Andrew McGuire

Andrew McGuire's presentation will critically evaluate the claims surrounding soil health and regenerative agriculture regarding biodiversity, soil microbiology, nutrient inputs, and crop yields. By separating the "chaff from the grain," we will distinguish scientifically supported facts from overstated or unsupported claims. The goal is to provide perspective, helping you make informed decisions on credible evidence.

Join us in Separating the Grain from the Chaff in Soil Health and Regenerative Agriculture

McGuire is an agronomist working for Washington State University in the Columbia Basin's irrigated cropping systems. His current focus is on helping farmers build soils, save money, and maintain yields through high residue farming systems and cover cropping. You can read his writing and find him on X/Twitter @agronomistag.

Dr. James DeDecker

Dr. James DeDecker joins us to present insight from this project and how growers can improve their hemp agronomy. He is excited to share valuable wisdom into the effective strategies for hemp agronomy, and pest management to help you produce the best crop you can!

Dr. DeDecker is Director of the Michigan State University Upper Peninsula Research and Extension Center in Chatham, Michigan and a Specialist in the MSU Extension Community, Food and Environment Institute. James has led hemp research at MSU since 2019 with a focus on agronomy, variety performance, and integrated pest management for all hemp products. Together with university collaborators and growers from Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana, James facilitates the Midwest Hemp Research Collaborative, which is currently in the second year of a participatory research project supported by USDA-NIFA.

Dr. Roberto Busi

Dr. Busi brings extensive knowledge on managing herbicide resistant weeds to the Global Crop Production Conference. He will provide effective management strategies for glyphosate resistance with insight from a case study on his efforts with ryegrass - one of the top 10 most common weeds worldwide with glyphosate resistance - highlighting the fundamental principle behind its management in Australia, the "double-knock" practice.

Join us in learning how to best combat resistant weeds and what you can do to protect your fields as more weeds develop resistance.

Dr. Roberto Busi is a weed scientist at University of Western Australia (UWA) who investigates the rapid evolution of herbicide resistance in key crop weeds and resistance management by novel uses of existing chemistry. His research aims to characterize new cases of resistance, assess risk of resistance to new herbicides, and develop herbicide-based weed management programs. He leads the herbicide resistance testing service at UWA, working with products like Mateno Complete, Voraxor, and Overwatch. He actively engages in extension to connect with growers and agronomists both in person and on social media - find him on X: @robbert115!

Stephen Nicholson

Nicholson joins us to share a global perspective on the price and market expectations of wheat, canola, and pulses including insight on how growers in the Canadian prairies can position themselves to be competitive. His talk will include key factors to influence the market in the next year like the Bunge-Viterra merger, the impact of G3, and the current standing of Canada in the global market.

Stephen Nicholson is the Global Sector Strategist for Grains and Oilseeds at Rabo AgriFinance in the RaboResearch Food & Agribusinees group. He has more than forty years of experience in cash grain markets, hedging, commodity/ingredient procurement, commodity risk management, and commodity analysis. He holds a bachelor's degree in Farm Operations and Agricultural Education and a master's degree in Agricultural Economics from Iowa State University. 

Dr. Harold Van Es

“What’s Measured Gets Done” is the saying, which was the motivation to develop a framework for soil health assessment, interpretation and management.

Dr. Van Es delivers a look into the state-of-the-art soil health laboratory at Cornell University and the large soil health database used to gain critical insights into key aspects and practices that impact soil health. His presentation will share the benchmark metrics developed by his team to interpret soil health measurements. Learn the important soil health properties, how land use and cropping systems will affect the soils, and management practices to upkeep soil health.

Dr. Harold Van Es is a Professor of Soil Science and served as Chair of the Soil and Crop Sciences Department and President of the Soil Science Society of America. He leads the Cornell Soil Health Initiative, was the developer of the Comprehensive Assessment of Soil Health (CASH) framework, and also co-authored the influential book Building Soils for Better Crops. He is the lead developer of Adapt-N (licensed to Ever.Agl), digital technology for crop nitrogen management and spatially-balanced designs for field experiment (available through ARM software). He teaches courses on Soil and Crop Management and Impact Learning.

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