Soil Sense

About Soil Sense

Welcome to the Soil Sense Podcast, where we believe that building healthier soils is not just a prescription, but rather a pursuit. This journey requires collaboration, curiosity, and communication among farmers, agricultural researchers, agronomists, consultants, and extension. You’re going to hear their stories and discover how and why they’re working together to make sense out of what’s happening in the soil.

Publisher

Tim Hammerich and Abbey Wick, Ph.D.

Category

science

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

29 Jul 2019

Latest episode

11 Aug 2025

Latest episodes

150 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   11 Aug 2025

   Advancing Regenerative Practices in Ukraine

   Fertile soil is something Ukraine has always been known for. But wind and water erosion are causing a soil loss of approximately 15 tons per hectare every year. Today we’re joined by Oleksandr, a farmer in the Kiev Region of Ukraine, and Syngenta’s Valeriy Dubrovin to discuss how farmers are advancing regenerative practices even in this current challenging time for the country. “ In the Ukraine, with the (most fertile) soils in the world, this topic should be number one in agriculture to keep our soil health to give these soils for (future) generations.” - Valeriy Dubrovin This is a fascinating discussion about how they’re using practices and technology to improve soil health. Oleksandr farms about three thousand hectares in the Kiev region of Ukraine. He grows sunflower, corn, barley, wheat, beans, sugarbeet and quite a bit of livestock on his operation. He’s been farming since 1995 and has implemented reduced tillage practices and incorporated manure on his operation to try to fight erosion and improve his soil health. And also joining us is Valeriy Dubrovin. Valeriy is the soil health and carbon farming manager at Syngenta located in Ukraine. He’s been with the company 11 years now and his role is to improve services and perform training for farmers like Oleksandr on soil health. And one really cool program he’s working on uses INTERRA© Scan Technology. Valeriy and Oleksandr also speak candidly about what’s happening in Ukraine today and what it has been like to try to farm and build healthier soils during such a challenging time for the country. They join us via an interpreter, Kseniia. This Week on Soil Sense: Meet Oleksandr, a large-scale farmer in Ukraine Discover some of the soil health challenges in the Ukraine, and what farmers are doing to deal with those Hear how tools like INTERRA© Scan Technology are helping farmers improve soil health Understand how farmers and their advisors are continuing to operate their farms and build their soil health during extremely difficult times for the country Listen to the full season here: https://www.syngenta.com/agriculture/sustainable-agriculture/soil-health/soil-sense-podcast (https://www.syngenta.com/agriculture/sustainable-agriculture/soil-health/soil-sense-podcast) This season of the Soil Sense podcast is brought to you by Syngenta. If you are interested in what soil health looks like in practice and on the farm, please subscribe and follow this show on your favorite podcast app, and leave us a rating and review while you’re there! The  Soil Sense podcast is for those that believe building healthier soils is not just a prescription, but rather a pursuit. On this show, we unpack the way farmers collaborate to build healthier soils and adapt systems to work on their farm for both sustainability and profitability.

2. 

   30 Jul 2025

   Precision Agriculture For Soil Health In Argentina

   Soil health on a large scale, can really be enhanced through data and digital tools. It’s pretty incredible to hear how that is being applied to farms like the one you’re going to hear from today in Argentina. Today we’re joined by Kevin, a large farmer in Argentina, as well as Syngenta’s Catriel Pedermera and Bill Suess, to talk about leveraging technology to build healthier soils at scale. We know soil compaction is an issue, so being able to diagnose it more precisely helps us to make the decision: okay, here we need to intervene with some vertical work maybe, and we thought this one was very compacted, but the data shows it's not that compacted. A lot of this is saving time. And also there are problems we know we have that we can work on and, save time and a lot of money like in variable rate, be more efficient in the solution, and in the resources applied to the solutions of those problems.” - Kevin, Argentine farmer Kevin farms soybeans, corn, some cotton and some peanuts west of the Buenos Aires province. He’s the fourth generation in the family-owned business that has been there for over 100 years. He talks about the transition the family has made from a cattle farm to 100% no-till crop farm. Kevin also works closely with Catriel, an agronomist with Syngenta in Argentina who also joins us on today’s episode. Both Kevin and Catriel are well-versed in collecting soil data and implementing precision agriculture to make the farm more productive and build soil health over time. Also on the show today is Bill Suess, digital product manager with Syngenta Group who has an extensive background in farm management and precision ag. He works as part of a small team that is intensely mapping soils to find agronomic solutions for growers around the world. This Week on Soil Sense: Meet Kevin, a large-scale farmer in Argentina Discover some of the soil health challenges in Argentina, and what farmers are doing to deal with those Hear how Catriel and Bill at Syngenta are working with farmers like Kevin to implement technology to improve soil health and overall profitability Understand how Kevin is usually precision agriculture technology and other advanced tools on his farm Listen to the full season here: https://www.syngenta.com/agriculture/sustainable-agriculture/soil-health/soil-sense-podcast (https://www.syngenta.com/agriculture/sustainable-agriculture/soil-health/soil-sense-podcast) This season of the Soil Sense podcast is brought to you by Syngenta. If you are interested in what soil health looks like in practice and on the farm, please subscribe and follow this show on your favorite podcast app, and leave us a rating and review while you’re there! The  Soil Sense podcast is for those that believe building healthier soils is not just a prescription, but rather a pursuit. On this show, we unpack the way farmers collaborate to build healthier soils and adapt systems to work on their farm for both sustainability and profitability.

3. 

   15 Jul 2025

   The Pursuit of Regenerative Potatoes in Canada

   Farmers and agronomists have a lot on their plate just to produce a profitable crop every year. So what happens when their buyers start requesting they also change practices to move in a more regenerative direction? Today we hear Emily, an agronomist for a large farm in Alberta, Canada, and Syngenta’s Tara McCaughey, about the quest to grow a more regenerative potato. “ It's very different from what we're used to. We have somebody who comes here, sells us a product, we see the results. It's instant ROI. With a lot of these practices, it's gonna cost you extra time and people, but you don't necessarily get that right back, that harvest. This is more of a long game. So trying to justify that when you're convincing people to make a change. I think that's an additional barrier is that you might not see your yield increase year one. And that's just a different mindset shift from what we're used to in ag I think.” - Emily, Agronomist in Alberta, Canada Emily is an agronomist for a very large farming operation in Alberta, Canada. She’s been doing that for about five years and has an additional 15 years as agronomist, mostly working for a large french fry manufacturer. Emily recently traveled the world as a Nuffield Scholar studying regenerative agriculture practices in potato production systems. Tara has been with Syngenta for a number of years in various capacities, but currently she is the Head of Technology Solutions in Sustainable Ag Function. So her team ensures that technology, including chemistry, biological crop input products, as well as digital ag solution technologies are market-ready and supported once they're in the market with farmer customers. This Week on Soil Sense: Meet Emily, an agronomist in Alberta, and Tara McCaughey,  Head of Technology Solutions in Sustainable Ag at Syngenta Canada Discover what’s working when it comes to implementing regenerative farming practices in potato cropping systems Consider why building soil health is a long term investment instead of a product that can offer clear and instant return on investment (ROI) Listen to how agronomists like Emily work with other stakeholders to find prudent ways to implement changes The  Soil Sense podcast is for those that believe building healthier soils is not just a prescription, but rather a pursuit. On this show, we unpack the way farmers collaborate to build healthier soils and adapt systems to work on their farm for both sustainability and profitability. Listen to the full season here: https://www.syngenta.com/agriculture/sustainable-agriculture/soil-health/soil-sense-podcast (https://www.syngenta.com/agriculture/sustainable-agriculture/soil-health/soil-sense-podcast) Thank you to Syngenta for sponsoring this season of the Soil Sense podcast. If you are interested in what soil health looks like in practice and on the farm, please subscribe and follow this show on your favorite podcast app, and leave us a rating and review while you’re there!

Who has been a guest on Soil Sense

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Chi
• Xingjia
• Fang Yao
• Mariano
• Javier Peris

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.8 / 5

53 ratings

Spotify

4.8 / 5

23 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 39 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

59

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

51

Contact Soil Sense

Guest appearances

Does not typically book guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.