This episode explores some of this history and poses questions like: what happened in the early 1900s with hybridization that opened the door for the formation of Pioneer and eventually the tremendous growth in yields over the past 100 years? What did adoption of hybrid corn look like in the early days and what can it teach us about adoption of new farm technologies today? Why has corn been the model for hybridization and what might still be possible for crops? 

“Since 1926 our population has gone up by four times, from about two billion to eight billion (people). But the productivity of corn has gone up almost twelve times…Also, we've taken this technology, as Marc Albertsen has talked about, and we've used it for other crops and made them much more productive.” - Lance Gibson

We’re asking these questions and many others of three experts on today’s episode: Corteva Agriscience Agronomy Training Manager Dr.  Lance Gibson, Saskatchewan farmer Corey Loesson and retired Pioneer employee Dr. Marc Albertsen, who was the first person hired in the newly formed biotechnology department at Pioneer in 1981, and went on to lead the agronomic traits group at the company. 

A few takeaways from this episode: 

• How much genetics generally and hybridization specifically has contributed to the incredible productivity increases from farmers in the past 100 years
• How the learnings from hybrid corn have translated into developing hybrids in other crops, and that we’re still in the very early days of realizing the benefits of hybrids in crops like wheat and canola.
• We still don’t fully understand heterosis. There are likely abundant opportunities to be discovered once scientists better understand this process.   

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.

“ We did a lot of studying, a lot of class, made a lot of mistakes, and watched a lot of beans rot in our humidity. You know when the things do line up, we have a lot of yield potential there as well. ” - Alex Harrell

Farmers like Alex have had to learn these lessons and refine their system over years while experimenting with and matching up the right genetics for their fields. Don Kyle became interested in soybean breeding in the early 90s and has since dedicated his career in plant breeding to the crop. Today he’s a soybean breeder and Evaluation Zone Lead for the Eastern US at Corteva Agriscience based in Princeton, Illinois. He says even though he’s focused on soybeans for over 30 years, he’s more passionate than ever about the crop. Don thinks we might see more hybrid soybeans in the future, similar to what we’re currently seeing with wheat. But for now, farmers aren’t using hybrid soybeans so it’s even more impressive what farmers like Alex Harrell have been able to achieve in terms of yield growth over the years. 

“ It's very easy to produce soybean seed because they self-pollinate themselves. The problem is to produce hybrid seed is really difficult. So making a cross between two different soybean varieties today still requires using tweezers and sometimes magnifying glasses so you could see the flower parts the best. It's a very tedious job.” - Don Kyle

A few takeaways from this episode: 

1. Incredible yield growth is possible without hybrids in soybeans
2. The significance of detailed management allows for more precise practices that create the best yields
3. Successful genetics is more about varieties with resilience rather than yield magic to account for the many factors that can’t be controlled

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.

We are joined by Dairy scientist Dr. Bill Mahanna who works for Corteva Agriscience and manages Pioneer’s Global Nutrition Sciences Team. His team works with any product that might ultimately be fed to livestock, like corn, silage, and soybeans. Also joining us is Craig Phelps, who owns Edgewood Farms, Edgewood Grain, and Linwood Commodities based in Western New York. Craig buys, stores and roasts Plenish soybeans and sells them to dairy farmers in his area. Together we discuss components of dairy science, nutrition, agronomy, genetics, supply chain economics and more. It’s a great demonstration of how agriscience innovation can lead to better economic outcomes. 

To understand the Plenish story, it’s important to first understand the dairy science behind why they’re so desirable for dairy cows relative to commodity soybeans or other competing ingredients. Thirty nine years ago, Bill Mahanna became the first dairy-focused person hired by Pioneer. He grew up on a dairy farm in upstate New York and was a college professor of dairy science before joining the company. He says these high oleic soybeans, now known as Plenish soybeans, were developed about 14 years ago but initially the target market was food ingredients. Then they started to realize the potential this innovation could have in dairy rations.

“ It's a dense form of energy, it's a safe oil, it brings in the amino acid we need and can potentially, depending on how the ration is balanced, actually increase the butter fat content of milk.…It's a potentially homegrown feed that we process on the farm that's really relatively inexpensive for us compared to some of the other things that we might put in the diet like blood meal or palm fat or things like that.” - Dr. Bill Mahanna

So these high oleic soybeans found a very important place in a dairy cow’s ration. Dairy farmers want to feed certain fats to not only provide complete nutrition but to also boost the butterfat percentage of the milk that they sell to achieve a premium price. But the type of fat that they feed is really important, and that’s why Plenish soybeans have really taken off. 

Craig Phelps has worked as both a dairyman and crop producer. Through these experiences he has seen the dairy industry from multiple perspectives and today roasting Plenish soybeans for local dairies is a big part of his business. The biggest problem he has found is there not being enough Plenish soybeans for the demand.

“ That's what I recognized in the Plenish is if we could create a differentiated product, cut down the transportation, basically buy that product locally, process it locally, and sell it locally. We're cutting a lot out of the middle there, and hopefully everybody wins be it the grower, us as a processor in the middle and the dairyman getting a high quality product.” - Craig Phelps

A few takeaways from this episode: 

1. The opportunity we have to create new differentiated products that are innovative and unlock new value, but also work within the established system. 
2. Secondly is the fact that through agriscience, we can find ways to allow producers to capture and keep more of the value from what they’re producing. Rather than taking commodity beans and trying to convert them into better feed through extensive processing, genetics are sort of “baking” those solutions into the crop. 
3. The impact this is having on local communities: farmers receiving more per bushel, soybeans being consumed domestically that might have gone export, and a local company like Edgewood Grain connecting the supply chain. 

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.

To explore the impact and management of corn rootworm we are joined by Clint Pilcher, Ph.D., who leads the Technical Knowledge Solutions Team at Corteva Agriscience. We’ll also be hearing from North Central Iowan farmer Randy Madden. Randy offers a unique perspective not only as a producer but also from his experience working with Monsanto as part of their global production team after earning his PhD in seed physiology. He shares that despite high local demand for corn, the journey of continuous corn has certainly come with its own challenges. 

“ Journey is a very good word. I mean, it's obviously a trial and error and over the years we've added our own bulk anhydrous facility...Our high pH soils have proven to be real challenging in corn production as well and managing the insects like corn rootworm….The traits have made that much more achievable and sort of added tremendous value to continuous corn production system like we have now.” - Randy Madden

Scientists have been working on the corn rootworm problem for decades, but with every new solution, the insect continues to adapt. To drastically reduce populations, two steps will be critical including stewardship of the products that today have some efficacy against corn rootworm and getting everyone on the same page to be vigilant against this pest.

“ The most recent tool is RNAI…It is very effective in controlling the adult population, it will eventually kill the insect, but it's much more slow acting than the BTs in controlling that insect. And so you know that, in addition to adult beetle management, is still an effective way of controlling them.” - Clint Pilcher

A few takeaways from this episode: 

1. There is great significance in the concept of area wide management and how it can bring everyone together to control corn rootworm. It would be nice if all agronomic problems could be reduced to just a single product that solved them for good, but as we all know, that’s not how it works. Complex problems require more dynamic solutions. 
2. How impactful the RNAI technology is. Even though it’s not THE singular answer to corn rootworm, having a tool like this can be incredibly powerful if used properly and stewarded properly so that it remains viable for years to come. 
3. The importance of stewardship. It’s not just a buzzword, and Randy’s words really stuck with me: the industry needs to be doing more to make sure we are stewarding the products we have available to us today. Because as you just heard Clint say, any potential new solutions are going to take a LONG time to make their way onto the farm, and it’s going to take all of us in the industry doing our part to preserve what we have that still has some efficacy today. 

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.

Tim Nuss of Nuss Farms operates in Lodi, California. In addition to his day job on the farm, Tim also started a podcast called The Modern Acre with his brother Tyler about eight years ago. This weekly show that focuses on entrepreneurs in the ag industry also led them to launching something called AgList about a year ago. Tim is a great example of a farmer thinking differently about agricultural innovation. Our conversation connected very closely with several of our episodes we’ve done for this podcast this season.

“ A lot of farmers are in really challenging situations right now and they're exhausted with financials of the business and just getting through the year of really keeping yourself open to new ideas and having those conversations takes a lot of work and takes a mindset…You just have to keep that positive growth mindset and know that if you have a limited budget, like don't put innovation on the back burner. It still needs to be a part of the budget.” - Tim Nuss

Agriscience Explained hopes to not only emphasize innovation but to highlight that innovation doesn’t matter unless it can be applied. And in order to go from science to solution, effective communication has to happen. 

As any good entrepreneur does, beyond farming and beyond podcasting, Tim noticed an additional problem that needed a solution. Seeing this chaotic landscape of the ag biologicals market, Tim and his brother Tyler decided to launch a website called AgList. AgList helps farmers and agronomists filter through various biological products and find out what real users have to say about them. Companies pay to list their products on the platform so that they can be endorsed by customers who have firsthand experience with them. 

“ It's very hard for individual farmers to talk to a hundred different companies to see if their product works…. We just saw this as an opportunity where there's a lot of challenge to understand as a farmer what works for you. The landscape map is cool to look at, but it's really challenging….So kind of leveling the playing field, putting it on an independent platform to kind of be able to click through and understand what products are actually relevant for you.” - Tim Nuss

Previous Episodes Referenced: 

1. Agriscience Explained with Sam Eathington
2. Crucial Conversations About Biologicals in Agriculture
3. Unlocking Agriscience Innovation
4. Gene Editing: Pathway to Progress
5. Permanent Cover Crops Take Root
6. Science, Sustainability and the Art of Farming
7. Discovering Tomorrow’s Biotech Traits

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.

To guide us through all of this, we're talking to Mark Jeschke, agronomy manager supporting the Pioneer brand at Corteva Agriscience. Mark has been with the company for 18 years and is currently based in Johnston, Iowa. He also farms with his family in Northern Illinois. Also joining the show is Pioneer field agronomist Carl Joern. Carl saw a lot of southern rust this past growing season in his area of northwest Indiana and northeast Illinois. He works directly with farmers in his role as a field agronomist and focuses on making sure they can make the most profit from Pioneer products.

“ Southern rust can be scary, especially if you don't have experience with it and when you have environmental conditions that stack the deck in its favor. There are fields across the Midwest this year that got sprayed with a fungicide and in three weeks that corn crop looked dead. And folks are trying to consider how to manage for a disease and how you invest in a crop that doesn't look like it's invested back in your operation…Like anything in farming, how you manage your operation has an impact on how pathogens proliferate and how different weed species grow or don't grow on your farm.” - Carl Joern

And while this year was bad and was a learning experience for many people, it’s not a new disease. Mark Jeschke remembers starting to see it in 2016 and says it has shown up earlier and earlier in the last couple of years, creating a bigger management concern. This threat can become a huge issue, taking away yield and potential revenue at a time when margins are thin. But could some of the modern gene editing tools that we’ve talked about in previous episodes of this podcast potentially help reduce this risk? Jeschke definitely sees this as a possibility.

“ What our scientists have done is take multiple disease resistance genes and stack those all together. So you're delivering multiple genes for resistance to different diseases all at once…It's a concept that can be expanded going forward that can add more resistance genes to it…So it can be iterated and improved upon over the years. So that's very exciting.” - Mark Jeschke

A few takeaways from today's episode: 

1. A better understanding of southern rust: where it comes from, what causes it to spread and some management tips
2. For as sophisticated as modern farming is, there are curveballs every year. Sometimes the timing doesn’t work out to address them reactively. That’s why the work of agriscience innovation is never finished to create better solutions
3. Multi-disease resistance or the disease super locus is really an exciting development. This is a very real and timely example of where gene editing technology could address a problem that farmers have no way of knowing in advance if they need to prioritize. 

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.

Bill Belzer joins us as the lead of the Stewardship Team for Corteva Agriscience based in Johnston, Iowa. Belzer and his team work across seed, crop protection and seed applied technologies to make sure stewardship is at the forefront. We are also joined by John Davis, a farmer in Delaware, Ohio. Davis shares his experiences as both a multigenerational farmer in the area, and a Pioneer Rep on the front lines of serving other farms in the area. Davis says when it comes to challenges they have to face in farming, weed control is certainly toward the top of the list. 

“ One of the things that listeners can appreciate and farmers especially know is that they're in a race against biology. We think about managing land is managing the sun and then the biological ecosystem that goes with that. And within that ecosystem you've got weeds, you've got insects, you have fungal organisms, and they're always on the move and they're always shifting…. So growers are faced with staying ahead of biology.” - Bill Belzer

The team at Corteva Agriscience took an industry-leading approach to stewardship with the Enlist program. Think of the Enlist Weed Control System and Enlist Ahead as a means of preserving a program that provides long-term weed control. But for this to happen, it’s going to take a multitude of decisions from everyone involved. Not just researchers, but agronomists, farmers, and other trusted partners that all contribute to agronomic and economic decisions on the farm. 

“ Probably the most difficult thing is when you're sitting across the table from a grower, you've got your sales rep hat on and you're trying to encourage them to do the stewardship program and use the right product. It comes down to dollars and everyone believes they can do something less expensive, but you try to work through that and explain to them.” - John Davis

A few takeaways from this episode: 

1. There’s a whole lot more to stewardship than I’d ever considered. And it starts much earlier than I had considered. 
2. Stewardship goes way beyond reducing weed resistance to Enlist herbicides. Long-term efficacious weed control is the goal here.
3. This really does take a commitment from all involved. Everyone needs to understand what’s at stake here and what role we all need to play in stewarding these products and programs. 

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.

To tell this incredible story of a bacteria discovered in an unlikely location, we’re joined by Jesse Richardson, a field scientist at Corteva Agriscience based in Mesa, Arizona. Jesse has been with the company for about 39 years, where his job is to characterize new active ingredients and to provide technical education and technical service to growers and pest control advisors. 

Joining Jesse is Pest Control Advisor (PCA), Bill Fox. Bill has been a PCA since 1978, and is based in Yuma, Arizona serving farmers on both sides of the Arizona California border. He’s going to give us a field-level perspective on what impact spinosyns have had for farmers in his area. 

“  So it's a naturally derived product, but what was most exciting about it was it had the ecotox attributes of a biological, but the performance attributes of a synthetic…So when I saw its efficacy and this combination of safety on these natural enemies, I knew that we had something that was going to just blow the doors off the industry.” - Jesse Richardson

Jesse and his colleagues were convinced about the efficacy of this natural bacteria-derived insecticide. But as we’ve heard in other episodes, there’s still a process to taking the science and turning it into a solution. It was a commercial success for Corteva Agriscience because it was embraced almost immediately by growers and PCA’s like Bill Fox. 

“ It's just a fun time to be a PCA and to see what we accepted back when I was a kid, and now to see how effective these new products are on the same pests that I couldn't kill 20 years ago or so...Its been pretty fun.” - Bill Fox

A few takeaways from this episode: 

1. There is great opportunity that exists with biologicals. Not every product is going to work, but there’s some pretty incredible stuff out there when we combine discovery with modern tools to advance natural compounds and make them more effective solutions. 
2. Stewardship and longevity is a choice, or rather a series of choices to protect these tools, and it’s a shared responsibility.  
3. Spinosyns are a great example of needing efficacy. Nobody wants a worm in their lettuce and all want to make sure we are protecting non-target species. Spinosyns are incredible products for threading this needle. 

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.

Termites cost U.S. homeowners at least $5 billion per year. The landmark innovation in termite pest control happened about 30 years ago, with a partnership between Corteva Agriscience and the University of Florida to develop Sentricon. It’s a story of not only a new tool to use against termites but a new way to think about pest management. 

Stephen Gates joins us from Cooks Pest Control. Gates has a degree in entomology and has been helping Cooks offer Sentricon to their clients for nearly 27 years. We’ll also be hearing from Garima Kakkar and Neil Spomer, Corteva experts who work behind-the-scenes to improve Sentricon every year. Garima is the Global Biology Lead for urban pests and Neil works as a field trial modernization lead. 

“ This time of year and in the spring it was running wild. Just trying to take care of current customers who were having swarms, dealing with damaged claims, dealing with new customers, working with them because they were having swarms.... Homeowners are scared. They hear about these things and now all of a sudden they see them. And now my biggest investment's being chewed on by a bug, right?” - Stephen Gates

Before Sentricon was created, liquid chemicals were the only option for homeowners to protect themselves from termite damage. With Sentricon, pest control technicians set up bait stations. These bait stations use the natural behavior and biology of the termites against them. But the genius behind Sentricon is not just getting the termites to eat bait, it’s capitalizing on something called trophylaxis which means that termites rely on their hunters and foragers to not just collect food, but to regurgitate it to the rest of the colony.

“  For termite baiting to work, you need it to be both non repellent, you don't want the termites to know that they're eating anything that is bad for them, and it has to be really slow acting so that they have time to go back to the colony and through trophylaxis, share it with the rest of their nest mates.” - Neil Spomer

A few takeaways from this episode: 

1. Termites are fascinating. From how they establish colonies, to trophylaxis, to their ability to avoid dangerous environments, they are a very interesting species. 
2. Understanding biology at a deeper level can lead to innovations in management. Rather than trying to find more and more effective ways to inject chemicals, Sentricon rethinks the process from first principles. 
3. Adoption of innovation takes time. Sentricon has been effective from the beginning and improved over 30 years, but some customers are still just uncomfortable with trying a new approach. 

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.

To dive into this technology further we are joined by Mark Howieson, who serves as the global technical services team leader for the Seed Applied Technology Segment of Corteva Agriscience. We also hear from Iowa farmer Scott Van Veldhuizen who farms corn and soybeans. Scott shares the impact progressive seed technology has had on his operation especially in regard to cutworm infestations. 

“You know, when I was a kid it was work all sun up to sun down….we're definitely more efficient, you know, 20 to 30 years ago you couldn't do this job by yourself.” - Scott Van Veldhuizen

Scott doesn’t consider himself a first adopter of new ideas, but maybe more like a fast follower. Through his farming career he has collaborated with companies like Corteva Agriscience on a variety of trials, and he’s always looking for what might help him get more efficient and continue to boost his yields. And obviously that requires a lot of trust in the technology. That trust comes from the fact that there’s a whole lot that goes into creating the right recipe that fits Scott’s genetics and his situation. Howieson shares that what makes seed applied technology dynamic are the different needs of farmers. So not every seed treatment is the same. Mark likes to look at it like a recipe where each ingredient is important, but they also have to compliment each other in a way that leads to better outcomes for farmers. 

“ There's a chemistry element of it where you're working with formulations and then there's a biological element where we’re putting microbes and biologicals on the seed…And the interactions with the people and the people in the industry, it's pretty incredible. I mean, seed treatment is a relatively small network, and it's where you really have to put yourself out there and understand a lot of different disciplines to truly be successful.” - Mark Howieson

A few takeaways from this episode: 

1. There is a significant impact seed applied technology can have and the unique position it sits in ties together the genetics, crop protection and management practices
2. The PASSER (Plantability, application, seed safety, stewardship, efficacy and regulatory) acronym. We tend to think efficacy is all that matters but agriscience leaders like Mark have to take into consideration a number of factors to actually bring a viable recipe to the market
3. Details matter. Seed applied technology is such a great example of how one detail can really make a massive difference. If that crop can be protected and supported through the early days of development it really can make a big difference in yield and profitability. 

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.

Julian Chaky who leads the trait characterization and development team at Corteva Agriscience joins us to explain how the genetic traits are found, developed and packaged into usable crops. Joining Chaky is a sixth generation farmer in Iowa, Mark Knupp, who shares how this technology impacts his production. The process of arriving on a trait and getting it to the point that it can be grown in the fields of farmers like Mark is extensive. That’s where the trait characterization and development team come in. 

“ It's shepherding a trait from discovery. So you have to discover a trait first, and then you need to ensure that it actually works in the plant as designed. And so what we do is we do a rigorous greenhouse and field testing to ensure that we understand how the trait actually behaves… And then the other portion that's really critical for us is to make sure…there's no yield drag, that there's no secondary effects.” - Julian Chaky

Trait packages are created by companies like Corteva Agriscience to offer farmers a wide range of benefits like herbicide resistance, pest management and water utilization. The evolution and development of trait “mining” all begins with identifying the farmers' needs. Before any trait identification, characterization, and development happens there has to be a clear business case for how this technology will bring value to farmers. 

“ The weather patterns that are changing, we don't seem to get the normal rains anymore…We've gone through droughts the last two or three years, but we've had excellent crops. I'll put a lot of that onto the genetics.” - Mark Knupp

Some takeaways from this episode: 

1. Crops are complex systems and any change is likely to have an impact on some other part of the system. Finding a trait that might help farmers is just the beginning. Developers must balance both efficacy and agronomics with each product.
2. Developing these traits takes an incredible effort from a lot of people. Advancements in agriscience and technologies like the soybean growth chamber certainly help, but there are still many hurdles that need to be overcome to bring a novel trait to market. 
3. Collaboration is essential. Mark and Julian both provide insight into how much of a collaborative process agriscience innovation is. From identifying farmer problems, trials on Marks’ fields, or collaborating with agronomists and plant breeders, agriscience innovation is certainly a team sport. 

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.

“Can we use the science to find another crop or crops for Iowa? Like there's no doubt with Brazil coming on and being a major competitor of ours and we are just doing an amazing job as farmers and Corteva is doing an amazing job with science… It would be awesome if we could find something else that is of value. We could do really well to take some pressure off.” - Corey Hillebo

Science and technology are changing fast. It’s entirely plausible that the products that are returning value to farmers and shareholders today might be entirely different in the future. As Corteva Agriscience chief technology and digital officer, Sam Eathington shares that his pursuits in research and development are focused on current farmer issues, future farmer issues and what return on investment they can develop for both producers and shareholders. 

“At the end of the day, it's really about capital allocation and what should we prioritize and why…Part of my job is to help take the science and turn it into why we care from the business. And that is a really important part…We can do incredible science, but if we don't figure out how to link it and make it into a business value, it never goes anywhere… And so my role is a lot about how to help communicate that and explain that and then help make choices about where we invest and where we don't invest.” - Sam Eathington

Some takeaways from this episode: 

1. The three overlapping circles of where to invest into future innovation are starting with the farmer needs, then the state of the science and finally the return on investment for shareholders. 
2. The pursuit of alternative crops is necessary and now possible as technology continues to make that more attainable
3. We are definitely living in a time of disruptive innovation, and adapting to these changes is critical for all of us in agriculture. 

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.

Jonathan Nixon is an entomologist at Corteva Agriscience who works within the insect management biology group in the crop health division. Not only are bees his full time job, beekeeping is also his hobby, his side business, and his PhD that he is completing in honeybee genomics. 

“  What we want to do, first and foremost, is provide some better tools for our growers. Some better solutions for them. And a lot of that is focused on really reducing pest numbers out in the field. And you know, within our group, insect management, those target pests are insects. Honeybees are also insects, and it's a very fine line to walk between balancing that target potency on the pests so that your growers are able to protect their fields while also mitigating the off-target effects on our pollinators.” - Jonathan Nixon

These are the complex realities being faced by farmers like Maryland producer Trey Hill. Over the last twenty years, Hill and his team at Harborview Farms have made several intentional decisions to make their large scale farm a more sustainable operation. After Trey found out there were some environmental groups in the area willing to pay for the costs of planting cover crops he decided to give it a try. 

“  My life's a process. My life's a learning living thing… I always thought there was all this anti-farmer sentiment within the environmental community, and what I found is most people like us. You know, once you start getting in there and you take on a leadership role…people want to hear what you have to say.” - Trey Hill

Some myths busted in this episode: 

1.  The myth that companies are only interested in the efficacy of their products and not at all investing in the impacts of these products. In the Bee Friendly Initiative you can see the care that is going into making sure pollinators and other beneficials are considered in the research and development process
2. The myth that more sustainable farmers need to abandon modern tools altogether. Trey Hill is drastically reducing his environmental impact and moving in this more regenerative and biodiverse direction without taking chemistries or other technologies completely off the table. 
3. The myth that we can somehow just reach some sort of ecological balance in which we can let nature do whatever it wants and still farm sustainably. Farmers are stewards of the land, but they’re also running businesses - in some cases large businesses. It’s just not ecologically natural to produce the amount of food needed to feed eight billion people.

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.

Global Wheat Lead for Corteva Agriscience Jessie Alt works with a team of field breeders to produce new varietal wheat that is suited for local conditions. Originally from a farm in southern Minnesota, Jessie spent the first part of her career as a soybean breeder. She joined the wheat team six years ago and says the challenge of bringing hybrid wheat to the market was a big part of what excited her about the opportunity. 

“ I think hybrid wheat is the most exciting plant innovation that I have been involved with in my career…It's a hard problem to crack. I think it will really change farmer profitability with wheat. And it brings that next level of tech and innovation that I believe the wheat crop has been missing.” - Jessie Alt, Ph.D.

Brad Erker is the CEO of Colorado Wheat, which is an umbrella term used to describe three different wheat organizations that he manages in Colorado. The Colorado Wheat Administrative Committee, the Colorado Association of Wheat Growers, and the Colorado Wheat Research Foundation.  Brad grew up on a wheat farm in eastern Colorado, but spent part of his early career in the Midwest as a corn breeder. He has been back focused on wheat full-time for the past 21 years. 

“ If the technology does provide a value to the farmer, they will adopt it…But it definitely is a different scenario than in corn and soy. For one, it's grown in more marginal land. It's grown more out west, where the rainfall is much lower, the inputs are much lower. The mentality of the farmer, I think, is quite different when it comes to input costs in general, whether it be cost of seed or seed treatment or fertilizer rates or cost of equipment. All of those things I think are different in that wheat space than in the corn and soy space.” - Brad Erker

Some takeaways from this episode include: 

1. A completely novel approach to the wheat sterility problem of using color sorting technology to separate parent seed
2. Any new commercial innovation is going to begin with return on investment (ROI), but it doesn’t end there. Risk mitigation is also very important, among other considerations
3. Innovations like hybrid wheat are the result of convergence of years of research and development with large discoveries both inside and outside of agriculture. The wheat genome plus the ability to color sort at scale makes this process possible

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.

To begin to peel back some of the layers of this nuanced topic, we’ll speak with Corteva researcher Josh Armstrong, who leads Corteva’s integrated discovery and bioprocess department. 

 ”What I see is sort of this confluence of opportunities with new formulation technologies, production technologies, genetic engineering technologies that are setting us up to have a next generation of biological products that are going to truly deliver the kind of efficacy and performance that growers have come to expect from crop protection chemistry.” - Josh Armstrong

We’ll also visit with California grower, Joe Coelho, a 4th generational farmer who grows a number of specialty crops, including citrus, pistachios, and almonds. Joe also has a day job where he serves as the director of sustainability and member outreach for American Pistachio Growers. Joe brings a deep understanding of the need for any new product to show its value, and has a long history of understanding the importance of enhancing biology on the farm. 

“You have to consider these things almost like investments that are - if you think about it operationally - capex  versus opex. It’s going to take you some time. It's an investment into your soil. And it’s not a bandaid approach, and you're getting more out of everything when you make that investment.” - Joe Coelho

Some takeaways from this episode include: 

1.  Biologicals are a lot more than just the “bugs in a jug”. This is a vast, complex, and dynamic part of agriculture. With agriscience and technology, new and novel solutions are emerging all the time.
2.  Effective and economical uses for biological products are going to require new systems, new mindsets, and new approaches. It's unlikely that farmers will simply apply a biological product instead of a chemical product in the exact same way, at least not in the short run.
3.  This is just the beginning. Biologicals have already come a long way over the years, but there is so much yet to come, which makes this an exciting topic to explore but also one that leaves us with a lot of questions yet to be answered.

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.

Today we hear from Chad Berghoerfer, global product director for biofuels for Corteva Agriscience.  He shares about the partnership between Corteva, Bunge, and Chevron Ag Renewables to put the technology and infrastructure in place to work with farmers and expand winter canola acreage in the mid-south. Chad has been with Corteva Agriscience for over 23 years and has regularly worked in new ventures from corn breeding to precision agriculture to drones and a lot in between. He has been focused on growing winter canola for renewable biofuels for the past three years. 

“ There hasn't been a new cropping system in the United States in quite some time to this size and degree..” - Chad Berghoerfer

You’ll also hear from Jamison Turner today, a farmer in Western Tennessee who has been growing winter canola over the past two years. Jamison provides a really clear picture of what winter canola looks like from a farmer’s perspective. 

“ Canola had a bad rap in our area. That was the biggest thing that came up in conversation first is: are you worried about producing this and not getting paid? And I told them ‘no’. No more than I would be any other crop that we've grown. So that's been the first thing.” - Jamison Turner

Some takeaways from this episode include: 

1.  What it takes to bring a new cropping system to market. Winter canola is not new in the mid-south. But it took a coordinated effort throughout the value chain with Corteva Agriscience, Bunge, and Chevron Ag renewables to make this a viable option for farmers like Jamison Turner.
2.  Soil health requires incentives. If we want to keep living roots in that soil, it has to “pencil out” for farmers, especially in tough economic times. This winter canola crop is an interesting way to do that. 
3.  The importance of resilience in the system. Crops like winter canola can be not only productive and profitable, but also resilient to the tough conditions that Mother Nature can throw at them.

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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.

Today you’ll hear from Corteva Agriscience research scientist Layton Peddicord about this fungicide timing tool, how it works and why it works. You’ll also hear from Illinois farmer Makenna Green about her experiences with the tool on her family’s farm. Makenna is the sixth generation in her family to farm in East Central Illinois where they primarily grow corn and soybeans. After graduating from college she came back to her family’s operation, Heritage Family Farms, a couple of years ago. 

“ That disease triangle that we talk about with the host, environment and pathogen, I can't put all of those things together as well as something like this model can do. And so we really feel like it gives a peace of mind because it's able to factor in things that we can't factor in to decide on timing.” - Makenna Green

Like a lot of things in farming, fungicide timing is part science, part experience, part intuition and maybe even a little bit of luck. Researchers at Corteva Agriscience saw this as an opportunity to utilize the latest in data and technology to provide more data-driven recommendations to farmers. Layton Peddicord says the idea behind the fungicide timing tool is to improve the return on investment for farmer customers.

“ We've had research ROI trials for fungicide kind of side-by-sides, comparing our Corteva timing versus the grower standard timing back since 2020…We've been averaging around five bushel advantage compared to the grower timing and typically our average is compared to the untreated checked are around nine to ten bushel. So it's been very promising so far.” - Layton Peddicord

Some takeaways from this episode include: 

1. Timing is everything. As we've discussed on the show before, a great product isn't enough on its own to produce a profitable crop. The management piece is so critical. 
2. With all of the constantly changing variables in any given year, these types of models seem uniquely suited to help. As McKenna stated, keeping all of the information in your head to make a decision about timing is simply not feasible.
3. It's not the “normal” years you often need to worry about. It's those years when the conditions are just right for some of these pathogens, and none of us know what the future might hold. 

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.

“ Hormones are very powerful molecules, and so what you can do is that you can develop bioassays that look at the level of hormones or how the hormones are sensed in plants. That's how we learned about how gibberellins, for example, can affect plant heights…The trick is that these hormones just don't control one thing. They control many different things in the plant. And the other part too is that these hormones interact with each other. So you need to know not just a specific hormone that you're interested in, but how they interact too. So it makes it very complex.” - Jeff Habben

Southwest Iowa farmer John Becker farms about 2,000 acres and has also been a Pioneer sales representative since 2009. As both a farmer and a seed rep, Becker understands better than most that when it comes to genetics, one size does not fit all and everything comes with its own risks and rewards. Together, our two guests walk us through the decision making and process in introducing and developing new varieties. 

“  I mean it's no different than a stock portfolio when you look at your lineup for seed. Every single product has risks and rewards. We're excited as all get out because we have a lineup that has many, many less risks than we have had in the past… But my job is to individually work with every single customer and make sure that we put together a plan. It's my job to make sure that I know every single operational need. Everybody wants yield, but some people are more risk takers than others.” - John Becker

Some takeaways from this episode include: 

1. The approach John Becker takes to help evaluate risk and potential rewards with producers in his area.
2. The complex process Jeff Habben must use to evaluate hormone activity and its reaction in the plant growing process
3. The future is bright with producers, agronomists and scientists working together to solve problems on the farm to meet consumers needs

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.

So some corn breeders are developing varieties that are intentionally shorter. One of those breeders is Dr. Sarah Lira, who you've already heard from on this show back on episode eight when she was talking about perennial ground cover. 

“ And that's basically the system we're setting up for breeders with short corn, is that they can focus on selecting on yield and they can focus on selecting on yield in higher densities. So when you can plant the plants in a higher density, they're not going to get tall and fall over. So you can continue to select on yield more aggressively than we've ever been able to do before.” - Dr. Sara Lira

Sarah has also been working on some shorter corn varieties and this concept of reduced stature corn. It has a lot of farmers intrigued. Blake Johnson is one of those farmers. He's a fifth generation corn farmer in Nebraska.

“ Probably the most exciting thing that we've been looking at on the horizon that is not here yet is short statured corn, because when we're in the high yielding environment. We're wanting to push populations. A lot of times when you push that population, those plants are gonna fight in that competitive environment and actually get taller than they should.” - Blake Johnson

Some takeaways from this episode include: 

1. The very real problem of lodging, which is creating real demand for reduced stature corn. 
2. The idea that reduced stature corn could actually have just as much plant residue as standard corn. 
3. It’s definitely interesting to get a glimpse into the research and development pipeline, and encouraging to hear of the first trait reaching the field in the coming years.

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.

It’s easy to think of agricultural products as straightforward chemistries that get sprayed from a tank. An insecticide is an insecticide; a fungicide is a fungicide. The active ingredient is what is going to give us the outcome we want. But a product is not just made up of that active ingredient. How a particular product is formulated really makes all of the difference.

“ When it comes to formulations on the farm, I'm not your typical scientist…I rely on that person that is selling me that product to really give me good advice. And I've never really had a problem with formulations until this last year.” - Lance Lillibridge

 Lucky for all of us, there are people who do want to be that scientist. John Atkinson is one of them. John leads the global application technology research and development team at Corteva Agriscience. For the past 13 years or so, he has developed countless formulations for herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, etc. Each one comes with its own unique challenges and approaches.

 ”We're trying to troubleshoot the product and (trying) to understand, before we set the final composition…What are the challenges the farmer is going to encounter? How do we design a robust, reliable product? And just really try to think from the grower's perspective and really understand the use case for the product to ultimately develop a strong product.” - John Atkinson

Some Takeaways from this episode include:

1. This field of formulation science is as overlooked as it is critical. Very few of us think about formulation science but every one of us relies on experts like John. 
2. New technology continues to change the game. Whether that’s biologicals, precision spray equipment or artificial intelligence, this formulation science area is going to need to continue to adapt.
3. The care that Lance, John, and everyone in this industry has about the impact of farming on people and the environment is evident. Whether it is safety, water quality or soil health, these considerations come up time and again.

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.

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 Gaesser

Some Takeaways from this episode include:

1. This perennial groundcover approach is a novel way of incorporating more perennials into our existing farming systems without sacrificing yield. 
2. 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. 
3. 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.

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 Anderegg

Some Takeaways from this episode include:

1. 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. 
2. 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. 
3. 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.

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 Rasoulpour

Heather 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:

1. 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). 
2. 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. 
3. 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. 

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 Knodle

Some Takeaways from this episode include: 

1. 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.
2. 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. 
3. 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. 

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 Logoluso

Logoluso 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: 

1. 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. 
2. 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. 
3. 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. 

Our guide on this journey of the seed will be Corteva Agriscience digital seed lead and distinguished laureate Dean Podlich. You heard from Dean in our last episode about the history of agriscience innovation as it relates to genetics. Today, you’ll get a peak into what all goes into the latest and greatest in crop genetics, specifically as it relates to corn. Dean describes all of this work, this journey of a seed to preparation for the main event, which is what happens on farms every year across the world.  

“ This is what drives this long-term genetic gain: this constant obsession about creating new variation, measuring it in all the ways that we described, and identifying ones that are going to be superior on the farm and continuing that process over and over again.” - Dean Podlich

Virginia farmer David Hula joins the show to highlight what can happen when quality genetics meets excellent management practices. Hula earned world record corn yield of 623.8439 bushels per acre with a hybrid from Corteva Agriscience. 

“ That is probably the most stressful time that I have is picking the hybrids. Because we try to position hybrids for particular acres.” - David Hula

 The journey of a seed is rigorous, nuanced, and complex. It starts with a seemingly infinite number of possibilities and involves slowly narrowing those down through what Dean Podlich describes as a gauntlet process to eventually end up with a couple dozen products with potential.

Some takeaways from this episode include: 

1. There is so much that goes into the journey of a seed, from the germplasm to prediction and selection to hybrids to transgenes and the regulatory process that comes with that to production and commercialization. It’s a multi-year global process that requires an enormous effort along the way. 
2. The analogy of the R&D process being like preparing for the Olympics.  All of the work that goes into the agriscience and innovation is important, but the race still needs to be run on the farm.
3. David Hula’s paradigm of recruiting and surrounding themselves with the right team. It fits well with this Olympics theme. These relationships are more than just company/customer, they should be a trust-based collaborative effort to maximize productivity and profitability on the farm. 

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. 

Agriscience digital seed lead and distinguished laureate Dean Podlich joins the show to share his perspective of the historical development of crop hybrids as the overseer of digital solutions to help develop seed products with Corteva Agriscience. 

“ If you go back a hundred years ago, the average bushels per acre in the US is somewhere between 25 and 30 bushels per acre. You fast forward to today, it's in the high 170s. So you're talking about a 7x increase in productivity on the farm over the last a hundred years. And, and that in itself, it's just an incredible story. It's really one of the best examples of innovation and technology as an industry in the history of agriculture, and that's happening for corn in the US.” - Dean Podlich 

Two farmers are also included in this episode. Illinois producer Heather Hampton-Knodle shares the economic concerns that are on the minds of many farmers. David Hula who farms in Virginia describes the importance of genetics on all of his acres, including his world record corn yield of 623.8439 bushels per acre with a hybrid from Corteva Agriscience. 

“Our corn is handling the droughts much better. Part of it is management, but the corn themselves are doing better…The corn hybrids are clearly better from disease, standability, stay green, drought tolerance, and of course yield.” - David Hula

The episode explores historical advancements in crop genetics, emphasizing the significance of Henry Wallace's work with hybrids and Raymond Baker's contributions to germplasm. Today, scientists and farmers continue to build on their work with modern tools, including digital tools and gene editing, to enhance productivity and sustainability on farms. 

Some takeaways from this episode include: 

1. The combined history that has led to a 7x increase in productivity on the farm due to the combination of genetics and management components
2. Raymond Baker’s work to take throwaway inbreds and turn them into the Iowa yield contest winners. The fact that the germ plasm from Raymond Baker have been evolved to the high yielding hybrids we benefit from today. This underscores the fact that innovation often leads to more and quicker future discoveries and improvements. 
3. Digital being an important part of the process to improve genetics and dating back at least to the 1950s. That long history of data enables scientists to take full advantage of modern tools like gene editing and artificial intelligence. 

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. 

For these questions, we visit with Corteva Agriscience executive vice president and chief technical and digital officer Sam Eathington. His perspective as a family farmer turned plant breeder turned innovation leader shines through as he shares the motivation behind this podcast. 

"Let's have conversations with scientists and farmers. So scientists who might be creating something and a farmer who's trying to use it. And I think that's going to bring a really unique perspective and I think create some unique conversations about the technology.” - Sam Eathington

Throughout this episode, Eathington highlights a number of topics that will be explored in future episodes of this podcast including gene editing, biologicals, hybrid wheat, crop protection, biofuels and others. 

Some takeaways from this episode include: 

1. There is some incredible cutting-edge science and technology that goes into farming that we will share on this podcast from both the scientist’s and the farmer’s perspectives. 
2. Gene editing is here and it’s changing the game. After all of the incredible advancements we’ve seen thanks to genetics, we are still just scratching the surface of what’s possible genetically in crop production. 
3. Innovation can help not only make farmers more productive, but more profitable. Sam’s provides an excellent example of this related to biofuels. 

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.