Corn plant per acre populations in Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana have collectively risen some 34 percent since 1996, according to a recent study conducted by Michael Langemeier, Center for Commercial Agriculture, Purdue University and reported in AgriMarketing. And, of course, that brings an increasing need for residue management on all those acres.
Langemeier found that in 1996, the corn plant populations in Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana were 24,950; 24,200; and 23,500 plants per acre; respectively. Projected plant populations in 2024 are 32,881 in Iowa, 33,183 in Illinois, and 31,456 in Indiana. That pegs the annual rate of increasing plant populations in the I-states at 0.91 percent in Iowa to 1.02 percent in Illinois over the study period. Those annual increases translate to an annual increase in plant count ranging from 256 plants per acre in Indiana to 291 plants per acre in Illinois.
“In the past five years, residue management with biologicals has become a standard farming practice for many, and it’s paying out in plant nutrition, reduced tillage, improved stands,” commented Mitch Eviston, Meristem Founder and CEO. “Many farmers we work with are seeing $60 to $80 of value an acre by spending less than $15 per acre,” he says. “EXCAVATOR AMS is another step-change, allowing all those benefits, plus saving another $2 per acre on adjuvant and nitrogen with this all-in-one product. It’s what we’re all about—more bushels for less.”
Eviston says “it’s time to fight back and take cost out of your synthetic fertilizer spend by unlocking the plant nutrition you already own. And we are giving the farmer a best-in-class water condition and surfactant system for free and a nitrogen kicker: That makes EXCAVATOR AMS the best residue breakdown product on the market.”
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