Seal the deal: Back to basics to improve ROI

CATLIN, Ill. — In managing costs during the current economic environment, John Miller believes it really goes back to basics.

“With today’s high input costs and minimal grain prices, it seems like the better we get at production, the cheaper we end up selling it,” he said.

“It’s frustrating trying to figure out how to spend your money to make the best investment so you can get the best return on investment that you’re struggling with making to start with.

“I read this article that’s talking about tile, and you’re talking about a hefty price tag. You can spend a couple hundred thousand bucks in a hurry.

“That means going to the bank, unless you’re real wealthy, and borrowing money and then you’re paying 6%, 7% interest on that — it’s going to take a lot of good yield response to pay for the principle and the interest on this application.

“A grain bin is the same way. It’s a huge amount of money for a 40,000-, 50,000-bushel bin, and looking at, I don’t know, $130,000 to $150,000 by the time we get it all wrapped up with concrete and all. And, again, that’s borrowed money and, if it is, it’s interest.”

Nutrient Applications

Miller owns Nitrogen Sealing Systems, a company specializing in aftermarket fertilizer placement equipment that he built on his farm using his skills as an engineer and machinist.

His company was born when he began working on designs to prevent atmospheric loss of nitrogen behind injector and knife applicators.

“Let’s go back to the basics. A lot of us are sidedressing. A lot of us own our own applicators. I have been 15 years doing a business called Nitrogen Sealing Systems where I have designed and manufacture a sealer to cover up the slot where you’re knifing in your nitrogen or as an injector where you’re trying to squirt in this little slot in the field,” he said.

Field Trials

Once his system was developed, Miller was in contact with Beck’s Hybrids Practical Research Farm and Jason Webster, then-Beck’s PFR innovation lead.

“We got involved with Jason’s invitation to do some testing. I supplied him with sealers that I manufactured in my shop,” Miller said.

In four years of side-by-side trials, the sealers had an average of nearly 5 bushels per acre over that time frame versus using no sealers.

“I just take $4 per bushel as a corn price and that’s $20 an acre. So, 1,000 acres is $20,000, 2,000 acres is $40,000. That’s an average return that delivered over a four-year period,” Miller said.

When Webster moved on to Precision Planting’s lead agronomist and Precision Technology Institute director, Miller said he continued the field trials.

“He has five or six years of returns that are showing anywhere from $25 to $45 an acre, depending on the price of corn, that we generate, and the investment to do that is minimal,” he said.

“I’m trying to reach farmers who are sidedressing, especially with liquid, who have their own applicator, but they do not have a sealer in it. They’re missing a huge opportunity. It’s not me saying that. It’s the evidence that says that.

“That ROI on, say a 23-row unit is going to be somewhere around $7,500. But if you have a 23-row, you probably have 2,000 acres or even 3,000 acres. You could have $40,000, $60,000 of money that you could have had in your pocket if you had a sealer versus here you are next year doing that same thing.

“Let’s spend the money wisely and get a return on investment that is huge. Three thousand acres of corn would pay for that machine by itself in two or three years.”

The sealers can be retrofitted on most applicator brands. Miller offers double coulter units for Blu-Jet, Fast, Yetter, Case Nutri-Placer, Ag Systems, Ag Spray, J&M, DMI and C-shank ammonia applicators.

Nutrient Loss Reduction

Placing the fertilizer where it’s needed for the crop and protecting that nutrient investment from being lost is a goal of the Illinois Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy.

The primary goal of the strategy is a 45% reduction in both nitrogen and total phosphorus loads, with interim targets set at a 15% nitrogen decrease and a 25% total phosphorus loss reduction.

“Let’s face it, if you didn’t get it out of the ground into the cornstalk and into the grain, where did it go? It’s wasted and now it’s a pollutant. We’re getting called on the carpet now for a pollutant. Well, this is a step of using what you put down instead of leaving it behind you,” Miller said.