11/19/2021

Granular Provides New Digital Nitrogen Management Options to Farmers

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As fertilizer prices hit record levels, U.S. farmers on average could increase yield up to 7 bushels/acre, save 5 lbs of nitrogen/acre and realize up to $25/acre return through Granular’s new digital features and service offerings focused on nitrogen management

JOHNSTON, IA Granular, the world’s leading Farm Management Software (FMS) and wholly owned subsidiary of Corteva Agriscience, today announced 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.

Farmers interested in taking advantage of Granular’s new nitrogen management offerings on their operation should connect with their Pioneer sales representative, Granular CSA or visit granular.ag/agronomy to learn more.

About Granular
Granular, a Corteva Agriscience™ company, is Farm Management Software (FMS) that is helping thousands of farmers to build more profitable and efficient farms today to steward their lands for generations to come. As the world’s leading FMS, Granular uniquely combines an industry-leading support team with the most recommended suite of powerful yet easy-to-use software to help farmers and their teams run all aspects of their farm as a business. From financials to agronomy to operations, farmers are now able to make data-driven decisions with greater confidence in an increasingly challenging environment.

Granular is San Francisco-based, with offices worldwide. Granular is an independent, wholly-owned subsidiary of Corteva Agriscience (NYSE:CTVA). Learn more about Granular at http://granular.ag/, Twitter, @GranularAg, and Instagram, @Granular_Ag, or facebook.com/GranularAgriculture/.

About Corteva Agriscience
Corteva Agriscience is a publicly traded, global pure-play agriculture company that provides farmers around the world with the most complete portfolio in the industry - including a balanced and diverse mix of seed, crop protection and digital solutions focused on maximizing productivity to enhance yield and profitability. With some of the most recognized brands in agriculture and an industry-leading product and technology pipeline well positioned to drive growth, the company is committed to working with stakeholders throughout the food system as it fulfills its promise to enrich the lives of those who produce and those who consume, ensuring progress for generations to come. Corteva Agriscience became an independent public company on June 1, 2019 and was previously the Agriculture Division of DowDuPont. More information can be found at www.corteva.com.

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Corteva Media Contact:
Kacey Birchmier
515-305-0085
kacey.birchmier@corteva.com

™ ® ℠ Trademarks and service marks of Corteva Agriscience and its affiliated companies.

*Data from 534 DuPont Pioneer research trials conducted over three years 2015- 2017. Amounts shown are non-weighted averages based on gross (before service fee) revenue and standardized input and grain market prices.

*Product and crop performance is variable and subject to any number of environmental, disease and pest pressures. Individual results may vary from year to year.

*Improvements to the Granular crop model were made based on a diverse set of research studies and literature review.  

  1. Primarily, the Pioneer Regional Nitrogen Trials (PRNT), a collaboration between Pioneer and eight Midwestern universities utilizing aligned trial and measurement methodology, conducted in 2014 to 2016, was extensively utilized for model tuning and validation.
  2. Additionally, Corteva Nitrogen Trials from 2018 to 2020, conducted at various Pioneer research sites in the Midwest, were used for crucial soil and plant measurements.
  3. Finally, on-farm nitrogen response trials, conducted with the assistance of Granular Certified Service Agents and their farmers in 2020, provided a diverse data set that spanned from Ontario, Canada to the Mississippi Delta. Extensive literature review of existing research papers was made to incorporate and validate new model adjustments and features.
  4. Research continued in the 2021 crop season with the Corteva Nitrogen Trials and CSA-Farmer N Response Trials, along with newly established university collaborations with University of Nebraska, University of Minnesota, Purdue University, University of Guelph, University of Delaware, University of Maryland, and Penn State University.