New biological product reduces plant stress

JOHNSTON, Iowa — Depending on the source, there are plant breeders who believe the theoretical maximum corn yield is 800 to 1,000 bushels per acre.

“It’s kind of depressing to think that we’re not even harvesting maybe 20% to 25% of the given genetic potential in a corn crop,” said Ryan Schnoes, Corteva Agriscience NEXTA biologicals western commercial lead, during a recent media day at Pioneer’s headquarters.

“So, what’s going on there? There’s a lot of stress happening every single day, and I would argue from the time you dumped that corn or that soybean into the planter, pretty much every day from here on out it’s just eating away at your great yield potential.”

This marks the first full season NEXTA biologicals have been available for farmers, and Schnoes believes the product comes into play to slow the summer decline faced by corn and soybeans.

“If we can provide a solution to growers that’s going to help mitigate some stress, especially at key timings throughout that crop, we can help slow that summer decline and protect more of that great yield potential that we know has already proven to be in that bag.

“People like David Hula, who set the world corn yield record of 623.8 bushels per acre, and Alex Harrell, who holds a world record 218-bushel per acre soybean yield, are already demonstrating that.”

NEXTA biologicals can be soil- or foliar-applied and are offered exclusively through Pioneer sales representatives. The biological products offered are NEXTA Stand, NEXTA Shield and NEXTA Spark.

What are some of the key components in NEXTA?

Schnoes: There are really three major growth hormones that make up a lot of our biological products. There are two stress hormones and three growth hormones. What we apply with our products, for the most part, is going to be cytoknin, gibberellic acid and auxins.

It’s really a tug of war throughout that entire growing season between the two stress hormones and the three growth hormones, and when things get out of whack and we start to get a lot of stress on our crop, the stress hormones start to take over and win.

When that happens, we don’t produce the auxins, the cytoknin and the gibberellic acid in that plant to the level that they need. That’s where we start to see stress take place, and it starts to rob us of yield.

So, in a lot of our products, we’re putting on a shot of additional cytoknin or additional combination of all three to help supplement that crop when maybe because of that stress they can’t produce it as quickly or as efficiently in the roots or in the shoots of that plant.

How can farmers determine if they need it or not for their corn and soybeans?

Schnoes: We’ve got to start by asking the customer a lot of questions to understand what are some of their big challenges or stresses that they’re facing. We can’t fix all stresses, but there are certain ones that we can certainly help that growing crop overcome, at least for a period of time, when it may be really critical to developing or establishing a yield.

I don’t want to make a blanket statement that every farmer should use it at this time and you’re going to see immediate results. Ultimately, what we need to be able to do is provide some really good data across a large geography at large field-scale testing.

Not on just a couple strips throughout the field, but to split fields and be able to use actual digital data and understand where they’re going to work best, whether that be in different productivity areas, whether that’s based on soil type, rainfall, so that we can directionally give farmers a better idea of where to invest their NEXTA biological dollars.

One thing that I’ve heard from many farmers is that is what they’re craving, because the repeatability oftentimes with biologicals, as an industry, has been a little bit of a roller-coaster ride. So, we want to be able to, through sound science and testing with Corteva, bring better information to the grower so that they can make better informed decisions.

How widespread is the in-field testing that’s been done with this biological?

Schnoes: Currently, we have over 500 trials across the eastern and western Corn Belt. These aren’t strip trials or research trials — we’ve got those, as well — but these are going to be like split fields, whole fields, where we can essentially through digital tools analyze throughout the field where we see the most benefit, versus just did it on these eight rows that we combined, did it or did it not work?

There’s such a fine line today between profitability and losing money. Does it provide enough bang for your buck?

Schnoes: In short, if we can’t have a return on the investment then frankly this isn’t going to work. Farmers are curious and a lot of them want to try something new every year, but ultimately what sticks and what they continue to go back with is something that continuously shows and demonstrates that it pays for them.

For those that have never tried it, we believe that having a really robust data set is going to give them confidence to take that first step.

For those that have tried it and seen success, that’s where we can give them better recommendations on where they might expand NEXTA biologicals in the coming growing season.

Why do you believe that NEXTA biologicals are an exciting tool for farmers?

Schnoes: I think it’s because there are a lot of different companies that have got into this space. And the huge opportunity that I see with Corteva and with NEXTA biologicals is we can bring our science-based testing to help really answer a critical concern that growers tell us they have.

There are a lot of people that have used biologicals, but what they would say is the repeatability and return on investment is a little bit of a roller-coaster ride.

So, what are we going to do with NEXTA that we believe is going to change the game? Through the largest biological testing effort ever in biologicals this growing season, we’re going to be able to bring answer to the question of, do biologicals work?

Because right now, that’s the question that we get. We want to move from, do they work? The answer is yes, but we want to be able to tell people, here’s where they’re going to work best and why you should use them on these acres.

That is the challenge that we’re trying to answer for the farmers here across the Corn Belt.