Plant Health Rivals the Importance of Yield in Today’s Agriculture
By Richard Jones, Corporate Content Director, Meister Media Worldwide
It might seem obvious that growing healthy plants would be high on every grower’s list of desired outcomes for a crop. That said, in many cases over the years, the “maximizing yield” mindset has taken precedence in production decisions at the grower and retailer level, and has been a focus for crop protection and nutrition suppliers and the market as well.
"We're seeing with our co-ops and our agronomy partners that there is a lot of interest in crop health and sustainability."
But that mindset is changing. A myriad of tools is getting attention, from biostimulants, to biofertilizers, to micronutrients. Producers across nearly all crops and regions — and yes, nearly all segments of the food supply chain— are increasingly recognizing the benefits of shifting some of the focus away from the highest possible yield to look at what a plant-health focus can deliver in terms of quality product for consumers, decreased input costs for growers, and a healthier, more sustainable production system overall.
“It has been changing over the last two or three years. We're seeing with our co-ops and our agronomy partners that there is a lot of interest in crop health and sustainability, and in restoring the soil. FAO has been talking about this since 2015. This isn't a new thing. It is a struggle to move multi-generational practices into a new area. But we've got this sudden realization that the biggest yield isn't always the answer,” says Kathleen Glass, Vice President of Marketing, AquaSpy.
Industry suppliers say they are seeing changes in the conversations that are taking place with growers.
“There's been a whole shift in the understanding towards proper plant health, and how that plays into the bigger picture,” says Rick de Jong, International Business Development Manager, Agro-K Corporation. “Back in the day, when we talked about plant health at the farm level, growers were primarily talking about fungicides and insecticides for dealing with those disease issues and insect pressures. Today's grower is acutely aware of how the overall plant health can impact the disease and insect pressure and really play toward higher quality crops. They are not just talking about managing that insect or managing that disease. Today's farmer is talking about managing overall plant health. Pesticides are part of that equation, but so are plant nutrition, soil health, and root health.”
And whereas a lot of these conversations with growers – and some retailers – in the past have been driven by suppliers, that seems to be changing in recent years.
"Producers are coming to us, because I think growers are starting to get tidbits of information out there, and it can be confusing,” says Alissa Geske, Technical Specialist, CHS. “It’s crucial to have a strong foundation before we start plugging in value added products like biologicals. We first need to identify what is working in our conventional systems today and then build upon that in order to maximize our existing programs. There are many products that have potential to increase ROI, but it's how we use them and how we implement them into our existing programs that's really going to make that difference.”
Access to the internet and a growing bank of industry knowledge means growers have more information at their fingertips. This is making them much more open to testing out new ideas says Jim Shone, Area Business Manager - Plant Nutrition - Americas, Borregaard.
“Advancements in technology have opened the door for more precision and application, and therefore, more prescription practices. Growers and all sectors of agriculture have trusted sources and utilize that information about their growing conditions, the soil types, nutrients, inputs, etc., to establish a good plan to produce a healthy crop, especially at the early stage of development,” Shone says. “Because of that information that's available, growers and retailers, I believe, are now more than ever willing to invest in new technologies to produce their crops.”
This information — and the more holistic view of plant health it supports — can offer big benefits beyond the field, and all the way to the consumer.
“We now have groups coming together,” Glass says. “We have the Global Ag Tech Alliance. We have folks like Leading Harvest, who are saying, let's sit down and collaborate, and come up with a common way to approach this. It's also going to help the brands report back to the consumers, because that's a big thing we're seeing — a Nestlé or a Target, big brands, who want to have sustainability and ESG on their mission statements and in their reports. I think this is good and we're starting to make some progress.”
New Tools and a New Focus in the Field
Wesley Haun, Senior Agronomist, Tiger-Sul Products, says a better understanding of the role of building healthy soil has been the jumping off point for many in their new attitudes toward plant health.
“Plant health conversations have increased dramatically in the past a few years. But plant health is an all-encompassing term, and there are many angles from which this needs to be approached. It all begins with the soil,” Haun says. “There are many living organisms within that soil, so it's a living ecosystem in itself. There are a number of organisms ranging from single cell bacteria all the way up to earthworms and beetles. All of that needs to be present for it to be a functioning environment for plants to survive and grow in. The organisms in the soil support soil structure, which in turn will impact the growth of plant roots. And these organisms also influence the nutrient cycling within the soil, which in turn influences the availability as well as the uptake of various nutrients by the plants themselves.”
"…Leaving more residue up on top alleviates a lot of wind erosion and produces a lot more carbon sequestration in the soil, and that's what really feeds those microorganisms.”
David Dyson, Lead Agronomist, Locus Agricultural Solutions, says he has experienced that shift in mindset firsthand over the years.
“I grew up on a dairy farm in Northern Indiana. Back then, everybody worked their ground until there was nothing left of it. The change between then and now is amazing. There's more emphasis on soil structure than there ever has been in the past,” Dyson says. “When I was a kid, even when it was wet, as long as we could get across the ground, we were hauling manure, and that was just destroying the soil structure. We just figured as long as you could work that ground up and you could work those ruts out it was okay. Well, that's totally false. You're causing some major deep issues in the soil when you do that. Leaving more residue up on top alleviates a lot of wind erosion and produces a lot more carbon sequestration in the soil, and that's what really feeds those microorganisms.”
Taking a different view of pest management has changed the conversation as well, Geske says.
“I think the biggest change in conversations around plant-health has been our approach and the arsenal of tools we have. For example, routine fungicide use in corn and soybean is a relatively new trend. In the past, producers managed diseases through crop rotation, disease-resistant hybrid selection, optimum planting timing and post-harvest tillage to speed up decomposition of potentially contaminated plant residue. There was little marketing or research attention given to fungicide use but that has changed. ”
This new approach brought to everyone’s attention that we're not just controlling diseases with fungicides — we’re creating a stronger plant with the ability to better handle all kinds of stressors, she says.
“We now know that fungicides provide other plant-health benefits such as reduced senescence leading to increased growth, improved water and nitrogen use efficiency, and increased stalk strength, minimizing yield losses at harvest due to lodging. The same kind of conversations are now being had around biostimulants, micronutrients, and nutrient efficiency products.”
“It’s important to not forget about all the existing tools we have for plant health. Experimenting with new products such as biostimulants is great but make sure you have a strong foundation first including a balanced fertility program, appropriate hybrid or variety selection, fungicide and weed control programs, etc, and then you can identify where these new products or practices best fit your operation.”
“We're providing a lot of other plant health benefits, things like improved water or nutrient uptake, reduced senescence so that plant stays green longer, which helps for further growth. We're starting to get more of these tools, so these conversations are starting to happen more between growers and people in retail.”
“Growers, I believe, have always had a mindset of sustainability. But that’s evolved to what I would call an advanced awareness,” Shone says. “The consumers of agricultural goods now play a big role in the growers’ input decisions. There are a lot of choices to be made, and what is evolving to help make those choices are the organizations within the biostimulant and biopesticide industry, largely assisted by The Fertilizer Institute, that are setting standards for these new categories of tools. That oversight, I think, adds a level of confidence to the grower’s decisions on what products to use on their farm."
Use these trusted sources, Find out what works. Try it on your farm. Don't go 100 percent on something that you haven't worked with before and bring it into your system. But once you find out it works, then you'll have the confidence to take it further into your own production.”
The desire for “sustainability” is one key driver for a plant health focus. Input cost increases has been another.
Products like biostimulants are one of the newer tools that have become a popular discussion topic around sustainability and plant health.
“I think adoption has really dramatically increased, particularly as input costs have risen,” says Justin McCoy, Senior Agronomy Sales Advisor - Southeast, Simplot Grower Solutions. “People have taken a step back to look at, ‘How can we ensure that we are more efficient with these inputs on the cost side? How can we be as efficient as we can to get that return on our investment, and eventually, make that a more sustainable crop production system?’”
Products like biostimulants are one of the newer tools that have become a popular discussion topic around sustainability and plant health, he says, particularly with an eye toward making other inputs work more efficiently.
“The efficiency within nature is pretty incredible when you look at it, and anything that we can do to take what nature gives us makes us better off. Use the fertility of the soil, use the inherent nature of plants themselves — those can really make drastic differences,” McCoy says.
With that as a base, tools like biostimulants can take plant health enhancements to the next level.
“With biostimulants we are able to elicit natural responses in the plant at times that we need it and can sync that with important times throughout the growing season. And we can continue to use that inherent soil fertility as we move forward, and increasing that efficiency of not only what's available, but what we're applying instead of it being tied up within the soil profile within that soil solution. If it's available to the plant year after year, then we can possibly reduce our cost of inputs, and still have the same or greater outputs as the end goal. To me efficiency is sustainability. If we can be as efficient as possible with our inputs, that's going to lead to a more sustainable practice,” he says.
Haun says it is important to understand what products like biostimulants can do and what they cannot do.
“There are multiple categories within biostimulants. You have the humic acids and the fulvic acids. You also have the seaweed extracts as well as beneficial bacteria and fungi. Those are the three main ones. There are some other categories as well. But I do not consider biostimulants as a means to reduce crop inputs. Instead, biostimulants can be utilized to potentially enhance the efficiency of inputs, particularly plant nutrients. I'll emphasize that biostimulants are not fertilizers,” he says.
Haun cites the definition of biostimulants established by the European Biostimulant Industry Council: Substances and or microorganisms whose function, when applied to plants or the rhizosphere, is to stimulate natural processes to benefit nutrient uptake, nutrient use efficiency, tolerance to abiotic stress and/or crop quality, independently of nutrient content.
“So, to my knowledge, there's no specific mode of action that's been identified as to the functionality of biostimulants. I will say that in research that we've conducted, I have observed some greater potential effectiveness of biostimulants in specialty crops rather than commercial crops. But my suggestion is that, should farmers have interest in one or more of these biostimulant products they should employ those selections in a few of their fields and observe response under their particular management program they have implemented,” Haun says.
“Growers are realizing the importance of how micronutrients really have a huge impact on how macronutrients are being utilized by the crop, and understanding that it's not all just about NPK,” de Jong says.
Micronutrients are also getting increased attention in the focus on plant health, again with an eye toward how these tools work in conjunction with other inputs in a more efficient overall system.
“Growers are realizing the importance of how micronutrients really have a huge impact on how macronutrients are being utilized by the crop, and understanding that it's not all just about NPK,” de Jong says. “Back in the day, NPK fertilizer was a majority of what was discussed. The micros were almost an after discussion. For today's grower, it's actually the first discussion. They realize that making sure micronutrient levels are in balance within a crop is going to ensure that those key macronutrients are being properly utilized.
“Most plants take up much of their nitrogen in the nitrate form. It needs to convert to ammonium before it can convert to amino acids and proteins. Micronutrients like copper, and particularly molybdenum, play a huge role in the conversion of that nitrogen, and we now have a greater appreciation that if we can manage nitrate nitrogen in the crop, we're going to be managing disease and insect pressures. We know that when we get a buildup of excessive nitrates, we're going to see more disease and more insect pressure, so the better we can manage that nitrate in the crop and ensure that the plant is able to metabolize it and utilize it, the better off we're going to be,” he says.
Don’t Forget the Basics
Even with all these new tools at our disposal, we won’t be able to maximize their results unless we keep some of the old tried-and-true ag lessons in mind as well.
"I think it can get a little bit overwhelming when we try to pick everything, so make your base, and then find where things can be added in and supplemented,” Geske says.
“There are all these wonderful things, but it's really important that you first have a good base in your program. So, I’m talking about a good, solid, strong fertility program, a good base, appropriate hybrid selection or cultural selection for your area, making sure you have your fungicide and weed programs. Then work your way to adding some of these things in. I think it can get a little bit overwhelming when we try to pick everything, so make your base, and then find where things can be added in and supplemented,” Geske says.
“I just can't emphasize the importance of microorganisms enough,” Dyson says.
“Plant health and soil health have to go hand in hand. You can't really focus on just one or the other, and you have to look at the full cycle. It's important to look not just above the ground, but below the ground as well. You need to know, what are the microbes doing? What's the temperature doing? How is your salinity?” Glass says. One of the big challenges we've got right now, particularly in the West, but we're seeing it in other places, if the water table is lower, is the minerality and the salts. So, you want to be looking holistically, because if the soil is constrained by the salts, then the plants can't get what they want, they could literally strangle. There are also challenges with both ingress leaching as well as egress leaching run off of nutrients or water, and that goes back to the soil health too.”
“I just can't emphasize the importance of microorganisms enough,” Dyson says. “I feel that this is the next step forward in increasing our yields. We had nitrogen around the beginning of the last century. In the mid part of the century, we had hybrid development in corn. And I think here we're going to have a next step forward with using microorganisms”.
Embracing the science is key, de Jong says.
“If I can give one message to the farmers across North America. It’s pay attention to those five Rs of plant nutrition: the right nutrient at the right time, in the right form, right place, and right mix. These have been fundamental principles in the agricultural industry for decades. The better you can drive these, the better the outcomes are going to be at the farm. You're going to spend less money, be more efficient, and you're going to gain on crop yield and crop quality. There's more new science around the corner that will help drive these fundamental principles — infrared spectrometry, all sorts of new things are coming. But if we can just use the science that's available to us today in the industry, the outcomes are going to be amazing.”
Finally, says Glass, one of the many benefits of the new focus on plant health is enhanced sustainability — in the field, in the environment, and equally as important, the sustainability of farming businesses and agriculture everywhere.
“It's not about maximizing yield. It's about maximizing profitability, and that you can do that while minimizing inputs, both water and your other nutrient inputs,” Glass says. “It's just nice to see more people coming around to that.”
