Andrew McCrea Farmer/rancher and Farm Journal TV and radio personality and a master storyteller
Editor’s note: This article is the first in a series by Andrew McCrea chronicling the corn demonstration plots he planted on his Missouri farm in May 2021.
In 2020, I planted a small demonstration plot on my farm to look at the opportunities presented by Pivot Bio PROVEN®. After a successful evaluation last year, I expanded our trial this year and have added some new variables to test the impact Pivot Bio PROVEN® can have on our farm.
If you are not familiar with Pivot Bio PROVEN®, it is a microbial that can supply corn with nitrogen throughout the growing season. Pivot Bio PROVEN® is often applied with starter fertilizer at the time of planting. The microbes attach to the roots of the corn plant and turn atmospheric nitrogen into ammonia that the crop can use throughout the season. Because the microbes are attached to the corn’s roots, it cannot be lost due to weather conditions. This means that Pivot Bio PROVEN® becomes a proven source of nitrogen.
One of the key factors that corn producers use to evaluate products is the impact on yield. In many farm and university trials, Pivot Bio PROVEN® provided a yield bump of about five bushels per acre. I saw a similar yield bump last year.
However, I believe the real game-changer is Pivot Bio PROVEN®’s ability to reduce nitrogen applications and provide season-long nutrition to the plant. On our farm, we use anhydrous ammonia in the fall and then apply about 40 pounds of top dress nitrogen early in the growing season. In this year’s trial, I will not be applying top dress nitrogen on a portion of the corn that has Pivot Bio PROVEN®. I want to see if this corn can match, or surpass, the corn receiving the extra 40 pounds of nitrogen.
Based on other national field trials, Pivot Bio PROVEN® should be able to match the impact of corn that receives the extra nitrogen. I believe this to be the biggest opportunity with the product. Input costs are rising, especially synthetic fertilizer. If I can save some of the money I normally spend on top dress nitrogen and achieve the same or better yields, that provides a big boost to our margins.
In addition, because the microbes attach to the corn roots, I do not have to worry about weather conditions that might cause nitrogen loss. This becomes a more sustainable and more environmentally friendly way to get nutrients to the corn.
I’m looking forward to sharing more results during the growing season.
More information on Pivot Bio PROVEN® can be found online at https://www.agweb.com/topics/pivot-bio
