Soil testing platform aims at true nutrient optimization

TREMONT, Ill. — The four Rs of nutrient management can lead to the three “it’s.” Radicle Agronomics from Precision Planting addresses all seven.

The platform is designed to bring better tools and better data to the soil sampling and soil analysis industry, allowing for better fertility management decisions to be made between the farmer and trusted adviser, according to Dale Koch, Radicle Agronomics product lead.

Radicle Agronomics is a combination of GeoPress for field sampling and recordkeeping; Radicle Lab, a mobile, fully automated soil laboratory for the shop; and Radicle App, software that connects the in-field and in-office process with the soil lab.

The Radicle Lab runs off 120-volt electricity and requires only a 10-by-10-foot space for setup, an air source and a garden hose to supply water to operate.

It features MicroFlow technology and can measure pH, buffer pH, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, cation-exchange capacity and base saturation, turning a sample in minutes.

“The four Rs of nutrient management — right rate, right time, right place, right source — come from the late 1980s. The spirit behind the four Rs is really good,” Koch said.

“The one challenge of the four Rs is that as a farmer, as an agronomist, it’s rules of thumb. It’s not a specific guide, and so to really take the four Rs and make it practical for your customers or on your own operation is a bit of a challenge.

“Our goal is that we solve nutrient management.”

—  Dale Koch, product lead, Radicle Agronomics

“What we have heard over the years is that farmers, agronomists, retailers, frankly are frustrated as an industry with how we are managing nutrients today.

“So, we came up with what we call the three it’s — it’s really complicated, it’s too unpredictable, it’s too subjective.

“What we’re trying to capture is these are the frustrations that we have heard when it comes to truly optimizing nutrient applications.”

Simplified Process

Managing nutrients typically starts with a soil test to determine values in the soil. The process can be complicated with the various sampling considerations — manual or automated probe, grid or zone management system, soil variations in one field, which lab to utilize and the soil sample submission process.

Once the data is collected and analyzed, the results are transformed into an application prescription.

“Our vision of Radicle Agronomics is to simplify this whole process. Not to dumb it down, but to make it more easily approachable and understandable for the average farmer,” Koch said.

“Radicle Agronomics is more than a soil test. We are about solutions more than just a soil test.

“The way we are making nutrient management understandable and precise is by providing better tools to do the sampling, better tools to do the analysis and better tools to interpret the analysis — ultimately which will all lead to better data, data that’s more precise, repeatable, reliable for the farmer such that the nutrients can be managed with a better set of decisions.”

Predictability

A plus B doesn’t always equal C in terms of addressing nutrient management.

“That is frustrating to farmers and they’re trying to figure out what their expected return on investment is from a given input,” Koch said.

“Our approach to make nutrient optimization more predictable is to take error out of the process of nutrient management. The Radicle Lab is engineered for predictability.

“Both in the soil sampling and soil analysis, there’s a lot of error that can come into those two processes.

“We talked about the different decisions you have to make in soil sampling, how every lab is going to send results that are a little bit different, but it actually stacks up to quite a bit of error, and we’re making big dollar decisions on these really unstable processes. This is why farmers and agronomists are frustrated.”

Non-Subjective

Radicle Agronomics eliminates the opinions in the nutrient management process.

“One guy’s opinion is different than another gal’s opinion, and to really objectively weigh one against the other is very difficult. That leads to a lot of issues of people not trusting the whole process,” Koch said.

“What farmers experience is that the way we’re taking a soil test result and turning it into a prescription is too subjective.

“The three ‘it’s’ is what we hear from farmers. That’s what we’re trying to address with the Radicle Agronomics platform. It’s more than a soil test. Our goal is that we solve nutrient management.

“There really isn’t anybody who is speaking into this space right now. We don’t have a dog in the fight. We’re not selling fertilizer. Our intention is to sell a solution out there that will truly allow farmers to realize true nutrient optimization.”

Long-Term Commitment

Precision Planting has made a major investment in the Radicle Agronomics, with a chemistry lab, development lab, greenhouse, soil storage facility and other related facilities at its Tremont headquarters.

“We’ve been at this for eight years, dozens of people, hundreds of thousands of hours of time. It starts with recognizing there’s a really big problem. I think we made that clear as we were describing the complaints and the frustrations that farmers have,” Koch said.

“What we envision is that there’s a worldwide network of Radicle Labs that exists in the sheds of farmers, agronomists, retailers and Precision Planting dealers across the country.

“We would like to be the soil lab of choice, the nutrient optimization platform of choice for the farmer. With any product, you try to create a ton of value for farmers and other folks and capture a little bit of that value along the way.

“Our ambition is not to be just in Tremont, Illinois. Our ambition and our belief is that there is a desire, there’s a demand for a distributed lab network, that there are multiple labs in every county in the U.S.

“We have gotten a ton of feedback and interest from folks who are excited about really just having more control over the process. To have all the benefits that a lab in your shed offers with the accuracy and efficiency that’s wrapped up in that. We feel like our vision and our perception of the problem has been validated in the marketplace.”