How Do You Cut Through the Noise of Farming? | The Granary

00:00:00 There are a whole bunch of information out there that's designed to help you farm better, but sometimes it becomes an absolute clutter mess. 00:00:07 What are you doing? What information are you applying and what practices are you changing? What products are using in next season 00:00:13 to help you farm better? Amid all the sea of information? That's what we're talking about in this 00:00:18 episode of The Grainery. You ready for a conversation with some real farmers about real issues? And the best part, you are invited. 00:00:26 Pour yourself a drink, grab a snack. Most importantly, pull up a chair. Welcome to the Grainery. Hey Guys. 00:00:43 All right guys. I'm sitting here with my friend Kelly Garrett, extreme ag area in Iowa Farmer. He's been here a number of times. He's joined 00:00:48 by Clint Freeze, where I'm Augusta, Illinois, a farmer and also has a business over there. You came to the grain room. We appreciate that very much. 00:00:55 Okay. I go to these trade shows. I go to field days. Uh, all these trials, these companies are putting out information. 00:01:01 Social media is a constant feed of use this, buy that next year, go to these trade shows. They've always got a new product. 00:01:07 There's a lot of stuff out there during the whole runup and ag The last few, few years we saw a bunch of new companies enter this space. 00:01:13 Some of their stuff may or may not work. I'm dealing with tight farm margins, maybe even below break even. 00:01:21 What do you do and how do you cut through the clutter? We run our own ons on farm research, uh, of course with extreme ag, besides some others. 00:01:30 And, uh, it's one of the values of extreme ag to me. If I can give a shameless plug, you know, a lot of, some of the stuff I'm really excited about this year, 00:01:37 going into 26 for soybeans is things I've uh, conferred with on Temple. He's seen a lot of the same stuff we have. 00:01:43 Gives me more confidence because now it's kind of like you've amplified that trial. Expanded that trial. Yeah. 00:01:48 Well, you get, you get information from two sources, three sources, exactly. Wherever. Exactly. And he's also very trustworthy sources 00:01:53 because we, we've been there and we've seen what his stuff looks like. Um, are you cutting back? 00:01:59 You gonna spend, uh, you gonna cut three products out? You gonna cut three categories out on the spend in the next season because of any of this? 00:02:06 Yes, I believe so. Uh, this year, you know, with things growing and things like that, Mike Evans is gonna start taking a lesser role 00:02:13 in planning the farm fertility. My oldest son, Connor Vern, as you know, it, is gonna start taking on a bigger role. 00:02:19 And I have challenged him that, uh, we need to, we need to cut some fat out. We need to get, we need to get leaner 00:02:25 and try to cut some dollars out of that budget to see what we can accomplish. Clint, there's a lot of information out there. 00:02:32 I'm overwhelmed and I'm not actually out there planting the crops. I would like to simplify. What do I, what do you tell me? 00:02:40 Yeah, I, I think as farmers agronomists, um, researchers, we should be asking the question. 00:02:45 So what, you know, to companies that are pitching to us that we're getting the information from, you know, um, so what, how does it make me better? 00:02:54 How does it make me more money? And, uh, you know, everybody shows data to support where they work, but I really think 00:03:01 we're entering into a time where there's gonna, there's a lot of benefits with biology, biostimulants nutritionals, foli years, 00:03:07 but without being dialed in or knowing the science in the background, it, it gets pretty, pretty muddy. 00:03:13 And I'll give you an example. We, we pushed hard with sap the last three years. We've been sap sampling corn, soybeans, 00:03:19 and we've learned a tremendous amount, but we're not always driving yield driving ROI to the farmer with some of the recommendations. 00:03:27 And so it really comes down by crop types. So looking at corn and soybeans, what are the drivers in our yield environment 00:03:34 that actually drive that corn, um, you know, to, to get a higher yield with less inputs with a in season tweak? 00:03:40 And so that's what we're doing in the background at Calibrated. We are taking all these sites where we've s sapped 00:03:46 and we're looking at the yield, comparing it to the sap, and finding which dri which 00:03:51 nutrients are the primary drivers. And it's, it's, to give you an example, as we've rolled out programs, you know, 00:03:56 we've been focused on micronutrients, micronutrients, well, I think there's a certain level 00:04:01 where micronutrients are critical for the crop, but it, what we've found, it isn't in a 250 or 300 bushel environment, I think it, it's gotta go higher. 00:04:09 Whatever little we're getting out, the getting out the soil from micros is plenty. So that's what we're doing is figuring out what's, 00:04:16 what's actually driving you. I think the easy one, and we've covered it, is first off, you probably can cut back on macros. 00:04:22 We've discussed this in your field. We discussed this, our field days. We've discussed it on the Cutting the Curve podcast. 00:04:28 And right now, there's gonna be somebody watching this that will not like to hear that because it's not what they, they they've ever done. 00:04:36 I think if I'm cutting through the clutter, the first clutter I'm gonna cut through is what I've historically been told 00:04:42 from the conventional wisdom, whether it's university or the retailers, you gotta put on this many pounds of stuff. 00:04:49 I, I wouldn't, I would agree that we, uh, we don't put on much dry if, if any, uh, anymore, 00:04:57 and we continue to turn down the nitrogen. But like what Clint's talking about, you know, being involved in that research, 00:05:02 we're gonna turn down the macros except for we probably, we feel like we need more K 00:05:07 but not in a dry perspective from a foliar perspective to make sure it gets in the crop. Things like that, especially if you have a base saturation 00:05:13 problem, that's one thing that, that farmers need to look at is what's your base saturation. And that soil needs to be balanced to allow 00:05:20 that fertility to get in the crop. And if it's not balanced, you probably need more foliar and less dry. 00:05:25 Mm-hmm. And, but the, the macros need to be turned down. But the foliar k for us has been very big this year. 00:05:30 So there's a lot of clutter out there. There's a lot of information. There's also historical knowledge, 00:05:34 and then there's also, uh, what one author, uh, calls vertical knowledge that which you know so well because it's always been that you don't even question it. 00:05:44 The problem is it's wrong. There's that too. Uh, and I, I think it's, uh, within agronomy, it gets complicated. 00:05:51 I mean, there's dirt that, that needs fertility, base fertility on it. It's, uh, poor soil, 00:05:57 and then there's dirt that's really, well take Kelly's farm, it's been managed well. 00:06:01 Um, a lot of the dirt that that we get around Illinois, around my place, high fertility, good soil release, so a few little in-season tweaks 00:06:09 with a side dress foliar spray, we can get really, really efficient. So I'd say, you know, one of the big things work 00:06:16 with a trusted source that's doing fertility studies on poor soil, good soil, and finding out, Hey, where can I actually actually cut? 00:06:24 And so that, that's the, the million dollar, you know, question is, where can I cut? Where can I cut? Um, and, 00:06:30 and that's what we really feel like we can hang our hat on, is with our research and the, you know, in corn 00:06:35 and soybeans, we found that's interesting. The higher we increase the K and the sulfur levels in the plant, 00:06:41 the better we drive efficiency, the better we bring in other nutrients, the better our plant health gets late season. 00:06:47 And they're the two primary yield drivers in corn. So going into next season, I would say I would be looking at sulfur and, 00:06:55 and potassium really hard in corn. And, uh, a few tweaks during that rapid growth phase can really produce a 00:07:01 Great art. All right. So you're helping me out here, but we said this topic, we're gonna cut through the clutter because I'm a farmer and I've been 00:07:06 to three field days and I've been to six. I've been to farm Progress show, and I've been to all these things and I'm 00:07:11 my head's swimming right now. To simplify it, you just gave me the simplify. He says he is gonna cut back on dry there. 00:07:18 I just saved money. Boom. Okay. By how much We, we don't put on any dry really. Okay. And I, and I don't if you, and 00:07:26 but it needs to be soil specific. Yeah. What he talks about. If you have well managed your farm 00:07:30 and your fertility levels are good mm-hmm. In your soil, live off that bank account. Mm-hmm. That savings account that you've built there, 00:07:36 don't put on any dry going into 26 if it's a lean year financially for you. Uh, okay. Simplify it again, you said. 00:07:44 Well, I think going back to your clutter thing, I mean, there's what, 2100 biological and bio stimulant companies out there. 00:07:51 And so as a farmer, when you look at a label and you see a product that makes really big claims, um, there's probably some questions you should ask. 00:07:59 And, you know, one of the biggest calls we're getting on as a group is some of the biostimulants that are being 00:08:05 used out in the marketplace. Yeah. Sometimes they're taking yield backwards as much as they're creating stress mitigation. 00:08:11 So working with a company that knows the background of their products in depth, but it, when you look at labels, um, as farmers look at labels 00:08:19 and you see anything that's derived from kelp, uh, plant extract, animal extract, um, protein, hydrolysates, another, 00:08:28 that's all saying the same thing, essentially. Yep. Yep. Those are things that are byproducts of other materials, but they're loaded with amino acids. 00:08:36 They got all these beneficial properties and stress reduction, but they're loaded in, in phyto hormones in the background, 00:08:41 defensive hormones, growth hormones. And what we're finding in then is as we deploy them all over the place, 00:08:48 depending on if you spray it when it's hot or when it's cloudy mm-hmm. Or you spray in the south or the north, 00:08:53 they're gonna react a little differently. So I would be cautioned to really probe, you know, um, different ag input suppliers, hard on those type of products 00:09:02 because they can go a lot of different ways. Um, and that, that's one of the, the clutter things I see that is gonna, 00:09:09 So the easy answer is to not even use them, which I, I think you're better off to not use 'em. You know, if you don't, if somebody can't tell you exactly 00:09:16 how to use 'em and what they're gonna do and what they're gonna do to the plant, physiologically, like, is this gonna do be a photosynthetic aid 00:09:22 or is this a stress mitigation product? Is it gonna aid in nutrient uptake? If they can't dial that in 00:09:27 and really hone in on what it's gonna do, I, I think it's a good thing to walk away. You're better off to not using them to use 'em 00:09:33 and be uneducated on Yeah. A as technology improves and things get more and more progressive and more 00:09:39 and more detailed, we're using pro, this isn't just like putting potassium out, putting phosphorous out. 00:09:44 You're putting things out that are gonna change your crop and affect your crop in a way that you can't imagine. 00:09:49 And you gotta make sure you know what you're putting out there. And you are better off to not using them to be uneducated. 00:09:54 That doesn't mean you shouldn't do some trials and things. Yeah. There's some good pro, there's obviously a lot of good 00:09:57 Products. There's a good product, there's a lot of good products out there. But, but like, uh, sometimes you'll see, you know, 00:10:02 stacking two products together, uh, using a product that ramps up the hunger of the plant and then not applying nutrition with it, 00:10:08 the plant cannibalizes itself, things like that. Educate yourself on what the product's gonna do. We talked once at this table about the information and, 00:10:16 and where you get it from. I get bombarded with stuff. I'm not even planting crops. And I see, of course, I try to keep up. 00:10:23 I wanna be one of these guys that knows what's happening all around and have a general idea about agriculture. 00:10:29 Where do you turn? You know, for me, I, um, I, I turn to farmers that are actually doing trials. 00:10:36 So we, you know, I'm following thet extreme mag stuff. Um, I'm really big into following the singular agronomic stuff where they're bringing farmers in, 00:10:43 talking about real world experiences. Um, and for me it's always validation on my own farm. So it's, I'll, I'll take bits 00:10:51 and pieces of, of different information, but I have a, you know, where I think farmers probably can do better is, um, 00:10:58 I see a lot of soil tests get, get sent to me and fertility through the roof, manure history, and then they're still calling 00:11:05 for massive rates of fertility applied. It's like, man, this thing's through the roof. Are we trying to make a sale 00:11:11 or are we trying to benefit the farmer? So who do you work with? Um, and I think getting, um, people 00:11:16 that aren't selling you stuff's opinion is a, is a good position to Well, there, there's, there's, 00:11:22 and that's, we always go to fertility, but there's other stuff too. Yeah. Because if it's the prescription, 00:11:27 I think everybody should have an agronomist on their farm. The problem is a lot of the agronomists 00:11:32 are sales agronomists. Mm-hmm. That's the problem. Yeah. You need an agronomist that's looking out for you. 00:11:36 Temple went on a tirade about this in one of our Cutting the Curve podcast. I encourage the listener to go and check that out. 00:11:41 Um, he got, um, somewhat, uh, animated about this and said, well, just because the guy started out as the Tinder truck driver then became the applicator driver 00:11:49 that he was in charge of one of their facilities. Now he's a sales agronomist. Why the hell would I entrust this guy 00:11:54 with a million dollars of input cost? Uh, when, uh, I, I'm not sure about his expertise. There's something to be said about that. Dude, 00:12:01 Temple's one of the people I go to when I have questions. What are you doing to declutter 00:12:06 for your farming operation? Or the person that comes to you and says, Hey, I, you're a trusted advisor. 00:12:11 I've got to cut through the clutter. I've got too much stuff. Help me simplify. You just told me I'm gonna cut back on my dry. 00:12:17 Probably, especially on certain soil specific. What else? You know, you're gonna tell me to take only use a 00:12:23 biological or a bio stimulant? If, If you truly know, you know, if the company you're working with truly knows how it's gonna work, 00:12:30 where it works, where it doesn't work. If they, It works every, If it works everywhere, there's a problem. 00:12:34 'cause it within these biostimulants, they don't, they do not work Everywhere. Yeah. 349 00:12:38.295 --> 00:12:38.575 It reminds you, uh, in my business group, we had someone on from the cannabis business, 00:12:45 and it's an agricultural product, but also it's, you know, had so much promise. And the p the pushers of it were, oh, cannabis. 00:12:52 It, it's like the, the, the, the, the carpet bagger run around with his magic elixir, you know, in the, in the old days, oh, got a tobacco stain. 00:13:01 Cannabis will fix that. Oh, you, you got a headache. Cannabis will fix that. Oh, your kid doesn't have an appetite. 00:13:06 Cannabis will fix that. That's actually true. By the way, stoners do get really hungry. But you know, everything you think about, 00:13:10 and so at some point in our business group, I said, you ever thing, I think too good to be true If cannabis fixes everything? 00:13:18 I'm not sure that I'm buying this because nothing is the magic elixir for everything. I get that with some of the biologicals. Yeah. 00:13:27 That it's, we, you know, put this in on your crop and it's gonna do, and they give you a list. It's this long. I'm like, I don't know 00:13:32 how it can do all those things. Uh, and again, with the biological and the how fragile it can be, pay attention to the water, 00:13:39 pay attention to what else you're providing it with, things like that. Uh, I have trouble with a lot of biology, and I think it's 00:13:44 because of the organic matter in our soil in Western Iowa. You know, the soil is deep and good, you know, we Yep. 00:13:50 Uh, things like that. You Did biological doesn't even, doesn't that an enhancement? Uh, a bi a biological that is supposed 00:13:57 to have offensive tendencies to help me make yield. We don't see a lot of gain with all the time. A biological that's got some defense that helps us 00:14:03 with the diseases in our soil. Mm-hmm. Some fungicide tendencies. Yeah. You know, like a fusarium iss a problem. 00:14:08 If I can find a biological Yeah. That helps us with that fusarium problem, then, then I do see a yield gain from it. 00:14:14 What else? Okay. By the way, of those 2100 companies, and you spoke about that, we predicted that they were gonna stay around 00:14:20 'cause things were really, really good. Things are not so good. Now what do those 2100 companies become? 00:14:26 Talk about clearing the clutter. Maybe the clutter's gonna get cleared just by know where I'm going with this. 00:14:31 Right. The clutter gets cleared by, they just go outta business. Darwin's theory. Yeah. The law of 00:14:36 Economics. Yeah. Yeah. Evolu Evolu evolution of, uh, the survival, the, what do you think happens? 00:14:41 Yeah. I think it gets decluttered, but I I also think without the proper knowledge and education surrounding them, um, 00:14:49 that they're gonna get a bad rap just as a whole from, from start to finish. And it'll be something that'll be pushed back from farmers 00:14:56 where there is some real validity with them. So, you know, as a company, we're trying to double down on the testing, the behind the scenes, understanding 00:15:04 where it works, where it doesn't. And uh, you know, I remember explaining the product to you once, Dean, and he said, 00:15:08 what can it also make your make your car parallel park better? And, you know, back to your, 00:15:13 your comment about is it too good to be freaking True outrageous claims? And sometimes they're not outrageous claims, 00:15:19 but they're such copious amount of claims. It's like, there's no way this thing can't do all of that. Right. I mean, 00:15:26 now it's like the magic pill to fix everything. I just can't Alright. Clutter field days. I've been going to 'em since I was a kid. Right. 00:15:34 We were working ag and, and it's good, it's neat and it's fun. It's sometimes social educational seed companies. 00:15:39 I've never been to a seed company and I've spoken at these events. I've never once in my career spoken at a seed event 00:15:44 where every, every little garden patch of seed corner or whatever it was out there that they had, didn't ring the bell on yield. 00:15:54 Amazingly, it was all 64 pound test weight and 290 bushels, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And again, you gotta start putting your antenna up 00:16:01 and saying, uh, what, where's the, where's the losers? Well, there are none. If I'm wanting to cut through the clutter, I think 00:16:11 I would be very cautious about thinking there's a great deal of difference from one seed to the next. I just said it. 00:16:20 I I agree with that. Uh, on any given year, there can be a great difference of seed from one to the next. 00:16:25 'cause you don't know what diseases are gonna happen. You don't know where the weather's gonna be. And so for that reason, you should plant as diversified 00:16:32 of a portfolio as you can. I've had the years before where I thought a, a hybrid was a real dog. 00:16:37 I question whether I should plant it next year, next year. It's the best. That shows you that's part of the clutter. 00:16:42 I, uh, I don't think you should plant one germ plasm. I don't think you should be a hundred percent customer of anybody. 00:16:49 I, we have been in the past and, uh, it's caused a lot of problems when said disease comes in and causes a problem with that germ plasm. And this should, 00:16:56 And that's brand specific, not just variety. That's brand specific. You Mean even if you had one company in five 00:17:01 of their different varieties, you might still have a problem. You think there should be. Well, first off, 00:17:06 you're going against my grain, Kelly. I think that there's no difference from one seed company the next in large part. But you 00:17:13 Think there's well it on, on an average year if there is such a thing. I don't know if there is a lot of difference, 00:17:18 but the problem is there isn't an average year what disease, what weather pattern is gonna come in. 00:17:22 And the, the variety or the brand that was good in 24 might not be good in 25 and it might be different in 26. 00:17:29 And so to me, if you spread it all out, there isn't a difference in the seed. But if you just take one year in particular, 00:17:35 then there is a great difference. This year, it wasn't uncommon for us to see a 30 bushel yield difference in a planter pass 00:17:42 because we'll have one variety on one side, one variety on the other side, probably from two different brands. 00:17:47 And it was not uncommon this year with the rust to see 30 to 40 bushel yield difference. 00:17:52 Ne but I'm not gonna have a knee jerk reaction and cut out the brand that was less. Right. Right. I'm still gonna plant it next year 00:17:59 because next year it very well could be better. Mm-hmm. Because at the end of the day, if you spread it over 10 00:18:02 years, I don't think there's any difference. All right. Clint, all seeds the same. Right? I it's a different label on the bag. 00:18:09 I think there is a certain cases where that's true, but I, I would agree with Kerry Kelly. I mean, I'm planting, um, Corteva genetics as well as Bayer. 00:18:18 I want a diversity because I, I don't know anybody that can plant, have their winning hybrid in 25 be the same winning hybrid in 26. 00:18:26 The likelihood of that is very small. So the diversity, there's power in that. Um, and it, and it is a way of clutter. 00:18:32 I think sometimes we do make that knee jerk reaction to completely pull back and it's usually a Wrong. So when we said in 00:18:38 the teas that we're gonna talk about decisions we're making for next year, uh, on seed, 00:18:42 you're not gonna change anything? No. We're gonna plan a diversity of hybrids, um, different maturities from different brands. 00:18:49 And I think the one thing we've kind of learned this year, we've, we've, we we're looking a lot 00:18:53 more heavily at conventional. I think I used to think there was a yield dragged to conventional. 00:18:58 I think we've drove, drove a lot of corn boiler out and so we're gonna go back. Back. Conventional. Pardon me? 00:19:04 You speaking of cutting through all the clutter of information and making decisions for next year, you started saying that about the first year I worked 00:19:09 with you, that the bump off of all these expensive traits is no longer there. So you're gonna talk about decluttering. 00:19:16 You're going backwards, meaning older technology, which means you probably have to do a few different new treatments. 00:19:23 But you think that works works as well for your economics, certainly as buying the expensive stuff? 00:19:29 Well, when, when those traits came out, how many years ago, they were great because it was harder for me to control the environment 00:19:36 that time that protected the crop from said disease or said pest. Now with the technology we have on the planet, 00:19:43 the technology we have on the sprayer and the products we have, it's easier to now protect it. To me, those traits have become less valuable 00:19:50 because of the other way that I can, uh, I can accomplish the task. Right. And so it's, it's less expensive for me 00:19:57 to accomplish the task in my own way. And the yield, uh, the yield from the conventional corn. If I, if I can accomplish the task 00:20:05 and protect it, the yield's better. The corn plays. I say the corn plays offense instead of defense. Yep. 00:20:10 Got it. Alright. What other, what other advice do you have that you're going to do next year and you think other producers should do it 00:20:16 to make it so that your life is simpler or your economics are better? One of the things that, uh, I felt for a long time I had 00:20:24 to use, uh, the top new fungicide that come out, you know, a three-way mode of action. 00:20:29 It's, it's more flashy. It's gonna add any more bushels. And I guess over the last three years we've been stacking 00:20:35 more generics in our late season passes. So one of the things we've seen, um, we're not really seeing that much yield difference going back to a, 00:20:43 and so we're like in a generic now is eight bucks an acre as opposed To three Times that? 00:20:48 Yeah. 20 to 30. So we're going to do some of those things. And then some of my large operators, the, 00:20:54 the only thing they've noticed is, is a generic, um, over a or maybe a, a top tier new fungicide, 00:21:01 the standability is better under a a three mode of action product. So if you've got a lot of acres, the stuff 00:21:06 that's farthest from home, it's gonna get picked late October, November, that gets the top steer stuff, the top stuff that's gonna get harvested first. 00:21:13 We go to generics and we cut some costs there. And so, uh, I think it still protects the plant. Um, it's just you give up a little maybe standability 00:21:20 issues, but it's a way to, you know, cut costs for sure going In the next year, uh, this year in, you know, 00:21:27 at home in our geography, the corn that got sprayed with fungicide twice showed a big yield difference. But it isn't necessarily because it was a top 00:21:34 tier fungicide. It was because of the two sprayings in my opinion. And I, I almost think one thing that you should look at is 00:21:41 spraying the less expensive fungicide. Mm-hmm. But making two applications. And you can probably do that in your budget for the same as 00:21:48 what one of the expensive or even less. Yeah. Yes. And that because you're extending the coverage window versus 00:21:53 right there, you're putting all your eggs in one basket in that three week time period. So we 00:21:57 Just talk about decision you're making and that you're doing and other people should consider it. And we talk about cutting a clutter. 00:22:01 Well, sometimes the clutter is from the manufacturer of the new threeway of action, a more expensive fungicide. And it's fine 'cause 00:22:09 they're in the business of selling that. But you cut through that and realize I spend a lot of money for not that big of a benefit. Yeah. 00:22:15 So for, for us, we're probably the stuff that's far away from home, we'll spend a little more, but maybe if what's we're gonna pick out first 00:22:22 The, it's a no brainer. The marketing machine that comes at farmers is a pretty amazing machine. 00:22:28 Yeah. And, you know, uh, uh, the traits on seed corn, for example, I think most farmers feel like those traits make yield because of what the marketers have told them. 00:22:36 Those traits don't make yield, they protect it. But you feel like you cannot be successful without those traits sort through that clutter. 00:22:43 Those traits don't make any yield. They protect it. Yeah, That's right. If you got 00:22:48 rootworm problems, a stack probably will help you. If you don't, it's probably not gonna put dollars in your pocket. Yeah. 00:22:53 As you spent money on something you don't really need. Yes. It's kinda like those extended warranties. You Buy those. I don't, I 00:22:58 Don't either. I don't. I'll bet you Kelly buys it. I'll bet you he's one of those extended warranty Bags. I could be, I typically 00:23:03 a, a vehicle a pickup won't last me long enough to get into the extended pump. Exactly. All. 00:23:09 So the other part, we got the economics when we got the sort, and through all the stuff you 00:23:13 and I both agree, there's gonna be, uh, some of these companies that came on the scene are gonna go away from the scene. 00:23:18 Uh, some of the stuff, arguably it shouldn't have been here anyway. Right? Uh, not being mean, it's just the way it happens. 00:23:22 It's, it's, it's, it's, it's the evolution of a, you know, it's whatever. It's the, it's the wilderness, right? 00:23:27 And some of 'em go away. Um, what about on machinery? Can I simplify that? It's getting more expensive, it's bigger, it's got more 00:23:35 gadgets, more bells and more whistles. Um, can I simplify, make it easier on my brain and also my pocketbook? 00:23:42 Or is it, or is that that tractor left the station, so to speak? Uh, that in a lot of ways in, in the row crops, I think 00:23:52 that that's left the station because of the, the technology thing that's coming. You need to keep up. Yeah. So 00:23:56 That's The part. But you need to, you need to, how about this? The only way to simplify that 00:24:00 and declutter that is you need to keep up and understand how to use the technology to make life simpler. 00:24:07 That's the way you do it. Because that, that technology's coming. Use it. Yeah. Use it. Use it for what it's intended for. 00:24:13 Yeah. Use it for what it's intended for and then a allow it to simplify your life. But I don't think you're gonna simplify 00:24:19 your life by avoiding it. I would agree. Yeah. I mean we're, we're leaning into all the technology. 00:24:25 Yeah. And we feel like make, it's making us better and making us well Leaning on our times. Obviously 00:24:29 these companies are laying off employees because machinery's getting not as not sold as much, but you're, you're gonna maybe keep an older machine, 00:24:35 but if you have to update the software, you'll do that. Yeah. If I'm gonna update GPS or I'm gonna update a planner, um, 00:24:41 I think we're gonna continue to do those things. And really, I mean, stuff has come down from the machinery side quite a bit since, since the COVID high. 00:24:49 Where are farmers spending money unnecessarily or where are they not keeping their guard up? A lot of times farmers are very frugal, 00:24:56 but then there's always this thing like, yeah, but you're dropping money over here. You're easy. One obviously is overspend probably 00:25:01 on nitrogen, but then Where else? Uh, seed and dry fertility. Yeah. Dry seed, dry fertility, nitrogen. Yep. 00:25:07 The other, the other one I'm seeing is, um, we're, we're doing fungicide when a, when a plant doesn't have disease 00:25:14 or we're coming in with a fungicide earlier, earlier and earlier. And one thing that I've, I've seen as we've worked 00:25:21 with more crops out west, you can overuse a fungicide to a point where it becomes a roundup where it becomes unethical. 00:25:26 So I think there's still a thing of scouting and hey, maybe a fungicide is great in quarter four to protect that, but if you, if you don't have disease in 00:25:34 quarter two or quarter three, why, Why, Why, why Use it? Why, why are we dump it in the 00:25:38 Why, why we dumping it Just to dump it, you know? Yeah. So there's another 10 bucks. Yeah. Uh, and, and every 10 bucks matters, right? Yep. 00:25:45 But on the business side of it, we're a farmer spending money or not spending money smartly or where, where are they, where are they cluttered and, and 00:25:51 and misinformed or over informed and not doing it? I'll go first. Um, I just heard a stat that of all the clutter they should cut through. 00:25:59 I know farmers like to produce, they don't like to sit at their desk insurance. I, uh, heard a stat from, uh, Chris Baron that, uh, 00:26:05 the number's pretty staggering of, of the underinsured that happens out there and you know, of all the stuff you're bombarded with, like you said, 00:26:12 the marketing machine to ag go to all these trade shows, man, they there and you know, farm progress show 00:26:17 and hand out styrofoam hats and every other, just saying. But I think that that's one that, uh, if I, 00:26:22 if I were a farmer, I'd say, yeah, there's a lot of clutter over here, but I really need to be better at handling that one. 00:26:27 Yeah, I, I would say that too. We, uh, we had two combine fires this fall. You Do an insurance audit after that. So 00:26:34 We, after the first wind caught fire, we, uh, my brother's like, Hey, do we got like a rental lease insurance added to this? 00:26:40 And she's like, no. He's like, well what's that gonna cost? She's like a little over a hundred bucks 00:26:44 and he's like at it, you know? And then 10 days later combine fire. You Think that was an uncomfortable call? The 00:26:50 second one, right. Wasn't an uncomfortable call. My speaking of insurance for combine fires, my neighbor farmer a long time ago we were having a beer 00:26:58 and playing cars in my friend from Chicago said, so when that combine catch a fire, you just run to the bar. 00:27:03 And he said, if my combine catch a fire, I walk Really slowly to the Barn. He says, I don't want a half burn combine. 00:27:11 That's what we had. We had to do half, two, Half burn Combine. I tell when he gets up there very far. 00:27:15 Yeah. He's gonna go. And You had one. Alright, last thoughts on decluttering and the information and the decisions you're gonna make next year. 00:27:22 I think I just heard from you, you got any other things you're gonna do next year? Make sure your insurance is in place. 00:27:26 All the other things we're gonna do. So we're, we are starting to run a few older tractors, fuel older, you know, higher hour combines 00:27:32 and it's like, you know, you can pay $900 to have 'em come out and do a 10 hour, you know, 300 point inspection. 00:27:38 And where we're kind of mechanical I think, oh that's, that's wasted dollars. But we're gonna go ahead and do that 00:27:43 because you're gonna have somebody that has eyes on it that works on that combine. Somebody touches, combines every day day versus you 00:27:48 that touch a combine once a year. Every, so as we're trying to make, you know, those combines last a little longer, that's cheap. 00:27:53 You know, in the long run of being down for a big chunk of harvest. That's one thing we're doing. Yeah. 00:27:58 We call that the free $10,000 inspection. It's a free inspection but there's always gonna come back with 10,000. 00:28:03 The things you gotta come up with. Right, right. Exactly. Alright, we're talking about decluttering your 00:28:08 mind and making it life simple. We're also talking about how you can improve your farm economics next year using the 00:28:12 information you gleaned from this year. And you know what, you've not just gleaned from this year. I heard stuff from the last three years. 00:28:18 I heard about the fungicide, uh, cutting back on the, on the cost of fungicide and using it a little bit more frequently. 00:28:23 I talked about, I heard about, uh, updating old equipment. I heard about, uh, doing machinery work on that. 00:28:27 I heard about, uh, the business side of it. Um, seed uh, diversification. I heard a lot of good stuff here. His name is Kelly Garrett. 00:28:33 He's joined by Clint Freeze. That's an extreme ag guy. He's a calibrated agronomy mar guy. If you wanna learn more about this company calibrated 00:28:38 agronomy that Clint works with, that started, how do I find that? Calibrate your agronomy. Calibrate your agronomy. 00:28:45 I've produced some webinars for you. All right. Till next time, thanks for joining us here at the Grand Reef. 00:28:48 If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with somebody that can enjoy it also and learn something from it. 00:28:51 That's what we're all about here at Extreme Ag. Extreme ag.farm is a website with literally hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of videos. 00:28:58 A grainery show, cutting curve podcast videos of guys like, uh, Kelly, shoot out in the field to help you farm better. 00:29:03 Also go over to our YouTube channel, just type in extreme ag on YouTube and hit subscribe. It doesn't cost anything. We thank you for being here. 00:29:08 Till next time, if you have an idea you'd like us to cover, to submit it 00:29:12 and next time thanks you, uh, we'll cover it next time. In the meantime, thank you for pulling up a chair 00:29:17.215 --> 00:29:18.075