Bailey’s Bit: Garlic Salt for Fly Control
BLUE MOUNDS, WIS. AND EMERYVILLE CALIF., April 12, 2021 – In partnership with Sound Agriculture, Midwestern BioAg to include SOURCE™ product line to their sustainable product offering. SOURCE, a bio-inspired chemistry, innovatively solves problems in fertilizer inefficiency, boosting yields and moving bottom lines.
The product line is praised for its trial-proved nutrient efficiency, ease of use, tank mix compatibility, wide application window and risk-eliminating performance promise. SOURCE adds to Midwestern BioAg’s sustainable product portfolio including Bio-Cal®, OrganiCal™ and TerraNu®, offering a solution for corn and soybean growers who are looking for consistency in enhancing plant nutrition and health.
“We are excited for this collaboration and the benefits it will bring to our customers. For over 35 years, Midwestern BioAg has been committed to advancing soil health through innovative agricultural technology and sustainable products,” said Midwestern BioAg President and CEO, Michael Birger. “Sound Agriculture’s SOURCE will complement our sustainable product portfolio, giving growers efficient solutions and optimizing production.”
About SOURCE™
SOURCE is a microbiome activator that gives plants access to the existing nitrogen and phosphorus in the field, improving nutrient efficiency and reducing dependency on synthetic fertilizer. SOURCE activates microbes at the root zone, triggering them to fix nitrogen and solubilize phosphorus, making these nutrients available to the plant.
Using SOURCE can increase yield by 7.5 bushels per acre with an 83% win rate, or maintain yield and decrease nitrogen by 25-50 lbs per acre. Both offer a positive return on investment to the grower. SOURCE is easy to use and store, offers a low use rate, is tank mix compatible with herbicides and fungicides, provides a flexible application window from V4 to R3, and requires no new equipment. Learn more at http://www.sound.ag/.
About Midwestern BioAg
Midwestern BioAg’s offering of field-proven products feed a balanced mineral diet to the soil and crop, which stimulates soil life and enhances nutrient-use efficiency. Their products and approach address a farm’s yield-limiting factors with balanced fertilizer blends that go beyond NPK to include calcium, sulfur and micronutrients such as boron, magnesium and manganese. Midwestern BioAg is headquartered in Blue Mounds, Wis., with locations in Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota and Ohio. Visit: www.midwesternbioag.com or follow on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn for more information.
SOURCE Corn Mixing Instructions
SOURCE Soybeans Mixing Instructions
Though the New Year’s Eve celebrations will look a little bit different this year, there is still plenty to reflect on. The year 2020 was challenging and no one was prepared for how this year would impact everyone’s lives. But adversity creates space for growth, innovation, and it can unite communities. We all survived this year because we supported each other. Seeing so many individuals and companies do whatever possible to make the world a better place inspires Midwestern BioAg to reflect and commit to bettering ourselves and the communities we serve in the coming year.
In 2021, we will continue improving ourselves the BioAg Way, through:
Making time for wellness – mental, physical, spiritual, environmental. This can be accomplished through exercise, meditation, getting outdoors, paying attention to mental health, and self-care. And just like our bodies, the soil also needs fresh air and consistent nutrients. This next year, in addition to taking better care of ourselves, we commit to taking better care of the earth. We are looking forward to increasing sustainability initiatives in our facilities across the Midwest to make a difference and live more sustainably as an organization.
Focusing on learning and development. Pushing ourselves to continue to grow, we plan to make learning and development a priority in the new year and beyond. Everyone can benefit from some additional learning, no matter their season of life. Midwestern BioAg wants to make learning easier and more accessible for everyone within the company, while continuing our commitment to educating others about the importance of soil health.
Lending a hand. We are dedicated to increasing our company’s community engagement. Midwestern BioAg has several locations around the Midwest, each one in a community with its own set of struggles and successes. We intend to do what we can to positively affect our local communities as well as our agriculture community, whether it be by donating, sponsoring, volunteering, or supporting mission-aligned causes to make an impact.
Thank you for supporting us while we aspire to better ourselves and our precious environment. We hope the new year brings us all growth and success.
TerraNu MicroPack™, TerraNu Calcium™ and TerraNu Ignite™ will fit conveniently into your dry fertilizer program. They can be used as a standalone or added to your dry fertilizer program. 
TerraNu fertilizers use a new technology, combining fertilizer nutrients with carbon and biological stimulants that result in improved nutrient use efficiency and better soil health.
Yes. TerraNu Ignite can be used as a stand-alone fertilizer or blended with your dry fertilizer at rates of 100-200 lbs./acre. It is a homogenized, low chloride, complete fertilizer blend that works in the root zone to maximize soil and root health while providing balanced nutrition for your crop. TerraNu MicroPack and TerraNu Calcium are excellent additions to your current P and K dry fertilizer blend. TerraNu MicroPack provides a balanced blend of micronutrients that maximizes plant uptake to get the most out of your fertilizer dollar. TerraNu Calcium provides sulfur and calcium along with boron as an essential micronutrient that works with calcium to build strong cell walls and healthy roots.
The bulk density ranges from 40 to 48 lbs/ft3, with Ignite on the lighter side and MicroPack on the heavier side. The TerraNu manufacturing process produces a hard granule (for good dust control) with a good bulk density for blending with other dry fertilizers. Many strip-tillers used TerraNu this year and application went smoothly.
Yes. TerraNu fertilizers are designed to provide soil health benefits in an easy-to-apply granule that maximizes nutrient use efficiency. The carbon base of TerraNu, combined with natural biological stimulants, feeds your soil biology and promotes a strong population of beneficial soil organisms and better soil health.
The TerraNu products are showing good results so far this year. Strip-tillers in particular like what they’re seeing. A strip-till farmer from Indiana applied TerraNu to over 1,000 acres this year. They blended TerraNu with other dry fertilizers and reported the fertilizer flowed well and was easy to handle. Their crop has looked great during the growing season, and they are excited to apply TerraNu again on the acres they strip-till on their 4,000 acre farm.
Chad Peterson of Peterson Grain Farms in Illinois said, “We applied 100 lbs./acre of TerraNu Ignite on our corn acres in a spring strip-till refresh pass using our Soil Warrior. TerraNu Ignite was easy to load and metered flawlessly through the machine. The crop looks great, and we are excited to see the results this fall.”
More results will be coming in over the next couple of months, but if what we’re seeing in early results holds true, we’re going to have some great yields along with the added soil health benefits from the TerraNu products!
The application of CX-1 and L-CBF this fall can be the first step to help ensure success next season. There can be 7,500 lbs. of stover left behind in a modest 155 bushels per acre corn field.
Secured within are:
These valuable inputs become plant available through the biological process of mineral cycling.
It’s a process that can begin well ahead of next year’s planting. Very different than the loss that can occur with fall application of synthetic fertilizer, a fall application of CX-1 and L-CBF advances these minerals a few steps closer to plant availability the following spring.
Yield Decline Associated with Inconsistent Germination.
Data suggests a mere three-day lag in germination can lead to yield reductions of 16% or more in later germinating plants. Three additional days and the yield reduction can be in the 24% range. (Study data showed 230 BPA in plants that emerged first reduced to 174 BPA in those plants with a six-day delay.) A fall application of CX-1 and L-CBF can ensure a more even stand which means greater yield. Partial decomposition of the corn stalks in the fall means crumbles instead of hairpins under the planter coulter. A more uniform emergence is achieved when larger pieces are not there to shade pockets of soil preventing warming or inhibiting uniform planting depth.
Bio-Sanitation
Undigested corn residue serves as an ideal place for pathogens to survive over the winter. The best defense against fungal diseases is a strong, beneficial microbial community that can out-compete the fungal pathogens. A fall application of CX-1 and L-CBF reduces undigested residue and therefore reduces locations for pathogens to overwinter.
Organic Material vs. Organic Matter
Stover on the ground is organic material, but your soil needs organic matter. Cellulose is one of the most resistant of all plant tissues, and adding beneficial bacteria that digest cellulose to begin breaking it down into enzymes and organic matter gets you more organic matter and less organic material.
If these return-on-investment reasons aren’t quite enough, this anecdotal story might convince you. We hadn’t intended to conduct this trial; we simply ran out of time and material on the last few acres of a cornfield in the fall of 2016. Forgetting this by the following spring, we were reminded when the soil finisher went through the CX-1 and L-CBF applied areas like a proverbial “warm knife through butter”. However, organic material lodged in the equipment five times in those last few acres where the fall application was not accomplished. On and off the tractor to kick off the mud? This was all the data we needed to be convinced a CX-1 and L-CBF application is the right choice on our farm every fall.
