Boosting Farm Profitability with Phosphorus Efficiency

In this episode of North American Ag Spotlight, host Chrissy Wozniak interviews Bradlee Consevage and Craig Dick from Phospholutions, a company founded in 2016 with a mission to enhance the efficiency of global phosphorus use. Phosphorus, the second most critical nutrient in crop production, is a finite resource, and managing it responsibly is crucial for future food production and sustainability. Craig, with decades of experience in crop nutrition, and Bradlee, focused on marketing innovations, share how their company is revolutionizing phosphorus management.

Key Topics Discussed:

• The challenges farmers face in managing phosphorus and the global implications of phosphorus depletion.
• Phospholutions' innovative solutions, like their Riser technology, which increases phosphorus efficiency while reducing costs.
• Environmental benefits, including reducing phosphorus runoff that contributes to issues like algae blooms in waterways.
• Long-term benefits for farmers, including potential yield increases and cost savings.
• How Phospholutions works with traditional retail and distribution channels to make their products accessible.
• The future of sustainable agriculture and how their technology supports both farmers and environmental goals.

Takeaways: Phospholutions is providing farmers with practical, sustainable solutions that don’t just save money but also protect the environment by reducing phosphorus waste. Their technology helps farmers increase efficiency, improve yields, and contributes to global phosphorus conservation efforts.

Learn More: For more information, visit Phospholutions.com and check out their new grower calculator to explore potential savings for your farm.

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Transcript

00;00;22;00 - 00;00;47;28
Chrissy Wozniak
Hi, and welcome to the spotlight. I'm Christy Wozniacki. On today's podcast, we're excited to welcome Radican Savage and Craig Dick from phosphor. Lucian's, a company dedicated to enhancing the efficiency of global phosphorus use for food production. They were founded in 2016, and they're driven by the mission to manage phosphorus, the second largest nutrient in global food production. More in a more responsible way.

00;00;48;01 - 00;01;13;21
Chrissy Wozniak
Craig brings decades of experience in driving ROI, expanding markets and developing innovative marketing solutions, while Bradley focuses on advancing cutting edge technologies to reshape the future of phosphorus utilization. We're going to be diving into their work and discussing how they're contributing to the future of agriculture. Welcome, guys, and thank you so much for your time today.

00;01;13;23 - 00;01;17;11
Craig Dick
Welcome. Happy to be here.

00;01;17;13 - 00;01;19;02
Bradlee Consevage
Thank you so much for having us.

00;01;19;04 - 00;01;26;09
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah. Yeah. No problem. So first of all, can you tell me a bit about your backgrounds and Craig, do you want to go first?

00;01;26;12 - 00;01;52;19
Craig Dick
Yeah. So, I grew up on a farm in Nebraska. All my family farms in Nebraska. For the most part. If they don't farm their teachers. So I have a background in agronomy. Worked as an agronomist. And, over the years, moved more into the sales side. And management of, fertilizer and fertilizer companies and helping different companies launch fertilizer technologies.

00;01;52;20 - 00;01;58;23
Craig Dick
So, 20 year background really in, crop nutrition and fertilizers.

00;01;58;26 - 00;02;01;18
Chrissy Wozniak
Awesome. And Bradley.

00;02;01;20 - 00;02;16;08
Bradlee Consevage
Foss solutions is my first, opportunity to really engage with the agricultural market and helping the company really push out sustainable entrepreneurship and issues and technologies is what brought me on to this mission.

00;02;16;11 - 00;02;21;00
Chrissy Wozniak
That's awesome. And welcome to the industry. You're going to fall in love and you'll be here forever.

00;02;21;02 - 00;02;23;14
Bradlee Consevage
It's been great thus far.

00;02;23;17 - 00;02;38;24
Chrissy Wozniak
So can either one of you speak up? Can you explain the challenges that farmers face in managing phosphorus? What is the problem? And then how does your technology help improve phosphorus efficiency on farm?

00;02;38;26 - 00;03;04;06
Craig Dick
Yeah, I'll take that one. Christy. So, you know, phosphorus is the number two, most needed nutrient in crop production. Unfortunately, it is only available through either, a mine source or manure. And, of course, we don't have enough manure to cover every acre, in the country. So the majority of our phosphorus fertilizer comes from, mined mineral resources.

00;03;04;09 - 00;03;30;00
Craig Dick
In the US, we've got maybe 30 plus years left of mined reserves, and then it has to come from, countries like Russia, Morocco, China that, you know, we don't have the best trade relations with right now. So, long term, we have some real challenges around ensuring that, our U.S. farmers have enough phosphorus to meet our crop demand needs.

00;03;30;03 - 00;03;53;09
Craig Dick
When we focus down a little closer to the farm, the challenge we have with phosphorus fertilizer in general is it is a very reactive nutrient. And so when we apply our phosphorus fertilizer to the soil, it tends to want to tie up with, soil minerals like calcium, iron and magnesium. And with the organic matter. Approximately 10 to 30% of the phosphorus we apply is plants available in year one.

00;03;53;10 - 00;04;16;17
Craig Dick
After that, it gets tied up in those the soil constituents and it takes a long time for that phosphorus to, to be released to the plant. So, you know, to overcome those, phosphorus type issues in the soil historically, because phosphorus was plentiful, we've overplayed phosphorus fertilizer to make sure we have enough available to our plant.

00;04;16;19 - 00;04;53;06
Craig Dick
But over the years, that's caused, some issues, with impaired waterways. So whether that, the Gulf of Mexico issue with, the dead zone or, the Lake Erie watershed issue with, algae blooms, excess phosphorus in the environment is, is a problem. And so, rises or Foss solutions was founded with the mission to essentially solve all those issues by one making phosphorus more efficient so that we have to mine less of it, that we can apply less to our farms and not impact yields for farm economics.

00;04;53;06 - 00;05;19;21
Craig Dick
In fact, with a, performance technology like riser, we can actually reduce the cost of phosphate on farm and improve yields. So, that that was a lot. But, it's a it's a very complex global issue that has dramatic impacts on farm economics and ROI. And if we don't solve the on farm ROI first, the rest of it doesn't ever get solved.

00;05;19;23 - 00;05;37;27
Chrissy Wozniak
Right? Yeah, yeah. And I can I can definitely speak to the algae blooms in Lake Erie. I lived just a couple miles from Lake Erie most of my life up in Canada. And, definitely you get to mid-July and you try to go to the beach, and those algae blooms would just be crazy, and the fish kill would be awful.

00;05;38;00 - 00;05;49;18
Chrissy Wozniak
So, I, I've definitely seen though over the years it improve for sure in the, in the past 20 years, but, definitely have a long way to go. So can you. Sorry. Go ahead.

00;05;49;20 - 00;06;18;15
Craig Dick
Yeah. It's also important to understand that, you know, growers aren't over applying phosphorus because they're applying. They're doing what the universities have told us to do to maximize crop growth. And so, you know, farmers are only going to fly as much as they need to, to, to hit their yield goals. But, you know, we we just haven't had a tool, historically that makes phosphorus more efficient, like, like we do today.

00;06;18;15 - 00;06;34;08
Craig Dick
So I want to be careful not to place blame on the farm that farmers are doing what, what the science is told them to do. And the awesome thing is, is there's new science now that, growers can rely on to improve yields and fix some of these sustainability issues.

00;06;34;10 - 00;06;56;00
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah. That's a that's an excellent point, actually. And and we always have to especially when talking to consumers. You know a grower is never you know, even livestock whether there's livestock, whether it's plants, you're never going to give them more than they need. Right. So yeah. So great point. Glad you added that there. So what exactly are higher efficiency fertilizers.

00;06;56;02 - 00;07;02;03
Chrissy Wozniak
How does it differ from traditional phosphorus fertilizers that we've been using for decades?

00;07;02;06 - 00;07;31;25
Craig Dick
Yeah. So traditional map or DAP, phosphate fertilizer, has been created to be highly soluble, as developed in the 60s. And, you know, since then it's been the primary source of phosphate fertilizer. What rises ORP does is it's a mineral additive that we put into the phosphate manufacturing, process, and it gets embedded into the fertilizer, and it really works as a sponge to hold lightly.

00;07;31;25 - 00;07;51;15
Craig Dick
Hold that phosphorus, in a form that keeps it plant available longer throughout the season so that as the plant is growing fast or the plant is growing and pulling phosphorus out of the soil, solution rises or roll release, phosphate, it's on a 1 to 1 basis. So we have a constant stream of soluble phosphorus to the plant.

00;07;51;17 - 00;08;40;19
Craig Dick
And so what that allows us to do is apply less phosphate. We get the same yields or better. And so that's the that's really a dramatic shift. The technology was developed, by a world renowned horticultural researcher at Penn State. And then in 2016, our founder and CEO licensed that technology, founded the company. And we've really spent the last eight years, conducting hundreds of trial and research plots from greenhouse to small plot replicator to, hundreds of large scale on farm trials to really get out the technology and ensure that, there is a good ROI for growers and that we, are ensuring his profitability or their profitability because, again, at the

00;08;40;19 - 00;08;49;10
Craig Dick
end of the day, if it doesn't work on farm, there's, there's you're not going to solve all these other challenges related to phosphorus.

00;08;49;12 - 00;09;00;28
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah. That's that's really good. And what are some of the long term benefits that a grower would see, or would, could expect using this more efficient phosphorus.

00;09;01;00 - 00;09;33;12
Craig Dick
So, it really all starts with the short term benefits of, we're able to, on the economic side, reduce the growers, cost of phosphorus on a per acre basis by up to 10%. So there's an initial cost savings there, but long term implications could be and we still need to vet this out further. But we see, actually higher yields as a percentage basis in lower PE soils than in what we have historically considered optimum to high B soils.

00;09;33;12 - 00;09;59;27
Craig Dick
So for example, in the Midwest an optimum phosphate level might be 35 parts per million. And it varies from state to state, area to area. But let's just say it's 35. If we can help a grower grow higher yielding crops at a 25 part per million faster soil compared to 35 parts per million soil, the cost advantages to that grower over a 5 to 6 year period might be another 5 to $600 that he doesn't have to spend in building his soil.

00;09;59;27 - 00;10;27;22
Craig Dick
P levels. And so, when you start thinking about that, that that has some pretty dramatic, ROI benefits. And even longer term, if we look out and say, if we're not building these soil test levels to a high level where we create a leaky system and we're causing algae blooms, then there's dramatic, value add to society in general.

00;10;27;25 - 00;10;58;25
Craig Dick
But to get there, we're not relying on the grower to have to pay for that technology. We're actually able to provide the technology at a cost savings on a per acre basis. So so there's really huge long term value there. Now, one last thing on sustainability side is, we have been approved in the state of Pennsylvania as an enhance efficiency fertilizer.

00;10;58;27 - 00;11;22;18
Craig Dick
And so what that means is in Pennsylvania, we qualify for CSP and Equip grants. And so there are federal funding that if growers enter the concert or conservation programs with their USDA, they can get grant rebate dollars. And so as we look to roll this out in, other areas of the country, there is really some long term potential value adds to growers.

00;11;22;20 - 00;11;26;16
Craig Dick
Over and above just the initial cost savings of the product.

00;11;26;18 - 00;11;50;18
Chrissy Wozniak
That's very good to know about the rebates as well. You touched on earlier, phosphorus is a finite resource. And so really, what are the risks if we don't start improving this usage globally? Not only that, but you know, where where in the U.S. is it mined? Can you can you kind of dig a little bit deeper into that?

00;11;50;20 - 00;12;26;09
Craig Dick
Yeah. Phosphorus is typically mined in, Florida, North Carolina and Idaho. And again, people reports vary. But, in the US, we think we've got about a 30 year reserve if we don't, discover any more, mines after that, we need to rely on companies, countries like Morocco, Russia and China for these materials. And currently, you know, we have, countervailing duties against, Russia and Morocco phosphates, which means if we bring them in, they're going to be more expensive.

00;12;26;11 - 00;12;51;19
Craig Dick
And really long term, if we deplete our, our national reserves of phosphate and we have to rely on imports, it's going to increase the price of phosphate, which is already too high. And it really becomes a really national security risk, that we're not able to feed the country because, again, phosphorus is our number two, macronutrient.

00;12;51;22 - 00;13;00;21
Craig Dick
So it is vitally important to, you know, our, our national interest to be able to feed our own population.

00;13;00;24 - 00;13;19;11
Chrissy Wozniak
Right. And when a grower is thinking about, you know, the, the recipe, of nutrients that's going to go on for the next season. How how do your solutions work with the other nutrients in, in that Farms program? You know, of course, like with nitrogen and potassium.

00;13;19;14 - 00;13;30;02
Craig Dick
Yeah. So so the great thing about the rises or 839 know is it is a direct replacement for your current map or that fertilizer. You really don't have to change anything else about your doing what you're doing.

00;13;30;02 - 00;13;30;18
Chrissy Wozniak
Okay.

00;13;30;20 - 00;13;56;08
Craig Dick
So you would simply look at what is the phosphorus you need to apply to meet your plant demand. And we would apply that as rises or and typically when they make a phosphorus recommendation, those phosphate rates are, are based off of knowing that some constituent of that phosphate is to get tied up in the soil. And so we're able to apply 50% less p 2 or 5 than a standard recommendation.

00;13;56;10 - 00;14;18;27
Craig Dick
Still need the plant removal needs. And still provide that plant with an enough phosphate that not only we have the same yields or better in our tissue test, we see the same phosphorus uptake, if not better. So, you know, again, you know, through eight years of research, we've we've done hundreds of trials to vet this out.

00;14;18;29 - 00;14;30;11
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah. That's amazing. And how does the technology impact the soil biology long term? You know, for long term soil health, I'm assuming it's it's positive impact, right?

00;14;30;14 - 00;14;56;21
Craig Dick
Yeah. So the technology, as I mentioned, is a naturally mined mineral. We we do, a little bit of tweaking to and, so what that means is, is to date, we've seen no negative impacts to biology. It's not a biological it works off of, chemical concentration gradients and, electrostatic attraction of phosphate fate. So, it's pretty much inert.

00;14;56;23 - 00;15;22;13
Craig Dick
It has received the actual mined mineral has received an Omri listing in the past. So we know it is a very safe material. And, essentially, it's it's working as a sponge to keep phosphorus, available. And we've to date, we haven't tested every scenario, but to date, I've seen no negative impacts to, the environment or other things that you may be doing on your farm to maximize yield.

00;15;22;16 - 00;15;44;18
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah. That's great. And and Bradley, you're on part of the marketing team. So I'm sure you're seeing the, the reactions and the data coming in from your marketing, efforts. So what are growers responding positively to in your in these efforts. What do you think they're they're just yeah.

00;15;44;21 - 00;16;25;25
Bradlee Consevage
Growers are been using resource specifically those I've been using it year over year have really just been kind of blown away by how easy the transition is. Resources are about as Craig that doesn't require any additional equipment can be applied just as any other dry granular phosphorus fertilizer. And at the end of the season, when they're making sure that their yields are matching traditional conventional phosphate fertilizers and also receiving the benefit to the lower input costs, that's just an all around, positive grower for us, growers specifically out in the Midwest have really been experiencing, even some positive yield increases over the past few years of, on farm trial research.

00;16;25;28 - 00;16;33;10
Bradlee Consevage
And with that addition above, helps increase the ROI for the grower at the end of the year.

00;16;33;12 - 00;16;47;28
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah, yeah, that's that's what it's all about too. Right? So if, if a grower wants to transition, what are some steps they need to take and they just start using it next year, is there what do you recommend as a process?

00;16;48;00 - 00;17;27;21
Craig Dick
Yeah. So they would, need to contact their retailer. We, we saw, prices of 839 zero through traditional distribution and retail channels. We've been working with a number of, distributors and retailers. So, as well as having, product warehoused, at different terminal locations across the Midwest. So, they can contact their retailer and ask for it, or they can go to fast solutions.com and, talk to look up one of our regional sales managers and contact one of our regional managers to get, a little more information about what's actually happening in their backyards in terms of the availability of resources or.

00;17;27;23 - 00;17;42;22
Chrissy Wozniak
That's great. And, one last question for each of you. What are you most passionate about and what you do? And, and why why are you serving the ag industry? And, and, Craig, we'll start with you.

00;17;42;24 - 00;18;11;03
Craig Dick
Yeah. So I've, been involved in crop nutrition, as I said, for 20 years, and I really enjoy, the ability of helping growers make small tweaks to the fertilizer program that provide really outsized, benefits. So, you know, I, I've often told growers that when it comes to crop nutrition, there's no, there's no silver bullet. It's it's a lot of hard work.

00;18;11;03 - 00;18;34;25
Craig Dick
And I had one grower say, well, you know, I take a good old lead bullet right now and, and I think, resource is about as close to that as I've come across in the industry. It really solves a lot of problems. It's well vetted technology. And so it's really exciting to get at it each day and know that not only are we doing a better job for that grower, but we actually help them save money, which a lot of to new technologies.

00;18;34;28 - 00;18;45;18
Craig Dick
You know, it's a it costs you more to implement them as a grower. And so it's it's really fun to be able to help growers save money in addition to doing a better job.

00;18;45;20 - 00;18;48;19
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah, I love that. And Bradley.

00;18;48;21 - 00;19;13;09
Bradlee Consevage
For me, very similar to Craig where we are saving the grow money, but we're also providing them a sustainable solution. So instead of sustainability, always having a negative impact on a growers financial situation at the end of the year, this is something that really can actually help them and also help the environment, which is really helping me look forward to more innovation in the agricultural industry.

00;19;13;11 - 00;19;19;01
Chrissy Wozniak
Yeah. That's awesome. So where can people find out more?

00;19;19;03 - 00;19;40;14
Bradlee Consevage
People can find out more at Foss solutions.com. We also like to tell growers that if you're interested in learning about the savings that you can get, we have just recently released a grower calculator on our website. So go ahead and Google, grower calculator for solutions and you'll be able to find, a direct link to find the savings on your farm today.

00;19;40;16 - 00;19;47;27
Chrissy Wozniak
Fantastic. Well, thank you both for joining me today. Great information. And it looks like you have a bright future.

00;19;48;00 - 00;20;02;06
Craig Dick
Yeah, it's a lot of fun. And, as Bradley said, growers have been excited about, the sustainability aspects because, they see the positive, returns on their farm.

00;20;02;09 - 00;20;07;02
Bradlee Consevage
Thank you so much for having us today, Christy. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to reach your audience.

00;20;07;04 - 00;20;22;05
Chrissy Wozniak
And thank you. And thanks to all who are watching or listening. If you want to learn more, the links are provided in the show notes. Don't forget to subscribe to North American Tech Spotlight on Rumble. Spotify, Apple Stitcher, Amazon wherever you listen to podcasts. And if you like the episode, I would love it if you shared it. Don't forget.