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Biostimulants are substances or microorganisms that, when applied to crops, stimulate natural processes to improve plant health. It is claimed that they enhance or benefit nutrient uptake, nutrient use efficiency, tolerance to abiotic stress, and improve crop quality and yield. Biostimulants are a costly input so it is important to farmers know whether they really make a difference to their crops. This trial is to independently assess any claimed benefits and see if biostimulants are an economically viable tool to help reduce or replace other artificial inputs on the farm.
Six Farmers are participating in the trial to evaluate the benefits of biostimulants. They are partly motivated by a wish to reduce their chemical inputs including fertiliser. This project aims to test two popular biostimulants that are claimed to promote strong yield benefits under UK conditions.
The field lab is part of the H3 project - Landscape-Scale Regenerative Farming (WP3) works at the landscape scale, evaluating the benefits of regenerative agriculture in terms of improved soil, wider environmental outcomes and food quality.
It is often claimed that Biostimulants can assist farmers and growers in addressing various challenges, such as high fertiliser costs, abiotic/climate-related stress, limited pesticide availability, and increased food demand.
Some biostimulants claim to provide solutions for agricultural productivity and sustainability by improving:
However, while there is now a large body of research on this topic, there is often a paucity of data from empirical trials under UK climate and conditions.
Six farmers in the midlands will take part in the field trials. Each will establish randomised tramline plots with 3 replicates each of:
The farmers or their agronomists will be doing the assessments and sampling or sending these to a lab to undertake assessments.
The following measurements will be collected:
There are no updates at this time.
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Soil Association
Bristol
Karen is a Farming Advisor at the Soil Association, as part of the Farm and Land Use team.
She studied agriculture at Aberystwyth and Harper Adams and a MSc in Food Security at Bangor University. She is a qualifed agronomist and has had a 20 year career advising farm managers on the balance of agricultural production with nature. She currently delivers on a number of projects which promotes improving soil health and biodiversity on farm.
Harper Adams University
Shropshire