Micronutrients Gain Ground: AgroLiquid’s Strategy for Smarter Fertility in a Tight Market
August 28, 2025 Each season brings new surprises to the industry — some pleasant; some not so much. When it comes to micronutrients, many providers were pleasantly surprised in 2025. One such company, AgroLiquid was definitely happy with the way the segment influenced the bottom line. CropLife interviewed Stephanie Zelinko, National Agronomist, AgroLiquid, to learn how the company is approaching the micronutrient market heading into the fall planting season.
Stephanie Zelinko, National Agronomist, AgroLiquid
CropLife: What were your expectations for micronutrients in 2025 and were they met?
Stephanie Zelinko: I expected the micronutrient market to remain flat from last year, and I was pleased to see growth in this market. Growers are recognizing the benefits of micronutrients, but with commodity prices trending down, it’s easy to value nutrients in a pecking order with nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium in the highest position. Higher-priced nutrients, such as micros, may get cut because it’s small volume and significant dollars.
However, with that recognition of the benefits of micronutrients, we are seeing more growers put their entire fertilizer program under the microscope and take a more informed, full-program approach to developing a crop nutrition program within their budget. I think this value for micronutrients is encouraging for durability of demand.
CL: What factors influenced how the micronutrient segment faired this?
SZ: Increasing yields are highlighting the value of micronutrients. Increased usage of micronutrients by early adopters has demonstrated consistent returns to the point that a larger segment of growers has bought in. This increases demand significantly. There is also a recognition that performance of primary nutrients is leveraged by the addition of micronutrients. Investment in micronutrients reduces the need to over-apply primary nutrients.
CL: How has the role of micronutrients changed over the past couple of years?
SZ: We are hearing more about plant health in addition to yield. Yield still provides revenue but growers also recognize that plant health can help save some costs. A balanced, well-fed plant can better defend itself against various pests. This requires a balance between crop nutrition applications and pest control treatments that still provides an economic return. It’s a delicate balance that we are still researching.
CL: How has science/technology behind micronutrients changed over the past several years?
SZ: It seems as if carriers, protection from loss, and micronutrient combinations are being positioned as the emerging technology. But really, the science hasn’t changed. What has changed is the recognition that micronutrients are a key part of a fertility program, especially when pushing higher yields. Historically we thought about zinc for a corn program but now we are more aware that others like boron, manganese and molybdenum are equally important. This has led to new technologies that include a combination of micros. These combinations can provide benefits to growers in the way of improved effectiveness.
My concern is that all suppliers tout unique attributes and growers could get so overwhelmed with scientific jargon that they’ll become frustrated buyers. At that point they may focus their decision-making on the analysis of the nutrient and pass over other beneficial attributes. Well-intended product education could become a negative. We are still learning how to balance providing enough information without overwhelming (farmers). Growers aren’t chemists, so they need resources they trust.
CL: Has artificial intelligence had an influence on the micronutrient segment?
SZ: Information is our friend. AI can help analyze soil and yield data, create crop nutrition programs and even guide precision applications in some cases. Informed decisions will be key to surviving low grain prices. But it’s important to remember the information provided by AI is only as good as the data/information put in.
That said, there are challenges to using AI. There can be substantial initial investment in equipping a farm with the technology and upgrading equipment, and someone on the farm needs to understand how to use the technology.
There isn’t anything that works the same for everyone. Consult with multiple people and evaluate your situation — including AI generated datasets and programs — when developing a plan for micronutrients. At AgroLiquid, we try to have a checks-and-balances approach to fertilizer programs, and I encourage growers to reach out and test our ability to help you navigate fertilizer decisions for 2025 and 2026.
CL: What trends are currently driving the micronutrients marketplace?
SZ: A better understanding of the role of micronutrients, along with the availability of micronutrient products that allow applications to be incorporated seamlessly into regular operations, such as planting, side-dress, or fungicide applications, are expanding market opportunity. Ease of application is key to getting growers to utilize micronutrients.
CL: What are the biggest challenges to growing the micronutrient market?
SZ: Growers will continue to need assurances of the value of micronutrients. We can’t assume growers will see subtle improvements to their crop. Continued focus on research, education and proof of ROI will help convince growers that micros are worth the expense. As information is gathered, there is sometimes a refinement of use rates that make sense to scale across the farm so there can be some reductions to match economic realities.
CL: What are the biggest opportunities for the micronutrient market?
SZ: Demonstrating the role of micronutrients against a variety of crop stresses could help convince the wait-and-see crowd of the merits of micronutrients. It’s more difficult to demonstrate the protection of yield rather than making more yield, and we can’t guess. It takes a lot of experiments to be able to quantify loss prevention. If micronutrients help prevent loss, then we need to know what the potential loss is and the frequency it occurs to set proper expectations. That type of information takes several growing seasons to gather.
CL: What are your expectations for the 2026 season?
SZ: I anticipate continued growth as we continue to push yields and strive for improved quality. Innovations in precision agriculture also help drive growth. But I expect that growth will be tempered by the low commodity markets. Growers tend to learn more in low margin years as they have to be more aware of returns on every dollar they spend. Therefore, they are doing more research and talking with professionals on how to best utilize the budget. Razor-thin margins will persuade some growers to forego micronutrients.
CL: What else do our readers need to know about the micronutrient market?
SZ: Learning more on the role a balanced fertilizer program plays on a healthy crop will help growers better utilize the dollars they spend on crop nutrition and input programs. AgroLiquid is based on strong agronomics. We work hard to make recommendations that efficiently and economically meet grower’s goals.
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