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See the latest news, innovation updates, trial results, grower stories and more from Agricen. 
Three Ways to Combat Drought Stress in Corn
July 25, 2022 — Posted By Agricen

droughtDrought stress can cause significant yield reductions in corn, so it's important for growers to proactively consider ways they can reduce the impact of dry conditions on their crops.

Although growers can't control the weather, they do have options that can help them improve plant health and strengthen their corn crop's stress tolerance in the face of drought.

What Options Do Corn Growers Have for Combating Drought Stress?

Approaches for combatting the effects of drought or dry conditions include:

  • Strobilurin-containing fungicides.
    Strobilurin-containing fungicides have known beneficial effects on corn development, even in the absence of disease.

  • Foliar nutritionals.
    Foliar nutritionals can be added to fungicide applications for even stronger plant health effects. Nutrient absorption in the leaf tissue is highly efficient and can partially make up for shortfalls in root absorption when the soil is dry. In addition, applying relatively small amounts of foliar nutritionals can prompt plants to work harder at extracting nutrients from the soil and can increase drought tolerance.

  • Foliar- or soil-applied biostimulants, biologicals or plant hormone technologies.
    Products in this category can stimulate the plant and/or soil microbes to improve crop tolerance to drought stress and allow energy to go into yield, rather than stress response.

One product in the last category is Terramar, available from Nutrien Ag Solutions. Terramar is designed to improve both nutrient uptake and plant response to weather-related stress, including drought or dry conditions. It can be applied in season to help corn stand up to drought and heat stress.
 
In a field trial from Illinois (photo below), Terramar was foliar-applied on V5 corn experiencing heat and drought stress. Only four days later, the treated corn looked visibly healthier.

Terramar-corn 01

A field trial from Kansas (photo below) also shows a visual improvement with foliar-applied Terramar on 12-leaf corn that was experiencing both drought and heat stress. The benefits can be seen both above and below the soil, with a healthier looking plant that has a greater stalk diameter, larger root ball, deeper roots, and heavier brace roots.

Terramar-corn 02

What's more, the Terramar-treated plants had 57% greater soil penetration, pulling at the 55-cm level on the water probe measurement, compared to the untreated plants that were not yet pulling at even the 45-cm level when measurements were taken.

With many areas of the nation experiencing hot, dry weather, it's the right time to consider these tools as a way to potentially reduce the total impact of drought conditions. 

Learn more about the benefits of the marine-based technology found in Terramar by downloading the corn and soybean bulletin.

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Agricen's Farming Films Win Multiple Telly Awards
June 15, 2022 — Posted By Agricen

Last-Stand-1We are proud to announce that our farming film, Last Stand, and three related short videos took home Telly Awards this year. The Telly Awards honor excellence in video and television across all screens.

Last Stand, a movie about the joys and challenges of being a farmer that was filmed during the 2020 growing season, was recognized with both a Silver and a Bronze Telly. It is available to watch as both a short, 20-minute version and an in-depth, hour-long film.

The other Telly Winners were the short videos Religious Experience, You'd Never Go Without It, and The Whole World Can Benefit, which can be viewed below. All of the winning videos were produced by the team at Light Work Productions.

Religious Experience

Silver Winner: Non-broadcast - Lifestyle Category

American farmers talk about farming, family and what drives them every day. "I love farming. I still get up every morning excited to go outside and to do what I do. I don't think everybody can say that," says Heath Cutrell, who farms in Virginia and North Carolina. "The reward is the lifestyle," says Don Stall, who farms in Michigan. "I produce something that's tangible...and I see my efforts paying off. When you harvest and the yields are big, it's very satisfying."

You'd Never Go Without It

Silver Winner: Non-broadcast - Sales Category

How do you grow a crop that's bigger, greener and healthier? In this video, growers who have produced some of the highest U.S. corn yields in recent years discuss their approach to farming and why they use Accomplish and Titan technologies in their crop production programs. "Putting Accomplish in furrow, we do that on every acre of corn and soybeans. The roots with Accomplish and without, if you saw that, you'd never go without it," says Iowa farmer Kelly Garrett. The video also features growers Don Stall, Heath Cutrell and Kevin Kalb, and the University of Illinois' Dr. Fred Below and Connor Sible. "There is a whole vast source of nutrients in the soil. And if we can make some of those more available, that has a real value," says Dr. Below.

The Whole World Can Benefit

Bronze Winner: Non-broadcast - Sustainability Category

By better managing fertilizer inputs, growers can better take care of the land and water while also adding to higher yield and return on investment. In this video, you'll hear how Accomplish and Titan help growers increase their yields in an environmentally friendly and cost effective way. "Tissue samples don't lie, all the way up to the yield. Accomplish has been helping free up the phosphorus. It's a big win on our farm," says Indiana farmer Kevin Kalb. The video also features Iowa grower Kelly Garrett, Connor Sible and Dr. Fred Below of the University of Illinois and Nutrien Ag Solutions crop consultant Scott Brinkman. "We're out here trying to protect the water system, because it's the water I drink at night," says Scott.

Watch more videos from Agricen by visiting our YouTube channel or our Featured Videos page.

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Getting Corn Ready for Rapid Nitrogen Uptake
June 8, 2022 — Posted By Agricen

corn-ready-1200pxCorn undergoes a period of rapid nitrogen uptake after the V8 growth stage and through tassel and silking. If nitrogen is not readily available to the corn plant as it enters this period, it can limit yield potential.

With UAN, this is especially applicable to the urea portion of the fertilizer (comprising 50% of the UAN), which has to be converted into ammonium before the plant can use it. Enhancing a sidedress UAN application with Extract PBA, which accelerates nutrient mineralization and recycling, can ensure that the crop has the nitrogen it needs in that 21-day period of rapid uptake without falling short.

Extract PBA, a proprietary formulation of our proven Accomplish biocatalyst and ammonium thiosulfate, is designed to increase the efficiency of sidedress UAN by influencing both applied and residual nitrogen sources, helping to get nitrogen into a plant-available form and into the crop. This is supported by data from numerous trials over the past decade showing an average yield increase of ~10.1 bushels/acre with Extract PBA. With current commodity prices, it takes less than 3 bushels/acre of yield increase to break even on Extract PBA, providing a high likelihood of positive ROI.

For optimal nitrogen uptake, UAN sidedress applications should be made around the V4 to V8 growth stages. Using Extract PBA at this critical juncture can maximize nutrient use efficiency by increasing the availability of the applied nitrogen.

You can find out more about corn nutrient needs in this short presentation by Dr. Fred Below, who explains the importance of having nitrogen in the system prior to the period of rapid nitrogen uptake by corn.

Learn more about using Extract PBA to enhance sidedress nitrogen applications by downloading the sidedress booklet.

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A Better Investment by the Day
May 19, 2022 — Posted By Agricen

Wity-radio-down on farmWith planting wrapping up, Agricen’s Scott Lay sat down with WITY Radio’s Dennis Michelsen to discuss how Extract PBA can enhance sidedress nitrogen applications.

Dennis - WITY Radio: With the wet spring, I think it makes a product like Extract PBA even more important this year.

Scott - Agricen: With the later planting, advancing the crop through all of its physiological stages from emergence on out is critical. One way we can do that is by increasing nutrient availability with Extract PBA to hasten maturity and move the crop through its growth phases as quickly and as efficiently as possible.

Dennis - WITY Radio: There’s no doubt from the trials that have been done over the years that Extract PBA really does help improve the efficiency of a sidedress application of liquid nitrogen. How and why does this work so well?

Scott - Agricen: By incorporating Extract PBA in a sidedress UAN 28 or 32 application, we’re able to increase the pool of available nitrogen by mineralizing more nutrients that are already in the soil profile—in other words, converting that nitrogen into an inorganic form the plant can use. And our university studies have shown that we’re able to increase the available nitrate levels by about 10 percent with Extract PBA, giving the applied nitrogen a higher level of efficiency.

Dennis - WITY Radio: When is the optimal time to sidedress nitrogen and use Extract PBA?

Scott - Agricen: In general terms, the ideal timing is starting at about V4 up to about V10 or V11. But why is that timing critical? Dr. Below at the University of Illinois has done a lot of work around nutrient partitioning in a corn plant, and he’s determined that the period from V6 up through tasseling is the time of rapid nitrogen uptake during which that plant will consume 7 pounds of nitrogen per day. So, it makes sense to apply nitrogen in the time frame to coincide with the crop's physiological demand for nitrogen.

Dennis - WITY Radio: There have been some impressive trials with Extract PBA in nitrogen sidedress trials. This has been very effective with all different types of soil types.

Scott - Agricen: The idea of increasing the nitrogen mineralization rate or increasing the amount of available nitrate in the soil translates to any soil type or growing environment. Over our third-party and internal split-field type trials, the average yield response has been about 8 bushels with Extract PBA compared to check. Right now, it takes less than 2 bushels of additional yield to pay for this technology. With today's economics, it becomes a better investment by the day.

Extract PBA is available from Nutrien Ag Solutions. 

This interview was edited for length and clarity. You can listen to the full interview below or on Agricen's YouTube channel.

Learn more about using Extract PBA in a sidedress nitrogen application by downloading the UAN sidedress bulletin.

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Getting More Out of the Nutrients You’ve Already Paid For
April 12, 2022 — Posted By Agricen

Wity-radio-down on farmWith the spring planting season starting, Agricen’s Scott Lay spoke with Dennis Michelsen on WITY Radio’s Down on the Farm podcast about why growers might want to take a look at Extract PBA this year to get more out of nutrients they’ve already paid for.

Dennis - WITY Radio: Input costs are going up for producers, but that’s why they need to take an extra look at Extract this year. 

Scott - Agricen: Extract aids in the mineralization and release of nutrients that are already in the soil profile or in last year’s crop residue. These are nutrients that the farmer has already paid for. The object is getting more of these nutrients in a plant-available form to provide the necessary fuel to increase crop yield.

Dennis - WITY Radio: Extract has a tremendous track record in university studies and it shows a gain no matter what the fertility program is, which I think is a good key to seeing it work in the field.

Scott - Agricen: We've had the product out for six years. In 2022, we’ll treat approximately 2 million acres with Extract. You don’t get to that level without consistent results. We’ve seen an average yield increase of 10.1 bushels per acre in corn and 4.2 bushels per acre in soybeans. With today's economics, it takes slightly less than a 2 bushel increase in corn and less than a bushel increase in soybeans for Extract to pay for itself. The ROI on a per acre basis translates roughly to $45-55 per acre, depending on the price of the commodity.

Dennis - WITY Radio: One of the big factors in that ROI is that growers don’t have to make another pass to put down Extract.

Scott - Agricen: Extract is often applied with a pre-emergent herbicide on corn or soybeans, and it also fits nicely if you are applying your pre-emergent herbicide with UAN or a liquid nitrogen application in corn. We’re not asking folks to change their practice, but rather to employ this technology to get more miles out of the nutrients that are already held in the soil.

Dennis - WITY Radio: Talking to Dr. Fred Below at the University of Illinois, it appears that Extract improved plant vigor early in the crop season, getting the crop off to a much faster start. A plant that gets off to a good start is going to be a lot healthier to take a little abuse as the season wears on.

Scott - Agricen: Dr. Below has worked with this product for the last seven years and he has found very consistent results. He was the one who took us down the path of “Hey, if it works this well in corn, how about soybeans?” The ability to release nutrients throughout the course of the season with Extract makes for a healthier plant. If you can help prepare the plant for times of stress, that will pay for itself. 

Extract PBA is available from Nutrien Ag Solutions locations.

This interview was edited for length and clarity. You can listen to the full interview below or on Agricen's YouTube channel.

Learn more about Extract PBA by downloading the Extract PBA corn bulletin.

Get the Corn Bulletin

 

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Congratulating the 2021 NCGA National Corn Yield Contest Winners
March 22, 2022 — Posted By Agricen

With the recent conclusion of the awards ceremony for winners of the NCGA National Corn Yield Contest at Commodity Classic, we wanted to take the time to congratulate all of the 2021 contest winners, with special thanks and recognition to those who used Agricen's biocatalyst technology in their winning programs.

In 2021, five farmers who came in top place nationally and 23 who won an award in their state incorporated one or more of the following products in their programs: Accomplish LM, Extract PBA, Levitate, Prologue, Maritime, and Titan XC.

NCGA_social-2021

National winners included Michigan farmer Don Stall, who took first place in the "Conventional Irrigated" category with a corn yield of 465.77 bushels per acre, and Virginia farmer Heath Cutrell, who took first place in the "Conventional Non-Irrigated" category with a yield of 391.31 bushels per acre. Both growers may be familiar to you from our Last Stand feature-length film and related short films.

All of the Agricen technologies used in the winning programs are available from our partner, Loveland Products, through Nutrien Ag Solutions.

We are very proud to be part of these growers' winning corn nutrition programs and wish them all the best this season.

Learn more about some of the winning growers who use our technologies by watching Last Stand. 

Watch Last Stand

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Where Do Fertilizer Enhancers Fit In?
February 15, 2022 — Posted By Agricen

The Future Faster PodcastAs growers start crop planning for the upcoming season, where do fertilizer enhancers fit in? 

In a recent episode of Nutrien Ag Solutions' "The Future. Faster." podcast, Agricen's Dr. Brian Cornelious discusses where different fertility enhancement products—specifically Accomplish MAX, Extract PBA, Maritime, Prologue, and Titan XC—fit into growers' programs to help them more strategically manage their inputs.

"A lot of the Agricen products are very focused on nutrient efficiency and nutrient availability. And then, of course, we've got other products that focus on stress mitigation," says Brian.

One of the newest products developed by Agricen and available through Nutrien Ag Solutions is Accomplish MAX for liquid starter fertilizer enhancement. Accomplish MAX can help crops better tolerate the effects of environmental stress, while also improving nutrient availability in the soil and uptake by the plant—with the ultimate goal of a healthy, high-yielding crop. 

"If a grower is using an in-furrow or 2x2 application of liquid fertilizer, all he's got to do is bolt that Accomplish MAX technology into that application," Brian says. "One of the things we do at Agricen is we try to be tuned into the grower environment. If we're coming out with a solution, we'd like for it to be a solution that a grower is actually going to implement. We also want it to fit something the grower's already doing."

Titan XC is another easy fit into a grower's existing fertility program. This popular product is specifically designed for application on dry fertilizer blends to increase fertilizer efficiency.

"Titan XC is designed to break down dry fertilizer to make the fertilizer more available to the crop faster," he says. "Because what we often see is that dry fertilizer is not that efficient. So the Titan XC helps with the accelerated breakdown and increased availability of nutrients in those dry blends."

Brian also gets into the details on Extract, Prologue, and Maritime. Extract is designed to help free up nutrition that may be bound in the soil profile and not available to the crop. Prologue helps to increase phosphorus availability while also serving as a zinc source. Maritime is a solution of biologically extracted kelp that can help crops better tolerate stress. The technology in Maritime is also found in Accomplish MAX.

"With Extract, we can do a broadcast application across a manured field, or we can do it with a weed and feed. There are also sidedress opportunities," Brian says. "Prologue is generally designed to go in-furrow with a starter blend, whether it's 10-34-0 or an ortho blend, where zinc is needed in that system. Maritime can be applied as a foliar spray, or that same technology can be used in a starter application in the form of Accomplish MAX. It does a very good job of allowing plants to manage stress."

You can listen to the full podcast here.

Listen to the Podcast

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Titan XC Plays a Big Role on Indiana Grower's Farm
January 31, 2022 — Posted By Agricen

Evan Matlock, a farmer from Greenfield, Indiana, first started using Titan XC on his farm about five years ago. In his first year of testing it, he applied Titan XC-treated dry fertilizer on a partial field of soybeans and a partial field of corn. There was an obvious difference between the parts of the field where Titan XC had and had not been applied.

“You could see it visually and we saw it on aerial imagery throughout the year,” he says. “When we took it to harvest, the corn stood out about 4.8 bushels better (with Titan XC) and the soybeans were 2.8 bushels better.”

With those results, Evan had a feeling that Titan XC might be a product he wanted to implement on a broader scale at the farm. That next year, he tested Titan XC-treated dry fertilizer on about half of his acres.

“The next year, we continued to see a yield increase,” he says.

Five years later, he uses Titan XC-treated fertilizer on every acre at Matlock Farms.

“We use it on corn, soybeans, wheat, alfalfa, sorghum and sudan grass,” says Evan. “It works great.”

Today, Evan spreads Titan XC with his fall dry fertilizer application in front of wheat and spreads his corn and other crop acres in the spring.

“We mix the Titan XC in with potash, MESZ 10, elemental sulfur and ammonium sulfate,” he says. “We’ve built up our soil profile over the last couple of years by using Titan XC. We’ll continue to use it here on every ton of dry fertilizer that’s spread from here on out.”

In the five years he has used Titan XC, Evan calculates that his corn yields have increased by anywhere from 4.8 to 7.1 bushels per acre and his soybean yields have increased in the range of 2.2 to 3.9 bushels per acre. He has recently gone back to growing wheat and saw a 7.1 bu/a yield increase with Titan XC-treated fertilizer compared to check in his latest wheat trial. 

“That really helps out your bottom line at the end of the year,” he says. “Titan XC will be a product that will be used here at Matlock Farms from here on out, and I would highly suggest everyone take a look at it.”

You can hear him talk about his experience in his own words by watching the video below or visiting our YouTube channel.

Learn more about Titan XC and dry fertilizer efficiency by downloading the Titan XC corn bulletin.

Download the Bulletin

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How Accomplish MAX Helps Mitigate the Effects of Salt Stress on Crops
January 24, 2022 — Posted By Agricen

Although crops take up many salts in the form of nutrients, they can be adversely affected if more salt is added to the soil system than can be taken up by the plant or flushed out of the root zone. This is especially a concern in irrigated cropping systems, where dissolved salts from irrigation water can lead to soil salinity problems that compound over time. Salts in applied fertilizers can also contribute to soil salinity.

Soils that are high in salts can limit water uptake, impede nutrient uptake, and negatively impact seed germination and crop development. Plants that do survive will exhibit less vigor, have slower physiological development and show signs of stress, preventing full yield potential from being realized. Taking steps to manage soil salinity is therefore critical to having balanced soil for optimal plant growth and productivity.

Accomplish MAX, which is available through Nutrien Ag Solutions, is a next-generation biocatalyst designed to help plants better tolerate salt and other abiotic stresses.01-21 Accomplish Max saline environmentPlant germinated in presence of 120 mM salt, with and without Accomplish MAX. Images were taken 10 days after treatment. Note longer roots, more vigorous plant with Accomplish MAX.

Accomplish MAX mitigates salt stress with a three-pronged effect:

  • Frees up calcium from soil chemistry, which allows sodium to be displaced from the exchange site and flushed from the root zone.
  • Encourages plants to uptake additional potassium, which increases the K+/Na++ ratio to offset the toxic effects of sodium.
  • Breaks soluble salts apart, thereby lowering electrical conductivity.

Recommended for use in liquid starter applications, Accomplish MAX contains biochemistry proven to increase nutrient availability in the soil combined with a highly soluble kelp-based extract to increase crop tolerance to abiotic stresses like salinity from applied fertilizers. Accomplish MAX can be an important addition to any fertility or management program for crops affected by salt stress.

Download the Accomplish MAX salt stress bulletin.

Download the Bulletin

 

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[Watch] Minimizing Crop Stresses for Increased Yields
January 18, 2022 — Posted By Agricen

Crop-Stresses-webinar-landing-pageTypical spring conditions create a challenging environment for a young crop. Too much or too little water, cold temperatures, and fertilizer salts may slow early season plant growth and can rob you of yield potential. 

Accomplish MAX, a new product available through Nutrien Ag Solutions, is designed to help you take on these challenges while also driving yield.

Watch our on-demand webinar, "Minimizing Crop Stresses for Increased Yields," to learn:

  • How Accomplish MAX can help your crops succeed with "More Nutrients, Less Stress"

  • Why this combination of proven biochemistry and cutting-edge kelp technology provides significant agronomic benefits

  • How Accomplish MAX has performed in recent corn and cotton trials
Accomplish MAX, a next-generation biocatalyst designed for use in at-planting applications (including with in-furrow liquid starters and 2x2 placement of liquid fertilizers), is formulated to improve nutrient availability to a growing crop while also increasing crop tolerance to environmental stressors like cold temperatures, drought conditions and salinity from applied fertilizers. 

Watch the webinar today to learn how to get more nutrients into your crop and mitigate crop stress with Accomplish MAX.

Watch the Webinar

 

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