18 stress free crop. I'm open to welcome to extreme acts cutting the curve podcast where we cut your learning curve with insights. You can apply immediately to your farming operation. 00:31 This episode is presented by Loveland products when it comes to crop inputs, you need products that are feel proven to deliver both results and value 00:41 for more than 50 years. Loveland products has been providing Farmers with high performance value driven product Solutions designed to maximize productivity on every 00:50 acre visit Loveland products.com to see how they're Innovative products can help you farm more profitably and now here's your host Damian Mason. Here's welcome 01:01 to another fantastic episode of Extreme as cutting the curve. We're talking today with Kevin Matthews, one of the original founders of extreme egg 01:07 East Bend North Carolina Farm operator, and he's talking about a big objective for him and crop season 2023 creating a stress free plant. Okay, 01:16 if you keep up with our stuff we have touched on the subject a number of times, but you know, Why it's a huge subject Kelly. Garrett said it vast 01:25 clear back in October 2021. I was sitting in his office and he said Damien, you know, what a big objective for me is gonna be in crop season 2022 01:31 reducing stress on the crops. He said I truly believe that fertility is no longer a limiting factor. It's it's really about we're dealing with a crop 01:41 that is stressed and it can't uptake the fertility and that's what we're going to adjust to then Temple Road said that's gonna be a big adjustment for him in 2023. I 01:51 talked to Kevin I said, what's a big Focus for you in 2023 says creating stress-free plants. All right, Kevin. What are 01:57 you doing to create a stress free environment what you can't create stress free environment, but you're making so your plants are 02:03 not stressed. Well, there's multiples of angles that were going at, you know, yeah nutrients. We want to try to get a well-balanced soil based 02:11 off best options that we can but you know, we've always been trying to do that to a point, but we're learning more now, you know with the industry and 02:21 especially with extreme mag with working getting to work with so many unbelievable awesome Farmers that it's just amazing the the knowledge that 02:30 and the power we have in this group now, but You know for years. We'll take a product of that Loveland has 02:40 a radiate product. That product's been out a long time Damian, but we really didn't know how to use it to get the maximum bang 02:49 for our buck with it and to create that stress free plan. And and it's a side I can and I mean they've been around silicon's 02:58 oxens. All these you know has been around our Gibbs everything and our Gia just excuse me, and but 03:07 it's knowing when to use them and how to use them is what we're learning and it's amazing a lot 03:17 of these products that we've tested the last couple years. We've been able to lower canopy temperatures. Um, 03:23 that's a big deal where we're at here. I mean you use out of your field day. He's pretty damn hot and humidity degrees humid. And then 03:32 you also told me that there is aggressive cottonmouth snakes, which is my absolute Kryptonite Yeah question 03:39 for you. I remember standing there and that discussion. I remember doing it up at Lee lubbers up in South Dakota talking some of the companies that we're doing trials for 03:48 and they talked about uses products and it makes it cooler in the canopy and I kind of called BS I 03:54 And the weather's the weather how in the hell is putting a product out there unless it's a shade and this is an umbrella. This is an 04:04 air conditioner or a fan. How is it happen? And that's let's just go with that one because principally in your part of the world when you think stress you probably think. 04:14 But hurricanes in the fall and really high humidity and heat is your principal stress factor in the middle part of the growing season, right? Yeah. I mean, 04:23 I mean, I agree we yeah, I'm not sure, you know, the old saying is, you know droughts just terrible drought he is bad but the 04:33 heat stress is the worst. I mean we get a knot time Temp and we stay in the mid 80s and we don't cool down into the 70s at night. The heat stress is 04:43 just unbearable on corn and soybeans especially during those reproductive times those true, you know those real critical times and what we've learned. It's been 04:54 pretty fun. You know, I got to do a lot of research for company called smartfield. It's there. 05:00 It was kind of sad because they're investors right when they got things ready to launch publicly then investors pulled out and this is several years back, but 05:09 what we was doing was measure and canopy temperature where they're dripping. To see if we could keep it cooler with water and different 05:17 things and what we learned was there's a lot of products out there. You can lower that canopy temperature with got me 05:24 really interested. So then we got looking through extreme agways working with some of these specialty companies on 05:30 vegetables grapes and Vineyards of that nature and they're really into keeping the stress reduction low and lower neck 05:40 temperature on some of these plants. When are in reproduction to grow really good grapes? And you know, hey, you know, when we go to the grocery store, we 05:50 want our fruit to look really good. We're not gonna buy something that don't look good and they know that so whatever they can do to mitigate that stress and help it and 05:59 I got thinking well, you know, if there's actually something to it if we can make it economical on the farm 06:05 side and row crop industry, we might have to look into some of this stuff. And so that's what got us in this stage and we started learning how we can mitigate that stress and 06:15 lower canopy temperatures and also basically build it's kind of like a well-trained athlete, you know, 06:24 the guy that the guy that says that the beer joint and you know He's he's never he can't walk a half 06:32 mile without getting out of breath. He's not going to do as good as that well trained athlete if you know break that break 06:39 up and you know break down and go down the road to mile because a truck won't run it probably died driving a Dodge 06:45 like I do according to Kelly and boys they give me a hard time about my Rams. I kind of like them but 06:52 But you by the way, you not sure that in common. I I had a Dodge and I didn't realize that everything will aligned that. 06:58 Okay. So the thing is you're talking about the great athlete and also keeping the plant healthy and all that. Let's go back to the strip the 07:05 the temperature thing. Yeah. When you first got told that there's a product that could lower canopy temperature. You were like me. You said I don't believe 07:14 it. Absolutely. I mean one thing I've learned though is is a lot of things that I've called BS on if there are some. 07:26 Things that do and don't work on them. And if you can find what works in your environment, then that's a pretty cool deal. But it what we've learned is 07:35 there's really critical time and on when these products are used, you know, I spoke about the pgr or radiate earlier, which is 07:46 a side I can. That is a vegetative timing and so this year. Our July and August. I was talking with Dr. Ron 07:56 heiniger with NC State down at commodity classic. We was talking about temperatures and forecasts and right so our July and August everybody all the 08:06 forecasters are saying it's gonna be extremely hot. I'm not got a number on the amount of precipitation we're going to get but the Heat's what concerns me so I'm like, 08:17 okay we've done proved there's a yield benefit and we can we can make a healthier crop. Manage that canopy temperature to a point. 08:26 I mean if it's a hundred and ten degrees Aim so much we're going to do Damian. I mean the tough part is like like Matt miles 08:33 talked about that last summer. He says we had our nighttime temperature never cooled down and our plants never were able 08:39 to you know their lives. Yeah, they couldn't recover and so that's what you're talking about. So you're not able to obviously change the weather. If you're 08:48 when you think about creating stress-free plants is what we said was your 2023 focused the main thing obviously, she's 08:55 gonna start with heat. That's that's obviously your biggest stress factor. And so tell us the the practices that 09:02 you're doing if you will, please yeah, so what you are in you put in some kind of like you talked about a couple of products there like radiate, you know, accomplish Max 09:12 another one that goes in Furrow, right? We're using it we're so this is our we not have a couple years dated before we take anything across our farm. And so 09:21 yeah, we're using the the radiating for on our corner. So we beans we're using the the level on product accomplished Max 09:31 and for on our corn and soybeans. We're we're using Several other products as well. We're using a Sweet Success from concept agrotech, 09:46 which is a sugar a molasses base. We're putting that in there. We're enhancing and increasing that microbial life in that 09:55 soil and it just makes the plant healthier and happier. So we're thinking about that. Well trained athlete we're wanting it's kind of almost like we're you know, 10:05 vitamin supplement. We're keeping them nourished. Well, we're keeping plenty of vitamins in there and we're wanting the most production that we can get out of that. 10:15 But ask your question you just talked about a sugar Sweet Success product from concept Agate. I did we're doing a recording with Kelly about this subject 10:25 of stress. And I asked him in his whole mix about sugars and he said I don't get the reaction with sugars that 10:33 the southern guys do. Why is that? Oh, man, that's a good question now and I'm wonder if it's the the cooler climates they have now 10:43 I will say, you know, when we look at Soul samples and we compared they've got Kelly's got some really good top. So right but he's 10:53 got some you know, I would just about I mean, I would love to have his soul in my terrain but I mean, he's got a challenge farming 11:02 or he does with that those that terrain and he'll feel very as I said, you're listening if you have tuned in any of our past stuff my first time to Garrett's Farm 11:12 in Western, Iowa. I told him that if there was Hills like that in my neighborhood, we'd put a chair lift on and call the ski store but 11:20 So here's the thing sugar does does help create a reduced stress on a plant and I'm wondering why he wouldn't get a 11:30 bump on that and you do but the other part of it is there's probably somebody saying why does sugar reduce stress on a plant? I understand lowering 11:36 temperature. Why does the sugar Work Kevin? But it makes the nutrients more available. We're our soils. We don't have abundance of nutrients in the 11:47 soil. And when you increase that microbial life, then you're also increasing the availability of the nutrients that's there and you can become a lot more sustainable and and 11:57 this it's a lot more efficient and another product where you we're using heavily now is we've started with our nitrogen. We're putting carbon out 12:07 every time we put nitrogen out. We're adding carbon to that and we're getting a lot more efficiency out of our nitrogen bushels 12:16 per unit of nitrogen is that balance thing that we used to just use nitrogen, you know, just through more nation and it was less available because it 12:30 needs something else to what's the curb and do to make the nitrogen bone. Well, it's it's a balances. It just balances your soul. 12:40 out and balances where the plant can metabolize it, but you know you we was talking about this a while back when I 12:46 was I'll never forget years ago. I was probably 14 15 years old and went to Planet field and more the neighbors that put a brush pile out 12:57 there in the field and they burned all the brush and it was nothing but just the the ashes and the coals there 13:03 and we spread them out and the saw was just black and this is red clay, I mean red brick clay and 13:12 but it was amazing to me how those soybeans right there growed. I mean it was phenomenal and but we'll see young. We didn't really know what was 13:22 going on and to this day, you know, even now I don't know all the details I can get with Jason Sly and he can tell you every little detail about it. He's amazing the research 13:32 he's done on it, but it went back to the carbon and availability for those soybeans to nodulate and get to nitrogen in 13:42 them. So if you can't if you can't if you're farming a few thousand acres, you can't but brush piles on a few thousand burn it the backup plan 13:51 to get carbon. And what's the what what is your carbon program? So we're using this year, you know, we've used a lot of different products and 14:01 it's come down to some of them just aren't user friendly. They separate out they're hard to store some a few of them are really good, 14:11 but The product that stood out for us has been the sea cat from TV Corporation. Okay, Mark Coots, and we actually ended up we just buy it by the 14:21 tractor try to loads now. That's how much we're using. I mean as far as the rate, we'll run about a quart of 14:27 acre, but it's basically whatever you feel like your pocketbook can stand. I'm I've actually got some plots out 14:34 this year with two gallons acre in with the planner. to see What kind of your response last year at a court we was picking up, 14:44 you know over 10 bushels, and that was some. As pretty day going nice not don't I hope Mark don't listen to this. He might you're picking up 10, but wait, okay, first off secant 14:54 as a carbon product you put it out and with the planet fertility, but again, this is supposed to be about stress and you think that carbon reduces 15:04 stress absolutely by making nitrogen more available because of the balance well and see that's the part. You got to remember when you say stress. 15:15 So when you you know, David Hula's already proved attack, I mean 600 bushels acre is obtainable. That's not you know, that seed Corn's got that capability 15:24 all day long. We don't really know what the top end is. But when you open that bag, you created stress right then so everything you do it reduces yield is 15:34 a stress is the way we look at things and whether it's heat drought. no, sunlight 15:43 You know too much water like we had this past weekend. You know. Stupid mistakes for you. Don't figure you don't calculate things 15:52 correctly. And you do something wrong. You know, I we all do them. I do it everybody does it but so anything 15:59 we do, but that carbon is a sustainability. And it makes that nitrogen so much more user friendly and it allows the plants to take at up and metabolize 16:10 it better. And so if therefore it's reducing nitrogen stress on the plants, your tissue samples are better. It just 16:18 makes things work better. We're just we're learning every day. And you know, we've been talking about planting now. We're going to go and start spraying these 16:27 corn and soybeans and we'll be adding another pgr at that time. Then then we're going to be adding fungicides in later on just as 16:37 we're going in to reproduction on corn and just right after right about blooming on soybeans to all you know, 16:43 our one little past maybe and so we'll be putting fungicide out. Then we're going to be putting Foley or fertilizers out. You know, 16:53 we've made it a standard to use finish line across every acre on our which is a Nature's product 17:00 when we're doing foliar passes. We use a agent by full Tech or spray Tech by it's called Full Tech and that 17:11 is what we found is it gets the product into the plants much easier and they're able to metabolize it. 17:20 And we're getting better efficiency out of our herbicides and our folder applications and fungicides with 17:27 those type products. so every step along the way this ain't a I mean the days of just planting the crop coming 17:35 back and You know laying it by and going to the do whatever and then come back and harvest it. They're pretty well 17:44 gone for us. Yes. So by the way, it was about a stress you're taking stress off the plants, but you're adding more stress to you because farming is harder and then let's get 17:53 to the money part because you said right before hit record button about leaving money on the table. 18:00 Who this point that we've got plenty of technology in the seed? There's all these other limiting factors that are keeping us from high yields. Pretty much everybody in extreme AG focuses now 18:10 on stress reduction as best as possible. It's a lot more work. What steps you do? You think it's every single step you think it happens 18:19 at time planting. It happens at first application happens the last application, etc, etc. 18:26 Which one do you think is the one that gave you the biggest bang for the buck? 18:30 There's not one. I think it's a multiple ones. So we actually a few years ago. You always get them not answering something quick. So so we 18:40 years before XA I was doing research work for a guy and we we done we still do stuff for him. We've been doing it for years, but he actually 18:50 we actually said a sprayer on a farm he had And we would spray it every growth stage. We have certain products. 19:01 And what we learn I call them trigger points we learned. Exactly what when and how to apply certain 19:10 things Damian most all of them had some type of yule bump, but very few of them made you money. And so that's the 19:20 tough but you're saying that you can go out and really create stress free Plants by doing something every day, 19:28 whatever every week but it's got hard to pencil that out. No, no question about it. And we just thank God that kind of time right not a takers 19:37 who are but I will tell you number one. Is an all-rankment numerical order of importance right? Number one absolutely is planning 19:47 that planner. Everything has got to be right at planning. You don't see it off to a good start good quality seed 19:56 good quality placement everything right at planning. Okay. The number one thing for creating stress-free crops is getting everything 20:06 right at time of planting. All right, first off you're going to tell you said good quality seed make sure your Planters set up we've done episodes about Planters are talked about capstan Ag 20:16 and you're one of the guys that trialed their products called. Oh you correct me Sure Shot or buckshots. Let's shot. Yeah 20:22 selection. So it puts the price it puts the inputs like wherever you want to be wherever you know, a bunch of these different things like that. But here's my next question for you 20:32 say getting everything right at planting time. My part of the world sometimes folks go out and plants. 20:37 And the conditions are amazing. And then it turns cold and you get down to freezing and wet for like nine days. It's time to replant. 20:47 Do you have to recreate everything the second time or is that product still there? And you're just putting in new seeds what I mean, or you sunk. Are you already now 20:57 off to a stressed crop? All right, that's a great question for this time of year because there's a lot of Growers are facing that right here today had a call 21:05 this morning from a grower in Virginia. so It depends on what caused that failure or that crop. Yeah, if it was simply cold freeze. I 21:17 think you're going to have a lot of stuff there. I think a lot of the ingredients are still going to be there in the soil and you can go back and with the capabilities we 21:27 have now with rtk. And with our Auto steer you can go back and run the same guy that's fine. Good to see drop back in the same thing and roll and would 21:36 you do just the seed if it was if there's a cold that killed your crop and you're replant are you just doing seed and 21:43 the other products you think are still gonna stay there? Yeah, if I was doing just if I had just simply a freeze 21:49 damage no, excessive rainfall or anything like okay freeze lost. I would be comfortable doing that knowing I'm not had abundance of rain during 21:59 that event now or what we just experience right here today that I'm still waiting. I looked at a field right before this podcast and 22:10 I'm really pushing it because it's spiking right now and I'm wanting to know if I might replant part of this field if we had 22:16 anywhere from three to five or three to four inches of rain right here at our house at our Farm location and I got neighbors within 40 miles of me 22:26 that had five inches of rain we've but it's been very cold here, which is unusual for us this time here. I mean, we're in the 60s 22:35 for highs, by the way, if you're listening to this Kevin and I are recording this first week of May first week of May in North Carolina to be this 22:45 cool. You're 15 degrees off all day long. Yeah. Yeah, we should be an eighties easy. And so what we're facing here 22:54 with our crops is we've had an abundance of rain come Thursday night. I had over any more from two to three inches at one time 23:04 real rapid a lot of washing erosion. That stuff is taking a beating then it turned cold. So that corn is absorbed some extremely 23:16 cold water and then it stayed cloudy and in another rain and another rain and a lot of the lower land that 23:26 we Farm the river bottoms Creek bottoms. I remember bottoms are not planted yet. But some of the creek bottoms were planted and what we're seeing there is water stood 23:36 on the surface for numerous hours more than 24 to 48 hours. That is a bad situation right there. So when you 23:46 have that much rainfall and you get to a point that you decide you need to replant Then it is of my opinion from experience 23:55 that yes, you need to go like you never planted a field the first time put you put your whatever you is putting down your planner for 24:05 utility wise go back and do it again just start from scratch they're done and we tried feeling in Damian. We tried to fill it in miss spot 24:14 planting, you know, nothing but blame me. It's just Tire the whole blame field up and replant it. That's that's my best. Look soybeans and corn. I 24:24 mean same same both ways. Yeah. Yeah if it's been saturated with water Nathan's I mean if you had just anxious and inches of water, you know, 24:34 I'm trying to remember now an inch or rainfall over acre of land is How many gallons you're talking about evidence like 24:44 2007? It's unreal the weight. Yeah, I mean, it's just it's just a bad day. So yeah. Yeah corn soy beans if it's a 24:55 flood related, you know saturation related replant. Yes, you need to put the fertility out there if it's a absolute cold freeze Frost. 25:06 Um then no I would back up and say that money is that that'd be my opinion. Okay, when we're going down here, you're creating Kevin's twenty 25:16 three Focus creating stress-free plants. It starts at planting you you started off with that telling me it starts at planting time getting that. All right, and I went down this other Road. What's the 25:27 by the way, by the way, you're putting in you're putting in a plant growth regulator at time of planting. Yeah, and and there is a there is a 25:36 stress reduction component to a plant growth regulator. Yes. Yep. Yep. That is correct. It builds a huge root mass 25:43 on that plant It's amazing And when did you start? I never even know a plant growth regular was until I started working for you guys two years ago. When did you use plant 25:52 growth regulator for the first time? Oh, probably 15 years ago and I didn't even know what I was doing. I did. I 26:01 mean it just I was using them wrong. I was using the wrong time. I mean, you know, the I was I'd put some auctions out 26:10 it and you know and reproduction stage. I put There's some some Gibbs out and vegetation stage totally wrong totally wrong. And you don't want to 26:22 do that. You want your your gibberellix out, you know, when you're reproduction you want your auctions and cyticons out and during the vegetation and Kevin 26:33 that the temple I just recorded about this with him this week and his his exact point was Getting your using plant with Regulators can do a lot for your 26:43 plants unless you use them the wrong ones and the wrong stage of the plant. So you're this the second time. I've heard this in four days now using the right one. Okay that reduces 26:52 stress. Then there's the other products we talked about you put in Furrow or at town planning that reduce stress and they don't 26:58 cleanly plant growth Regulators. Why do they work? You know, we're talking about like accomplished Max here from Loveland that yeah when 27:04 it has when you and I did our panel in conjunction with the commodity classic, is that the one that has algae in it? 27:13 Yes, well, it has a see a single read extract. It is a maritime product that was putting in and but yes, it does have those that property and 27:22 it's a kelp type product. If I remember correctly. It helps it helps reduce stress. Yeah, it's all 27:29 about building us healthy house around around the plant. That's what you're after you just wanting anytime. You 27:36 can make a plant metabolize and use nutrients more efficiently. It's creating a stress free environment 27:42 and That that's the key then there are so yeah. The number one thing was that was on the planner. And then number two is we 27:52 want all of our post-emerge herbicide within 21 days of after planning and we like to be done by the before V4 on 28:02 corn. We're wanting that all that any over the top herbicides. We want it out and done. We don't want to be doing anything after V4 on herbicides 28:11 over the top. So then we're going to come in to a and during that time we're going to put some multiple passes in there. We'll put extra fertility through foliers. We'll 28:24 put Some will put her more sugar out name and we'll be using more Sweet Success in because it also has a drift retarded appeal with it and it 28:35 helps the plant absorb and metabolize more. So do you saying there's the stress reduction you put out with sugar is that in conjunction with 28:44 the herbicide or is it in the past after their side now with the herbicide because you know not only does the not only does the corn 28:53 and soybean and wheat plants love it, but the weeds love it as well. So if there was absorb that Sugar 28:59 will that herbicide in there, then I can get a better kill and so it's it's kind of a you know, 29:06 it's a two-fold thing here. Okay. So on stress reduction on that second pass meaning your herbicide, which you do within three weeks of time of 29:16 planning or three years of time emerge. No time of planning three other words, right? We sprayed it planning. So when that it was 29:24 we planted in we were planning a completely dead environment no weeds there and then 21 days later. 29:30 We want to be back with herbicide program. All right, and and you know, you don't care what the emergence level is as long 29:37 as it's before V4. That is great. We don't we start making a V4 V5 we're going to affect the girth of the year if we're not careful. So actually there's a there's a 29:47 good example. So actually if you do it if you wrong time it you actually add stress and we're talking 29:54 about reducing stress. Yeah, that's correct. Okay, so creating stress-free plants your 2023 Focus now then after post-emerge herbicide, you just 30:03 talked about you put in a sugar you put anything else in with the herbicide. I'll show you. I'm throwing everything. I will put several different 30:11 things in that. that really works well Then the next thing you know, and it depends on your environment too, Damian. We got some Farms irrigated Farms 30:24 with a we might throw a we might throw a fungicide in there, but generally we'll wait till about V5 to V6 and put a fungicide out then if 30:33 if we got a really high you'll environment say 300 bushel plus coin, but then we're going to come back 30:39 at about v9 V8 to v9 and I would tell you the Growing Degree units, but see it's going to vary with different hybrids, but at V8 to v9. 30:53 We will come back and that's when we talk to us our nitrogen. So we will why draw. More nitrogen out the end. We're looking at being sustainable and 31:04 and very efficient with the nitrogen. So we will put that out. We will add boron in there and then we will come back 31:14 just we would in a perfect world. We would come back. At BT just before early, you know V16 to VT. 31:27 just before tassels start coming out and put our Fungicide and put some Boron out there put some more foliar products out 31:37 there and and get ready to set that plan up then and we would put our Agy about at that time as well in that which is a pgr and 31:51 we like we like using a product called onward Max by AG Explorer. That's a product that we've had a lot of success out 32:00 of And we pretty much use it a widespread Acres during that fungicide application. Now one thing that we run into a lot is we will also 32:11 have to come back about our four to our five and hit it with another Fungicide and our high yield area is especially our River bottoms, but the 32:22 key is if we can get that first fungicide on earlier, then we can get a lot more longevity and sometimes don't have to do 32:32 that R5 approach. Well, you're talking about here is a year-long program, which is good because you said this is how you're planning to 32:40 create stress-free plants. Is this that different than what you did just a few years ago? I'm guessing probably it is I mean, yeah, well 32:49 some of the products probably the products I absolutely we've learned how to use the products effectively inefficiently. Whereas a few 32:59 years ago. We we didn't really know. Yeah, we just didn't know we knew we needed to improve but we wasn't 100% sure. 33:11 You know how things work and and now, you know working with people like Jason slide different ones this it's just amazing how we've been able to learn what's really 33:21 going on in those plants. The last thing you do that you think sends the plant, you know, 33:32 Gets us gets us to the Finish Line with in regards to keeping it. Stress free or reduced stress. What's the 33:41 last thing you do that you think makes a big difference? Is that treatment that last fungicide treatment or something after that? 33:47 on corn it would be that last fungicide treatment and we're talking about the last thing I do so it would be 33:56 that and this is prior to the combine coming because that could be another subject but 34:03 on soybeans the last thing I would do to Well, you said to create stress-free so it would it would still be the last fungicide application because when we go 34:15 to desiccade it's obviously we're putting stress on. Oh, yeah, they're killing killing it killing it killing. The plant is definitely stressful. What about what's in the fungicide that 34:25 helps with the stress? What's in the fungicide? The last fungicide pass that you think is is reducing stress on 34:32 the plant. One of the biggest thing for us is just keeping the disease off and then a lot of these products that we're using now. 34:41 You know a lot of the strobies and trazos and a lot of them are three mode products, which we'll use them early on and in that R5 Pass. We may just use a straight triso 34:50 or something but something cheap, but what we're seeing Damien is a lot of the really good and not every fungicides the 35:00 same but we've they've got properties in them can help control that ethylene production of that plant and it reduces that the 35:10 ability to keep the heat the same as what some of the pgrs are that we're using and one for instance is the headline 35:19 amp product. You know, we I actually was at the research Farm out in Illinois, and we we did some tests with it throwing the 35:29 heat to it and watching different plants react sprayed and not sprayed. It's pretty impressive. You can buy you a couple days, you know with that fungicide 35:39 on air on the heat just on those products along the belt team of the headline amp now but then You know, there's a lot of good products coming out there now that 35:51 are three mode products and the companies is really called on to this and sometimes it ain't as much about the diseases is managing 36:01 that heat tolerance during those stressful times going and reproduction. Another thing. We got to remember to Damian this year is 36:11 Yeah, I'm not followed the Midwest that close, but I know Kelly has been setting still for two weeks now. The east coast and we're we're behind 36:23 playing. I mean we should be way further down the line and where I'm going with this is we're gonna be reproducing we're going into 36:32 reproduction. And a very hot time of the year. Yeah, so we already know we're going to have an above normal temperatures, but even worse 36:40 than that is we're running late on getting these crops out due to the cold weather and rain, so 36:48 We we better use every tool on the toolbox one nice thing about doing these multiple steps that we're doing is naming if it gets so hot and that corn don't pollinate. 36:59 We ain't spending no more money on it. We're done. So put it all up front then control it 37:06 so we can control the controllables here. Temple talked about this exact point. He said 37:12 with Mom my focus being the way it is. He said I'm not making my entire investment. I said, well, what do they saying right now to put out a put out an acre corn not counting 37:22 cash rent still like 700 something bucks, right? Yeah, my estimate you're gonna be five, you know 500 to 700 depending on what you want. Yeah. So the point is 37:32 if you look like you're having a bad year you just cut back on the end stuff because it's already it's it's not gonna help you much. That's right. Yeah, I mean, you know 37:43 What does I say? You know, you can't get sunshine in a bucket and any and if you get you know, if it's a hundred if it's 37:50 a hundred degrees during the day or even into 90s during the day and you'd only gets down to 85 at night and you 37:57 walk out and it smells like the corns been in the pressure cooker cooker in the kitchen. And the best thing you can do is I mean if it ain't no corn on that here, they know 38:07 me spending no more money. They ain't no Miracle stuff out there gonna fix that. Yeah, so creating stress-free 38:13 plants and how you're doing it this year. I want to go back to the first thing about can it be temperature the product that you're putting out there that that promises. I 38:23 mean one of the companies rise of actor. I stood in a gravel road up and South Dakota with Lee lubbers and the guys from Rise of actor formerly profarm. 38:34 And they talked about this thing. When does that happen? When do you put there when you put this stuff on that helps keep temperature down inside the canopy? Yeah. So 38:44 the one thing when when Lee and I early on When Brad we have we kind of approached each other I was looking because 38:53 I was focused 100% on produce. They wouldn't that focused on road crops at the time great, and they had a product called haven which is 39:04 used on grapes and it has it's very well known and Vineyard industry is being a proven product at works. 39:12 So when I read about it. It's you really need to know when you're stress events going to hit as far as managing heat and 39:21 typically you like to put it on about you need to put it on a week 10 days before that heat event happens. And so we 39:31 actually we did the research with it here in North Carolina and we put it on a bottom right here behind the 39:37 office, which is got a streak of sand. It's very deep in it and it does not take much for it to go and drought stress and for the heat to really affect it 39:46 and heat lays in that creek bottom. So we've seen some pretty interesting stuff and we're playing with the time and 39:56 on it our goal that Lee and I had when we first started talking with them Brad and the guys that Rosa back was 40:07 figuring out When was the best bang for her Buck? Well, if you if you're at R5 the chances are 40:15 it's not going to pay you that well to use it, but when you're pollinating. Or you're going into pollination. 40:23 You're you know, you're going from vegetation and reproduction on corn. 40:29 That is a critical time period if you can if you can put it out then and buy you some time watch your weather. I mean, if you got ideal weather the perfect weather, 40:38 I wouldn't recommend spending the money that ain't what it's designed for. But if you got a forecast and you know, you got stressed and you got the ability to get some 40:47 Acres covered by airplane or ground rig or drone or whatever your application method works best for you. Then that is where these products 40:57 actually shine and rough idea on how much an application would because I'm just trying to think if if it's 41:08 if you're talking about stifling heat that could take 10% of your crop yield probably it doesn't take in other words. It probably doesn't take a lot of benefit. Are 41:18 we talking a few bucks an acre? We talk in 20. Well, you got to count your application in your ground rig or your airplane. I think by the time you figure in 41:27 your area application or your ground application and I'm including drones in Ariel. Yes, you know, let's just say the product and everything you'd be 41:38 looking 20 bucks acre for all of it and just you got to have that application cost in there. That's just reality. So you're talking, you know, sick, you 41:47 know six dollar corn, hopefully so you bushel for three or four bushels, you know three bushels and the thing is 41:58 It's an insurance policy name and at the end of the day. I'm not going, you know, we've been blessed. We've not had to do every acre 42:04 with it, but when we get a critical time and and all the stars line up. And we know that the chances are pretty high that we're going 42:13 to have a bad event then. Yeah, I'm gonna jump on these products. Yeah. Yeah, that's interesting. And I I mean obviously the thing is it's not 42:22 like a fertilizer input. You don't really know whether you're going to use all this stuff or not. I mean you do certain things you do certain pgr and 42:28 sugars and all that period and carbons and all that but a couple of these things are more on demand like when you look and see what things are shaping up like 42:37 yeah, I mean it comes down to you know, you got to have if you're shot is not in the field we Are you got a good crop Scout one, if you if you don't have boots in 42:49 on the ground? Yeah, and and ability to pay attention to these forecasts and these weather people then. It's not going to be a fit for your operation. 43:01 So my last thing here on how you're creating stress-free plants, you're already this year's a little behind. So do 43:07 you think that Is there stress now because of timing other than that it's going to come into reproductive phase at a very hot humid 43:16 time. Is there anything right now? First week of May that you think is already causing stress the stuff that's in the ground or the stuff. That's about to go in the ground. 43:25 Is there anything that you can do to make that? Have a better day. At so the core. Our 43:35 first corn planted is a to about B2. It's beautiful got good color good bigger that corn is fine the corn it was planted within 43:45 two or three days of the rain four days of that Heavy Rain event very concerned about once. It's out once we get to the 43:55 V1 and we see what kind of emergency we have and then we're going to have to back up and decide if there's something we can do to help out corn, but 44:09 there's really nothing that we can do other than be patient and watch these crops and 44:17 If we have a good stand then we need to. Put some give them a little loving and and encouragement and hope it good Lord will bless us with a 44:27 bountiful Hall Harvest. I know it'll be bountiful. It may not be as Bountiful as we feel like it should be right last thing that about economics are you said we're leaving some money on the table because the stress 44:37 in just your journey, you know, you were ahead of the curve on much of this because you started looking at products like the rhizobacter stuff 15 years ago, 44:46 which was in being used in great Barbers Etc. You're paying attention to stress, which I don't think a lot of people did as much and the old 44:57 days is like, well, you know, it's hot whatever but you're you start paying it. 10% more money each year because of it five percent more money 45:05 each year. I mean, it's got a it's got to pay off of some sort. You must have an idea how much more yeah, it was 45:12 money because of paying attention to this. well a lot of people they look at our yield winning entries and 45:22 they feel like it a lot of people assume. It's a super acre. It's a special area. Yeah, but we actually pretty well treat everything the same our irrigates 45:33 manage the same or dry lands manage the same and it put we've got multiple years of blessings of winds and State records and 45:43 and Placing and it represents our farm across the board rather than just one specific area. We are spread out a lot Damian and 45:55 we always have a area here there that's bad. But at the end of the day by paying attention to the detail, I feel like we are easily, you 46:05 know, 15 to 20 cent 20% above the Curve. For our area. Yeah, and that some other words paying attention to stress. 46:16 Might be a 20% might be of 20% pretty but yeah, I mean it's attention to detail it really is and you know, a lot 46:26 of my neighbors that I've got opportunity to to work with and share information with those guys are seeing you know. 46:34 We're all getting better and the American farmers just so that gum efficient and does such a great job. It's just amazing. And and these These 46:46 are the ways we do it is working together as as friends and family and try to share the information and that's the whole, you know, that's the lifeline behind extreme mag 46:56 is you know, we're all sharing. There's there's nothing on our Farms we do that we won't share with somebody if they ask the right question. 47:05 Yeah. All right. Well, that's what we did right here. We just spend a whole bunch of time talking about your striving for stress-free plants and 2023, which actually it 47:14 didn't just start this year. He's been doing it for a long long time. He's Kevin Matthews. I'm Damian Mason and I want to 47:21 remind you while we're talking about stress reduction on your plants. There's a product for instance called accomplished Max 47:27 or radio like Kevin talked about and they come from a company called Loveland products. If you want to learn more about how you can 47:34 Use these products to reduce stress on your crops go to Loveland products.com. They had us at a panel and 47:40 conjunction with the commodity classic and they spoke to Great length about this Kevin and Kelly did and I was there as the 47:47 moderator lovelandfrogs.com and Thanks for being here till next time. This is extreme acts cutting the curve. That's a 47:56 wrap for this episode of extreme. AG's cutting the curve, but there is plenty more available by visiting extremeag.farm for 48:04 over 50 years Farmers have turned to The Proven lineup of crop inputs offered by Loveland products from seed treatments Plant Nutrition at event and crop protection 48:13 products Loveland has the complete lineup to keep your farming operation productive and most importantly profitable check out Loveland products.com to learn 48:23 more.