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Agro Research International

ROI and Biological Products

ROI and Biological Products

The agriculture market has always been challenging, and maybe particularly so now, with pressures from declining market prices, the availability and cost of labor, new regulations, water restrictions, etc. Crop input prices are on the rise and regulations are restricting what growers can do going forward. Bottom line: Growers must find new ways to be successful.

Technology in agriculture, like in most parts of our lives, has changed how we do things and, maybe more importantly, enabled us to measure what we had only presumed or speculated about in the past. Back in 2008, Andaman Ag began introducing biological products to the market. It wasn’t the most receptive audience at that time. But while working overseas, I witnessed the benefits of biological products firsthand. One of the key takeaways was their ability to improve growers’ Return on Investment, or ROI, over time.

Primary and Secondary Metabolites, Climate Change, and Yields

Primary and Secondary Metabolites, Climate Change, and Yields

Plant metabolism basically can be divided into primary metabolism, which encompasses reactions and pathways vital for survival, and secondary metabolism, which fulfills a multitude of important functions for growth and development, including the interaction of the plant with environmental stresses.

Fungi to the Rescue

Fungi to the Rescue

The more we learn about fungi, the more we understand what an important role they perform in our ag work and the potential they have to deliver more significant positive impacts to the planet, including the agricultural industry.

Amazing Microbes

Amazing Microbes

People ask me how I define regenerative farming and I have one simple answer: it’s all about sequestering more carbon in our soils. Soil is the largest carbon store on Earth—holding more carbon than all plants and our atmosphere put together. And contrary to what was previously believed, it now appears that a considerable amount of this carbon—more than 50%—is introduced to the soil via the remains of dead microorganisms.

Fungi – Our Massive Carbon Pool

Fungi – Our Massive Carbon Pool

Plants and fungi struck a deal way back when. More than 400 million years ago, plants began trading sugar (carbon) made from sunlight for some of the soil nutrients gathered by mycorrhizal fungi. Nearly 90% of all land plants are now part of this arrangement, so scientists have estimated that the amounts of carbon flowing through underground fungi must be significant. However, they didn’t realize how much carbon was in the system until now.

Heat Stress Damage

Heat Stress Damage

Plant phenols, which are a type of secondary metabolite found in plants, can play a role in mitigating heat stress. Heat stress and plants can occur when temperatures rise above the optimal range for their growth and development, leading to various physiological and biochemical changes.

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays!

Wishing all my newsletter readers and subscribers a wonderful and safe holiday season! Please keep praying for more snow and rain! Looking forward to working with you in the New Year! If you like my newsletters, please purchase my book "From the Ground Up" on Amazon...

The Weakness in Agriculture

The Weakness in Agriculture

The definition of weakness: the state or quality of being weak; lack of strength, firmness, vigor, or the like; feebleness. I see weakness as a vulnerability or as something that can be exploited. The “weakness” in agriculture is the constant mining of our soils without doing anything to offset the damage being done. The results are all too common – increased disease and insect pressure, decreasing crop yield and reduced quality, erosion, compaction, nutrient imbalance, pollution, acidification, water holding loss or logging, dwindling soil diversity, and increased salinity are affecting soil across the globe. Yet, we continue along this path without clear considerations of the medium- and long-term consequences. There may even be a point where the cost to revitalize soils becomes prohibitive given the level of damage. This is a major weakness in agriculture and demands that we start to change our approach.

Mitigating Heat Stress

Mitigating Heat Stress

This current heat wave has put considerable stress on our crops. Under stress, crops become less efficient in processing nutrients as their metabolism (photosynthesis, respiration, and the synthesis and degradation of organic compounds) slows down.

Higher nighttime temperatures are especially concerning. It has been known since 1939 (Laude, et al.) that plants’ response to heat stress fluctuates between day and night – if you apply heat stress to a plant during the middle of the day, it is much more likely to survive than if you applied the same heat stress at night. Plants’ daily cycle of heat resistance is a strategy that protects plants from the hottest parts of the day while saving energy at night.

Fungi, Fertilizers and Plant Malnutrition

Fungi, Fertilizers and Plant Malnutrition

There is a debate whether synthetic fertilizers impact soil biology in a negative way. I think it’s a discussion worth having but it doesn’t tell the real story that needs to be made clear. In defense of synthetic fertilizers, 48% of the human population would not exist today without chemical fertilizers. It defeated hunger in the world. It has become the standard of agriculture for the last 70 years, brought about by nitrogen production for weapons used in WWI and WWII.