Renewable Farming

Higher corn, soybean prices encouraging growers to push for higher 2021 yields

Dan Basse, president of AgResource Company, said today on AgWeb that the recent sudden shift in the corn market is unrivaled. “Four-dollar corn is the new reality for 2020. While the March contract seems to struggle to push past $4.40, the price switch is demand driven. 

“If I look back in my 40 years of being in this business, this happened so quickly in terms of loss of U.S. crop and world crop loss and the arrival of a big buyer, that it’s almost unprecedented. I’ve been saying that I’ve never seen anything like this. USDA has China plugged in for 13.5 million metric tons.

“We know that Chinese demand, at least as I count, is already up to 20, potentially could be 25, or 30 million metric tons. If we do that, we could have U.S. exports of 3 billion bushels, which seems outlandish, but it just speaks to where we are today, and that we really need to have big crops in South America and North America for at least two or three growing seasons.”

December 7, 2020 — We’re more than ready for an upward price breakout! Already, corn and soybean growers are asking us, “What do you offer that could give me another four to seven bushels?” We list some options with this article.

We know this from more than a decade of experience: If corn is $4 a bushel, and a yield-boosting biological product generates a 5-bu. corn yield gain with 80% reliability, our product had better not cost more than $7 to $9 an acre. Farmers discount a prospective 5-bu. gain to a safer 4 bushels. That’s $16 more return, or $2 payback per dollar risked. A 3-to-1 prospective return is more enticing. 

We’ve also learned that if a foliar nutrient or in-furrow biological enhances yield by 5 bu., including WakeUP in the solution bumps that response by 3 to 4 bushels. So, WakeUP offers a winning risk-reward ratio: Three ounces of WakeUP in-furrow costs about $1.88 per acre. Another 3 bushels of corn is $12. Your reward ratio: $6 return per $1 cost. This is why we’ve continued steady or rising WakeUP sales through the recent low-price years.

Field research using WakeUP and other bio-boosters has also encouraged us to offer product partners alongside WakeUP.  Here are several product lines we will offer in 2021. They’ve earned our confidence as synergistic with WakeUP:

Vitazyme. This is a liquid biostimulant formulated by Vital Earth Resources, Gladewater, Texas. We’ve worked for years with Vital Earth’s research director, Paul Syltie. In January, Paul will post 2020 Vitazyme field research online. Vitazyme is backed by 20 years of worldwide field trials and farmer results. Check their website for past yield results with Vitazyme.

Products from Biodyne USA. This dynamic new “bio” firm is based on more than 30 years of R&D by Dr. Fred Farley, a Florida scientist who invested more than 30 years in researching and testing microbial families for many environmental remediation purposes, including crop residue digesting. Dr. Farley’s firm is Biodyne Inc., also called Biodyne World. Now, Fred’s nephew Gilman Farley is bringing this technology to the Midwest via Biodyne USA, based in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. The firm’s Midwest expansion has been rapid. Earlier in 2020, Biodyne added a product production plant based in central Iowa. We’re participating as a distributor in the firm’s innovation-based growth, working with an enthusiastic rep, Bob Wagner.

Products from Spraytec, a Brazil-based crop nutrient firm with years of experience. You can review their wide-ranging lineup at this link

2021 will be our first season offering the biological products BioEnsure and BioTango from Adaptive Symbiotic Technologies, Spokane, Washington. President Rusty Rodriguez and chief research leader Regina Redman are perfecting use of “symbiotic” microorganisms which live within your crop. They amplify your crop’s ability to withstand stress such as extended stretches of dry weather. This conferring of stress resistance could be very valuable in much of the Midwest in 2021, as the national drought map shows. We’ve found Rusty and Regina extraordinarily capable and cooperative.