CropTalk

Allison Kopf, Founder and CEO of Artemis, joins the show today to talk about systemizing your growing operations. Whatever your system, whether it's binders, clipboards and paper, or state-of-the-art analytics and software, having something is better than nothing and gives you a foundation to work from. Start with what you have and look for areas that can be automated--what manual or time-consumin...

"We're no longer trying biological control. We're applying biological control." So says Ronald Valentin, Director of Technical Business for BioWorks . In this episode, Ronald talks about using BCAs as a first line of defense as well as the evolution of predatory mite sachets. It all comes down to this: A lot of growers want to dabble. But when it comes to BCAs, dabbling is a terrible strategy.

A different understanding.   It's what you get when you step back and give a problem some space to breathe.   From growing to pest management, finding the patience to step back and see the bigger picture before acting almost always results in a better long term outcome than making a rush decision.   On this solo episode, Charlie McKenzie shares his journey of learning that patience can bring clari...

Is your meal kit locally sourced?   Do you even know where the produce comes from?   Emily Golub is the owner/operator of Garnish and Gather , an Atlanta-based meal kit company that's also an online farmers' market.   Like a lot of us, Golub wanted to eat locally, but she struggled with how to make it happen.   So, she started Garnish and Gather, which sources as much local produce for the meal ki...

Danny Ackell 's love for agriculture began 20 years ago as a flower grower in the Hamptons. He grew snapdragons, sunflowers, you name it before moving to packaging and learning how to move product on the streets of NYC like a hustler. Ultimately, he ended up choosing to be a leaf grower because he didn't want to be "another broke farmer." Founding LeafGrow, he's become one of the go-to experts in...

Danny Ackell 's love for agriculture began 20 years ago as a flower grower in the Hamptons. He grew snapdragons, sunflowers, you name it before moving to packaging and learning how to move product on the streets of NYC like a hustler. Ultimately, he ended up choosing to be a leaf grower because he didn't want to be "another broke farmer." Founding LeafGrow, he's become one of the go-to experts in...

Coming up short with your cannabis yield? Brian Herrmann , a long tenured cultivation consultant, is an expert in maximizing yield. He's on today's episode, sharing that same expertise with us. Plant training is the foundation for high quality cannabis production. It can make a massive difference in your crop's output, even if you don't change anything else. The key? Energy diversion. Why wait for...

Tristan Lonberger fell in love with agriculture growing up in rural Missouri. He went to the University of Missouri to study it. In college, he studied crop research, greenhouse production, and flower production. Then, six months before graduating, he decided to pursue a career that few people from his hometown would have expected: cannabis production. A risky move when you're from Small Town, USA...

Commandments weren't just found on Mt. Sinai. They're in nurseries, too. Martha Hamblin , senior director of HR and legal at Hoffman Nursery in Rougemont, NC, was on today's episode of CropTalk. She talked about how defining your company's core values drives employee engagement and satisfaction, and how a large part of business has to do with taking care of people, giving them a purpose, and a mis...

Spidey senses tingling yet? As we curb the use of more noxious pesticides, there are fewer options available for chemically fighting spider mites, which are found in cannabis crops, as well as commercial crops, food crops, and landscape crops. These little buggers are remarkably adaptive. They're resistant to chemicals for the same reason they're able to get around so many different plants' physio...

James Bennett has a theory that it really only takes four things to be successful — good water, good soil, good genetics, and a good farmer. Obviously the farmer is responsible for providing good water, soil, and expertise. But who's responsible for the good genetics? James says it's the farmer's custodial duty to take care of the plants and try to refine those genetics as best they can. But does...

Meet Sanford (Sandy) Stein , co-owner of The Jungle Nursery in Homestead, Florida.   He's a career horticulturalist… and occasional psychotherapist.   He visited my podcast recently, and shared some profound insights on his unusual career path.   Stein is a walking testament to the saying what doesn't kill you (ahem, Hurricane Andrew) makes you stronger . He has taken an unexpected side path into...

Farming is a gamble.   Scott Propheter , VP of agronomy and outreach at Criticality , and ex-Marine, above and beyond, believes in transparency in agricultural traceability as means to increase your odds of a great crop and happy customers.   Criticality tracks the entire life cycle of the product, before it ever goes to a farmer to get put into a field. They gather several hundred data points thr...

Why are we still an extraction economy, pulling non-renewable resources, like gas and oil, from the ground?   Hemp can be grown quickly, with little water, using renewable energy.   Zev Paiss , director of Colorado operations for Universal Hemp Supply Co. , a sustainability consultant educator for about 35 years, was on the podcast today and talked about the promising future of hemp.   Listen in a...

How do you recover an art and craft that has been lost to history?   After almost a century of laws prohibiting the propagation and use of all kinds of cannabis products, including hemp, generations of institutional knowledge have been lost.   Today's producers are having to rediscover and relearn old techniques, or reinvent the wheel with new technology.   Andrew Bish is the COO of Bish Enterpris...

Agriculture is about inputs, yields, and profit margins--like any business, it is all about numbers. Fortunately, because the numbers on agriculture are so granular, you can easily create powerful data analytics models using tools like Microsoft Excel's pivot tables.   To learn how becoming a pivot table master can improve your bottom line, I spoke with Gordon Rowe III . Gordon works as Special Op...

Start clean. Stay clean. It's more than a mantra; it's the only way to grow. Jon Vaught, PhD , the CEO of Front Range Biosciences , is on today's episode of CropTalk. Dr. Vaught is using his expertise in organic chemistry to rescue and strengthen orphan crops like coffee, hemp, and cannabis, from disease through clean stock technology. By growing plants using tissue culture and greenhouse practice...

Frances (Franny) Tacy is a hemp farmer, educator, speaker, product developer, and distributor of Franny's Farmarcy hemp products in Leicester, NC. Tacy has a background in forestry, education, and pharmaceuticals and runs Franny's Farm with her family. It is a working hemp farm, goat farm, and agritourism destination designed to educate and inspire people. Tacy is a mover and a shaker in the movem...

Having a great team has more to do with you than you think. If you're not actively seeking to better yourself, you're not only cheating yourself out of growing as a leader, your team is missing out on the opportunity to grow, too. Leaders who seek to replicate themselves continually learning, while providing opportunity and example for their team to do the same, are creating a group of people who...

Your business is limited by your capacity. Want exponential growth? Give people a mission around your business that they can believe in. Develop leaders who feel that mission in their DNA and let them take over the day to day details of your business so you can focus on the bigger picture. You can do more, but not without empowering others to do the same. Today's guest on this special episode of t...

Agriculture education starts at the dinner plate and moves backwards. Teaching the next generation what they're eating and where their food comes from is invaluable to creating better food consumers and, ultimately, a healthier community.  On this week's episode, Charlie talks with Tim Downing, farmer and agriculture educator about the need for connection between consumer and producer and what rol...

Results are what count. On today's episode of CropTalk we are joined by 4th generation farmer, Joe Swartz , whose growing techniques and outcomes prove his hydroponics expertise. Joe is celebrating his 35th year as a full time, year-round grower of herbs and vegetables, and is also the current VP at American Hydroponics , one of the leading hydro-systems equipment manufacturers in North America. J...

Your pest control program is only as good as your worst scout. Your scout is your eyes, your ears, your nose in relation to your crops, so why aren't more growers more committed to hiring great ones? On this special solo episode, host Charlie McKenzie talks through the 3 personality traits he's found are common to every great pest scout.

Austin Kasso found his passion for agriculture when he was 16. Originally from New York, Austin worked with his cousins on a farm in North Carolina in the summertime, where they had hundreds of fruits, veggies and chickens, a few cows, seven goats, and a large pond of catfish. "That summer was all it took to solidify my career path. I was set on figuring out a way to bring this kind of abundance,...

On this episode of CropTalk, Charlie talks with Aaron Fields about why crop scheduling is important, the risks and challenges associated with it, and how running an efficient schedule benefits your credibility and business.