Dandelions are some of the worst yield-robbers on Aaron Stroh’s North Dakota farm, stealing nutrients and water from crops. The bright yellow menaces have tormented growers and weed scientists for decades.
According to one of the country’s first weed management guides, “The Weed Exterminator,” written by Ezra Michener in 1872, dandelions are among the hardest weeds to manage. “When we consider the tenacity of life, which the roots possess; their familiar adaptation to almost every soil, locality and growing crop; their rapid and continuous production of many seeded heads…we may well despair of ever being able to effect its extermination,” he penned.
Those words ring true today, Stroh says. Fortunately, he has better control options than tillage and the “high farming” (planting grasses and grain to smother weeds) Michener recommended.
The LaMoure no-till farmer uses herbicides in a tank mix with CHS Level Best® Pro, an adjuvant that improves herbicide uptake, translocation and efficacy to control dandelions, waterhemp and other weeds.
“Dandelions are pretty bad this year. They are hard to kill due to their long taproot,” Stroh says — a taproot up to 2 feet long, according to University of Minnesota Extension references.
“CHS Level Best Pro helps get the chemical into the leaf of the weed. It’s an extra expense that’s worth it for better control.”
Jacob Olson, right, an agronomist with CHS Dakota Plains Ag in LaMoure, N.D., discusses in-season weed control strategies with LaMoure farmer Aaron Stroh.
Farmer focus
Stroh and his brother Ryan grow corn, soybeans, spring wheat, rye, alfalfa and yellow peas. Stroh says he talks with Jacob Olson, his agronomist at the CHS Dakota Plains Ag LaMoure location, several times a week about agronomic issues and crop protection strategies.
While Stroh is focused on his own farm’s needs, those discussions and others like it across the country are the beginning of the CHS crop protection and crop nutrient product development and improvement process. The company gathers feedback year-round from growers, agronomists and retailers across the U.S. to develop and fine-tune agronomic solutions.
“The more you visit with your local agronomist, the more apt we are to get new products that work,” says Stroh. “That’s an advantage of working with a cooperative; they listen to their owners to implement solutions faster.”
A product’s path from concept to commercialization starts and ends at the farm, says Steve Carlsen, director of proprietary products with CHS.
“With our intimate connection with growers and their needs, we can develop products that solve problems they’re facing on the farm.”
Product discovery
Every year, the CHS agronomy team convenes agronomists from across the country to discuss agronomic issues.
Challenges such as weed control and disease management are aggregated, categorized and ranked. Participants gather in focus groups to narrow down problems and potential solutions based on numerous factors, including each issue’s reach and severity.
“It’s a needs-based approach,” Carlsen says. “They tell us, ‘We’re struggling to solve XYZ agronomic or fertility problems’ and we work backwards.
“We look at what we have in our crop protection pipeline and options from manufacturers. Then we turn to our research and development team to find or develop products that solve problems.
“We actively pursue hundreds of potential products annually,” Carsen adds. “Three to five things in each crop protection and nutrient category get a tremendous amount of resources.”
Soygreen®, distributed exclusively by CHS, is one example of a product that got its start when growers expressed concerns about poor soybean performance due to iron deficiency chlorosis (IDC) — soils were retaining iron so crops couldn’t access the iron they needed.
CHS researchers found a solution in Spain: an ortho-ortho EDDHA chelate used in orange and olive groves to make iron more available to trees growing in sandy soils. Scientists discovered it could solve iron deficiency problems in other crops.
“CHS tested the product and now, 20 years later, it’s still one of the standard treatments for IDC in soybeans,” says Vitor Favoretto, a technical products specialist with CHS.
Blake Murnan, director of seed-applied technologies with CHS, makes observations in a corn fertility trial at the CHS Crop Science Research and Development Center.
Testing in lab and greenhouse
The CHS research and development team doesn’t create new chemistry. “We’re not that type of technology company, doing molecular discovery,” Carlsen explains. “What we are good at is working with our hundred-plus suppliers to find technologies that solve problems, which includes putting together existing chemistries in unique ways.”
The road from need to solution can take one year or several years, he adds. Before products earn a place in the CHS agronomy portfolio, they must pass extensive testing to validate efficacy.
The CHS Crop Science Research and Development Center in Randolph, Minn., opened in early 2024 to speed development, evaluation and commercialization of agronomic products.
The center includes a state-of-the-art greenhouse, which includes six climate-controlled bays to replicate a range of growing conditions, and a formulations lab.
Prior to the center, CHS relied on field research during the growing season to test product concepts. Alissa Geske, greenhouse research lead, says evaluating plants year-round without having to worry if the weather will cooperate is a game-changer.
“In general, I would say it halves the testing time,” she says. “There’s also cost savings. Sending 20 products to the field for testing is a lot more expensive than initial evaluations in the greenhouse to narrow your pool to a handful for field validation.
“Now I’m only sending the best products for field testing, which will help increase grower confidence,” she continues.
Geske develops research methodology to evaluate everything from adjuvants and seed treatments to nutrient products and biostimulants. She works closely with Amy Carter, a product development chemist with CHS, who heads the formulations lab.
Carter researches and develops new chemical formulations and analyzes the impact of compounds on crops and the environment. She also assesses formulations for equipment, packaging and tank-mixing compatibility, viscosity, shelf life and more.
“We were relying on chemistry teams from companies we were purchasing ingredients from to do this work before,” says Brian Kuehl, director of product development with CHS. “Now we can overcome obstacles faster and improve quality control with our own chemistry expert verifying the products we’re selling.”
“My involvement with product development is very much cradle to grave,” says Carter. “I make sure a formulation is workable and effective and if a problem or new need arises, like a new pest or a tank-mix partner change, I help with product improvements.”
Field testing
After lab and greenhouse evaluations, product protypes are sent to the field for what the team calls ground truthing.
“A product may work great in controlled conditions, but when you take it to the field, you may not get the same results,” says Favoretto. “It’s important to see how it will interact with the environment.”
He and Audrey Conrad, a technical product specialist with CHS, are responsible for coordinating small- and large-scale field research trials with land grant universities and certified research organizations.
“By conducting research across the country, we know how products are going to perform in each of our geographies,” Conrad says.
In 2024, 178 field trials were conducted in 22 states using 68 test protocols. Typically, five to 15 products are tested in each trial.
Aaron Hoppe, CHS field research lead, develops the field-testing protocols — treatments, evaluations and special management instructions — and analyzes trial data.
Every protocol has specific research objectives concerning product performance. For an adjuvant used in herbicide applications, for example, researchers record weed-control efficacy from 0% to 100%. They may also assess use rate, tank-mix compatibility and crop injury. For seed treatments, nutrient products and biologicals, researchers may rate plant vigor, stand establishment and yield.
One or several years of data could be collected to determine the efficacy of experimental and existing products. “We use data to decide what products we ultimately want to move through the product pipeline and commercialize,” Hoppe says.
Growers often play a role again at the end of the product development process by participating in a soft launch before full commercialization, Hoppe adds.
“The more data generated from product testing, such as observations and yield, the more confidence farmers will have in products.”
Finding solutions
Dozens of crop protection and nutrient products have been developed by CHS to solve agronomic problems and boost production. Here are five innovative solutions:
- N-Edge® Pro nitrogen stabilizer protects against volatilization, leaching and denitrification in below- and above-ground applications. It reduces nitrogen loss by preventing the urease enzyme from converting urea to ammonia, which can be lost to volatilization. It slows activity of Nitrosomonas bacteria, which convert ammonium to nitrate that can be lost to denitrification and leaching, and keeps nitrogen available longer in the root zone.
- Trivar® EZ, a Levesol® enhanced granular micronutrient blend, mixes with dry fertilizer. The patented chelate is infused in the granule to boost micronutrient availability.
- Tapran® is a multifunctional, high-efficacy adjuvant that helps activate herbicides for better performance against tough-to-control weeds, including later-season weeds. It includes tallow amine, which helps degrade the leaf surface of weeds for better absorption of herbicides.
- Soiltrate™ soil and spray deposition agent improves efficacy and adsorption of soil-applied herbicides, improves drift control and enhances application efficiency.
- CHS Acuvant®, a NPE-free oil emulsion deposition and drift management agent, is designed to suppress off-target drift of pesticides applied by ground or air.
Check out the full Summer 2025 C magazine with this article and more.
Listen to an It Takes a Co-op™ podcast episode about the CHS crop product development process.
Find more agronomic solutions.