Meristem announced two patent-pending biological delivery systems – Bio-Capsule and Microbilize. Both technology systems result from work with leading industry partners and are designed to work seamlessly with farming operations to dramati-cally increase the performance of a broad range of biologicals.
“A very important piece of our mission at Meristem is opening up a faster pathway to more farmers for new innovative technology,” said Mitch Eviston, Meristem Founder and CEO in unveiling the two new patent-pending systems. “We’re out to clear any hurdle to using these new beneficial biologicals and with Bio-Capsule and Microbilize we take two more giant steps. This is all about creating greater produc-tivity for American farmers.”
The Bio-Capsule Technology Planter Box Delivery System, is a revolutionary packaging system designed to carry, protect, and dispense a multitude of biologi-cals into a seed lubricant blend plus micronutrients. It will be launched commercial-ly in crop-year 2023 as part the Revline Hopper Throttle product evolution.
“Revline Hopper Throttle Corn, now powered by Bio-Capsule, is truly a game changer because the new technology allows for so many proven ingredients to work together effectively as a single product,” said Joe Gednalske, Meristem Product De-velopment Lead, who already holds 41 patents on crop inputs and application tech-nology. For crop year 2023, said Gednalske, one of Bio-Capsules will be charged with Terrasym, an industry leading proprietary bio-stimulant developed by New-Leaf Symbiotics that helps plants increase nutrient uptake to develop a massive root structure. Another Bio-Capsule will be charged with a microbial team proven to fix nitrogen and solubilize nutrients. In the base is an 80/20 talc blend with iron and manganese, plus 1.35 pounds of a specially-formulated zinc.
“The Bio-Capsule Technology enables these microbes to stay separated from talc and zinc to keep their full strength all the way to when they are deployed at plant-ing,” explains Gednalske. “That means more vigor and vitality in the furrow.”
NewLeaf Technical Product Director, Dr. Allison Jack, says the Bio-Capsule sys-tem is key to what’s next because it delivers live microbes in powder formulation directly to the seed in a way that ensures they only become active during seed ger-mination. “The microbes are protected until they are ready to use. The Bio-Capsule will give us the opportunity to show what our new corn rootworm biological can do,” she said. “We’ve just gotten the green light from the EPA and are excited to work with Meristem on demonstrating its efficacy and its convenience, pending state approvals.”
Mircobilize Microbe Technology Delivery System, the second patent-pending product announced, covers a liquid formulation technology that enhances microbe health, increases vigor, and speeds reproduction at the target. Mircobilize uses a surfactant system, fulvic acid and other ingredients to increase the shelf life and performance of microbes. The first commercial launch for Mircobilize is a new im-provement of Meristem’s industry leading residue management and nutrient release product --- Excavator.
“With Microbilize, the surfactant package penetrates the cuticle for faster break-down of the residue,” said Gednalske. “We’ve seen a dramatic increase in microbe survivability and productivity.” Gednalske worked with researchers at DPH Biolog-icals and others to measure the impact of Microbilize. Meristem will license the technology to other providers of biologicals with the tagline “Powered by Microbi-lize Microbe Technology Delivery System.” Meristem’s Excavator carries a unique collection of six different residue-eating microbes, reaching a total of 700 billion total colony-forming units (CFUs) per gallon.
“As biologicals become more mainstream, it is important for these products to con-sistently perform to earn grower trust,” said Mick Messman, president and CEO of DPH Biologicals. He added that innovations like the Microbilize delivery technolo-gy paired with DPH Bio’s unique biological platform play an important role in gen-erating a new level of consistent performance that will drive rapid adoption. “Trust-ed biologicals are proving their ROI (return on investment) and we have seen sig-nificant growth with our portfolio over the past year. We look forward to continued collaborations with Meristem to develop and introduce new innovative biological solutions.”
John Gertz, Meristem’s COO, said combining Excavator and Revline Hopper Throt-tle can truly be considered the starter system for the next generation. “That’s why we focused on getting these new delivery systems right – to bring more real produc-tivity to American farmers.” He said Bio-Capsule is a step-change innovation ena-bling a bolt-on of new formulations without the expense of re-registration, which reduces waste. “Simply put, we can help farmers add more bushels and keep more of what they earn from each one.”
“We serve farmers best when we can bring them innovation that helps them produce more output for every unit of input,” summarizes Rob McClelland, Meristem Presi-dent and CMO. “But we must make it convenient for them at field-level. And that’s what these new delivery systems are about – safeguarding the product and making it easier for farmers to improve crop health, yields and ROI. We’re excited for the opportunity this brings our dealer-partners to be market leaders.”
