Soil Can Unlock New Agronomic Opportunities

This is Tim Hammerich of the Ag Information Network with your Farm of the Future Report.

Farmers have achieved incredible efficiency with the help of synthetic chemical inputs. But as farmers and input companies incorporate more biological understanding into agriculture, there’s an opportunity to better leverage the soil’s natural ability to grow healthier crops. Syngenta soil scientist Dr. Matt Wallenstein believes the biggest potential unlock for the future of crop production can be found in the soil.

Wallenstein… “We're already seeing some products come to market, particularly through our biologicals unit, that can directly enhance soil functioning and deliver benefits that are additive to what we, we can already do. As you say, I think the real potential is when we can start thinking about soils as the nexus within the agricultural system. And harnessing the information that we can gain by mapping soils and understanding the variability across a field, never mind across the world, to help farmers, a, do better product placement, and not just the, the traditional decisions that are driven by soil information. i. e. fertility, right? But we can go beyond fertility and start informing, you know, seeding rates. We can inform the timing of, you know, applications. We can inform the rates of things like herbicides, fungicides, so that every dollar spent on the farm goes that much further and that we don't waste anything. That we only put the right product at the right time and the right amount where it's needed.”

Wallenstein believes more farmers and agronomists need to do a better job of considering soil insights when making decisions across a growing season.