RhizoMetRx

In this special episode of RhizometRX , recorded live at the 2026 Commodity Classic in San Antonio, Texas! Faith and Mary Pat Sass (co-host of the Beyond the Crops podcast, founder of Grounded Journals) join Sean Nettleton (host of The Crop Cast ). Together, the trio explores the fascinating parallels between human health and soil health—a concept they playfully dub "crunchy agronomy." T...

In this solo episode of Rhizometrx , Faith drops a major agronomic hot take that goes against decades of industry advice: It is time to stop blindly "feeding the soil" to build arbitrary PPM levels. With fertilizer prices climbing and margins tightening for 2026, dumping hundreds of pounds of bulk nutrients into the soil is an expensive, outdated strategy that ignores plant stress and nu...

Fresh off the floor of Commodity Classic in San Antonio, Faith returns with a pulse check on the Ag Industry and a tactical guide for navigating the volatile fertilizer markets of 2026. While the industry buzzes with new biologicals and tech, the reality for growers remains the same: we must compete on a global scale by becoming the lowest-cost producer. In this episode, Faith breaks down specific...

Fresh off the Agronomy Roadshow in Indiana and heading into Commodity Classic, Faith Lois returns for a solo episode packed with practical, albeit controversial, agronomic advice for the 2026 season. In this episode, Faith delivers a "hot take" on Potassium application for high-magnesium soils in the Midwest: stop applying it upfront. She explains why moving Potassium in-season can unloc...

In this solo episode of Rhizometrx , host Faith issues a wake-up call to growers as they head into the 2026 planning season. With margins tighter than ever, Faith challenges the industry's obsession with chasing the "last five bushels" regardless of cost. Faith opens the books on real-world data, comparing traditional "build and maintain" fertilizer programs against the Ba...

In this special episode of Rhizometrx , Faith steps outside the traditional agronomy bubble to welcome Dr. Blaine Ellison, a veterinarian and ruminant nutritionist. Together, they explore the undeniable connection between the health of the soil, the quality of the crop, and the performance of the animal. Faith and Blaine discuss a critical disconnect in modern agriculture: why agronomists and anim...

As the 2026 crop planning season heats up, Faith welcomes back Nebraska agronomists Kyle Olson and Chase Perry to dig through the data. After reviewing thousands of Indicator soil tests from across the Corn Belt, the trio discusses the glaring trends emerging between farms managed with biology in mind versus those stuck in a synthetic rut. In this deep dive, they explore why manure-fed soils are s...

In this special episode of Rhizometrx, we are unlocking the archives to bring you a powerhouse roundtable conversation that originally aired on The Crop Cast . As we head into the 2026 growing season, the themes discussed here—managing input costs, rethinking nitrogen efficiency, and questioning traditional soil sampling—are more relevant than ever. Faith joins Crop Cast host Sean Nettleton, along...

In this solo episode of Rhizometrx, host Faith Lois takes listeners on a journey through her family’s 168-year farming history, sparked by a collection of old newspaper clippings from the 1960s and 70s. Faith reflects on the surprising agronomic wisdom found in these decades-old articles—from growers producing 200+ bushel corn and 70+ bushel wheat in an era before modern genetics and technology, t...

In this solo episode of Rhizometrx, host Faith Lois takes listeners through the nitty-gritty details of implementing the Baseline RX program for the 2026 growing season. Moving beyond theory, Faith breaks down exactly what the process looks like—from zone creation using water flow and elevation maps to interpreting an Indicator soil test and building custom fertility scripts. Faith addresses the e...

In this episode of Rhizometrx, host Faith is joined by Mason Claude, a self-described "agronomy nerd" and BW Fusion agronomist. They dive deep into why relying solely on yield to evaluate product performance is a mistake that could be costing you money. Together, they challenge the "trend line yield" mindset and offer practical, data-driven methods for evaluating what’s actuall...

In this special Christmas episode of Rhizometrx, Faith and Sean Nettleton (host of CropCast) continue their deep dive into agronomy's "hard pills to swallow." Building on last week's discussion about grid sampling and planting populations, Part 2 tackles even bigger misconceptions. The duo explains why traditional PPM values on a soil test rarely correlate to actual nutrient up...

In this episode of Rhizometrx, host Faith is joined by Sean Nettleton, host of the Crop Cast and Technical Agronomist at BW Fusion. Sean has been a key mentor in Faith’s journey away from traditional agronomy, and together they tackle the "hard pills to swallow" that many growers face when rethinking their management strategies. From admitting that grid sampling might be inducing variabi...

In this episode of RhizoMetRx, host Faith is joined by Nebraska natives Kyle Olson and Chase Perry to dismantle the "grid sampling" status quo. Together, they explore the shift to zone management through the Baseline protocol and share real-world examples of "ground truthing" soil data.  Listeners will gain insights into why nature doesn't grow in perfect squares, how to i...

In this episode of RhizoMetRx , host Faith sits down with agronomist and Next Level Ag Labs part-owner Jason Schley to explore why traditional fertility models often fall short—and what growers can do instead. Together, they dive into the development of the Indicator Test, the value of zone-based management, and how understanding soil biology can unlock yield potential. Listeners will gain insight...

Welcome to the launch of RhizoMetRx , the podcast where agronomy meets actionable insights. In this episode, host Faith—farmer’s daughter, farm wife, entrepreneur, and agronomist—shares her journey from growing up on a dairy farm in Wisconsin to running a seed and agronomy business in Northeast Illinois. Faith explains what inspired her passion for understanding soil fertility, plant nutrition, an...

Agronomy didn’t begin in a lab—it started in the field, guided by instinct, observation, and a deep understanding of the land. But somewhere along the way, the art of agronomy was squeezed into formulas, checklists, and oversimplified recommendations that no longer meet the realities growers face today. RhizoMetRx is here to change that. Hosted by Faith—farmer’s daughter, farm wife, entrepreneur,...