News about soybean inputs and products
Soybean producers are in constant need of new and/or improved products and inputs that offer the potential for enhanced pest control, soil health improvement, and continued high yields. Below are short summaries about products/developments that Midsouth soybean producers should be aware of.
Revylok fungicide [click here for label] is a soybean foliar fungicide from BASF that should be available for use in the 2024 growing season. It has the active ingredients mefentrifluconazole [FRAC Group 3] + fluxapyroxad [FRAC Group 7] together in one product. Targeted diseases include frogeye leaf spot, Cercospora blight, pod and stem blight, and target spot, among others [see label for all targeted diseases]. Its retreatment interval for soybeans is 7 days and the PHI is 21 days.
Reclaim from Direct Enterprises is a liquid formulation of microbes that can be applied to soil to enhance the breakdown of crop residue. This product is an example of forthcoming microbial additives that can be used to potentially enhance soil quality/health. Click here to learn more about soil health and here to learn how the soil microbial population is closely tied to soil health level.
It is well-known that sources of potassium [K] and phosphorus [P] used for agricultural fertilizer are finite. Thus, a bit of positive news about this situation was revealed in recent articles titled “Millenial Potash Corp. Accelerating Development of High-Grade, Drill-Proven Acquisition with Seasoned Development Team” and “Massive Norwegian phosphate rock deposit can meet fertilizer, solar, and EV battery demand for 50 years“. The information in these articles provides details about “new” deposits of sources of these plant nutrient elements that have been identified and/or are being developed in Gabon [K] by Millenial Potash Corp. and Norway [P] by Norge Mining.
Biochar is being promoted as a promising soil amendment to address the challenges in enhancing soil health and sustaining crop production. Biochar is widely regarded as a soil amendment that will enhance water and fertilizer use efficiency in crop production because of its positive effects on soil pH, soil porosity, bulk density, cation exchange capacity (CEC), hydraulic conductivity, nutrient availability, and soil water holding capacity, as well as soil microbial activity/diversity/abundance and sequestration of carbon in agricultural soils. This perceived enhancement of these soil properties and attributes should result in crop yield increases, especially in dryland systems.
Persist Biochar from VGrid Energy Systems is a biochar product derived from pistachio hulls. The product as described and sold is likely too expensive to be used on cropland, but does show that there is now biochar being produced for agricultural use. Since the U.S. soybean processing sector produces a large amount of soybean hulls each year, it is likely that the process used by the above-linked company to produce biochar from pistachio hulls could also be used to produce biochar from soybean hulls.
A few months ago, an article about Renewable Diesel [RD] was composed and posted on this website. This article detailed the advantages of this fuel product and how its production is expected to result in a huge boost to the U.S. soybean industry. Now comes information that this boost is being curtailed by the recent actions of the US-EPA that will severely limit the planned increased production of RD. Information about this action and its consequences is provided in a FarmProgress article titled “Renewable diesel’s uncertain future” by Jacqueline Holland.
Composed by Larry G. Heatherly, July 2023, larryh91746@gmail.com