Ingevity: Helping small farmers optimize herbicide performance with limited resources

According to the Economic Research Service, small-scale farms represented 90% of U.S. farms in 2019. With less resources, these farmers must rely on alternative, more cost-effective crop protection techniques that involve both a traditional herbicide alongside an additional product to shield seedlings and promote optimal growth.

Ingevity, a specialty chemicals company headquartered in North Charleston, S.C., manufactures Nuchar^® AG, a finely ground activated carbon specifically formulated for grass seed farmers. The product enables more uniform spray application in the field and adsorbs excess amounts of herbicide during planting, which protects seedlings and further promotes higher crop yield and improved seed health.  

Nuchar^® AG is an activated carbon technology tailored to treat soil used in grass farming. The superior capacity of Nuchar^® AG to adsorb excess amounts of spray provides protection by keeping seedlings safe during planting, while the product’s ability to stay in suspension longer leads to more efficient application, enhancing crop yield and health. This means farmers can count on optimal operations and a successful planting season, year after year. That’s The Ingevity Effect.

Challenge

Large-scale growers of corn, wheat and soy can support massive investment in research and development of herbicides that offer  weed protection without simultaneously damaging new seedlings as they take root. Alternatively, small-scale farms must rely on alternative crop protection techniques that involve an herbicide alongside an additional product to protect seedlings and promote optimal growth. For the last 15 years, Valley Agronomics, a service company based in the northwestern U.S., has trusted Nuchar AG in the herbicides they supply to farmers of tall fescue and perennial ryegrass to enable superior performing crop protection.

Solution

Nuchar AG is a finely ground activated carbon selectively screened for the precise needs of the grass seed industry.

The benefits of Nuchar AG as part of herbicide formulations for grass seed farming across the U.S. have been known for the last 17 years. Valley Agronomics has leveraged the expertise of industry-respected Precision Agricultural Research for the last three years to test the e icacy of multiple activated carbons in the products they supply to farms across Oregon’s Willamette Valley and beyond. Nuchar AG continues to outperform other activated carbons, helping Valley Agronomics remain a trusted supplier to their customers, and enabling farmers to nail the one shot they have each growing season, with far less stress.

Maximizing Value

• Nuchar AG’s ability to stay in suspension longer than other activated carbon enables more uniform spray application in the field, saving farming crews valuable time.

• The optimal particle size of Nuchar carbons prevents clogging of equipment spray nozzles, mitigating the risk of a catastrophic mid-field clog.

• Nuchar AG is proven to adsorb excess amounts of herbicide during planting, which protects seedlings and further promotes higher crop yield and improved seed health.