Farmers are adding microbial nitrogen to their crop nutrition strategy to enhance overall plant and soil health. Dairy Stream host Joanna Guza and guest Karsten Temme, co-founder of Pivot Bio, discuss the complexities of traditional nitrogen use, what is a microbe, application, research, challenges and the future of crop nutrition. Dairy Stream host Joanna Guza and Karsten discuss for following topics below:

• Complexities surrounding traditional methods of nitrogen 


• What is a microbe


• Microbe application rates 


• Microbes and conservation efforts 


• Availability of microbial nitrogen 


• Research on microbial nitrogen


• Economics and ROI


• Challenges this technology faces, regulatory constraints 


• Future trends 

Special thanks to Pivot Bio for sponsoring this episode.

About the guest:

• Karsten Temme founded Pivot Bio in 2010 with his friend and colleague, Alvin Tamsir, driven by a desire to create meaningful change and solve one of the planet’s biggest challenges. After completing his graduate research on enhancing the nitrogen-fixing potential of soil-borne microbes, he and Alvin focused on creating a microbial nitrogen to replace a portion of synthetic nitrogen. He earned his Bachelor's of Science and Master of Science in biomedical engineering from the University of Iowa and his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley. 

Resources on microbial nitrogen:

• How it works - Pivot Bio PROVEN 40


• 2023 Impact Report 


• Customer stories: Straight from the farm 


• Building better nitrogen: About the technology

This podcast is co-produced by the Dairy Business Association and Edge Dairy Farmer Cooperative, sister organizations that fight for effective dairy policy in Wisconsin and Washington, D.C.  Become a sponsor, share an idea or feedback by emailing podcast@dairyforward.com.