AgroPages-Plant Impact launches the Pi Quality Standard, industry first for transparency on efficacy, innovation, safety and compliance-Agricultural news

Plant Impact launches the Pi Quality Standard, industry first for transparency on efficacy, innovation, safety and compliance

Plant Impact plc has announced the launch of the Pi Quality Standard. A first for the fast developing biostimulant industry sector; this standard sets demanding and transparent requirements in product efficacy, innovation, safety and compliance.

Why? Our growing industry sector is awash with confusing claims but shares very little data, resulting in scepticism that holds back adoption of new technologies which can make a big difference to farm yields and grower income. We believe that we need to step forward to shine a light on the efficacy, innovation, safety and regulatory compliance needed to push the industry forward.

The management and R&D teams of Plant Impact have many years of experience working in the agrochemical and seed industries, and they are drawing on this background to create an industry-leading framework.

The Quality Standard standard will only be awarded to Pi products that have completed comprehensive multi-year and multi-location trial programmes providing independently proven, statistically significant and transparent data on efficacy. This and other criteria concerning safety and compliance, align with and exceed current industry guidelines and legal requirements to create a robust standard that they will monitor and report against annually.

Veritas® and Fortalis® – awarded first Quality Standards

At launch, Plant Impact has announced that its soybean foliar sprays, Veritas® and Fortalis®, are its first products to achieve this standard. Other established and pipeline products are undergoing focused R&D trial work to build the volume of data required for the standard.

Veritas® is consistently delivering a 4-8% yield uplift per hectare to soybean growers in Brazil and this season, new product Fortalis® has proven an average 4.8 bushel per acre uplift when used with a fungicide by US soybean farmers.

John Brubaker, CEO of Plant Impact said “If crop enhancement technology and biostimulants more broadly are to make a global impact on the yield gap, we and our peers in this innovative industry sector must adopt transparent and robust practices. Only then will we build trust among hard-working and savvy growers. This Quality Standard marks our commitment to helping growers identify reliable new crop enhancement technologies in a fast-evolving and potentially confusing new sector.”