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See the latest news, innovation updates, trial results, grower stories and more from Agricen. 
How to Be Profitable Despite Lower Corn Prices
September 25, 2014 — Posted By Agricen

By Brian Cornelious, PhD, Director of Applied Sciences 

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Everyone has a favorite ride at the amusement park. Some treasure the predictability of the carousel, while others seek the thrill of the rollercoaster.

The more I ponder on this analogy, the more I begin to think of farming. 

Some very traditional farmers live by the philosophy of “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” while others ascribe to a more progressive approach of “It’s working pretty well, but I think I can make it even better.” Both ways of thinking have their benefits, but I speculate that we’ll need more of the latter philosophy as we move forward, especially in light of current conditions facing the modern farming industry.

Has Farming Been More Like a Carousel Ride or a Rollercoaster?

Let’s get back to the amusement park analogy for a moment and compare riding on the carousel versus rollercoaster from my own experiences with each:

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I’m sure there are other things that you would add to the list, but, in the sense of what the farmer is facing today, I would bet the ride is more like the rollercoaster that the carousel, especially when you look at some of the major factors influencing crop production decisions:

  • Commodity prices
  • Fertilizer costs
  • Seed costs
  • Land cost
  • Equipment costs
  • Financing/operating capital
  • Weather patterns

We could go into great detail about each of these factors, but let’s focus on the impact that commodity prices have on fertility practices. Let’s also look at how some of the management decisions based on this single factor might affect the productivity and profitability of today’s farmer.

Saying Goodbye to $7/Bushel Corn

The years of $7/bushel corn have passed, and when they’ll return is anyone’s guess.  While the US farmer’s ability to produce record amounts of corn has been proven once again with the amazing 2014 crop, this record crop is placing pricing pressure on December new crop corn. Growers are now facing corn that’s under $4/bushel, and it may seem almost impossible to make a profit at this rate after figuring in production costs. This is giving many growers pause when it comes to any additional inputs beyond crop protection and their liquid or dry fertilizers. Some might even be thinking of scaling back on their fertility. What can growers do to stay profitable?

Nutrient Use Efficiency Is Key for Profitability

During periods of declining prices, it is critical to increase yields in order to lower the cost of production per bushel. That means increasing the efficiency of fertilizer inputs in the face of lower corn prices. This process will allow the grower to produce more bushels at a lower cost.

Most growers will apply dry phosphate (P) and potash (K) as a blend after harvest this fall.  Dry fertilizer is considered a standard input for corn production, even though only 20-30% of the phosphate and 20-60% of the potash is available to next spring’s corn crop.  The inefficiency of applied P & K isn’t really acceptable, but what can be done to improve nutrient use efficiency by releasing the P & K that get tied-up in the soil? 

Titan PBA Can Help Growers Get the Most Out of Their Dry Fertilizer Inputs

The answer is to add biochemical fertilizer catalyst technology found in Titan PBA.  In combination with a dry fertility program, Titan PBA increases the availability of applied nutrients and improves plant uptake and utilization.  The increased efficiency of the fertilizer as a result of the Titan PBA allows growers to realize higher yields—as seen in the data below—and lower production costs per bushel. 

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I think most growers would agree that the past several years have been more like a rollercoaster ride than a carousel ride. However, uncertainty about commodity prices should not affect the attitudes towards using sound fertility programs to maintain or even increase yields. Adding biochemical technology to a dry fertility program can enhance nutrient use efficiency and increase yield potential—helping growers cope with the ups and downs of today’s rollercoaster ride.

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Understanding Nutrient Requirements for High-Yielding Corn
September 17, 2014 — Posted By Agricen

By Fred E. Below, PhD, Professor of Plant Physiology, Department of Crop Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

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Agronomic advancements have brought corn yields to new heights, but producers have had little guidance on how to meet the nutrient requirements of modern, high-yield corn hybrids in a way that maximizes their yields. As a result, the high yields we see today have been accompanied in many places across the United States by a significant drop in soil nutrient levels, particularly phosphorus (P), potassium (K), sulfur (S) and zinc (Zn). This combination—higher yielding hybrids and decreasing soil fertility levels—suggests that producers have not sufficiently matched their maintenance fertilizer applications with nutrient uptake and removal by the corn.

By better understanding nutrient uptake and partitioning, producers can optimize their fertilization practices to meet their crop needs and attain maximum yield potential. I’ll focus here primarily on the uptake, partitioning, and utilization of P and K by corn.

Download the Biocatalyst Technology FAQ

Typical fertilization for corn in the United States is 180 lbs of N, 90 lbs of P2O5 and 160 lbs of K20 per acre, with no S or micronutrients. For modern corn hybrids in high-yielding systems, mineral nutrients with high requirements for production (i.e., nitrogen [N], P, K) or with a high harvest index (HI: the percentage of total plant uptake that is removed with the grain) (i.e., N, P, S, Zn) are important for obtaining high corn yield (Table 1).1 

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Producers must consider the impact of increased grain and stover nutrient removal on the next crop and employ appropriate fertilizer strategies to ensure that adequate nutrients are available to the crop. Phosphorus is probably one of the most overlooked nutrients, and most farmers are not putting out enough. In relation to total uptake, nearly 80% of P is removed in corn grain, while K is retained to a higher percentage in stover.

Production practices that utilize above-ground stover (i.e., cellulosic ethanol, silage production) may remove an additional 20.8 lbs of N, 4.0 lbs of P2O5, and 23.3 lbs of K2O per ton of dry matter, along with micronutrients. While farmers in Illinois, for example, fertilize 93 lbs P2O5 per acre, on average, for corn production2, the large majority (~80%) of soybean fields receive no applied P. As a result, they would have only the remaining 13 lbs/acre of P2O5 available for soybean production in a corn–soybean rotation3, where P and K fertilizer are commonly applied for both crops in the corn production year. This value would be inadequate to meet soybean P needs for total uptake (48 lbs/acre P2O5) or nutrient removal (30 lbs/acre P2O5) based on a conservative yield estimate of 46 bushels/acre in Illinois.4 Clearly, typical fertilization practices may need to be adjusted to meet crop nutrient needs.

Mineral nutrients are not all acquired at the same time or used in the same way by corn plants, and some require season-long uptake by corn roots for the crop to achieve a high yield. During the V10 to V14 growth stages, 230 bushel corn requires 7.8 lbs of N, 2.1 lbs of P2O5 and 5.4 lbs of K2O per day, but these needs change at other times. To optimize their programs, producers need fertilizer sources that supply nutrients at the rate and time that match their plants’ nutritional needs.

Potassium accumulates more than three-fourths of total uptake by VT/R1 (Figure 1)1, while over 50% of total P uptake occurs during grain fill (after VT/R1) (Figure 2)1, in addition to remobilization of 57% and 77% of the maximum measured leaf P and stalk P contents, respectively. This suggests that a season-long supply of P is critical for corn nutrition, while availability of K at levels that can meet the maximum rates of uptake during early season vegetative growth would be expected to meet corn nutritional needs, since the majority of K uptake occurs during vegetative growth. Thus, practices that are effective for one nutrient may not improve uptake of the other.

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Nutrient management is complex, but improved fertilizer use can be achieved by understanding patterns of nutrient uptake, partitioning, and utilization. Producers should pay special attention to P requirements as productivity increases, as current data suggest a looming soil fertility crisis if adequate adjustments are not made in P usage rates. Agronomic advancements have brought corn yields to new heights, but understanding how to maintain soil nutrient levels can go a long way in helping to sustain high yields.

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Learn how biocatalyst technologies can improve nutrient availability and uptake to help meet the nutrient needs of corn and other crops by downloading the Biocatalyst Technology FAQ Booklet.

Download the Biocatalyst Technology FAQ

 

References:

  1. Bender RR, Haegele JW, Ruffo ML, Below FE. 2013. Nutrient uptake, partitioning, and remobilization in modern, transgenic insect-protected maize hybrids. Agron. J. 105:161–170.
  2. National Agriculture Statistics Service (NASS), United States Department of Agriculture. Fertilizer and Chemical Usage. 2011. Illinois Farm Report. 32:8.
  3. NASS. Fertilizer, Chemical Usage, and Biotechnology Varieties. 2010. Bulletin As11091, Illinois Agricultural Statistics.
  4. Usherwood, N.R. 1998. Nutrient management for top-profit soybeans. News and views. Bulletin RN 98105. Potash and Phosphate Inst., Int. Plant Nutrition Inst., Norcross, GA.
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Advancing the Next Generation of Biologically Sourced Tools
September 8, 2014 — Posted By Agricen

For more than a decade, Agricen has invested in rigorous scientific research focused on developing practical biological and biochemical tools to improve the quality and performance of plant nutrition programs. The result is innovative products like Accomplish and Titan, used by growers worldwide to increase the availability of their applied nutrients, improve their nutrient use efficiency and maximize their yield potential.

Our products have been rigorously evaluated in hundreds of studies, demonstrating efficacy across crops, soil types and fertility practices.

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We are constantly working to enhance our understanding of how biologically sourced tools can contribute to the economic and environmental sustainability of production agriculture. Our efforts in the field are complimented by an active laboratory research program, led by our sister company Agricen Sciences, devoted to unravelling the complexity of microbial communities and their interactions within the plant-soil system.

Today, we are leading the innovation and delivery of biochemical plant nutrition technologies to give growers the tools they need to increase sustainability and productivity.

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This is Part 5 of our five-part series (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5) about sustainable growing practices. To learn more about Agricen and our contributions to sustainable growing practices, subscribe to our blog.

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Challenges in a Changing Agricultural Biologicals Market
September 3, 2014 — Posted By Agricen

Agricultural biologicals are a fast growing sector in agriculture, but it hasn’t always been this way.

One of the challenges in the advancement and modern day acceptance agricultural biologicals has been the profusion of companies over the years selling “miracle” microbial solutions—often of indeterminate quality or origin.

By making overstated claims that were not backed by rigorous science, these companies contributed to the perception that biologically sourced tools for plant nutrition were little more than “snake oil.”

Soils Systems Are Complex

Another major challenge to the development of these tools has been the very complexity of the soil-plant system, coupled with the limitations of the technology to meaningfully analyze this system.

In fact, developing a full understanding of the complex microbial communities in the soil is a challenge of staggering magnitude.

Even with today’s sophisticated genetic analysis tools, we can identify only about 1 percent of the microorganisms found in any soil sample at the species level. Thus we know very little about how the remaining 99 percent of the microbial community, which is still unidentified, functions in the soil-plant system.

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Microbial Communities Impact Plant Nutrition Biochemically

Even more challenging—and perhaps more important—may be trying to understand how these microbial communities biochemically impact plant nutrition.

Each microbial and fungal organism may be the source of unique biochemical compounds that affect a variety of soil, plant and microbial community functions through interactions triggered at the molecular level.

With the evolution of next-generation tools for molecular analysis, we now know that there are numerous signaling compounds and other molecules that are capable of “turning on” various plant genes that affect plant functioning—things like nutrient acquisition, rooting responses and the production of secondary metabolites within the plant itself.

Research Increasingly Supports Biological Tools

Researchers today are working to deepen their understanding of how these complex microbial communities and their metabolites affect plant nutrition, and they are applying this knowledge to improve crop production. Their efforts are reflected in a growing body of literature that supports the use of biological tools in agriculture, as well as increasing recognition of the need for more sustainable production practices by growers, policymakers and international organizations.

It’s time for another look at how we can use the tools of biology to enhance an inherently biological system. This doesn’t require an anti-chemical approach. Rather, we can make our agricultural practices both more productive and more sustainable by incorporating the next generation of biologically sourced tools into existing growing practices—in a sense, an “integrated nutrient management” approach similar to the integrative frameworks used in crop protection practices.

It will take time for this science to evolve and mature. Years—perhaps even decades—of work lie ahead in deciphering the biologically induced changes within the soil-plant system. However, we don’t have to wait until all of the mysteries are solved to start putting the knowledge we do have to work for us—and solving some of the great challenges of the day.

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This is Part 4 in our five-part series (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5) about sustainable growing practices. To learn more about Agricen and our contributions to sustainable growing practices, subscribe to our blog.

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Biologically Sourced Tools in Plant Nutrition Need a New Appraisal
August 28, 2014 — Posted By Agricen

For thousands of years, the world regarded the act of growing a plant in the soil as a biological process. But—as in all systems—the need for scalability to meet growing demands called for new, more efficient technologies to improve food production.

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The agricultural advancements of the post–World War II era were nothing short of transformational in the scheme of human affairs.

Around the world, food production skyrocketed, owing to improved seed varieties, modernized irrigation, better control of plant diseases and pests, efficiencies created by broad availability and use of chemical fertilizers, and evangelists like Dr. Norman Borlaug, who promoted these practices to help the world feed itself.

As the agricultural practices of the Green Revolution swept the world, the contribution of biological elements to crop production received significantly less attention.

The Next Green Revolution

In more recent years, we have realized that the gains achieved through the tools of the Green Revolution are not limitless.

We have also realized that the intensity of agricultural production has some significant, long-term impacts on soil, air and water resources. This has prompted a renewed interest in the biological elements of crop production, including the use of soil management practices such as conservation tillage and organic matter augmentation, meant to improve the conditions of the soil and the organisms that it harbors. They have also led to the development of new biological and biochemical plant nutrition technologies, ones that are firmly rooted in science, and that can be incorporated into current growing practices to enhance agricultural sustainability and increase yields.

However, until recently, agronomists and other researchers have largely dismissed the possibility that biologically sourced tools could contribute significantly to feeding a growing population.

In our next blog post, we’ll ask “Why?” We’ll also explore the challenges of developing biologically sourced tools.

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This is Part 3 of our five-part series (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5) about sustainable growing practices. To learn more about Agricen and our contributions to sustainable growing practices, subscribe to our blog.

 

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Loveland Products Acquires a Controlling Interest in Agricen
August 26, 2014 — Posted By Agricen

 We are excited to announce this morning that our long-term partner, Loveland Products, has increased their strategic investment in Agricen, acquiring a controlling interest in the company. They have also taken an equity stake in Agricen Sciences, our sister company.  

We have had a long history with Loveland Products, starting as the supplier of what have become two of their fastest-growing plant nutrition brands, Accomplish LM and Titan PBA. The success of these products led, in 2012, to Loveland Products’ first strategic investment in Agricen, giving Loveland exclusive, worldwide distribution rights to Agricen’s existing technology and access to new product and technology opportunities. Today’s news—that Loveland Products has acquired a controlling interest in Agricen—is the natural expansion of that relationship.

As part of Loveland Products, a subsidiary of Agrium, we look forward to helping create value for growers with our next-generation agricultural tools that complement and enhance existing plant nutrition practices. 

You can read the full press release about the announcement here.

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Sustainable Growing Practices Make Economic and Environmental Sense
August 20, 2014 — Posted By Agricen

Simply intensifying current agricultural practices— whether by farming more land, using more irrigation or using more fertilizer—won’t be enough to sufficiently augment crop yields to meet future food needs.

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Instead, the next wave of agricultural productivity will have to incorporate new technologies. It will have to do so in a sustainable way by using production practices that meet human needs while reducing environmental impacts. This means using practices that make both environmental and economic sense for growers.

Agricultural sustainability does not need to come at the cost of economic sustainability.

While consumer and industry pressures for sustainable food production will increase, broad behavioral change—including rapid adoption of new practices—will be driven by grower economics.

In a sense, the starting point is economic sustainability—where growers will find ways to reduce input costs, sustain or increase output value and simultaneously improve the environmental sustainability of what they do.

Agricultural and economic sustainability are possible, and even go hand in hand.

In our next blog post, we’ll look at biologically sourced tools for agricultural production and how they might be essential for the next Green Revolution.

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This is Part 2 of our five-part series (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5) about sustainable growing practices. To learn more about Agricen and our contributions to sustainable growing practices, subscribe to our blog.

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A Growing Need for Food and Resources
August 11, 2014 — Posted By Agricen

Policymakers, growers, non-profits and industry today devote an enormous amount of time planning and innovating new ways to improve crop yields so that we will be able to meet future food needs for a growing world population.

At the same time, growers are faced with increasing demands to incorporate more sustainable practices. These demands come from wide-ranging interests––from consumers and advocacy groups, to regulators and large companies that are increasingly evaluating sustainability practices among their produce suppliers.

An Increasing Population Means an Increasing Need for Food and Resources

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Figure 1. Crop production will need to significantly increase to meet the future food demands of a growing world population.

Industry Calls for Efficient Nutrient Use

Industry is also calling for efficient nutrient use, in the form of enhanced efficiency fertilizers that allow growers to increase yields while reducing inputs.

We are already making progress. A report from Field to Market shows that production agriculture has become increasingly efficient. For example, per bushel of corn productivity (crop yield per acre) increased by 64 percent from 1980 to 2011, while land use per bushel, soil loss and energy use all decreased by 30 percent or more. 

Making Progress, But There’s Still More Work to Do


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Figure 2. Over the past 30 years, corn yields have increased, while agricultural energy use, land use per bushel and soil loss have decreased. However, more production and efficiency gains are still needed to meet future food needs.

However, although impressive, those gains alone will not meet the escalating demand for global human nutrition. We must do more to meet the demands of the world’s growing population.

In our next blog post, we’ll explore sustainable growing practices that make sense economically and help maintain the environment.

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This is Part 1 in our five-part series (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5) about sustainable growing practices. To learn more about Agricen and our contributions to sustainable growing practices, subscribe to our blog.

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[Video] Understanding the Science Behind Ag Biochemicals
June 16, 2014 — Posted By Agricen

The soil is a living environment, full of microorganisms that create biochemical compounds that influence plant growth. At Agricen, we take this biochemistry and make it work even better for the grower, with benefits that include improved plant performance and increased nutrient availability.

In this short video, Agricen’s Director of Applied Sciences, Dr. Brian Cornelious, explains how the biochemistry in Accomplish LM and Titan PBA works to make the difference between having a good growing season and having a great growing season.


 

 
Dr. Brian Cornelious: Everybody knows where our food comes from. It’s right here on the farm. But do we really understand what it takes for a grower to get the most out of every acre he plants? In the next couple of minutes, I’m going to show you how a grower can use the biochemistry in Accomplish LM and Titan PBA to feed our growing population.

[Onscreen: “Agricen. Based on Nature Built on Science.” Then: “The Science Behind It All”]

Brian: The soil is a living environment, full of organisms producing biochemical compounds that influence plant growth. I’m holding just a couple grams of soil. Each gram of soil contains as many as 1 billion bacteria. At Agricen, we have a team of scientists working to make this biochemistry work even better for the grower.

[Onscreen: “The Lab: Where It All Starts”]

Brian: We’re here in the lab, and this is where we really get to understand how the biochemistry in Accomplish LM and Titan PBA actually help to improve our plant performance and increase our nutrient availability.

So, there are key nutrients we’re going to talk about today: nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium.

For nitrogen – the most abundant gas in the atmosphere – we have to have nitrogen to breathe; plants have to have nitrogen to grow. If you want that dark green color, add more nitrogen to the plant. Nitrogen, for the most part in the soil profile, is organic. We have to convert organic nitrogen—which is crop residues, manures, litters, composts, any of those organic sources—into ammonium or nitrate or inorganic forms the plant can use. It’s called the mineralization process. Biochemistry is the only thing in the soil profile that actually helps to mineralize organic nitrogen into an inorganic form that the plants can use.

What about phosphorous? If you really want to get that plant going, it’s just like lighting a match. We have to have red phosphate on that match to get that thing going. The phosphorous in the plant really helps with the establishment and getting that plant going and off to a good start. Again, we’re dealing with mineralization. Lots of phosphorous in the soil profile is inorganic. We have to get it into H2PO4 or HPO4, plant available forms of phosphorous.

What about potassium? Now, you’re probably familiar with this. If you eat bananas, you’re consuming potassium. Potassium helps the plant with regulation of water through the plant. You have to have potassium. It’s a little bit different from nitrogen and phosphorous. We’re not talking about mineralization of organic nutrients. We’re talking about release of nutrients that are in the profile. It gets locked in between the soil layers and it’s not available to the plant. The biochemistry in Accomplish LM can actually help improve that soil structure that helps improve that plant’s ability to take up that potassium.

There’s one more way that Accomplish LM and Titan PBA work to improve crop growth. Titan and Accomplish make the underground transportation system of nutrients much more efficient. It’s the difference between this [Points to slow traffic] and this [Traffic speeds up].

[Onscreen: “Dr. Pepper Ballpark: Home of the Frisco Rough Riders”]

Brian: To further explain the benefits of adding the biochemistry in Accomplish LM and Titan PBA to a grower’s fertility program, we’re here at the ballpark. So, let’s play ball.

The initial fertilizer application – that puts us at home plate. There’s several things that have to happen in order for us to score that run. First, the soil temperatures have to increase. That gets us to first base.

After those temperatures increase, microbes start to function. They’re producing biochemistry now. That gets us to second base. There’s something important about second base in a game of baseball. That’s having a runner in scoring position. With the biochemistry in Accomplish LM and Titan PBA, we start at second base.

Brian: Once the biochemistry helps to mineralize the nutrients, that gets us to third base. The plants are actually taking those nutrients up. Now the plants can actually utilize those nutrients for functioning and yield. And that scores that run. But, with the biochemistry in Accomplish LM and Titan, we’ve got that advantage. We’re scoring two runs with the same process.

As growers know, things are tight. Adding the biochemistry in Accomplish LM and Titan PBA can be the difference in just having a good season, and having a great season.

Brian: At Agricen, it’s important for us to deliver new technology options to allow the grower to get the most out of every acre he plants. The biochemistry in Accomplish LM and Titan PBA improve access of nutrients to the plant, more flow of nutrients in the plant, and also increases the efficiency of utilization of nutrients by the plant.

At Agricen, our technology truly is based on nature and built on science. I’m Brian Cornelious. Thank you for watching.

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Accomplish Technology Offers Tomato Growers Many Benefits
June 10, 2014 — Posted By Agricen

With limited rainfall to help flush salts or to irrigate the crops in summer months, growers need help to obtain quality yields. Incorporating Accomplish LM into a standard fertility program can really assist here.

Accomplish LM mineralizes nutrients and increases root size and branching so that more of the root system can take up nutrients and water. For specialty crops like tomatoes, the result is better plant performance and higher potential tomato yields (Figures 1 & 2).

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Figure 1. Yield increase with Accomplish LM in a split application trial on tomatoes conducted by the University of California Cooperative Extension. Accomplish LM was applied at 2 quarts/acre at transplanting and at 2 quarts/acre 30 days later along with standard fertility and management practices.

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Figure 2. Yield increase with Accomplish LM in a split field trial on tomatoes conducted by the University of Florida. Accomplish LM was applied at 3 quarts/acre at transplanting and 3 quarts/acre two weeks later along with standard fertility and management practices.

In a year like we are having, these benefits will be a key part of making sure growers get the ROI they need to stay in business.

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