Meeting season, conference season, whatever you want to call it, is underway! Purdue Extension specialists Dan ‘Corn’ Quinn and ‘Soybean’ Shaun Casteel have already attended and have spoken to crowds at many different meetings around the country.
Casteel tells us on the latest Purdue Crop Chat Podcast that there’s one consistent theme- they’re getting a lot of questions about biologicals.
“I think a lot of the questions are what works, what doesn’t, and where do you start?”
Casteel admits that’s a tough question to answer right now.
“There are over 1,200 companies in this space. So, let that sink in. Over 1,200 companies in the space of biologicals as they’re described. It can be microbial, it could be plant extracts, it could be seaweed, that kind of area- over 1,200 companies.”
Clearly, with that many companies, it’s difficult for Casteel and Quinn to perform research on each one to give those clear answers to farmers about what works and what doesn’t. After taking input from farmers, they did some biological trials, specifically those revolving around nitrogen and phosphorous.
Casteel explains why he thinks there’s such interest in biologicals.
“Is there are a product that we can apply that provides that so we don’t have as much synthetic, so that I don’t have as much regulation or the government on my back? I think there’s some more hope in that. Here’s one avenue, here’s one product, that can help me reduce my nitrogen or reduce my phosphorus and not have this government regulation. So, I think there’s a lot of hype in this. I think there’s a lot of hope. Is there any proof in the pudding? That’s the question I get.”
After trials this year, Quinn and Casteel are sad to report that they haven’t found the silver bullet to increase corn and soybean yields, but their research will be ongoing. They encourage you to do your own research on your farm in the Purdue Crop Chat. Listen now below or in the new Hoosier Ag Today mobile app. You can download it for free on your iPhone or Android.