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corn. “We ended up with about
[Nitrogen-fixing .corn] .was . 17 pounds more nitrogen per
a .pipe .dream .that .most .of . acre in the plant at about 70%
us .thought .would .never . of the locations that were
sampled,” he said. “So that’s
occur .in .our .lifetimes . pretty significant — it tells you

—Marty Matlock, . . that the microbe was doing its
University .of .Arkansas job in helping the plant secure
more nitrogen in the above-
ground plant mass.”
A big part of the answer to the question of
whether farms will be able to address climate In 2019, corn yields from fields with Pivot Bio
change can be found in the soil, where compa- PROVEN were about 6 bushels an acre higher
nies are focusing their efforts through the use of in on-farm and university trials than those with
microbes to help plants fix and absorb nitrogen. only synthetic nitrogen fertilizer.
“Increased plant growth, increased above
Two companies that are already selling products
to farmers are Pivot Bio and Locus Ag Solu- ground plant nitrogen, and reduced firing of
tions, whose microbes, according to their own leaves below the ear were also observed,” the
and university trials, have been able to increase company said in an update.
yields and reduce the amount of nitrogen fertil- Meanwhile, research is continuing at Joyn Bio,
izer growers have to apply. a joint venture between Gingko BioWorks and

Alex Fotsch, Locus AG’s vice president of Bayer that is working to genetically engineer a
agricultural operations, says “early indications nitrogen-fixing microbe that the company hopes
suggest” corn growers who used its Rhizolizer can eventually reduce the need for nitrogen
product this growing season are on track to fertilizer by up to 50%.
achieve yield increases of 9 to12 bushels an acre. “Most people don’t really believe that you can
With about half the data in hand, Fotsch said engineer a plant to fix nitrogen, whereas we
“increases in nitrogen and phosphorus uptake already know that there are microbes out there
are also consistent and significant, and support that can fix nitrogen and transfer it to plants, like
what we have seen in the past.” soybeans,” says Joyn Bio CEO Mike Miille.

The company also is having success in orange Miille says the nitrogen reduction target to
groves in Florida, where about 15% of the citrus demonstrate “proof of concept” of its microbe
market and eight of the top 10 operations in the next summer is in the 10% to 20% range.
state are using Rhizolizer to help trees stave off “Then you sort of
the impacts of citrus greening,
a disease that has devastated
the state’s orchards. We .already .know .that .
there .are .microbes .
Pivot Bio doesn’t have all its
results back for 2020, but out .there .that .can .fix .
agronomy director Dan Poston nitrogen .and .transfer .it .
said customer samples from to .plants .
this year showed more nitrogen
was making its way into the —Mike Miille, .Joyn .Bio

42 www.Agri-Pulse.com