Why does soil sampling depth matter? Host Sal Sama is joined in the podcast room by special guests, Drew Schumacher and Blake Albrecht. Drew is the co-founder and CEO of ROGO Ag, a high accuracy soil sampling company, and Blake is the TRAX Agronomy Lead West at Premier Companies.

You’ll hear about Drew’s career path and how he went from working in mechanical engineering to founding a business in the agriculture industry. You’ll also learn about Blake’s path to Premier Ag and the many hats he wears for the company, including his work with the TRAX department. You’ll learn about soil sampling and how Rogo Ag can remove the human error element in soil sampling and help farmers learn how to apply fertilizer more accurately. Soil sampling is something that needs to be taken very seriously. “It’s the foundation for so many decisions that get made until the next sample rotation comes around…”

What have we learned from the 2025 answer plots? While Jeff is probably off doing his hair, host Sal Sama is joined in the podcast room by the fan favorite, Glenn Longabaugh. Glenn is famous for being the Technical Agronomist for Premier Companies, and he’s also an amateur investigator for crop damage caused by animals.

Glenn will share about the success they’ve had with this year’s answer plot participation and the information he’s been able to share with area growers regarding getting more from your crop protection spend, nutrition, and ag technology. Glenn will also share why he feels growers should frontload their herbicide applications to help get control of weeds and the work he and his team have done on red crown rot which is a soil borne pathogen. “We are well respected at Premier amongst the basic manufacturers for being able to make these kinds of trials and help collect data on this sort of thing, and it should tell our growers that we’re in a leadership position, that we’re actively looking for solutions for their problems…”

What do the northern lights have to do with farming equipment? Jay Rieckers joins hosts Jeff Jarrett and Sal Sama in the podcast room for today’s episode of The High Ground powered by Premier Companies. Jay is the Service Manager and in large equipment sales at Jacobi Sales and Service.

You’ll learn about Jay’s career path and what led to him moving from equipment service to selling for Jacobi, even at Taekwondo. From equipment that can plant at 10 miles an hour to other equipment that has the ability to apply two different fertilizer prescriptions simultaneously and manage downforce, you’ll be astounded by the changes that have occurred in agriculture equipment over the last couple of decades. Sal, Jeff, and Jay will dig into the connection between northern lights and farming equipment in addition to discussing draper header versus auger headers. Whether you’re a grower or just an equipment fanatic, you’ll love this episode!