Show Notes
In today’s episode we explore how nematodes might be impacting your crop without you even knowing it. These microscopic worms are everywhere; they are the most abundant multicellular organism on the planet. But often, they go completely unnoticed because they can’t be seen without a microscope. What we most often see in agriculture is their impact on crops. Whether you grow row crops like soybeans, specialty crops like vegetables, or permanent crops like grapes, it’s important to know your nematodes. Corteva nematologist Dr. Tim Thoden discusses his work both from the perspective of someone fascinated with nematodes, and someone who acknowledges the enormous impact they can have on farmers.
“It is believed that the damage that nematodes globally do is around $120 billion to $150 billion US dollars per year…it's a huge economic damage.” - Tim Thoden, Ph.D.
California raisin grape grower Michael Logoluso has seen the impacts of nematodes for the past three decades. He is a farm manager for Lion Farms which is a large grower and packer of dried-on-the-vine California raisins.
“We need a few tools in our toolbox, right? So Salibro would be one of them…I think going forward it's going to make the other tools that we have available at this current time have a little more life on the shelf.” - Michael Logoluso
Logoluso and Thoden discuss the economic impact of nematodes, modern agricultural practices for managing these microscopic pests, and the development of new solutions like Corteva's Reklemel, a synthetic nematicide sold under the name Salibro. They cover the complexities of nematode management, the role of healthy soils, and integrated pest management strategies while emphasizing the need for continuous innovation and respectful treatment of the environment.
Some takeaways from this episode include: The sheer volume of these organisms. They are the most abundant multicellular organism on the planet, and three out of every four multicellular organisms are nematodes. The fact that scientists are not only looking for effective solutions, but targeted solutions that don’t hurt soil biology. This emphasizes the need for products that are intended to fit into an integrated approach by being effective against pests but not taking away from soil health. How much these organisms fly under the radar because they can’t be seen by the naked eye. The pest might be invisible without a microscope, but the devastation they can cause is very real.
Agriscience Explained is a podcast brought to you by Corteva Agriscience. Host Tim Hammerich visits with both scientists and farmers about how agricultural innovations are discovered, developed and deployed on the farm.
More from Agriscience Explained
Please send us your feedback on the podcast: [email protected] In this episode, we look back on the past 100 years, and highlight what will carry over into this next chapter in the company’s history. Corteva Agriscience chief technology and digital officer Sam Eathington and some really special guests discuss the past, present and future of agriscience innovation.
Dr. Carla Yerkes joins us to help us tell the story of Rinskor and explain the process of herbicide innovation and the persistence and creativity it takes to develop new solutions for farmers. Yerkes is a research biologist at Corteva Agriscience and has a Ph.D. in herbicide physiology. She has spent about half of her 30 year career in herbicide discovery research and the other half in herbicide trait discovery.
What is happening in agriscience today that we will be talking about 100 years from now? While it’s impossible to answer that question with certainty, there is a technology that has the potential to impact our industry in the next century as much or even more than hybridization changed the game over the past century. That technology is genome editing. The promise of this technology is very real and today you’re going to hear firsthand accounts of what changed in 2012 and 2013 to make all of this possible, what did it look like to test the technology in plant breeding, and what does the strategy look like to turn this science into better solutions.
In today’s episode, we’re following a molecule around the world, from being discovered in Japan to being developed in the United States to becoming a solution for farmers in the United Kingdom. Joining us is one of those farmers in the UK, Julian Gibbons. Julian has seen a variety of fungicide solutions come and go for important wheat diseases like Septoria tritici, or speckled leaf blotch. He’s really excited about the potential for a relatively newly registered product derived from a natural compound called Inatreq Active™. And the story of the need for Inatreq and the road to getting this product to farmers is the focus of today’s episode.
We celebrate the 100th year anniversary of Pioneer Seeds, and take a look back at the history of hybridization. The process may seem simple: to take two varieties or even species and cross them together to create more desirable offspring. But the concept of controlled hybridization, intentionally transferring pollen from a chosen male parent to a chosen female parent, is relatively new in the history of agriculture. But it has been nothing short of revolutionary.