Trey Bouler fulfilled a longtime dream when he was named superintendent of a golf course. No doubt, work was needed at the Beau Pre Country Club in Natchez, Mississippi, although he has been more than up to the task.

The Beau Pre course is a beautiful one, but it struggled with multiple issues, including algae, encroachment and nematodes.

Enter Redox TurfRx™, including OxyCal™ to bolster calcium, NatureCur™ for root development, Supreme™ to help turf growth and K+™ for summer stress.

“I was very excited how fast I started seeing turnaround, which drew me in even more to Redox,” Bouler said. “It has been awesome.”

He said his TurfRx™ experience confirms his approach to not skimp on fertilizer expenses.

“We make our money in the golf course industry on our greens,” Bouler said. “That is not a place to skimp, at all. I’m a firm believer in the best nutrients possible for my budget. If I have to back off on something else, something else is going to be backed off on. I will not compromise on nutrition for my putting surfaces.”

Resilience is part of the DNA in agriculture, but there’s a massive difference when the adversity being faced is away from the farm and involves a loved one.

Grower James Rickert and his wife Casey faced such adversity when their young daughter Emersyn contracted Hemolytic-uremic syndrome caused by E.coli.

Earlier this year, Emersyn battled through a multi system shutdown, kidney failure, coma, seizures, neurological complications, a collapsed lung and multiple infections.

After 10 weeks in the hospital, Emersyn is home and vastly improved. She started her first day in kindergarten and even had a visit with Santa and Mrs. Claus.

The Rickert family hopes Emersyn’s courage will inspire others facing huge life challenges.

“She’s my hero, and I don’t know how she does what she does every day,” Casey said. “She’s still processing the trauma in her own way. Nothing phases this kid. She is defying the odds after what she went through.”

“I look at life differently,” James said. “I realize that every day with my family is special. I have never appreciated it as much as I do today.”

Emersyn continues her recovery and recently made a Gingerbread house with a horse on top. She also put her Christmas request in to Santa Claus for a tiny dog.

The rural-urban divide in our country continues to widen. Mike Twining of Willard Agri-Service, one of our great ag retailers, is working hard to help bridge the gap between farmers and consumers.

Twining was among the speakers at TedX Talks in Arizona and Philadelphia. His speeches presented a compelling case for smarter food buying decisions and a continuation of sustainable agriculture, meaning doing more with less.

He said his work in this area has been very encouraging.

“It has been really exciting to see the engagement I’ve had,” Twining remarked. “It’s such a neat opportunity to get outside of my normal obit and talk to people, who are sometimes two or three plus generations removed from the farm. ... It has been really gratifying to see how excited they get to actually learn about it and talk with someone still involved in agriculture. I think the vast majority of people are genuinely curious and generally think positively about farmers and agriculture. That has certainly been my experience.”

Find out more about Mike’s talks on the TedX YouTube Page: https://www.youtube.com/user/TEDxTalks


More from Mike:
Saving the Planet With Your Food
Eating Our Way to a Cleaner Planet

The start of summer 2025 will mark the end of Michael Parrella’s near decade as dean of the University of Idaho’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. Parrella also spent nearly 30 years as a key agricultural figure in California at UC Davis and UC Riverside.

As retirement nears, Parrella said he’s optimistic that research at the university level and through Redox and others in the private sector will help growers do more with less.

“Ultimately what we really want to do is grow a healthy plant and use less traditional fertilizer,” Parrella said. “Less nitrogen and less potassium. I think the work with micronutrients is going to enable us to do that. That’s a huge part of dealing with sustainability of agriculture and healthy soils moving forward.”

He said he’d like his time at the University of Idaho to be remembered for two primary areas: hiring the best early career faculty possible, supporting the existing faculty and having updated facilities for them to carry out effective work.

As their farm entered a rough patch, fourth generation orchardist Kaitlyn Thornton in Tonasket, Washington, ventured into social media to reach a larger audience.

Her engaging approach has elevated her into a popular agricultural influencer, who now regularly reaches millions of people with photos and videos of their apple and pear harvests, cultural practices and everyday farm life.

As the average farm operator continues to get older, Thornton said there are many opportunities for Gen Z to contribute. She said her generation has the knowledge and interest in helping, but many lack self-confidence and need a boost from the older generations.

You can follow Kaitlyn at Apple Girl Kait on Instagram and TikTok and Kaitlyn Thornton on LinkedIn.

Potassium is one of the most used crop inputs. Redox Lead Agronomist John Kelly says it also represents a key opportunity for growers to improve their bottom line.

“I often feel like of all of the macronutrients, potassium is the one nutrient that represents opportunities in crops,” he said. “In other words, better potassium nutrition can enhance yield and quality.”

Potassium regulates water and nutrient uptake, and movement within the plant. It also plays a key role in plant charge balance. The plant must balance itself electrically, with an equal amount of negatively and positively charged elements. Potassium is responsible for about 80 percent of the positive charge. When it’s out of balance, the plant must allocate excessive resources, excessive energy in getting back into balance. In the process of doing that, yield and quality potential are diminished.

Kelly said applying more potassium isn’t always the best solution in growing crops.

Early season crop growth, during the cell wall formation stage, an oversupply of potassium can effectively block other positively charged elements, from being taken up in the plant, harming crop quality.

Kelly said improving soil health is a crucial ingredient in crop performance, and inputs and practices can improve it very quickly.

He said more growers are taking positive steps in this direction.

“We’re seeing less about just throwing pounds out without any regard for timing or input, and targeting input and performance,” Kelly said. “When it comes to potassium, you can really up the performance potential of those crops.”

N, P and K are standard inputs on farms across the U.S., but new scientific understandings can make a huge difference their efficient use.

Phosphorus is fundamental to everything in the plant. It facilitates the transfer of sunlight energy to chemical energy that leads to plant growth.

A lot of phosphorus applied in fields gets tied up and never makes it to the plant. This inefficiency is a growing concern on efficiency and environmental fronts.

Redox Lead Agronomist John Kelly said Rootex™ provides an excellent source of phosphorus with biostimulants. The combination stimulates lateral root branching and increases specialized proteins in the root system, which promote drought stress tolerance.

Kelly said Redox technology brings efficiency and helps farm profitability.

“While it’s great to understand the technology, the thing that gets me most excited is the consistency of these benefits across crops and professional turf grass,” he said. “The efficiency is there, and the consistency of performance is there.”

Many growers seeking success for the long term continually look for the best technology, including plant nutrition. Bio-stimulants are a promising frontier for many, and greater scientific understanding of what they can do is helping the process.

Distinguished professor Dr. Patrick Brown of UC Davis is one of the world’s foremost bio-stimulant experts. He’s the chair of this year’s Biostimulants World Congress, and said greater understanding of specific biostimulant benefits is crucial to their adoption. He said many bio-stimulant products have been sold with broad statements, which won’t be sufficient moving forward.

“I think there’s an innate recognition and interest amongst farmers that a more biological approach would be useful, and at least a hope, if not yet a belief, that bio-stimulants might be part of that solution,” Brown said.