Drought stress can cause significant corn yield reductions, particularly when it occurs after the V13 growth stage.

At V13 and beyond, drought stress can negatively impact silking, pollination, and kernel fill, with the greatest loss in yield associated with drought stress that occurs around the silking (R1) period. Drought stress causing four or more consecutive days of visible wilting during this period can lead to yield loss as high as 9 percent per day. Plants weakened by drought stress are also more susceptible to disease and insect damage, which can further compound yield losses.

What Options Do Corn Growers Have for Combating Drought Stress?

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

Our latest webinar, "Opportunities to Influence Early Season Crop Health," is now available to watch online. 

During the on-demand crop health webinar, you will learn:

• What steps you can take to optimize early season crop health

• How Accomplish LM, Extract PBA and Titan XC can fit into your growing program this spring to maximize yield outcomes this season 

You'll see how each technology works to increase nutrient availability and uptake for improved plant health early in the growing season, which can translate into better crop health and higher yields at the end of the season.

Nutrien Ag Solutions’ Gregg Schmitz has witnessed transformational changes in agriculture–from the birth of modern crop protection to the growth of today's market for ag biostimulants and biologicals, even leading some of the early, pivotal field trials that brought Accomplish technology to Nutrien's row crop customers.

We recently spoke with Gregg about his take on this biocatalyst technology, and why growers who aren't already using Accomplish LM, Titan XC or Extract will want to consider adopting this biochemistry in their fields in 2020.

Our webinar, "How to Reduce the Risk of Fallow Syndrome on Prevent Plant Acres," is now available to watch online.

During the on-demand webinar, you'll learn:

• What fallow syndrome is

• How fallow syndrome can impact yield opportunities

• How Extract PBA can help address the risk of fallow syndrome on prevent plant acres

Our recent webinar, "Overcoming Crop Stress and Improving Crop Quality with Kelp Science Innovations," is now available to watch online.

During the on-demand webinar, you'll learn about:

• The role of kelp technologies in agricultural production
• New, biological methods of kelp extraction and how they have advanced kelp science
• A new kelp technology, Maritime^®, and how it can help improve crop quality and increase abiotic stress tolerance
  

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

It’s spring, and newly germinated seedlings are revving their engines!

Once a seedling has secured a foothold with its root, it uses the power of its photosynthetic engines to drive growth. Sunlight is the fuel source, enabling the plant to produce the proteins, lipids and carbohydrates it needs to make new leaves and new roots. To create these internal building blocks, the seedling must mine and extract raw materials from the soil in the form of water, macronutrients and micronutrients.

How does a root prospect? Unlike the “49ers” who picked up their stakes and often travelled great distances to join the California Gold Rush, a plant is literally rooted to its home. Often, its immediate home is not choice real estate with plentiful water and nutrients on tap, so the plant needs to be able to find water and nutrients, sometimes at great distance, and “sluice” them back through its root system to the growing shoot.

With today’s corn genetics providing the potential to grow more than 300 bushels per acre, growers need a new take on crop management, particularly when it comes to soil fertility. Have 15 minutes? Hear Dr. Fred Below of the University of Illinois talk about how to move from a “feed the soil” to a “feed the plant” approach to high-yield corn fertility program. 

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

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.

Agricen and sister company, Agricen Sciences, have released a new white paper. “Growing for the Future: Supporting Sustainable Agriculture with a New Generation of Biologically Sourced Tools for Plant Nutrition” provides growers with the information they need to understand biologically sourced plant nutrition and how it can help them meet sustainability goals.