Independent research results are in and clearly demonstrate superior performance by biologicals applied through patented BIO-CAPSULE and MICROBILIZE microbe delivery systems, Meristem Crop Performance announced.
"We did extensive field studies at multiple locations with several third-party research partners," said Mitch Eviston, Meristem's founder and CEO. "Results consistently show substantially more nutrients, healthier plants and better yields in almost all cases. It's because we're finding ways to keep the microbes alive and boost their concentration."
Meristem brought two patented biological delivery systems to market during 2022, and both scored high marks in field testing. EXCAVATOR, designed to break down residue fast and release nutrients, is powered by the MICROBILIZE Microbe Technology Delivery System. This system provides the ideal carrier to ensure that microbes stay alive in the jug and have the optimum conditions to begin multiplying and breaking down residue.
REVLINE HOPPER THROTTLE, is powered by BIO-CAPSULE TECHNOLOGY (BCT) a patented delivery system that helps farmers save time, labor and fuel. The BCT carrier system allows for the addition of multiple biological solutions safely packaged for convenient deployment at planting. The REVLINE HOPPER THROTTLE Corn BIO-CAPSULEs are charged with Terraysm and an powerful consortium of N-fixing microbes. Those microbes are released at planting time into a zinc-rich micronutrient blend carried in a talc/graphite seed fluency agent.
Eviston says this innovation is critical to help American farmers meet increasing demand for grain, especially for soybeans, with billions being invested in new soybean crushing capacity by Chevron, Cargill, ADM, Marathon and others to provide more renewable fuel.
"We've got to make up for lost time," said Eviston. "We need to help farmers grow more bushels for less with the right crop input technology. It's time to fight back." Eviston says "fight back" because he feels a lack of seed treatment innovation has left farmers behind, something he's intent on changing. "In my 30 years in this business, there's been no real change in seed treatment options through the planter box. With BIOCAPSULE we're changing that."
Near Gladstone, Ill., John Torrance earned the title of 2022 Illinois Soybean Yield Champion with an extraordinary crop on a 200-acre river bottom farm near the Mississippi River.
"It's a mile-long field and we use a 40-foot head on the combine," he explains, "I knew we had something good when I couldn't make it all the way down that field without having to unload." Torrance says his use of REVLINE HOPPER THROTTLE planter box treatment seemed to give the crop a great start. "We grew 113.1 Bu./A. soybeans and from the very start, those beans came out of the ground so quickly and so even," Torrance says. "And they really were a nice, dark green from the very beginning."
Torrance said he used EXCAVATOR on the field in the autumn of 2021 and Meristem's HOMESTRETCH to spoon-feed the crop through the season. "In our test plots with different soybean varieties we've seen yields up to 135 bushels, so we think there's still upside to our yields."
Being open-minded to new practices and paying attention to details are key to driving toward higher yields and better return on investment (ROI), Torrance says. "We brainstorm all the time over things we might do to squeeze out more profitable bushels," he says. "Don't be afraid to try something new."
Rob McClelland, Meristem's president and CMO, says that's exactly the sort of spirit that's helped the new company grow quickly over the past three years. "We're so grateful for farmers like John Torrance, Mike Jenks and thousands of others who've helped us grow so quickly," he says. "Every day, we're reducing waste and opening up more acres to new technology. Innovation has been stifled by an old, stodgy, wasteful crop input distribution system for too long. This kind of change is overdue."
Mike Jenks of Aurora, Iowa, was among hundreds of farmers running on-farm tests with spring-applied EXCAVATOR in 2022. He first learned about the product through his affiliation with the Total Acre grower group and tested against a control field.
"To start with, you could feel the difference under your feet in the field," says Jenks. "You could feel the crunch, crunch, crunch in the control, like tough twigs breaking under your feet in the woods – then you step across into the EXCAVATOR ground and you don't feel that – it's smoother. Spongy." He says the next surprise was the substantially greater nutrients. "It was one of those "no-way" moments," he says. "If you would have pulled those samples from both control and EXCAVATOR and gone off to your own lab and brought me those results, I would have said it was just your propaganda," he says. "But we pulled our own samples and sent it to our own lab, and it showed this big difference. Meristem was completely out of that loop." At harvest time, there was a positive impact on yield on all four tests: +.8 Bu./A., +1.3 Bu./A., +3.1 Bu./A. and +5.7 Bu./A. "Given our weather challenges in the spring, this is a good win for us," says Jenks.
Hundreds of research trials all across the Corn Belt this past year have had similar results, says McClelland. He totals up the ROI for EXCAVATOR "conservatively" as three-to-one through a combination of benefits including fewer skips at planting, less tillage, more nutrients available early and improved soil health. "It's exceeded our expectations," says McClelland. "We're very confident EXCAVATOR can help make farmers more money."
Categories: Illinois, Crops, Iowa, Crops, Ohio, Crops