Episode 146: Building Biology with Cover Crops and Mycorrhizae with Joe Ailts

Regenerative Agriculture Podcast

AEA Marketing

Science, Natural Sciences, Earth Sciences

4.7 • 548 Ratings

🗓️ 13 March 2025

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Joe Ailts is an agronomist and regenerative farmer in northwest Wisconsin with a deep passion for soil health and plant physiology. On his three-acre home farm, he grows competitive giant pumpkins, sweet corn, and market pumpkins using a regenerative approach that includes cover cropping with rye and Sudan grass. His experience in competitive pumpkin growing has fueled his interest in soil biology, leading him to experiment with mycorrhizal fungi inoculation and nutrient-dense crop production.

Through his agronomy company, Ailts Agronomy, Joe works with row crop farmers to integrate soil health practices into their operations. He focuses on bridging the gap between regenerative and conventional farming, helping farmers implement biological inputs to enhance mycorrhizal colonization and crop performance. His research-backed approach has shown promising results, including significant yield responses in both corn following horseradish and in early-planted soybeans.

In this episode, John and Joe discuss:

How Joe's research with BioCoat Gold has demonstrated a five-bushel average per acre yield increase in corn
The surprising ability of mycorrhizal fungi to colonize fungicide-treated seeds
The benefits of using a rye cover crop system for weed control and moisture retention
A 17-bushel yield increase in corn following horseradish
The advantages of early-planted soybeans in northern climates
The role of Sudan grass in crop rotations

Additional Resources
To learn more about Joe and Ailts Agronomy, please visit: https://www.facebook.com/joe.ailts.96

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 back to the regenerative agriculture podcast where we have all kinds of fun conversations related to agronomy, managing plants and crops and livestock, and ultimately having an impact on human health.
0:10.7	You know, once in a while, you have an experience that really makes your day, makes your week, makes your month.
0:15.9	I had one of those back in the beginning of December. I attended an event in Minnesota.
0:20.6	And someone who I'd never
0:22.8	met walked up to me and said, hey, you don't know me. You don't know who I am. You don't know
0:26.5	what I've been up to. But I've been testing your bio-cote goal for the last couple of years,
0:31.1	and here's all my data. And I felt like somebody handing me a check for $10,000.
0:37.8	So that individual is Joe Ait, who's here with me today.
0:42.7	Joe, thank you very much for all the things that you have been bringing forward.
0:46.3	I've been, first of all, the data that you shared and the stuff that you've been working on with BioCote Gold kind of raised my eyebrows a little bit and brought a big smile to my face. So thank you for doing that. But you're doing a number of
1:00.3	different things and have a lot of interests related to agronomy and agriculture. Tell us a little bit
1:04.8	about your story and the scope of the stuff that you're working on and what you're excited about.
1:10.3	Happy to do so, John. And thank you so much for the invite on to the podcast here. So I like to say
1:15.3	that I was born with a green thumb, a competitive spirit, and an insatiable curiosity. And it
1:20.5	stems back to my childhood. My parents had me when they're teenagers. And as such, I spent a lot of
1:25.1	time with my great grandmother who had the most amazing vegetable and flower gardens imaginable.
1:29.9	So in my formative years, following my great-grandmother around the gardens, where the green thumb came from.
1:35.9	About the time that I graduated high school was moving into college, I developed this interest in competitive giant pumpkin growing.
1:42.2	And it's a really interesting, fascinating, a little niche of the world where we're trying
1:46.1	to grow these giant pumpkins to now over 3,000 pounds.
1:49.5	And so I really go ahead.
1:51.0	The two groups of people who as a group who I talk with, actually I'll expand it to three,
	...

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