Agriscience Explained

• Permanent Cover Crops Take Root

  In today’s episode: what might it look like to create a better cover crop system? A group of researchers and farmers are seeking to answer this question.Cover crops can help reduce soil erosion, preserve soil biology, build organic matter, suppress weeds and improve water and nutrient retention. So why do fewer than 10% of US row crop acres incorporate cover crops? There is risk involved. The seed costs money and if the weather doesn’t cooperate, you can waste precious capital and not even get a stand. And some cover crops can be difficult to terminate, requiring herbicides, mowing, crimping or tillage, all of which can add costs and labor. “Rather than trying to breed species that are directly competing for the same resource: light water, nutrients…The proper way is actually to breed them so that they're living in their own niche.” - Sara Lira, Ph.D.How can advances in science and management help them to become a viable option for more farmers? That’s the question Dr. Sara Lira and colleagues have been asking. Sara is a research scientist at Corteva Agriscience who has been working with farmers like Chris Gaesser, who you will also hear from on this episode. Chris farms in southwest Iowa and has conducted on-farm collaborations with Sara over the years. “There's always something green on the ground. You're going to (have) a lot less nutrient leaching. The weed suppression is there, so you're creating a very stable environment…and ideally it's saving you some passes throughout the year.” - Chris GaesserSome Takeaways from this episode include:This perennial groundcover approach is a novel way of incorporating more perennials into our existing farming systems without sacrificing yield. There is no silver bullet in agriculture. Although this approach seems to be working great in a strip till system, it’s still not as effective in no-till. This emphasizes the need for more science and more solutions to fit a variety of situations. This is a great example of why farmer/researcher collaboration is so important. The solutions of the future will come from cutting edge science and technology, but also improvements in management practices and the ability to put all the pieces together on your individual farm.Agriscience Explained is brought to you by Corteva Agriscience and hosted by Tim Hammerich. This show is produced by Clint Pilcher, Rayda Krell and Ann Leonard. Jaime Hammerich and Grant Bolton edit these podcasts, and the music was composed by Dmitri Volkov. Subscribe for more Agriscience Explained: From Science to Solutions.

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• Meet CARL: Your Digital Agronomist

  Digital agriculture, decision science and generative artificial intelligence (AI) all converge into a new tool for agronomists and seed sales reps. How will this enhance the way trusted advisors make recommendations to farmers? Imagine you're an agronomist traveling from farm to farm. You have an assistant riding along in your passenger seat who can answer your every question about product information, yield history, etc. They're with you all of the time and they seem to be able to recall any relevant piece of information you want or need in seconds. They have access to a vast network of pooled knowledge covering many years and many different geographies that can easily be condensed into a casual conversation. By now most of us have heard of ChatGPT, Gemini, Anthropic or one of the other chat-type AI interfaces. These tools utilize generative AI because they can predict patterns in data and use them to provide information that is relevant and tailored to specific questions and requests. Corteva Agriscience has recently introduced CARL, a new AI-driven tool to help agronomic advisors. Matt Smalley, Ph.D. has led the effort to get a new generative AI tool into the hands of Corteva agronomists and sales reps. In today’s episode, we’re going to not only talk about this tool, but also better understand where digital fits in the modern farm, and what difference artificial intelligence could make in our ability to execute better agronomic decisions.  ”Project CARL stands for Corteva Agronomic Research Library… it's a generative model, kind of like ChatGPT, that's been augmented with Corteva agronomic research library.  And so it has increased skill in answering questions in the agronomic realm. And it's also been augmented with Pioneer product information.” - Matt Smalley, Ph.D.Agronomy Innovation Manager Mike Anderegg is an early user of CARL, and part of the team helping to get it into the hands of Corteva Agronomists. “ The data influx that we have had for a number of years has raised the question: now what do we do with it? …We are starting to discover what we can do with it…I think we're still just scratching the surface of what we can do with that next level of intelligence.” - Mike AndereggSome Takeaways from this episode include:Corteva’s shift from selling digital products to implementing decision science in every aspect of the business. It was the right move at the right time, and I opened the door for something like Project CARL when the time was right. Generative artificial intelligence is changing the way we interact with data. Tools like CARL are removing so many friction points from the old way of accessing data. Just chat with it like you would chat with a mentor or colleague to find the answer you want. Like gene editing, we are just barely starting to see the early signs of what will ultimately be possible. As these tools emerge, they don’t displace the agronomist or other trusted advisors. Those relationships are more important than ever. But the most vulnerable to these big technological shifts are those that refuse to embrace it. Agriscience Explained is brought to you by Corteva Agriscience and hosted by Tim Hammerich. This show is produced by Clint Pilcher, Rayda Krell and Ann Leonard. Jaime Hammerich and Grant Bolton edit these podcasts, and the music was composed by Dmitri Volkov. Subscribe for more Agriscience Explained: From Science to Solutions.

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  31:22
• Gene Editing: Pathway to Progress

  In today’s episode, we look into the path forward for gene editing in agriculture. What will that look like for farmers and for consumers? In our last episode we clarified some of the key differences between gene editing and transgenic crops, or what most know as GMOs. Transgenic crops have been widely adopted over the past 30 years, but very few gene edited crops are currently on the market. Why is that and what will it take to make this technology more widely available? To tackle these questions and others, we are joined by Corteva Agriscience global leader of regulatory and stewardship Reza Rasoulpour. He’s a molecular and cellular biologist by training who has been with the company for over 18 years.Reza describes Corteva’s newly launched Genlytix gene editing ecosystem designed to accelerate sustainable agriculture, specifically in seed and biological products. “When you think about gene editing, anyone can gene edit. I mean, it's almost a democratized type of technology, It's really accelerated plant breeding. So the only way to maximize the value for everyone in agriculture is to be more vocal and take a much more collaborative approach… It would be a shame if misinterpretation and the wrong kind of assumptions for this type of technology led to regulators or others inhibiting the opportunity for local solutions to local problems.” - Reza RasoulpourHeather Hampton Knodle is a fourth generation farmer in south central Illinois. She joins the episode as well to pose some of the questions she has as a farmer and mother thinking about the future. Heather poses important questions about this technology and some ideas she has for real problems on the farm that this technology might help to solve down the road. Some Takeaways from this episode include:Gene editing is following the same process as traditional breeding, just a lot more precise. Reza uses a book analogy to describe the difference between putting two books together in hopes of some of the words ending up in the right place (traditional breeding) vs just finding one word in the book to change out to get a desired outcome (gene editing). This is a fundamentally different technology that will require a different approach. I was surprised at how accessible these tools are, and it makes sense that the tool itself is not going to be what is proprietary for companies, so working together collaboratively through an ecosystem like Genlytix could be really powerful. Scientists have been working on gene editing in agriculture for over a decade, and the big catalyst will be global regulatory approval. Reza emphasizes the need to continue the positive momentum in this area. There is a lot happening in the world, but the ramifications for putting these tools in the hands of farmers given the current stakes are just too significant to be put on the back burner. Agriscience Explained is brought to you by Corteva Agriscience and hosted by Tim Hammerich. This show is produced by Clint Pilcher, Rayda Krell and Ann Leonard. Jaime Hammerich and Grant Bolton edit these podcasts, and the music was composed by Dmitri Volkov. Subscribe for more Agriscience Explained: From Science to Solutions. 

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  28:31
• Today is Yesterday's Future

  In today’s episode, we begin to explore the tremendous opportunities that are emerging as a result of gene editing. This ability to apply cutting-edge technology to crops is distinctly different from transgenic or GMO approaches, and its impact could be even greater on the future of food and agriculture. It shouldn’t seem far-fetched that breakthroughs in genetics can really impact things on the farm, because we’ve seen it before. Both the scientist on today’s episode, Dr. Dave Bubeck, and the farmer, Heather Hampton Knodle, remember clearly what things were like when transgenic crops hit the market. Dr. Dave Bubeck is a research director at Corteva Agriscience, and has been working for seed companies for over 33 years. He works in the seed product development group and spends a lot of his time with the seed commercialization team.“ That's the real advantage of genome editing is that we'll get to a speed of product development that is far beyond  what we could do with conventional breeding.” - Dave Bubeck, Ph.D.Heather Hampton Knodle is a fourth generation farmer in south central Illinois. Like others carrying on a legacy of farming, she has seen first hand the impact some biotechnology can have on the industry.  ”There's just kind of this implicit trust that some scientist somewhere is going to be working on this. I think many people have taken for granted  the type of seed and genetic technology that we've been able to tap into.” - Heather Hampton KnodleSome Takeaways from this episode include: We really are on the cusp of some incredible breakthroughs that could come from these gene editing tools. Advancements that have taken years if not decades through traditional breeding can be sped up dramatically for the benefit of producers and consumers.Gene editing is not just GMO 2.0 - there is a lot of nuance that makes gene editing a game changer beyond what GMOs have been able to do. Every one in the industry has a role to play in agriscience innovation. The farmer and the scientist have to trust each other that each is specializing and advancing their field for all of our benefits. Agriscience Explained is a podcast brought to you by Corteva Agriscience. Host Tim Hammerich visits with both scientists and farmers about how agricultural innovations are discovered, developed and deployed on the farm. 

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  28:57
• Invisible Pest Management

  In today’s episode we explore how nematodes might be impacting your crop without you even knowing it. These microscopic worms are everywhere; they are the most abundant multicellular organism on the planet. But often, they go completely unnoticed because they can’t be seen without a microscope. What we most often see in agriculture is their impact on crops. Whether you grow row crops like soybeans, specialty crops like vegetables, or permanent crops like grapes, it’s important to know your nematodes. Corteva nematologist Dr. Tim Thoden discusses his work both from the perspective of someone fascinated with nematodes, and someone who acknowledges the enormous impact they can have on farmers.  “It is believed that the damage that nematodes globally do is around $120 billion to $150 billion US dollars per year…it's a huge economic damage.” - Tim Thoden, Ph.D.California raisin grape grower Michael Logoluso has seen the impacts of nematodes for the past three decades. He is a farm manager for Lion Farms which is a large grower and packer of dried-on-the-vine California raisins.“We need a few tools in our toolbox, right? So Salibro would be one of them…I think going forward it's going to make the other tools that we have available at this current time have a little more life on the shelf.” - Michael LogolusoLogoluso and Thoden discuss the economic impact of nematodes, modern agricultural practices for managing these microscopic pests, and the development of new solutions like Corteva's Reklemel, a synthetic nematicide sold under the name Salibro. They cover the complexities of nematode management, the role of healthy soils, and integrated pest management strategies while emphasizing the need for continuous innovation and respectful treatment of the environment.Some takeaways from this episode include: The sheer volume of these organisms. They are the most abundant multicellular organism on the planet, and three out of every four multicellular organisms are nematodes. The fact that scientists are not only looking for effective solutions, but targeted solutions that don’t hurt soil biology. This emphasizes the need for products that are intended to fit into an integrated approach by being effective against pests but not taking away from soil health. How much these organisms fly under the radar because they can’t be seen by the naked eye. The pest might be invisible without a microscope, but the devastation they can cause is very real.Agriscience Explained is a podcast brought to you by Corteva Agriscience. Host Tim Hammerich visits with both scientists and farmers about how agricultural innovations are discovered, developed and deployed on the farm. 

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