Regenerative Agriculture Podcast · John Kempf

Episode 167: Controlling Pests using Boron Instead of Insecticide with Jay Watts

September 18, 2025·1 hr 12 min·4 clips

Host John states that if crops had adequate boron levels across the industry, insecticide use would drop by 80% or more — a claim he says he makes in presentations but rarely says aloud on the podcast.

Jay Watt starts with the farm, not a theory. He is a fourth-generation farmer in Imperial Valley, talking from the practical side of seed production. The host takes his time with that setup. Seed growing, especially with diverse crops or a push for high quality, comes across as the kind of work that trains a farmer's eye. Then the alfalfa numbers show up. Watt says germination has moved out of the 96s, 97s, and 98s and toward 99.7, even 99.8 percent. That sounds tiny until he explains the grading. One seed wholesaler, he says, separates top lots by a tenth of a percent, and money disappears when a lot slips from 99.5 to 99.4. The host keeps the brakes on. He asks whether avoiding herbicides changed purity too, then makes clear he means weed seed contamination, not just germination. Watt points to the whole bundle: no herbicides, no sprays, soil inoculations, a different minor-nutrient program, and better management. He also leaves himself some room. Maybe he is simply a better seed grower after five years, but he does not buy that as the whole explanation. That tension is what makes the conversation useful. The host keeps separating cause from correlation, while Watt keeps coming back to what changed in the field.

As heard by us

A farm-level conversation about seed quality, management change, and what actually moves the numbers.

Jay Watts and John spend the episode in practical seed production territory: what changes when herbicides drop out of the mix, how germination numbers move, and how a grower starts seeing the whole system differently once quality becomes the main measure.

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Why you'd press play

For growers who want a field-level conversation about seed production, management changes, and what shifts when herbicides drop out.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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