RealAg Radio: Next tech for the farm, freeze and thaw cycles, and bale grazing, Mar 26, 2026

Your spray day decision made Easy. Choose solutions with Airlex Active for performance and application flexibility, whether you're dealing with small or large weeds in early or late crop staging and even in cool or dry conditions. Aerolex Active. Just go. It's time for RealAg Radio on rural radio, channel 147 on SiriusXM. RealAg radio and realllculture.com is your home for insight and analysis of the issues that are impacting your farm business. Let's get real and get connected with RealAg Radio. Hello and welcome to the Farmer Rapid Fire here on RealAg Radio on rural radio, channel147, SiriusXM. Brought to you by Corteva Crop Protection. That's right. It is Thursday once again and is March 26th. I am your host, Lindsay Smith, and I'm super pumped to host today's show. This is several weeks in a row and I gotta tell you, I'm gonna be a little sad to hand the show back to Shaun, but his ridiculous travel schedule is starting to wind down. So he'll be back for the Farmer Rapid Fire next week. And away we go. Okay, on today's show, I've got two marks. Yeah, so that's fun. We've got Mark Brock will start us off and then we'll head to Mark McLean after that. Also in Ontario, we'll jump to Manitoba and talk to Randy Koch. He's got cattle, so thank thankfully I've got some livestock to talk about. And then we'll end up in Saskatchewan with Scott Hepworth. And then we're gonna hear from Brent Nielsen with Corteva out of Alberta to round out the show. So without further ado, let's get rolling. We head now to near Staffa, Ontario, which is a bustling metropolis. We've got Mark Brock on the line. Mark, how are you doing? I am fantastic. How are you? You know, I'm okay. It's almost April is what I'm going with. It's what I'm rolling with. I know it's almost April, but yet it still feels winter. But hopefully we turn the corner here at some point. I always say early Easter, early spring, so hopefully that works out. You know what? If it doesn't, I'm coming after you because that feels like a really good idea. Okay, if you can find me in the bus lim tropical, all the power to you. Yeah, you know what? I think I can track you down. Okay, question for you. What's the lineup like for crops this year? What's all in the mix? We aren't really straying off our normal kind of almost a third. A third? A third. So corn, soybeans, winter wheat. So we haven't really adjusted anything because we had a lot of our inputs kind of locked in place before all this mayhem started. So assuming there isn't any catastrophes come spring, I think we're just kind of staying the course. So what about, like, black beans or maybe some, you know, other fun things? Any winter canola, edibles, fancy stuff? I think we've been kind of keeping it simple lately. Just when you start looking at our own operation and trying to look at some of these specialty crops they call them, and you start chasing dollars, sometimes those dollar dollars don't always end up in your pocket because of the extra cost of production and just stuffed on the road. So we really rely on doing stuff with as little people as possible. So then some of these other crops get a little bit more difficult when you're trying to manage human capital to get some of this stuff done. It is. So we're just a boring grain farmer. You really are. So this interview's over. I know. And we'll just. No, just kidding. No, I mean, it makes sense, right? In that. So how are you not bored out of your mind then? So what are you doing to keep the Mark Brock brain busy? Well, I think right now we're just finalising spring plans. Right. So I think for the most part, you know, producers have 75 to 90% of their stuff kind of figured out. And then as we realise the snow melts and we're going to be in the fields here shortly, hopefully we have to kind of just fine tune it. So that's what we're doing is fine tuning it. We've always kind of had that idea that there was a kind of a buffer there, so that if our fertiliser programme kind of changed a little bit through the spring, it wasn't a big deal. But I'm not sure that's maybe the case this year. So I think right now I'm just really kind of drilling down on our fertiliser requirements and just making sure that we kind of have stuff in place and that we can go forward with it with kind of our plan. So I think we're just being a little bit more diligent about that stuff this spring with kind of the situation that's going on with the world right now. You mean that it's on fire? Like. Yeah, it's a massive dumpster fire. Yeah, that's right. Okay, thank you for that. I will Say on the personal side, your daughter just arrived back from some travels. My daughter is actually in France on some travels for a couple weeks. Yes, it is super nice but also it is a bit of, you know, I feel fortunate that they are out and doing all these cool travels which is great but also it's a little like the world is on fire. So yeah, it's a little unsettling. Like I'm not sure what, what to believe anymore. We have all these, you know, peace talks that they're talking about with Iran and they're denying it and I don't know what's going on. Fuel, expensive fertilisers, crazy. You know, it's just, it's kind of a mixed up world and it's like I think we just kind of got to try to put the noise to the side and just kind of grind through it. It doesn't mean that we're not impacted by it but at the same time I'm not sure what ability we have to manage it. Yeah, control what you can. Also though, your farm is one that invested in the last while in some drying capacity, some new storage capacity. Your, you've got several seasons of course of it under your belt now. Would you change anything about the setup? No, I think you really are kind of. Our programme has been not to store and ignore but trying to capture much carry in the market as we can. And we're. I think it's worked in our favour maybe not so much with soybeans this past year just because the price has rallied a little bit from harvest because we weren't able to store some of our crusher soybeans. But for the most part like, you know, it's paid to store the crops and kind of manage it into the later part of the marketing year. You know, it does take some capital like you know, bank and operating lines to do stuff like that. But I think long term it's been a very good investment for us and probably one of the better ones that has provided return back to the farm. Plus it looks super cool and that's really what it's about. Yeah, but they're, they're a curse. Like my pit was frozen this winter and it broke and then caused a whole bunch of damage and then they were out three times to fix it. So it's not, it's not. I will be honest that it's not all rainbows and unicorns. I just, I thought like it's farming, of course it's all rainbows and unicorns. Mark, what are you even Talking about. Well, I guess if you're into horns, it is, but I don't know if you're driving our laneway. It's anti rainbows and anti unicorns. Okay. Yeah, good. Okay. That's more realistic. Okay. My question this week for everybody, and I was excited to see. I actually decided on this question before I knew who I was talking to. So I'm glad it's lining up. Not saying you have to go out and buy this particular thing that you talk about, but what if you could. What would be the next tech or innovation update for the farm that you would do? We're really looking at the drone technology. Right. Like with the PMRA consultation going on with drone application of pesticides. I think that's just. We're watching that one. It's kind of of. It's a little bit of the wild west yet, and just how quickly those assets depreciate when a new model comes out. But I think it's an interesting thing that we're really keeping an eye on right now. It does feel a little bit like drones are like the cell phones of the tech world. Like they're coming out with the new models all the time, like, and at some point, are they just small helicopters kind of crazy? Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. It seems. Yeah. So I don't know. I think there's opportunity there, but I still think it's. It's. You have to have a little bit of scepticism with it yet. And what would. Should all the approvals go through And Mark, thanks for pointing it out. It is. There is a proposal. I think it just closed yesterday for the consultation. Right. On. Essentially, anything that's got an aerial label, so for by plane or helicopter could potentially be applied by drone. Is there a particular, like, issue you'd like to address with drone technology or. It's that it's just nice to be able to like, start to. To actually, you know, play around with it and figure out what works. Yeah. I think it's really coming down to fungicide application and corn. I think that's the big one. Right. Just for ground rigs, because we do it with the ground application. It just. There's a lot of damage that happens. It's. It's something that we probably don't talk about as much, but, like, as good of a driver as you are, there's still damage on headland and it impacts yields. So having to be able to do that without driving through the field and maybe get better application, I think that's the question mark. I think there's been just a lot of like, are these as good as they could be for application? But I think it's that technology we're really looking at. We're not poo pooing it at all yet, but it's of interest. And if we get this figured out, then I think there's some value there. Well, and I think so, too. Like, I think there's been several sort of slam dunk, like, hey, this works well if you've got access to it, whether it's, you know, maybe it's some fertiliser early in the season or when it's too wet or maybe it's, you know, cover crop seed or whatever. But things like fungicide, I mean, coverage is so important and it's not like it's a huge tank on these things. So. No, no, I think that's the interesting part. So, you know, I don't know. I don't know where it's going to go. I think it's just kind of. We're aware of it, we're interested in it. Does it have a place? We're not sure yet. Yeah. Okay, we'll leave it there. Thank you, Mr. Brock, for joining me here on the Farm Rapid Fire. I appreciate it. Always, always lovely to talk to you. Okay, well, make sure you feed those dogs because I've seen them online and Lucy I think is wasting away, so. Yeah. Yeah. Well, you're not looking at the right profile live. Love, Lucy. Okay, thanks, Mark. Have a great day. Yep, take care. All right, we are going to take our first break here on the Farmer Rapid Fire brought to you by Corteva. And we're going to stick with Ontari and we'll be headed to Port Albert right after this. If you're serious about agriculture, Real Ag's got you covered. For over 10 years, we've listened to and shared what producers have to say about everything from policy to agronomy, from coast to coast. Keep up with the latest in Canadian [email protected] through daily newsletters and cheque out our YouTube channel. Thanks for joining us in the realite community as we continue to cover and serve North American agriculture. It's now time for a product spotlight, joined right now by Cocoa Economic Services. Bryce Geisel. What's the key takeaway for growers heading into this season on this topic? That nitrogen management strategy is really going to be different, farm by farm, depending on all those different things that go into it. Want to make sure that you're using the right products for the right application. We have a lot of different options that farmers can use depending on how they're using their nitrogen. It's going to help reduce those losses and making sure that people are using the products that are going to fit for the application, not trying to use the wrong product in the wrong way. If you are new to top dressing or you haven't looked at it, or maybe you've been doing it and you haven't even realised that nitrogen loss is a concern, I really encourage you to look at utilising a urease inhibitor again. An example that would would be Anvil nitrogen stabiliser to help make sure we reduce those volatilization losses. So to learn more about protecting your nitrogen investment, make sure you go to defendyourn CA or talk to your local retailer. Welcome back to RealAg Radio here on rural radio channel147SiriusXM. It is Thursday, March 26th. I am your host, Lindsey Smith, for this edition of the Farmer Rapid Fire, brought to you by Cortetta. All right, we go now to somewhere near Port Albert, but maybe not. We're going to find out very soon. I've got Mark McLean on the line. Mark, you sound like you're driving. Where are you headed? Well, I'm heading to the shop right now to see what we can do because it's either freezing or it's muddy, depending on what minute of the day it is. Mm. It tis the season for. Well, I'll be honest, Mark, I'm grumpy. I'm a bit grumpy. I don't love mud, don't get me wrong. But we are still like froze. So, yeah, I think I would like froze right now because we just haven't been able to get outside to do anything right now. And it's. The snow is 90% gone. The sun is actually somewhat shining. It's just. It's. It's either mud or it's minus 5 or it's plus 5, depending. Again, morning, night, afternoon. Every day is different, so. And more rain on the way. So, yeah, we are having very different. Like, again, Ontario is a big place, everybody, so. And we're on sort of not quite opposite ends, but far enough apart that I just think we're having. I don't know, I think we've got winter for several weeks yet to come. Not though getting the moisture like you're getting. And that's maybe the saving grace because nobody likes mud. Now, you mentioned headed to the shop. Are you. Are you done your list? And now you're finding jobs to do or do you still have lots to get done? We still have lots to get done. We moved a lot of snow this winter and we never got much done in the shop. So. Corn planter came out yesterday. Gonna get some row units done, gonna get some other things. Corn seeds showed up yesterday, soybean seeds all in the shed. Do some germ tests. You know, having that wonderful conversation with our fertiliser retailers to see, you know, how they're feeling and how things are looking for the spring, you know, whether it be manpower or supply, where, you know, everybody's getting ducks in order, even though it doesn't really feel like we should be getting things in order. Mm. How. How are you set? Do you feel like. I mean, I know hindsight's 20 20, but do you feel like you're in pretty good shape, fertiliser wise, or are you worried? So we. This is a replay of 2022, I guess it was. Right. We've seen kind of that media thing kind of go on, and we generally do purchase fertiliser in advance for the next year. And so we are. I think we're sitting okay as long as it's still. It's not in my hands. I haven't seen it. It's. It's still sitting at the retail level. And I think from the conversations I've had, they're. They're pretty okay at this point. You know, we talk conversation. Yesterday got pushed into side dress season and I think that's a bit murky yet as that goes. So. But they're still working through that situation too, as it's fluid, as we know. But, you know, I think our fertile. Our. We're not going to change much in our rotation this season just based on what's happened in the last two or three months. But. So we're just going status quo straight ahead. And yeah, it's. We're going to need some. Some decent markets to keep the margins where we want them to be. And that's just the gamble of farming. So now you've got corn, beans and wheat in rotation, or do you have any dry beans in there? What does it look like for crop mix? Yep. Corn, beans and wheat. Good, good rotation that way. And no dry beans this year. We tried that once. It went well and we've maybe just stepped away from that, that volatile market. But there's a lot of good growers that know how to do that and we'll leave that to them. But, yeah, we live in a very Great place for that other, those other three crops to go between flour mills, feed mills and crush plants. So we got to keep them fed. As long as they're hungry, we'll keep feeding. Mm, I like it. Flower feed and crush. That's a. It's the new, you know, fuel fibre food thing. There you go. Put it on a shirt. Trademark it don't talk about fuel. Oh, right. It is, it is. I said to someone yesterday, biofuels befuddles this industry in a lot of ways. We just, we're very conflicted on the biofuel side. So anyway. Okay, that's not what I want to talk about today though. So my question this week is actually about one of my least favourite topics but rather important, tech and or innovation. My question this week for everybody is if you had to go out and adopt some new technology or innovation, what would it be? You don't actually have to do it, but what would be like next on your list of what you would like to adopt on your farm? You know, I sat in a meeting a couple weeks ago. There was a robotics company from down south that presented about the little robots that go up and down the rows and they put nitrogen on and they kind of go on some wrecks I think they use. I don't think you swap maps or one of those systems to kind of give you a base on that. I think there's going to be merit in that stuff in the future. You know, it's autonomy. We definitely are going to have a workforce issue in this part of the world. And I don't know whether it's skilled trade going to big industry or just not really anybody interested in the agricultural lifestyle anymore. So I think autonomy is going to be someplace that we go and we are slowly working into that. I guess it's going to be a long process. John Deere is doing some stuff south of the border and we're slowly implementing some of that programming into our daily cropping schedule. And you know, to watch it, to learn it, to see it. Other thing with technology is it's very expensive to jump right into it and get to the top of the list. So we try to gradually work our way up and try to spread that cost out. So autonomy and robotics, I think are something that we're, you know, it's on our radar. Maybe in the five, maybe in the ten year, but yeah, nothing. Everything's so expensive. It's very hard to make a one year jump into something new and exciting that way. Do you feel. I agree. Do you feel though that at some point, like it's one of those you have to be sort of, you can't be sort of pregnant. Like you either are or you aren't. Like you got to jump in. Well and you have to jump in to try to mitigate that cost. You can't just have a little bit in the corner here doing something because of it. So caught of the cost effect of it. So. Yeah, and that's why we're always hesitant. You know, we do have very high tech stuff in our tractors and our planters. We still run a lot of older stuff though, because if it isn't broke, why are we trying to fix it? And I think it's a systems approach from the beginning to the end. I don't want to implement a piece in the middle when I haven't done the stuff at the beginning and I can't finish the product at the end. So there's no, there's no value in spending money to be in the middle of it when you should be the systems approach from the beginning to the end. So I think you have. I like the assessment, I like where you're going with this. When you think about, I mean cost is one thing but, but as you've identified and this is the one thing that I think that we often sit down and have these conversations is, is the person component, the labour component, the how much can we done in a day on potentially fewer people hours or just fewer humans around, right. Butts and seats, whatever it may be. From what you see right now, like do you think the five year timeline is realistic or do you think we're still, we've got a ways before we could see, you know, exactly that like side dress automation or something like that. So from what I see in that presentation and the data that that company did have was I think it's closer than we think. It's just how are they going to scale it to a large scale situation? And I think for something like side dress and nutrient, you know, placement and stuff like that, I think they're great. I think that's going to be really key into that. But am I going to have 400 robots around to look after at the end of the season, that's going to be the problem. I think that, you know, 200 acres here, 200 acres there. Okay, that's a good start. But you know, how do you scale it to the average size farmer? Now that. And when I say average size, the average farm, the average size that can afford that technology, how do you scale it to that to make it work out in the end. And we're not trying to not use people, we're not trying to get rid of people. It's just there doesn't seem to be the interest from people looking for work in the agricultural sector and growing up in it myself, I would say the agricultural work is getting easier. It's not as labour intensive, but it also, it also, you need to have a brain nowadays to operate some of this larger equipment and deal with very expensive inputs and different things like that. So yeah, it's a changing, it's always changing and that's, and that's what, we just keep adapting to it and hopefully it works out. Yeah, it's a good point. It's not like we're actively trying to not hire people. It's that the people aren't maybe there to hire. So it's risk management, a deficit in the skilled trade. I took my son to a job fair the other day and if you can weld or stand and weld for hours on end, I mean, you'll never be able to work from that job fair. And it's, it's, that's, that's the, it's the skilled trade that just doesn't exist right now for some reason. Okay. All right, Mark, we're gonna leave it there. Good luck in the shop. I hope he gets warm weather. Thanks a lot, Lindsay. All right, we're going to take a quick break here on the Farmer Rapid Fire brought to you by Corteva. And we'll be back with more right after this. Peter Johnson at wheatpeatrealagriculture.com I'm the host of the Word and I love doing the Word. I love the questions, I love the challenges. I love having to apply agronomics to all over the globe, globe and areas outside of my normal jurisdiction. Also, I love the feedback the most. Where growers challenge me, tell me about their plot results, help me to learn the word. Absolutely the best part of my day. Since 2009, the Canola School on RealAgriculture.com has been providing relevant and timely agronomic advice to anyone involved in Canola production. With over 15 years of video content on YouTube, the Canola Canola School has been producers go to source for canola agronomy, research, marketing and more. The Canola School is brought to you by BASF and Invigor Hybrid Canola cheque us out on YouTube [email protected]. As you look ahead to the next growing season. There's a lot to consider when it comes to your crop, you need every possible advantage available to you. The Pulse School on RealAgriculture.com has everything you need to make the best choice for you and your Farm On Demand videos with leading industry experts available anywhere, anytime. Go into the season confident and ready with the Pulse School on RealAgriculture.com. Welcome back to RealAg Radio here on Rural Radio, channel 147, SiriusXM. It is Thursday, March 26th. I am your host, Lindsey Smith. It is the farmer Rapid Fire brought to you by Corteva. We go now to Near Sundown, Manitoba, which is just a beautiful name. And we've got Randy Kochuk on the line. Randy, how are you? I'm doing really well. That's good. I'm doing. You know what? I'm okay. It's. I can't complain when I'm talking to someone from Manitoba, but I feel like this winter is a long one. How has it been where you are? You are so kind. How has it been? And how are the livestock? That's the important part. The cattle are doing really well, I would say. We had a mild winter. We didn't get very much snow. Right now we're kind of in that freeze and thaw effect. Overnight. It freezes and during the daytime it thaws out. So I take advantage of the mornings to feed the cattle so I can stay on top of the ice and. And so that I'm not making any ruts out there. So that's kind of morning chores get done early this time of the year. Mm. I will say I will take the freeze over mud and so you're right. Early mornings, but then, hey, it's done and you're not making a mess and everybody's happy and fed. Yeah, that's right. It does make things a little bit messy, but we go through this every year and. And we just roll with it. Now, what's your wintering setup for your cattle? Do you do any sort of like, bale grazing or swath grazing or stockpiled feed or are you yarding everybody every winter? No, the majority of the cattle, our cow herd is in the bale grazing. And it's a very simple setup. We'll take all the twines off in November and. And all I need to do is move a wire every second day. And if we are planning to leave for, you know, a few days or a few weeks, I can set up that there's enough bale that nobody needs to feed the cattle. And I don't take A tractor out there, it's. I take the pickup where it's nice and warm. And sometimes if it's really warm, I'll just go, excuse me. Take a walk to them and see how they're doing. And what we just, the young stock, we keep them in the yard here for about four months. In fact, yesterday we just vaccinated them and they're going to go with the large herd now because the corrals are starting to be a little bit messy. And everything you put into a corral, hay and straw, you got to take that out with steel. You sure do. And diesel. So this is, this is one of those things that maybe croppers don't understand as, as livestock producers. If it depreciates or I need to do an oil change on it, I don't love it. I'll be honest. No, I do agree. It's. I was doing some numbers last fall and I thought, you know, I don't have very much invested in machinery into steel. And the machinery I do have is older equipment that's mature and I do know how to fix it. And I can afford to have a couple of old tractors instead of having one expensive newer one around. And when that one goes down, then I'm hooped. But if I have another one for spare, I just keep on going. And when I have the time, I can go ahead and fix. It's good risk management. Now one of the questions that a lot of people ask when it comes to say bale grazing or outwintering, whatever the setup might look like, they often ask about water for cattle. Cattle obviously, you know, can drink a heck of a lot of water if conditions are right. How have you solved that problem? You know, we. Our water system. The furthest I've had cattle walk home for water was 3/4 of a mile away, and that is the longest. Our yard site is kind of set up central to where all of our land is. So it really is not a problem. But you know, there's technology out there now that we can be pumping water out of dugouts in the wintertime. And you know, the solar systems work well to charge the batteries up. So, you know, we have really improved, I would say in the last 20 years to have some of those remote watering systems now. When do you start calving? Not for another month. Oh, that's nice. So like late April. Ish. Yes. It's kind of look at is where does nature kind of want to have. Start having their babies. Like we have the white tailed deer. We don't see White tailed deer babies here until beginning of June, end of May and also the little birds as well. So you kind of. There's a lot of daylight already. Once we start getting into. Well, we have a lot of daylight hours now, but we're getting into the May, the grass is starting to grow and so that the requirements for the nutrients for the cattle isn't as needed as high as when you get calving earlier in the year. And there's actually a lot of work when we're calving in February. I did that. I'm not going back there. I hear you. I'm with you on that one. Now one last question on this is do you rotate what fields? Then you do the bale grazing. How do you choose where you're going to winter? Everybody. Anything that's been in the hayfield for seven, eight years, it's maybe the first five years has been into, you know, grass, alfalfa and it starts to deplete. That goes into pasture. And then after that we introduce the bale grazing to it. We rotate it throughout the whole farm. Okay, I like that. It sort of evolves from hay to pasture. Add the bale grazing, go back to hay. Yeah, it's. I just find that the. We can really increase the production where that bale grazing is. I'm not aware of what's happening with the micronutrients down below the ground. We always see what's above the ground. But if we can get down. I need to get more of an education on what's happening below that. But I do see the results above ground. Very happy with the minimal amount of cost for sure. Let the livestock do the work. That's okay too. All right, my question this week, and maybe you've alluded to some of it, but not saying you have to, but if there was a particular piece of technology or a new innovation next to adopt for your farm, what would it be? Nutrient dense food. Ah, we, I want to understand is what is the difference between the food that we're eating of processed food, you know, and I don't mean this in a. Even I'm looking in the wildlife aspect here is venison. What nutrients are in that food? And also the grass fed and also the grain fed. What are we looking at that's going to be for example, a pound of ground beef grass fed compared to venison. What is the difference there? That's the. I think that technology is out there. I just is. I want to understand it. And then will this be healthier for consumers as well? Fascinating. Okay, that's a great answer. And I'm going to say I think that technology exists, but you're right, it's like, okay, so how do you then access that information that testing between the two and then how does it maybe inform either your practises or when you're talking to your customers and even for yourself, what difference that might make? So super fascinating. Okay, Randy, we're going to leave it there. Thank you so much. Have a wonderful day. I hope the sun shines. Thank you very much. You too. Bye bye. We are going to take a quick break here on the Farmer Rapid Fire brought to you by Corteva. And I'll be back with more right after this. Until you've used Via Tude fungicide, you'll never know what your canola crop is is capable of Engineered excellence in Every Jug Via Tude combines two powerful actives, Group 11 and 3 for best in class. Sclerotinia protection and superior resistance management by penetrating the plant and protecting against infection. Treat your canola crop to a healthy and productive season with VIA2. Ask your local retailer for more information. Before you get back in the field this year, spend some time with the corn school on realagriculture.com get all the information you need on hybrid selection, planting depth, crop inputs and more from a wide range of industry experts. A massive library of video content is available on demand when you need it most. Spend your time outside of the field, inside the classroom with the corn school on realagriculture.com. Welcome back to Reel Ag Radio here on rural radio channel 147, SiriusXM. I am your host, Lindsay Smith. It is Thursday and that means it's the Rapid Fire brought to you by Corteva and this segment brought to you by Corteva Biologicals. We're growing together. To learn more, visit biologicals.corteva. we go now to near Assiniboia, Saskatchewan. I've got Scott Hepworth on the line. Scott, what are you up to today? Well, today I am actually not in Assiniboia, but I'm travelling back there. Okay. Spring is fast approaching and it's, it's time to time to start farming. I think the ground has to be thawed first. Are you close? I think so. We were lucky to receive 10 to 12 inches of wet snow about 10 days ago because we were brown prior to that. But it's seeming to soak up pretty quick. So I think the ground is thawing on the little bit of frost that there was underneath. There okay. And what is in the cropping lineup for this year? It's remaining the same. I've been debating it all winter, as I think most farmers do, but. But I'm not changing things up too much this year. It'll be my typical rotation of durum wheat. No chickpeas this year, but large green lentils and canola. Okay, hang on. Durum wheat, large green lentils, canola. Why no chickpeas? Yes, Well, I ran out of seed. That's important. That's one factor. But no, I mean, you know, they're selling for less than the cost of production now, so there's no money to chase there. So I'm going to take a break and maybe get a little bit more free time this summer to focus on other things. And then babysitting chickpeas. Pulses are. I mean, canola gets a bad rap because of course, everything is trying to kill canola and therefore it requires a lot of work. But. But pulses are also sort of in that boat in that they do need a lot of management. Yes. Yeah, they do, especially chickpeas. But pulses from field peas to large green lentils in our area just seem like they are more difficult to manage every year. And at their current prices, you know, being right at that cost of production level, they're there. Honestly, this year for me, for rotational purposes, the stage was kind of set in the fall when we. We applied some herbicides and some fertilisers and. And I have a little bit of wiggle room in the rotation, but it doesn't look like I'm. I'm going to be changing much from my. A third. A third. A third rotation that I have is one of the things that I think for those that don't maybe farm in some of these dry areas or with pulses and rotation, the idea of, you know, re. Cropping restrictions doesn't. That doesn't play for a lot of people. But. But it's vastly important if you do have pulses in rotation. Yeah. You have to be very mindful and have a thorough strategy once you start applying those fall applied herbicides and any fertiliser. So, yeah, we had a nice open fall to get some of that work done and not have to do it this spring, but it definitely kind of. You're playing your cards early. Mm, yeah, absolutely. Now, you also, of course, work with the grain growers of Canada. You are the chair. Does that mean that, that. Do you get a bit of a break to get the crop in the ground or are you just as busy with that too? I'm hoping to get a bit of a break here. We definitely had a busy winter. I'm currently in Niagara Falls at the March Classic for the first time with the grain farmers of Ontario. And it was a great day yesterday, but I'm definitely looking forward to sitting in my tractor seats. And after speaking to some farmers from across Canada yesterday, at this time of the year, if you're involved in this sort of thing, it's been a long few months, and I think a lot of guys are ready just to get back into the field and put the farmer hat back on. Mm, absolutely. Yes. And that meeting happening in Niagara Falls this year, which is interesting. It's usually in London, so at least you get great views every day. Yes. I'm currently sitting by the falls here this morning having a coffee. So I'm taking this view in before I return to the brown prairies of southern Saskatchewan. Yeah. Good for you. Okay, now, my question this week, and I preface this with, you don't actually have to do this or spend the money on it, but what agriculture, technology, or innovation are you looking at? Seriously, that could be or might be the next one that you applied to your farm. Doesn't mean you're going to or have to, but if you could, what's sort of next on the list on the tech or innovation side? Well, that's interesting, Lindsay. When I've done this in the past, usually Shaun forgets to ask me the question of the week. We won't tell him. So I. Yeah, I appreciate being asked this time. You are so welcome. But that's. That's a. That's a tough question. You know, this is a conversation that's come up quite a bit frequently here recently. And I think at this point, with the way things are evolving so rapidly, it's just taking those little baby steps here and there. All roads lead to more automation. I like automation. I don't know where I'll end up on that scale or when, but I think just taking those baby steps at this time, a little bit at a time and continue to advance and not get left behind. I'm also feeling my aim these days with technology, and I'm not. I'm not adapting as rapidly as I once used to be able to. So I'm just trying to keep up. You know, I gotta tell you, you're not that old, Scott, so. But at the same time, I get what you're. I get what you're saying, because even from, you know, my perspective, whether it's things like, you know, different social Media platforms or, you know, AI things or all these. It's like you realise just how quickly, if you don't spend a bit of time trying to keep up on it, it sort of can get away on you, like really quickly and then it becomes an even larger thing to try and adapt to and implement automation. I mean, realistically, most farms, you know, if you've got tractors, you've got GPs, if you're doing field work, that one seemed to be sort of a relatively easy one. But when we talk about like true automation, that to me is like, it is a leap, like that's a big leap forward to think about either an implement or a tractor or maybe many like a swarm of robots or something out there. Where would you like to see automation solve a problem for you? Some of those smaller tasks I think, to start with. But again, like we've been discussing, I don't want that gap to get too large and I get left behind and I mean, some days I struggle with email. If I don't keep up, if I don't keep up with the little things on a day to day basis, my fields, I'll get left behind. But yeah, no, just some of those smaller tasks that we could delegate to AI or to autonomy is kind of what would benefit my farm, I think the most and provide a return on investment. And that's something that I keep in mind with technology. It used to be easier to put a return on this investment and that's getting a little bit more difficult these days as far as it being more of a convenience than actually a benefit to my bottom line. So watching that for sure will dictate which way I go with technology. I think that you bring up an important point is that if, if you, if you don't currently sort of work in the value of your time into your budgets, it makes it much more difficult to figure out an ROI on something that saves you time. Yes, right. And we're terrible for paying ourselves. Yeah. Farmers don't value their time very well, do they? No, we don't. We're kind of terrible at it. Scott, we need to work on this. Yeah, we really do. Y. Okay, we're gonna leave that. That is a good point to bring up. I appreciate that. Okay. And you know, like this, this is super efficient. You're drinking coffee, great view. And doing an interview. I mean, so you've got it made. That's great value. Yeah, that was, that was convenient to me. Good job. Okay, Scott, safe travels home. Thanks for making time for us here on the Farmer Rapid Fire. We really appreciate it. Yeah, thank you, Lindsay. Okay, we are going to take a quick break here on the Farmer Rapid Fire brought to you by Corteva. And I'll be back with more Real Egg right after this quick break. I'm Lindsay Smith from RealAgriculture.com Join me Monday nights for the Agronomists, a one hour live and interactive show broadcast across YouTube, Facebook and X. Monday nights at 8pm Eastern, I host expert agronomists from all over the country to give you answers to some of the toughest agronomic questions. Join us live or catch the replay Tuesday morning. That's the Agronomist with me, Lindsay Smith. Monday nights live at 8pm Eastern. Hi, I'm Bernard Tobin, host of the Soybean School on RealAgriculture.com throughout the year on the Soybean School, we'll bring you timely agronomic video content from planting to harvest, from the latest agronomic research to the latest in production technologies. Cheque out our massive video library on YouTube realagriculture.com or download the audio podcast versions wherever you get your podcasts. The Soybean School is brought to you by Mazec Seeds and Lalamom Plant Care. Welcome back to RealAg Radio here on rural radio channel 147, Sirius XM. I am Lindsey Smith, your host here for the Farmer Rapid Fire. Joining me now out of Alberta, it's Brent Nilsen with Corteva. Brent, how you doing? Good. Yourself? I'm doing well. We had a fantastic lineup of farmers today. Lots of chat about I think everybody's ready for spring, but it feels like spring's a long way away. One of the first decisions though that farmers will have to make when they hit the field is that pre burn pass, that pre seed pass. How important is it? What do farmers need to think about? So I feel like it's one of our most important applications. I remember when I got as a tm, like I'd always get calls every single season about the growers regretting that missing that pre seed they got behind on the cedar and then now they're at one leaf. They got a population of weeds that are there that they need to control. So that's always like a challenge to try to get around. Very rarely to, but I don't, well, I can say I've ever seen a call where I've gotten where they regretted doing a pre burn. So the nice thing about like our stuff too is we do have that soil extended technology with our fluorozan based products. So Pre pass Corex would be an option for upgrading to Kochia. We have paradigm for those guys that are a little more concerned about cleavers and the pre pass as well as all of them. You're going to still get that extended control and volunteer canola for at least 14 to 21 days of extended control. So it helps keep that field clean. And the ultimate goal there is to keep the weed pressure down to that four to six leaf stage, taking some of that pressure off the in crop products to perform. So the weeds are gonna be smaller, you have less population of them and just make sure you have a keep that plant clean through the clerical weed feed period. Now that also ties in with crop competition, right? In that we're knocking out some of that competition so that you know, that crop is what's there. That's you know, gonna get all the nutrients, all the sunlight, all the water, which is great. One of the ways that of course we increase our crop competition is increasing our seeding rate at times. But there's always the opposite question, especially when margins get tight is, you know, can I dial back my seeding rate maybe especially on canola to maybe save a little on the seed side? How do you navigate that conversation? Just making sure you balance that. I know we like Kochi has been a big concern for a lot of growers and like crop competition is usually in your favour on that and keeping those weeds at bay is always like a positive experience. I'm from that Lethbridge area where we've been dealing with a lot of drought and we were actually encouraging growers to increase their seeding rate and there was no yield loss as you saw yield gain and then and we're actually helping with some of that kosher pressure too. So especially those weeds like kosher that don't like competitions, that seeding rate is really important to look at. Making sure we're getting the right down maybe to add a little bit to that, like a way they can save cost is just. I see a number of growers too, like seed treatments, like they're looking at bushels per acre. Like we really need to look at that kilogrammes of seed because that seed ring seed size can vary through the year. Like we don't always have 60 pound meat, right. It can be a smaller size, you know you can stretch that further. Right. So and then getting into just calibrating that drill, know your get your seed tested, get a germ on that, know what target plant stand you want to get and setting your drills Accordingly to your germination levels, your seed weight, and then getting it to the right pounds per acre for that drill. Yeah, for the. So you're right. I mean, we've got. And it's, it's a little pet project of mine since I started in this industry all those years ago of, you know, getting to either seeds or weight per acre versus, you know, bushels per acre or whatever. Yes, sometimes when you do the math, it's pretty close. But often there can be a huge discrepancy between the two and that can make all the difference. I love the point about calibrating the cedar, making sure and double checking. The question for me often then becomes though, how good are we at estimating seedling mortality or seed mortality? Are we better at it on some crops or we do we have some work to do on that one? I think it goes back to the end that getting that, making sure, you know, that germination rate, what equipment you're running too, is always going to be critical of these new pieces of new drills. I think a lot of people are underestimating the seed survivability on it in a lot of cases. Like a lot of my canola plots, I've been going through that and like I've been bumping up to 70 survivability. And historically the recommendations around 60%. But we can see when we get too much of a plant stand is we'll start seeing lodging, particularly in canola and these new drills. Every time I go back to the fields, our survivability is always better than I anticipate. So, okay, but that means. But that's because you're checking. So I think that's a really good point. Right. Is like sometimes we get caught up. It's like, okay, the crops off and away we go. And it can, you know, it's important to stop and be like, okay, did I end up where I thought I would be? It informs next year. So if you did that last year, you get a gold star. So there you go now. And you did mention, of course, that importance of that crop competition. And on the seed treatment side, we touched on seed treatments a couple weeks ago here in this segment for your area because you're a drier area, also a windy area. But from the seed treatment perspective, are you most looking for that protection from the insect side or from the disease side? What does that conversation look like? Disease, that's always the debate in southern Alberta. It really depends on which disease we're targeting. I know it's always been the Concern is hot and dry. I shouldn't be worried about disease, but there are diseases like Fusarium that do thrive in that hot, dry conditions. So I think that's critical. I think insects definitely on everyone's radar. We've had two years in southern Alberta where cut worms have been popping up in a lot of places. So that's been a concern for growers. Wireworms. Southern Alberta is always a concern. I haven't looked at some of the forecast maps in a while, but grasshoppers have been a bit of a concern the last few years as well. So just having those dry weathers, those insects have been really thriving. So. And we've had a really mild winter, so that kind of concerns me on what populations we're going to deal with. And then getting into Canola, like flea beetles is definitely something I'm kind of thinking about going to the season. It's been a challenge for several years now with that the pressure that we've been seeing down south. How bad was last year for flea beetles? And I know, you know, a previous year's experience doesn't always translate, but. But what was it like? It was in pockets last year. It actually was probably better last year than 2024, so it was a little bit better. But we did have some pockets that did have really high pressure. Okay. All right. For growers looking maybe for some advice on pre burn or on maybe some of those herbicide decisions, where can they go? For more info, talk to your local. TM is always a really good resource. Our Corteva Field guide app is a really great tool. I think a lot of growers don't know about all the time. You can look at all our products there. There's a lot of cheat sheets there, like for volume, volume, calculator, tank, mix orders. So that's all useful tools. Even highlights some of those weeds that we do have, the extended control because it's not on all of them. And then, yeah, you can find more information on Prepass Corex Paradigm. And then we have a prospect as well for Canola. That's been a great tool too for a lot of growers for pre burn. So. Okay, great resources. I like cheat sheets. They are very helpful. Don't have to store it all in the brain. Okay, Brent, thanks so much. Yeah, exactly. We don't want mistakes. Okay. Thanks so much for joining me on the show. Really appreciate it. And that does it for this edition of the Farmer Rapid Fire brought to you by Corteva right here on Rear light radio. On rule radio channel147, SiriusXM. Cheers, everybody. I'll be back tomorrow for the issues panel. Have a great day.