24 The Business of Prairie Agriculture Better Farming | March 2024 rounding biologicals in Canada. Much of this likely comes from a number of products with grand claims, poor supporting evidence, and lack of knowledge around the product fit to deliver. “It is important to understand that most biologicals are not a one-sizefits-all all silver bullet, but rather, technology that has the potential to deliver great results in the field if it is used right. “This is why companies have invested into R&D about how to use their products with precise application information.” Banerjee concurs. “Don’t promise a magic wand or a 100 per cent success rate. Biologicals won’t solve everything, and Mother Nature can be treacherous. However, when our customers use our biologicals, they like it and they can trust it.” Companies are investing the resources to make products better, explains Code. “Syngenta is building out the agronomic understanding with the Canadian-led performance data growers expect from a company like ours. We can then offer a support team to provide agronomic recommendations and advice tailored to your operation.” The questions and uncertainty around biologicals is a little like the question of the chicken and the egg. “The more that farmers use biologicals,” says Banerjee, “the more companies will be interested in them. Then more smart people will study them, and the quality and consistency of the product will increase.” Code: “With things moving so fast in this space, we’re always trying to improve on the consistency of results with biologicals. We appreciate that growers play a large part in our ability to fine-tune best practices.” “Technology is now at a stage where we can begin to understand how biological products work, Code continues. “An example is Megafol … a solution containing (the same) compounds seaweed plants make to be able to survive in their harsh environment. We can test these compounds and see what plant genes are turned on or amplified. Then test (those compounds) on (crop) plants and see what effects they have, like improving recovery from drought, heat, cold or even hail. “There’s more science and understanding behind biologicals than ever before.” Companies selling biologicals also know that user-friendliness is crucial. “People won’t use a good product, just because it’s good,” explains Banerjee. “They’ll use it because it’s easy to use. No one is going to keep something frozen. No one wants to use crazy amounts of water or to buy a specialty piece of equipment just for one product. The product must fit into the farmer’s management system and into their budget.” Code agrees. “Because we know that growers aren’t looking to do another pass with just their biological in the tank, we are testing our biological portfolio the way you as a customer would use it – in the tank with a planned (crop input) application.” Farmers are often the best fieldlevel testers when it comes to product development. “Growers are often curious and ingenious experimenters on their farms,” says Code. Biological products generally come with a broad range of rates, and growers are relatively safe to experiment with applications, with no risk of resistance issues when they drop the rates. Banerjee has an ambitious goal. “I think every farmer should be using at least one biological. It would, of course, be nice if they used ours, but I hope they try any of the good products out there.” He hopes that farmers will “accept the technology – the more that farmers use it, the more the demand for quality and consistency will grow, and industry will respond. “More growers are thinking about climate change and the environment, and they are looking to reduce applications. Biological products can do that, while simultaneously getting better returns to the farmer.” BF BIOLOGICAL AMENDMENTS Wheat treated with the Megafol solution. Syngenta photo STACY BERRY Stacy is a certified crop advisor and professional agrologist who was born and raised on a farm in Alberta. She has a BSc in Crop Science from the University of Alberta.
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