Farmers seeking a way to save on costs for next year’s crop nutrients have another option to choose from thanks to Loveland Products’ Extract XC, as the company seeks to develop the future of biologicals with the help of advancements in analytics and science.
Loveland Products launched a higher concentration of its Extract Powered by Accomplish earlier this month, which helps farmers release more nitrogen and sulfur from crop residue — the plant material left after harvest — the company shared in a press release. Extract XC is a microbial-derived crop input with ammonium thiosulfate that helps breakdown residue, creating a plant-available form of nutrients, the company added.
Extract XC can be applied either in the fall or spring burndowns, allowing growers to save some of the nutrient for the following years crop, Ron Calhoun, senior manager of plant nutrition for Loveland Products, told AgTechNavigator. The product is also compatible with herbicides, so farmers can incorporate it in their normal field passes, Calhoun said.
“If I have a 240 bushel corn crop, I might have $160-180 worth of nutrition that I already paid for, and so a product like Extract XC can allow me to make a withdrawal from something that I have already paid for and get that into next year’s crop,” he elaborated.
Currently, Extract XC is available at Nutrien Ag Solutions retail locations and can be used at half the usage rate of the product’s first iteration.
Biologicals science improves thanks to measurement improvements
Loveland produces Extract XC through bioreactors that create an ideal environment for a soil biological community, which is then concentrated, Calhoun explained. Additionally, the ag company can recycle about 70% of the water used in the process of creating the product, he added.
“You are going to see just a ton more rigor brought to [biologicals] because we have tools now where we can measure all of the steps in the process and confirm what is happening is actually related to what we were doing.”
Ron Calhoun, senior manager of plant nutrition for Loveland Products,
Over the years, ag companies honed their methods for producing bio-derived microbials, and advancements in testing are demonstrating biologicals’ benefits with more accuracy, Calhoun explained. Measurement technology can ensure that a microbe is surviving in a mixed tank and demonstrate that they are providing on-field benefits, he added.
Ag companies can now track extracellular polymeric substances, which is “the sugary glue that microbes and roots produce that creates positive soil aggregation that can lead into good drainage, good pore space, great nutrient functioning,” of a soil sample, he elaborated.
“You are going to see just a ton more rigor brought to [biologicals] because we have tools now where we can measure all of the steps in the process and confirm what is happening is actually related to what we were doing,” Calhoun elaborated.
