For the past several years, Chris Perkins, a grower and Nutrien Ag Solutions location manager in Otwell, Indiana, has been running an experimental, high management, continuous corn plot using several products in the Loveland Products portfolio, including Accomplish LM and Titan, so that he can prove the value of the products he sells to his customers.

Many of the decisions that Chris makes in the management of his plot are driven by ongoing research at the university level, primarily that of Dr. Fred Below of the Crop Physiology Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Biostimulants and biofertilizers are now joining biopesticides as technologies that have proven themselves in the field. As they continue to deliver benefits to growers and acceptance grows, more and more biological-based products are being introduced from companies of all sizes—including products like Titan XC and Extract. 

We are happy to announce today that Agricen now has operations on two continents: North America, with headquarters and a manufacturing plant in Texas, and Australia, with a new manufacturing facility in Dandenong, Victoria.

Agricen Australia is producing sustainable fertilizer biocatalyst products under the names of Basis® and Foundation™ LM for distribution in the Australian market through Loveland Agri Products and Landmark. The products are manufactured using natural, locally sourced base ingredients in our recently constructed Australian plant.

Titan XC is now available from Loveland Products! Designed to improve dry fertilizer efficiency, Titan XC is a new, next-generation biocatalyst for dry fertilizers that ‘unlocks’ applied nutrients, making them available more quickly so that more of them are taken up by plant roots. It is extra concentrated for easier application and superior impregnation onto fertilizer prill.

By Maud Hinchee, PhD, Chief Science Officer, Agricen Sciences

Getting a good start is key to a germinating seed’s need to “survive and thrive.” Essential to this process is establishing a root system that creates a strong foothold and provides access to available nutrients and water. But how does the emerging seedling root do this? 

It turns out that the new root is constantly making choices about where and when to grow based on the environment it encounters. Guided by its “root brain,” it makes decisions that maximize its access to water and nutrients as quickly as possible.  

by Steve Sexton, Agricen

Growers today are confronted with a large number of fertilizer additive options, including agricultural biostimulants. Too often, some of these products are lumped into the same category, despite different modes of action and varying impacts on crop yields and return on investment (ROI).

Humic Acid Products

Humic acid products are biostimulant products derived from leonardite (low grade coal) that is reacted with potassium hydroxide (KOH) to create a black liquid containing organic acids—primarily fulvic and humic. These organic acids are either long- chained molecules (humic acid) or short-chained molecules (fulvic acid) that contain sites carrying a negative charge. When a grower adds humic acid to a production program, it acts like a bucket—it will hold positively charged nutrients by attracting them to the negatively charged sites on its molecules. However, humic acid cannot fill the bucket with the nutrients the plant needs. This is where biochemical products, which are also biostimulants, play a critical role.

We are very excited to introduce “Prove It to Me,” a new film that follows five farmers through the 2015 growing season—from planning and planting to growth and harvest.

By Steve Sexton & Brian Cornelious, PhD, Agricen

Growers use starter fertilizers to try to get plant nutrients in the right place at the right time for early plant growth. By applying small quantities of nutrients close to the seed in starter programs, growers can usually get their crops off to a good start—an advantage they can often maintain during the growing season. However, as with any fertilizer program, making sure that applied nutrients in a starter program are in a plant-available form right when the crop needs them most can be a challenge. How can growers improve the efficiency of their starter programs and realize the payoff of higher yields in the process?

Understanding the microbiology and biochemistry of the soil is an important part of understanding plant health and nutrition.

Download our booklet to learn more about soil microbiology and soil biochemistry, as well as how soil microbes influence soil health, nutrient release and nutrient use efficiency in farming operations.

This booklet covers:

• Definitions of soil microbiology and biochemistry 
• Influence on plant growth, health and nutrition
• Beneficial roles of soil microorganisms
• Biochemical interactions in the soil-plant system
• Influence on nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium

Learn more by downloading "Understanding Soil Microbiology and Biochemistry."

By Maud Hinchee, PhD, Chief Science Officer, Agricen Sciences

Plants are constantly responding to their senses. They can touch, smell, taste and otherwise sense water, food and predators—and they can remember. Of course, they don’t do all of this exactly the way a human does, but they do respond to the messages they receive from the world around them to survive, thrive and reproduce—much the way we do.

This is a pretty stimulating idea – that plants are actually sentient beings responding to stimuli in a purposeful manner and communicating with each other and with potential friends and foes. (For more on this, take a look at the “What Plants Talk About” episode from the PBS series, Nature.) It’s also an idea that has captivated researchers and companies in the agricultural space in recent years, most notably around the topic of biostimulants and other agricultural biologicals.