What The Soil Has to Say

Via Pattern Ag, this is the percent of fields at risk for sudden death syndrome using field level, global benchmarks
Via Pattern Ag, this is the percent of fields at risk for sudden death syndrome using field level, global benchmarks
(Pattern Ag)

By turning biological test results into gigabytes of data, Pattern Ag has developed the largest soil metagenomics database with more than 200 billion DNA reads. 

With customers supplying samples from the Dakotas to Ohio, Pattern Ag has been working on its database for five years, but in the past two years, they’ve ramped up to a scale where they can derive analytics from the data. As such, they produce predictive agronomy with the goal of helping farmers match their input decisions to yield threats.

“We got almost everything right from our 2022 predictions,” says Mike Tweedy, vice president of Pattern Ag, and he shares the company has been particularly focused on how to manage corn rootworm and sudden death syndrome. 

Via its Predictive Ag Report, the company predicts pest and pathogen risks 12 months in advance. For 2023, here are three things to watch for via Pattern Ag’s outlooks: 

  • Slightly lower pressure from Western Corn Rootworm
  • Higher summer corn pathogen pressure in the western regions of the Midwest
  • Higher Sudden Death Syndrome pressure across the central Midwest, and increased pressure from Pythium and Fusarium in Indiana

Behind The Technology

Applying technology first developed for human health care, Pattern Ag aims to deliver simplicity in its product, while relying on complexity of science. 
“We’re taking super complex information with 10 million reads on each pound of soil and turning it around into an elegant and intuitive product anyone can read,” Tweedy says.  
The data layers include at-plant data, yield data, weather data, and the Pattern Ag soil genomics data. 

“One of the biggest learnings I’m proud of is how we coordinate weather patterns to the inoculant load of the next season,” Tweedy says. “March/April weather patterns are indicative of the inoculant loads for the next season, when it will express and how bad the disease will be expressed.” 

 Percent of Field with  Risk for Gibberella Stalk Rot
 Percent of Field with  Risk for Gibberella Stalk Rot

Wider Trends And Field-Level Analysis

Pattern Ag’s outlook details geographic regions within each of its core 11 states. But subscribers receive their own data to help inform their own agronomic scouting, testing and product placement. 

“Predictive ag is like a farmers almanac for your season. The macro level data is interesting. But it’s  about what happens at the field level and sub field level,” Tweedy says. “It’s better than going on your intuition, which is really just guessing. This is a tool they can use to get the highest level for information for each one of their fields. It can tell them more than they’ve ever known–and know from a biological level the scale of the issues."

Percent of Field with  Risk for Fusarium
Percent of Field with  Risk for Fusarium

He highlights how Pattern Ag is product agnostic. 

“We give categories of what they can look for, how you can use the results, and then place the inputs,” he says. 

Pattern Ag data shows only 40% of its acres sampled have corn rootworm eggs, leading Tweedy to say overall farmers are over traiting for corn rootworm. 
Farmers have used Pattern Ag for seed selection, input placements and crop rotation. 

Tweedy shares two such examples. A farmer had a field low on Boron and high levels of SDS and other diseases. He added a seed treatment to control the SDS and did three applications of Boron. His soybean harvest averaged 82 bu/acre whereas his five-year average was never above 65 bu. 

Another example is the story of a farmer who was “flummoxed” by an area where soybeans would die. The Pattern Ag test showed pythium and fusarium levels in the 99th percentile. The farmer went to alfalfa. 

Soil Health Assessment 

In addition to yield threats, Pattern Ag is working on productivity analysis as well. 

“We are looking at the beneficial aspects of soil as well—another way to measure how healthy soil is, and where to place biologicals in a field,” he says. 

Go To Market Strategy 

The business model for the company has been to work through its dealer network (now comprised of more than 100 seed dealers, crop consultants and ag retailers) who then sell it as a service available in three tiers. 

“You have to earn the right to be on the farm. What we try to do is give an experience is allow us to stay on the farm,” he says. 

As for sampling timing, it can be done any time in the year, but preference is to follow the combine. Results are provided two to three weeks after samples are taken and the order is placed.  
 

 

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