Tech Hub LIVE Exclusive: Opportunity Knocks for Biofertilizers
August 1, 2022 
Marcus Jones, Vice President – Science and Technology, DPH Biologicals, shares data from a recent CropLife survey on biologicals adoption among retailers during one of the Tech Talks at Tech Hub LIVE.
In mid-July, DPH Biologicals joined leaders and agtech innovators at Tech Hub LIVE in Indianapolis. Typically, a gathering for the latest in precision ag and equipment tech, biologicals created a sizable buzz. No surprise, this has been a record year for biologicals as fertilizer costs and market demands caused farmers to seek new ways to lower their input costs without sacrificing yield.
The buzz for biologicals we anticipated turned out to be a roar.
No longer sidelined to the organic and early-adopter category, biofertilizers are going mainstream. In fact, CropLife’s 2022 Biological Survey of ag retailers found that 68% plan to increase biological products offered to their customers. Biofertilizers, specifically, have experienced a significant increase over the last several seasons. In the same CropLife survey, 50% of respondents said they were offering biofertilizers, an increase of 20 points from the 2018 survey.
Our goal at DPH Bio has never been to replace fertilizer but to employ biologicals to optimize fertilizer application and improve soil health long-term, delivering a higher on-farm ROI plus better profit margins for our retailer, distributor, and supplier partners. We believe that complete products like DPH Bio’s SP-1 Classic can become a reliable component of any successful fertility program. In fact, retailers, agronomists and input suppliers recognize that biofertilizers and fertilizers work better together.
While this shift is exciting to see, as the buzz grows and opportunities expand, so does the risk of getting it wrong. And no one can afford that misstep.
It Starts with Data
A question frequently asked: ‘where’s the data?’ And frankly it is the obvious one. Robust, in-depth, field-tested (in addition to lab-tested) data is crucial but hasn’t been widely available in the biofertilizer marketplace.
DP Biologicals has tripled its investment in biologicals research trials in the last year.
I was pleased to kick-off the Tech Talks at the conference and share our view that ‘seeing is believing.’ We are committed to transparency in the field and not just in the lab. Since last year, we tripled our investment into research trials, conducting more than 200 trials on 20 different crops (58 in corn alone) in 23 different states across multiple growing regions.
We field test to demonstrate that our products work and to show the secondary benefits for farmers, like better soil aggregation, reduced compaction, and improved water infiltration rates.
However, the regulatory environment in the biologicals sector is still under development and lacks some regulatory controls. Considering this environment, there are products being sold with significant claims with little or no data to back them up.
To maintain farmer trust and ensure the long-term viability of the biological segment, we are committed to developing products backed by science that will steer clear of the oft-cited “snake-oil” moniker.
It is the responsibility of manufacturers to offer up the data to support product claims. At DPH Bio, we’re more than willing to do our part – and work closely with our retail partners to ensure the highest level of transparency.
Building the Biological Marketplace Farmers Can Trust
The good news is that as the biofertilizer industry grows, so can farmers’ trust in it. Forty-one percent of CropLife’s 2022 survey respondents reported that trust is the leading factor holding biologicals back in the marketplace. That was an improvement from five years ago when it was 53%, but it’s undoubtedly still significant.
Trust is a fragile thing, hard to earn and easy to lose. The adoption of biologicals poses the potential of a fundamental shift in agricultural practices, changing our sector for the better and creating more profitability up and down the supply chain. To achieve this, we must work together to build a biofertilizer industry rooted in trust.
As I talked with people at Tech Hub LIVE, it is clear that opportunity is knocking for biofertilizers. Let’s get it right.
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