Producer Trades Fungicide For Biology

Jeff Gross is a chickpea producer in a high disease area (Regina, SK). He was looking for a way to improve the health of his chickpea crop, without being so reliant on fungicide to get him to a successful harvest.

Jeff had tried many other biological products in the past with hardly any success at all. He knew that soil biology was key to building a healthy plant, but it was also key to improving his soil for future generations.

Jeff decided to involve himself in the education process of AdvancedAg's bio products. He loved the fact that he could brew the product on his farm and he felt that this was a way to get a high culture of bacteria out to his fields at a low cost.

So... in comes the brew shed!

The product was applied through the sprayer during the evening to avoid UV damage to the bacteria, which is always recommended for applications through a sprayer.

The ACF-SR paid off quickly. While neighbours and people in the surrounding areas were applying fungicide, Jeff didn't have to because of the health of his plants. His BRIX levels were extremely high in the areas he applied ACF-SR to.

Here is a drone shot of a neighbouring field. This farmer used the exact same seed Jeff did, but the difference was huge.

Jeff didn't only use ACF-SR on his chickpeas. He ran some trials on his durum, lentils and wheat, all with varying levels of success.

The conclusions early on was that root development and plant health across the board was much better than the areas that had no bacteria. This resulted in better yield in almost every field and fewer days to maturity. If there wasn't a yield bump, there was still less spent on the fields that had ACF-SR as he used less fertilizer and fungicide.

Above, lentils treated with ACF-SR.

Below, Jeff talks about why he decided to go with AdvancedAg and what it's meant for his farm.

At our Soil Biology Conference in Lethbridge, Jeff had the attention of over 250 people as he described in detail what he did on his farm. (video below)