Field, Lab, Earth
Science & Ideas
About
Past and present advances in the fields of agronomic, crop, soil, and environmental sciences. Enjoy interviews with researchers published in journals, books, and magazines from the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America. Opinions and conclusions expressed by authors are their own and are not considered as those of the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, Soil Science Society of America, its staff, its members, or its advertisers.
Episodes
- Connections April 2026, Science Policy Updates with Michael Torrey and Julie McClure
Michael Torrey and Julie McClure of Torrey Advisory Group join Society CEO Jim Cudahy to discuss the impacts of the current administration on the Societies' sciences, the Farm Bill, and how our members can be involved. Contact us at podcas…
- Wild Bee Sunflower Nectar Preferences with Dr. Jarrad Prasifka
"Wild bee visitation unaffected by disparate nectar phenotypes in a sunflower inbred line population" with Dr. Jarrad Prasifka. Bees are important pollinators for sunflowers. But, just like humans, they also have preferences, which means i…
- Living Mulches in Organic Corn with Ben Brockmueller
"Mechanical management strategies improve corn production in organically managed living mulch systems" with Ben Brockmueller. Organic farming is a rich and rewarding challenge for farmers, but without the use of herbicides and other conven…
- Connections February 2026, A Life in Viticulture with Dr. Paul Skinner
Dr. Paul Skinner discusses his career in viticulture and his time as a member of the Soil Science Society of America. Contact us at podcast@sciencesocieties.org or on Twitter @FieldLabEarth if you have comments, questions, or suggestions f…
- Sorgoleone with Drs. Sakiko Okumoto, Bill Rooney, and Guntur Subbarao
"Synthesis, function, and genetic variation of sorgoleone, the major biological nitrification inhibitor in sorghum" with Drs. Sakiko Okumoto, Bill Rooney, and Guntur Subbarao When we fertilize our crops, some of the nitrogen from that fert…
- Connections, January 2026 with Drs. Wade Thomason, Felix Fritschi, and Aaron Daigh
We're trying something a little bit different. In addition to our regular episodes with Abby, we'll be adding a monthly bonus episode with Jim Cudahy, the CEO of the Societies. In this first episode, Jim has a chat with the three Society p…
- Rescuing Potato from Buckwheat Volunteers with Dr. Andrew McKenzie-Gopsill
"The critical period of cover crop management: A framework for maximizing biomass potential and minimizing volunteers with buckwheat" with Dr. Andrew McKenzie-Gopsill Buckwheat can be a powerful driver of ecosystem services in potato rotat…
- Optimizing Genomic Selection in Strawberry with Dr. Joshua Sleper
"Within-family genomic selection in strawberry: optimization of marker density, trial design, and training set composition" with Dr. Joshua Sleper If plant breeding were a poker game, you'd have to play a lot of hands to beat the house. Qu…
- Giant Ragweed Suppression with Guilherme Chudzik and Dr. Rodrigo Werle
"Cereal Rye Biomass Effects on Giant Ragweed Suppression Inform Management Decisions" with Guilherme Chudzik and Rodrigo Werle. For farmers in the Midwest, giant ragweed can be a giant problem. In Wisconsin, where long emergence windows, a…
- Halloween Special: Spring Dead Spot with Dr. Wendell Hutchens
"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…
- Genomic Selection with Dr. Jianming Yu
"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…
- The Nitrogen Value of Cover Crops with Dr. Guillermo Marcillo
"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…
- Compost Organic Matter in a Snap with Dr. David C. Weindorf
"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. Ho…
- Cover Crops and the Transition to Organic with Nick Boogades
"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 prac…
- Soybean Seed Protein Decline with Dr. Anuj Chiluwal
"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…
- Precision Turfgrass Management with Dr. Briana Wyatt and Dallas Williams
"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 ferti…
- The Soil Health Cycle with Dr. Bijesh Maharjan
"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 soi…
- Speed Breeding to Combat Wheat Disease with Drs. Nidhi Rawat and Vijay Tiwari
"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 di…
- Economics of Autonomous Strip-Cropping with Professor James Lowenberg-DeBoer
"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…
- Benefits of Microarthropods with Dr. Ashley Jernigan
" Microarthropods improve oat nutritional quality and mediate fertilizer effects on soil biological activity" with Dr. Ashley Jernigan Microarthropods are little critters that can have a big impact on crop production, particularly when it…
- Grazing Cover Crops in the Great Plains with Drs. John Holman and Augustine Obour
"Grazing cover crops: How does it influence soils and crops?" with Drs. John Holman and Augustine Obour. Cover crops have a lot of uses depending on where you live and what you grow, but in some regions like the Great Plains, it can take a…
- Pipeline remediation timelines with Theresa Brehm
"Soil degradation and crop yield declines persist 5 years after pipeline installations" with Theresa Brehm. Underground pipeline installations are crucial for energy supply, helping to meet rising demand. However, these installations can s…
- Managing Sorghum Aphid with Drs. Somashekhar Punnuri, Karen Harris-Shultz, Joseph Knoll, and Xinzhi Ni
"Invasive sorghum aphid: A decade of research on deciphering plant resistance mechanisms and novel approaches in breeding for sorghum resistance to aphids" with Drs. Somashekhar Punnuri, Karen Harris-Shultz, Joseph Knoll, and Xinzhi Ni. So…
- Upscaling Soil Moisture Data with Dr. Tyson Ochsner
"Upscaling soil moisture from point scale to field scale: towards a general model" with Dr. Tyson Ochsner Field scale soil moisture measurements can be difficult to attain. Point scale data can be too small to give field scale advice, and…
- Phenotyping Crop Variety Mixtures with Flavian Tschurr and Corina Oppliger
"Mixing things up! Identifying early diversity benefits and facilitating the development of improved variety mixtures with high throughput field phenotyping" with Flavian Tschurr and Corina Oppliger. With increasing yield instability in mo…
- Biochar-Dairy Manure Mixes with Dr. Touyee Thao
"The effects of different biochar-dairy manure co-composts on soil moisture and nutrients retention, greenhouse gas emissions, and tomato productivity; observations from a soil column experiment" with Dr. Touyee Thao. Increasing food produ…
- Flyway Flooding Impacts with Dr. Amitava Chatterjee
"Shallow water habitat management influences soil CO2 efflux from agricultural fields in the Lower Mississippi River Basin (LMRB), USA" with Amitava Chatterjee. The Lower Mississippi River Basin (LMRB) serves as a critical stopover habitat…
- Leaf Mold Compost for Urban Agriculture with Kyle Richardville
" Leaf mold compost for better soil and crop health" with Kyle Richardville Growing vegetables in urban gardens is becoming a popular and ever more important option for supporting families with nutritious and healthy produce. However, the…
- 2024 Blooper Reel
It's our birthday! That means it's time for our annual birthday blooper reel! Enjoy our favorite flubs from the previous year and thank you again for listening! Remember that if you like our show, rating, reviewing, and sharing with friend…
- Combatting Drought with WAPs with Dr. Sanandam Bordoloi
"Efficacy of novel water-absorbing polymer amended soil for improving drought resilience of Solanum lycopersicum" with Dr. Sanandam Bordoloi. Drought can be a major problem for tomatoes, particularly in changing climates. Water-absorbant p…
- Phytoremediation for Urban Agriculture with Marie-Anne Viau and Dr. Adrian Paul
"Can we simultaneously decontaminate and cultivate? An urban cherry tomato story" with Marie-Anne Viau and Dr. Adrian Paul Contamination of various kinds can make it difficult to ensure healthy and safe food crops in urban agriculture. Phy…
- Improving Maize Pollination Efficiency with Dr. Dylan Schoemaker
"A practical method to improve the efficiency of pollination in maize breeding and genetics research" with Dr. Dylan Schoemaker Mismatched pollination times can make desirable genetic matches beyond the reach of practical plant breeders. S…
- Bioenergy Cropping on Marginal Lands with Dr. Dileepa Jayawardena
"Comparative productivity of six bioenergy cropping systems on marginal lands in the Great Lakes Region, USA" with Dileepa Jayawardena. Bioenergy crops present a promising source for biofuel production, offering a potential solution to red…
- Soil-Landscape Rehabilitation with Dr. Sharon Schneider
"Key soil properties and their relationships with crop yields as affected by soil-landscape rehabilitation" with Dr. Sharon Schneider. Soil erosion is one of the major issues in agriculture that causes loss of the topsoil layer, reducing s…
- Recalibrating the Pennsylvania PSNT with Dr. Charlie White
"Recalibrating the Pennsylvania pre-sidedress soil nitrate test recommendations for modern corn production" with Charles White. Nitrogen management is one of the most important agronomic practices in modern crop production systems. The Pre…
- Precision Agriculture for Improving Wheat Yield and Quality with Olga Walsh
"Precision nitrogen management for improving yield and protein content in wheat" with Dr. Olga Walsh. Nitrogen is one of the most important nutrients for crops, which is required in large amounts for crop production and demands precise nut…
- Mitigating Coastal Eutrophication with Drs. Wafa Malik and Patrick Durand
"Nitrogen mitigation scenarios to reduce coastal eutrophication" with Wafa and Patrick. Eutrophication is a state of overgrowth of aquatic plants, such as algae and seaweeds, in water bodies due to the excessive pouring of nutrients from d…
- Latent Variable Phenotypes in Lentil with Sandesh Neupane and Derek Wright
" Focusing the GWAS Lens on days to flower using latent variable phenotypes derived from global multienvironment trials" with Sandesh Neupane and Derek Wright. Lentil, a pivotal pulse crop, is recognized as an important part of food and nu…
- Phosphorus Conservation Practice Trade-offs with Drs. Peter Kleinman and Deanna Osmond
"Addressing conservation practice limitations and trade-offs for reducing phosphorus loss from agricultural fields" with Dr. Pete Kleinman, Research Leader, USDA, and Dr. Deanna Osmond, Professor, North Carolina State University. Conservat…
- Halloween Special: Fall Armyworm with Drs. Sandra Woolfolk and Leigh Hawkins
" Genes and genetic mechanisms contributing to fall armyworm resistance in maize" with Sandra Woolfolk and Leigh Hawkins, research entomologist and molecular biologist (respectively) at USDA-ARS. Fall armyworm is a major pest around the wo…
- Food Waste Microplastics with Kate Porterfield and Dr. Eric Roy
"Microplastics in Composts, Digestates and Food Wastes: A Review" with Kate Porterfield, PhD Candidate at University Vermont and Dr. Eric Roy, Associate Professor at University of Vermont. Diverting organic materials and food waste from la…
- Environmental Effects on Garlic Quality with Dr. Pablo Cavagnaro
"Genotypic and environmental effects on the compounds associated with garlic flavor, health-enhancing properties, and postharvest conservation" with Dr. Pablo Cavagnaro. Garlic is a widely consumed species used for culinary as well as ther…
- Microbial Function in Restored Wetlands with Amelia Fitch
"Partial recovery of microbial function in restored coastal marshes of Oregon, USA" with Amelia Fitch, PhD Candidate at Dartmouth College Draining or restoring a wetland has a significant impact on the land's ability to store carbon. A lot…
- Pesticide Potential in Tailwater Recovery Systems with Dr. Matt Moore
"Pesticide trends in a tailwater recovery system in the Mississippi Delta" with Dr. Matt Moore, Supervisory Ecologist and Research Leader of the USDA-ARS Water Quality and Ecology Research Unit at the National Sedimentation Laboratory in O…
- 100th Episode Funstravaganza
It's our birthday, our five-year anniversary, and our 100th episode, which means it's time to paaaaarty! Join us for a brief interview with host Abby as she looks back on five years of podcasting, followed by our usual birthday blooper ree…
- Cover Crop Questions with Drs. Joby Czarnecki and Beth Baker
"Transitioning from conventional to cover crop systems with minimum tillage does not alter nutrient loading" with Drs. Joby Czarnecki and Beth Baker of Mississippi State University Cover crops are often lauded as agricultural heroes boasti…
- Recovering Amaranth Seeds from Manure with Drs. Anthony Brusa and Melissa Wilson
"Comparison of methods to recover amaranth weed seeds from manure" with Drs. Anthony Brusa and Melissa Wilson, Minnesota State University Palmer Amaranth is a pesky pest that can devastate crops, and when this sneaky pest's seeds creep int…
- Global Reliance on Corn Belt Dent with Dr. Stephen Smith
"Global Dependence Upon Corn Belt Dent Maize Germplasm: Challenges and Opportunities" with Dr. Stephen Smith, Affiliate Professor at Iowa State University Plant breeders are constantly trying to find the best crosses to increase the traits…
- Controlled Freezing Experiments in Perennial Flax with Dr. Neil Anderson
"Controlled Freezing Studies as a Corollary Selection Method for Winterhardiness in Perennial Flax (Linum spp.)" with Neil Anderson, Professor & Interim Department Head at the Department of Horticultural Science, University of Minnesota Fl…
- Decode 6 with DJ May
This time, we take a break from our regularly scheduled programming for a brief interview and sample episode from our sister podcast, Decode 6. Contact us at podcast@sciencesocieties.org or on Twitter @FieldLabEarth if you have comments, q…