Stewarding the Future

Agriscience Explained

Today’s episode dives deep into creating a comprehensive and integrated approach to weed management. Agriscience has proven that we can make effective products, but can we make those effective products last? This process of preserving our latest and greatest tools is called stewardship. In this episode we take a deep dive into what it looks like to create solutions with stewardship in mind from the outset by taking a look at the Enlist program.

Bill Belzer joins us as the lead of the Stewardship Team for Corteva Agriscience based in Johnston, Iowa. Belzer and his team work across seed, crop protection and seed applied technologies to make sure stewardship is at the forefront. We are also joined by John Davis, a farmer in Delaware, Ohio. Davis shares his experiences as both a multigenerational farmer in the area, and a Pioneer Rep on the front lines of serving other farms in the area. Davis says when it comes to challenges they have to face in farming, weed control is certainly toward the top of the list.

“ One of the things that listeners can appreciate and farmers especially know is that they're in a race against biology. We think about managing land is managing the sun and then the biological ecosystem that goes with that. And within that ecosystem you've got weeds, you've got insects, you have fungal organisms, and they're always on the move and they're always shifting…. So growers are faced with staying ahead of biology.” - Bill Belzer

The team at Corteva Agriscience took an industry-leading approach to stewardship with the Enlist program. Think of the Enlist Weed Control System and Enlist Ahead as a means of preserving a program that provides long-term weed control. But for this to happen, it’s going to take a multitude of decisions from everyone involved. Not just researchers, but agronomists, farmers, and other trusted partners that all contribute to agronomic and economic decisions on the farm.

“ Probably the most difficult thing is when you're sitting across the table from a grower, you've got your sales rep hat on and you're trying to encourage them to do the stewardship program and use the right product. It comes down to dollars and everyone believes they can do something less expensive, but you try to work through that and explain to them.” - John Davis

A few takeaways from this episode:

1. There’s a whole lot more to stewardship than I’d ever considered. And it starts much earlier than I had considered.
2. Stewardship goes way beyond reducing weed resistance to Enlist herbicides. Long-term efficacious weed control is the goal here.
3. This really does take a commitment from all involved. Everyone needs to understand what’s at stake here and what role we all need to play in stewarding these products and programs.

Agriscience Explained is brought to you by Corteva Agriscience and hosted by Tim Hammerich. This show is produced by Clint Pilcher, Rayda Krell and Ann Leonard. Jaime Hammerich and Grant Bolton edit these podcasts, and the music was composed by Dmitri Volkov. Subscribe for more Agriscience Explained: From Science to Solutions.