Chris Holzapfel is the research manager at the Indian Head Agricultural Research Foundation (IHARF). IHARF is a producer-led not-for-profit organization based in Indian Head, Saskatchewan. Their mandate is to provide extension type work for agricultural research and demonstration, including a lot of work with pulse crops.  Holzapfel started in his role at IHARF in 2005 and over the years they've grown to now conducting 40 to 50 small plot trials as well as some field scale research on crops relevant to the area.

He shares some of the research they’ve done with seeding rates, fertility and with supplementing phosphorus in particular.

“ Phosphorus is, without a doubt, by a large margin, the most important nutrient to manage. That's the one that we've gotten the most consistent responses to in our work…You know with phosphorus you're almost fertilizing the soil as much as you are the plants.” - Chris Holzapfel

This Week on Growing Pulse Crops:

• Meet Chris Holzapfel, the research manager at the Indian Head Agricultural Research Foundation (IHARF)
• Discover the soil and weather particulars of the Saskatchewan region
• Explore the research being done to evaluate different seeding rates and their impact on competing with different weed populations
• Learn about the potential benefits of a phosphorus supplement and how to evaluate its benefit on your operation
• Read more about IHARF at their website

Growing Pulse Crops is produced by Dr. Audrey Kalil and hosted by Tim Hammerich of the Future of Agriculture Podcast.

Dr. Brian Jenks is a weed scientist at North Dakota State University based in Minot. Jenks has been in this role since 1997 and over that time he has seen an alarming rise in resistance to many of our herbicides from certain weeds, especially in kochia. In this episode, Jenks shares about the latest in kochia management including what’s working and not working, which products have built up resistance and which products are still effective. We also talk about a few other key weeds like palmer amaranth, wild oat and green foxtail.

“ And if there's anybody listening who's thinking about using Tough on lentil, please call me before you use it because there's some things that you need to know. I mean just reading the label, you're not going to have sufficient information because all they say on there is spray 6 to 20 ounces and oh, by the way, you can tank mix with Metribuzin. Well, that is a recipe for potential disaster if you do that. Because we need to talk rates, we need to talk timing, we need to talk adjuvants, and I'm encouraging growers to do this only as a last resort because you will see severe injury.” - Dr. Brian Jenks

This Week on Growing Pulse Crops:

• Meet Dr. Brian Jenks, a weed scientist at North Dakota State University based in Minot, ND
• Discover the rising risk of herbicide resistance in weed management especially with the weed kochia
• Learn the process to evaluate the type of kochia resistance producers may be facing and how to get that service for free
• Understand the significance of a weed being on the noxious weed list and the impact that has on producers
• Contact Dr. Brian Jenks with any of your weed biology or herbicide questions at (701) 857-7677

Growing Pulse Crops is produced by Dr. Audrey Kalil and hosted by Tim Hammerich of the Future of Agriculture Podcast.

After a tough year in 2023, agronomist Jeannie Rude and Northeast Montana farmer Blake Rasmussen were part of a project to create a video about their experiences with Real Ag Radio’s Shaun Haney. That video documented the far reaching impacts root rot can have on farmers and the local community.

Blake is a fifth generation farmer on an operation that has included lentils and chickpeas in their rotations for the past 25 years. He has also been an active member of the Northern Pulse Growers Association for the past five years. Jeannie Rude is an agronomist with Pro Coop also located in northeast Montana. She returns to the podcast time with Blake to share their experiences with root rots.

“ The root diseases impact the lentil crop and that has an impact on the grower, the health of their soils, and the health of their farm economics. We just got this awesome Columbia grain pulse facility completed in the last few years. So it affects everything from the soil health right down to Main Street in this community.” - Jeannie Rude

This Week on Growing Pulse Crops:

• Meet Northeast Montana farmer Blake Rasmussen and hear again from Northeast Montana agronomist Jeannie Rude
• Discover the impact Blake had while participating in the Gulf Food Show in Dubai
• Explore the longterm challenges root rots presents for producers and the lack of information regarding it for how to manage it
• Learn about the efforts being made to better identify the cause of these issues and what can be done to improve their management

Watch the video featuring Jeannie and Blake on the Real Agriculture YouTube channel coordinated by the Pulse Crops Working Group with funding from the North Central IPM Center.

Growing Pulse Crops is produced by Dr. Audrey Kalil and hosted by Tim Hammerich of the Future of Agriculture Podcast.