Fertility and Biological Basics

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Welcome back to the EZ Ag Podcast, where innovative farming meets practical solutions. I’m your host, Matt Long, and today we’re diving into one of the cornerstones of the Max Yield System: how to build your fertility and biological plan and why soil and tissue sampling is so important, especially with today's tight margins.

But first a quick reminder, Join Us August 26th at our Annual Field Day. We will be sharing a lot of information on how the Max Yield System is performing and how you can take advantage of the benefits of becoming a Max Yield grower. The field day starts at 6:30pm at the St. Anthony’s Parish Hall in Leoti, we hope to see you there!

Now let’s get into today's topic: Fertility and Biological planning basics!

Without the right plan, you’re essentially throwing darts at a board while blindfolded. You have no idea what you’ve got, and no idea what you need to win the game. Let’s talk about how soil and tissue data give us the roadmap to build the right fertility and biological system for your farm.

Every strong plan starts with data, and in our world that means soil testing. Whether you’re running a conventional lab test, an Agronomy 365 profile, or Earth Optics TruBio soil testing, the key is simple: you can’t manage what you don’t measure.

Soil tests are the starting point. They identify what’s in the soil, what’s available, and where the risks lie. TruBio even takes it a step further – looking at microbial activity and biological indicators that impact how nutrients cycle. That’s a game changer because fertility isn’t just about pounds of N, P, and K – it’s about how your soil biology makes those nutrients available to the crop.

But here’s one thing you need to remember: a soil test is a snapshot in time. The day that sample leaves your field, soil organisms are already working – converting minerals, breaking down organic matter, and shifting nutrient availability. Moisture and temperature accelerate or slow those processes.

That means the numbers you see on a soil report can already be slightly different by the time the lab runs them. Does that make soil testing useless? Not at all. What it means is we use the data as a baseline – a benchmark – to make smart fertility and biological decisions, instead of guessing.

Soil testing is step one, but tissue testing adds another layer of insight. Just like soil tests, tissue results are snapshots – they show us what the plant is actually taking in at that moment. And just like soil tests, results shift with growing conditions.

A tissue pulled during drought stress, for example, is going to show deficiencies across the board, not because nutrients aren’t there, but because the plant physically can’t take them up from dry soil. On the other hand, tissue from a field with optimal growing conditions often points out the weak spots in our fertility and biological system – the nutrients we aren’t delivering in enough quantity or biology isn’t making available for the plant to hit its max yield potential.

This is where the Max Yield System really shines. We don’t stop at collecting data – we use it to drive decisions. Consistently low tissue readings in, say, potassium or zinc? That tells us the soil is either deficient, or the biology isn’t cycling those nutrients fast enough. That’s when we adjust our fertility program or introduce the right biological tools to improve availability.

Over time, these adjustments compound. By building season-to-season improvements, you’re not just feeding this year’s crop – you’re improving your soil’s ability to cycle nutrients and support higher yields in the future.

Now here’s something growers sometimes overlook – the economics. Pulling a soil or tissue sample typically costs less than two dollars an acre. That’s pocket change compared to what you’re spending on fertilizer.

And the return is huge. Many times when we pull 24-inch nitrogen samples, we’ll find 40 to 60 pounds of nitrogen already available in the soil. At today’s fertilizer prices, that’s worth twenty to thirty dollars an acre. So for a one- or two-dollar investment in testing, you can save ten, fifteen, even twenty times that amount in your nitrogen program alone. That’s before we even consider the long-term benefits of building a balanced fertility and biological system.

So as you look at your farm’s fertility and biological plan, start with the data. Soil testing through conventional labs, Agronomy 365, or TruBio. Tissue testing at key growth stages. And remember, that investment of a couple of dollars an acre will pay back quickly when you make the right adjustments to your fertility plan, not to mention the extra yield you gain from getting the rest of the system right.

At the end of the day, remember, creating Max Yield isn’t a game of blindfolded darts! Utilizing a systems approach to fertility and biological planning is the only long-term way to create Max Yield on your farm – it’s about knowing exactly what the crop needs, and delivering it. That’s the Max Yield System way.

Until next time, remember, ag is Easy when you tune into the EZ Ag Podcast.

That’s all for today, I’m Matt Long, 

Grow Your Yield, Grow Your Legacy, Grow Strong with Axis Seed.