Blog Entry Posts
HOW TO CHOOSE A SOYBEAN INOCULANT
May 11th, 2012
This is a guest post by Stephen Peel, owner of Seed Solutions and distributor of ABM products. Stephen has been a part of the seed industry since 1981. Learn more about Stephen by visiting: http://yourseedsolutions.com/aboutus.aspx
A few years ago, after having several customers with land coming out of CRP, I was in need of a product for inoculating soybeans. I researched many companies and had difficulty finding a specific solution that would meet their needs, until I stumbled upon GraphEx.
When searching for an inoculant there are six (6) factors that must be present for me to even consider carrying it:
Ease of Use. It goes without saying: If the product isn’t easy to use, growers simply won’t use it.
Peat vs. Talc-graphite. As far as I am concerned, peat should not even be an option. Peat based products initially seemed cheap, but to get a good amount of rhizobia we had to mix several pouches of product into each planter box. This tripled our initial costs! And, we ended up with seed monitors plugged with dirt. The talc-graphite found in GraphEx is easier on meters (doesn’t gum up) and provides more accurate seed drop and placement.
Farmer Applied vs. Commercial Seed Treatment. Here in our corner of Eastern Missouri, there are no commercial seed treater’s nearby. The growers need to be able to apply the inoculant themselves. So, once again the inoculant must be easy to apply.
Dry vs. Liquid. Since professional seed treatment is not an option in our area, dry inoculants are generally easier for self-application. Liquids can be messy, they can gum up a planter, and it’s sometimes difficult to coat the seed. Therefore, liquids usually cause more headaches than it’s worth.
Treatment Life. It is not uncommon here in Missouri to begin planting on a sunny morning and get rained out of the field at 2:00PM in the afternoon. Growers do not want to retreat the seed if they don’t have to. The inoculant needs to be able to withstand the elements and adhere to the seed.
Cost Effective. Getting your money back is not enough. The return on investment has to pay for itself and make the grower money. The product has to work!
When I initially learned about GraphEx, I just ordered a couple boxes to try. When I received them my first thought was, “There is no way this little bit of stuff could do any good…” I was proven wrong!
I was amazed to see that a half oz. of GraphEx had over 50x the number of rhizobia than the previously used peat-based products. Not only was the count higher, but there were three different strains of rhizobia; not just one.
It was very easy to use. One scoop treated one bag of seed. I found it unnecessary to try and coat every seed in the hopper; the GraphEx was actually coating the seed as it went through the metering device. I was also happy to see that it was stable and could sit for 72 hours before needing retreatment if I got rained out.
That first year, crop yields averaged +7 bu/Acre with GraphEx over the non-inoculated strips. This past year (2011) we suffered through a terrible drought, but the inoculated beans still yielded 3.5 bu/Acre more than the untreated. Even with a smaller yield increase, we still received $36.00 for every $2.25 invested.
Taking into account the clear advantages of using GraphEx; inoculating soybeans has become a necessary step in improving crop yields, rather than an option.
To learn more about GraphEx and find a dealer near you click here.
ABM International Global Business Team Newsletter 2011
January 18th, 2012
It has been 3 short years since the beginning of the Global Team concept we started at Advanced Biological Marketing. In that time we have gone from an idea to having Global Team Members in Central and South America, Asia, Africa and Europe. We are currently talking to additional members on the four mentioned continents and look forward to increasing our Team numbers in the near future.
At A.B.M. we are very aware that you put your reputation on the line each time you talk to your customers about our products. We are working hard to keep our trichoderma quality at above 99%. We are currently adding on to our plant in Ohio, this addition will increase our ability to grow and manufacture the best trichoderma in the world. I want to thank and congratulate each and every one of you for helping us make this happen; it is a “win-win” for all of us. We are very excited about new products we are testing and plan to introduce some them in 2012. Below is a short update on our Global Team Members that are doing business worldwide.
Affirm Global: Has worked effectively alongside Disagro to help with registration in Guatemala. Affirm Globals’ initiative is to work with NGO’s around the world to help subsistence farmers increase yields by using the A.B.M. line of products.
Korea: Hungnong Garden Material Co. LTD – (see right) We have secured the registration of A.B.M.’s trichoderma and we are currently shipping orders for use on rice and vegetables. Also, they are testing A.B.M.’s waste digester product.
Guatemala: Disagro – has been working diligently to register the trichoderma products in Guatemala, with a final registration date likely due January 2012. They have tested the products on rice, snow peas and tobacco with great success.
Malaysia: Green World Genetics – We are currently working on final registration of A.B.M.’s trichoderma and currently testing on rice, corn and vegetable crops. We have also begun to test our compost accelerator product on Palm oil trash and residue.
Panama: Grupo Melo S.A.- is working towards achieving registration. Testing of the Excalibur products have shown that when A.B.M.’s trichoderma are applied the farmer will receive a return of $1.21 for every dollar spent reflecting a yield of 20.6%. The witness despite being a less expensive seed treatment received a $.93 return for every dollar invested, this works out to a return of -7.29%.
Peru: Tecnoligias Bio-Organicas S.A.C. – is one of the original Global Business Team members and is continuing to work diligently to sell A.B.M.’s line of trichoderma into the Stevia and Cacao markets.
Philippines: Aldiz Incorporated (see left) – We have secured registration of A.B.M.’s trichoderma and currently are shipping orders to be used on rice and testing on corn. A.B.M.’s line of trichoderma is private labeled and marketed as Avatar.
South Africa: Cerealis Precision – Josey Hendriks and Dr. Ronel Hendriks visited the A.B.M. offices in April to meet the staff as well as Dr. Gary Harman, worlds leading expert on Trichoderma. In May, Brad Custis attended the NAMPO show in South Africa to support Cerealis Precision in their efforts. This past spring was Cerealis Precision first distributing product in South Africa. They have had great market and grower acceptance with the A.B.M. products.
Tanzania: Triachem – is our newest Global Business Team member. Krishna and Adrian have been able to gain some market penetration
but are working to push the A.B.M. line of products throughout Tanzania.
Thailand: A.I.P. Co. LTD – We are currently working with A.I.P. CO. LTD to secure registration of our trichoderma and anticipate registration of products in 2012.
Ukraine: Imperial Agro – is also an original Global Business Team member. We have secured registration of bradyrhizobia on soybeans and shipping orders. In 5 independent trials SabrEx for corn showed an average increase of 5.2 bushels per hectare. We also are working on registration of A.B.M.’s trichoderma on corn and wheat.
Vietnam: Ha Noi Minerals, Chemicals, and Construction, JSC – We have secured registration of A.B.M.’s trichoderma products and anticipate shipping current open orders for rice very soon. Also there is on going testing with SabrEx on corn.
At this time of the year the employees and families of A.B.M. want to take a moment to again thank you for your support. In future newsletters we would like to include data from testing around world. Please be sure to send A.B.M. any data that you may have accrued over the previous year. Have a happy and safe holiday season. We are looking forward to 2012 with great anticipation!
Don Bland
President, ABM International LLC
ABM Hires Sales Personnel
December 13th, 2011
Van Wert, Ohio—December 13. Advanced Biological Marketing announces the hiring of four new salesmen to their staff. Bruce Vester of Noblesville Indiana will cover Indiana, Ohio and Michigan. Gary Dollarhite resides in Manquin Virginia. He will serve the Mid-Atlantic States. Bill Winter of Galesburg Illinois will service dealers in Illinois, Kentucky and most of Missouri. Bobby Moore will take care of customers in the southeast. Bobby resides in Athens Alabama. Dan Custis CEO of ABM states “We are pleased to have these individuals join our team. Each one has a strong background in agronomy and agricultural sales.”
Advanced Biological Marketing identifies, develops and markets specialty biological products for production agriculture. ABM’s inoculant and biological seed treatment portfolio includes the new Excalibre-SA™ and Graph-Ex SA for soybeans and SabrEx™, a new biological enhancement for corn and wheat.
Advanced Biological Marketing, located in Van Wert, Ohio was founded in 2000. ABM sells and distributes its products nationally and internationally.
##
If you’d like more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview with Dan Custis, please call Dan at 877-617-2461 or email at dan@abm1st.com.