Helena Agri-Enterprises Previews Services, Products for 2024
As one of the largest ag retailers and product distributors in agriculture, Helena Agri-Enterprises is constantly striving to develop new brands and services for its customer base. And on July 18, the company gathered almost 200 employees, industry partners, customers, and media members to its Helena Products Group Field Innovation Center in Memphis, TN, to share plans for the upcoming 2024 growing season. This event was called the Evolve Innovation Expo.
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“If you look back at our industry over the past 10 years, what are you seeing?” asked Patrick Ewan, General Manager, Helena Products Group, to the Evolve Innovation Expo attendees. “A lot of change. That’s the benchmark for what you will see here today — evolve.”
Ewan went on to highlight Helena’s devotion to people and its long history of product innovation. “How is Helena different?” he asked. “Our motto is the impossible takes longer. If we can’t find a way, we will make a way. Our company goes two or three steps further to provide the best agronomic solutions for our customers to have options.”
CropLife® magazine was among those attending this special event. Here, we present some of the highlights from this day-long expo, focusing on Helena’s plans in four different crops/areas of the marketplace.
BeanWise
Perhaps the most interesting stop on the Helena Evolve Innovation Expo tour was the area called BeanWise, where the company highlighted its product development for soybeans. Helena is planning to launch two new products for this market in 2024. Both are targeting the seed treatment segment.
According to Tony Lourens, Manager, the soybean seed treatment industry has steadily grown throughout the 2000s to become “a market valued at several hundred million dollars today.” As a result, suppliers have increased the number of active ingredients (AIs) being applied in a given seed treatment from one to as many as three or four.
But now, Helena is debuting Seed Shield Select, a new fungicide/insecticide soybean seed treatment with Asset Formulation Technology. “Instead of three or four AIs, Seed Shield Select contains seven different technologies, including five fungicides with five different modes of action,” said Lourens. Among the AIs incorporated into Seed Shield Select are fungicides mefenoxam, sedaxane, and azoxystrobin, along with insecticide thamethoxam.
Another new product for soybeans coming in 2024 is a biological. According to Mike Powell, Senior Brand Manager, Crop Protection, Enertia is an enzyme-based soybean seed treatment that aids plant growth by increasing the microbial activity in the plant’s root zone. It utilizes Helena’s VersaShield Formulation Technology.
“VersaShield in Enertia helps the enzyme to be compatible with most other products farmers use in their fields,” said Powell. “This includes fertilizers, fungicides, and insecticides.”
CornWise
At the corn field stop, Evolve Innovation Expo attendees got to learn about Helena’s Empyros herbicide. A pre-mix of s-metolachlor and tolpyralate, Empyros can provide corn growers with knockdown and residual control of broadleaf weeds and grasses, according to Dr. Michael Cox, Brand Manager of Corn Herbicides.
Also at this stop, Dr. Michael Kenty, Product Specialist, discussed the company’s Zypro product with visitors. An advanced enzyme technology using Helena’s VersaShield Formulation Technology, Zypro works with the native soil microbial community to enhance root effectiveness and strengthen early plant growth.
“Zypro improves roots and root efficiency in the plants,” said Kenty. He then showed examples of corn plants and their roots to the gathered attendees to prove his point.
CottonWise
At the cotton research field, Expo attendees learned more about how this part of agriculture has advanced over the decades. “The average cotton field today is six times more productive than it was 40 years ago,” said Jason Gregory, Product Manager. “But if growers are not putting sulfur on their cotton plants, they are making a mistake.”
Visitors here also learned about Helena’s Coron Metra brand for cotton use. A foliar fertilizer, Coron Metra uses ENC Formulation Technology “to provide a steady release of nutrition to help build more productive crops,” said Shane Powers, Agronomist.
Sustainability
In addition to targeting row crops with its products, Helena is also getting involved in the area of sustainability. At this stop on the tour, visitors learned about a pair of products that the company markets to help in this effort.
The first is Resgenix. A liquid formulation, Resgenix is a water use management tool designed to increase irrigation and water-use efficiency in agricultural operations. “Resgenix contains a specialized polyacrylamide technology that helps mitigate erosion, run-off, and soil moisture evaporation loss,” said Austin Anderson, Brand Manager.
Besides Resgenix, Helena’s other product for sustainable agriculture is Resurge. “Resurge is a low-dust granule of humic compounds, engineered to improve nutrient efficiency and strengthen plant growth,” said Justin Payne, Precision Info Specialist. “In the soil, it breaks down quickly and holds nutrients in the root zone longer to make the most of soil-applied nutrition.”
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