Nutrient-dense food, it’s a big topic in regenerative agriculture.  It’s just one of the many goals of improved soil health and it’s so very important to our own, human health.  But how do we quantify it? What new research techniques are uncovering these connections and how can we identify practices and systems that will improve nutrient-dense food?  Our guest today is trying to discover just that, Dr. Stephan van Vliet is a nutrition scientist and metabolomics expert in the Stedman Nutrition and Metabolism Center at Duke University School of Medicine. Dr. van Vliet earned his PhD in Kinesiology and Community Health as an ESPEN Fellow from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and received post-doctoral training in the Center for Human Nutrition at Washington University in St Louis School of Medicine.

Dr. van Vliet’s research is performed at the nexus of agricultural and human health. He routinely collaborates with farmers, ecologists, and agricultural scientists to study critical linkages between agricultural production methods, the nutrient density of food, and human health. Dr. van Vliet uses high-throughput metabolomics techniques to study the presence of bioactive compounds in the whole food matrix and their impacts on human metabolic health.

Got questions you want answered?  Send them our way and we’ll do our best to research and find answers.  
Know someone you think would be great on the AgEmerge podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm

We’d love to hear from you!

Stephen van Vliet

056 AgEmerge Podcast Dr. Stephan van Vliet: Research at the nexus of agricultural and human health.

In this special episode of the AgEmerge Podcast, Grok, created by xAI, turns the mic on Monte Bottens, a fifth-generation Illinois farmer, entrepreneur, and visionary behind Bottens Family Farm, Ag Solutions Network, and Grateful Graze. Monte shares his journey from raising pigs in 4-H to building a diverse operation rooted in regenerative agriculture, blending Midwest traditions with California’s crop diversity. He discusses the pivotal moments—like seeing Gabe Brown’s soil organic matter gains—that drove Monte’s shift to soil health principles, the challenges of overcoming conventional farming’s cookie-cutter mindset, and his frustration with the industry’s resistance to change. 
Monte’s vision for the future is bold: transitioning to organic systems, prioritizing perennials, and using technology like precision ag to scale regenerative practices for large-scale farmers. This conversation is packed with raw honesty, practical wisdom, and a call to rethink farming for soil and community health.
Monte also offers actionable advice for young farmers: find a niche, leverage local markets, and don’t fear failure. From cover crop mishaps to mid-season equipment fixes, his stories of trial and error inspire listeners to embrace innovation and build strong teams. Whether you’re a farmer, researcher, or innovator, Monte’s insights on overcoming fear, learning from mistakes, and aligning with nature’s design will leave you fired up to push the needle forward for sustainable farming.
And, if you’re as excited as we are about the future of agriculture, check out our website at asn.farm and there you can click on links to follow us on Facebook, X, Instagram, Linkedin, and YouTube. There’s a lot of great things happening and always something to learn. 


AgEmerge Podcast 166 with Monte Bottens and Grok Ai  Part II

In today’s episode, we’ve got a wide-ranging discussion recapping the great ideas explored at this year’s AgEmerge event including Dr. Dwayne Beck’s recommended book list. We’ll talk about Monte’s travels to the Grassfed conference and what he learned from Dr. Fred Provenza, a speaker at the conference.
Also, what does it look like to implement a stacked enterprise model?  Monte will discuss some ideas and experiences that lead to wanting to explore this model. There’s a little something for everyone as we continue to seek out innovation, technology and successful practices that support soil health principles.  

Recommended reading from Dr. Beck:
Plowman’s Folly: Edward H. Faulkner
Conquest of the Land: W.C. Lowdermilk
The Worst Hard Time: Timothy Egan
Dirt - The Erosion of Civilizations: Dr. David Montgomery
Civilization Critical - Energy, Food, Nature, And The Future: Darrin Qualman

Other books referenced in today’s podcast:
Nourishment - What Animals Can Teach Us About Rediscovering Our Nutritional Wisdom: Fred Provenza
 
Got questions you want answered?  Send them our way and we’ll do our best to research and find answers.  
Know someone you think would be great on the AgEmerge 2021 stage or on the podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm

We’d love to hear from you!

025. Seeking out innovation, technology and successful practices supporting soil health principles.

Accelerating change: Learning, problem solving and how this pandemic is affecting American agriculture.

Warren Graeff joins us today on the AgEmerge Podcast. Warren is the Senior Vice President, Agriculture Market Manager at PNC Bank and leads the Ag Banking Group throughout the PNC footprint.  Since joining PNC in 2007 he developed and implemented the mission and strategy for the PNC Ag Banking Group to provide farmers and agribusinesses with a full range of deposit, credit, and financially related services. 

We tap into Warren’s wealth of knowledge in agriculture, leadership and finance while exploring the current conditions, challenges and opportunities we are seeing in agriculture.  
We discuss the current situation as we navigate the COVID-19 and the effects this pandemic is having on our global food system and distribution models. Technology, automation and data are at the forefront, and implementation is being ramped up to address these challenges.

030. AgEmerge Podcast: Accelerating change and how this pandemic is affecting American agriculture.

On today’s episode, the livestock team from Bottens Family Farms, joins us to talk about livestock integration and what that diversity means for the farm and the soil. You’ve heard us talk so much about the soil health principles and today we’re going to focus on the last of those principles, livestock integration.  This fifth principle describes the synergistic role between plants, animals and soil.  Livestock are an important part of soil health and today we’ll  explore the journey Bottens Family Farm and their livestock team has taken to integrate livestock in a regenerative system.  This is a learning experience and it’s not sugar coated.  It’s a real discussion of the challenges and opportunities presented when integrating livestock back onto the land. The key words today are management and training, with those two operative words, this team has done a lot of discovery to make this system work.

035. AgEmerge 2020 Livestock Integration with Bottens Family Farm Livestock Team

In today’s episode, we meet Megan Silcott. She’s a Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo graduate, where she earned her undergrad degree in Agricultural Science with minors in Ag Business, Ag Communications, and Spanish, and a  master’s in Agricultural Education. 
Following undergrad, Megan worked for a commercial fertilizer company and learned the ins and outs of bulk production, sales, and marketing. In 2011 she transitioned to a lecturer within the Animal Science and Agricultural Education and Communication Departments at her alma mater.
She advised the Western Bonanza Junior Livestock show and managed the Brock Center for Agricultural Communication. Megan taught multiple agricultural science and communication courses with a focus on leadership development. Outside of the university, she served as an officer for the San Luis Obispo County Farm Bureau and a board member of the Center for Growing Talent by the Produce Marketing Association.
Originally from Santa Maria, California, Megan and her husband Dean call Nipomo, California, home. Dean is the Operations Manager for C&M Nursery and oversees citrus and avocado production. They have two young kids who enjoy helping Dad on the ranch, Jeeping, and dirt bike adventures. Megan has a love for horses and keeps two Quarter horses on their property for riding and unwinding.
She joined the team at Ag Solutions Network in July, 2020 as the Marketing Director. 

Got questions you want answered?  Send them our way and we’ll do our best to research and find answers.  
Know someone you think would be great on the AgEmerge 2021 stage or on the podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm

We’d love to hear from you!

038. Marketing Agriculture with an Educator’s Heart with Megan Silcott

You know, building and improving our systems approach to soil health isn’t just a movement happening on the farm.  There are more and more companies coming alongside growers to encourage the implementation of these practices, understanding the value of restoring our soils while addressing consumer concerns and desires.  In today’s podcast, we’ve got a great opportunity to explore some of those ideas with Jay Watson, the Sourcing Engagement Manager for Global Sustainability and Grain Operations at General Mills.  Jay leads efforts to advance progress on agricultural sustainability efforts. Jay says he’s been fortunate to travel to where many of GMI’s key ingredients are grown and appreciates the opportunity to connect with farmers and learn more about stewardship as well as family legacy.

Mr. Jay Watson leads efforts to advance progress on agricultural sustainability efforts, including General Mills, Inc.’s (GMI) 2025 greenhouse gas reduction and 2030 regenerative agriculture commitments. 
In his role, Mr. Watson collaborates with buyers and external partners to develop and deploy engagements to both characterize & reduce social, environmental and economic impacts of key ingredients. 
Prior to joining the sustainability team in January 2017, Mr. Watson spent 10 years in a variety of buying roles within the company’s global sourcing organization.  Mr. Watson holds B.S. in Finance and a B.S. in Economics from Arizona State University and a MBA from the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management.

041. AgEmerge Podcast - Measuring regenerative agriculture outcomes and grower decisions.

We appreciate you joining us for this year end AgEmerge podcast. We’ve focused this year on bringing you speakers that are not only ag thought leaders, but implementation leaders.  They’re talking the talk but also walking the walk. 

We’re finishing out our podcast year by looking back on the opportunities our guests have challenged us to explore in our operations and move the needle forward on building soil health and leaving a legacy.

Without a doubt, this year has come with its own set challenges. We've learned a lot from the speakers we’ve had both on the AgEmerge stage and on the podcast.  Today, we’re bringing you some clips from a past year’s AgEmerge podcast along with some of our favorite event moments. Including speakers, Gabe Brown, Holly Green, Dr. Dwayne Beck, and Dr. Zach Bush.  And, we’re excited to share with you the link to our AgEmerge YouTube channel where you can listen to both our Keynote and Headline speakers along with all of the speaker’s addresses from the past two years at AgEmerge.  

You can experience the excitement and thought-provoking presentations as our speakers walk us through how they made their paradigm shift and started seeing things differently. We hope this year-end podcast will encourage you to think, plan, and implement differently.

Check out all the AgEmerge Addresses by clicking on the Youtube link on the AgEmerge website.  www.agemerge.com

047. AgEmerge Podcast Year End 2020

On today’s podcast, we welcome Jay McCaman.  Jay is the author of “When Weeds Talk”, a top ten book on Acres, USA’s 2019 list. (Acres is North America's oldest publisher on production-scale organic and sustainable farming).
And more than a book, “When Weeds Talk” provides a comprehensive list of weeds and the soil conditions that enable those weeds to grow. 
On his mission to discover what weeds are telling us about the soil conditions in the field, Jay has amassed almost 20,000 note cards cataloging research that’s been done to uncover the weed soil connection.  Jay says, “It all fits together; weeds, insects, and disease are all connected to the soil.” 
Jay is a proverbial wealth of information sharing his findings about weed conditions in association with soil macro and micronutrients to porosity and drainage, Jay graduated from Michigan State University with a major in Agricultural Mechanization and went on to work in the implement business, farming and managing an organic orchard. 

Click here to order Jay’s book:  https://bookstore.acresusa.com/products/weeds-and-why-they-grow

Got questions you want answered?  Send them our way and we’ll do our best to research and find answers.  
Know someone you think would be great on the AgEmerge 2021 stage or on the podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm
We’d love to hear from you!

051 AgEmerge 2021 Podcast - Jay McCaman "When Weeds Talk"

Soil health, regenerative practices, and emerging technology — The AgEmerge Podcast. Join our host, Monte Bottens, as he engages with guests from diverse agriculture interests to discuss experiences, practices and scalable applications for any operation. Tune in to new episodes every other Tuesday to regenerate your ideas, soil, crops, livestock and livelihood.





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AgEmerge Podcast 166 with Monte Bottens and Grok Ai Part II

Ag Emerge Podcast