Episode 165: Epigenetic Seed Adaptation and No-Till Success with Brad McIntyre

Regenerative Agriculture Podcast

AEA Marketing

Science, Natural Sciences, Earth Sciences

4.7 • 548 Ratings

🗓️ 4 September 2025

⏱️ 74 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Brad McIntyre, a fourth-generation farmer in Caldwell, Idaho, has transformed his family's operation along the Snake River Basin, scaling back from 3,000 to 1,000 acres due to urbanization and rising costs. Inspired by no-till pioneers, he now manages a diverse farm with seed production, grass-finished beef, pastured pork, poultry, and eggs; all non-GMO.

Brad advances regenerative agriculture through no-till farming, diverse rotations, and cover crops, maintaining yields while cutting inputs. He produces locally adapted, high-quality seeds with strong germination for companies like Green Cover Seed. His livestock integration enhances soil health, and direct-to-consumer meat sales promote community health and sustainability.

In this episode, John and Brad discuss:

Brad's shift from conventional hay work to regenerative farming
No-till seed production for brassicas and alfalfa with better germination
Epigenetic seed adaptations for local resilience
Livestock integration for soil health and direct meat sales
Direct-to-consumer marketing with consistent, local products
The role of soil health in sustainable farming and stewardship

Additional Resources
To read Biochemical Individuality by Roger J. Williams, a book exploring how individual biochemical differences influence flavor perception, click here

To learn more about Green Cover Seed, visit their website: https://greencover.com/

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

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hi, friends. Welcome to the Region of Agriculture podcast. This is John Kempf, and I really enjoy having conversations where we discuss all the various aspects of soil health, plant health, livestock health, human health, and how we can steward and manage and optimize these ecosystems for the best performance of everyone.
0:21.3	And today we have a conversation I've been looking forward to for a while with Brad
0:25.4	McIntyre out of Idaho, if I'm not mistaken. Brad has a fairly diverse operation doing the number
0:31.2	of different things. And you know, it's when you have this diversity of perspective,
0:34.2	you develop, you develop your own perspective on what's happening in your local context that is perhaps more nuanced than if you're just doing one or two things. Even if you're doing those one or two things really well, there's a diversity of perspective that's really beneficial. So Brad, thank you for being here. Thank you for all the work that you're doing on your operation. Why don't you, let's begin by you giving us a bit of the context of the scope of your operation, the environment, the ecosystem that you're farming in, and what your operation looks like.
1:03.8	Yeah, thanks, John, for having me.
1:05.4	I've been excited to sit down and chat with you.
1:08.1	I've listened to a lot of your podcasts and have learned and grown through those. So I really appreciate this opportunity.
1:15.6	We are in Caldwell, Idaho. We farm right here on the Snake River basin. We're about a mile
1:23.9	and a half up off the river. So we have a very diverse soil types through each field.
1:31.4	And we're in a fairly populated area.
1:34.6	We're out on the outskirts of it.
1:36.8	But we have smaller field sizes and a lot of pressure from people moving out and building houses.
1:43.8	And so that has kind of shaped
1:46.9	what our business looks like today. But I am a fourth generation farmer here in this area.
1:53.3	And I, actually my children are going to be fifth generations. We're really proud of that.
1:58.7	We mainly row crop seed, a lot of seed crop in this area.
2:03.4	And as we were growing our farm, as I was as a kid, we were growing, doing a lot of
2:09.2	custom work in the hay industry, alfalfa industry.
2:12.4	We were, you know, doing a lot, anywhere from four to five thousand acres of cutting and really just heavy in
2:23.5	equipment and labor. And it was getting to the point as these still sizes were shrinking
2:29.4	because of housing, roads were busier. We really started trying to understand what the future looks like
	...

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