Beijing Leili: Working together to create a 3B new era, establish a balanced agricultural value community

Leili, a high-tech marine enterprise, was the first to become involved in algal biostimulant development in China, as well as the first company in the world to develop an algae biostimulant-based functional fertilizer. Over more than 28 years of growth, Leili has developed reputable products, such as Alga600, Leili2000, Algreen, AlgaSoil, DoubleWin, FucoVita, and BioGuardTD, which have been successfully sold to over 80 countries and regions around the world.

In 2014, Leili put forward the theory of balanced farming for the first time. Based on the theory of biology and ecology while using alga, soil, crops and human beings as study samples, Leili utilized modern biotechnology to counter the ecological imbalance of soil and crop nutritional disorders to achieve the balanced growth of crops, therefore, ensuring the quality and nutrition of agricultural products that maintain human health.

In an interview with AgroPages, Tang Jie (General Manager of Leili Group) introduced Leili’s customized solutions for each local market, according to different crops, climate conditions and major plantations, to create a balanced farming value community.

Q1: Can you please tell about your understanding of the 3B new era and Leili's role and position in the joint creation of this new era?

Since its establishment, Leili has focused on the R&D and field application of algae-derived biostimulants. From our first product, Leili2000, to our current 3B-based product system, we have combined innovation and application. The term, 3B, refers to biostimulants, biofertilizers and biopesticides. The 3B new era has already begun, with consumer’s increasing demanding safe and delicious agricultural products, as well as with an increased social awareness of extreme weather, high levels of food quantity and quality, a simplified planting system and growing perception among growers, and the series of measures taken by countries to develop sustainable agriculture. The 3B concept is now guiding the upgrading of agricultural production, with the aim of dealing with the issues of stress, salinity and alkalinity, as well as disease and the ban on the use of pesticides before harvesting. The 3B new era will be a “blue ocean” in the agri-inputs market.

In this new era, Leili has positioned itself as a 3B solutions provider, being committed to the continuous development and upgrading of 3B solutions and driven by the demand of consumers and planting efficiency. The aim is to continuously explore the effects of 3B solutions to solve the imbalanced problems affecting crop farming. The combined application of biotechnology has great potential, which is not an isolated sector. Meanwhile, Leili will offer its partners relevant services to support the high value fruit industry.

Q2: Please give a brief introduction of the technical principles of the 3B upgrading. Under the framework of reducing the use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers and improving agricultural quality, how promising are Leili’s 3B soil improvement complex technology and application prospects?

In 2020, we released our alginate saccharide, Leili FucoVita, targeting the high content alginic acid and fucoidan with special structures in algae. We have used biotechnology and new biochemical technology to create an alginate saccharide immunomodulator, which has a molecular polymerization of 2-20 and is capable of stimulating the potential of crops against diseases without creating substances that are harmful to the environment. In addition, it also helps crops resist drought, saline and alkali. A key factor is the fact that it reduces the use of pesticides, resists diseases and improves quality if used in the pre-harvest period when pesticide applications are forbidden. Leili’s test results in a tomato field in Shouguang, Shandong, revealed that tomatoes treated with conventional fertilizers were infected by severe viral diseases at an incidence rate of 56.67%, while the application of Leili FucoVita at a 1,000-fold dilution + 30% conventional fertilizer showed a disease incidence rate of 3.33%, controlling 96.67% of disease.

Moreover, Leili offers a 5 billion Trichoderma viride spore powder, Leili BioGuard TD. In 2018, Leili was the only seaweed fertilizer R&D company that participated in the “Chemical Fertilizer and Pesticide Use Reduction Research Program” and the “Potato-targeted Fertilization and Pesticide Use Reduction Research Program” under China’s 13th Five-Year Plan. 

With eight years of potato planting service experience and research and practical achievements, Leili can help realise the optimized reduction and replacement of fertilizers with natural active seaweed organics, having screened out the high-spore-number and disease-resistant biocontrol bacteria, Bacillus subtilis and Trichoderma viride, which have a potato bacterial wilt prevention rate of 20% to 25%, respectively, being also effective in controlling potato black nevus and scab. Considerable success was also achieved in its application on strawberry. At the Huairou organic planting base in Beijing, the product was applied on new strawberry varieties, such as Baili and Hongjuxing, preventing bacterial diseases and reducing dead seedlings and rotten fruits. The plant survival rate was also up to over 95%. The two products will enter the European market in 2022.

In fact, we have seen a broader range of application. Recently, good news came from Hebei Province, where a partner applied Leili’s solutions throughout the process of brown melon production without using any chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Their melons reached the purchase standard of the Shenzhen Pagoda Industrial (Group) Corporation. The central part of the melons, which had a Brix of 16 degrees while the side part is 11 degrees, tasted like rock candy. The entire melon plants appear very healthy without powdery mildew or other diseases, and none were showed premature growth. This is a successful case of an application carefully handled by the farm via scientific planting management and the innovative and high-frequency use of Leili’s Alga600, Soft Guard (applying at 10-fold) and the novel product, FucoVita, meaning that there are many new opportunities for Leili’s 3B solutions, which will help growers reduce costs and labor and achieve higher quality and yield. After more applications, there will be greater benefits to the upgrading of local industry.  

Q3: Please explain the core advantages of the raw materials, core supply chain and product line of Leili.

Sargassum is the main raw material in Leili’s algae biostimulants. In line with our R&D, we extracted chitosan oligosaccharides from shrimp and crab shells and cultivated probiotics and marine minerals with marine nutrients. Leili’s core advantage lies in its technological system and channel advantages based on balanced farming. We have more than 30 core technologies in biostimulants and we have established marketing networks in 80 countries. The technological system of balanced farming is originated for marine biotechnology-based agricultural application, which is defined according to their functions as follows:

- Crop regulator products: To regulate the vegetative growth and reproductive growth of crops through functions such as promoting flowering, protecting fruiting, controlling flourishing, increasing saccharide and extending shelf life, as well as to improve nutrients accumulation, ensure the original taste of fruits and vegetables, and improve commodity value. Such products include Alga600 and Leili2000.

- Crop care products: Used for crop issues related to immunity declination, plague prevention, stress resistance and crop protection for healthy growth, to prevent bacterial, fungal, viral and physiological diseases, which will contribute to the recovered growth of crops after floods, droughts, cold weather and pesticide damage. Such products include SoftGuard, FucoVita and BioGuard TD.

- Crop nutrition balancing products: To solve crop problems related to yield and quality decline, as well as low nutrient use efficiency caused by the unbalanced application of chemical fertilizers. Such products include Leili DoubleWin.

- Soil amendment products: To deal with the declining quality of arable land and improve soil and beneficial microorganisms. Such products include AlgaSoil, ChitinSoil and BacilluSoil.

Q4: Can you explain how Leili has created a balanced farming value community through specific case studies, such as potatoes, rice and bananas?

The balanced farming value community was proposed by Leili in 2019 to offer its partners a standardized, multi-level and diversified industrial chain service via the integration of resources, to improve the quality and green and brand levels of agricultural services. Currently, Leili focuses on providing services for high-value fruits, such as melon, grape and strawberry. 

In 2014, Leili put forward the theory of balanced farming for the first time. Based on the theory of biology and ecology while using alga, soil, crops and human beings as study samples, Leili utilized modern biotechnology to counter the ecological imbalance of soil and crop nutritional disorders to achieve the balanced growth of crops, therefore, ensuring the quality and nutrition of agricultural products that maintain human health.

To fully promote the balanced farming theory, in 2018, the Leili Group launched a “100 Superb Fruits” global plan, which is a bilateral or multilateral fruit industry chain program initiated at Fruit Logistica in Berlin, Germany, in February 2019, and supported by the China Quality Agricultural Product Development Service Association. A subsequent strategic partnership was established with the Shenzhen Pagoda Industrial (Group) Corporation and the iFresh Asia Fruit and Vegetable Industry Expo, which has received positive feedback from more than 100 fruit industry players both at home and abroad. The global plan assumes responsibility for quality improvement, increasing farmers’ income and ensuring consumer health while operating in cooperation with local and international high-quality fruit bases, enterprises, service providers, purchasers, industry media and associations to create standardized orchards. The aim is to improve fruit quality, produce reputable fruits, support brand development on a sustainable basis, and enable growers, service providers and purchasers within the industrial chain to enjoy the value offered by the win-win cooperation in the fruit industrial chain.

For this reason, Leili established a laboratory and a soil crop testing center to provide data support to the fruit quality improvement program, under the framework of balanced farming. At present, a standardized planting management mechanism is being completed and perfected to support high-quality fruit production. After the application of Leili’s solutions, Musang King Durian was recently brought into the “100 Superb Fruits” global plan. Furthermore, a cooperation agreement was reached between Miss Fresh and Mitong Watermelon and Yangfeng Crisp Persimmon. 

Q5: Can you talk about Leili’s product deployment in other types of applications, such as seed treatment and soil amendment? 

In terms of soil amendment, last year, Leili released a technological achievement after 11 years of research and development, a marine polysaccharide-microbe complex for soil amendment targeting soil constraints. The results were appraised and evaluated by an expert group, which regarded it as a “scientific and technological achievement,” concluding, “The achievement has, in general, reached an internationally advanced level.”

This achievement also offers a new approach and a product for soil acidification regulation, aggregate structure construction and the prevention of soil borne diseases, having established an application system and solved the problem of the growth of high-value crops caused by soil constraints. It is a breakthrough in the key technological development, such as the soil aggregate structure construction and heavy metal passivation through algal polysaccharide, chitosan and the antagonism on harmful microbes in the soil via Trichoderma viride, Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus amyloliquefaciens. As a result, a marine polysaccharide-microbe complex improvement system was developed. Currently, the upgrading of soil amendment has brought the technical achievement to commercialization, resulting in the release of products such as Leili AlgaSoil BioGuard TD, BacilluSoil and Healthiper, which are expected to effectively improve land production efficiency, land output rate and resource utilization ratio, to restore the soil and improve the quality of agricultural products, generating better economic benefits for growers.

Q6: Any further thoughts and suggestions on the healthy development of global agriculture?

Reducing the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides is a general trend. The COVID-19 pandemic will also change the patterns of the agricultural industry and people’s consumption consciousness to a great extent, meaning that the development and application of products must be more efficient. Today’s agricultural development is also the integrated development of the industrial chain, as well as a chain-to-chain development and an upgrading of the whole chain, requiring joint efforts and contributions from everyone involved to help achieve the sustainable development of global agriculture.

Any inquiry, please contact: Mr.Bill Duan

Tel: +86.186.1179.9866

Email: overseas@leili.com 

This interview was originally published in the magazine 2021 Biologicals Special. 

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