Every new growing season brings a new opportunity for achieving greater yields and ROI. And with up to 60% of yield being dependent on soil fertility¹, precise crop nutrition provides the foundation for a successful crop. Using an enhanced efficiency fertilizer (EEF) is one of the smartest ways to achieve balanced crop nutrition that sets the crop up for greater productivity and sustains the land for generations to come.
Why Enhanced Efficiency Matters
EEFs are designed to maximize nutrient availability, reduce loss and improve return on fertilizer investment (ROFI). While traditional fertilizers can leave nutrients vulnerable to tie-up, leaching or volatilization, EEFs help reduce those losses, keeping nutrients available when and where crops need them most. That means more consistent growth, stronger yields and better efficiency from your inputs.
EEFs are also an important component of 4R Nutrient Stewardship; with other 4R practices, the use of EEFs helps promote more sustainable farming practices. By delivering nutrients more efficiently and reducing potential losses to the environment, EEFs may also qualify for financial and technical assistance from USDA-NRCS programs such as the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) and the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP).
MicroEssentials®: An EEF Built for Better ROFI
MicroEssentials® from The Mosaic Company meets the definition of an EEF with slow-release characteristics as defined by the Association of American Plant Food Control Officials (AAPFCO). Elemental sulfur found within the product is converted to plant-available sulfate-sulfur throughout the growing season, ensuring season-long availability of this essential nutrient.
MicroEssentials stands apart because of its Fusion® Technology, packing nitrogen, phosphorus and sulfur into every granule. This ensures uniform nutrient distribution across the field, leading to improved phosphorus uptake in more plant-available forms. MicroEssentials SZâ also includes zinc in every granule to promote root development and crop quality.
In field trials, MicroEssentials consistently outperforms standard MAP or DAP blends, giving growers higher yields and stronger ROFI. With MicroEssentials, crops have stronger early growth, yield building later in the season and a better ROI from every granule.
For example, between 2017 and 2021, replicated third-party field studies demonstrated that MicroEssentials S10â increased corn yield 3.4 bu/ac over DAP + ammonium sulfate (AS) when averaged across 34 site years in high-yield environments (Figure 1).
Additional replicated small-plot, third-party field studies conducted between 2020 and 2022 also showed a consistent yield advantage for MicroEssentials over MAP. In fact, MicroEssentials S10 increased yield 3.7 bu/ac over MAP + AS averaged across 31 site-years in high-yield environments (Figure 2).
Start the Season With a Strong Foundation
When margins are tight, every input decision counts. Starting the year with an EEF like MicroEssentials helps ensure that your crop has the nutrients it needs all season long for a stronger ROFI. Adding a Bio Crop Nutrition product like BioPath® or PowerCoat® from Mosaic Biosciences to your MicroEssentials application can amplify fertilizer efficiencies. Organic acids and enzymes in the biological products further improve the solubilization of fertilizers into plant-available forms. This improves nutrient use efficiency and promotes healthy plant growth and overall crop productivity.
Learn more about MicroEssentials and calculate your ROI:
MicroEssentials ROI Calculator.
1 Stewart, et al. (2005)
