Biofertility
Tim Hammerich
News Reporter
Through advancements in understanding of soil biology, companies like Pattern Ag are seeing the impact microbes can have on crop fertility. Pattern Ag co-founder Cam Norgate says biofertility is really helping farmers maximize their efficiency.
Norgate… “So the biofertility is perhaps the most exciting aspect of what we're doing today at Pattern. And that is because we think, probably there's about 10 or 20 bushels of corn sitting in most fields if you can get the right mix of biological and biofertility products into that field. So historically folks have thought really it just, NPK nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium as the key things they needed to manage to get enough of the right nutrients to that plant. But increasingly we're seeing, hey, there are a number of other things you need to be thinking about. For example, phosphorus solubilization is a critical component to making that phosphorus in your soil more plant available. If that nutrient is not in a plant available form, and you can actually get it into the plant. Phosphorous solubilizers are a number of different microbes that actually help with that. And so we're able to track that, identify where that might be low.”
They also look at mycorrhizal fungi which can have a big impact on a plant’s ability to access nutrients. All of this can lead to better outcomes in nutrient use efficiency for farmers.
