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See the latest news, innovation updates, trial results, grower stories and more from Agricen. 
Canadian Grower Impressed by Root Growth with Titan XC Technology
August 16, 2022 — Posted By Agricen

Titan XC technology for dry fertilizer is available in several countries around the world, including in Canada, where it is sold under the brand name Atlas XC.

While attending a recent farm expo in Canada, Agricen’s Steve Sexton spoke with Kurtis Wandler, a grower from Western Saskatchewan, about his experience with Atlas XC.

Kurtis started out by trialing Atlas XC in peas several years ago, and he now uses it across his entire farm.

“We started out just putting it on peas the first year. We did a trial that year, half and half,” says Kurtis. “The next year, between the folks and I, we split the acres in half on a trial, and for the last two years, we’ve been doing all Atlas.”

Grower Kurtis Wandler SK Atlas XCKurtis Wandler, Grower from Western Saskatchewan, Canada

One of the big benefits Kurtis has seen with using Atlas XC-treated dry fertilizer has been improved root growth in his crops.

“We see tremendous root growth and breakdown of the fertilizer we’re putting down,” he says. “You can just tell from the trials we’ve done on some of the stands how Atlas has helped improve the crop and break through some of the conditions that we’ve had with the environment.”

“Even last year with the drought we had, you could tell that the roots were there,” he adds. “We ran out of moisture, but you could tell with the roots. They’re just going to keeping fighting for that moisture.”

Atlas XC can be applied to dry fertilizers such as MAP, potash or elemental sulfur to help improve nutrient availability, so that the crop has access to more of the applied nutrients in the season they are applied, and even beyond.

When Shelby LaRose, Proprietary Representative from Nutrien Ag Solutions’ South Saskatchewan – East location, trialed Atlas XC in yellow peas on her farm, she saw both her yield and her soil phosphorus levels go up.

“The last five seasons of Atlas XC have shown me a lot,” she says. “One of those things is that no matter the crop, if you are putting down MAP, potash or elemental sulfur, you can benefit from Atlas XC. It not only increases yield, but also increases soil-available phosphorus year over year.”

Contact your local Nutrien Ag Solutions representative for more information about Atlas XC (Canada) or Titan XC (USA). You can also learn more by downloading the Titan XC educator.

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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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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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Striving for Record Corn Yields
December 8, 2021 — Posted By Agricen

How high can corn yield go? In our short video, "Striving for Record Corn Yields," you'll see how some corn growers try to test the limits and push for record-setting yields.

"I wish I could tell you that high yield is a recipe, like following the cookbook. By gosh, it isn't that way. High yield...it is an art form," says Dr. Fred Below of the University of Illinois in the video. 

The growers featured in the video faced multiple obstacles during filming in 2020 — from hurricanes and tropical storms in the East to a derecho that flattened crops and caused billions of dollars worth of damage across the Midwest. 

"We had a tremendous crop out there. The storm just took part of it," says Iowa farmer Kelly Garrett, whose farm was in the path of the 2020 derecho that made records as the most destructive and costliest thunderstorm disaster in U.S. history.

"We had a hurricane come in here the other day. Raise a good corn crop and then it's sad to come in here and watch it laying on the ground the way it is, broke off," says Heath Cutrell, who farms in Virginia and North Carolina.

In addition to Kelly and Heath, the video features growers Don Stall (Michigan) and Kevin Kalb (Indiana). These farmers all have had winning entries in the NCGA Corn Yield Contest in recent years. Agricen's product technologies, including Accomplish, Extract PBA and Titan XC, have been part of their winning programs.

"You have to use products that work if you want to be chasing these kind of yields," says Kevin.

See their stories below.

You can also hear more from each grower by watching the full version of Last Stand, also available on our YouTube channel.

Watch Last Stand

 

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Illinois Farmer Sees Consistent Corn & Soybean Increase with Titan XC
November 17, 2021 — Posted By Agricen

When Illinois farmer Benjamin Rice first heard about Titan XC, he thought it sounded too good to be true. But he was trying to find a way to increase the efficiency of the dry fertilizer he was spreading on his farm, so he decided to take it to the field and try it.

Benjamin took two different 80-acre fields, split them in half, and spread the north half of each field with Titan XC-treated dry fertilizer and the south half with untreated dry fertilizer in the fall. He also took two different 40-acre fields and did the same, but spread the treated and untreated dry fertilizer in the spring.

He wanted to commit multiple years to the trial to see if Titan XC consistently worked. For three years, he repeated the side by side trials on the same fields.

“We’re on a corn and beans crop rotation. After the first year I saw a yield increase consistently on the side of the field treated with Titan XC,” he says. “After all three years, both spread in the fall or spread in the spring, my field averages made 6.8 bushel better on corn and 2.6 bushel better on beans.”

Benjamin was also conscious of costs, and wanted to make sure he was really getting value from the Titan XC when applied to his MAP and potash.

“I knew that Titan XC was going to be an additional cost,” he says.

On the parts of the field where he spread Titan XC-treated fertilizer, he pulled back on his fertilizer by 10 percent to offset the cost of the Titan.

The results showed him just how well Titan XC can help drive dry fertilizer efficiency.

“Every field, every application where there was Titan XC, it had 10 percent less MAP and potash spread and yet we consistently, every time, made more corn and beans where we used Titan XC,” he says. “After I saw that on my farm, I will never spread another acre without Titan XC.”

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

Learn more about Titan XC and dry fertilizer efficiency by downloading our fall fertilizer booklet.

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[Hoosier Ag Today] Maximizing Your Dry Fertilizer Investment
November 4, 2021 — Posted By Agricen

Hoosier Ag Today-1Agricen’s Scott Lay recently spoke with Hoosier Ag Today about how growers can maximize their dry fertilizer investment with Titan XC.

Hoosier Ag Today: One of the first decisions for farmers regarding next year's crop results relate to dry fertilizer. With fertilizer prices surging, growers are trying to find ways to maximize their investment. Lay says that's where Titan XC comes into play.
Scott: In terms of benefit, what we're looking for is the ability of the product to enhance the mineralization, or breakdown, of dry fertilizer prills so that come next spring when the crop goes in the ground, we have greater nutrient availability to that growing crop, which will lead to a more consistent yield response at the end of the year.
Hoosier Ag Today: Lay says that across third-party trials and university results, Titan XC's average yield response over untreated fertilizer is 10.2 bushels per acre in corn and 4.6 bushels per acre in soybeans. Even with fertilizer prices rising, Lay believes that type of response is worth the investment.
Scott:  It's not what you spend, it's what you get for what you spend that matters. Titan has been on the market for ten years, and we have nearly 50 million acres of commercial experience and results to draw on.  What we've found is that we get a more consistent yield result and a better ROI with Titan XC, and we're able to increase the availability of nutrients by nearly 20 percent in that first year. If you can enhance the value or benefit of those dry fertilizer dollars invested by 20 percent, we think that's a pretty sound investment.

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

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

Download the Booklet

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Titan XC on Fall Fertilizer: Minimal Investment, Maximum Efficiency
October 27, 2021 — Posted By Agricen

Titan Dry FertilizerWhen faced with higher fertilizer prices, many who apply fall fertilizer will wonder if reducing their fertilizer rates makes sense in light of current farm economics.

It's practical to fertilize this fall to meet the anticipated needs of next year's crop, taking into consideration local recommendations based on soil tests. Reducing fertilizer rates can potentially increase an existing problem, namely the limited availability of nutrients from applied fertilizer in the first season after application. Only about 10-30% of applied P and 20-60% of applied K is typically recovered, or used by the growing crop, in that first season.

To get the most utilization out of dry fertilizers, many farms turn to Titan XC as a tool to maximize fertilizer efficiency without requiring a big investment. This is important whether a full rate or reduced rate of fertilizer is applied.

In the corn trial below from Nutrien's Hopkinsville, KY research farm, treating dry fertilizer with Titan XC (1 pint/ton) led to a yield increase of 6 bushels or more compared to untreated fertilizer. This was true whether the fertilizer was applied at the full rate (300 lbs/acres) or the reduced rate (270 lbs/acre). 

Titan - corn_KYYou can see this data and more by watching our short Titan XC video.

Titan XC is a valuable tool for increasing nutrient efficiency. By speeding up nutrient release from P and K fertilizers, it can play a key role in the uptake of applied nutrients, helping growers be more efficient with their fertilizer application while also optimizing yield.

Learn more by visiting the Titan XC Hub.

Visit the Titan XC Hub

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Agricen Presents Last Stand, a New Film about Farming
October 12, 2021 — Posted By Agricen

Last Stand Movie PosterFarmers have a story to tell, and we wanted to capture it. During the 2020 growing season, Agricen hired a film crew to document the experiences of growers from four different farm operations in the United States. The result is Last Stand, a movie that follows some of America's top farmers as they try to grow the highest yields possible in a season full of challenges. The film can be watched by visiting LastStand.ag.

“While you can never predict what the growing season will be like, the 2020 season certainly did manage to throw many surprises into the mix. Excessive rain and hurricanes, the historic derecho in Iowa and across the upper Midwest – and that’s just the weather,” says Michael Totora, president and CEO of Agricen. “We think this is an important film that not only gives viewers a unique glimpse into the lives of the featured farmers, but also into the lives of farmers across the U.S. in 2020.”

The farmers featured in the film have a passion for farming and produced some of the highest corn yields in the nation in recent years. They also have the humor, grit and resilience to help them succeed at the job.

In Last Stand, you’ll meet:

    • Don Stall – A former Marine, Don still reflects on the lessons he learned in the Marine Corps to help him face the challenges of being a farmer. Don farms in Michigan.
    • Kelly Garrett – Kelly farms with his father and three sons in Iowa, where they work cattle and grow corn, soybeans and winter wheat.
    • Heath Cutrell – Heath is a third-generation corn, soybean and wheat grower farming in Virginia and across the state line in North Carolina.
    • Kevin and Shawn Kalb – Kevin and Shawn farm with their children in Southern Indiana, where they produce corn, soybeans and turkeys, and can often be found smashing state and national corn yield records.
    • Dr. Fred Below & Connor Sible – Dr. Below and PhD student Connor Sible are from the Crop Physiology Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where they research factors influencing corn and soybean productivity.

Last-Stand-grower-collage

Pictured above are top producers Don Stall (top L), Kelly Garrett (top R), Heath Cutrell (bottom L) and Kevin and Shawn Kalb (bottom R).

Another factor that ties the growers together is that they have used Agricen's product technologies in their high-yielding programs.

“Several years ago, we noticed that a number of growers with top corn yields at the state and national levels used our product technologies in their production programs,” says Totora. “With Last Stand, we set out to dig into that, but it quickly became much more. Their stories, as captured in the film, are deeply personal, yet also familiar to farmers everywhere.”

Last Stand, filmed by agriculture documentary veterans Light Work Productions, is the second long-form film about farming developed by Agricen. Agricen’s previous film about agriculture, Prove It to Me, which followed five farmers from Arkansas and Iowa during the 2015 growing season, is also available to view.

Explore the Last Stand trailers or visit laststand.ag to watch the full film. 

Watch Last Stand

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