Acadian Plant Health’s Director of Research & Development Dr Holly Little took to the stage at the Biostimulants World Congress in Milan with a presentation focused on how biostimulants can be one of the tools in the transition to a more sustainable forms of agriculture, such as regenerative agriculture, placing soil health at its core. New AG International reports.
Dr. Little began with some scene-setting, showing a chart of historical levels of global cereal production.
“Cereal production increased by 250% from 1961 to 2021. We are now growing more cereals on less land, but how did we get here?”
Little listed the contributing factors of the Green Revolution, such as genetics, better breeding, mechanisation, irrigation, and fertilizers.
She then expanded on some of the environmental consequences, including the contribution made by agriculture and food production to global greenhouse gas emissions, citing 23-27% depending on source.
Coupled with the environmental impacts, she then introduced the
food demand owing to population growth projections. Little quoted the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) saying the organisation anticipated a 50% increase in food demand by 2050.
“Patterns of agricultural intensification are not sustainable,” said Little. “We can’t keep doing what we have been doing, there’s not enough land to do that.”
The question according to Little is how to repeat that growth seen in cereals during the Green Revolution, while facing up to the environmental challenges that also include soil erosion – again, an FAO estimate has 90% of the Earth’s topsoil is at risk by 2050. The answer is a shift in agricultural production but how to define it?
Acadian Plant Health launched its ‘Sea Beyond’ strategy in 2023. Read more HERE.
Defining moment Moving to the core of her presentation Little explained that neither sustainability or regenerative agriculture are terms that are defined in a universally accepted way.
Despite this lack of definition, she expanded on the integrated policies promoted by the FAO that strive towards sustainability and regenerative agriculture. Broadly summarised, these include:
Helping farmers use existing resources more efficiently and minimising any adverse impact
Embracing innovative technologies
Investing in long-term soil and water management practices, and restoring degraded ecosystems
These she admitted were “pretty lofty objectives” lacking in tangible actions. But it is clear, says Little, “what got us here, won’t get us there,” paraphrasing the title of a book by business leadership author Marshall Goldsmith.
A change has to be made, asserts Little, if we are to get where we need to be as an industry and as a society. “But it is not all doom and gloom,” she adds.
“Agriculture is in a unique position to fight climate change. It’s the only industry that can do more than just cut emissions and resource use, we can farm to improve soil health. We can look at tools in the toolbox and use them differently and add new tools, with one of those being biostimulants.”
How do we get there? Regenerative farming can bring a multitude of benefits, according to Little – not only building soil health and fertility, but acting as a long-term carbon sink, enhancing the water retention capability of the soil, and ultimately improving farmer livelihoods and resilience.
She notes that among all the solutions, soil health is fundamental.
Little then described her personal experience growing up on an almond farm in California. Neither of her parents had a background in farming, but they decided to take over an almond farm. She said they were able to look at new methods, without the feeling they were straying from what previous generations had done. Her parents started using cover crops in the orchard, for example, which has now become more of a standard. As she said, they were practising regenerative agriculture, it just wasn’t called that yet.
During her presentation, Dr. Holly Little described her experience of growing up on an almond farm in California.
Value of harvesting Little then described some of the research showing the potential for seaweed-based biostimulants to help in the move to more sustainable and regenerative farming practices.
She presented data showing the amount of CO2 removed when a tonne of seaweed is harvested (362 kg), 4kg of nitrogen and 0.25 kg of phosphorus. She explained that the CO2 can acidify the seawater, while the nitrogen and phosphorus contribute to algae bloom. Therefore, the act of harvesting can pull these elements from the sea enabling the seaweed extracts to be put to use in agriculture.
Little pointed to other research conducted by Acadian Plant Health in how seaweed biostimulants can enhance the activity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), the microbes colonising the roots of a plant. In turn this can improve soil aggregation and structure, said Little. Seaweed-based biostimulants can also increase AMF spore germination rate, the branching of germ tubes, and plant colonisation of the AMF, which is a benefit for both the AMF and symbiosis through the plant.
“We also know our extracts can improve nutrient use efficiency, which can bring a return on investment due to lower fertilizer usage, and aligns with UN sustainability goals,” adds Little. She cites further research performed by Canada’s Dalhousie University that looked at phosphorus starvation. The lower phosphorus levels with added seaweed extract allowed similar levels of root growth.
Similar positive results were achieved under abiotic stress, such as heat stress and water stress. “We know our products help water stress dynamics in how plants are primed and respond to that stress,” continued Little. She referred to further research that looked at citrus growing and how biostimulants could be used to maintain production levels while using less water.
Efficacy testing Does this work? asked Little. She cited a recent survey from the Soil Health Institute in the US. Farmers in the survey had implemented a variety of soil health management systems – such as using biostimulants, cover crops, no till, promotion of the soil biome. According to this survey, 97% of growers reported increased resilience to extreme weather; 85% of corn growers experienced an increase in net farm income, 88% for soybean growers. And from the survey, 67% reported higher yields. These growers were also spending less: reduced cost by 24 usd per acre for corn, 17 usd for soybean, and an average net income increase of 52 usd per acre.
Closing remark Little’s final thoughts to the audience were: “Take unfamiliar tools and learn how to use them, and use existing tools in different ways to promote the changes that are needed.” ●
Acadian Plant Health partnered with World Farmers’ Organisation to showcase the role of soil health and regenerative agriculture for farming. A documentary formed part of a series called ‘The Future of Food’ which was screened at COP28 on Dec. 7, 2023. The feature presented research showing how biostimulants such as Acadian Plant Health’s Ascophyllum nodosum seaweed-based technology can stimulate a plant’s stress tolerance against climatic change and improve soil health by increasing soil organic matter and soil microbiome activity, resulting in higher soil respiration and aggregation.
