Nitrogen Efficiency A Must For 2016 ROI

NutriSphere-N Application

Commodity prices have growers closely scrutinizing every invoice coming into the farm office, but products that help save money on a grower’s biggest investment likely will have a place for many a season to come. Pictured: NutriSphere-N application.

No matter how dangerously far row crop commodity prices plummet in the coming months and years ahead, one factor will always ensure at the very least a basic level of need for nitrogen stabilization products: Mother Nature.

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“In general, when we think about managing nitrogen in an agricultural system — it’s a leaky system so there’s always efficiencies to be gained,” says Verdesian vice president of marketing and technical development Dr. Ryan Bond. “And there’s always different ways of managing nitrogen. They can do it culturally, they can use cover crops or crop rotations, and of course there are nitrogen stabilization technologies available out there.”

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Dr. Bond explains that most nitrogen stabilizer formulations are focused on the crops that mandate the most nitrogen consumption, and that overall grower knowledge of nitrogen’s various interactions with the soil and air and water, and the consequences of such, is growing.

“Corn is a big consumer of nitrogen, and cotton is another big consumer of nitrogen. People look at soybeans as a scavenger crop, but they consume up to 300 pounds of nitrogen per year if you’re going for a 60 bushel crop,” he says. “I think growers are becoming more and more astute in managing nitrogen, but there’s always different tools in the tool box to evaluate.”

A Full Toolbox

Ron Restum, VP of North American sales, Koch Agronomic Services (KAS), says that 2015 was another solid year sales volume-wise for the AGROTAIN line. So much, in fact, that the company recently announced its first AGROTAIN formulation plant outside of North America to focus on international markets.

Ron Restum Koch Agronomic Services

Ron Restum, Koch Agronomic Services

“Additionally, our N-TEGRATION technology will allow manufacturers to differentiate themselves by producing high-quality, value-added nitrogen fertilizers, and our SUPERU fertilizer continues to take efficiency and productivity to new levels,” Restum says. “It’s the highest concentration of nitrogen available in a finished, granular fertilizer product and is scientifically proven to protect against all three forms of nitrogen loss.”

KAS is feeling particularly buoyed for future growth following its recent acquisition of Mendel Biological Solutions, an outfit which Restum says continues to show promise in the biologicals sector, an expected growth driver for the industry worldwide going forward.

One element of uncertainty that both KAS and growers face, according to Restum, is the weather’s impact on nitrogen availability.

“The longer the period between application and plant uptake, the higher the risk of nitrogen loss,” he says. “KAS products also allow producers to change application methods to increase speed without sacrificing nitrogen use efficiency.

“In corn, for example, knifing in UAN to a depth of 3 inches at V6 to V8 is very effective, but time consuming. Many of our customers have found that broadcasting urea treated with AGROTAIN stabilizer (to prevent ammonia volatilization) is as effective, yet much faster than, injecting UAN. “While not every application requires a nitrogen stabilizer,” Restum continues. “We believe farmers demanding higher production efficiency and reduced losses to the environment will cause this sector to continue to grow.”

Retail Perspective

Asmus Farm Supply’s Spencer Weir, CCA agronomist and plant nutrition department manager, predicts that 2016 will be a big year in the Iowa market for a particular Dow AgroSciences patented chemistry Weir characterizes the active ingredient nitrapyrin (N-Serve, Instinct II) as “one of the most effective nitrogen stabilizer tools” on the market.

“As margins narrow for the 2016 crop year growers are going to be forced to focus on all of their inputs,” says Weir in a recent Agronomy Update video for Asmus Farm Supply. “One of those inputs — and one of the most important — is nitrogen. Why? Because we need to ensure that the nitrogen is going to be there when the crop needs it, we need to protect the environment and we need to raise yield.”

According to Weir, nitrapyrin is an organic compound and soil bactericide that functions as an inhibitor of nitrosomonas bacteria.

“Nitrapyrin works by controlling the nitrosomonas bacteria which convert ammonium to nitrite (nitrogen) which ultimately becomes nitrate (nitrogen),” he explains. “The corn plant can uptake both nitrate as well as ammonium (nitrogen). When nitrogen is in the nitrate form it is more prone to leaching into groundwater. This leads to environmental concerns as well as denitrification, both of which do not put nitrogen in your corn plant when it needs it.”

Weir also reports that, according to the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy, growers are finding on average a 6% yield increase when using a nitrapyrin-based product.

Projecting Out 2016

At a recent event hosted by Dow AgroSciences (now DowDuPont), market development specialist Dr. Johnathan Huff discussed how the company’s 40 years of commitment to nitrogen stabilization technology is paying dividends for retailers and growers today.

N-Serve and other nitrogen stabilizers, such as the company’s Instinct brand, are taking on increased market importance as growers across much of the Midwest struggle to cope with excessive amounts of rainfall.

“Nitrogen will be a critical factor this year,” said Huff. “Last fall, we didn’t’ see a lot of anhydrous ammonia applications in the ‘I’ states [Iowa, Indiana and Illinois]. Then we got to spring and folks finally got some of it into the ground — and then the rains started and never stopped. It’s been the same for growers in other states, too, such as Kentucky, Michigan and Ohio.”

In addition to not staying in the ground to be available to the crops, added Huff, the excessive rainfall in the Midwest this year has likely caused much of this applied fertilizer to leach out of the soil and potentially runoff into nearby waterways. “This nitrogen run-off has become a huge issue nationally, and not just for agriculture,” said Huff. “Many growers are very worried about nitrogen leaching and they are asking ‘how can we better manage this?’

Part of the answer might lay in using N-Serve and Instinct, he claims. “Our own research has shown that these products can help out the environmental concerns regarding nitrogen run-off by reducing soil leaching by 16%,” said Huff. “Also, when using these brands, we have found that greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced by 51%.”

‘N’ Stands For New

Sarasota, FL-based Eco Agro recently announced the launch of its newest nitrogen stabilizer for 2016. N-BOUND (Dicyandiamide, or DCD for short) is useful in stemming denitrification and leaching, according to Norm Davy, chief marketing officer.

“Using PENXCEL technology, we have engineered a formulation that can be applied to three different nitrogen sources to protect against loss,” he said. “First, on urea we can add our fast-drying stabilizer and keep the granules flowing freely. Second, in UAN, N-BOUND eliminates the floating clumps of powder and settling hassles. And third, for anhydrous ammonia, growers can use non-corrosive N-BOUND stabilizer in their fall and spring applications, either blended into the tank or metered in line.”

What makes N-BOUND a unique offering in the market today is its improved handling since being converted over into a liquid formulation.

“With the original powder DCD you have a real hard time mixing it into fertilizer,” Davy explained. “While DCD delivered results at a research level, without a viable formulation, the market never developed. It was just too difficult.”

Simplot Grower Solutions (Boise, ID) is another company that launched a new nitrogen stabilization product in 2015 with its Eclipse-N featuring OmniPierce Technology.

Jason Radford, retail director, specialty products, says the urease inhibitor NBPT-powered product (N-(n-butyl) thiophosphoric triamide) has no crop restrictions (can be used in any cropping system), is designed to work with any urea-based nitrogen fertilizer and was designed with both bulk liquid as well as granular applications in mind.

“Eclipse-N is our private-labeled NBPT product that contains a unique solvent that makes it different from other NBPT products,” Radford explains. “The OmniPierce Technology allows the NBPT to penetrate deeper into the urea for more complete coverage on dry blends.”

Another aspect that makes Eclipse-N unique is it blends well with dry granular fertilizers in lower temperatures, it has a lower crystallization temperature and it offers better cold weather blending performance overall, according to Radford.

“Those reasons alone make the product a good fit for our retail locations in the northern geographies,” he says.

Eclipse-N was evaluated alongside urea alone and other similarly-formulated products by West Texas A&M University, where researchers found it more effectively reduced nitrogen volatilization and showed increases at harvest in both overall yield and kernel weight.

“With 2015 being our first year we saw good penetration in all of our markets and we think 2016 is going to be a growth year for Eclipse-N,” concludes Radford.

Meanwhile, at Verdesian Life Sciences the three year old company is ready to full-launch two new NutriSphere-N formulations that were soft launched in 2015, according to Dr. Ryan Bond.

“What we’re trying to do at Verdesian is really focus on other segments, in terms of nitrogen management,” says Bond, a longtime ag industry vet that has a strong background in soil fertility and water quality.

One of those other segments is the liquid market, where Verdesian is debuting NutriSphere-N HV (high volume), which Bond says will be useful for growers who are applying urea ammonium nitrate at high gallon use rates (35 gallons and above) because it creates a fixed, cost efficient investment on a per-acre basis that growers “can just go out and plug-and-play.”

The other new product launch for 2016 is NutriSphere-NH3, which has a specific geographic fit in the northern most production areas of the U.S., according to Bond.

“Growers are oftentimes using a lot of nitrogen above I-80 in the U.S., in the northern Corn Belt states, and where they are knifing in anhydrous in the fall right before the ground freezes, they’re allowing that nitrogen to sit there until spring. This new product allows growers another opportunity to manage that nitrogen. And again, like NutriSphere HV, it’s a single use rate that’s cost effective.”

Bond says the top differentiating point often cited by retailers when praising the NutriSphere-N product line is its long shelf life.

“From a retail perspective they can either purchase the product and treat fertilizer on-site themselves, or have it pre-treated prior to delivery,” Bond explains. “And you can store pre-treated NutriSphere-N for 10-12 months, where an NBPT product has a much shorter shelf life. That gives them a nice flexibility when ordering inventory for the year.”

As for any news on new stabilization products coming down the pipeline in the next few years, KAS has reportedly been working on a product for anhydrous ammonia for the last four years that is currently in the process with the EPA for full regulation. “Koch is optimistic that they will be able to have a soft launch in late spring for use next fall,” Restum says.

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