News from the Trade Show floor of the 2018 Commodity Classic in Anaheim, California
Compass Minerals opens Innovation Center in Kansas
Compass Minerals Plant Nutrition has opened a new North American Innovation Center near Stillwell, Kansas, a suburb of Kansas City. The 14,000-square-foot facility has 3,400 square feet in greenhouse, a growth chamber and 14 acres of field trials. This is the company’s second innovation center dedicated to support the development of plant nutrition technologies, including WolfTrax; and Protassium+, a dual-nutrient source of high potassium and sulfate sulfur; plus ProAcqua, a line of specialized foliar and fertigation products. This is the company’s second Innovation Center; its first, in Iracemopolis, Brazil, opened in 2017.
ProAcqua fertilizer products can bump yields 3-4 bushels
With the ProAcqua portfolio of soluble fertilizer products from Compass Minerals Plant Nutrition, growers can tailor a micronutrient package to accompany nitrogen and phosphorus, getting the right product on the crop at specific stages. Compass has 17 different ProAcqua products that improve root proliferation and bump corn yields 3 to 4 bushels per acre in normal conditions, but from 10 to 12 in nutrient deficient situations. The company says micronutrient packages enhance current fertilizer programs, rather than replace them. “ProAcqua is designed to help growers think about nutrition more holistically,” said Ryan Bartlett, vice president of innovation and product development at Compass.
Poncho/VOTIVO 2.0 boosts treatment with soil health package
A new generation of Poncho/Votivo from Bayer Crop Science adds the component TWO.O to boost nutrient uptake by plants containing the seed treatment. Poncho/Votivo 2.0 protects corn plants for four to six weeks after planting, from a host of above- and below-ground insects and nematodes. The TWO.O component is a unique bacterium that—while it has no insecticide activity—delivers an enzyme that breaks down plant matter into sugars that feed the soil microbial population. Studies show adding 2.0 to Poncho/Votivo boosts yield four bushels per acre on top of the conventional product’s 11 bushel per acre yield bump, said Jennifer Riggs, product development manager at Bayer Crop Science. “Poncho/Votivo 2.0 improves the soil health around each plant root,” she said.
CaseIH, Deere and Robovator earn inaugural ‘Davidson Prize’ from AEM, ASABE
The Association of Equipment Manufacturers and the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers presented the inaugural Davidson Prize, designed to celebrate breakthrough innovations in areas of agricultural, food and biological systems engineering. Receiving the award: Trident 5550 liquid/dry combination applicator from Case IH; the S700 Combine from John Deere and the Robovator Mechanical Weeding Machine from F. Poulsen Engineering, Denmark. The Davidson Prize is named for J.B. Davidson, the father of modern agricultural engineering. It gives a nod to the storied past of agricultural engineering and pays homage to those engineers, like J.B. Davidson, who aspire to find a better way. Winners were selected from the AE50 honorees, announced at the Agricultural Equipment Technology Conference earlier this month in Louisville.
Everest 3.0 herbicide controls tough grass weeds in wheat
Foxtail, Italian ryegrass, cheat, tansy mustard and wild buckwheat plus other grass and broadleaf weeds are no match for Everest 3.0 herbicide from Arysta LifeScience. New in 2017, Everest 3.0—an ALS-inhibitor herbicide—features the active ingredient flucarbazone-sodium and can be sprayed in the fall or spring form one leaf to 60 days prior to harvest in winter wheat, at a 2.0-ounce-per-acre use rate. Everest 3.0 can be tank-mixed with several herbicides and has crop rotation flexibility into corn and soybeans and double-crop sunflowers. For best results, Arysta’s Todd Landsman recommends a fall application for flush-after-flush residual control of tough grass and broadleaves.
Agribib 2 tractor tires promise improved traction, tougher sidewalls
Michelin has enhanced the design of the Agribib farm tire, boosting durability to resist and deflect tough crop stubble. The tire’s key features include angled sidewall sculpture to deflect stubble, new damage-resistant rubber that is malleable but tear-resistant, and overlapping lugs to protect from stalks. There is a bit more rubber between lugs for longer tire life, according to the company’s Mike Pantaleo. In addition, the Agribib 2 is lower-priced than Michelin’s Agribib tires, due to improved production efficiencies, Pantaleo added.
Arylex-powered Elevore herbicide available for 2018
After a soft launch in late 2017, Elevore herbicide for soybeans, corn and cotton from Dow AgroSciences is available for the full 2018 growing season. Elevore is the “…newest tool in the toolbox to combat ALS-resistant weeds,” said Chris Pritchett, product manager for U.S. soybean herbicides at Corteva, the spin-off of DowAgroSciences and DowDupont. When tank-mixed with glyphosate and/or 2,4-D, Elevore can be applied up to 14 days before planting in corn and soybeans. It is labeled for use prior to planting soybeans, corn and cotton. Elevore uses the active ingredient Arylex, a new Group 4 growth regulator, to control broadleaf weeds, including glyphosate- and ALS-resistant marestail, lambsquarters, cutleaf, evening primrose and henbit. Use rate is one ounce per acre, making it ideal for pre-plant burndown applications in reduced and no-till systems.
