Real Results: Does Pivot Bio Work for Modern Farmers?

Modern farmers know from experience that nature is full of surprises that can impact crop yield, soil health, and their bottom line. Working with nature is always preferred to fighting it. Pivot Bio does just that. So today, we will discuss the question, “Does Pivot Bio work?” To understand the Pivot Bio advantage, we need to start by understanding how traditional synthetic fertilizers work.

Does Pivot Bio Work? Understanding Synthetic Fertilizers

Crops need nitrogen (N2) in the form of ammonium (NH4+) for direct uptake. As a cation, NH4+ is stable in the soil solution, unlike nitrate NO3- and Urea CH4N20, which can be lost through leaching and volatilization. The Haber-Bosch process introduced the world to synthetic nitrogen sources with the industrial production of anhydrous ammonia (NH3).  

Anhydrous ammonia is used as a fertilizer or is further processed into urea and UAN fertilizers. All three of these have boosted crop yields for generations. But how and when each fertilizer is applied and their efficiencies differ. 

Anhydrous Ammonia (82% N₂ by Weight)

Anhydrous ammonia is used as a liquid, but at atmospheric pressures, anhydrous ammonia is a gas. The application can be tricky as it needs pressures of 200 psi to keep it in liquid form and to make sure it doesn’t escape the soil while operators are working with it. NH3 is injected into the soil as a liquid and quickly covered before it can escape as a gas. Timing application with rainfall or irrigation schedules is a must as it reacts with water to form NH4+. Unreacted fertilizer alters the pH of the soil and can cause adverse effects on the soil microbiome as well as the crop, such as burnt root hairs. As a source of nitrogen, anhydrous is known to be somewhat inefficient; university and industry recommendations are to increase the nitrogen rate by 20% when using anhydrous as the primary source of nitrogen for your crops.

Urea (46% N₂ by Weight)

Urea is a solid fertilizer made from ammonia and carbon dioxide. Granules are spread on top of the soil. Water or tillage is required for urea granules to be incorporated into the field. The reason urea needs to be incorporated is because it can volatilize under the right conditions. Volatilization is the process in which the bonds of the urea molecule are broken, and nitrogen gas is released into the atmosphere. The need for incorporation makes urea more difficult to use in areas like western Kansas that see low rainfall and use minimum or no-till farming practices.

UAN (28 to 32% N₂ by Weight)

UAN is a liquid solution of urea, ammonium nitrate, and water. The N2 composition is 50% urea, 25% ammonium, and 25% nitrate. Like urea, UAN is applied to the surface of the field and requires rain, tillage, or irrigation to be incorporated. Without water, up to 50% of the fertilizer solution could volatilize.

UAN is also easily moved by water. Anytime soil volumetric water content is greater than 60%,  water is lost out of the bottom of the rooting profile, and nutrients are leached out of reach of crop roots. As different forms of nitrogen fertilizer react with water, some nitrogen is lost as nitrate, nitrite, or nitrogen gas to the atmosphere. Every loss costs you profit, reduces the efficiency of the fertilizer, and leads to less efficiency and yield potential for your crop.

How Pivot Bio Works

Pivot Bio takes a natural process, biological nitrogen fixation (BNF), and boosts it for use in modern farming. Microbes live in a mutualistic relationship with crop roots, consuming root exudate to fuel the conversion of atmospheric nitrogen to ammonia. The plants consume the ammonia and use it for crop growth, and the cycle continues.  

Before Pivot Bio, BNF using soil microbes was historically less efficient for fertilizing modern crops. When microbes sense a lot of nitrogen in the soil, they slow down or stop the production of ammonium. Even when ammonium production is active, it is slower than desired for modern applications. 

Does Pivot Bio Work For Modern Farmers? See It From The Field

To improve the ammonium output, the microbes’ own genes were edited. Scientists made changes to turn on or off the genes in the microbe’s DNA to make the process of nitrogen synthesis by the microbes more efficient. Two major components of this process were to remove the microbe’s sensitivity to soil nitrogen levels and to up-regulate the speed with which the microbes produce ammonia for the crop. The result is the most efficient form of nitrogen on the market today.

Why Does Pivot Bio Work for Modern Farmers?

By using Pivot Bio, farmers can reduce the amount of synthetic fertilizer needed for a healthy crop. Because the microbe colony grows along the root surface, the ammonia they produce is ideally situated for root interception. As the plant uses the nitrogen provided by the microbes, it grows larger. Larger plants exude additional sugars, feeding the colony. The colony produces more nitrogen, which is provided to the plant. This cycle improves crop health and yield, even during drought.

Until someone learns to control the weather, drought is a fact of life. How modern farmers sustain crops during drought directly impacts nutrient availability in the field. The flow of water into the root system carries nutrients. Without water, synthetic fertilizers are significantly less efficient. 

Pivot Bio’s ability to provide NH₄⁺ at the root interface means that plants are able to take up the nutrient even if water is limited. In field observations during drought scenarios, Pivot Bio made the crop appear more drought-tolerant. Crop health, plant growth, and color were better than in fields using synthetic fertilizers alone. 

Getting Started With Red Barn Enterprises

So, does Pivot Bio work? Absolutely. At Red Barn Enterprises, we work with farmers to determine how best to incorporate Pivot Bio into the nitrogen plan for your crop while reducing synthetic fertilizer use to create a balanced approach that meets your crop’s nitrogen needs. 

This post was written by Axis Seed – Red Barn Enterprises President and resident corn expert, Matt Long.