Companies work with AgRevival and other research partners to study and fine-tune products they’re bringing to market. As a farmer, when does it pay to consider modifying or replacing a practice that you’ve used—sometimes for decades? How do you know when it’s time? That was our final question to agronomist Nate Firle of AgRevival for our interview. 

People Influencing People

Farmers drive the majority of these conversations. At AgRevival, we field probably three calls a week from farmers who are looking into a new product or practice. That’s about one hundred and forty farmers a year we hear from who are exploring options because they’re not happy with something. And do you know how the story starts? Usually with another farmer. They heard about a guy who tried this or that and saw a positive response. It’s people influencing other people. Guys want validation from someone else who has already been through the process. 

Our mission here is to provide the data, experience, and story behind a particular product or practice to help farmers make informed decisions. We’re not actively telling farmers ‘hey, you need to do this or that’. You definitely shouldn’t read something in a magazine or a research book and think ‘boy, I really should make that change’ and feel pressure to do so, because that change might not make sense for your operation. 

For example, a local farmer and friend of mine has invested fully in strip till and made some really big equipment changes on his farm. His neighbor, who we do some trial work with, was in yesterday and mentioned this to me. I encouraged him that if he wanted to consider a change, maybe watch his neighbor and see what he’s doing for a year. And then he told me that he is only planning on farming another six or seven years. So, for him, it didn’t make any sense to make an investment like that, no matter how good the returns looked. He was happy with his current program and making a good profit. Considering everything, the change didn’t make sense. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. It’s a smart decision. 

Forced Change

Of course, the other aspect we deal with in agriculture is forced change. There’s a desire to change based on performance, and then there are policies that affect us, and that’s what many farmers are most uncomfortable with. California proposed a rule where you’re only allowed to apply fifty pounds of nitrogen at a time. There are research companies that are working to provide solutions for farmers because of various mandates where we’re being told to move away from one thing or another. 

My goal is never to get to the point where I’m forcing a farmer to change. I want to help farmers change, but I want to help them change in a manner that lines up with their plans. And that’s actually where we’ve had a lot of fun; we’ve helped a lot of farmers make changes to their operations flawlessly while increasing their profitability. 

The great thing about working with the farming community is that word about this gets out and pretty soon other farmers are calling and asking our advice. We have to turn away probably twenty percent of the calls every year because we just don’t have the capacity for all the consulting work. And if we don’t have experience with a certain product or practice, we advise the farmers accordingly as well. 

Sustainability Driving Change

Our dialog with farmers also prompts new study ideas. It keeps us connected to the field and the innovative projects that farmers are interested in learning more about. During the first eight years of performing research, the questions farmers asked generally centered around profitability. But recently, there has been more of a drive toward sustainability. Yes, the dollars and cents still have to work out, but guys are thinking more along the lines of, “how do I improve the land for the next generation? How do I keep the farm going?” We’re seeing many of the Baby Boomers retiring, and a big chunk of them really want to leave a legacy for the next generation that’s going to be profitable. They’re willing to invest back into the farm to drive change for the next generation. 

I guess I’m classified as a Millenial, and there are a lot of us working in the industry right now. It’s fun when I sit down with a father/son or father/daughter farming operation. And the dad will often look at his son or daughter and ask, “well, what do you think?” Dad is still the decision maker, but the influencers are also sitting at the table. Together, they’re interested in making smart decisions to set up for the next 20-year cycle.

Making Old New Again

There are some practices or products that have gone by the wayside in our industry or are looked upon as old or out-of-date. Some are best left in the past, in my opinion, and other ideas may deserve a second look. I know we have talked quite a bit about tillage already, but this makes me think about the moldboard plow. John Deere just stopped making plows last year or the year before, and the company has had plows in its product lineup for well over 100 years. 

Marion Calmer, the founder of Calmer Corn Heads, performs research on his farm, and he was one of the people who started saying, ‘hey, our nutrients are stuck in different soil layers. Maybe it doesn’t make sense to completely put the plow out to pasture or grove.’ The nutrients may be concentrated in the top five inches of the soil, but the corn roots are running much deeper. And we’re not getting enough moisture to push the nutrients deeper where they can be more plant-available.  

If you consider the problem of nutrient stratification, the solution is fairly obvious. What do we have that can flip the soil? The plow. And I’m not saying we do it every year; this is maybe something you do one in ten years. The plow is an example of an old tool that still has use even with other more “modern” equipment available. 

When I was younger, 9-18-9 and 10-34-0 high-salt fertilizers were both popular and we saw positive results with them. Since then, many in the industry have figured out that their salt load was probably too much. Some farmers didn’t flat-out get rid of them, but introduced the practice of buffering the salt with another product, like CarbonWorks CetaiN® or CarbonWorks RSTC 17®. And some farmers switched from conventional fertilizers to bio-stimulants and biologicals completely. 

Innovation Picking Up Speed

The speed of product cycles has definitely picked up in agriculture, and I think some of it actually has to do with social media and the boldness of the next generation of farmers. If something doesn’t work, they’re not afraid to share it with the world. And that forces products to roll over fairly quickly. There’s a feeling out there that if something is four years old, it’s maybe time to seek out the next best thing. 

I’ve said this throughout this interview before, but if you do find something on your farm that works, stick with it and don’t deviate from it. We’ve actually put a few protocols in place on the farm this year that are protocols that we used eight or nine years ago. And we’re doing this simply to provide a fresh data set for farmers and say, ‘hey, this is something you’ve been doing for the last seven years and you should see that our data will match up with what you’ve seen on the farm’. It confirms that what we’ve been doing really is the best solution. Some of these studies include sugars, water conditioners, and carbon products. 

In the seed world, the pace of innovation is unbelievable. In fact, I’m working with Jim Schwartz at Beck’s Hybrids to develop a new way of testing hybrids. We’re seeing genetic advancement happen so fast that, by the time you do these three- and four-year studies, another hybrid has surfaced that surpasses it.  We’re calling it “product characterization research.” A farmer can tell his or her seed dealer about the practices or unique features of the farm and the dealer will be able to dig a product out of the portfolio that matches not only the farmer’s goals but the unique characteristics of that particular farm. This is one example of the cutting edge in agriculture that has me really excited about the future. 

Follow God’s Plan

AgRevival’s foundation is really based on my relationship with Jesus and what I call my Christian curiosity. The Lord spoke this into my heart early in my career and early in my relationship with him: we need to learn the right way to apply all the advances we’re seeing in the ag industry. We have to balance innovation with the God-inspired processes in nature that we have zero influence over. These processes have been here long before any of us reading this article. And long after we’re each gone, they’ll still be here. Plants growing, pulling in CO₂, using that carbon to build tissues, and then releasing all the oxygen. That is a symbiotic process that God inspired. We have to learn how our industrial products and practices can fit into this, keeping the whole system in balance, and use them to increase yield, productivity, and ROI without trying to change or manipulate the natural system. 

That’s the foundation of the curiosity that I have ingrained in me and drives my passion for the industry to this day. How can I gain an understanding of how God’s process and this product or process can balance together? Our goal at AgRevival is to seek the balance between the God-inspired process and the industrial products and practices that exist today. 

Farmers are naturally curious and have to have faith. They’re planting seed in the ground and there’s no switch they can flip to ‘grow’. There are a lot of things on the farm that you just have to put faith in. I say, if you can, channel that faith in God and trust in Jesus that there’s a plan for you. If we can continue to share with farmers, and they learn and get curious and see opportunities for change and opportunities for sustainability and profitability, that’s really what’s driving us and driving the fun around here.