Selecting the Right Seed for the Right Acre: Ag Inputs As Sustainability Tools, with Todd Pester

You can have all the agronomic tools in the world.

But if you don't have a plan to place the right seed on the right acre, both your margins and your sustainability footprint will suffer.

Plans take insight. Insight takes data.

And our seed product management team is working harder than ever before to provide our crop consultants with both.

So in this episode, we're talking to Todd Pester, the Senior Manager of Seed Product Management at Nutrien Ag Solutions, to talk about the tools that are available to help growers select the right seed for the right acre and maximize both their sustainability impact and their profitability.

You can find Dyna-Gro's Seed Recommendation Tool, as well as the full lineup of seed products, at dynagroseed.com

Plus, Tom and Sally reveal their plans for the 2nd Annual Sustainable Success Champions Program at Commodity Classic in Houston next year.

Visit nutrienagsolutions.com/champion to learn more or sign up.

Episode Transcript

Todd Pester 

We worked hard over the last couple of years to develop even some new analytics tools and visualizations that could help tell an easier story for our crop consultants to see where a product performs the best. And it also helps with product placement then as well. 

We're excited about the progress we've made and doing an even better job of helping our customers pick great products for their farm. 

Dusty Weis 

Welcome to the FARMSMART Podcast presented by Nutrien Ag Solutions. Every month we're talking to sustainable agriculture experts from throughout the industry, along with our very own Tom Daniel, Director of North America Retail and Grower Sustainable Ag, and Dr. Sally Flis, Director of Program Design and Outcome Management.  

As the leading source of insight for growers on evolving their sustainability practices while staying grounded in agronomic proof, FARMSMART is where sustainability meets opportunity. We don't just talk change. We're out in the field helping you identify the products, practices and technologies that bring the future to your fields faster.  

On this week's episode, we're going to check in with Todd Pester, the Senior Manager of Seed Product Management at Nutrien Ag Solutions, to talk about the tools that are available to help growers select the right seed for the right acre and maximize both their sustainability impact and their profit margins. 

I'm Dusty Weis, and Tom and Sally… I understand that you folks are going to be having your second annual Sustainable Success Champions Program again this coming year at Commodity Classic. Tom, can I enter? 

Tom Daniel 

No, Dusty, you cannot.  

Dusty Weis 

Darn it! Foiled again. 

Tom Daniel 

Actually, Dusty, if you were a farmer in the working with a Nutrien Ag Solutions crop consultant and you are working on sustainability on your particular farm, you could enroll. So I guess I'll ask the question back. Are you qualified today? 

Dusty Weis 

Unfortunately, I only own crop land. I don't actually work it myself. So I guess yet again it's another Nutrien contest that I won't be allowed to enter. But there's a lot of incentive out there for folks to enter. Tell us about that. 

Sally Flis 

So you touched on it a little bit there in your opening comments. It's a program to recognize that relationship between the grower and the crop consultant for implementing sustainable practices on the ground. So we're recognizing two pairs of grower and crop consultant entrants from each of our five North American regions. So Canada, the East, the South, the Corn Belt and the West will each have two winners as the pair of the grower and the crop consultant.  

You don't have to be enrolled in any of our programs. Just be able to demonstrate and discuss all the different things that are happening on the farm and in that relationship with the crop consultant to implement sustainable practices on the ground. And then the winners get to join us down at the Commodity Classic in the spring in order to receive their awards and experience the event. And then we'll use those growers and crop consultants to help us help them tell the story of sustainable ag on the farm. 

So Tom, last year when we did this event, we had our entrants join us in Phoenix for the NASCAR race. And what were some of your takeaways from that event and bringing those growers and crop consultants other? 

Tom Daniel 

Well, the great thing that I saw come out of it was just the camaraderie between all the different regions and the different growers from different areas, because even though they farm different crops and had different practices that they basically did on their farms, they all had the same central focus of sustainability. They were all focused on soil health, water management, you know, all the resource concerns that we talk about. 

They were all totally engaged in those processes. Now, some of them may have been doing those practices on a winter wheat crop and some of them may have been doing it on lettuce out of California, but all of them were focused on it. And I just found that it's so interesting when you bring a group of diverse growers and even crop consultants together that they always find common ground in farming together. 

And I think they all found common ground in sustainability. So one of the things I would ask you, Sally, we're going to be judging these different applicants and like you said, there's going to be two per region. What are some of the criteria that we're going to look for when we're judging these applications? 

Sally Flis 

Sure. So I'm going to use some examples from last year not to call anybody out or give too much detail, but we really want to see that depth of what's happening on the farm. So just saying something like I do sustainable practices, I've always done sustainable practices isn't going to be a sufficient answer for us to select your application. 

So we want to understand what are the practices that are working on your farm. Are you working with organizations like USDA and the Natural Resource Conservation Service? Are you working with other NGOs like Ducks Unlimited or other programs on the ground that can help support sustainable practices on your farm? And kind of that why? Like, what is it that's driving you as a grower working with your crop consultant, or what is driving your crop consultant to help you implement those sustainable practices on the ground so that you do see the progress over time? 

And how does that relate to the direction of your business? So a little bit of a story is helpful to see in those applications so we can really understand the decisions made and the direction that we're going on the ground. 

Tom Daniel 

Yeah, and Sally, I would add to that a little bit is we're looking for growers that are working directly with their Nutrien crop consultant around these practice changes and things on the farm. And we're looking for someone that's not just looking at the single crop year when a certain cash crops growing on the acre, but how are they managing that acre 365 days a year and how are they managing that acre in rotations over the next few years? 

Because all of those will give a clear indication of the grower sustainability and what he's trying to accomplish on the farm. You know, we talk about soil health, we talk about water quality, but, you know, there's a lot of things that a grower can do in-season that can help drive changes on the farm too, especially around nutrient management. 

And Sally, one of those things I think about is doing soil and crop tissue sampling in season. And so we're in the soil testing season right now. Growers are out there today taking soil samples and determining what their nutritional needs are going to be. But one of the key components, I think, of any sustainable success champion is a nutrient management plan and the inputs that are going to be used on the farm. 

And what do you see working within the nutrient management planning for a particular grower? 

Sally Flis 

Well, for one Tom, like we've talked about a lot of times on the podcast, it's going to be different for every grower. What works for that nutrient management plan, right? Like some growers are going to have it written down and documented and have it all planned out ahead of time and alternatives for if something goes wrong, some growers are going to have a digital and some growers and some it's just going to be that relationship with their crop consultant to be, like you mentioned, doing tissue tests that constant evaluation for how are we going to make sure things come out the way we want them at the end of the season. So I think there's variety in what that is going to look like when we go to call something a nutrient management plan. 

And the important piece is really like you mentioned, using all those tools that we have available, tissue testing, soil testing, crop scouting, the different products we can use during the season, the different products we can use before the season, other conservation practices that can be implemented to get the grower and the crop consultant to what the goals are that they've set for that cropping season. 

Tom Daniel 

Yeah, totally agree. It's about using the toolbox, right? And every crop consultant has a significant toolbox. He can work with each grower and help accomplish those sustainability practices that we're really looking for. And you mentioned something earlier too. You talked about working with some groups like Ducks Unlimited and different ones. You know, we need those sustainable success stories being told within the industry today and this group of growers that we're going to bring together in Houston at the Commodity Classic, these guys are going to have stories that need to be told that the consumer market needs to hear, the industry needs to hear because sometimes agriculture gets a bad rap. 

So we need to be telling the stories of the successful growers. And Sally, let me ask a question. If I'm a Nutrien crop consultant today and I want to nominate one of my growers for this, how do I do it and what are the deadlines to getting an application submitted? 

Sally Flis 

Tom the deadline is December 15th to get applications in and the best thing that the crop consultant can do is reach out to our regional sustainable ag leads because they're going to have the information and I think we'll be able to post some links in the notes for this episode of where to go as well. But that would be Carlos Romero, Skye Hoffman, Martie Templeton and John Griffin would be able to help growers and crop consultants get to the information they need to be nominated for the program. 

Tom Daniel 

Yes, so we'll have a new person for the western region here very shortly and we'll be able to post that person's name also as a contact for this. I guess, Sally, that pretty well covers everything around the Sustainable Success Champion. Let's just say again that it's going to be at the Commodity Classic, which is February 27th to March the 2nd, and it's going to be in Houston, Texas this year. 

And Houston, Texas is usually a nice warm spot to go to in March. So should be a great trip. Commodity Classic is always a great opportunity of learning and to get together with people of like mind. And the Sustainable Success Champions will definitely be people that will be coming together with like minds. So I look forward to it. 

And Sally, I thank you for putting this together. It's a great program. 

Sally Flis 

It's exciting to get these growers together and I look forward to a time when we're able to get multiple years of winners together in the same room and really demonstrate the progress that our growers and crop consultants are making on the ground. 

Dusty Weis 

Well, Sally, I'm just going to pile on with Tom here. It's a great event and a great way to recognize the folks in the industry who have invested themselves into the tenets of sustainability that we value so much and that we talk about all the time here on this podcast. And of course, if anybody's interested in learning more or entering, I know I'm excluded, but other folks out there might be… nutrienagsolutions.com/champion is the website you're going to want to visit… nutrienagsolutions.com/champion.  

And of course Commodity Classic in Houston, a great way to learn from other growers about the practices and products where they've found success. Speaking of product, selecting the right inputs is of course a crucial part of both the sustainability puzzle and grower success. And so coming up after the break, we're going to talk to Todd Pester, senior manager of Seed Product Management at Nutrien Ag Solutions, about some of the tools that are available to help select the right inputs. 

That's coming up in a moment here on the FARMSMART Podcast.  

Dusty Weis 

This is the FARMSMART Podcast presented by Nutrien Ag Solutions. I'm Dusty Weis along with Tom Daniel and Sally Flis, and we're joined now by Todd Pester, senior manager of Seed Product Management at Nutrien Ag Solutions. Todd, thank you for joining us. 

Todd Pester 

Hello Dusty, it's great to be with you today and thanks for having me. 

Dusty Weis 

So Todd, as our grower customers in the Corn Belt are getting to the point now where they're on the home stretch for harvesting their 2023 crop, I’m dying to know what you can tell us about the 2024 Dyna-Gro corn and soybean portfolios that are going to continue to provide that home field advantage for our customers in 2024? 

Todd Pester 

That's a great question. Dusty. Dyna-Gro has an excellent lineup of corn and soybean products for 2024. We've been at this a long time and we've got a skilled set of product managers that are picking these products and you know, we've got soybean products from triple zeros all the way to 7.0's and corn products running from 70 days all the way to 118 day with a full range of traits and germplasm that are well suited to meet our customer’s needs each year. 

Dusty Weis 

So specifically for corn, in July, your team announced that the SmartStax PRO Technology is now available on Dyna-Gro seed, enabling the seed to have three modes of action against corn rootworm. Can you elaborate a little bit why this technology is beneficial for the 2024 portfolio? 

Todd Pester 

Sure. Corn rootworm has been a challenging agronomic pest in corn for a long time and back in the nineties, suppliers and technology developers had identified some BT proteins that have been very effective over the past couple of decades against this pest. But as time progresses and pests evolve over time with our systems that we're using to control them, they create some new risks and challenges that, you know, this new trait called RNAI, is going to be very effective again. 

So SmartStax PRO contains RNAI, which stands for RNA interference. So small molecules that a plant will produce proteins. And this technology then chews it up. It's a naturally occurring process, but the trait was inserted into corn be very effective and very specific against corn rootworm. So this should provide additional durability and control of this pest into the foreseeable future. 

So we're excited to bring it in and we add out to products in our Dyna-Gro lineup that are performing really well. One's 105 day product and the other is a 109 day product. Those numbers, if you're interested, are the D45SP33 and D49SP83. 

Dusty Weis 

And on the other side of the spectrum, in corn country, soybeans, specifically, what's a new technology or trait that our customers should be taking a look at there? 

Todd Pester 

Well, this will depend really on where they're situated, what their cropping systems are. The two trait technologies are kind of dominating soybean currently are… extend flex that comes from Bayer as a supplier, and then you have the Enlist E3 that comes from Corteva. And so the market is about 50/50 for those two herbicide tolerance traits now. And we've got a full lineup of both of those at all maturities again from 009’s all the way up to 7-0s. 

And so whatever the the grower wants to use for their system, they can pick the trait first and that platform that they're comfortable using. Beyond that, it's really around agronomic traits. So those northern geographies that struggle with IDC or iron deficiency chlorosis, we've got great products for those situations. And then as you move further south and you get into the white mold issues, that's something the growers should be concerned about and looking for and planning for as they're selecting their hybrids and varieties in soybean. 

Beyond that, it's other common diseases and other agronomic frog eye leaf spot and some of those other key ones. Right. Just make sure you're working with our crop consultants and our agronomists to make sure that we're picking the right varieties for them, for their fields and whatever their concerns might be. 

Sally Flis 

So, Todd, we know there's a lot of options in the field for both corn and soybean, and a lot of other seed varieties that Dyna-Gro has lines in. What are some tools that are available for crop consultants to help growers find the right seed from the Dyna-Gro line up for the field that they're working with a grower on? 

Todd Pester 

Yes, Sally, thanks for the question. We've got lots of resources online at DynaGroSeed.com. Folks can go online and see all the products that are available as well as text sheets that describe what each product brings to the table in terms of traits and genetics and agronomic. And it's listed all by maturity so they can see which ones would fit in their zone. 

You know, another tool we work to develop really hard on the last few years is called our Seed Recommendation tool. And you can find that at this address here. It's hub.nutrienagsolutions.com. A grower can go on to that site. It brings up a US field map. They can drill right to their fields, select on that by their field boundaries, and it'll automatically populate a list of four or five products that would perform quite well across several brands if they're brand loyal. 

That's a great part about being with Nutrien Ag Solutions. As a retailer, we've got access to all these national brands as well as our proprietary Dyna-Gro brands for both corn and soybean. 

Tom Daniel 

So Todd, one of the things that we work with in sustainability, we always talk about crop nutrition. We talk about the 4 Rs, but I'm not so sure the 4 Rs don't apply also to the way we look at our seed products and how we put that out today. And so sustainability depends on having the right crop planted in the right place at the right time at the right rate, right? So we have the maximum efficiency so that we can get. So give me an idea, the process. So how do you select the right seed for the right acre? What is the process that you guys go through to do that? 

Todd Pester 

Well, that's an excellent question, Tom. And you're right, What you're proposing is those 4 Rs, right? The right product at the right place, at the right time and at the right rate. Right. All of those things apply to seed. And seed is one of the most emotional and expensive purchases that a grower will make each year. And it's really important to have a relationship with an agronomist or a crop consultant that you trust to help you make those recommendations. 

There's lots of choices out there, but you really need to spend time going through that planning process and do it very early. So once you do select those products, you've got a good chance of getting those that are first on your list, but also have a plan B, right for that second or third choice product if the first choice isn't available. 

But the process should really be going field by field, understanding what the yield goals are for that grower. It's about putting the right nutrients there and the right investment to have a successful harvest for that grower. So sitting down looking at weed pressure, insect pressure, what are the soil needs in terms of nutrition and then what products will perform the best or in response to those inputs, whatever those production goals are. 

And so again, it really gets back to working with your crop consultant and agronomists at a very local level, finding the exact right product at the right price point as well can be a big concern for some growers. So again, we've got a full line of products available in corn and soybean and we're really confident we can find the exact right product for them for each field in their operation. 

Sally Flis 

Todd to follow up on that a little bit, what are some of the other traits that we have information on, whether it's plot data or other available information for growers and crop consultants to take a look at on yield or input efficiency use and how that can tie in to some of the offerings a grower might be eligible for from Nutrien Ag Solutions or some of our partners as they look at that farm plan for 2024. 

Todd Pester 

Yeah, that's a great question, Sally. And as I mentioned earlier, dynagroseed.com, there's lots of resources available for our growers, particularly on the Dyna-Gro lineup, but also on our suppliers products for those national brands that we support where you can go in there and look at those technical sheets. In addition to characterizing the maturity of that product, what traits are there? 

It also has a lot of management information on what type of tillage system you use, whether it's reduced till or conventional till. Maybe you're in those situations where you're using a cover crop and some of those more diversified things that growers are looking for as they're trying to become more sustainable on their farms. All that information is clearly listed there and each product is rated for its response to the conditions it might be in, but also response to inputs. 

Right. So fertility doesn't respond well to additional fertilizer or not, and that can be very informative for them as they make those selections. But again, working with your local crop consultant and agronomists is the best way then to verify that information. Hey, here's what I'm seeing on the text sheets. Is there any additional information they can provide locally? 

You'll also be asked about financing other types of opportunities. Again, that local resource is going to be your best source of that information on what programs might be available this year to help offset some of the costs of these products. 

Dusty Weis 

Todd, another important thing that your team brings to bear is the data that you generate on the performance of different products out in the field. So could you elaborate on that a little bit? What does that process look like from your perspective? 

Todd Pester 

Yeah, great question. So I lead a team of product managers for corn and soybean across North America, and our primary objective is to work with our suppliers. And every year, this time of year around, late November we’ll sit with them and look through a whole list of new products that they would like us to evaluate based on our needs assessment, where we say, hey, we maybe still have a couple of gaps in our portfolio and what do you have that might fit? 

And then we put those products then into a set of advancement field trials and we'll test them for one or two years as a team and look at that information and see how they're performing against maybe some of the recommendations from the supplier and what we think they can bring in terms of filling gaps in our lineup beyond that advancement trial. 

Then we work really closely with our network of agronomists to conduct what we call product performance trials. So these are a little bit bigger plots, maybe 8 to 12 rows, maybe a thousand feet long, and we can have typically 8 to 15 products in those. So maybe four or five Dyna-Gro products, maybe some other brands that they're supporting and selling through the division or branch locations and then maybe even one or two competitive products. 

And that's really the heart of the data that we use to train our sellers, but also, you know, generate some excitement and interest from our customers. And so we can have up to 1800 of those types of trial locations any given year in corn and another 1100 in soybeans. So a really extensive network of trials that are conducted. 

Beyond that, we have some regional agronomists that we're working with to really tie Dyna-Gro product and performance together with other proprietary offerings like LPI products and working with those on what we call side by side trials. And these are trials conducted with grower equipment. So it could be even a 24 or 48 row planter, right? That goes the whole length of a field or maybe even splits a field with one key Dyna-Gro product versus another Dyna-Gro product that there may be trying to complement with or maybe even replace in their lineup, or maybe it's a key competitor that they're trying to compete against and demonstrate the value that Dyna-Gro brings compared to that competitive product. 

And so again, kind of a three phase approach to testing and data analysis, we worked hard over the last couple of years to develop even some new analytics tools and visualizations that could help tell an easier story for our crop consultants to use when they're sitting with their customers to see where a product performs the best. And it also helps with product placement then as well. 

Hey, this one will work really well here if you get into maybe a little sandy or lighter soil, you can see maybe the performance isn't quite as good. So we need to avoid those areas. Again, we're excited about the progress we've made the last two years and really looking forward to the future and doing an even better job of helping our customers pick great products for their farm. 

Tom Daniel 

Today, you probably know about it, but in 2024 there's a project that we're working with in partnership with Bunge. So Bunge is one of the biggest soybean crush facilities in North America, and we're working with them on two particular projects. One is around the Council Bluffs crush facility in Iowa, and then we have three crush facilities in Indiana and Ohio that we're going to be working with and one of the key things that we're looking at is Bunge is warning to help these growers implement new practices on the farm, such as no-till, reduced tillage, cover crops, rotational diversification and even nutrient management plans on the farm. 

So they're wanting to drive sustainable practices on the farm. And even there's an opportunity for grower that could earn up to $35 an acre on these projects. The key component to most of the soybean acres is going to be yield, you know, how do we get the maximum yield that we can on these acres? Because the greater efficiencies, the higher the yield is that we can drive on the farms and still control our inputs on the farm. 

So we talk about Dyna-Gro and most people automatically think about corn, but I think about soybeans also because we've got some great varieties and great technologies that are actually available in the soybean side that can help drive sustainably produced soybeans. So what are some things that you see coming in soybeans or are they already out there? 

And is it important to place the right soybean on the right acre, just like we talk about corn? 

Todd Pester 

Yeah, soybeans are an important part of what we do at Nutrien Ag Solutions. And we take our Dyna-Gro lineup very seriously for soybean as well. And we're proud to offer, like I said earlier, two different trait platforms, whether that's ExtendFlex or Enlist E3. And we've got a full maturity group lineup and each of those trait platforms. 

So the grower has the option to select that platform first and then look toward the more agronomic characteristics that, you know, if it's disease tolerance or other types of response factors that come through the germplasm. So, you know, it's not really fair to pick any favorite from the lineup because every situation's unique and it's about finding the right product that's going to meet the customer's goals, right? 

Whether that's yield or other types of agronomic things that they might be facing on their farm. But again, looking at our ‘24 launch class within Dyna-Gro soybeans, we have new products ranging from 009’s all the way up to 6.7s, just in the ‘24 launch class alone, and several good products that are maybe one or two years old that are still performing really well. 

And so in the heart of that lineup for 2024, I’ll probably mention two that I'm really excited about in that three/five kind of right in the heart of that lineup that would work all the way from Iowa to Indiana, as you were suggesting with those crush plants, one of that product being an ExtendFlex product S35XF44. 

And then on an Enlist E3 side, maybe something a little bit earlier, the S31EN14. Both these products are widely adapted east to west and are having fantastic results in our field trials this year. So those would be great situations and great products to recommend for growers in that maturity zone. 

Tom Daniel 

Well, thanks and remember too most of these growers are going to be implementing cover crops maybe for the first time and they need to be looking at what a no-till situation or planting into a cover crop… What are going to be the variables there that a seed selection needs to be made with those conditions taken into account? 

And I think too Todd, it also talks about that seed treatment placement because that's going to be a key component in a no-till cover crop situation. 

Todd Pester 

Yeah. And starting with high quality seed and we use industry standard tests for all of our seed testing each year to make sure that every bag that goes out the door and gets planted, right. It has a great chance for success. 

Tom Daniel 

Yeah. Todd, I'm going to throw you a curveball. I always like to give you a strange question that you're not expecting. Okay? So I'm going to give you one that's not on the list today. If you were picking your superstars in the Dyna-Gro lineup today, are there some specific varieties or technologies that you would just point out and say, do you know this needs to be on the guys farm? 

I know geography determines lots of things, you know, around climate and those things, but I know that you've probably got some genetics in your mind that you think are going to be top of the line. So who are your all-stars for 2024? 

Todd Pester 

Yeah, that's a great question, Tom, And we've got so many and it really depends on the region, right as you move into those northern regions. Obviously, IDC is a big concern and we watch that very closely, monitor it and make sure that our varieties are very competitive in that environment. As you move, you know, across those timber soils to the further east and get into some lighter ground. 

Right? We have good products for each of those scenarios and you know, some of those crush plants that you're talking about there in Council Bluffs. You get into some of those really nice products in that 3-0 maturity that fit really nicely there. And again, we have a full complement of trait technology, right? Whether they would like it in the E3 lineup or in the Extend Flex. 

So that's where I'd leave it for now. Tom But yeah, certainly a great product for every acre. 

Tom Daniel 

So you're not going to make any particular variety jealous of another one. So you're just basically saying we got the lineup, we got the full pitching staff, we could be a World Series team here in 2024. 

Dusty Weis 

He’s like a proud papa, Tom, he doesn’t want to play favorite with the kids. 

Tom Daniel 

That’s exactly right. 

Dusty Weis 

You can't do that. 

Tom Daniel 

That's exactly right. 

Dusty Weis 

Well, hey, Todd, this has been great. And of course, I wanted to bring the conversation full circle back to where we started it here, because my dad likes to say that you can have all the tools in the world, but if you don't use the right tool for the right job, you're not going to get much done. And so if we're interested in learning more about any of the products that we discussed here today, where can we find your seed finder tool? 

Todd Pester 

We’ve got lots of great resources online at dynagroseed.com 

Dusty Weis 

Well, great. We'll certainly check that out afterwards and we appreciate your taking the time to share with us all of your good information here. Todd Pester from Nutrien Ag Solutions. Thank you so much for joining us on this episode of the FARMSMART Podcast.  

That is going to conclude this episode of the FARMSMART Podcast. New episodes arrive every month, so make sure to follow the FARMSMART Podcast in your favorite app and visit nutrienagsolutions.com/FARMSMART to learn more. 

The FARMSMART Podcast is brought to you by Nutrien Ag Solutions. Our executive producer is Connor Erwin and the show is edited by Matt Covarrubias.  

The FARMSMART Podcast is produced by Podcamp Media… Branded Podcast Production for Businesses, PodcampMedia.com. I'm Dusty Weis for Nutrien Ag Solutions. Thanks for listening.