Micronutrients Going Macro
September 9, 2014 This year’s anticipated bumper crop, which many project to be the most prolific output of food and fiber that we’ve seen in quite some time, has micronutrient formulators and ag retailers alike chomping at the bit to get more micros into happy grower’s hands.
“Absolutely,” responds Josh Krenz, director of plant nutrition, WinField, when asked whether the bumper crop could be considered a boon for the micronutrient market. “Anytime we see higher, in some cases record yields, the use and importance of a diverse micronutrient package increases as well.”
“The benefits of a solid micro program, both to the retailer and the grower, have been proven over and over again, not just this season,” adds Kraig Charron, agronomist, CHS Wausa, NE. “It provides return on investment (ROI) for the retailer, both through the products themselves and the corresponding soil and tissue sampling services, and you add value to a grower’s operation and his fertility program.”
Driven By Deficiencies
All of the sources interviewed for this feature agree, there really was no single, overriding nutrient deficiency that can be pinpointed as being more prevalent this season than in seasons past.
“There does not appear to be any micronutrient deficiency more prevalent this year than in past growing seasons,” says Wesley Haun, research agronomist, H.J. Baker & Bro. “Zinc (Z) and boron (B) remain the most wide-spread plant nutrient deficiencies.”
One of the premier B products on the market currently is The Mosaic Co.’s recently released granular potash Aspire with Boron (0-0-58.5B).
“Aspire ties in really well with our MicroEssentials suite of products, and we’ve seen the biggest yield responses in corn, which is fantastic for both growers and retailers,” says Dr. Kyle Freeman, director of new product development. “Another area where there are huge opportunities for B is in alfalfa. Many of the retailers I’ve spoken with really like how Aspire fits into crop nutrition plans.”
H.J. Baker, via its subsidiary Tiger-Sul Products, witnessed expanded demand for magnesium (Mg) products in certain geographies. Its TIGER Magnesium 15%, launched for the 2014 season, remains a growing presence in Mg deficient situations.
“The regions with the greatest requirement for added Mg are areas with highly weathered soils, mostly throughout the southern and eastern U.S., especially east of the Appalachians,” informs Haun. “The soils in these regions tend to require supplementation to obtain optimum plant response.”
Additionally, CHS’ Charron says that CPH’s Aventine Complete, which he describes as a blend of “the top six to 10 micronutrients that plants need” was applied on about 85% of his outlet’s grower-customer fields. Aventine typically is applied with starter fertilizer.
That practice (micros with starter fertilizer), along with the overall increase in adoption of spring starter fertilizer programs, is cause for elevated phosphorus levels throughout the Midwest.
“More growers are using starter fertilizer containing phosphate so that more of it is available for early plant growth, and the amounts per acre can be reduced to the row application vs. broadcast applications,” says Jerry Stoller, president, Stoller USA.
Stoller reasons this adjustment in fertilization is causing Z to at times become more difficult for growing plants to convert into energy.
“This early and greater use of phosphate is interfering with Z absorption and Z utilization within the plant,” he advises. “Therefore the plant demands on Z are increasing every year. But, is the solution to this problem to add more Z, or is the solution to this problem to reduce phosphate use?”
New Questions Coming
The coming dicamba- and 2,4-D-tolerant cropping systems (once released domestically) are additional issues the micronutrient segment must prepare for. And with tank mixes in general becoming increasingly diverse (adjuvants, surfactants, foliar nutrients, etc.) many are advocating a return to the good old days of the jar test.
“We’re certainly going to encourage retailers to help educate farmers on the number of products going in the tank now,” says WinField’s Krenz. “In our opinion this is a great opportunity for retailers, where they can serve as educators on these new products. And as we add more products and less water to the tank, completing a jar test becomes more crucial than ever, because there may be problems with some tank mixes.”
CHS’ Charron agrees: “Micros can be very volatile at times, so the safest thing is to just take the time to do the old jar test before fully adopting any new products,” he advises. “When you’re adding five, six, sometimes even seven different products into one tank mix, it’s just a good practice to test it beforehand.
“As an industry we are also going to have to do some background research on these new chemistries.”
Besides conducting research trials on nutrient uptake based on application time via its 200-plus Answer Plot locations throughout the U.S., WinField is also capturing the yield benefits from blending Ascend plus MAX-IN plus its LS Granular line of micronutrients.
“We want retailers and growers looking at their fertility from a 360 degree view,” says Krenz, alluding to WinField’s popular NutriSolutions 360 soil, NutriVision and tissue sampling program. “We want to get away from just knowing what’s in the soil, to knowing what’s plant-available in the soil.”
New Opportunities
Krenz also foresees opportunities for retailers to offer more foliar micronutrient programs, yet another way to differentiate oneself while providing ROI to the grower. “Foliar application of micronutrients in the U.S. is still less than 15% of the total acres,” he says. “In today’s era of high input costs and lower commodity prices, helping growers get those extra bushels means more revenue to offset those fixed input costs and foliar micronutrients provide a huge opportunity to do this.”
Mosaic is also continuing research on the combined effects from using MicroEssentials with Aspire. “That combination provides a user six nutrients in two products, so it’s a great value and a more efficient delivery system,” Freeman says.
Meanwhile, Stoller USA has embarked on what promises to be quite the endeavor: custom manufacturing of products for a new company called Plant Power Products, Inc.
“The production and use of these products is based upon a new agronomic theory on how to maximize crop yields,” explains Stoller. “This group of ‘Power Products’ are intended to allow the plant to absorb the maximum amount of energy from sunlight and reclaim energy back from the soil. It is the total amount of energy that can be absorbed by the plant, which will ultimately determine its yield.
“During the period of plant growth, these products are used to partition the energy into manufacturing more carbohydrates and proteins for further use by the plant during its reproductive stage of growth. These products are then used to release all of this energy at the time of tasseling on corn and during the flowering and reproductive period on the soybeans, so that this energy can be used by the developing pods and seeds.
“If this new science is successful, it will tend to minimize the importance of balancing the soil of plant nutrients. The plants will automatically balance the soil. And it will greatly reduce the need for insecticides and fungicides, as well as allow the plants to automatically use some genes that have a weaker expression; therefore the manipulation of plant seed by genetic means may not be so important.”
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