Granular the release of new digital nitrogen management offerings to help farmers and their advisors optimize their nitrogen inputs and make confident, data-driven decisions amid soaring fertilizer prices.
At the core of these new offerings is the proprietary Granular crop model. Initially developed in 2013, this data-driven algorithm is a comprehensive system that simulates corn crop growth throughout the season, empowering farmers and their advisors to make timely and informed decisions as the growing season unfolds and changes. The model simulates both the growth of a plant and the soil processes given four inputs: weather, soil, management practices and crop genetics. The model has been enhanced for improved accuracy this season with the most cutting edge nitrogen research from recent on-farm trials and regional trials in partnership with eight universities.
“142 site-years of data and 10,151 experimental units (experimental unit = one field plot) have been used to fine tune this model,” shares Bob Gunzenhauser, agronomy science manager at Granular. “If you assume a field has an average of 20 decision zones, our model runs 400 simulations a day for that field alone. Our new nitrogen management product offerings provide farmers confidence to know they’re prioritizing efforts and inputs on the acres and zones with the most potential.”
As an example of the improvements made to the Granular crop model, the root mean square error (RMSE) of soil temperature estimation has been reduced by over 50%; this results in soil moisture and temperature simulations more closely matching actual measurements, ensuring that nitrogen conversion, movement and uptake are calculated properly.
With near-record-high fertilizer prices and sustainable farming practices front of mind for 2022, Granular is providing farmers and their trusted advisors with two new offerings to help optimize their nitrogen investment and yields through Granular’s flagship digital products:
- Granular Insights has a new feature option called Nitrogen Essentials for Platinum Plus customers. This feature allows farmers to monitor and manage for the optimal amount of nitrogen collaboratively with their Pioneer sales representative. It provides farmers with direct insight into how their nitrogen levels are trending in the soil, based on weather events.
- Granular Agronomy‘s Nitrogen Service is a fully customized nitrogen management offering that Certified Services Agents (CSAs) deliver to help farmers take control of field variability. In addition to offering Granular Agronomy in more locations than ever before, the variable rate recommendations have become even more powerful with the improvements in the Granular crop model.
“Nitrogen is critical for maximum yield potential, yet it can be one of the most expensive inputs for a farmer each season,” said Gunzenhauser. “With volatile fertilizer prices, it’s extremely important to protect that investment, and we’re bullish that we’re now providing farmers and their advisors with the most innovative solutions to maximize their nitrogen investment.”
Granular’s nitrogen offerings complement Corteva’s other nitrogen management solutions including Utrisha N Nutrient Efficiency Optimizer and Instinct NXTGEN and N-Serve nitrogen stabilizers. Utrisha N increases a crop’s nitrogen use efficiency while the stabilizers help ensure nitrogen will be there when the crop needs it most in order to maximize yield potential. The Granular crop model captures the stabilizing effect of Instinct NXTGEN and N-serve and incorporates it in the nitrogen seasonality chart to help farmers and their collaborators monitor and make confident, data-driven decisions when it comes to planning applications and adjusting for in-season effects.
