News
New partnership to enhance rice growers’ fertilizer programs
Sentera and Anheuser-Busch have announced a partnership to improve nitrogen-use efficiencies for rice growers.
Kris Poulson, co-founder of Sentera and director of business development and strategy, says the predictive modeling technology allows growers to get a baseline for an individual rice field’s nitrogen need. “Allowing a producer to apply just what is needed early on in the growing season,” he says. “Then there is a monitoring factor to this where we monitor plant health throughout the course of the year and make recommendations based on what nitrogen will be needed to better that crop.”
He tells Brownfield it also helps prevent overapplication of nitrogen, which can cause environmental and crop development issues. And, Poulson says, it makes growers better environmental stewards. “But still get the good outcome and get the quality product that is needed not only the brewing process, but overall for rice producers,” he says. “Whether that’s going into some kind of consumer package good product or just rice production in general.”
In April of 2018, Anheuser-Busch launched its US 2025 Sustainability Goals, which focused on four key areas: renewable electricity and carbon reduction, water stewardship, smart agriculture, and circular packaging. Smart agriculture refers to having 100 percent of AB’s direct farmers highly skilled, connected, and financially empowered to increase crop productivity, protect the environment, and deliver new innovations.
AUDIO: Kris Poulson, Sentera