Episode 137: Reducing Inputs Through Timed Nutrient Management with Dan Brown

Regenerative Agriculture Podcast

AEA Marketing

Earth Sciences, Science, Natural Sciences

4.7 • 546 Ratings

🗓️ 5 December 2024

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Dan Brown is a fifth-generation farmer who grows hazelnuts in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, the primary hazelnut-growing region in the United States. Dan is always experimenting with new growing methods, and views failures as opportunities for learning and growth. This perspective has led to significant successes, such as improving yields while reducing input costs and demonstrating the potential for regenerative practices in hazelnut farming.

In this episode, John and Dan discuss:

Farming hazelnuts in Oregon's unique microclimate
Tackling soil compaction, erosion, and disease resistance
Using sap analysis and foliar feeding to optimize crop health
Testing new ideas on small scales despite potential failures
Dealing with shifts in market demands
Reducing nitrogen applications

About John Kempf
John Kempf is the founder of Advancing Eco Agriculture (AEA). A top expert in biological and regenerative farming, John founded AEA in 2006 to help fellow farmers by providing the education, tools, and strategies that will have a global effect on the food supply and those who grow it.

Through intense study and the knowledge gleaned from many industry leaders, John is building a comprehensive systems-based approach to plant nutrition – a system solidly based on the sciences of plant physiology, mineral nutrition, and soil microbiology.

Support For This Show & Helping You Grow
Since 2006, AEA has been on a mission to help growers become more resilient, efficient, and profitable with regenerative agriculture.

AEA works directly with growers to apply its unique line of liquid mineral crop nutrition products and biological inoculants. Informed by cutting-edge plant and soil data-gathering techniques, AEA's science-based programs empower farm operations to meet the crop quality markers that matter the most.

AEA has created real and lasting change on millions of acres with its products and data-driven services by working hand-in-hand with growers to produce healthier soil, stronger crops, and higher profits.

Beyond working on the ground with growers, AEA leads in regenerative agriculture media and education, producing and distributing the popular and highly-regarded Regenerative Agriculture Podcast, inspiring webinars, and other educational content that serve as go-to resources for growers worldwide.

Learn more about AEA's regenerative programs and products: https://www.advancingecoag.com

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi friends, welcome to the regenerative agriculture podcast where we have all kinds of fun conversations related to regenerating our ecosystems.
0:07.0	That includes regenerating soil health and plant health and livestock health and ultimately, of course, human health, which is what the ultimate purpose of agriculture really is and should be all about.
0:18.0	There are many conversations around growing a variety of different crops that
0:22.4	we've had here on the podcast, but there's one conversation that we haven't had very often,
0:26.6	and that is related to nut production. I've had a lot of conversations around fruit production,
0:31.5	vegetable production, and the foundational principles are all the same. But I'm here today
0:35.8	with Dan Brown, who can give us some perspective
0:39.2	on growing some different types of tree crops that we haven't talked about before. So,
0:43.5	Dan, thank you for being here. Thank you for being willing to share your experiences and
0:48.5	some of the things you're working on. Tell us a little bit about your context. What are the crops that you're
0:55.0	growing? What type of environment? What does your operation look like? So yes, we farm hazelnuts
1:01.2	primarily in the Pacific Northwest, the Willamette Valley of Oregon, varying ages. And I'm fifth
1:09.2	generation on the family farm. We have lots of different varieties of
1:13.4	hazelnuts and this is the primary hazelnut growing region in the country. 99% of hazelnut
1:19.8	are grown within about 60 miles of me, about 10 miles north, about 50 miles south and 10 miles east
1:27.1	and west. It's a very, very small microclimate.
1:29.8	From a food security perspective, what's going to happen when you get a deep freeze one winter
1:34.2	and then a hot summer that summer? We hope that doesn't happen. It has. Back, I believe in 89,
1:41.5	there was a crop, almost crop failure.
1:45.4	But hazelnuts are not hugely consumed domestically either, so there's...
1:50.5	That's true.
1:51.7	That's true.
	...

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