With a record wheat harvest this summer and a potential record corn crop harvest just ahead, 2025 has been a good production year for Will Swope of Bartholomew County, Indiana.
He credits products from Meristem Crop Performance® for some of the success.
“We used Upshift® C on our wheat crop and in our corn row starter program this year. We really like the Upshift C product because we’re getting the benefit of the phosphate piece without the salt load that is detrimental to yield and soil health. We get the initial quick uptake of phosphate the plant needs and then we’re also getting that extended phosphate release through the rest of the growing season from the Upshift C,” he said. “In many of our soil types around here, the levels are really pretty good on phosphate, but it is tied up in the wrong form and we really struggle with getting phosphate into the plants. Upshift C helps us utilize some of the phosphate that’s tied up in our soils. And then the cost of 10-34-0 compared to the Upshift C was a significant difference this year with the way the fertilizer markets ended up.”
Upshift C powered by Ether™ Enzyme Technology from Meristem Crop Performance combines two enzymes specifically identified to increase phosphate availability, while increasing nutrient and water availability, to boost plant growth and maximize microbial activity.
The concentrate is designed to readily dissolve in water and apply through fertilizing equipment into actively growing root zones or injected near the seed at planting. Upshift C’s low salt index makes it ideal for use as a starter or sidedress fertilizer applied directly to the soil.
“We’re split applying nitrogen to help with the wheat tillering and also to break that nitrogen up so we’re not putting it all out there at once,” he said. “With the second shot of 28% nitrogen we put down at wheat green-up, we used Upshift C as our phosphate instead of using 10-34-0. Our wheat crop looked great, and we used the Homestretch® NKB-S foliar package and the Revline® Late-Season plant growth regulator at fungicide application to help finish that wheat crop out. The quality and test weight were really good this year and we were very pleased with the end yield result. One field averaged 141 bushels to the acre across the scales, and we had parts of the field creeping up into that 170-range. To be able to achieve those yield levels just by adding a few products and making a few small changes is really amazing.”
The heavy wheat residue ahead of no-till double-crop soybeans and the corn residue after harvest this fall can be managed with Excavator® AMS powered by Cyclestrike™ and Microbilize™ — the industry’s leading, and first, all-in-one blend of water conditioning agent (ammonium sulfate) and surfactants.
“With all this residue out here, no-tilling the beans into the wheat stubble and then next year setting this field up for the next corn crop, Excavator AMS is a really good tool for breaking down all this residue and releasing a lot of those nutrients left in the fodder that are going to be tied up otherwise,” Swope said.
With a solid corn harvest approaching and wheat planting season drawing near, innovative Meristem products — including the newly released Upshift® C Plus — are going to be a staple in Swope’s rotation moving forward to help the sixth-generation farm produce more bushels for less.
“This kind of yield story is what Meristem is all about,” said Mitch Eviston, Meristem Founder and CEO. “Meristem products take cost out and reduce waste; they are better for the crop, better for the soil, better for the farmer, and better for a farm’s profit margin.”
