"Fifteen years of findings: Advancements in spring dead spot research from 2009 to 2024" with Dr. Wendell Hutchens

Spring dead spot is a disease that lies in wait before going after your turfgrasses, transforming your favorite golf course into the set of your favorite PG-13 slasher. This episode, Wendell joins me to discuss the mega gains made in the last 15 years of spring dead spot research, in hopes that someday we can turn this slow-moving monster into just the stuff of legend.

Tune in to learn:

· What symptoms point to spring dead spot

· What methods are best to combat spring dead spot

· How spring dead spot spreads

· Where the future of spring dead spot research is moving

If you would like more information about this topic, this episode's paper is available here: https://doi.org/10.1002/csc2.21367

This paper is always freely available.

Contact us at [email protected] or on Twitter @FieldLabEarth if you have comments, questions, or suggestions for show topics, and if you want more content like this don't forget to subscribe. If you'd like to see old episodes or sign up for our newsletter, you can do so here: https://fieldlabearth.libsyn.com/.

If you would like to reach out to Wendell, you can find him here: [email protected] https://www.x.com/HutchensWendell

Resources

CEU Quiz: https://web.sciencesocieties.org/Learning-Center/Courses/Course-Detail?productid=%7b8E8886F1-08B4-F011-BBD3-0022480989AC%7d

Transcripts: https://www.rev.com/app/transcript/NjhmYTU3NzFiNTllYWMyNmM4YjM4NzA5Ry0zb3pZSElDQS1a/o/VEMwNzU3NDY4Njgz

University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture Spring Dead Spot fact sheet: https://www.uaex.uada.edu/publications/pdf/fsa-7551.pdf

Trade magazine articles: https://gcmonline.com/course/environment/news/what-weve-learned-about-spring-dead-spot

NCSU TurfFiles: https://www.turffiles.ncsu.edu/diseases-in-turf/spring-dead-spot-in-turf/

A Practical Guide to Turfgrass Fungicides: https://my.apsnet.org/APSStore/Product-Detail.aspx?WebsiteKey=2661527A-8D44-496C-A730-8CFEB6239BE7&iProductCode=46734

The Compendium of Turfgrass Diseases, Fourth Edition: https://my.apsnet.org/APSStore/Product-Detail.aspx?WebsiteKey=2661527A-8D44-496C-A730-8CFEB6239BE7&iProductCode=46871

Dr. Nathan Walker at Oklahoma State University: https://experts.okstate.edu/nathan.walker

Dr. Lee Miller at Purdue: https://turf.purdue.edu/author/mill3054/

Dr. Jim Kerns at North Carolina State University: https://cals.ncsu.edu/entomology-and-plant-pathology/people/jpkerns/

Lee Butler at North Carolina State University: https://cals.ncsu.edu/entomology-and-plant-pathology/people/elbutler/

Dr. David McCall at Virginia Tech: https://spes.vt.edu/faculty-staff/faculty/mccall-david.html

Field, Lab, Earth is Copyrighted by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America.

"Genomic Selection: Essence, Applications, and Prospects" with Dr. Jianming Yu

Genomic Selection is a plant breeding innovation that aims to speed plant breeding by using predictions from a training model enabled by genomics and statistics to guide the breeding decisions. With around thirty years of history around this innovation, it was about time to develop a review on it. Enter Dr. Jianming Yu and his team of coauthors. This episode, we skate the surface of a topic that could go down for miles, covering key areas of genomic selection, what it is, how to use it, and where we can aim to go in the future.

Tune in to learn:

· How genomic selection was developed

· Why genomic selection should be seen as an innovation in rather than alternative to plant breeding

· Why growing out crosses still matters

· How AI could be integrated to further genomic selection

If you would like more information about this topic, this episode's paper is available here: https://doi.org/10.1002/tpg2.70053

This paper is always freely available.

Contact us at [email protected] or on Twitter @FieldLabEarth if you have comments, questions, or suggestions for show topics, and if you want more content like this don't forget to subscribe. If you'd like to see old episodes or sign up for our newsletter, you can do so here: https://fieldlabearth.libsyn.com/.

If you would like to reach out to Jianming, you can find him here: [email protected] https://www.agron.iastate.edu/people/yu-jianming/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/jianming-yu-92b6617b/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/iowa-state-university-raymond-f-baker-center-for-plant-breeding/

Resources

CEU Quiz: https://web.sciencesocieties.org/Learning-Center/Courses/Course-Detail?productid=%7b001D06ED-D9AA-F011-BBD3-000D3A599510%7d

Transcripts: https://www.rev.com/app/captions/NjhlZmI3ODYwMWFmOTFkYzdlYWRiMjhhM29MVTM2MVduOEFD/o/Q1AwNDYyNDc5Mzkz

CSA News article: https://www.sciencesocieties.org/publications/csa-news/2025/november/essence-of-genomic-selection

Field, Lab, Earth is Copyrighted by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America.

"The Nitrogen Value of Cover Crops" with Dr. Guillermo Marcillo.

Cover crops are known for their ability to provide economic and ecosystem services to farmers, including, for example, impacting soil nitrogen. But how much nitrogen, exactly, can cover crops add or remove and how do we find out? In this episode, Guillermo joins me to discuss his work collating research data to get to the bottom of cover crop nitrogen replacement values.

Tune in to learn:

· What a nitrogen replacement value is

· Why negative nitrogen replacement values are sometimes a positive

· Which cover crops have, generally, which nitrogen replacement values

· How nitrogen replacement values can be reverse engineered from existing data

If you would like more information about this topic, this episode's paper is available here: https://doi.org/10.1002/ael2.70006

This paper is always freely available.

Contact us at [email protected] or on Twitter @FieldLabEarth if you have comments, questions, or suggestions for show topics, and if you want more content like this don't forget to subscribe. If you'd like to see old episodes or sign up for our newsletter, you can do so here: https://fieldlabearth.libsyn.com/.

If you would like to reach out to Guillermo, you can find him here: [email protected]

Resources

CEU Quiz: https://web.sciencesocieties.org/Learning-Center/Courses/Course-Detail?productid=%7b9A6669B5-C497-F011-B4CC-000D3A599510%7d

Transcripts: https://www.rev.com/app/transcript/NjhjYWFkNTBhZDQ3ZGFjZGUyZjMxYmQ4ajBOeXVVX3ZKb2t5/o/VEMxMDIwODkyMDA5

Water working group at West Texas A&M University: https://www.wtamu.edu/academics/college-engineering/water-working-group/people.html

Practical Farmers of Iowa: https://practicalfarmers.org/

Precision Sustainable Agriculture: https://www.precisionsustainableag.org/

Field, Lab, Earth is Copyrighted by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America.

"Toward sustainable compost use: Prediction of organic matter via smartphone image analysis" with Dr. David C. Weindorf

Compost needs to be regularly tested to ensure labels regarding organic matter, nutrients, and more remain accurate. However, getting compost tested is time- and cost-intensive. This episode, Dr. Weindorf joins me to discuss how developing a model to predict organic matter from cell phone pictures might make this process a whole lot easier.

Tune in to learn:

· Which factors best correlated with organic matter

· How the team collected 157 different compost samples

· How application can affect the acceptable window for success on accuracy

· What camera-related factors affected the methods and results

If you would like more information about this topic, this episode's paper is available here: https://doi.org/10.1002/agj2.70121

It will be freely available from August 15-August 31, 2025.

Contact us at [email protected] or on Twitter @FieldLabEarth if you have comments, questions, or suggestions for show topics, and if you want more content like this don't forget to subscribe. If you'd like to see old episodes or sign up for our newsletter, you can do so here: https://fieldlabearth.libsyn.com/.

If you would like to reach out to David, you can find him here: [email protected] https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-c-weindorf-43875b110/

Resources

CEU Quiz: https://web.sciencesocieties.org/Learning-Center/Courses/Course-Detail?productid=%7b91295D26-E579-F011-B4CC-000D3A599510%7d

Transcripts: https://www.rev.com/app/transcript/Njg5ZTBjNDZjMjFjM2ZlZThkNTdhYmJiWEhIRXQ0eUl3WlRi/o/VEMwMzgxNjg4NTA4

Compost Research and Education Foundation: https://www.compostfoundation.org/

Agronomy Journal: https://acsess.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/14350645

Compost Science and Utilization: https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/ucsu20

Waste Management: https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/waste-management

Field, Lab, Earth is Copyrighted by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America.

"Early impacts of cover crop selection on soil biological parameters during a transition to organic agriculture" with Nick Boodages.

Incorporating cover crops is an important step in the transition from conventional to organic growing practices, but in Texas, limited resources can bring complications. In this episode, Nick joins me to discuss his work researching how to help farmers make the leap.

Tune in to learn:

· What challenges Texan farmers face when hoping to transition to organic agriculture

· Which cover crops perform best in the Texas high plains

· Which challenges Texan farmers face when growing cover crops

· How cover crops impact crop yields during the transition to organic

If you would like more information about this topic, this episode's paper is available here: https://doi.org/10.1002/agg2.20532

This paper is always freely available.

Contact us at [email protected] or on Twitter @FieldLabEarth if you have comments, questions, or suggestions for show topics, and if you want more content like this don't forget to subscribe. If you'd like to see old episodes or sign up for our newsletter, you can do so here: https://fieldlabearth.libsyn.com/.

If you would like to reach out to Nick, you can find him here: [email protected]

Resources

CEU Quiz: https://web.sciencesocieties.org/Learning-Center/Courses/Course-Detail?productid=%7b16FD85DA-8B61-F011-BEC3-6045BD0A85F5%7d

Transcripts: https://www.rev.com/app/transcript/Njg2ZTdhM2M3MTljMjMzZjYxOWE2ODlidXpYcmF2ZDF0Z04x/o/VEMwNzYxNzAyNjY3

Texas A&M AgriLife extension: https://agrilifeextension.tamu.edu/

Lewis and Burke Labs: www.txsoillab.com

Organic Transition-Cotton Peanut Rotation extension paper: https://agriliferollingplainsagronomy.org/2022/11/22/organic-transition-cotton-peanut-rotation/

Alternative Certifications for Organic Transition:

Quality Assurance Initiative (QAI)-Certified Organic Transition: https://www.qai-inc.com/certification-services/transitional.php/

Non GMO project: https://www.nongmoproject.org/

Certified naturally grown: https://www.naturallygrown.org/

Grazing Cover Crops in the Great Plains with Drs. John Holman and Augustine Obour: https://fieldlabearth.libsyn.com/grazing-cover-crops-in-the-great-plains-with-drs-john-holman-and-augustine-obour

Thank you to our volunteer Om Prakash Ghimire for help with the shownotes and other assets. Thank you to Cole Shalk from 12twelve Media for the Audio Processing on today's episode.

Field, Lab, Earth is Copyrighted by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America.

"United States soybean seed protein concentrations – current status, challenges and some potential crop management solutions" with Dr. Anuj Chiluwal.

Soybeans are a crucial crop in the United States for a variety of uses, including for its use as a protein source in animal feed. However, in recent years, high yield varieties have seen a steady decline in seed protein concentration. In this episode, Anuj joins me to discuss the sources of this decline and some potential strategies to combat it.

Tune in to learn:

· Why soybean seed protein is declining in US soybean

· How the US may be a template for other countries with similar problems

· What temporary solutions may be available for this problem

· Which future research paths may bring about more sustainable solutions

If you would like more information about this topic, this episode's paper is available here: https://doi.org/10.1002/agj2.21731

This paper is always freely available.

Contact us at [email protected] or on Twitter @FieldLabEarth if you have comments, questions, or suggestions for show topics, and if you want more content like this don't forget to subscribe. If you'd like to see old episodes or sign up for our newsletter, you can do so here: https://fieldlabearth.libsyn.com/.

If you would like to reach out to Anuj, you can find him here: [email protected] https://www.kysu.edu/directory/faculty-staff/anuj-chiluwal.php https://www.linkedin.com/in/anuj-chiluwal/

Resources

CEU Quiz: https://web.sciencesocieties.org/Learning-Center/Courses/Course-Detail?productid=%7bAC0EA3C0-3F50-F011-877A-00224808D254%7d

Transcripts: https://www.rev.com/app/captions/Njg1MWI0MjE2MDAzODViYzNhZjVkNjYzWE4wOEZYc1pLNHNQ/o/Q1AwMTA4NTk3MzE4

"Soybean management for seed composition: The perspective of U.S. farmers" paper: https://doi.org/10.1002/agj2.21082

"Exploring Nitrogen Limitation for Historical and Modern Soybean Genotypes" paper: https://doi.org/10.2134/agronj2018.04.0271

"Quantification of Soybean Leaf Senescence and Maturation as Impacted by Soil- and Foliar-Applied Nitrogen" paper: https://doi.org/10.2134/cftm2018.07.0051

"Probability of Yield Response to Inoculants in Fields with a History of Soybean" paper: https://doi.org/10.2135/cropsci2009.04.0185

"Late-Season Nitrogen Applications Increase Soybean Yield and Seed Protein Concentration" paper: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2021.715940

"Is soybean yield limited by nitrogen supply?" paper: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fcr.2017.08.009

"Assessing Variation in US Soybean Seed Composition (Protein and Oil)" paper: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2019.00298

"Regional analysis of planting date and cultivar maturity recommendations that improve soybean oil yield and meal protein concentration" paper: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2022.954111

Extension fact sheet: https://www.kysu.edu/documents/college-of-agriculture-communities-the-sciences/2025-Fact%20Sheet%20Soybean%20Seed%20Quality.pdf

University of Minnesota annual soybean quality reports: https://extension.umn.edu/soybean/soybean-seed-quality

Thank you to our volunteer Om Prakash Ghimire for help with the shownotes and other assets. Thank you to Cole Shalk from 12twelve Media for the Audio Processing on today's episode.

Field, Lab, Earth is Copyrighted by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America.

"Using electromagnetic induction to inform precision turfgrass management strategies in sand-capped golf course fairways" with Dr. Briana Wyatt and Dallas Williams

Golf courses are well known for their beautiful greens, but overusing fertilizer and water to keep them looking pristine can lead to inefficient, expensive, and environmentally damaging waste. Precision turfgrass management can help, but only if we can find the right methods to put it into use. In this episode, Briana and Dallas join me to discuss their research on how electrical conductivity can be used to help determine golf course needs.

Tune in to learn:

· How many management zones might be in a fairway

· How turfgrass type can effect electromagnetic induction correlations

· Which properties are most correlated with electromagnetic induction readings

· How researchers can get readings on large areas of a golf course fairway

If you would like more information about this topic, this episode's paper is available here: https://doi.org/10.1002/agg2.70020

This paper is always freely available.

Contact us at [email protected] or on Twitter @FieldLabEarth if you have comments, questions, or suggestions for show topics, and if you want more content like this don't forget to subscribe. If you'd like to see old episodes or sign up for our newsletter, you can do so here: https://fieldlabearth.libsyn.com/.

If you would like to reach out to Briana, you can find her here: [email protected]

If you would like to reach out to Dallas, you can find her here: [email protected]

Resources

CEU Quiz: https://web.sciencesocieties.org/Learning-Center/Courses/Course-Detail?productid=%7bD35BC10D-F821-F011-9989-000D3A32C099%7d

Transcripts: https://www.rev.com/app/transcript/NjgyNGU4NmRkZjIzY2FlOWRmYTQ4ZmEwV2Y5WFhuVTFpTnR3/o/VEMwODY4NTQyOTM4

TAMU turfgrass website: https://soilcrop.tamu.edu/research/turfgrass/

TAMU Department of Soil and Crop Sciences Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tamusoilcrop

TAMU Department of Soil and Crop Sciences Twitter: https://x.com/tamusoilcrop

Thank you to our volunteer Om Prakash Ghimire for help with the shownotes and other assets. Thank you to Cole Shalk from 12twelve Media for the Audio Processing on today's episode.

Field, Lab, Earth is Copyrighted by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America.

"Soil Health Cycle" with Dr. Bijesh Maharjan

Researchers, advisers, and farmers alike know that soil health is important, but taking steps forward in the knowledge of which practices to use and their impacts can be difficult. Enter the soil health cycle, an iterative approach to help track how practices and their implementation take soil health forward. In this episode, Bijesh joins me to discuss his work on the soil health cycle.

Tune in to learn:

· How the soil health cycle is similar to human health care cycles

· What the four steps of the soil health cycle are

· Why it's important to have a soil health cycle

· What the literature says about the current state of the soil health cycle

If you would like more information about this topic, this episode's paper is available here: https://doi.org/10.1002/agg2.20504

This paper is always freely available.

Contact us at [email protected] or on Twitter @FieldLabEarth if you have comments, questions, or suggestions for show topics, and if you want more content like this don't forget to subscribe. If you'd like to see old episodes or sign up for our newsletter, you can do so here: https://fieldlabearth.libsyn.com/.

If you would like to reach out to Bijesh, you can find him here: [email protected] https://x.com/Nebraska_soils

Resources

CEU Quiz: https://web.sciencesocieties.org/Learning-Center/Courses/Course-Detail?productid=%7b3687C77E-BE1E-F011-998A-0022480989AC%7d

Transcripts: https://www.rev.com/app/transcript/NjgwMDExNTJlZGVmODgyNjliNWNhMmQzbEVZNXpiYV8xWGtU/o/VEMwOTY5NDE4NDEw

Supracentennial special section call for papers for Soil Science Society of America Journal: https://acsess.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/14350661/specialsectioncall#supracentennial-field-experiments

Maharjan Lab: www.maharjanlab.com

Thank you to our volunteer Om Prakash Ghimire for help with other assets. Thank you to Cole Shalk from 12twelve Media for the Audio Processing on today's episode.

Field, Lab, Earth is Copyrighted by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America.

"Evaluation of speed breeding conditions for accelerating Fusarium head blight and deoxynivalenol screening in wheat" with Nidhi Rawat and Vivek Tiwari.

Fusarium head blight (FHB), also known as head scab, is one of the most significant diseases affecting wheat, causing substantial economic losses for farmers in the U.S. and worldwide. While FHB resistant wheat lines have been identified, breeding these traits into desirable cultivars is a time-consuming process that can take decades, with uncertain success. In the U.S., particularly for spring wheat, crossing of wheat lines can typically be done only once per year due to seasonal limitations, which slow down the process of development of disease-resistant cultivars. To overcome this challenge, speed breeding—an approach that involves growing plants under extended light exposure (20–22 hours per day) to accelerate their life cycle—offers a promising solution. This technique enables multiple generations of wheat to be produced within a single year, allowing for more frequent crossings and a faster transfer of disease resistance traits into desirable cultivars. In this episode, Drs. Nidhi Rawat and Vijay Tiwari share their insights on using speed breeding techniques to accelerate the breeding of disease-resistant cultivars.

Tune in to learn:

· What is Fusarium head blight?

· How does Fusarium head blight cause economic loss to farmers?

· What is speed breeding?

· How does speed breeding help in developing disease resistance cultivars?

· What are challenges in adopting speed breeding?

If you would like more information about this topic, this episode's paper is available here: https://doi.org/10.1002/csc2.21226

This paper is always freely available.

Contact us at [email protected] or on Twitter @FieldLabEarth if you have comments, questions, or suggestions for show topics, and if you want more content like this don't forget to subscribe. If you'd like to see old episodes or sign up for our newsletter, you can do so here: https://fieldlabearth.libsyn.com/.

If you would like to reach out to Nidhi Rawat and Vijay K Tiwari, you can find them here: [email protected] and [email protected]

If you would like to reach out to Saptarshi Mondal from our Student Spotlight, you can find him here: [email protected] https://www.facebook.com/saptarshi.mondal.50

Resources

CEU Quiz: https://web.sciencesocieties.org/Learning-Center/Courses/Course-Detail?productid=%7B3F0BF240-4700-F011-BAE2-0022480989AC%7D

Transcripts: https://www.rev.com/app/transcript/NjdkMzEyNTMzMzJlNjQ3MGNjMTU5ZGEzbk9fdW1qR3NNUGpv/o/VEMwNTA5MzQxMjA1

US Wheat and Barley Scab Initiative (USWBSI): https://scabusa.org/home-page

Plant Science and Landscape Architecture, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742

https://agnr.umd.edu/about/directory/plant-science-landscape-architecture/

Wheat labs, University of Maryland, https://umdwheatgenomics.weebly.com/

Field, Lab, Earth is Copyrighted by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America.

"Economics of strip cropping with autonomous machines" with James Lowenberg-DeBoer.

With the growing global population, the demand for food continues to rise. However, increasing food production often depends on intensive farming practices and agricultural inputs that can negatively impact environmental health. To counter this, promoting crop diversity, improving soil health, and reducing disease and pest pressure are crucial. Mixed cropping presents a viable solution but poses challenges for mechanization and labor efficiency. In this context, customized autonomous machines and advanced technology can play a key role in facilitating mixed cropping while lowering production costs. In this episode, Dr. James Lowenberg-DeBoer shares insights from his research on the economics of strip cropping—the simplest form of mixed cropping—using autonomous machines. He explores the feasibility and profitability of this approach, along with the challenges and opportunities in restoring crop biodiversity and ecosystem services, ultimately fostering better environmental health and sustainable agriculture.

Tune in to learn:

• What is mixed cropping?
• What makes a farm machine "autonomous"?
• How do autonomous machines contribute to environmentally friendly agriculture?
• What are the economic differences between automated strip farming and conventional strip farming?
• What are swarm robots in agriculture?

If you would like more information about this topic, this episode's paper is available here: https://doi.org/10.1002/agj2.21536

This paper is always freely available.

Contact us at [email protected] or on Twitter @FieldLabEarth if you have comments, questions, or suggestions for show topics, and if you want more content like this don't forget to subscribe. If you'd like to see old episodes or sign up for our newsletter, you can do so here: https://fieldlabearth.libsyn.com/.

If you would like to reach out to James Lowenberg-DeBoer, you can find him here: [email protected]

Resources

CEU Quiz: https://web.sciencesocieties.org/Learning-Center/Courses/Course-Detail?productid=%7b33E6AEA6-E1EA-EF11-A731-6045BD0350B4%7d

Transcripts: https://www.rev.com/app/transcript/NjdhZTQyYmQwNjA1ZDQwNmFmYjNkYTU1LVVGWURKXzFZcFIy/o/VEMwOTcyNzA1Njg4

Center for Effective Innovation in Agriculture: https://www.linkedin.com/company/71561378/admin/dashboard/

Hands Free Farm: www.handsfree.farm

Precision Agriculture Journal: https://link.springer.com/journal/11119

Digitization for Agroecology: https://d4agecol.eu/

Prairie Strips in the Conservation Reserve Program: https://www.nrem.iastate.edu/research/STRIPS/

Stockcropper: https://thestockcropper.com/

Thank you to our volunteer Om Prakash Ghimire for help with the shownotes and other assets. Thank you to Cole Shalk from 12twelve Media for the Audio Processing on today's episode.

Field, Lab, Earth is Copyrighted by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America.