We chat with Glenn Herz, Field Research Lead at Ag PhD, and Abe Eubank, Agronomy Lead at Topcon. They discuss what you can expect to see at the Ag PhD Field Day event in July and new research on plot management that reveals better tactics for increasing annual yields. It’s an episode that will definitely plant some seeds!
We chat with Glenn Herz, Field Research Lead at Ag PhD, and Abe Eubank, Agronomy Lead at Topcon. They discuss what you can expect to see at the Ag PhD Field Day event in July and new research on plot management that reveals better tactics for increasing annual yields. It’s an episode that will definitely plant some seeds!
Hello and welcome to the Topcon Talks Agriculture podcast. On each episode, we discuss and shared topics that are important to farmers and growers and agribusiness. My name is Dan Hendricks, and I'm your host for today. I am the Senior Business Development Manager for Topcon Agriculture, and I get to work with an amazing team of talented individuals who love agriculture. They enjoy technology, and they strive to help farmers and growers find solutions. Well, the planting season for 2023 has come to an end for numerous farmers in the United States and in Canada. And this also marks the beginning of the summer Farm Show circuit. One of the most distinguished farm shows in the United States is the AG PhD Field Day event, which is set to take place on Thursday, July 27th at the AG PhD Farm in Baltic, South Dakota. Last year, AG PhD Field Day set an attendance record with over 11,000 people from various parts of the United States and foreign countries in attendance. And the event will feature the top agriculture companies showcasing their solutions, and all attendees will be provided with a complimentary lunch because farmers love a free lunch. Topcon Agriculture has been in a participant at AG PhD Field Day event for five years now. Additionally, this year marks the second time that we have set up a test plot for this event. And later in the episode we will discuss that plot in a little more detail. But before that, I want to introduce our guests for today's episode. They both have extensive experience in precision agriculture and agronomy, and our first guest is Glenn Hers , who is the field research lead at Ag PhD . And , uh, gly heads up the test plots and oversees all the agronomic duties on the AG PhD farm. Glenn has worked with Ag PhD for over 11 years. He grew up as a farm kid in Western North Dakota, and he brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to customers and agriculture companies for Ag PhD . And he stays extremely busy, juggling all the plots and tasks from the various manufacturers. Glenn , welcome to our podcast today. Thanks for having me, Dan. Yeah, I appreciate you being here. And let me introduce our second guest, Abe Eubank. Abe is the regional sales manager for the Southwest for Topcon Agriculture. He also serves as the agronomy lead for Top Con. He is the proud graduate of Mississippi State University and currently resides in the great state of Georgia. He is a coworker of mine and a personal friend, and I always appreciate Abe's agronomy knowledge and his passion for agriculture. Abe, welcome to the podcast today.
Speaker 2:Hey Dan, thanks for having me. Good to see you again. And I'm in the southeast, not the southwest. Yeah, we did things a little different here in the south.
Speaker 1:Okay . You know, my bad on that. My bad, Abe, I knew where you lived . I just ,
Speaker 2:It's fine . Didn't
Speaker 1:Say correct. So ,
Speaker 2:And I went to Clemson too, so I got a double strike against me just keeping it all in the South <laugh> state for grad school and CL or state for undergrad and Clemson for graduate school.
Speaker 1:So , uh, for our listeners today who aren't as familiar with AG PhD , Glen , can you please give us some background on AG PhD Field Day?
Speaker 3:Well, I'll be honest, I mean, the way I found out about Ag PhD was before I even worked with Brian and Darren for Ag PhD and , and, and the other things that way , um, just was word of mouth. It was more of a regional show at the time. I remember the first time that we came here, I think my wife and I came to the field day in 2010. There was about a thousand people here. Um, it was a lot smaller, you know, event, I guess if you wanna call it or so than that. It was more almost a customer appreciation type scenario, and it's just exploded. Um, I mean, and when I started in 2013 , we were still using our, I mean , uh, the first crop that I put in for the field day or I helped it with was , uh, we still used our farm planter to do all of the crops. Most of it was re relaying on that was more the crop itself out there to what it's blossomed into today , um, with all of the vendors and the , the , you know, the, the mm-hmm . <affirmative> speaking sessions and all of that. Yeah . It's just been quite a , quite an undertaking. So , yeah . Uh , that's, that's kind of where, the way I remember it is , I mean, it used to be golf crops and now it's still the, the , the plots are still a very big learning tool and a backdrop for everything that we're trying to show. But it's all about , um, bringing new products, bringing new innovation mm-hmm. <affirmative> , um, it's the first look for most people, like you mentioned, it's the, the kickoff for farm field days and, you know, farm shows for the summer and the fall that go on. And it's just, it's, it's really turned into its own animal.
Speaker 1:And tell our listeners what the mission of AG PhD is. How would you describe it?
Speaker 3:Well, I, I think Brian and Darren really liked it's, it's, we're we're more about the grower helping themself mm-hmm. <affirmative> and doing their own applications and that sort of thing. And really just doing what we feel is right for the farmer. You know, so we, you know, we, even some of the folks that we work with, our , our main mission is, is help the grower do whatever you can to get him, make him the most profitable. I think that's kind of what we like to show at the field day . Bring new ideas, bring new technology, bring new chemistries, whatever that may be, to help him be more efficient, grow better crops, grow better crops. Um, I , I think that's really it.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So there's definitely an ed educational piece to Yes . PhD . Yeah . Yeah. And tell people where Baltic, South Dakota is, if, if they're not familiar with,
Speaker 3:Yeah. So we're in the southeast corner of South Dakota. We're just 10 miles north of the city of Sioux Falls. So for folks that are coming to the field day, I mean, we have a lot of folks that'll fly in, fly out that same day. Um, some folks will make it a , I mean, it's gotten to the point where guys have seen it for the first time, find out what the state of South Dakota has to offer mm-hmm. <affirmative> , um, plan vacations around it, that sort of thing now. So yeah. So we're just 10 miles south of SIO or north of Sioux Falls. Quick access to get here, you know, very easy. In and out. Very easy in and out for the airport. Lots of hotels, all of that.
Speaker 1:So you, you talked about the growth of AG PhD and the field day event. So how does AG PhD share this information, this education with, with growers? Tell us about some of the avenues that you guys,
Speaker 3:Well, a lot of the avenues are the TV show, A P H D , you know, the a p TV show, a p HD radio, SiriusXM. Brian and Darren do a , a daily radio show Monday through Friday on SiriusXM. Um, we started using social media with a Acres tv. Um, a lot of the companies are on there. They have their own channel. Um, and then just through email , um, a lot of , I mean, just all of those touch points , but, but by and large, I mean it's, it's Acres tv , um, it's the, a PhD TV show and then it's, you know, the a p radio.
Speaker 1:And tell us more about your role as lead agronomist with Ag PhD . What does that entail?
Speaker 3:Well, <laugh> a lot. Um, it , it's kind of unique for myself because I'll, one day I'll be working with corn and soybean production and that sort of thing . The next day I'm, you know, helping with all of the chemistry. And it's, it's interesting for me cuz I, I know a lot of the trade names for a lot of these products. I'm getting a lot more used to, you know, the actual active ingredients when it comes to the chemistry. But , um, I'll be honest, since you guys have joined a B H D Field Day and some of the other equipment providers Yeah . That is really expanding what our field day is all about. And it's , it's never the same people talk about, you know, having a mundane job, you know, where it's the same grind every day . Yeah. Uh , you know , I think that the interesting thing that I say is a lot of people ask, what's your schedule look like next week? And I just say, I dunno .
Speaker 1:Yeah . <laugh> ,
Speaker 3:It's , it's , it's just, and that's, that's what makes it fun. I mean, I complain to do something one day and if you got a fire to put out , um, there's always something new. So , um, the field day itself is its own animal mm-hmm. <affirmative> . Um , but there's a , there's a lot that goes on in between it. Um, but we, we certainly , uh, we enjoy what we're doing and we enjoy, or , you know, for myself , um, the field day is probably one of the last things that I would not want to do. I mean, it's just, it's always interesting what's coming for, to the forefront and to be front and center of that. Uh , that's pretty cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah. I , I , I know it's a highlight. I, I've participated in the last two years and it's been a , a lot of fun and , uh, very , very, very learning. Um , a lot of education. You see a lot of people asking a lot of questions and a lot of farmers are finding out great information. So you talked about some of your responsibilities there , um, at the farm. Tell me a little bit about your team that, that helps you. Cuz I know you've got a pretty good team of people that assist.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I've got, I've got two young guys that are working with me. I call 'em young cuz I'm the old man, got enough gray hair mm-hmm. <affirmative>, but I've got two young men that are working with me that are, you know, in their early to mid twenties , um, that have been with me three and four years now, or four or five years I think it is. Um, so those guys are with me on a daily basis, but then when it comes to, I mean, we're the ones that are there day to day mm-hmm. <affirmative>, but the team that's around it from helping companies is, you know, from yourself, from Topcon , um, you know, and then all of the chemical companies and what they want their plot to look like, what they're going to have for, you know, refreshments or snacks or whatever for, you know, for people that day, that group of people that are part of a PhD . Um , once it gets to be that timeframe, I almost step back that last week or so as we're really getting things set up and tense placed and that sort of thing, and temporary electricity put in. I've become more of a support staff. I really lean on those folks Yeah . To and , um, coworkers of mine that have different jobs during the rest of the, the year around a PhD that when a PhD field day comes, it's, it's that same thing. You just dig in and do whatever you need to. And the team that I get to work with, and I mean, it's, it is second to none. I mean, they're just such wonderful people and , um, we just kind of drop whatever we're doing at that point. And for that 10 to 15 days that lead up to the field day, it's just full on field day. We get it ready and it's kind of crazy. Friday comes around and you're there to help clean up and do some stuff. Yeah. Right back to your normal job just like it never happened. And we just really start thinking about next year. So it's, it's a different event. It's just really amazing to be part of it.
Speaker 1:So it sounds like it's all hands on deck for it, and it is , you do have an amazing army of people. I mean, with 11,000 attendance, it takes a lot of people with a lot of details. Tell me if there's, is there anything new this year to the field day that maybe people haven't seen in past years?
Speaker 3:Yeah. Um, it continues to, I mean, especially on the equipment side, the robotics that continue to come into , um, into the industry is, is pretty amazing. I mean, I think of like my father and my grandpa and everything back in the day and look at the , the intensive labor that those guys did. And you're still always gonna have that human element, but the fact that you can program something and go and do another task or another job around the farm and you have a robot out there either applying, you know, like in the case we're gonna, we're gonna have a , um, it's , it's , uh, from Yield 360, it's a machine called Rain. This thing walks through the field and waters on its own, you know, in a field. So where you wouldn't be able to do a center pivot, those types of things , um, to some of the innovations that you guys have, you know, with what Topcon's got with the OneTouch to show guys that hey, you don't, you just program this thing and let it do some of that work so that you can , uh, you know, that that's huge. Um Right . You know, for the guys that have , you know, that are bringing that to the thing or to the, to the table and the companies that bring it. And then on the chemistry side , um, I mean there's, there's nitrogen replacement , um, type, you know, products that are coming on board that people are interested in. And the market is kind of running that way as well to where we're trying to just be more conscious of the environment and , and, and just want to be more productive and do it as efficiently as we can. So there's, there's always something. Yeah .
Speaker 1:So , so if someone hasn't attended before and they're gonna attend this year, what would you tell them not to miss? Because there's a lot of things going on on that day and you can get a little overwhelmed when you show up Yeah . As like, but what , what would you say like, don't miss these couple of things
Speaker 3:For the, don't miss things that I would say is gonna be, don't miss some of these speaking sessions. There's some very good growers that are coming in. There's some, some entertainment type people that are , you know , they're the learning aspect that is at this field day as compared to some of the other shows , um, I think is probably what sets us apart. I can't say enough, Dan . I don't know if that , there's a particular thing that I would say don't miss. What we like to see is the guys that are leaving later in the day that are like, I'm coming back next year because I couldn't take this all in. I'm done. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> ,
Speaker 1:Right .
Speaker 3:To see that guy , to see the look on people's faces that they're kind of spent for the day
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 3:Is kind of what we're aiming for. We want them to come back. And I think that's what we see the most is like , uh, folks that are like, man, I learned a lot today. I gotta come back because I don't think I can absorb what I took in. Right.
Speaker 1:So , and I appreciate that, that , that about your show as well as it's not just looking at tractors or looking at hardware or seed, but it is the educational aspect where you're really teaching people how you're teaching farmers how to do their job better, how to make more money. Right . How to save time, how to do it in a more effective way and make the most of, of what they're doing. So tell me a little bit about the, the yield winners, like the contest that you have and, and how that works each year.
Speaker 3:So we usually have taken guys that have been either N C G A , um, you know, you know, either regional or national winners, N C G A , a lot of the guys were, were , we were doing what we called first step plots where we were doing high yield plots mm-hmm. <affirmative> , um, at the time we've kind of gravitated away from that, but yet those guys have become such good friends of ours that we like to have those folks in because they are always trying some of the things that we really highlight, you know, as trying to do better, trying to get more on those acres, trying to, you know, you know, be more productive. So , um, we're bringing those a a lot of those guys in. And then , um, social media and then just getting the word out about agriculture , um, the people that are, you know, probably being seen a little bit more on the, on the social media side, just to give people the awareness of what happens in the agriculture community. I mean, there's be there keeps to becoming less and less of us out there, I guess, if you wanna call it that. Right. So we're trying to kind of show the , you know, different sides of agriculture. So those are the folks that are gonna be here , um, for the most part. But I know, I think, you know, we've had many of the guys that are here and we've got some new faces that are coming in all the time just because we're trying to keep things fresh all the time as well. But I know Kevin Matthews, Chad Henderson, Matt Miles , Kelly Garrett , uh, Lee Lou's , a lot of the guys that are with Extreme Ag and that group are gonna be here. Um, I think Rob Sharky , Randy the farmer, I'm, I'm really stoked to see Randy the farmer. I've been following Randy, the farmer since he started. I just kind of , I can't wait to shake his hand myself, you know? Yeah . So I'm looking forward to that, you know, because it , there's something new for me all the time too, and I think that's why I'm, I'm just looking forward to it.
Speaker 1:So. Yeah. Well that's very cool. Hey , I gotta ask you, have you seen our cameras out there that we mounted in the test plot?
Speaker 3:Absolutely. I , I was just out around him this morning and I , yeah. And I, I always laugh at my, my , one of the young guys, Mr. Perkle that's with me and , and him and I go back and forth all the time and he's like , gotta be careful what you say out here <laugh> .
Speaker 1:Cause they're listening .
Speaker 3:This isn't Big Brother , this is just looking their corn plot . Yeah . We're, yeah, we , um, we're uh, pretty neat to see that thing through how that's gonna play out through the year. And I want , it'll be interesting just to see the time lapse of what that's gonna look like.
Speaker 1:So Yeah, for the people that are listening, I mean, we put six LTE solar powered cameras on, one on each of the six plots that Topcon has out there. And , uh, they have worked, they have worked flawlessly. We've got each of 'em grabbing TimeLapse from before emergence. And so I know , um, you know, we've looked at the footage and are able to remotely look and see what's going on in those plots. And it's been pretty fun.
Speaker 3:Yeah. And I know too , uh, Dan, you know, we're getting to that time cuz I was just talking with the guys this morning. Uh , we've got a couple of 'em that we're gonna try and do some , um, some nitrate studies with , uh, um, with tap and whatnot or , or the , the program that you guys have for the monitor , um, so that we can see what's going on in there. And we'll probably be putting those SRIs applications on. We're gonna do our SRIs application a little bit different than the farmer normally does because we're just gonna try and put some granules on right next to the row , uh, you know, using urea. Right. Um , that's just the easiest way that we can put it on without damaging the plot. And then we're gonna water that in, you know, so we don't lose any of that. So we can try and get it as consistent as we can. But yeah, I'm, I'm kind of stoked. The thing looks pretty darn good this year and, and , um, I'd be really interested to see what we're gonna see from the cameras , um, as it comes out .
Speaker 1:Okay. Well that's really cool. All right, well let's uh , bring in Abe, we haven't forgot about you Abe, but , uh, tell me a little bit about how many years Top Keon has been a partner with Ag PhD ? Give us a little history lesson .
Speaker 2:Oh , well , ag PhD and prior to that was, I think Top Gun was done a couple years before that , I'm not really sure. I came award for Top Gun in thousand and that was one , my first first events with the company was from Georgia , headed south for the event . And now that was , that started off as just kinda , hey , here's who we , here's all our products , demo product set . And starting last year's when we lot , um, that was something new for us, something new for the company and it was, it was a little bit sketchy to to say the least at first cause we were like , we put a plan together and then we start executing that plan comes kinda washes everything out and one thing led to another , all kinda different things . But at the end of the day we were still able to pull it back together, be able to pick apart and tell the story . And once we saw the story was was still being , even with all the problems that , that we were facing, it was a powerful story . And we focused on the tiller depth control as well as the nitrogen with our crop spec sensors. And for those listeners that are listening , if you came through the plots last year , you know , you were able to see that with the tiller depth control, we focused on basically three different tillage regimes . Either too deep, too shallow, or just right . Um , and those numbers were, lot of people were on what's too deep , what's too shallow, what's just right ? And it was , well what's your area know ? So we weren't really focused on magic number as much as we were that that good seed zone for that , that region. And when those plants started coming up, then we, you know , the , the story telling itself ear height placements , that was kinda the shining star that really told the difference in the treatments . We flag placement deep was all the air heights were erratic , too shallow, they were very erratic. But in the zones where we were shooting for that optimal depth, they were just nice. And even so that told a really good powerful story and that really resonated with the farmers that came for it . Cause they were able to look , see and visually see this is what we're shooting for . It's not just a picture on a page or , or you know , a screen or something like that. They're seeing it something they can relate to . Same thing in , in the nitrogen blocks that that we able to our crop spec sensors running across three plots in , in a pretty short distance, a couple hundred feet from , from start to finish. And show that just in that little bit of a difference , the amount of variability that nitrogen can have . That was a powerful , powerful visual as well . Cause now guys were like , oh man , oxygen's expensive. Right? So here I would overly here I would under apply how much money is that gonna cost me in the long run ? So now we're , we're starting technology back to kind things . And this year, you know , as we you down this road of , of an actual field plot at this event, we're gonna mirror what we did last year and showcase those, those two technologies. Cause given the timing of this field day , the crop stage that it's gonna be in , those are the two solutions in our portfolio that we can really highlight and get the best visual bang for the box , so to speak. That , that we can.
Speaker 1:And you talked about the six different plots, you know, the three with nitrogen and the three with tillage depth control. But why would you say this has been an important show for Topcon? Why AG PhD ? I mean why plots at Ag PhD ? Why is that important to, to , to Topcon?
Speaker 2:Well, for , from a brand recognition standpoint , they say , who are you ? Or I knew you did something but I really didn't know . So it gives us a chance to kinda get out in front of those growers . And with ag it's a very unique fact . It's just one day . And number two , it's really geared and catered for farmers , you know , across the year showcase . But , so you still have those equipment manufacturers, but they're also showing what that machine does in the field. You know, not just here it's all shined up nice , neat, pretty, but we're gonna put it in the field . We're gonna show you what this machine is meant to do or what this technology package or what this . So it's , it's really geared for farmers and for growers and that's what makes the show unique. Cause you know , you know that the quality of of those people coming through , they're gonna ask questions . They're , they're there for a reason . They're not just there for , you know , have a off farm . So speak , they're there , they're wanting to learn , they're looking for new , you know , new technologies. You see , you know , those kinda things. And so just a , a better quality of of how that's there .
Speaker 1:So unpack for me, and you mentioned this a little bit, but unpack for me some of the key indicators that you look for in these plots when you look at 'em. Cuz I was there last year and it was interesting. I remember Glen came out and he was pointing out some things, you know, with, with uh, just different parts of the , uh, the field. And it was fascinating to hear from an agronomist standpoint that things that agronomist sees that maybe the average person wouldn't see. So what are some of those things?
Speaker 2:Yeah , so well let's , let's start with the tillage depth control. Cause that's what we got in the field right now. Um , corn was planning a couple ago , maybe at this point . Um , but with tillage depth May 15th . Okay , so about a month ago . So with tillage depth , what we're gonna look at first, and this is where the cameras are really , really proven they're worth is emergence . Not only are we looking at ok , the coming obviously up , but how is coming up , up even across the field if , if we do have some early late emergence , you know , what plots are those in ? Are those in the shallow plots ? Are the two deep plots , you know , how is gonna , compared to plots in primary tillage tillage range , you knows . So how gonna compare all that ? So in those right now it's um , once everything comes up and leaving out a little bit , but then as we start setting years , then we're gonna come back . We're look at tassel dates . We have , you know , uniform tasseling across the field , which is gonna more uniform pollination, especially if we get into a hot dry summer where moistures gonna be limited . You know , if we plants that are , they're gonna struggle to pollinate as compared to those that are ahead. Um , as , as we shift over to the , to the nitrogen to the crop spec trial . Right now , really what we're looking at is what visual indicators can we see ? Are there any color differences between the plot, any yellowing, any , you know , any spots that are darker green than others that we can pick out with our , just with naked eye and as well . And then once sensor across those plots , comparing sensor data to visual data and cause that , that really is what tells the story there too . Cause when your eyes see it , then it's easier to say , ok , yeah , I saw that , you know , right here in this spot in field I saw eyes . So there , there's , you know , there's validity there . But then also maybe that sensors gonna pick up on some spots that weaker not , it's not enough or nitrogen becomes problem before we start losing yield at the end of the season.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So the crop spec helps you see what your eyes can't necessarily pick up. Exactly. So what would you say, what have you learned that works and doesn't work from these plots?
Speaker 2:From a plot standpoint ? The one thing I can tell you yeah , is sit down and plan everything out that you want. And then once you get that plan drawn up, crumple it up and throw it away. Cause mother nature's gonna throw curve ball after curve ball after curve agreements there . Um , and that , that's just the nature of , of plots. I've done plots for years of previous life. I mean , research plots all throughout the southeastern US and especially when when you're trying to condense everything down to a small footprint so you can really have a visual that you can show that you can be proud of . The more concentrated you make that the bigger the effort is that , that you need to , to get there. So number one, the biggest thing I've learned with this and and throughout the years is have a plan and then have a backup plan , and then have another backup plan . And then when it all , when all those fail , go to your last backup floor and , and just remain flexible. Um , and then the , the other big component of that is , is , and we planned it today, we made this application. This is what our plans are, you know , going forward as we get , you know , a little bit closer to the show, we'll start talking soil samples and tissue samples, things like that. So have a plan , have a backup , but most of all have , have team that you can trust . Cause if you don't have boots on the ground every day for , for an event like this, you're not gonna be successful at it .
Speaker 1:Hmm . Those are good takeaways. So Glen , we've talked about field day coming up here fast and your team and all that has to happen, but what challenges have you guys faced this spring? I mean, weather or has there been some specific things you've ran into?
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's, it's been weather. Um ,
Speaker 1:Uhhuh . <affirmative> in what way?
Speaker 3:Dry. Okay. Extremely dry guys. Um, and we're, and I , I think that was kind of what we're talking about. Even with the side drift here, now we're trying to irrigate and I I say irrigate quote unquote right now because we're trying to keep it alive. We don't have a well that we can provide enough water there. So we'll keep it alive. We'll make it look as be , you know, as best we can. We're hoping for some turnaround. But to Abe's point, I mean we, we were dry quite a bit last year and all of a sudden on July 5th, and I, I won't forget that day for a while , um, we got five inches of rain in about two hours and that washed away a lot of what we had started on that field day and had to turn it around. I don't wanna know what the , what the , what could happen until July 27th <laugh>, you know, when we do this again. Right. But we're , you always gotta be prepared for it. I know. You know, so that's been, that's been our biggest thing is just been, yeah , it's been honestly dry. Um, we did plant our field day this year, probably, this is the earliest, we've planted it since probably 1415. So we got things to where everything is off the ground and it , and it , look , we've got some nice emergence and whatnot. Everything looks pretty good so far right now. We're just trying to keep things alive and hoping that mother nature cooperates with us a little bit. Um, but I can't echo enough what , what Abe said. Um, we put out a plan for just this plot here, and I think we've got a couple of things that are on the backside of it that we wanna look at from a data perspective. Um, just because we're doing stuff with tillage depth , I wanna see just from myself , um, how my planter reacted to that. There's not too many times where, you know, specifically in this spot that I went too shallow or this is where I really was trying to hit that two to four inch mark for tillage. Or if I tilt too deep, I wanna see how that, how did that planter respond to that? What does that look like? Because, you know, that's the way my planter responded because of, you know , the ability now to have up and down force on there and some of those things. But yeah , I mean that that, those types of things are what we'd like to really focus on for the, for the year as to how does , how does things react and , and whatnot when you, when you put out a plan like that. Um , but yeah , that, back to your, the original question, that's been the biggest thing is, is we've just been awfully dry mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:<affirmative>. Okay .
Speaker 3:And to try and still make it look presentable for the folks by the time we get to field day will be our, our biggest thing. So
Speaker 1:Now tell our listeners what kind of equipment and technology your team relies on for these plots, because it differs from what an average farmer's doing in their field. Somewhat. Yeah.
Speaker 3:We <laugh> some of it, believe it or not, is, I mean, we're, most of it is sprayed with a backpack. Okay . Um , so we'll put a backpack on , um, and then I got a 10 foot boom so I can get pretty particular on that. We're using three gallon canisters. Um, Mr. Perkle and Caden , my , the two young guys that are with me, they like to try and show the old man up so they put a five gallon can. I'm like, well , you're back. I'll tell you that in a few years. But <laugh> that's fine, you can do that. But yeah, we do everything. Most of it is done by hand. We do some mechanically , um, with a four wheeler sprayer if we've got a smaller set. But when you've got so many different changes for each company's plot, a lot of it is done by hand. Okay. You know? Yeah. Um, we try and be as, as best we can to emulate , uh, real world activity out there, but it's just really hard. I mean, you guys know as well. I mean, think about some of this stuff. It's, it's 50 feet long and then there's something different to try and make equipment work in 50 feet and respond the way it's supposed to. You, there's a lot of checks and balances that go in there before you push in the clutch and decide you're gonna plant, let's put it that way. Right.
Speaker 1:So , yeah. So you've been managing these plots for several years. How , how do you increase variation and what does that do to your soil?
Speaker 3:As far as variation? In what sense? I guess Dan ?
Speaker 1:Yeah, the sense of variation in like what plot one compared to plot two compared to plot two three. I mean, what variation do , do you guys try to show in these plots? I mean, does it like,
Speaker 3:Well , I , I mean like, like for Topcon here, this will be, you know, will be the fertility piece on it. But it is a challenge I have, I basically have the map layout from everything going back about seven years. After seven years. It's like your taxes, you can pretty much take that out, right? I mean, you can throw that away, but , um, we have to be cognizant of that. And there's some spots out there. I mean , um, just as a for instance, and you guys probably , I mean, Abe's gonna know this right off the top, we were having trouble getting our, our alleyways and , and our walkways for people established. So we thought let's throw some wood chips out there so people have somewhere to walk on so they don't have a bunch of dust to walk on. We're still seeing the effects of that because anywhere I put nitrogen where those wood chips are at, because we got 'em out as best we could, but you , you're on black soil , you know , on on conventional tilt soil, there's still some of that in, we get nitrogen tie up in those wood chips all the time.
Speaker 1:Oh wow.
Speaker 3:So those in , in a corn scenario, all of a sudden I'll have a little loop in there where it's all of a sudden it's corn. Well, we know after field they were going back in there and trying to pick that up. You just, when you've got something that's on this big of a scope <laugh> , and it sounds big in , in research terms, but when you've got that much scope and you gotta try and figure out what's going on, the , the , the hiccups show themselves pretty quickly. So , um, so we, we keep trying to do that. Um, a lot of folks have asked me, why don't you no till it ? Um, we've tried that in spots, but you can't imagine what 11,000 people walking around on eight acres, how compacted Oh wow. That becomes right. Because the human footprint just walking around that area, it is amazing just how compacted this gets so that that roll , you know, rolls into what we do from year to year to year as well.
Speaker 2:And then every year's different Right . Corn and this block this year , but next year it may be different company . They need split between corn and beans. So it's just they're really planning just is a crap sheet in most days . Right. You know , you just gotta do the best you can with what you have . Yeah.
Speaker 3:TA's point, you know, two is like, you know, you may have a vendor that will be here for one year the next year. They're not, or there's new vendors. This year has been tremendous that there's a , a lot of vendors that want to come in. So where we've discussed leaving it permanent alleyways and separating different plots, it just hasn't worked like that because there's so much variability. We'd like to try and change the layout every year. So believe it or not, the grass that you see every year, we replant it. Um, and just to , I mean, everybody knows how typical it can be to do that, counter that with bringing the traffic in to, to do all the plots and lay them out exactly where they are . Um, it's pretty big undertaking and it is , but it's still a lot of fun. So,
Speaker 1:Well, talk to me about how you manage irrigation and runoff. Like you were saying, it's, it , it , sometimes it's dry and then all of a sudden you get five inches of rain. Yeah . So how do you guys manage that?
Speaker 3:Well, I think, and I , I , that's the, that's the biggest thing that we've got right now is, you know, Dan Abe , you guys have been at the field, they say, I think what the one thing that people don't realize is how much drop and fall there is in this little space. This is not a flat area whatsoever. Um, even the team that I work with here, we, we , we will get out a big, you know, printout or a Google Map image or something like that. We'll draw the plots out and they're like, well , we wanna put the tent here , or a building, you know, that sort of thing. I'm like, impossible. You don't understand how much drop there is. Um, so we actually drove it with our tractor with the R T K and the , there's over 30 feet of fall from one side of this to the other where this goes through. So that is no doubt, is something that we, we really pay attention to. The irrigation, like I said, that we do, is simply to keep it alive. I mean, when we're put on irrigation, we're probably putting on a half an inch at a time. We're doing it in small blocks, it's literally done with water reels. Now we're trying to do that and some small guns. Um, the watering that we do, we don't even do with a very big diameter , um, orifice on the end so that we don't , um, get big droplets because I don't wanna compact anybody's stuff, you know, with the big droplets or for that matter, as dry as it is right now. Um , I can get , um, herbicide splash, you know, we're, so we're , we're cognizant of that too. So there's, it's, there's all sorts of challenges that when you walk out and look at it, you go, well, that's not that big a deal. Um, it was the day when you were trying to make that application. So,
Speaker 1:So you had mentioned that you got the seed in the ground on May 15th, but then tell us a little bit about when you sprayed it and how many times you've sprayed the top con plot .
Speaker 3:Well, the , the tough part that we had guys, so we, we planted it, everything looked really good, planted into moisture, had pretty good emergence. Um, and then we sprayed our pres . We waited , I mean, got real nice , um, conditions for planting. So we'll plant it and then we'll put our pres on. Now, Topcon's not too specific to what they want us to do, so we'll do essentially what we consider a burn down , you know, to get any , anything that's existing there. And then we'll put a residual herbicide on . It hasn't rained enough to activate that residual herbicide. And our priests this year, where last year they worked tremendously, all of the companies priests this year have been what I would call less than average. And it doesn't matter to the chemistry, but as we know in Akin testified to this too, if you don't get moisture to activate a pre, you got that contact herbicide to work. But the pre is now allowing the weeds to come through. Um, and believe it or not, you can probably not get the herbicide to activate, but the darn we will come up. So , um, we've done a secondary, what I would call an early contact post application , um, now that we're starting to get some that we're starting to water , um, because we got to where we thought Mother Nature was gonna help us out , we're watering against things happening. I've got little weeds that are trying to come back up, but you can see now just that little dab of water that we've done now the pres are starting to activate. They're still there. So , um, it's coming around. It looks really, I I think it's gonna look fantastic for the field day. Um, the biggest struggle that we've got right now is we're just, it's just a lot more labor because we're, we're trying to keep things alive.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So, so Glen , let me ask you this. Explain to our listeners the importance of the concept of seed depth . W how would you explain that? Uh , why is that important?
Speaker 3:Well, I think especially in the terms of, of the corn plant, you know, I gotta get that seed down so that I can get better root development and get that, you know, so I've got my nodal roots to develop where they're supposed to and , and give that plant its best chance to thrive. I mean, you can, you can plant shallower and if Mother Nature , um, cooperates with you enough, you can, you can get from A to B. That's not, that's not the , the look that myself, that's not the look that Abe is looking for. He wants a plant that when you put it in the ground, it's thriving and seed depth is, is is one of the initial steps that that comes in . You have to have that, that good seed to soil contact. You have to have the proper depth. Um, otherwise your plant can survive. But, you know, thriving is what we're looking for. Yeah.
Speaker 1:And then you're wanting it consistent too, right? Correct.
Speaker 3:To be,
Speaker 1:Yeah , the same.
Speaker 3:And I , I think that's, that's the nature of, you know, where equipment is going, you know, and what we're able to do now compared to what our dad and grandpa used to do. Um, and what makes it, you know, so that we can get the yields that we are consistency, depth simulation is all part of that, and that's why we're working with Topcon and doing the stuff that we're
Speaker 1:All right . Glenn and Abe , thanks so much for joining us on today's podcast episode. You can find out more about the Ag PhD Field Day coming up by going to ww.ag phd.com . As Glen said, you can also find them on Facebook and they have a daily radio show and TV show in many areas of the country, as well as Acres tv, which is an online video platform for nothing but agricultural content. So we hope that , uh, you'll come out to the Ag PhD field Day and see it and stop by the Topcon booth. We also want to thank each of our listeners for tuning in today. Topcon appreciates all of our friends in agriculture who work so tirelessly to put food on our tables. If you enjoyed this episode, remember to like, share and subscribe to Topcon Talks Agriculture on Spotify, apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts. Please tell your friends about us. We'd love for you to follow Topcon Agriculture on social media. Thanks again for joining us today. See you next time and go out and make it a great day.