New In-Furrow Soil Enhancement Product
Valent U.S.A. LLC is launching MycoApply EndoPrime SC, a liquid formulation of the soil enhancement product MycoApply EndoPrime. The product will be applied in-furrow and contains four unique components that improve soil health, nutrient efficiency and drought tolerance.
Four types of mycorrhizal fungi colonize the root system of the corn plant and create filaments that attach to root hairs and extend into areas of the soil otherwise inaccessible to roots, according to the company. The fungi can store resources and release them when the plant needs them, such as in a drought situation.
On the soil health side of the equation, mycorrhizal fungi produce compounds that create glomalin, a sticky protein that helps build stable soil aggregates and improve soil structure.
MycoApply EndoPrime SC causes the plant to expand its root absorption area, providing access to additional nutrients and water otherwise unavailable to the plant.
U.S. Appeals Court to Reconsider Chlorpyrifos Ban
The Trump administration has persuaded a U.S. appeals court to reconsider a decision to ban chlorpyrifos. The court will review former EPA administrator Scott Pruitt’s March 2017 refusal to ban the widely-used pesticide, according to Reuters.
“Pruitt’s ruling reversed a 2015 Obama administration plan to extend a 2000 ban on the pesticide that had covered most household settings. The appeals court had, in a 2-1 decision on Aug. 9, 2018, directed EPA to ban chlorpyrifos within 60 days,” Reuters reports.
Now an 11-judge panel will reconsider this case. EPA said it’s seeking a rehearing because the appeals court lacked jurisdiction to review Pruitt’s ruling and ban the pesticide.
Avail T5 Unlocks Soil Phosphorus for Plant Use
While soil might have acceptable—or even high levels—of phosphorus it’s not always in a form plants can use. Verdesian LifeSciences says its Avail T5 phosphorus fertilizer enhancer helps farmers get more out of their soil.
The company says trials show a 3.8% yield increase on average when using Avail T5 on granular phosphorus, a 2.4% yield increase with Avail T5 liquid starters and pop-ups and 30% to 45% more phosphorus being made available to the crop.
Avail T5 interacts with positively charged ions in the soil that traditionally cause applied phosphorus to become fixed. The product slows fixation by temporarily binding the positively charged ions such as calcium, magnesium, aluminum and iron.
Verdesian says recent studies indicate two-thirds of the product’s benefit is increasing plant-available phosphorus with the final third from improved early root development that allows the plant to tolerate stress throughout the season.
BASF Sells Seed Treatment and Canola System
Recently, BASF sold two product lines or production systems to competitors. The company sold Trunemco nematode management seed treatment to Nufarm. It also sold the Clearfield canola production system in the U.S. and Canada to Corteva Agriscience, the agriculture division of DowDuPont.
Nufarm says Trunemco will be commercialized in a number of key global markets and is expected to be launched this year in the U.S., pending EPA registration. The seed treatment is a nematode management solution that is a combination of a microorganism and biochemical to defend against a broad spectrum of nematodes.
Corteva Agriscience’s acquisition of Clearfield canola means the company gains a non-genetically modified, herbicide tolerant system that consists of the herbicide tolerance trait and Imidazolinone (IMI) herbicides.
