The Missing Middle in Regenerative Ag Adoption: Why Ag Retail Matters
Farmers are not the only ones carrying the future of soil health.
That is one of the biggest takeaways from this episode of The Whole Farm Podcast presented by CHONEX, featuring Christie Apple, an agronomist, soil health advocate, and founder of Crop Scout Christie.
Christie has spent 18 planting seasons working in agronomy, primarily across the Great Lakes region. Her path into agriculture was not traditional. She started in business administration, then found herself drawn into the day-to-day connections between soil, biology, chemistry, plant performance, and farm decision-making.
What she discovered became more than a career. It became a calling.
“I realized this was actually my calling all along,” Christie shared.
Today, Christie works with ag retailers, agronomists, farmers, and other advisors to help translate complex soil health ideas into practical conversations and field-level decisions. And in this episode, she brings a clear challenge to the industry:
If we want long-term adoption of soil health practices, we cannot focus only on changing farmers’ minds.
We have to support the people farmers already trust.
Farmers Want to Do Better
Much of the soil health conversation has centered on one central question: how do we get farmers to adopt new practices?
Christie believes that this question misses part of the equation.
Through her work on a soil health task force in Michigan and her experience supporting ag retail agronomists, Christie has seen that many farmers are interested in better soil health, stronger nutrient use efficiency, and practices that leave the land in better shape for the next generation.
The challenge is not always willingness.
The challenge is support.
In the episode, Christie explains that many programs have tried to drive adoption through grants, agencies, conservation districts, and regulatory channels. Those efforts can help, but they often struggle to create lasting change once the funding or direct support goes away.
“When the grant runs out, the practice is gone,” Christie said. “We’re back to what we know.”
That is where the “missing middle” comes in.
What Is the Missing Middle?
The missing middle is the layer of farm decision influencers who sit between large programs and the farm gate.
These are the people farmers already call when they have questions. They may be ag retail sales agronomists, CCAs, consultants, custom applicators, nutrient managers, product reps, or other trusted advisors.
They influence decisions around fertilizer, nitrogen timing, application rates, tillage, cover crops, pest management, nutrient use efficiency, and product selection.
However, many of them have not been given the education, resources, language, or incentives to confidently lead soil health conversations.
Christie puts it simply: if the trusted advisor is not talking about cover crops, soil biology, nutrient efficiency, or soil health testing, that conversation may never make it to the farm in a practical way.
“The gap is actually not changing the farmers’ minds,” Christie said. “Farmers want to do better.”
The real opportunity is helping the people closest to the farmer become more confident in soil health-focused decision-making.
Soil Health Is Not Separate From Agronomy
One of the most important parts of this conversation is Christie’s reminder that soil health does not have to sit outside conventional agronomy.
Soil health is not a label. It is not just a regenerative certification. It is not a separate movement that has to compete with fertilizer, ag retail, or traditional crop production.
It is a lens for better decisions.
Christie challenges the industry to bring soil health “front and center” in the work ag retailers are already doing. That includes conversations about nutrient use efficiency, nitrogen stabilization, water infiltration, soil tilth, erosion, weed management, cover crop integration, crop resilience, and biological activity.
As she explains in the episode, every pass across a field is either helping or hurting the soil.
That idea has become a compass for Christie’s work.
Whether she is talking with a farmer, an agronomist, or a retail team, the question is the same: is this decision moving the soil and the system in the right direction?
Why Ag Retail Has So Much Influence
Michael and Christie talk about the deep connection between farmers and their advisors.
In many regions, especially in specialty crops, the retail agronomist is not just someone selling products. They are part of the farm’s operating system.
They know the fields. They know the crop. They know the timing. They understand the pressure points. In some cases, Michael says, a farmer could call their retail agronomist and trust them to help keep the farm moving for a week.
That kind of trust matters.
If ag retail teams are equipped to speak confidently about soil health, nutrient use efficiency, cover crops, and biological systems, their influence can reach far more acres than any one consultant or government program alone.
Christie sees this as one of the greatest opportunities in agriculture right now.
“If we strengthen the people at the center of these conversations, we won’t just change the individual farm,” she said. “We’re going to change the system.”
The Confidence Gap
For many retail agronomists, the barrier is not lack of care. It is lack of confidence.
A farmer may ask, “What do you know about cover crops?” or “What should I plant to fix this problem?” But those questions are rarely simple.
Christie explains that the answer depends on the farm’s goals, tillage practices, water infiltration, soil condition, weed pressure, and broader management system. A cover crop recommendation should not be treated as a one-size-fits-all product answer.
That can feel overwhelming for an advisor who has never been trained to think through those questions.
So instead of engaging the conversation, many walk away from it.
Christie believes that has to change. Ag retail teams need more support, more training, and more incentive to engage soil health as part of their regular agronomic conversations.
A Different Kind of Recommendation
Another key theme in the episode is the need to move beyond fertilizer-only recommendations.
Christie points out that many soil testing protocols were designed to support fertilizer recommendations. That still has value, but it may not give the full picture of soil health, biology, carbon, water dynamics, or long-term resilience.
She discusses the importance of soil health baselines, including tools that can help farmers and advisors better understand biological activity, water-extractable nutrients, carbon measurements, and other indicators.
The goal is not to abandon agronomy.
The goal is to ask better questions.
Do we have a nitrogen volume problem, or do we have a carbon problem? Is the issue fertility, biology, structure, infiltration, or something else? What practices will help this specific field move toward a stronger system over the next five to ten years?
Those questions create better conversations. Better conversations create better decisions.
Soil Health Adoption Requires the Whole System
Christie’s message is not that farmers need more pressure.
It is that farmers need better support from the system around them.
Government programs, food companies, grants, and sustainability initiatives all have a role to play. But if the people closest to the farm are not equipped to carry the conversation forward, adoption may continue to stall when outside support fades.
That is why Christie believes the next step is investing in ag retail education, resources, and incentives.
Not because ag retail has all the answers.
But because ag retail has trust, access, and influence.
Listen to the Full Episode
This episode is a must-listen for farmers, agronomists, retailers, consultants, and anyone working to make soil health practices more practical, scalable, and lasting.
Christie Apple brings a grounded, field-level perspective to one of the biggest questions in regenerative agriculture: how do we move from short-term adoption to long-term change?
Her answer starts with the people in the middle.
Listen to the full episode of The Whole Farm Podcast presented by CHONEX to hear Christie’s story, her perspective on ag retail, and why strengthening trusted advisors may be one of the most important steps in advancing soil health across American agriculture.
Connect with Christie Apple at:
https://www.cropscoutchristie.com/
https://www.instagram.com/cropscoutchristie/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/christie-apple-a8243ba3/