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See the latest news, innovation updates, trial results, grower stories and more from Agricen. 
Titan XC Improves Potato Yields in Idaho Trials
December 8, 2020 — Posted By Agricen

potatoes close upAt Nutrien Ag Solutions' Snake River Division in Idaho, Josh Perotto and his team have been looking at the benefits of treating dry fertilizer with Titan XC in potato growing operations over the past two years.

In a split-farm trial harvested in 2020, the grower's potato yield was increased by +105.1 sacks per acre where his dry fertilizer had been treated with Titan XC to maximize prill breakdown and nutrient release, as compared to yield where untreated dry fertilizer had been spread. There were also fewer culls (unmarketable potatoes) where Titan XC had been used.

Titan - potatoes 01

Titan - potatoes 02 - Idaho

These potato yield results followed the team's findings from the 2019 season, where a split-field trial showed that potatoes grown with Titan XC-treated dry fertilizer outyielded the untreated dry fertilizer by +19 sacks per acre (572 cwt/acre with Titan XC vs 553 cwt/acre untreated).

Josh and his team also noted that they performed weekly tissue testing throughout the 2020 growing season and observed that potato plants grown with Titan XC-treated dry fertilizer showed a trend toward higher tissue phosphate levels compared to the untreated dry fertilizer. 

In Idaho, high lime, high pH soils mean that soil phosphate deficiencies are not uncommon. This is because applied phosphorus will react with calcium in the soil, which makes the phosphorus insoluble and unavailable. By applying Titan XC on dry fertilizer, growers can address this limitation and enhance the availability and uptake of phosphate and other nutrients from dry fertilizer. Titan XC accelerates the breakdown of treated dry fertilizer and helps facilitate mineralization – the conversion of organic nutrients into inorganic, plant soluble, plant available forms. With more nutrients available, more nutrients can be captured by the plant, which can lead to significant yield benefits.

Learn more about Titan XC by downloading the Titan XC Booklet.

Download the Booklet

 

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Biocatalyst Technologies Are Helping to Transform Grower Productivity
September 26, 2019 — Posted By Agricen

NCGA 2018 accomplish technologiesIn 2018, no fewer than five national winners and seven state winners of the NCGA's National Corn Yield Contest used Agricen's biocatalyst technology on their winning acres. We are fortunate to be represented in the best practices of many leading growers, and humbled by the opportunity to help transform grower productivity.

Before the start of this year's harvest, we had the opportunity to meet up with some of the 2018 NCGA winners to celebrate their success last season. Here are some of the folks we are honored to say have used Accomplish LM, Titan XC or Extract PBA as part of their winning strategy. 

2018 National Winners

  • Don Stall, 1st place, Irrigated Corn Category (477.69 bu/a). Don Stall started farming at age 14, when he began cultivating 31 acres for a school project. Following graduation, he served for six years in the Marines, then operated a beef and cash crop operation. Don eventually moved to an all cash crop operation, and he currently farms 2,800 acres of corn, soybeans, and wheat in Charlotte, Michigan. In his "spare time," he serves his local community, both as the Township Supervisor (as he has done for the past 24 years!) and on the board of his county's fire department.

    Don Stall on farming 2Don has been entering the NCGA Corn Yield Contest since 2003, when he noticed that he was already achieving yields comparable to the growers who were winning the contest. He has been the Michigan high yield champion for nine years in a row. In both 2017 and 2018, Don won first place nationally in the irrigated corn category, and his winning yield of 477.69 bu/a in 2018 also placed him as the overall yield champion in the United States.

    Don credits a systems approach to his success. "There is no one answer to achieving high yields. It is a system approach, and you must understand your soils better than anyone else."

    Don also treats all of his dry fertilizer with Titan XC to help make the most of his applied nutrition, and he has also used other biocatalyst products in his program. As he says, "Biochemistry is intriguing and interesting. I believe these products are needed in today’s farming."

  • Kevin Kalb, 1st place, AA Non-Irrigated Corn (388.07 bu/a), Shawn Kalb, 1st place, AA No-Till/Strip-Till Non-Irrigated (343.0 bu/a) & Nikia Kalb, 3rd place, AA Non-Irrigated Corn (343.23 bu/a). The Kalbs and their four children (including third-place winner, Nikia) grow soybeans and corn in the small town of Dubois, Indiana. They also run a turkey operation, producing over 1.8 million tom turkeys in the last 12 years.

    kevin-shawn-kalb-ncga-2018Kevin and Shawn have been entering the NCGA Corn Yield Contest since 2007, winning 12 national titles in the non-irrigated division. Both Kevin and Shawn have had back-to-back, first-place national wins in their respective categories over the past two years (2017 and 2018).

    In 2018, Kevin achieved his personal best yield in the contest, achieving 388.07 bu/a in the AA Non-Irrigated Corn category.

    The Kalb family can also be seen on the farm reality television show, Corn Warriors.

  • Tommy & Valerie Cartrite, 3rd place, Irrigated Corn (350.63 bu/a). Hailing from Sunray, Texas, Tommy and Valerie also won first place in their state competition.

2018 State Winners

  • Stuart Askew, 1st place, A No-Till/Strip-Till Non-Irrigated, North Carolina (274.58 bu/a) 
  • Connor & Kelly Garrett, 1st place, No-Till / Strip-Till Irrigated, Iowa (326.05 bu/a)
  • Tommy & Valerie Cartrite, 1st place, Irrigated, Texas (350.63 bu/a)
  • David Hults, 2nd place, No-Till/Strip-Till Irrigated, Idaho (299.27 bu/a) 
  • Leslie Lindner, 2nd place, AA Non-Irrigated, Missouri (299.99 bu/a)
  • Chris Lindner, 3rd place, AA Non-Irrigated, Missouri (294.35 bu/a)
  • David Kolb, 3rd place, Irrigated, Minnesota (259.89 bu/a)

It's starting to matter not just what producers grow, but also how they grow it. Biocatalyst technologies play a role by making fertilizer applications more efficient and more cost effective, while also helping growers achieve their best yields. 

As this season's harvest comes in, we wish the best of luck to all of the growers who are competing in the 2019 corn yield contest.

(UPDATE: Learn about some of the 2019 corn yield contest winners who used biocatalyst technology.)

Learn more about biocatalyst technologies by downloading the Biocatalyst Technology FAQ.

Download the Biocatalyst Technology FAQ

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Accomplish LM Proves Worth to Idaho Corn Growing Champions
November 29, 2018 — Posted By Agricen

corn sunDavid and Nicole Hults are second-generation Idaho farmers. David’s parents, Joseph and Kay, first moved to Idaho in 1971, farming just 160 acres with a Massey Ferguson Tractor and an 8’ disk. The family’s acres, equipment and practices have grown and changed significantly since then.

Today, in partnership with David’s parents, David and Nicole grow corn, alfalfa and potatoes on about 5,000 acres of land. The family also has a number of NCGA Corn Yield Contest wins under their belt—in part because of their willingness to test and adopt new approaches to maximizing production.

Adopting New Technologies to Reach Corn Yield Goals

David always fertilizes with a 300 bushel per acre corn yield goal, and his personal best is 307 bushels per acre.

Some of his current practices include spreading dairy manure at 10-20 tons per acre, depending on his soil’s nutrient analysis. Additional nitrogen is applied as liquid UAN through the center pivot as needed. The soils are tested every year, and the fields are rotated on the same schedule.

David said the NCGA Corn Yield Contest encourages entrants to adopt new technologies to increase plant health, standability and crop yields. In 2015, David’s agronomist at Nutrien Ag Solutions, Chris Smith, introduced the Hults family to Accomplish LM as an additive or catalyst to their existing in-furrow starter program to increase phosphorus availability and plant health.

hults farm

The Hults Farm

After adding Accomplish LM at 2 liters per acre to their starter program, the Hults family noticed faster, more even corn germination. Plants also kept growing at a faster rate with a darker, greener color—followed by increased yields and grain test weight at the end of the season compared to their corn crops grown without Accomplish LM. 

That same year, David had the top two NCGA entries in Idaho in the No-Till/Strip Till Irrigated category (267.45 and 263.92 bu/a, respectively). In 2016, David and his family again saw success with their program in the contest, with Nicole placing first and David placing second among Idahoans in No-Till/Strip-Till Irrigated (253.83 and 246.34 bu/a, respectively) and Joe placing second in Irrigated (289.66 bu/a). And in 2017, David placed second and Joe placed third among Idaho entrants in the No-Till/Strip Till Irrigated category (266.52 and 265.76 bu/a, respectively), while Nicole placed first and Kay placed second among Idaho entrants in the Irrigated category (292.73 and 291.98 bu/a, respectively).

Each of the Hults is competing again with entries for the 2018 season and with Accomplish LM as part of their program. We hope to see their name among the winners!

(UPDATE: The Hults family took winning places again in the 2018 and 2019 contests!)

Learn more about Accomplish LM by downloading the Accomplish LM product booklet.

Download the Accomplish LM Booklet

 

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