by Andrew McCrea - Farmer/rancher and Farm Journal TV and radio personality and a master storyteller
Editor’s note: This article is the third in a series by Andrew McCrea chronicling the corn demonstration plots he planted on his Missouri farm in May 2021.
Rising input prices, especially nitrogen, have been on the minds of many corn producers as they look ahead to the 2022 growing season. We have weighed several options for products and timing on our farm to see what our best answer will be for the upcoming year.
I’ve been looking at a promising opportunity to increase yields and decrease input costs simultaneously for the past two years. Higher nitrogen prices, combined with the desire to produce more bushels with more sustainable farming methods, led me to conduct field trials for the past two years using Pivot Bio PROVEN® 40.
Pivot Bio PROVEN® 40 adheres to the root of the corn plant, turning atmospheric nitrogen into a usable form for the corn plant.
Last year, our corn with Pivot Bio PROVEN® showed a yield increase of about five bushels per acre. This year, I conducted a more extensive field trial and found a seven-bushel increase over the control plot.
The yield boost was certainly welcome; however, Pivot Bio’s work is about a much bigger picture than corn yields. Because Pivot Bio PROVEN® 40’s microbes produce up to the equivalent of 40 pounds of synthetic nitrogen, this provides an excellent opportunity to reduce the amount we are spending on top-dress nitrogen that we would typically apply in the spring.
Ernie Sanders is the vice president of Product Development at Pivot Bio, and I always enjoy the chance to visit with him about what he sees in his on-farm visits across the nation. He says many farmers are also looking at the possibilities Pivot Bio PROVEN® 40 provides for their corn acres.
“A lot of growers have used our product for two or three years now, and they’ve even modified over the years how they use it,” says Sanders. “Some are replacing 30 or 40 pounds of nitrogen at side-dress. Some are not going over the field and making a Y-drop application later.”
There are many options Sanders has found that corn growers use to best fit their fields.
Another important factor for us using Pivot Bio PROVEN® 40 is that it is a “proven” source of nitrogen because the microbes attach to the root of the corn plant and cannot be washed away in heavy rain events.
Sanders says, “We firmly believe it’s our company’s mission to reduce applied nitrogen and to replace it with biological nitrogen. It’s good for a farmer. It has a good ROI, and it’s good for the planet.”
Our field trials show an opportunity for a better ROI, the reduction of synthetic nitrogen and nitrogen loss. These are key factors for us to consider, especially when farmers are looking to implement more sustainable farming practices.
Many companies are offering programs that incentivize more sustainable farming practices. Sanders says it’s a perfect time to look at how Pivot Bio PROVEN® 40 can be a part of that process.
“It’s important to review your system on your farm and determine what’s the best way you can use this Pivot Bio PROVEN® 40 to farm more sustainably or regeneratively.”
