When helping growers establish successful agronomy programs on their farms, it's important to be authentic. To be a good listener. And to provide added value beyond a range of commodities. Max Systems owner Chris Schlegel shares his approach to helping farmers increase their farms' productivity to begin this episode. The wide-ranging discussion also covers agronomy trends across the United States, a background on processing humic products, and the importance of cooperating (not fighting) nature as farmers.
Highlights
1:04 Opening prayer
1:33 Chris Schlegel and podcast introductions
7:25 Reflections on the FCLG's mission and our goals
10:40 Overview of Max Systems: the importance of faith, networking, and outreach
14:40 Chris's story about the importance of engaging with people
24:10 Selling to farmers: Importance of authenticity
26:10 Selling to farmers: Create a personalized approach
28:40 Learning from Beck's Hybrids culture: Create a consistent experience
29:40 Selling to farmers: Work to provide trust by adding value
32:45 Selling to farmers: Separate yourself from the competition and be grower-focused
36:20 "Infinite Game" by Simon Sinek: Finite vs. infinite games
39:00 How do you adapt this when selling agronomic products?
44:05 Differences in grain storage across the United States
45:15 Stories of land prices in the Midwest
50:25 Stories of Texas crop production
53:00 Agronomy trends across the United States
1:00:30 Eliminate the middle man to improve your margins
1:02:25 Know your products and how they work
1:04:05 Carbon product sourcing, processing, and testing
1:13:00 Planning for the future: The importance of balance
1:17:55 Reflections: People enter your life for a reason
1:19:00 Reflections: Agronomy inspirations from around the world
1:20:30 The different ways of testing humics
1:22:00 The importance of processing method for humic products
1:27:22 Four ways to extract humics from raw ore: Raw humics are useless
1:34:50 Application rates for humics
1:38:40 Structured water discussion
1:44:00 20 years ago: George Sims begins a better way of farming
1:48:40 Benefits of humics during high-stress periods
1:55:10 Discussion: Different forms of potassium
1:59:50 Harness the power of education and the desire to improve; learn from each other
2:04:45 We cannot fight nature as farmers
2:08:10 "Where Food Begins" by National Geographic: What's in the best soil in the world?
2:12:05 Barriers to creating the "perfect" soil
2:17:25 The continuous need to support and feed soil biology
2:19:35 Biblical advice: Leave ground fallow one in seven years
2:22:40 Future focus: The importance of clean water
2:28:25 Episode wrap-up and concluding prayer