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The Turn Row Podcast
From the edge of the field to the forefront of modern agriculture, The Turn Row Podcast delivers real conversations for real farmers. Focused on agronomy, crop production, and the issues shaping today’s operations, this podcast dives deep into what matters most in the field and beyond.
Each episode brings practical insights, expert interviews, and honest discussions about everything from soil health and nutrient management to emerging technologies, market trends, and policy shifts impacting agriculture. Whether it’s breaking down the latest research or tackling hot-button topics farmers are talking about at the co-op, The Turn Row Podcast keeps you informed and ready for the next pass.
Straightforward, knowledgeable, and grounded in real-world experience, this is where agriculture meets conversation—one turn row at a time.
The Turn Row Podcast
Farmer and Field Stress, Health and Management
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On this week’s episode of The Turn Row Podcast, Kyle sits down with Brad to discuss the toll busy season can take on farmers and the real impact stress has—even on those who prioritize their health. They explore how both stress and weather conditions influence plant development and overall crop health throughout the growing season. Tune in to hear their insights, and catch the episode on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.
Welcome back to the sixth episode of the Turn Road Podcast with your host, Kyle Brumley. During the recording this week, we did experience some technical difficulties with audio, so please bear with us. This week we have Brad Downing back on the podcast to talk about stress management, overall crop health, and personal health and wellness for farmers. Let's tune in.
SPEAKER_01And back in the hot seat today, we've got Brad. Woo!
SPEAKER_03I'm back in the saddle. No, I'm not gonna sing. That's terrible. Yeah, you're terrible at singing. Please don't. No one needs that in their life. But yeah, I'm back after uh I don't know what in the world I had there. Been feeling like crap all last week and was sick. So yeah, wasn't COVID, wasn't flu, got tested for that. But uh I don't know whether it was partial pneumonia or sinus infection, but I think I finally let down, Kyle. I finally after we were uh planted and what two months of well, let's be honest, well darn it or three months of planting this crop and replanting this crop and just uh trying to help farms out and dealing with all that, plus dealing with our problems on our farm between whether it been spraying or any of the testing we were doing, or you know, um you know, from the standpoint of possibly even just you know, just running rampant, and then all of a sudden you get stopped, and then you're waiting for four days after it rains, and just I think the stress level just kind of caught up with me, and you know, I was down and out for a while, and I'm still uh you're gonna hear me hacked like Mark Shot. I mean, it's gonna be like a Cincinnati Reds commercial here. Smoke them if you got them, buddy. Smoke them if you got 'em. I'll take the marble unfiltered today. So yeah. So if you hear me coughing and hacking, uh, I apologize to listeners out there, but uh, I'll try to keep it below a Harry Carrier, you know, rumble.
SPEAKER_01So well, hey, I just want to say thanks for doing my job because you literally just went over all of the notes that I thought about for today's episode. So, like we said, you were out last week. Uh Spence and I had a great episode.
SPEAKER_03Uh yeah, I watched it from my bedroom while I was sitting there watching two U2 Honyaks uh jabber on here while I was.
SPEAKER_01What'd you think about that?
SPEAKER_03Well, I went to sleep pretty quick on it, so it had to be really good. So no, it was good.
SPEAKER_01It was good. Actually, kind of hoping you're still sick. I really like doing it better with him, but yeah, well, here we are.
SPEAKER_03Everything's better when I'm not here. So I mean, I'll I'll be honest, I listened to it. Uh I actually forgot, or maybe I didn't even know. Actually, Marsh came in and asked me the question about Spencer that he had told me no, and I actually asked him and I asked you the same thing when you guys came to work here, and you both told me no.
SPEAKER_01So I'm pretty sure Alyssa told you no too.
SPEAKER_03Alyssa did, yeah. Yeah. So I think we're getting on a trend here. Everyone's just telling me no, and then they eventually start coming around. I'm not sure if that's true or not, but we're gonna we're gonna run with that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I'm just gonna go though.
SPEAKER_03We're not very smart, but well, I'm not either, but you know, hey, what am I what am I supposed to do with my hands, right?
SPEAKER_01I'm thinking, you know, one of the really one of the hot button topics that is being talked about more now than in you know the past. Um I think it deserves to be talked about even more. It's just farmer health. I'm not talking just physical health, I'm talking, you know, mental health too. But I think that those two things kind of go hand in hand. Um, you know, so let's just let's talk about it a little bit. So, you know.
SPEAKER_03We're real we're we're both real healthy guys, right?
SPEAKER_01I'd like to think I am.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Uh you you probably more so than me.
SPEAKER_01I mean I'm drinking water, you're drinking Coke, yes, zero sugar coke, right?
SPEAKER_03This is always the topic, but I need some caffeine right now, and I don't think I need coffee at you know, middle of the afternoon. I don't sleep enough as it is, and I'd like to be able to sleep tonight.
SPEAKER_01But fair enough.
SPEAKER_03But I think, yeah, I mean aside from a few things of my own that I've you know I dealt with uh growing up and stresses that happened in my life that cause a lot of my immune issues that I have now or less than immune, high immune system. Um I think it does relate quite honestly to agriculture. I mean, because you wanted to talk about, you know, we're both pretty healthy guys. You and I kind of share a lot of the comment on the fact that we tend to eat pretty well. We like to, you know, have steak as much as possible. You eat cold meat, which is somewhat weird.
SPEAKER_01I mean it doesn't matter. Food's food's fuel, food's not pleasure.
SPEAKER_03No, see, I like to eat for taste, but I like to cook for taste. But I mean the fact of the matter is, I mean, we both, you know, we both enjoy steak and meats and you know, vegetables, fruit, and eating like that. But it still doesn't everybody say, well, you eat healthy and you should be fine, right? Well, that doesn't give you anything that your past, your genetic makeup doesn't have anything to do with your your environment, right? I mean, let's be honest, uh, if you look at the stress level over the last three months, I'm not talking about crop stress, I'm talking about you know, personal stress and farming and ag. Has there been any stress happening?
SPEAKER_01A ton of it, and that that's kind of where I was getting at is like when I said the the physical and the mental the mental aspect of it, um, you know, that that mental stress can do a lot of different things. One of those things is just wear you down, and I think that is why it is such a big topic in in farming and why it does happen so much. So I mean think about a think about a farmer. So is there another industry out there where let's call the farmer the producer or the boss, or the boss is the the CEO, the CFO, the mechanic, the meteorologist, right? In some senses the the HR person, and I don't mean like true HR, I just mean like the people person, you know, there's multiple landlords here, like employees, anything. So I mean, all of that just kind of comes to a head when you've got a season like we just came out of where you've got all of those different responsibilities. We're in a normal business, there would be one person for each of those roles. I mean, in farming, it it is the main person that's responsible for all of those, on top of all just the the worries. I mean, we can't control the weather, we can't control the markets. I mean, all of these things are so volatile. So yeah, I mean, I think it just kind of all all comes to a head.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I mean, and we do them all so well, right? I I I wear all those hats and do it at top-tier performance, right?
SPEAKER_01Oh, you're the best, buddy.
SPEAKER_03I mean, that's why we're paying you to say that, right? That's right.
SPEAKER_01I was gonna say, I think my reviews next week. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Uh the fact of the matter is none of us wear every single hat and perform and do it well and perform at a top level. There's just no chance that just doesn't happen, and that's not the reality. If you think you do, then your self-awareness is dramatically lacking. Right.
SPEAKER_01You can't be good at everything and great at one thing.
SPEAKER_03No. So, I mean, even for myself, I mean, starting this business and then with the farm and with the research, I mean, I want to be involved and want to be operating at such a top level, but I've also realized that some of the things that are dragging me down, my own health, is, you know, sometimes I need to get out of a certain lane, and I'm not going to be the best at that. And I know I'm not. So, you know, you you take all the stresses of worrying about, you know, I mean, I'll just be honest with mine. I mean, we worry about, you know, taking care of our customers first and foremost, and how that takes, you know, a toll of trying to make sure that we get everything for everybody when they need it, and all our staff doing that. Then the next thing is worried about getting our own acres done so we can have the right timing, the right testing, and make sure that our um, you know, data we have through dirt is actually worthwhile where people actually want to see it and actually, you know, it's not just well, we went out there and did something and we just we saw a little bit of results. I mean, we want to make sure it's it's legit. The stress level of that for me is because I'm I'm stressed out because I want it to be done perfect. And I'm not a perfectionist at all, am I?
SPEAKER_01No.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01No, and that has to be. I mean, it has to be done perfect.
SPEAKER_03First time caller, long time listener. Yeah, that's me.
SPEAKER_01Like you said, I mean that.
SPEAKER_03Right, Alyssa. I'm I'm really good at being just perfect, right? Yeah, she doesn't want to answer that question.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, back to that review thing. Yeah, you are perfect. You are perfect.
SPEAKER_03Just like a mantra, I keep telling. But no, I mean, between that and then you know, worried about you know, markets, you know, everybody thinks we're immune to, you know, the economic side of things because our business is cross-great gag. We still have the farm. Well, guess what? They're separate businesses, separate entities, and one doesn't feed the other. I mean, they work together, but the fact of the matter is I'm you know worried about the economics of the farm. I'm worried about you know, marketing, worried about what's going on uh overseas in Iran, the Strait of Hormouth, what's going on politically with the Trump administration, what's or what's not going on with them inside agriculture right now, which you know I won't dive into that, but you know, that my opinion is there's a lot of things, there's a lot of talk, but the stress level of it, fact of the matter is there hasn't been a lot of walk. There's been a lot of talk, but not all the walk. So uh I'm kind of frustrated and stressed about that. And that all just starts stacking up, and you can't control it. I mean, I I'm the guilty as anybody else. I mean, uh control is an illusion, but I think I can control it. I think I can do things and I can work hard enough and I can put more hours in to control it and make it better. But the fact of the matter is, I'm getting old, and that's why there's enough gray left in this beard here as it's coming on. I mean, you can't keep doing it at that level and worried about control and stuff because ultimately you can't control it, and then your health degrades, even though you're doing things right, you may be working out, you may be eating right, but the stress level, I think, is probably the number one thing that causes you know immune issues and and not having a good healthy immune system. Yeah, I definitely agree there. So, and I've got to learn that where you know maybe Spence, Lissa, maybe I should be uh saying no to some things, maybe.
SPEAKER_01Do I do I do that well?
SPEAKER_03Do I say no?
SPEAKER_01I mean, if you're out there somebody who's got a spam caller number, just just call this guy, he will answer you.
SPEAKER_03I don't there's very few phone calls I don't answer. So, but that all and I don't want that to be a negative, but also I want that to be also I have to understand that I go back to my own what you talk about genetic makeup or you talk about history, right? I mean, when I was six years old, I had mono, and it was I was out, you know, school at home and in the hospital for a couple weeks. That destroyed my immune system as a young kid. It took me forever. Had, I mean, let's be honest, damn near died of H1N1 in 2014. Spent five days in hospital, three, but I don't remember. I was in a coma or something, um, right after my son Lincoln was born, and I was there, and so that that was another degradation of my immune system. And ever since then, I've just had a hard time rebuilding my immune system to be at a top level. And it's gotten better over the years, but you know, if I'm not paying attention and I'm just work, work, work, work, work and worried and stressed out, then all of a sudden, once we do hit a point in time like last week, where I think we took a breath, let I can't talk. Took a breath, it took my speech too. Uh took a breath, and basically, you know, I was able to let down and slow down for a second and just everything tanked. Um, so got to be cognizant of that of our own health. And I think that's you know, you talk about there, there's so many people we work with, right? On our farms, um, the people we service, the people that are watching this. If you're involved in ag, you don't really have to be involved in ag, but ag has its own certain stresses. Yep. If we're not watching out for each other, I mean, I know we're out there competing against different companies, we're out there competing against different farms, you know, everybody's trying to, you know, have different acres you're taking on, but ultimately speaking, if we're not out watching out for each other, it's probably not a great idea.
SPEAKER_01No, I mean at the end of the day, like you said, is it as big as it feels, I mean, like industry-wise, competition-wise, it's it's small. I mean, I would say that this is one of the closest knit, kind of smallest, close-to-home industries there are, where you know two or three people that are working for every one of your quote-unquote competitors, but on the weekend you see their family at a ball game, you go boating with them, you you do whatever. I mean, it's it's cutthroat, but at the same time, it's it's still a family.
SPEAKER_03So the key is to go boating more, is what you're saying.
SPEAKER_01Definitely.
SPEAKER_03Okay. Boats and never, that's wrong. Different different podcasts. That's the wrong movie, but but no, it's that is a very tough thing. And we talk about, yeah, we should do it, but it is very tough to say, oh, hey, we should go take more time off on farming or or running a farm or ag business because the big key factor that probably gave us the most stress this year was it was weather, because we couldn't accomplish what we wanted to accomplish in the time period we wanted to do it, because there was key decisions that had to be made, and it's the decision making. I'll give you for our example. We talked about in April when the other people were planting. Guys were planting beans, planting corn early to mid-April, and it was really cold. Conditions were good. I mean, from a standpoint of ground was good, ground dry was good. Yeah, moisture was good. Beyond that, conditions to plant in were good except for temperature. But the two weeks after that were showing rainfall, cold dipping temperatures, and I'm not a big fan of planting it into that condition. We chose not to. We don't know what it's gonna look like come fall. It's not right or wrong, it's just we chose not to, which put us behind the ball based on getting things done because the rest of the spring here just I mean, did we ever have more than two and a half, three days we ever got to work?
SPEAKER_01No, I think there was one there was one day this spring where both of us were actually able to just go out and feel like you got something done besides having to road from one farm to the other, spend a bunch of time deciding should I or shouldn't I do it? So right, which caused stress, stress, inefficiency, all the above.
SPEAKER_03Right. So that you know compounds things when I get back to the talking about the weather. I mean, the fact of the matter is the weather was stressful, which caused us to have it because we couldn't get done what we wanted done. And like over this weekend, I was able actually, I think Friday, yeah, Friday, but this was Father's Day weekend. So Friday, yeah, I was able to get up and do some stuff and felt good enough to walk around and get out and do stuff, but was out of breath quite a bit. And by Saturday, I mean, you know, we were working on some stuff together on Saturday, and then Saturday afternoon, uh, I found a couple of farms that we needed to side dress that were dry enough that I could get across them. So you know me and Teddy were out side dressing, and Teddy attended me till uh I think I got in at one o'clock in the morning, Sunday morning. And that's probably not a great idea, but the window was there, and then Sunday on Father's Day, you know. So what do you do on Sunday on Father's Day, right? Spend time with your family, right? I did, but I also had another window that we could uh we could complete the uh side dress. So yesterday I did the two plots here and got that finished.
SPEAKER_01And like you said, that window, it's a good thing you did because it started raining. Every time we do a podcast, it's raining or just rained. Um got close to an inch. It's absolutely freezing outside today. So yeah, what'd you do today? Uh went and waded around in the mud wearing a winter coat pulling tissue samples and decided to quit because it wasn't worth it.
SPEAKER_03On June 22nd, 2026, Kyle is in a winter coat pulling tissue samples in the rain. Yeah. No stress low. So let's okay, let's transition that, right? We're talking about human stress. So what's that equate to crop stress? Because it's June 22nd, corn's anywhere from you know, some places v4, some places v10. No stress here, right?
SPEAKER_01When it's 60 degrees and raining and no, it's gonna my opinion is it's supposed to be cold, I think, through tomorrow, maybe Wednesday, overcast, not a lot of sun. Um these crops are gonna they're not gonna know what's going on. This happened to us a couple years ago. I think it was two, two years ago. Yeah, we went through this cold spell. Um we saw a lot of root rots coming on late. Um, we saw a lot of just stagnant crops that took a while to get going again. So I think we're I think we're geared up to see it again.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, you just mentioned them back in 2024. Something I'd never experienced on our farm, you got to see in eastern Indiana and Ohio. Um, you look at the conditions we planted in 24. We put in some crops in some wet, right, not the best ideal conditions to plant into. And then following that in June, we had a lot of rain and cold stamp, which in turn became come fall.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, red root rot.
SPEAKER_03Right. We dealt within 24 and root rot in general. Yep, and we had red root rot, which I'd never seen red root rot in corn over here. I mean, you'd seen it before in Ohio and eastern Indiana.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean, typically it's um I mean, I think the epicenter of it's kind of out in like the Del Marva out in that region because of the weather conditions. I mean, it's typically not as much sun, it's a little bit cooler, they've got a little bit more moisture. So I mean we saw those conditions that they typically see.
SPEAKER_03Which is uh, let's be honest, pretty much what we're dealing with right now. Right. And it's like living in Niagara. I mean, you get about four hours of sunshine and it's back to just rainfall and living where? Niagara Falls.
SPEAKER_01Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_03See, I'm older than you. I've actually been to Niagara Falls. You young kids.
SPEAKER_01I understand what that is, but that was just kind of a haven't you been on May to the Mist? Come on, buddy, the boat. Dude, I've rode the barrel over.
SPEAKER_03Jeez. See, there's the top, right? Yeah, there's the top. I mean, that's I don't know where we go from here. Bay of the Mist, yeah. Whatever. Stress. I don't know where we went from.
SPEAKER_01Bring us back, buddy. You derailed us, you bring us back.
SPEAKER_03See, this is the part of the meds that are kicking in and it's not uh snapping up here, but it's not the meds.
SPEAKER_01This is this is normal.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, well, it is. It is what it is. Alyssa's over here laughing, so you you can laugh out loud if you want, because you know it's true. Spence is staying to himself, so he hadn't said anything yet. But no, I mean that's it's like you said, it's the same conditions we got right now. I mean, it's wet, it's cool. Um do we have potential of seeing root rots?
SPEAKER_01I think right now, as we set, we've got the potential for a lot of things. We've got root rots. Um I think SDS is not as big of an issue around here as other parts of the geography and other parts of our marketing area. Um doesn't seem to be as big of an issue as it once was, but we've had kind of prime conditions for SDS and beans. Um, and let's just let's bring out the elephant in the room. Everyone's talking about it. You know where I'm going with it.
SPEAKER_03Oh, here we go. The big two-word.
SPEAKER_01Tarspot.
SPEAKER_03Oh, there it is. He dropped it. The bomb's been dropped. Tarspot.
SPEAKER_01Uh-oh. Big words here. But no, I mean, what what conditions favor tar spot? It's cool, it's overcast, it's high humidity, it's periods of extended leaf wetness. I don't think I really need to keep going. I mean, we can just show a picture outside today.
SPEAKER_03It's like breathing pure water out there right now. Yeah. Yeah. Part of the reason why I think I've got some lung issues going on is because it's that much. I mean, it's just so much humidity in the air. Um, but you you dropped the bomb, you dropped the tar spot, and there's some reports out there that came out last week because you know, wow, I was laid up and sick in bed and couldn't hardly move and felt like you know, junk. I had the pleasure of reading a lot of different articles and posts that are going on out there. I wasn't just doom scrolling Facebook and Instagram. I'm just glad you can read. Hey, hooked on phonics, buddy. Worked for me right here. Uh oh, yeah. Mike, I mean, Layton's on Duolingo. I mean, I should be like doing that with different languages, right? I mean, see Dual?
SPEAKER_01We getting like pop culture here?
SPEAKER_03Oh, now we're going a whole different way with this podcast now. No, um, but reading a lot of those posts, a lot of things going out there, and there's been kind of a scare tactic, maybe you want to call it. Um, being thrown out there. Hey, we got tar spot out there. There's been confirmed cases in tar spot, and it's June 22nd. You look at what most of this crop was planted into, and I'm not saying everywhere, but I'm just saying central Indiana and North Central Indiana, the stress load that that plant started with and had to go through, whether it was planted early or whether it was planted late May, first of June, all that had different stress levels had to go through. No question. What you did to help that stress level within your crop, whether it was your infer, your two by two, you know, your herbicide program, if you already sprayed post on corn and had some foliars in it, what did you do from a diet standpoint from that crop? And also what's more important to me is the soil. Like we talk about we have gut, right? All of our gut bacteria in our own human body is let's be honest, it's 90% of what makes up. Actually, it's funny, there's there's a I can't pull the stat out of my rear end right now, but the amount of uh living organisms in your body.
SPEAKER_01It's billions, if potentially not trillions.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I mean you basically are like 96 or 97 percent non-human DNA in your body because it's you know other bacteria that's growing in microbes. So the soil is the gut, right? Right. So our soil is a gut of our uh our crops.
SPEAKER_01So the fact of the matter is Yeah, I mean the the rhizosphere or the area directly surrounding that root zone is is that plant's gut.
SPEAKER_03Right. So there would I mean let's be honest. So to take that further, you get conditions that are extremely all Over the place, right? They're just variable high to lows, you get cold, you got we really haven't had a lot of heat yet, but we've had some.
SPEAKER_01There's been a couple warm days, but no, nothing.
SPEAKER_03You take anaerobic conditions that are wet into a soil that's living, right? What's the chances of that microbiome of that soil being sick? Being sick, being less less bacteria because of that. So when you get things that come in, like let's use the big word here, tar spot or your rhizoctonia in beans or um pithium, or I mean start naming whatever you want, what's stress, you know, it could be anything. When you don't have a high population of good growing bacteria microbes that are helping the consortium within the soil of getting that root zone to actually um pull in nutrients through the microbe, what's the chances of bad things taking over or having their way?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean, it's it it's exactly what we just got in talking about. I mean, it was kind of a perfect segue there from you coughing, being sick to kind of you know what we're talking about now is I mean, you can think about that as like the immune system of the plant. Um, so I'm in the same boat as you. Um, I'm not gonna get too deep on it. Are the conditions favorable? Yes. Is it gonna show its head? Probably so. Um, but I think there's other things out there than just fungicide that we can do. Is is fungicide one of the tools? Absolutely. I would argue that it's timely fungicide and probably a timely double application of fungicide. Oh, I hear really the important part. Now you're getting wild. But I mean, I think beyond that, I mean, you can look at it, you know, we'll take it back to to you. I mean, I don't know if you had to take medicines or what medicines you did have to take. Um still on them.
SPEAKER_03That's why I'm sitting here sweating under the lights.
SPEAKER_01But we can go with like antibiotics. I mean, antibiotics are they've the invention of antibiotics have probably saved more human lives or on par with things that have saved more human lives in the course of history than anything out there. Um, but if you take them when you don't need them or you don't take them according to plan, they can be detrimental. And even when you do take them, there's a reason the doctor tells you to take them with yogurt or things like that. It's because they absolutely wreck your gut. So we can look at like a fungicide like the same thing. It's it's got its purpose, but we'd be fooling ourselves if we didn't think there was some detriment that came along with it. And that's what I think I'm I'm trying to kind of portray is that it's only one tool in the toolbox, you know? It's not just a hammer. You can fix anything with the hammer, right?
SPEAKER_03Give me that in the balance wire and some duct tape, and we got our cover, buddy. There you go. Right here.
SPEAKER_01But no, it's it's kind of having that in the arsenal along with a balanced diet. Yeah. It is it's uh in furrow application, it's the right ratios of nitrogen, potassium, phosphorum, phosphorus. Phosphor was that's a new that's a new one.
SPEAKER_03Are they are they uh are they phosphorus? Are they mining that over the Strait of Hormose? Can we get that on the boat? I got that in my backyard. Yeah, that's the irony and prints that you were talking about. It's you you call him daddy, is that right? He done showed up with the falcon. But I mean, I'm gonna go back here for a second because you just made a great point. Yes, okay. I was taking antibiotics because I was sick and they were trying to figure out what was you know going on through the sinus infection, possibly pneumonia, whatever, plus steroids and a couple other things that, but they also, because we see a functional medicine doctor, it's just not just normal uh MD. She has me on also things that are supplemental. When you start looking at the amount of vitamin C, B12, methylcobalamate, I mean, start naming all the other stuff that's that are high doses of um, for lack of better terms, elements, right? That are out there that are gonna help feed your bloodstream, everything else, help get that stuff out of you. But I don't go around every week and take an antibiotic at part of my diet just for just in case, right? Right, only time one sick. So I'm more confident and worried about what's going on in our diet control, making sure it's balanced healthy, keeping me healthy. The stress load I can somewhat control, like effective, you know, everything that's outside of me. So if that happens in our crop, but they can't help the weather. They can't help the planet because they were perfectly healthy from the time they came out of the bag. They can't help the fact they were put in conditions they're put into. Now the soil is having to deal with weather, right? That's being the crops, right? So I don't disagree that fungicide, you know, I was big against it for so long that I felt like we didn't need it because I kind of like you used the nutrition part of our soil and our crops to get us there all through the whole entire season. I'll I'll say that maybe I was wrong a little bit. I think that's a huge part, probably, let's be honest, sometimes 90% of the way or not, if not more. But when that happens, like we talked about in the environment changes and the stress what's going on, the fungicide application is actually a necessity part because we're still gonna feed that crop a diet we want. We're still tissue sampling, looking at what's going on in that crop's, you know, bloodstream, right? And we're gonna we're gonna adjust what we need from there. But the fact of the matter is when you have certain bacteria, certain um spores, whatever, it could be tar spawn, could be whatever you want to talk about, um, that are possible coming in, that's where that fungicide application is. And with you, I'm not a big fan of saying that, oh well, hey, we can go out there and put on a product, and I'm not gonna name names, that's a systemic product that's gonna last all the long all season long. You and I both have seen through tissue samples, you know, whether it's been here at Cross Creek or outside of, you know, in our tenure of our careers. Most time you apply something, I don't care if it's an element, it's a nutrient, it's uh fungicide. How long does that actually stay in that plant?
SPEAKER_01I'm gonna say realistically, it's 10 to 14 days. I think that's gonna be maximum efficiency of it. Um, a lot of people would argue you can get to 21 and beyond, but I think truly having a large benefit is 10 to 14 days.
SPEAKER_03I won't disagree. I mean, we've kind of said two weeks, 21 days if everything goes well. If you get beyond that, that's like a miracle. Right. For me to say it's system long or sorry, system long, year-long systematic. It's that Marge voice coming out again, looking for Shotsy around here. I really should be a Cincinnati Reds fan, shouldn't I? I don't know what you should be, Brad. We'll stay boilermakers. We're all right. But that's right. But uh, that's a season-long systematic approach that I don't believe is gonna be there. You may get some health out of the plant, you may get some things that happen, but you're gonna have to keep monitoring that plant because if I would have taken, I'm just using my example in my own personal life, if I'd taken, you know, had mono as a kid and had AH1 in when it so I should have been able to take antibiotics and everything and fix it at that point on, I should not have to worry about the rest of my life, right? Should be perfectly fine. Or if you're vaccinated for something, well, why don't we go down that rabbit trail?
SPEAKER_01Let's let's bypass that.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, but I mean sometimes people are like, well, you had that, so you should be fine the rest of your life. Well, why do some of these things pop up after having a vaccination? Well, it may not have actually been see all season lifelong um protection. So the same thing in crops that I'm I'm looking at. What are we doing right now on corn? We talk about corn because you know, corn's king. Um, we are looking at most of our corn's in that V8 stage right now. Whenever it dries out, if it ever dries out, we're gonna be back in spraying that V12 time frame because we've proven that V12 time frame has paid us the most amount of money ROI in our four-year program. We're gonna do that no matter what. We know it. But the tissue samples, which you guys just pulled today, are gonna give us a roadmap to okay, this is what we know we're gonna apply. Do we need to change that based on what we saw in that tissue analysis as we go and apply? And we know there's a high percentage chance that we're gonna be getting some root rots, you know, degradation of microbes because of anaerobic conditions. Um, we're gonna have some issues with uh foliar diseases possibly coming up here in the next 30 to 45 days, especially if we get really hot and it stays humidity, they're they're gonna blow up like crazy. So I'm gonna do some things with, you know, a generic uh quilt XL, really cheap. You can buy it really inexpensive. Propoconazole and an oxystrobularin, we're gonna put it on and we're gonna use that as our segue to get to that R3 time frame brown silk, and then evaluate at that point in time, you know, what are we gonna add to our folio program? Do we need to have another fungicide application then? Same thing in beans. The big thing of beans, though, Kyle, I mean, right now, you've seen a lot of acres. I've seen the acres of beans. I'm just gonna call it as it is. I don't, I'm not, I don't really care. They're ugly.
SPEAKER_01They're very ugly.
SPEAKER_03I don't care whose beans are, they look like crap right now.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, they're just it's even more so than we talked about on corn. I mean, they're just they're stunted, they're behind, they're confused.
SPEAKER_03They love web feet, right?
SPEAKER_01Love it.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. It's like an Austin Powers comment, like Chloe, his mom that had Web Feet. See, I'm I'm too old. I make these references in the 90s, and no one gets it. I'm dealing with a bunch of youngsters here that don't get 90s comedy. I don't know. We're gonna have to make them go watch Austin Powers.
SPEAKER_01Oh, I've seen Austin Powers, but I I've got no idea. Look up Chloe, his mom Web feed. Anyways.
SPEAKER_03You don't know where to go with this, do you?
SPEAKER_01Oh, and now you guys know what it's like to work with Brad on a daily basis.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Anyways, back to beans. The fact of the matter is beans are we're just not nodulating.
SPEAKER_01I mean, that's that that's the end of it. I mean, we've got a compromised root structure. Um, we've had as many overcast days as we've had sunny days. Um for beans, honestly, we need it to dry up and warm up. It does need to dry up and warm up for beans.
SPEAKER_03It's uh they're just anaerobic conditions, you're right. Nodulation. We've pulled a lot of bean plants and looking at them, it's been a real challenge. I mean, they're not nodulating as much as they should right now. Um and let's be honest, with Alpha Fact of Sun, what are we missing right now? I don't know. I mean, this is where you say chlorophyll.
SPEAKER_01You lost me again. You lost me again. So this is where I mean Are you sh what kind of meds are you on?
SPEAKER_03Uh they must be really good because I'm sweating them out right now. Sitting in front of everybody. No, I mean that's the thing you talked about is the fact that we've been cold, wet, you know, it's been raining almost feel like every other day. There hasn't been a lot of sunlight. No. So the chlorophyll production is down dramatically in soybeans, which is causing obviously that you know a lot of expression, and one of the reasons why we're seeing yellow beans. So uh without you know, I don't have the ability to fix that issue. I can't do much about the fact that we aren't getting, you know, around here at least we're not getting sunny days and uh but we got plenty of moisture. Plenty of it. Yeah, too much. Yep. Well, speaking of too much, we've probably taken too much time here. I mean, we might have been I talk about chlorophyll, it's like borophil. We probably bored everybody to death, right?
SPEAKER_01I would say there's a good chance today.
SPEAKER_03Well, they've uh they've had the chance to make fun of me all day long today, so I'll take my shots and uh go home. But I mean, anything else you want to wrap up with?
SPEAKER_01No, I think just uh to bring it full circle, yeah. Like we started out, um you know, just pay attention to what's going on, pay attention to your employees, um help your neighbors out. I mean, like we said, it can feel big and daunting out there, but at the end of the day, this is a very small community um that's also very tight-knit. As much as we want to compete, as much as we want to compare ourselves to our neighbors. Um you know, if you were frustrated on the side of the road, I guarantee you they'd be one of the first people to pick you up, even if they were your arch rival in business or whatever it may be. Um so there's that. Um the whole tar spot thing. Like I said, I thought it was important to bring it up. Um not sounding the alarm, not trying to let make anyone worry. Um, but if the conditions are right, um be out in your field, pay attention to what's going on, scout it. I mean, your boots in your field is the number one way to figure out what you've got going on. Um you know, don't don't fall prey to the fear tactics. Um is fungicide a great thing? It it it sure is when needed, but it's not the only thing. Um and only you are gonna be able to know, or if you're your agronomist or your third-party scout or or whoever, but somebody who's actually stepping foot in your field. I mean, use them as your you know, your trusted resource to decide if and when that application is is important.
SPEAKER_03So I thought you were going to smokey the bear there. Only you can prevent forest fires, so only you can prevent tarspot, right?
SPEAKER_01I wish I could. I I wouldn't be sitting right here.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, make a little money somewhere. But no, I agree. Yeah, you get in your fields or get get a notice, figure out what's going on out there. That's the only way you're gonna pay attention. And that's what we're here for. I mean the Kyle, that's what Cross Creek's here for, is why we have so many people that are involved in you know, um, the agronomy piece of understanding what's going on. So have our people or have your people get a hold of our people, we'll get back. That's how it works.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we've got people for that.
SPEAKER_03Yep, shaking babies and kissing hands, right?
SPEAKER_01That's right. So all right, and with that, appreciate everybody's time today, and we'll see y'all next week.
SPEAKER_03Take her easy.
SPEAKER_00Thanks for joining us on this week's episode of the Turn Row Podcast. This episode is brought to you by Cross Creek Ag Solutions. From precision ag technology to smarter data-driven decisions. CrossCreek helps farmers maximize every acre. Ready to grow more with less desperate? CrossCreakAd.com.