DIGGING DEEPER - AG CHATS WITH AL
Real farmers, real conversations, practical insights and inspiring stories.
Join Al Micallef and special guests to help unlock your farm's production potential.
Whether it's in relation to drought or economic shifts, this podcast is your go-to for developing resilience in agriculture.
This podcast is made possible by the Future Drought Fund Regional Drought Resilience Planning Program co-funded by the Victorian and Australian Governments.
DIGGING DEEPER - AG CHATS WITH AL
DIGGING DEEPER - From Seeds to Success: Grant Sims on Innovative Farming
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Host Al opens 2026’s Digging Deeper by thanking listeners, announcing more local producers, and adding monthly segments from Chelsea (Herd Solutions) on animal health and Morgs (Elders) on livestock markets. Guest Grant Sims, a sixth-generation farmer from Echuca and qualified electrician, describes returning to the family cropping/livestock farm in 2006 and applying a “trace the cause” mindset to reduce symptom-treating inputs. He outlines transitioning from high synthetic fertiliser and treated seed toward bare seed with seed priming, liquid carbon and microbial products, foliar nutrition guided by soil/tissue/sap and Brix testing, and reduced fungicide/insecticide use while retaining selective herbicides. Sims discusses intercropping/companion planting (e.g., wheat with clover, canola with legumes) to lower pest pressure and nitrogen needs, using weeds as soil indicators, and timing foliar applications to correct deficiencies and improve resilience, animal performance, and food nutrient density. He encourages starting small, testing, and gradual change; he also notes his business Down Under Ag supplies seed mixes and alternative fertilisers.
00:00 Welcome Back 2026
01:04 Meet Grant Sims
01:51 Electrician Mindset
03:54 Questioning Sprays
05:59 Minerals Over Time
07:11 Observation Habit
09:08 Next Generation
09:46 Autumn Planting Plan
10:49 Weaning Off Synthetics
12:57 Seed Priming Basics
16:08 Priming Recipes
19:06 Multi Species Cropping
20:43 Intercropping Yield Wins
21:09 Diversity Versus Machinery
21:57 Chemicals With Restraint
23:07 Weeds As Soil Signals
25:32 Foliar Sprays 101
28:19 Timing Weather And Risk
29:39 Test Driven Nutrition
31:12 Brix Microbes And Grazing
34:57 Nitrogen Dilution Effect
36:43 Food Quality Mission
38:49 Transition Advice And Wrap