In Defense of Biological Systems with Robert Linderman
Regenerative Agriculture Podcast
AEA Marketing
4.7 • 546 Ratings
🗓️ 11 August 2020
⏱️ 80 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In our latest episode of the Regenerative Agriculture Podcast, John interviews plant pathology veteran & agricultural visionary, Dr. Robert Linderman, discussing the benefits of mycorrhizal fungi and other bio-control agents that protect crops from soil-borne pathogens.
After receiving his Ph.D. in Plant Pathology from U.C. Berkley in 1967, Robert would spend the next 40-plus years contributing pivotal research findings to the USDA and other agricultural organizations. During his time with the USDA, Robert was introduced to a colleague who was fascinated by the power of mycorrhizal fungi and their ability to keep pathogens at bay. Their conversation ignited Robert's pursuit to understand mycorrhizae symbiosis.
Throughout the episode, John and Robert discuss the benefits of building up antagonistic organisms in the soil to create a disease suppressive environment, allowing crops to thrive. In addition to other educated approaches to battling pathogens in your soil, Robert also takes listeners into a deep dive of the Ashburner System, telling the story of how one Australian avocado grower utilized a mycorrhizal fungi strategy—without even knowing it—to suppress phytophthora outbreak across his orchard.
"Farms, whether they're seeding or transplanting or planting bulbs or whatever, need to treat that material where the infection is going to happen…to have something there waiting for the pathogen when it tries to get into the plant is the best chance. It's like immunizing a child for infections that might come. You build up some kind of resistance and the resistance is in a biological form." -Linderman
Robert and John also discuss the thoughtful inoculation of propagules, mycorrhizal fungi's effect on photosynthesis, concerns about single factor analysis found in agricultural research, and the true price of the "instant gratification" chemical fix.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi friends, this is John and this is the regenerative agricultural podcast. |
| 0:05.0 | Where we talk about agronomic science and cultural management practices that regenerate plant health, soil health, |
| 0:12.0 | and ultimately also regenerates public health. |
| 0:15.0 | Today I have a guest on the podcast that I've been wanting to have for some time. When I was introduced to him |
| 0:23.5 | the first time or told about him the first time, I was told that this individual is the senior |
| 0:29.4 | grandfather of microbiable fungi research and developing disease suppressive soils and that very few people, |
| 0:39.1 | fewer people know about him and deserve to know about him. |
| 0:40.9 | So today I'm excited to have Dr. Robert Linderman from the USDA here from Carvalis, Oregon. |
| 0:47.1 | Bob, thank you very much for agreeing to be here and sharing some of your knowledge and wisdom. |
| 0:52.0 | I'd love to hear more about your story and background. |
| 0:55.0 | How did you come to do all the research that you've done in developing disease suppressive |
| 1:00.0 | soils and with mycorrhizal fund associations? |
| 1:03.0 | Tell us a little bit about your story and your background and how you came to this spot. |
| 1:07.0 | Well, thank you very much, John. |
| 1:09.0 | I appreciate the opportunity. My history goes back a long ways, as you very much, John. I appreciate the opportunity. |
| 1:14.4 | My history goes back a long ways, as you already know. |
| 1:18.0 | I started out as a zoologist, a pre-med student. |
| 1:24.0 | I went to Fresno State College and became interested in plants, actually, along the way. |
| 1:28.4 | Went to graduate school. Eventually went to graduate school, UC Berkeley, and worked with some world-renowned people on diseases and pathogens. And in 1967, I graduated from there and |
| 1:38.1 | went to the USDA ARS research facility in Belsfield, Maryland. And there were people there that I got to know, but one of them happened to be a person interested in microaslo fungi, |
| 1:49.9 | and I got to thinking about microaslo fungi in a broader context and kind of became a student of that at that time. |
| 1:57.7 | But then I was transferred to Corvallus, Oregon, where there were other world-renowned |
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