Biologicals often get credit for their benefits to crop health, but they also provide numerous benefits to soil health. In recent years, soil health has been a focal point of the regenerative agriculture movement and is receiving more attention from farmers and companies alike. With the increased focus, it is becoming more evident that Soil is the Source™ of crop health. During the product development process, it’s easy for companies to get involved in the yield increase and other crop benefits and completely miss what the new biological innovation is doing for soil health.
Despite flooding the headlines in recent years, biologicals have a long history in the agriculture industry. However, their benefits to soil health are just being realized. Improving microbial activity in soils and utilizing its output will enhance soil health and crop production, and many times biologicals have the potential to do just that.
To discover the benefits of biologicals to soil health, the protocols and field trials have to be set to discover all the insights on a new biological product. A company like AgriThority® can bring a different perspective to the product development process based on our experience with more than 238 biological products.
Biological products can:
- Stimulate and enhance the microbiome.
- Feed the microbiome.
- Shift the microbiome population.
- And leverage the microbiome to provide supplemental nitrogen or to improve phosphate availability.
The benefits of improving soil microbiome are numerous. Microorganisms are necessary for most soil ecosystem functions and nutrient cycling. They degrade various elements, which control the nutrient release to the crops. The nutrients are then available to make the plants healthier and more resilient, which increases yield. However, there are also microorganisms in the soil that cause diseases, have the potential to develop pesticide resistance, and can reduce soil quality. This is why it is important to understand the interaction between biological products and the microbiome because the soil ecosystem is all about balance.
But getting the grower from soil health benefits to ROI on a new product can be challenging. By developing Best Management Practices and implementing grower education, companies can lead the charge in changing agricultural paradigms to reach the next phase of ag production.
However, the focus on soil health is not only for crop production. Many ongoing studies are looking at the potential of using the soil microbiome to accelerate carbon sequestration, improve drought and heat tolerance, and even improve food nutritional quality.
To tap into the AgriThority® biological expertise and discuss your product, reach out to the team today. With internationally recognized leaders connected to more than 400 local specialists in a worldwide network, we bring deep experience testing more than 670 technologies across 3700+ field trial locations for 250+ multi-national, mid-size, and start-up companies.