How High Tech-Inputs From Loveland Products Are Improving Sustainable Outcomes and Profitability, with Brandon Laws and Taylor Ivy

Controlling nutrient runoff is essential for protecting waterways, improving water use efficiency and boosting growers' profitability. So in this episode, Tom and Sally discuss how Nutrien Ag Solutions is helping farmers take on the challenge. Through the Sustainable Nitrogen Outcomes (SNO) program, growers can get paid to reduce their nitrogen use through improved management practices—for example, introducing products like enhanced efficiency fertilizers. Plus, they'll talk about a similar sustainability reporting program by Nutrien's downstream partner Ardent Mills. What's more, Brandon Laws and Taylor Ivy, senior product marketing managers at Loveland Products, are on the show to talk about how their products can make sustainability goals like more efficient nitrogen use and water management more achievable. They'll be highlighting how their current products fit into sustainability programs like SNO, as well as what impact they have on both crop yield and quality. They'll also be telling us about other upcoming products that will fit into that sustainability portfolio. For more information on SNO and how Loveland Products fit into the program, go to info.nutrienagsolutions.com/sno For more information on Ardent Mills's program, contact sky.hoffman@nutrien.com.

Episode Transcript

Brandon Laws:

Protein content in wheat is something that's obviously very important to producers. Managing that total fertility system is really how you drive protein.

Taylor Ivy:

We've got to not only make the most efficient use of the nutrients we apply, but also the water.

Dusty Weis:

Welcome to The Future. Faster. A sustainable agriculture podcast by Nutrien Ag Solutions. With our very own Tom Daniel, Director of North America Retail and Grower Sustainable Ag, and Dr. Sally Flis, Senior Manager, North America Sustainable Ag and Carbon. This is your opportunity to learn about the next horizon in sustainable agriculture for growers, for partners, for the planet. To us, it's not about changing what's always worked, it's about continuing to do the little things that make a big impact.

Dusty Weis:

On this week's episode, we're joined by Taylor Ivy and Brandon Laws, Senior Product Marketing Managers for Loveland Products, to learn how incorporating smart, targeted nutrient management technologies into your portfolio can help reduce nutrient runoff, improve water use efficiency, and help qualify your operation for programs that improve your profitability. But if you haven't yet, make sure you're subscribed to this podcast in your favorite app. Also, make sure you follow Nutrien Ag Solutions on Facebook and Instagram.

Dusty Weis:

I'm Dusty Weis, and it's time once again to introduce Tom Daniel and Sally Flis. And Tom and Sally, I've been spending a little bit of time here over the last week in Dane County, Wisconsin, along the Yahara River Watershed. Sally, as an alumnus of the University of Wisconsin, I know that you're very familiar with the chain of lakes in this area, Lakes Mendota, Monona, Waubesa, and Kegonsa.

Dusty Weis:

And out on Lake Kegonsa the other day, I went to take the dog and the kids out, to throw the stick out into the water and have the dog jump out and get it. Took one look at the water and said, "Yep, that's blue-green algae. Looks like we're going to make other plans for the afternoon here." These algal blooms, of course, can be a little bit of a problem in inland waterways like this. And a lot of it comes down to controlling runoff. And I understand that's a topic about which we're going to be speaking today.

Sally Flis:

Yeah, it's a challenge in all the freshwater systems in the U.S. I don't think there's many where you don't see some sort of algal bloom in the summer. As with everything we talk about, it's finding that right combination of temperature, water, and nutrient concentration in the waterway in order to see what type of bloom you're going to get.

Sally Flis:

And it goes back to the discussion we've had a few times, Tom, of we talk a lot about carbon. We focus a lot on the carbon landscape. But there's a lot more to sustainability than just carbon and what is that local resource concern or field-level resource concern that the grower really needs to be addressing to be most successful with sustainability. And for a lot of growers, that might not be carbon.

Sally Flis:

There's two algal blooms you hear about. These inland freshwater ones, where people are concerned about animal and small children health as they interact with their local waterways in the summer. But there's also the algal bloom in the Gulf of Mexico. And so in those freshwater blooms, the size of those blooms is driven by the amount of available phosphorus that's entering that waterway. A lot of times that's in agricultural watershed. And so it's from surface runoff or it's from the loss of soil particulates that have phosphorus attached to them and continue to feed that bloom over time.

Sally Flis:

But then what they've found with the research at Ohio State University, where they usually have a big bloom in Western Lake Erie Basin that tends to be a blue-green algae, is that the nitrogen concentration in the water actually drives whether or not that bloom becomes just a nuisance bloom and looks bad and smells bad, or actually becomes a blue-green algae, toxic bloom that we need to be worried about contact and contamination.

Sally Flis:

In the Gulf of Mexico, where we hear about the other big bloom every year and the dead zone and the challenges with fisheries, that bloom is driven in size by the nitrate losses all the way up and down the Mississippi River. So pretty big watershed to try and have an impact on. But we do have some programs, Tom, where we're going to be working with growers on nitrogen management this year. We are focusing our outcome payments on the nitrous oxide emissions. But you shared with me today, a great article that talks about how when we manage our nitrogen better, we can impact all the different loss pathways in a field.

Tom Daniel:

Yeah, Sally. So I was reading an article today from the North Carolina State University that was doing a lot of work on efficiency fertilizers and the use of those efficiency fertilizers and those enhancement fertilizer options with nitrogen fertilizer. Trying to be sure that not only are we controlling nitrous oxide emissions or ammonia runoff that goes directly into those watersheds like you were talking about, but also, are there economics that a farmer can look at around his amount of nitrogen he's using on the farm? Such things as just nitrogen use efficiency should be more of a discussion with our growers now, rather than pounds of nitrogen put on an acre.

Tom Daniel:

I had a discussion this last week up at one of our Dyna-Gro roadshows in Champaign, Illinois. And I told the guys there, I said, "We need to be more focused on what is our nitrogen use efficiency? How many pounds of nitrogen does it take to grow a bushel of corn rather than how many pounds of a nitrogen should I supply to an acre of corn?" It really needs to get down to, can we be more efficient?

Tom Daniel:

And that's where these efficiency and enhancement fertilizers come into play, where we can actually look at reducing the amount of loss that occurs on the field. And in fact, enhancing the efficiency where we're getting more bushels out of less nitrogen over time. And that should be our ultimate goal. We're trying to get to less synthetic fertilizer applied to the acre to apply more yield to that acre too, though.

Sally Flis:

Tom, I was at a meeting in the Northeast here last week where a grower came up to me afterwards and said, you got to have more information on your slides about the profitability of doing sustainability. And I think the comments you made right there play right into that, when we talk about nitrogen use efficiency as the metric to the grower, versus some of these carbon outcomes or changing nitrate leashing or nitrogen runoff losses, we can't put a strong value on any of those, right?

Sally Flis:

But when we can talk about using less fertilizer and getting more yield or maintaining fertilizer and growing yield, that's a real profitability discussion that we can have with growers in the field. And in addition to that, Tom, we've got a couple of programs where growers that are looking at making a rate change, or that just want us to report on their sustainability practices could participate in this fall for winter wheat. What are some of the things that we're going to be launching here over the next couple of weeks?

Tom Daniel:

Sally, we're going to continue with our Sustainable Nitrogen Outcome program going into the 2023 year. And in the next few weeks, we're going to start signing up winter wheat acres. And we're looking for growers that have already made or are wanting to make the decision to reduce their nitrogen rates. And we're looking for a minimum reduction of around 5% and what this gets the grower is he can actually earn a carbon reduction credit that he can monetize and will actually pay him for that nitrogen reduction use. Now, that kind of sounds odd for a fertilizer company, promoting reduced nitrogen rates on the product we sell. But we believe it's the best for our environment and absolutely believe that we can grow the same quality wheat crop in most cases with less nitrogen.

Tom Daniel:

The overall program is designed to help growers make that decision to move forward, to reduce their nitrogen rate by a minimum of 5%. And then we can work with the grower through efficiency fertilizers, or optimization products that we can use on those acres that can enhance the availability of nitrogen to that wheat crop. What we always want to remember Sally, we don't want to do anything to impact our yield or quality of the grain being produced. We want to create that balance. What's the right amount of nitrogen to use, to produce the maximum yield with the highest quality we can produce in wheat?

Sally Flis:

For sure. And our other program we have available in some geographies this year is continuing to work with our downstream partner, Ardent Mills, where growers can help report in the acres and the sustainable practices that they're doing. And they can also try out new product combinations and whole-acre solutions as we've talked about on the podcast before, how do we put all of these different products and practices together for that whole-acre solution? And growers can get up to $2 an acre for helping supply the data to help us establish that footprint and what growers that are growing winter or spring wheat are doing across the country. We'll put some contact information for Sky Hoffman in the notes today. And he's the one to reach out to on that Ardent Mills project to see if you're in the right geography. To qualify for that, really it's just getting paid to submit your data and help us talk about the sustainable footprint of you as a grower, us as a company and Ardent Mills and their customers as the food suppliers.

Tom Daniel:

And Sally, a lot of this is being driven by the consumers now, too. They're asking for sustainably sourced food products. And I'd ask you this question. We're going to be looking at working on a traceability program this winter on winter wheat, we've already done rice and cotton for this year. My question is to you, Sally, are there ways that we can bring multiple different opportunities to the grower to create revenue, stacking these different projects on the same acre?

Sally Flis:

Yeah, we can. If a grower is in the right geography, we could possibly stack all three of these programs together to bring a better return back to the grower for their level of participation in these different programs. We're really trying to design things in that way so that the grower can take advantage of multiple opportunities on a single acre or in the case of something like sustainable nitrogen outcomes and the combination with traceability, get more acres enrolled because there's different programs available for different crops in their rotation every year. Really trying to diversify our offerings in a couple of different ways.

Dusty Weis:

Well, Tom and Sally, some great programs there that people should link into. We'll put some links in the episode description, as well as a link to that article that you referenced Tom, but reducing runoff rate changes, nutrient optimization, all important topics that we covered so far. And practices that are made a lot more attainable if you're incorporating some smart, targeted inputs into your operation. And so coming up after the break, we're going to talk sustainable nitrogen management products and so much more with Taylor Ivy and Brandon Laws from Loveland Products to hear what new solutions they're cooking up. That's coming up in a moment here on The Future. Faster.

Dusty Weis:

This is The Future. Faster. A sustainable agriculture podcast by Nutrien Ag Solutions. I'm Dusty Weis along with Tom Daniel and Sally Flis. And we're joined now by Taylor Ivy and Brandon Laws, Senior Product Marketing Managers for Loveland Products. So gentlemen, thanks for taking time to join us. And first and foremost, anyone who isn't familiar with Loveland Products, Taylor, can you elaborate just a little bit on the brand and product categories that Loveland Products offers?

Taylor Ivy:

Sure. Loveland Products is Nutrien Ag Solutions, proprietary product brand. We split up our portfolio in four shelves: plant nutrition, crop protection, seed treatments, and adjuvants. Brandon and I help manage the plant nutrition shelf within the product portfolio.

Sally Flis:

Brandon, we've got our Sustainable Nitrogen Outcomes program or SNO as we often refer to it in the field, that we're rolling into our enrollment for the fall planted 2022 winter wheat to be harvested next spring. And there's some Loveland Products that are a part of that program. But the first thing we're asking growers to do is make a 5% rate reduction in their nitrogen application. They can also optimize their payment back per acre on tons of emission reduction by adding an enhanced efficiency fertilizer product, like a nitrification inhibitor or a slow controlled release product, or use products from Loveland, in order to help them achieve that rate reduction that we're asking for.

Sally Flis:

What are some of the ways or products that Loveland has, that help deliver a return on investment, increased nutrient availability and plant uptake and other soil health improvements that growers can use to reach that 5% rate reduction or add in one of these enhanced efficiency products?

Brandon Laws:

Well, thanks, Sally. That was a great question there. Lots to unpack. But I think probably one of the biggest things, when we look at nitrogen management and improving the overall efficiency of our nitrogen program is first starting around the application method. If we look at the ability to apply nitrogen, both at planting or prior to planting, like a lot of winter wheat scenarios, as well as going with an in-season application, whether that's a Green-Up or with a herbicide spray, that split application really allows us to not have too much nitrogen out there that would be susceptible to loss. And then also feeding it at times when the crop is going to be at its peak demand. So early and then as it comes out of winter dormancy, we're maximizing the plant's ability to utilize that nitrogen more efficiently. But then when we look at some products that help maximize that, obviously you mentioned nitrogen stabilizers, nitrification inhibitors, they can help protect the nitrogen that's out there that could be subject to loss from either volatilization or leaching.

Brandon Laws:

But then we have the ability to add some products to kind of enhance that nitrogen program. We look at products like BlackMax 22, that kind of brings a high CEC load, that's going to help not only improve the soil's ability to hold that nitrogen, but the soil's microbial activity to help mineralize it and make it plant available. And then we also have options that are very targeted with that nitrogen application, say like a Maximum N-Pact where we're delivering a specific form of nitrogen that's very plant available. It provides an amino acid package that helps with nitrogen assimilation, nitrogen use efficiency, gives you a broad application window, because you can apply that foliar, whether it's a Green-Up, a Flag Leaf, crop safety is very high with our product. So it gives you a broad application window that allows you to kind of spoon-feed that crop and address those nitrogen needs when the plant is at its peak demand.

Tom Daniel:

Taylor, as we talk about Loveland Products in general, Brandon just mentioned the nitrogen efficiency and stabilizer type products we use. But I'm a guy that likes to look at nutritional opportunities in different technology delivery systems, to the plant, so forth and so on. And I know that Loveland, has done a lot of work in in-furrow and different applications that we can actually look at gaining efficiencies over a broadcast fertilizer application, for instance. And I wanted to really talk about the Altura and the Black Label Zn products. Those have been kind of staples within the Loveland product line and they are sustainable products since they do drive efficient use of phosphate fertilizers in the soil. Can you give me a little background on those two products and just where you see them fitting in a sustainability program today?

Taylor Ivy:

Black Label Zn and Altura, are very similar in nature. Black Label Zn's got a bit higher zinc load for crops that require that. But when you think about those two products, really think about the technology that drives the efficiencies and that's C2 technology. We think of C2 technology as carbon two ways, extracted and reacted. Essentially, we're taking leonardite ore and we're extracting the organic compounds from it and then reacting it with nutrients. And that's achieving a few things. For one thing, we're protecting those nutrients so that when we apply them to the soil, they are not becoming quickly unavailable to the crop, so the crop can make use of those nutrients immediately.

Taylor Ivy:

It's also maintaining that protection further into the crop. That's really important. You can put out all the nutrients you want, but if they're not available to the crop, then you're not really helping. We're protecting nutrients. Also with C2 technology, we're improving the soil with those organic compounds. We're doing things like buffering pH, we're buffering salinity. We're creating an environment wherein microbes thrive and can continue nutrient mineralization and nutrient cycling while also providing nutrition that's readily available to the crop.

Tom Daniel:

Follow up to that question, Taylor, I know, I think you and I were in California together, not too long ago. Looking at our research farm, our almond research farm in the Fresno area. And I was amazed listening to some of the guys from Actagro and different groups, talking about the available amounts of phosphorus that are in the soil. And especially in that California area, that there were tons of available phosphorus in the soil that we don't have access to now. How do these products that we're talking about, these new technologies actually help to give us the availability of some of those tied up products in the soil?

Taylor Ivy:

That can happen in a few different ways, but primarily soil biology is what helps make native nutrients that are in forms that are tied up and unavailable to the crop into forms that are usable for the crop. That's the component of C2 technology that's feeding microbes and providing a "home for microbes." So you have a healthy soil biology and a healthier microbe community to do those functions that we need them to do like nutrient cycling. Brandon, do you have anything to add?

Brandon Laws:

Yeah, Taylor, I think you really hit the nail on the head when you talked about the soil biology component. When we look at nutrients that are in the soil in unavailable forms of the plant, that soil microbial biology through, basically it's just process of living, secretes compounds and exudes these excretions that make nutrients in the soil become plant available. For instance, Black Label Zn and Altura being phosphorous products, whether you're in high pH or low pH soils, that phosphorus can get tied up with things like calcium or iron and aluminum.

Brandon Laws:

And it's those chemical compounds of a very active soil microbial system that break those bonds and release that phosphorus to make it plant available. The plant does that naturally in the root zone. And we're just kind of piggybacking that and adding more of that active carbon, that those compounds that help those microbes thrive in that environment.

Sally Flis:

One of the more challenging questions we get in the field about our Sustainable Nitrogen Outcomes Program, especially with a winter wheat crop, is the concern about losing protein content or protein quality when a grower harvests, if they reduce their nitrogen rate. I'm going to toss this one up to whoever wants to grab, either Brandon or Taylor. What have you guys seen as growers add these Loveland Products and improve their nitrogen management and their nitrogen use efficiency on that quality side, not just the yield side of production?

Brandon Laws:

Protein content in wheat is something that's obviously very important to producers. When you look at the quality component in their ability to get more for their crop, it's extremely important. The challenge is, if it was as simple as just adding more nitrogen then everybody would do it, right? Managing that total fertility system is really how you drive protein. And a lot of times we'll see a negative effect by adding more nitrogen if we don't address some of the other processes in the plant that run that conversion of nitrogen into protein. And to me, that's where, when we look at end-season applications, whether it be with various micronutrient packages or again, the addition of that C2 technology to help make other nutrients more available in the soil, so that plant has access to what it needs.

Brandon Laws:

Because a lot of times, by the time we know what the plant needs, it's too late to maybe impact that protein content. So by using products like BlackMax, Altura, Black Label, some of the biocatalyst technologies like accomplisher extract, those are things that can help mineralize and make several nutrients available, so that that plant has the ability as it takes up more nitrogen to take up things like iron or molybdenum that help run that nitrogen conversion inside the plant. So without those, that excess nitrogen really doesn't serve a purpose.

Sally Flis:

Yeah. I really appreciate those comments, Brandon, because I think we hear that a lot across the board, Tom, whether we're talking to our downstream partners or we're talking to the non-governmental organizations or you're looking at the consumer or even the grower side of things is, "Well, can't we just reduce nitrogen rate?" Or, "Why won't growers just do this?" And it's really a lot more complex as we think about any of these environmental impacts that we're trying to manage, than just making that one practice change in the field. It's really great to hear that we've got products and services where you can address that whole-acre solution out there to optimize that productivity and nutrient uptake and not just focus on, well we're just going to manage one particular nutrient or one particular thing in the field.

Tom Daniel:

Sally, I agree with you. And this is a question that I would throw out to Brandon again, too. We have had lots of visits with what we call our downstream milling companies, whether it be for flour or rice meal or a rice or whatever the products may be. And nitrogen seems to be the common subject with a lot of those discussions. It goes back to what Sally said, there's a fear of reducing a nitrogen rate that will cost me in some type of quality metrics. And I think what you just said, Brandon was so key to it is, it's not just about that one product, it's taking a holistic view at your entire nutritional portfolio and how you use it. And these new products that are coming on board, biologicals and different things that we have access to, and are going to help drive some of these optimizations and efficiencies that will allow us to look at some reduced rates of nitrogen and so forth.

Tom Daniel:

These products that are part of the SNO Program, Sally, they're not just there to drive product sales, they're actually to drive the efficiencies that we need as we lower these nitrogen rates over time. Taylor, we've talked about a lot of optimization efficiency products around nitrogen and so forth, but I know there's a lot of new technologies coming out of Loveland now that are leading to a lot of other resource concerns and addressing those resource concerns we have. And I know while you and I were in California, there was a lot of discussion around water and the management of water. Do we have anything in the LPI product line that looks to help with that resource of water management?

Taylor Ivy:

Absolutely. And that is a major, major issue. And not just in the West, we're seeing that all over the country. We've got to not only make the most efficient use of the nutrients we apply, but also the water. As he said, we were in California last week meeting with some of our crop consultants, PCAs and grower customers. And a big topic was, we have less and less water to apply and it gets more expensive every year. I'd highlight two technologies from Loveland that seem to be moving the needle the most in terms of water distribution and water holding capacity. And that's BlackMax 22, also known as Evolution in the West region, combined with WaterMaxx 2, one of our soil surfactants.

Taylor Ivy:

If you think about it this way, BlackMax 22 has a humectant quality that helps it hold and retain water in the application zone, which is typically in the root zone. So while it's holding that water, when we apply it, WaterMaxx 2 is giving you that even distribution. And the way it does that, is it coats hydrophobic or water repelling components in the soil to make them hydrophilic or water loving so that you get good, even distribution in the roots zone. So that combination is quite impressive. We've seen some really good results in when you combine those two products.

Sally Flis:

Brandon and Taylor, we've talked a lot about, I think we've hit on all of the four Rs: source, rate, timing and placement here. And so circling back to that placement and timing of nutrient application, using things like strip till, or like you mentioned earlier, Brandon, split applications are ways that help us continue to enhance our nitrogen management or any fertilizer nutrient management in the field. What are some of the products that you guys have seen proven to work well when we're placing that nutrient in a really specific place in the field and location to the crop or the root zone?

Brandon Laws:

From a product standpoint, whether we're talking, we've been talking about wheat because at the time of the year that it is, but even in corn or other applications, to me looking at placing, whether it's just phosphorus or a combination of phosphorus and nitrogen in the strip tiller banded application, obviously you gain a lot of efficiencies there. I mean, it's pretty simple concept where we're treating the zone that the plant's taking up 90 plus percent of its nutrients versus the entire acre, so we gain efficiencies out of that.

Brandon Laws:

But then when we talk about products, like we've already mentioned, whether it's Black Label Zn and Altura, Riser, another phosphate based app planting product for us in conjunction with the biocatalyst technologies like an Accomplished Max or Extract and BlackMax 22, it kind of gives you that one, two punch of a really available form of that nutrient that brings a technology with it to keep it protected and plant available throughout much of the season.

Brandon Laws:

Those are some things that we see as common practices and things that really bring a big return for our growers is by treating that nutrient application in a banded manner with a technology that helps protect and enhance, that's where we kind of see that overall efficiency come from. And I always tell people, we can't grow crops just magically. The efficiency comes from somewhere and it's basically driving that soil biology and keeping that nutrient that we're applying available for as long as possible.

Tom Daniel:

Taylor, one of the things we have at LPI, there's a whole group of field specialists that are working with these LPI products, helping to position them in the field. We get a lot of questions on, "Which product do I need to use for what particular situation?" Can you kind of describe to me the support system that you have in place in the field right now to help us with these decisions?

Taylor Ivy:

Sure. And we do have a lot of support, which is good because we also have a lot of tools in our toolbox. We have a lot of products. And it's a common question that we get is, "All right, you have this, this and this. Which one and should I use in this scenario?" And that's where our staff comes into play. We have crop consultants and PCAs at every branch, at our retail locations. They're supported by a large staff of Loveland Product experts we call proprietary product managers and we also have a lot of scientists in the field.

Taylor Ivy:

We've got technical development reps whose sole job it is to work with crop consultants, with grower customers, with PPMs, testing products, teaching about Loveland Products and technologies. That's to say we have a lot of support, both for our grower customers, our retail customers across the board. And we encourage everyone to seek out help when they need it.

Dusty Weis:

Well, Taylor and Brandon it's certainly never as easy as seed, dirt, water, but it's really cool to hear about how these emerging technologies are helping growers optimize their nutrient portfolios and enhance sustainability. Taylor Ivy and Brandon Laws from Loveland Products, thank you so much for joining us on this episode of The Future. Faster.

Dusty Weis:

That is going to conclude this edition of The Future. Faster. The pursuit of sustainable success with Nutrien Ag Solutions. New episodes arrive every other week so make sure you subscribe in your favorite app and join us again soon. Visit futurefaster.com to learn more. The Future. Faster. Podcast is brought to you by Nutrien Ag Solutions, with executive producer Connor Erwin and editing by Larry Kilgore III. And it's produced by Podcamp Media. Branded podcast production for businesses, podcampmedia.com. For Nutrien Ag Solutions, thanks for listening, I'm Dusty Weis.