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Jozef Michrina
Senior Vice President, Global Marketing at Acadian Plant Health™
Editor’s Note: Facing the dual challenges of climate change and soil degradation, Acadian Plant Health™, armed with the Ascophyllum nodosum from the North Atlantic and the BioSwitch™ technology, is ushering in a new era of agricultural resilience. This interview with Jozef Michrina, Senior Vice President,Global Marketing at Acadian Plant Health™, delves into how the company ensures quality and sustainable development through its vertically integrated model, showcases the innovation in seed treatment technology and the precision of its Abiotic Stress Management (ASM) product portfolio, and elucidates the strategies for driving global sustainable agriculture through strong partnerships with BASF and Koppert. Moreover, it provides an in-depth analysis of Acadian’s expansion strategies in emerging markets such as China and Brazil, as well as its actions to promote industry standardization by leveraging new regulations like the EU Fertilising Products Regulation. The interview also looks ahead to Acadian’s exploration of AI and digital technology integration in R&D, production, and promotion, outlining its vision for empowering global agriculture to withstand climate crises, unlock crop potential, and safeguard soil health.
Acadian Plant Health™ is a global leader in the field of seaweed-based biostimulants, with a distinct advantage rooted in our proprietary use of Ascophyllum nodosum, sustainably harvested from the tidal zones of the North Atlantic. This unique environment naturally enhances the seaweed’s bioactive profile, resulting in consistently high levels of key compounds such as polysaccharides, betaines, and phytohormones. Our extraction process, developed and refined over more than 40 years, preserves these compounds in their most effective form, delivering reliable, high-performance results for farmers across diverse geographies and cropping systems.
What sets Acadian apart is our full vertical integration—from marine resource management and harvesting to extraction, formulation, and global distribution. This allows us to maintain complete traceability and ensure the quality, consistency, and sustainability of every batch we produce. We are also recognized for our science-driven approach, with robust R&D partnerships and field validation that demonstrate our products’ ability to improve soil health, increase nutrient uptake, enhance crop resilience to abiotic stress (including drought, salinity, and heat), and support stronger root systems and yield stability.
As global agriculture faces unprecedented challenges from climate change and soil degradation, our portfolio has rapidly evolved to meet the growing demand for regenerative and climate-smart agricultural solutions. Our core partnerships with Koppert and BASF has expanded our footprint in key markets, and the opening of our Formulation Centre of Excellence in Malvern, UK, has enabled us to optimize compatibility with global crop protection systems.
We are actively expanding into high-growth, emerging markets. In China, where demand for biostimulants is accelerating beyond high-value fruits and vegetables into broadacre crops, we are leveraging new local partnerships and tailored formulations. Similarly, across Asia and Latin America—particularly in Brazil—we are deepening our investment in regional product development, regulatory readiness, and localized agronomic support. These initiatives reflect our strategic focus on scalable, sustainable growth while remaining committed to the highest standards of environmental stewardship, performance, and innovation.
Acadian Plant Health™ offers a robust portfolio of seaweed extract-based biostimulants derived exclusively from Ascophyllum nodosum, sustainably harvested from the North Atlantic. Our product lines include foliar sprays, soil drenches, and seed-applied formulations—all developed to address the unique needs of crops at various growth stages and under diverse environmental conditions. The common denominator across all our products is BioSwitch™, our proprietary technology platform that unlocks the full power of Ascophyllum nodosum. BioSwitch™ ensures every Acadian product delivers consistent, high-performance bioactivity by preserving and optimizing key compounds through our proprietary extraction process and formulation expertise.
The advantages of our seaweed-based biostimulants go beyond traditional growth support. They help drive root development, improve nutrient uptake, stimulate beneficial soil microbiota, and increase plant resilience to abiotic stress such as drought, heat, and salinity. Our solutions are proven across a wide range of crops—from cereals and row crops to fruits, vegetables, and permanent crops—and are compatible with conventional, regenerative, and climate-smart farming systems.
Looking to the future, Acadian is expanding the power of its biostimulant portfolio through innovation. We are introducing next-generation products that combine our seaweed extract with complementary active ingredients to amplify plant response under increasingly challenging environmental conditions. These combination technologies are designed to target specific agronomic outcomes, such as enhancing stress priming, protecting from oncoming stress, or helping the plant recover from unexpected stress.
Acadian’s seaweed extract product line continues to evolve, powered by science, data, and a commitment to delivering more from every application—helping farmers protect yield, enhance resilience, and unlock the full potential of their crops and soils.
Acadian has made meaningful progress in the seed treatment space by leveraging our technology to bring a new layer of value to early crop development. Traditionally, seed treatments have focused on biotic protection—using fungicides or insecticides to guard against pathogens and pests. Acadian’s approach expands this value by introducing biostimulant-based solutions that help protect the seed from the moment it’s planted.
Our current portfolio includes a seed treatment formulation based solely on Ascophyllum nodosum extract, designed to deliver early vigor, enhanced root development, and improved uniformity. This solution is formulated specifically for compatibility with seed treatment equipment and chemical actives, allowing it to be seamlessly integrated into existing seed treatment programs alongside traditional crop protection products. By doing so, we enable growers to gain both biotic and abiotic protection in a single application.
Building on this foundation, we’ve introduced a second innovation under our Abiotic Stress Management (ASM) portfolio: a next-generation seed treatment that combines our seaweed extract with an additional active ingredient to provide enhanced stress tolerance. This mulit-mode technology is designed to strengthen plant performance under increasingly common environmental stressors such as drought, heat, and salinity. It represents a significant advancement in our ability to protect and prime crops during their most vulnerable early stages.
Both solutions reflect Acadian’s deep internal formulation expertise and commitment to science-driven innovation. Our seed treatments are developed for stability, compatibility, and performance—whether applied alone or as part of an integrated seed care program. As we continue to expand these offerings globally, we are focused on tailoring seed treatment solutions by crop, region, and stress profile to help growers achieve more resilient, productive outcomes from the very beginning of the season.
Critically, these innovations are powered by Ascophyllum nodosum—a regenerative marine resource harvested using environmentally responsible practices. As part of our sustainability commitment, we ensure that the seaweed used in our formulations is renewable, traceable, and harvested in a way that protects marine ecosystems for future generations. By building our technologies on this foundation, we help growers adopt more climate-smart practices—without compromising performance.
Acadian’s biostimulants play a valuable role in enhancing fertilizer performance, particularly when it comes to improving nutrient use efficiency (NUE) and supporting long-term soil health. When applied in tandem with granular or liquid fertilizers, our Ascophyllum nodosum-based extracts help optimize nutrient uptake by stimulating root development and increasing microbial activity in the root zone. This results in more efficient nutrient absorption, reduced leaching or runoff, and improved nutrient availability to the plant.
In addition to supporting nutrient efficiency, Acadian’s biostimulants contribute directly to building soil health. Our products enhance microbial activity and support better soil structure through improved root architecture and exudate profiles. Over time, this leads to greater nutrient cycling capacity, better soil aggregation, and more resilient soil ecosystems—creating a healthier foundation for crop production.
We work closely with our customers and partners to co-develop customized solutions that align with fertilizer programs. Our global technical team provides hands-on support, including formulation guidance, in-field validation, and agronomic consultation to ensure optimal outcomes. Whether the goal is to improve nutrient uptake efficiency in challenging soils or to design a more sustainable fertility program, Acadian’s biostimulants are a proven, science-backed tool for building better soils and getting more out of every fertilizer input.
Acadian’s Abiotic Stress Management (ASM) product portfolio was developed to help farmers proactively manage one of agriculture’s greatest and growing challenges: extreme weather. From drought and salinity to temperature extremes and erratic rainfall, these conditions increasingly threaten the survivability of crops.
What sets the ASM portfolio apart is the next-generation formulation approach—combining Ascophyllum nodosum with complementary active ingredients to target specific abiotic stressors with precision. These multi-mode of action products are designed to work across different crops and cropping systems to strengthen plant resilience, safeguard establishment, and protect yield stability under pressure.
Our collaboration with BASF is a strong example of this technology in action. Together, we are conducting multi-year field trials across a range of geographies and crops to validate the performance of our ASM technologies when used in integrated crop programs.
By offering science-based, field-validated tools that fit into existing agronomic programs, Acadian is helping farmers reduce risk, protect their investments, and grow more resilient crops—regardless of the weather.
Acadian’s global R&D and production network is designed to deliver high-performance, science-backed biostimulants that are truly compatible with modern agricultural systems. Our vertically integrated model includes sustainable harvesting operations in the North Atlantic, proprietary extraction facilities, and formulation development hubs—including our Formulation Centre of Excellence in Malvern, UK. This integrated approach allows us to control quality from ocean to application, while advancing innovation that meets the demands of complex global markets.
One of the key technical challenges we’ve addressed is the historical limitation of biostimulants in real-world farming systems. Traditionally, biostimulants were added into tank mixes or programs as an afterthought—with little consideration for formulation science or compatibility. This often led to poor stability, inconsistent performance, or incompatibility with crop protection or fertilizer inputs. At Acadian, we’ve taken a different path: developing our products with full formulation intent from the start. That means ensuring our seaweed extracts are stable across a wide pH range, non-reactive with common ag chemistries, and physically and chemically compatible with a wide range of crop inputs. Through rigorous testing protocols—including shelf-life trials, and in-field compatibility assessments—we ensure each product performs not only on its own, but as part of a complete agronomic solution.
We also collaborate closely with global partners to validate product performance under local conditions. Our R&D team operates across multiple continents and cropping systems, and we are constantly generating field data that informs new formulations and improvements.
By investing in true formulation science—not just extraction—we’ve positioned our biostimulants as reliable, scalable tools for modern agriculture. Our commitment is to deliver products that work consistently, integrate smoothly, and create value across every link of the agricultural value chain.
At Acadian, we see the rapid advancement of digital technology and artificial intelligence (AI) as a powerful opportunity to enhance the way we innovate, operate, and deliver value to our customers. While our biostimulant solutions are rooted in decades of scientific expertise and field validation, we are actively exploring how AI and digital tools could play a transformative role in our future.
We are looking ahead at how AI could be incorporated across key areas of our business—from accelerating research and development to optimizing production processes and supporting more data-driven, customized solutions for our partners. The potential to use AI for predictive modeling, formulation design, and sustainability analytics is significant.
As the agricultural industry becomes more digitally connected and climate challenges grow more complex, we believe AI can serve as a critical enabler—helping us respond faster, improve precision, and scale our innovations globally. While we remain grounded in scientific rigor and practical outcomes, we are committed to embracing digital advancements that support our long-term mission: to help grow more resilient crops and regenerate soil health through the power of biostimulants.
Yes, between 2022 and 2025, Acadian Plant Health established two strategic global partnerships—with Koppert and BASF—that are accelerating our international growth and reinforcing our position as a leader in sustainable agricultural innovation. These collaborations are built not only on aligned values but also on the shared ambition to scale the impact of biological solutions worldwide.
With Koppert, our partnership is focused on expanding the breadth and impact of their biological crop protection portfolio. By bringing together Acadian’s expertise in biostimulants with Koppert’s strength in integrated biocontrol management, we are creating synergistic solutions that support plant vigor and improve farm resilience. A key aspect of this collaboration is Koppert’s extensive distribution network across North, South America, and Europe which allows us to bring our technologies to more growers and regions, faster and more effectively.
Our partnership with BASF is a global collaboration focused on exploring the synergies between Acadian’s biostimulants and BASF’s comprehensive agricultural portfolio. This includes not just their BioSolutions but also their broader seed and crop protection platforms. Through this partnership, our biostimulants are being rigorously tested in combination with BASF’s technologies across a variety of crops and regions to unlock greater performance, efficiency, and sustainability. By integrating biostimulants strategically into their programs, BASF and Acadian are working together to offer farmers science-based tools that enhance crop productivity while promoting long-term plant health.
Both partnerships exemplify our commitment to working with global leaders to co-develop solutions that go beyond individual products—supporting holistic, sustainable agricultural systems. By combining innovation, technical validation, and trusted market channels, these collaborations are helping us extend our global footprint and deliver meaningful impact to farmers striving to meet the dual challenge of performance and sustainability.
Acadian Plant Health welcomes the introduction of clearer regulatory frameworks for biostimulants, such as the EU Fertilising Products Regulation (FPR) and the proposed U.S. Plant Biostimulant Act. These developments represent a significant step forward in legitimizing biostimulants as a distinct and essential category within agricultural inputs—recognizing their role in supporting sustainable crop production.
As a global company, we’ve taken a proactive approach to regulatory readiness. In Europe, we have invested in aligning our product development, documentation, and labeling standards with FPR requirements. This includes meeting rigorous criteria for safety, efficacy, and traceability to secure CE marking under the new regulation. In the U.S., we support the Plant Biostimulant Act and are actively engaged in industry dialogue to ensure a science-based, harmonized framework that allows for meaningful benefit claims while maintaining product integrity and farmer trust.
These regulations are having a positive impact on the industry by driving standardization, transparency, and product quality. They help differentiate credible, well-researched biostimulant technologies—like those offered by Acadian—from unverified or inconsistent products, which have historically challenged market confidence. With clearer definitions and claim pathways, growers and distributors can make more informed decisions, and regulators can better support responsible innovation.
Moreover, standardized regulations facilitate global market access. By creating consistent expectations across regions, these frameworks reduce barriers to entry and enable companies like Acadian to bring proven, high-quality solutions to more farmers around the world—faster and more efficiently.
In our view, these regulatory shifts are not constraints—they are catalysts for trust, innovation, and industry maturity. As biostimulants continue to play a growing role in the future of agriculture, Acadian is committed to meeting and exceeding the evolving standards that support science-based, sustainable crop inputs.
Our collaboration with the World Ocean Council to feature Acadian in the Blue Horizons film series marked an important step in raising global awareness about the powerful role of sustainably harvested seaweed in advancing sustainable agriculture. The film showcases our commitment to responsible marine resource management and highlights how our seaweed-based biostimulant technology supports both crop resilience and soil regeneration—bridging the worlds of ocean stewardship and food security.
This cross-industry collaboration has allowed us to tell our story in a way that resonates beyond the agriculture sector. By participating in Blue Horizons, we’re helping to educate policymakers, environmental leaders, and the public about the vital connection between healthy oceans and sustainable land-based food systems. It has also positioned seaweed not just as a marine resource, but as a powerful, nature-based solution for some of agriculture’s most pressing challenges—making the connection tangible and engaging through visual storytelling.
Beyond the film series, Acadian is actively investing in innovative communication strategies to elevate the visibility and credibility of seaweed-based technologies. This includes partnerships with global sustainability leaders, participation in international forums on climate and food systems, and the development of science-based content that demystifies biostimulants for a broader audience. We also work closely with our customers and partners to co-create localized communications that demonstrate real on-farm value.
Through integrated storytelling—rooted in science, sustainability, and impact—we are helping shift perceptions of biostimulants from niche innovation to essential input. Our goal is not only to promote Acadian’s leadership, but to champion the broader role of seaweed in regenerative agriculture and circular economies.
Acadian’s active participation in initiatives like GLOBALG.A.P., the Global Seaweed Coalition, and the 4 per 1000 Initiative reflects our deep commitment to advancing regenerative agriculture and aligning our sustainability strategy with global priorities. These collaborations are not simply symbolic—they provide vital platforms for knowledge exchange, standards development, and joint action that amplify the impact of our seaweed-based technologies.
Through GLOBALG.A.P., we align with international best practices for good agricultural management and traceability—ensuring products support farm-level sustainability, food safety, and environmental responsibility. Our involvement in the Global Seaweed Coalition connects us to a broader community of marine stewards and researchers working to promote sustainable seaweed harvesting, innovation, and governance. And by joining the 4 per 1000 Initiative, we’ve reinforced our commitment to enhancing soil heath as a pathway to climate mitigation—a natural fit with the soil health benefits of our biostimulants.
We believe seaweed extracts offer unique, untapped potential in addressing climate change. As a marine biomass, Ascophyllum nodosum is a renewable, fast-growing resource that requires no freshwater, land, or synthetic inputs to thrive. By participating in these global collaborations, Acadian is not only shaping responsible seaweed practices from ocean to field—we’re contributing to the global effort to decarbonize agriculture and build more resilient, regenerative food systems. These partnerships allow us to extend our impact, contribute to collective solutions, and ensure that our sustainability strategy is both scientifically grounded and globally relevant.
Over the next 3–5 years, we anticipate a convergence of critical agricultural trends that will significantly influence the development and application of biostimulants. Chief among these is the rising demand for regenerative and climate-smart practices, the growing pressure to reduce reliance on synthetic inputs, and the rapid advancement of precision agriculture technologies. At the same time, evolving regulatory frameworks and sustainability expectations from food value chains are pushing for greater transparency, efficacy, and scientific validation in input technologies.
Acadian is actively positioning itself at the forefront of these shifts through a focused strategy of continued innovation. Our R&D efforts are centered on advancing both the biological complexity and formulation precision of our biostimulant products. We are developing next-generation formulations that combine our technology with other bioactive ingredients to deliver more targeted and measurable agronomic benefits. These innovations are designed not only for performance but also for full compatibility within integrated crop management programs, including seed treatments and crop protection regimens.
Looking ahead, Acadian’s strategy is guided by a clear vision: to be the global leader in biostimulant innovation, offering solutions that improve performance and sustainability. By combining decades of expertise with a relentless focus on science, formulation, and partnership, we are well positioned to lead the next era of biostimulant development—one defined by precision, integration, and regenerative impact.
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This article will be published in the magazine of 2025 Biologicals Special. Follow this magazine to read more articles/stories.
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