Ohio RevX Fields grower earns higher yields with innovations

Ohio corn and soybean grower Cory Atley is no stranger to innovation on his operation. Atley challenges the norm through all aspects of his farm. From participating in programs like BASF’s RevX Fields, to trying new innovations through his own plot tests or consulting with growers in his area about what has worked for his fields, Atley isn’t afraid to try it all.

“I met Cory about two and a half years ago and immediately thought, ‘That's a guy that I need to work with,’” said Matt Cook, BASF Innovation Specialist. “I’ve learned a lot from Cory. While my job is to teach him and help him figure out which inputs are best on his operation, I think he teaches me just as much. His farm is basically a large scale research farm, so I’m able to take a lot of what happens here and show other growers what Cory’s doing to really raise the bar.”

When it comes to crop protection solutions, Atley and his family have relied on BASF for nearly 14 years. When he learned about the opportunity to participate in RevX Fields – a program allowing growers across the country to test the newest BASF innovations in fungicides, Veltyma^™ and Revtyek^™ fungicides, before they were available – he couldn’t wait. Atley would be one of 1,200 growers across the country helping to make available local, relevant and transparent yield results.

“I was very fortunate to be approached by Matt to participate in the RevX Fields program,” said Atley. “I think the fungicide market has been pretty stagnant for a while. It's continued to be the same formulations just re-bottled. When Matt said BASF was bringing a whole new thought process and a new active ingredient to market, I was pretty excited for it. Me being me though, I applied the products on fields where I thought they’d be least successful. I wanted them to work for it.”

During the 2019 growing season, Atley monitored his corn and soybean fields closely. Even with the application of Veltyma fungicide on his corn, and Revytek fungicide on his soybeans, Atley wasn’t seeing visual results compared to other fungicide products throughout the season. However, when harvest rolled around, the yield difference on his Veltyma and Revytek fungicide treated fields was outstanding.

“A lot of the growers are battling with the ROI that fungicides are providing on their fields,” said Atley. “You can save $15 an acre if you want on fungicide, but if it costs 15 bushels per acre, you lost money. Farming is a business, and it’s all about making money. Sometimes you need to spend money to make money. For me, my return through the RevX Fields program using Veltyma fungicides on corn was six bushels per acre. For me, that’s about a $24 per acre ROI. That’s really big for me.”

Atley always tries the latest products and practices on his own fields, not only to have data to benefit his own operation, but to share with growers in his area as well. He advises other growers to help shape their input decisions.

“Growers have a lot of choices to make every single day, and I think it's important for farmers to know when products have been proven to work by another farmer,” said Atley. “With RevX Fields, it’s exciting for me to be able to test those products and see my own results. Then I can go to other farmers and tell them there’s another tool for them to use. And it’s proven that its going to be able to work in our area."

In addition to participating in RevX Fields, Atley has been testing products on his operation for years. Atley farms about 8,000 acres, with several different soil types across those acres. He and his team conduct several test plots every year with different products. Atley mentioned he tries to test each product and plot for three to five years to ensure they understand how the inputs work on each soil type.

“We conduct a lot of studies to collect information about our plots, not only for ourselves, but also for other farmers,” said Atley. “With the technology we have available, it's just so easy to capture and track data now and I feel like we need to use it to our advantage. When we can track a product from the time it's in the ground or applied until harvest, and know exactly the effects each has on the various plots, it definitely helps as we look to the future.”

BASF is confident in the technology of Veltyma and Revytek fungicides and knew that growers, like Atley, would see great results. Now, with data available from 1,200 RevX Fields – including Atley’s – growers across the country will have access to local, relevant and transparent yield results.

“There's a lot of information available from this program to help growers learn how these fungicides can help their yield,” said Cook. “2019 was a really tough year, so before growers spend a dollar on any input, they need to vet the products and know their ROI. Through RevX Fields, we hope we’ve made it easy for them to feel confident in their fungicide decision.”

To learn more, talk to your local BASF representative or visit RevXFields.com.

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Revytek and Veltyma are trademarks of BASF.