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. 

By John Wolf, Director of Commercial Development, Agricen

Across most of the corn production area, 2014 has the potential be a banner year for yield. Given that higher average yields increase supply, economics dictate that prices will be somewhat lower without an accompanying increase in demand. This poses a dilemma for growers as they plan for next year’s crop.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.