Ag Emerge Podcast

Soil carbon is not mainly leftover residue, and that changes everything you think you know about building healthier fields. Dr. Jennifer Pett-Ridge reveals why the real engine of soil organic matter is the life and death of microbes—and why managing the whole underground food web may matter more than chasing a bucket of bugs. What happens beneath your feet is far more dynamic than most farmers have been told. Jennifer, a soil ecologist whose work spans Yale, Berkeley, and Lawrence Livermore, breaks down why dead microbes, or necromass, make up a massive share of soil carbon, how roots feed the system through exudates, and why diversity above ground creates diversity below ground. If you want to understand how cover crops, reduced tillage, and perennial strips can change water cycling, nutrient availability, and resilience, this conversation connects the dots. Subscribe to AgEmerge Podcast for bi-weekly episodes on soil health, regenerative practices, innovative technology, grower stories, and the future of agriculture. New episodes drop every other Tuesday. Hosted by Monte Bottens Produced by Ag Solutions Network & Power2Gro Watch more: https://www.youtube.com/@AgSolutionsNetwork Listen on your favorite podcast platform: Search "AgEmerge Podcast" Ag Solutions Network Socials: https://www.agsolutionsnetwork.com/agemergepodcast https://www.facebook.com/ASN.farm https://www.linkedin.com/company/agsolutionsnetwork https://twitter.com/POWER2GRO https://www.instagram.com/agsolutionsnetwork/ Ag Solutions Network website: https://www.agsolutionsnetwork.com/ Click to watch or listen and as always, let us know if you have any questions or guest ideas by emailing ​[email protected]​. Timestamps 04:14 — Why dead microbes matter as much as living microbes 06:32 — Why many commercial inoculants may be ineffective or dead 07:21 — Necromass and why dead microbial material is a major carbon pool 09:21 — Root exudates as the starting point for soil carbon 10:35 — Plants and microbes as a trading system for nutrients and water 11:50 — Why crop diversity creates microbial diversity and more necromass 14:40 — Biomass turnover as the path toward stable carbon 16:35 — Why low-disturbance tillage still raises tradeoffs 18:37 — Fungal networks, drought resilience, and the cost of cutting biological highways 22:54 — DNA sequencing, what it reveals, and why it can become “stamp collecting” 24:12 — Only a small fraction of microbes are active at any one time 33:37 — Why “species” is a messy concept in the microbial world 34:57 — Managing soil as a system, not as individual microbes 37:22 — A real-world example of alternating corn, cover crops, and grazing 38:32 — Complexity in soil often means complexity in labor and logistics, too 39:31 — Practical farmer routines for establishing and terminating cover crops 46:48 — Carbon intensity, lower nitrogen use, and water resilience 48:22 — Soil organic matter as a sponge for both drought and flood 51:39 — Nitrogen losses, nitrous oxide, and why fertilizer efficiency matters 52:14 — Carbon intensity credits and the economics of lower-input systems 53:09 — Gene editing, photosynthetic efficiency, and root improvements 56:11 — Seed endophytes as a way to improve function without changing plant DNA 58:46 — Risks of stacked engineering and unintended input increases About our Guest: Dr. Jennifer Pett-Ridge is a Distinguished Member of Technical Staff at LLNL, Adjunct Professor at UC Merced and a principal investigator at the UC Berkeley Innovative Genomics Institute. She uses the tools of systems biology and biogeochemistry (stable isotope probing, NanoSIMS imaging, molecular microbial ecology, computational modeling) to study how earth system changes affect microbiome interactions and ecosystem processes. Much of her current work focuses on soil carbon persistence and sustainable agriculture. She leads the Carbon Initiative at LLNL.

Rob discusses moving from dairy farming into custom hay work, using strip till and diverse cover crops to improve soil, and adopting robotic sprinklers to apply water more precisely. He also shares lessons from experimenting with new equipment, why he sees winter cover crops as a profit center, and how his definition of legacy changed after the family sold its dairy. About Robert Boyle: Robert is an innovative Arizona farmer and the 2026 Strip-Till Innovator, recognized for his commitment to water conservation, efficiency and sustainable agriculture. Raised on a dairy farm in Chandler, Arizona, Boyle later moved south to Coolidge, where he expanded into dairy production, forage crops and custom farming. After transitioning fully to crop production in 2019, he built an intensive forage operation that now includes baling roughly 4,000 acres every 28 days, producing up to 10 cuttings annually plus green-chop harvests. His practical approach to conserving water while maintaining productivity has made him a leader in advancing more resilient farming systems in the arid Southwest. Rob jokes that Coolidge is “a quarter mile from hell,” describing the area’s unusually hot well water. He explains how cover crop roots helped improve soil conditions where repeated tillage had fallen short. After selling the family dairy, Rob came to see his daughter—not the cows—as his legacy. Robert shares how a third-generation Arizona farm evolved from dairying into a highly efficient custom hay and row-crop operation. The conversation centers on strip till, high-diversity cover crops, and precision irrigation, with a strong focus on making farming work in a hot, salty, high-pressure water environment. Monte and Robert talk about adapted machinery, water management, and crop rotations to stay profitable under urban pressure and shrinking water access. Timestamps: 03:20 Building an efficient operation with technology 04:31 How steamers changed desert hay baling 06:28 Making premium horse hay 08:09 Getting started with strip till 15:40 What changed Rob’s mind about cover crops 16:36 Cover crops as a profit center 18:45 Winter forage economics and seed costs 19:41 Water availability and making cover crops work 21:38 Lessons from turnips and radishes 24:47 Why Rob pursued 360 Rain irrigation 26:43 Adapting robotic irrigation to Arizona conditions 29:57 Comparing targeted irrigation with flood irrigation 32:44 Using lagoon water with irrigation equipment 35:02 Portable irrigation on rented ground 38:02 Managing salinity and pH with humic acid 40:09 Development pressure around Coolidge 44:51 Family, farming, and the future of the operation 49:07 Redefining legacy after selling the dairy 52:06 Rob’s vision for smaller autonomous machines 59:42 What could come next for irrigation robots and biologicals

Iowa’s fight over water quality is no longer academic. Monte Bottens sits down with Chris Jones—a research scientist, author, water-quality expert, and candidate for Iowa Secretary of Agriculture—to examine how nitrate pollution, agricultural policy, public health, and rural decline are shaping the future of farming. Chris has spent more than 40 years advocating for clean water and sustainable agricultural practices. He managed the water-quality testing laboratory at Des Moines Water Works for eight years, helping oversee operations at one of the world’s largest nitrate-removal facilities. He later worked as an environmental scientist at the Iowa Soybean Association, where he helped establish some of the state’s first independent water-quality monitoring systems. At the University of Iowa, Chris worked as a research engineer and helped develop Iowa’s first real-time public water-quality sensor network, giving the public unprecedented access to information about the condition of the state’s rivers and streams. He is also the author of The Swine Republic: Struggles With the Truth About Agriculture and Water Quality, selected by the Library of Congress to represent Iowa at the 2024 National Book Festival. In 2024, he helped found Driftless Water Defenders, a grassroots organization protecting the waters of northeast Iowa’s Driftless Area. During their conversation, Monte and Chris explore the forces behind polluted rivers and stressed water systems—from tile drainage across the Des Moines Lobe to the timing and rate of nitrogen and manure applications. Chris explains how fall fertilizer applications, concentrated livestock production, CAFO placement, and wet soils influence what appears in rivers months later. He also discusses why cover crops may provide their greatest water-quality benefits during the spring. Chris Jones Online: https://www.facebook.com/chrisjones4ia https://www.instagram.com/chrisjones4ia https://www.youtube.com/@chrisjones4IA Timestamps: 02:15 - Chris Jones explains his run for Iowa Secretary of Agriculture 09:17 - How the Des Moines water system faces nitrate pressure 13:07 - How tile drainage carries nitrate from fields to streams 16:20 - Why nitrate loss is driven by weather, soils, and mineralization 23:53 - Rate, timing, and distribution as the real nutrient challenge 28:04 - What cover crops can and cannot do for nitrate reduction 31:13 - Spring versus fall manure timing and nitrate loss reduction 34:28 - Why fall anhydrous often means more total nitrogen applied 39:16 - Why diversification, not just regulation, may be the long-term fix 43:30 - Meat processors, livestock diversity, and rebuilding local economies 44:56 - Oats, food hubs, and creating a third crop for Iowa 49:27 - Soil health as the underlying system behind better water quality 53:03 - Why the burden should not fall only on farmers 54:35 - Getting 50% of Iowa school food from Iowa farms 59:09 - Food hubs, small-acre farming, and opportunities for young growers 61:12 - Dignity, consolidation, and what agriculture has taken away 63:12 - Five policy changes Jones says Iowa should pursue 73:32 - Help for beginning farmers and access to land

Autonomous tractors are only the beginning. The next breakthrough in ag tech is a physical AI layer that can learn, adapt, and make farms dramatically more efficient without forcing every grower to become a robotics expert. Colin Hurd returns to the AgEmerge Podcast with a behind-the-scenes look at where ag autonomy really stands now, why retrofit solutions are only part of the story, and what has to change before self-driving machines become truly useful in the field. From dusty harvest conditions that break today’s sensors to the opportunity for AI systems to preserve hard-earned farming knowledge, this conversation gets into the real bottlenecks - and the real upside - of the next five years. Colin has devoted his career to leading innovative companies in the machinery industry. In 2016, Colin founded his second company, Smart Ag, which developed the first retrofit driverless system to automate tractors. After funding and growing the company, he led Smart Ag successfully through an exit to Raven Industries (NYSE:RAVN) in 2019. Raven was then acquired by CNH Industrial in 2021 (NYSE:CNHI). Colin stayed with Raven and managed business development until forming Mach in 2022. Learn about Mach: https://mach.io/about-us/ Timestamps 07:08 - Why physical AI could transform the next 5 to 10 years on the farm 10:39 - Colin’s first startup and the soil compaction problem behind Track Till 12:06 - Why preventing compaction led him into autonomy 13:05 - Smart Ag, autonomous grain carts, and the Raven acquisition 14:34 - Building Mock by acquiring autonomy companies with complementary strengths 16:56 - Mach's thesis: OEMs can source autonomy instead of building or buying it all 18:18 - Why off-road engineering talent is hard to recruit and even harder to localize 20:05 - Why lidar struggles in dusty ag environments 21:04 - Radar-based sensing as Mock’s bet for off-road autonomy 22:53 - Why OEM size creates different autonomy needs across large, mid-sized, and shortline brands 24:21 - Mach's modular stack and why it stays OEM-only 26:20 - Why large enterprise users can help accelerate OEM go-to-market timing 27:29 - Retrofit autonomy and why Mach is avoiding that business model 29:14 - Why smaller, autonomy-first machine designs may be the real future 31:20 - Redesigning machines for autonomy instead of bolting it on 34:15 - One operator supervising eight machines in orchard autonomy 35:08 - Where humanoids fit into agriculture and what they would actually do 37:28 - From rigid path planning to non-deterministic physical AI 39:05 - Machines that understand objectives instead of only following pre-programmed routes 40:44 - The three core autonomy buckets: connectivity, situational awareness, and navigation 42:03 - Physical AI as a supervisory intelligence layer on top of the stack 43:03 - Agentic systems, self-repair, and the right-to-repair conversation 45:46 - Transferring farm knowledge, field history, and terrain awareness into machine behavior 47:16 - Using autonomy to support sustainable practices and reduce cost per acre 48:14 - Why cover crop adoption could accelerate if machines could learn from broader experience 50:37 - Physical AI as a way to reduce fear of failure in new practices 55:23 - Why recursive learning on-device is difficult, but data collection and fleet learning are realistic 58:32 - How farmers can connect with autonomy companies and stay current on emerging tech 63:07 - How Ag Startup Engine was built as an investor-managed fund with farmer input 65:39 - PlowVision and AI-guided cutting in meat processing 67:18 - Terra Blaster and real-time nutrient application for soil health 68:47 - Why founder feedback and customer validation matter more than hype 73:18 - The tradeoffs between angel investing and participating in a fund 74:13 - How farmers can get involved as accredited investors and pilot early autonomy tech 75:39 - Why Mach's technology aims to make agriculture more efficient and more regenerative

Regenerative agriculture is not a slogan—it is a system. And Chuck Schembre knows where that system can break, where it works, and how growers can make the transition without throwing yields out the window. If you care about specialty crops, produce, vineyards, apples, almonds, or the real-world economics of farming differently, this conversation is for you. Chuck brings a rare perspective shaped by both science and hands-on farming. From working restaurant lines with peak-season tomatoes and onions that changed how he thought about food, to farming across California, Sonoma, Napa, and now the high desert of Nevada, he shares the path that led him into soil health, ecological farming, and regenerative consulting. This conversation gets into the realities behind regenerative agriculture—not just the ideals. Chuck and Monte discuss why transitions are so complex, what actually motivates growers to change, and why removing one conventional practice can create ripple effects across an entire production system. They explore herbicide reduction in orchards and vineyards, cover crop termination, fertility management, phosphorus overapplication in organic systems, food safety challenges in produce, and why regenerative farming doesn't necessarily mean eliminating every conventional tool. Chuck also explains why context matters. A practice that works on a small diversified farm may not translate directly to a large produce operation, vineyard, or orchard. Successful transitions require understanding the entire system, the economics behind it, and the realities growers face in the field. **About Our Guest** Chuck Schembre is the owner of High Desert Harvest Farm, a small diversified regenerative farm in Washoe Valley, Northern Nevada, and founder of EcoSoil Solutions, a soil health and regenerative agronomy consulting company. A Certified Professional Soil Scientist and agronomist, Chuck has two decades of experience farming organically and regeneratively while interpreting soil and plant health metrics and connecting them to practical farm management. His experience ranges from small-scale organic vegetable systems to large orchard and vineyard operations. He holds a B.S. in Earth and Soil Science from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Find Chuck online: https://ecosoilsolutions.com **Timestamps** 06:14 – Napa demo farm and the move to northern Nevada 08:40 – Cal Poly: soils, organic farming, and surf 10:31 – How fresh tomatoes and onions changed his understanding of food 17:35 – Regenerative transitions and finding committed buyers 21:23 – Soil tests, sap testing, and grower experience 23:47 – What motivates growers to change 31:23 – Why chemical reduction often starts with weed management 36:38 – Moving beyond herbicide dependence 37:07 – Systems thinking: one change affects everything else 42:20 – Why cover crop termination is the key decision 43:14 – Myth-busting regenerative agriculture in specialty crops 46:33 – When conventional fertility may still have a role 47:55 – Phosphorus overapplication in organic systems 48:49 – The tool chest: conventional, organic, and regenerative constraints 50:20 – Restoring orchards before replanting 51:08 – Food safety rules and soil health in produce 53:02 – Why large-scale produce is difficult to transition 58:34 – How small growers can profit through creative sizing and packing 64:49 – Why being a farmer makes Chuck a better consultant