Top 10 Crop Nutrition Learnings Of 2023

We’re looking back at some of the most important lessons we learned throughout 2023. Season 2 of The Dirt podKast aired with 38 episodes featuring an impressive lineup of guests and experts, from farmers to influencers to agronomists—and even a chuckwagon driver! The season took host Mike Howell all the way from the U.S. to the Sulphur World Symposium in Scotland and connected him with guests across North America. So, what are our key takeaways from The Dirt season 2? Read on to find out.

1. What award-winning growers are doing

On Heath Cutrell’s award-winning farm, there are many factors that go into the impressive yields. This year, Heath took home an award for the highest yield in the country for corn growers with 394 bushels to the acre of dryland corn. Heath and Nutrien’s Fenton Eure share some key aspects of the fertilizer program from equipment to tissue testing to the perfect fertilizer blend.

As for Heath’s secret ingredient? “To be honest with you, one of the very biggest things that we believe in and use is ESN.” Listen to the episode to hear the full story: Record-breaking Corn Grower Shares Fertilizer Tips and Tricks

2. Discussing the weather is always top of mind

What do farmers do when they leave the farm? Talk about farming. And a key component of the occupation is mother nature, and more specifically, the weather. Our spring and fall weather outlook episodes were some of the most popular of the season, sharing insights from Eric Snodgrass, a Nutrien Senior Science Fellow, on how weather predictions may impact the 2023 growing and harvest seasons and beyond.

3. Why sulfur remains a hot topic

Have you heard us talk enough about sulfur yet? Following the introduction of the Clean Air Act in 1970, free sulfur from industrial activity that was being deposited onto crops in the United States was reduced nearly in half in regions of the U.S. The reduced amount of free sulfur means that nowadays, farmers have to use more sulfur fertilizer. But did you know fertilizer isn’t the only way we can use sulfur in agriculture? Sulfur can also be used as a fungicide and as a soil amendment in some circumstances. To take a deep dive into the different ways sulfur can be used and why sulfur is so important for plant growth, check out these episodes of The Dirt:

Why Is Everyone Talking About Sulfur?

Don’t Forget the Sulfur! Agriculture’s Fourth Nutrient

Drilling Down Deep; The Critical Role of Sulfur

4. Regenerative agriculture is here to stay

Regenerative agriculture has been a hot topic in the agriculture world and as we strive to produce more food in sustainable ways, it will continue to become more important.

Dr. Alan Blaylock defines it: “The idea behind [regenerative agriculture] is to do things that actually build and improve soil rather than cause the soil to decline or deteriorate. And this is important because over the generations that we have farmed some of our soils, they have declined. We’ve had soil erosion, loss of topsoil, loss of soil organic matter, loss of nutrients, and that contributes to a decline in productivity if we don’t do something to improve that soil and replace what’s lost. The idea behind regenerative agriculture is to […] implement practices that regenerate that soil.”

Listen to the full episode to learn about five key concepts of regenerative agriculture from Dr. Blaylock: Regenerative Ag: Five Key Concepts

5. How to approach new products: Identify goals and test, test, test

In episode one, Brian Arnall Talks Biostimulants, Dr. Arnall cautioned listeners when experimenting with up-and-coming products: “Understand the mechanisms of the products that you’re wanting to buy and have a goal. Do you want to reduce your nitrogen rate? Do you want to pull available phosphorus out and tie the right product potentially? Understand how to do on-farm testing and test, test, test.”

6. Listen, learn and innovate

On the episode Managing Potato Fertility is Critical, farmer Ryan Christensen shared: “As people in the ag world, we need to learn about what others are doing and not live inside our box. That’s what helped me innovate—listening. How guys do things in Mississippi, Iowa, California, Canada? If we’re not learning, then what are we doing?” If you’re ready to learn all about potato fertility, nitrogen and water management, tune in to the episode.

7. Canola’s role in the Prairies

In North of the 49th: Crash Course in Canola, Lyle Cowell, Senior Agronomist with Nutrien, and Mike Howell dig deep into Canada’s golden crop. They cover canola fertility, timing, pests and yields, and discuss the differences in soil in Western Canada and the Southern U.S., from organic matter to soil pH. Tune into the episode to learn why canola is so successful in the region and its importance to western Canadian growers.

8. How managing a crop can yield results

Dr. Trent Irby, extension specialist for soybean production in Mississippi, shares how a changed mindset revolutionized soybean production in The Dirt episode Improvements in Soybean Crop Management Yield Results. Mike and Dr. Irby discuss how growers’ approaches to planning soybeans have changed over the years, from maturity group to planting date, and how intensive management has improved yields to state records.

9. Good data drives good farm decisions

Dr. Darrin Dodds, head of the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences at Mississippi State, joined The Dirt podKast on the episode Understanding Stats – Trash In, Trash Out. He shared why working with good data is so important for on-farm testing:
“If the numbers you put in to run statistics on are not good, your outcome is not good. Whatever numbers you look at, you want to make sure that they are from a reliable, reputable source and that they were collected in the proper manner.” And when it comes to on-farm testing, Dr. Dodds advises “the more replications you have, the more powerful it makes your data.”

10. The connection between chuckwagon racing and farming

In A Lifetime in the Chucks, Alberta’s Mark Sutherland, a second generation chuckwagon racer, joined Mike Howell to share about his 30 years of experience racing chuckwagons. From the history of the sport to training and nutritional needs of the horses, you’ll learn all about the life of a chuckwagon racer. But where do the two worlds come together? It’s all in the nutrition. Mike compares making sure growers get the nitrogen fertilizer needed for growth onto their crops to Mark making sure that his horses get the high protein they need to perform.

Thanks to everyone who tuned into season 2 of The Dirt podKast and learned with us this year. We’ll be back in the new year for season 3! In the meantime, if you have a topic you would like to hear us discuss next season, submit your ideas to Ask an Agronomist.