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Host Al opens 2026’s Digging Deeper by thanking listeners, announcing more local producers, and adding monthly segments from Chelsea (Herd Solutions) on animal health and Morgs (Elders) on livestock markets. Guest Grant Sims, a sixth-generation farmer from Echuca and qualified electrician, describes returning to the family cropping/livestock farm in 2006 and applying a “trace the cause” mindset to reduce symptom-treating inputs. He outlines transitioning from high synthetic fertiliser and treated seed toward bare seed with seed priming, liquid carbon and microbial products, foliar nutrition guided by soil/tissue/sap and Brix testing, and reduced fungicide/insecticide use while retaining selective herbicides. Sims discusses intercropping/companion planting (e.g., wheat with clover, canola with legumes) to lower pest pressure and nitrogen needs, using weeds as soil indicators, and timing foliar applications to correct deficiencies and improve resilience, animal performance, and food nutrient density. He encourages starting small, testing, and gradual change; he also notes his business Down Under Ag supplies seed mixes and alternative fertilisers.

00:00 Welcome Back 2026

01:04 Meet Grant Sims

01:51 Electrician Mindset

03:54 Questioning Sprays

05:59 Minerals Over Time

07:11 Observation Habit

09:08 Next Generation

09:46 Autumn Planting Plan

10:49 Weaning Off Synthetics

12:57 Seed Priming Basics

16:08 Priming Recipes

19:06 Multi Species Cropping

20:43 Intercropping Yield Wins

21:09 Diversity Versus Machinery

21:57 Chemicals With Restraint

23:07 Weeds As Soil Signals

25:32 Foliar Sprays 101

28:19 Timing Weather And Risk

29:39 Test Driven Nutrition

31:12 Brix Microbes And Grazing

34:57 Nitrogen Dilution Effect

36:43 Food Quality Mission

38:49 Transition Advice And Wrap