AgroPages-Biostimulants recognized as key opportunity for enhancing agriculture production and sustainability goals-Agricultural news

The Sustainability Consortium identifies the use of biostimulants in grains, oilseeds, produce, nuts and other specialty crops as an improvement opportunity for nutrient management, crop yield and optimizing agricultural land management.

Biological crop inputs are increasingly being recognized for their ability to enhance yields and crop quality while also providing the critical sustainability benefits of improved soil health and nutrient utilization. Most recently,The Sustainability Consortium identified the use of biostimulants as an opportunity to improve yields and reduce the need for creating new agricultural production acres through deforestation and other land conversions.

The Sustainability Consortium (TSC) is an independent global organization dedicated to using the best sustainability science to help companies make the everyday products we use better and more sustainable. TSC's Food, Beverage, and Agriculture working group is currently the largest working group within TSC, in recognition of the critical challenges agriculture faces in sustaining a rapidly growing worldwide population with finite natural resources.

In updates to its 2017 category sustainability profiles for crops ranging from grains and grapes to nuts and berries, TSC recommends the use of biostimulants as a means to improve key performance indicators of nutrient management, yield and land conversion.

"The research around the use of biostimulants points to clear opportunities for reducing key impacts related to agricultural production," said Amanda Raster, Research Associate and Agricultural Specialist at TSC. "Incorporating biostimulants into our improvement opportunities reflects TSC's commitment to science as the foundation for our work. This effort ultimately strengthens the quality and impact of our toolkits by reflecting new scientific findings."

Dr. Ry Wagner, CEO of Agrinos, said TSC's recommendation to leverage biostimulants underscores the rapidly increasing recognition of the role biological crop inputs can have in agriculture production and sustainability.

"As a category, microbials and biostimulants are still relatively new in the minds of many producers, certainly in comparison to traditional chemical inputs," said Wagner. "But our biological technology and product platforms are actually quite mature and very well studied. This is a very exciting time for agriculture, as our understanding of the soil microbiome has increased dramatically and led to a revolution with innovative biological crop solutions that are addressing critical needs in agricultural productivity and environmental sustainability."

Agrinos is a biological crop input provider committed to improving the productivity and sustainability of modern agriculture. Agrinos' range of biofertilizers and biostimulant products helps farmers practice profitable agriculture by providing increased crop productivity, improved efficiency of conventional fertilizer and a reduced environmental footprint.

Terry Stone, Agrinos vice president of regulatory and sustainability, said biological products offer several benefits beyond enhanced yield. "Data from our laboratory studies and field trials show that Agrinos' proprietary High Yield Technology (HYT) products improve nutrient and water utilization and reduce carbon emissions."

Stone notes the 2017 TSC recommendations for biostimulants are in keeping with an increased recognition from other organizations of the role biological crop inputs are playing. Earlier this year, the BioPesticide Industry Allianceannounced its name change to Biological Products Industry Alliance. The name change reflects the group's expanded focus to a wider range of science-based biological products that create value around the world, with the notable inclusion of biostimulants.

Agrinos Biostimulant Platform

Agrinos' biostimulant platform, which includes HYT B and HYT C product lines, delivers complex nutrient solutions which support healthy plant function across a variety of crops and growing conditions.

HYT B products (marketed as B Sure in the U.S.) are unique nutrient solutions that increase the activity of multiple critical metabolic and photosynthetic pathways in the crop. The nutrients found in HYT B including carbon, nitrogen, true protein, free amino acids and other micronutrients re essential to plant development and are known to boost plant metabolism, stimulate root growth, and support plant health and vigor during critical growth stages. HYT B products also provide a source of nitrogen that is highly bioavailable and complements inorganic nitrogen. Use of HYT B improves a plant's capacity to resist stressful growing conditions, such as drought and excessive heat or cold, to support improved yields.