“…farmers can take up to $100 per acre from their traditional dry fertilizer and liquid seed treatment costs and still go for more bushels.”
Meristem Crop Performance® today announced a massive, multi-state, drone-powered research effort comparing “traditional practices” of fertilizer application and fully-treated soybeans with a lower-cost program powered by their patented BIO-CAPSULE™ Technology that keeps beneficial biologicals alive and vigorous.
“Now more than ever, farmers need an affordable alternative to some of their traditional dry fertilizer and liquid seed treatment, and our BIO-CAPSULE provides the pathway,” said Mitch Eviston, Meristem Founder and CEO, in announcing this research effort. “Tariff talk and commodity prices have many farmers looking for ways to make the most of every dollar. These proof plots will dispel any remaining doubt about the BIO-CAPSULE’s ability to help farmers take cost out and still get more bushels.”
Dubbed the “Take Cost Out Proof Plots,” the comprehensive in-field research effort involves more than 70 side-by-side, 80-acre soybean fields in 10 states across the Midwest. Forty acres on one side receives the “farmer traditional” treatment, including fall-applied NPK and a full liquid seed treatment, including Ilevo® for Soybean Sudden Death Syndrome (SDS). The 40 acres beside will get less dry fertilizer, but the residue will be treated with EXCAVATOR® AMS powered by CYCLESTRIKE™. Those plots will get naked seed beans treated at the planter box with HOPPER THROTTLE™ MaxStax™Soybean, and HARVESTSHIELD™ Complete and HOMESTRETCH® NKB-S applied later in the season.
“My goal is to help farmers understand that the largest fertilizer shed in the U.S. is the one they already have in every field they farm,” says Shane Brockhoff, Meristem’s VP of Sales, Western U.S. “Soybean farmers can take up to $100 per acre from their traditional dry fertilizer and liquid seed treatment costs and still go for more bushels.”
No-till farmer Nick Fries of Summit View Farms in Wisconsin says he’s already seen enough to make EXCAVATOR a standard practice. “EXCAVATOR AMS is a great product, and Meristem has improved it again with that new BIO-CAPSULE to release microbes into the jug,” says Fries. “CYCLESTRIKE is a very easy deal: Unscrew the cap, screw the CYCLESTRIKE capsule on, push a button down, and release the microbes into the EXCAVATOR AMS.” WATCH Nick Fries of Summit View here.
Meristem’s investment in this field research, says Eviston, is aimed at leaving no doubt: “You can cut your fertilizer cost, cut your seed treatment and still drive for high-yield beans when you manage the residue, protect that seed, get an early, even stand and feed that crop through the season. You can get more bushels for less.” He points to studies at the University of Illinois showing how residue breakdown, early planting, and in-season plant nutrition help push soybean yields higher.
“Early planting can help you get more nodes, more pods, and more soybeans per acre,” says Connor Sible, PhD, Crop Science Department, at the University of Illinois. “And that’s what drives soybean yield in the end. Growers have to remember though, if you have more mouths to feed, you must feed them all season long to gain the full benefit.” WATCH Dr. Sible here.
Brockhoff believes it will also give farmers confidence to take back control of their own fields and farm businesses by buying naked soybean seed and using HOPPER THROTTLE MaxStax at the planter box to protect the seed and get healthy plants up quickly.
“The BIO-CAPSULE is the game-changing part of this story,” he says. “Conventional liquid seed treatment is messy, time-consuming, and expensive compared to the efficacy we get with live biology delivered through the BIO-CAPSULE. WATCH coverage research results here. If you treat your beans the conventional way, there’s no going back, but this allows farmers to gain control of the moment and make better, more timely choices.”
SweetWater Technologies, Wyanet, Ill., has been engaged to provide precise drone applications of EXCAVATOR AMS with CYCLESTRIKE for rapid residue breakdown this spring, and will return later in the season for foliar applications of HARVESTSHIELD Complete and HOMESTRETCH NKB-S.
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