ROFI and the Rise of Fertility-Focused Biologicals

Growers face pressure to justify every input, especially fertilizer. That financial reality is a significant reason Mosaic^® continues to emphasize ROFI – Return on Fertilizer Investment. For Kip Jacobs, field solutions agronomist at Mosaic, ROFI has become more than a metric. “ROFI to Mosaic, it’s kind of become our mission statement,” he says.

Jacobs describes ROFI as a mindset shift. Fertility decisions often default to cost-cutting, but Mosaic wants growers to think in terms of payback. As he puts it, the goal is to move from asking what something costs per acre to asking what it pays per acre. That shift sets the stage for Mosaic’s approach to biologicals.

Why Mosaic Ties Biologicals Directly to Fertilizer Performance

Nutrient use efficiency sits at the center of ROFI. Fertilizer is a fixed investment for most operations, so the focus becomes whether the crop can access, take up, and use the nutrients already applied. Jacobs says Mosaic Biosciences™ biologicals are designed for that purpose. “By introducing a bioscience portfolio product, whether it’s BioPath^® or PowerCoat^®, it helps us get more of every dollar invested in that acre. More of every applied nutrient.”

He breaks nutrient efficiency into three working parts: availability, uptake and utilization. The products are built to support each step. Jacobs is quick to clarify that none of this replaces fertilizer. “They are biological fertilizer complements,” he says, noting that yield expectations still determine fertility plans. The job of biologicals is to help the crop extract more value from what is already in the soil.

Addressing Skepticism in a Crowded Biologicals Market

Biologicals have a credibility problem for many growers, and Jacobs doesn’t gloss over it. Years of one-size-fits-all “magic elixir” claims have shaped how the category is perceived. He even references the old Western trope of a salesman pushing miracle tonics, noting that he uses that imagery in presentations because it reflects what many growers have experienced.

Mosaic’s approach aims to avoid that trap by narrowing its claims. The company positions its products specifically as Bio Crop Nutrition tools, not yield boosters in a vacuum. The mechanism and the outcome tie back to fertilizer performance. Jacobs said the focus is always on nutrient use efficiency, not on big promises without agronomic support.

What Changes When Biologicals Run with Fertilizer

The most visible change in treated crops, according to Jacobs, is plant vigor. “We see a little bit more growth above ground and below ground,” he says. In corn, one of the earliest indicators is stalk diameter. “We start to see a little bit bigger stalk on corn.”

That extra thickness has agronomic value when late-season moisture drops. During grain fill, plants rely on moisture to pull nutrients from the soil. When the rain stops, the plant begins using stored nutrients in the stalk. Bigger stalks hold more reserve. Jacobs gives growers a simple reference point: if stalk diameter increases by around 13 percent, storage capacity rises by a similar amount. In a dry finish, that can help maintain grain fill instead of forcing premature cannibalization.

Dollars, Pounds and Bushels

Jacobs connects biological performance to measurable nutrient uptake. On average, he says, treated crops take up an additional 16 to 25 pounds of fertilizer. That equates to roughly 8 to 12 dollars per acre in fertilizer value recovered by the plant instead of left unused in the soil.

Yield data adds another layer. BioPath, Mosaic’s water-based product that fits into liquid systems, has been tested across hundreds of trials. Jacobs reports an average positive yield response of nearly 80 percent, with an average 4.1 bushel per acre gain over the grower-standard program. PowerCoat, the oil-based product applied to dry fertilizer, averages nearly 70 percent win rate with a 3.1 bushels per acre advantage.

For operations that use both, Mosaic sees even stronger performance. Layered programs show about a 90 percent positive yield response and an average 7.3 bushels per acre gain.

How Growers Can Evaluate the Fit

Jacobs encourages growers to start with their retailer. “Reach out to your local retailer, ask them about Mosaic…with BioPath and PowerCoat.” For background information, he points growers to cropnutrition.com. For local performance data, he recommends visiting Mosaic’s TruResponse^® site, where trial results can be filtered by region.