00:00 Hey, we're standing in the booth of Fluid Growth Solutions, sometimes known as FGS, and we're asking the question from commodity class at 2024. 00:08 What's new? I got Brad Benson right here. And Brad, I gotta tell you, man, I asked you before we hit the record button, what is this product? 00:14 And it kind of went over my head. Give it to me. Yeah. So, uh, fluid Growth Solutions, we manufacture an activated carbon complex. 00:22 It's a liquid complex that's, uh, highly concentrated with multiple, uh, groups within the humic spectrum. 00:30 Okay. How do I use it And help me understand this because I'm only so deep on chemistry and agronomics. So what do I, how do I use this and what did it do for you? 00:39 So, when Brad first came to us, Brad came to us and we started talking about trialing it. So we trialed it last year. 00:46 We wanted to get some, like, some performance out of it, right? So he came to us with this product 00:51 and said, look, I'm gonna kind of customize it for what I wanted, what Matt wanted realistically. And what we found was is it created 01:01 something different for me. It's a it's efficiency deal with me. I was, I had three different totes on my trailer 01:09 and he put it in one tote. It simplified my life, but it ended up I had a pretty good return on my investment. Cool. Thing that we should share, 01:20 we didn't tell anybody about this, but both Kevin, I'm sorry. Both Matt Miles and Temple Rhodes used this product on their 01:26 farms last year and have some pretty good stuff to share, but we didn't tell anybody until now. 01:30 'cause we wanna make sure we brought you on really doing the right on our homework. You used it on Rice? 01:35 Yeah, I use it on rice. So the reason I started using it is, is a state soybean record holder in Arkansas. 01:42 His whole program was Fluid Growth Solutions. So I knew there was something there. Yeah. Uh, Brad and I had never visited. 01:48 We met each other last year at the Commodity Classic in our luggage and like, man, this, this stuff really works. 01:54 And so we started looking at it and I said, we need to, we need to trial this and see Tremendous. So you, 02:00 You used it out of jealousy 'cause somebody beat your record. That's what you just said. 02:05 Yes. By the way, I'm not gonna lie. Yes. Imitate imitations a a sincere form of flattery. So, you know what, if you're imitating somebody 02:13 that's got a high yield, that's good. So here's the thing. It, how do I, what's it, how do I buy this? 02:18 What's it look like? Does it come to me in a tote? What do I, how do I get this stuff? Yeah. So, uh, so we do, we work directly 02:24 with the producers, with the growers. Uh, it's, it's manufactured in-House. Developed in-house. And, and we distribute directly the grower. 02:30 Uh, so we deliver in in totes, totes or, or bulk loads. We help the growers to customize their setup and their handling station, if you will, that 02:40 that is best gonna meet their application. Got it. You used it, you put it on what? Corn and soybeans? Both. And how did you use it? 02:48 I used it as a, a foliar. Okay. At what time? What stage of growth? Um, mine was in the R stages. 02:55 I got a three bushel on beans and I got a four on corn. Okay. Is that enough to make you say, oh, it's a slam dunk? 03:03 Um, it's enough to make me use a lot more next year because everything's about a return on our investment. Yep. Especially this year. 03:11 And the other thing is, is, is if I can do a better job of efficiently using my fertility Yep. That's a home run efficiency. 03:19 It trumps everything this year. Yeah. Everybody's gonna come to you in this kind of a year. They're gonna say, man, I'm not sure if I'm ready 03:24 to experiment, Brad, because I got commodity markets are down a little bit. Can you sell me? Can you sell me on the ROI part of it? 03:31 Uh, sure. So really what we, our goal at Fluid Growth Solutions and to incorporate our activated carbon technology on your 03:39 farm, um, the reason we want to do that is because of different properties that it has within a grower season. 03:44 Stress mitigation, nutrient use, efficiency, um, soil interaction, root growth, root exploration. So there's many different benefits. 03:51 Um, we aim to do that by utilizing dollars that you're currently spending within your fertility program and implementing the carbon aspect of that. 04:02 So we'll take this carbon and we'll react, we'll react it with a phosphate source to displace partial or all of your phosphate. 04:10 Uh, same thing with potassium, zinc, sulfur, boron. So we're not just a, a carbon company. We're a carbon fertilizer reaction company 04:19 that customize it specific to you. Where are you gonna use it? Well, he hit the nail on the head reallocating resources. 04:25 The extreme ags all about reallocating. So if we can find a product that, you know, the sticker shock may be it's what, 04:30 20 bucks an acre average probably. So, you know something, But you're able to cut back the $20 on, on that. 04:36 You're getting less bang for your buck. Right. So you can reallocate something else and put that in. 04:40 Efficiency is a big deal on rice. We picked up 10 bushels even at $6 an acre. And we sold our rice this year for eight, 04:48 $6 a bushel. Yeah. $6 a bushel. Yeah. That's, that's three to one returns. So Answer me to this, um, you know, Chad 04:54 and I talk about a lot it, we talk about a lot of the different episodes we've recorded about reallocation. Where do you take away from to buy the 20 bucks ac? 05:01 You're gonna take that away from your fertility budget. Yeah. Dry or Bulk? 05:05 Dry fertilizes, liquid fertilized, wherever it comes from macros, because their product, the way they present their product 05:11 is, is more efficiency. So had you rather spend a hundred dollars on just say potassium Yeah. 05:17 And, and 30% of it work. Yeah. Or had you rather spend x amount of dollars and 50% of it work. 05:23 You know, so it's all about the ROI and where that fits in. And they proved that to me this year. 05:28 Do you think you see it in the plant? I mean, is there anything long term do you say, okay man, yeah, I kept yield, I got more yield, but, but I didn't 05:35 because I didn't put the fertilizer on. I didn't feed my soil. You know. Are you concerned about that? 05:40 No. I'm not worried about feeding my soil. I'm worried about feeding my plant. Yeah. I'm not worried about feeding the soil. 05:46 I'm, I, I'm a hundred percent about we can't change the balance of our soil. We can, it takes a long, long time. 05:52 Think about how many millions of years it's taken for that soil to be what it is. Yeah. You and me ain't gonna do it. 05:57 Not in our lifetime. Very easily. Not in Our lifetime. We can start to make small incremental changes, 06:02 but we're all about balancing the plant's needs at that time. That's what This does. Well and that fits 06:06 into soil health Yep. And fits into all the different, you know, carbon credits and the sustainability and regenerative ag. 06:14 This is, this is where we're going and it's working. Yeah. We're cutting back on some of our applications. 06:18 We know that we are pretty inefficient in terms of the uptake of the macros we've been putting out there for decades. 06:24 This is the part, this, this is part of the puzzle to cut back on fertility applications and not lose anything. Absolutely. Um, we're all about doing more, uh, with less. 06:35 We are in, in no form or fashion advocating to, uh, save on investment to, to increase our, you know, our bottom line. 06:44 We are, we are still meeting or exceeding yield goals while applying, in most cases 15 to 20% of the total volume of nutrients. 06:55 It's a different formulation and it matters. And, and we've, we've been able to prove that. Got it. So you're putting on every acre, 06:59 putting it on more acres than you did last Year. We're definitely gonna put it on more 07:03 acres after what we've seen. We're gonna put it on more acres. You're excited. It usually takes me two years to, to, to really verify. 07:08 I'm gonna change things up a little bit. I'm gonna, last year we were foer nutrition this year. I'm gonna try to put some in the beginning 07:15 and then some in Foer Nutrition. I'm gonna come up with a little bit diff of a different blend for my specific, 07:20 But it's generally always foliar. Uh, no, it it's both, both soil and foliar. Okay. Depending on what we're trying to do. 07:27 In this case it was foliar. So we basically reallocated fertility dollars with, with their fertility portfolio program and implemented our 07:35 Practice. How do I get your stuff? Um, so we are a, we are very much a hands-on type of company. There's uh, there's five different sales consultants, uh, 07:43 sales economists within FGS. We need, we need to be contacted. I can't go to my local elevator probably and get it. 07:48 I gotta get ahold of you. Fluid Growth solutions.com Got It. Fluid growth solutions.com. 07:53 His name is Brad Benson, temple Roads. Matt Miles, two of the big extreme ag guys. David Mason coming at you from Come, 07:58 come outta the classic 2024. Thanks for tuning in.