It’s common knowledge that Mother Nature can be cruel to farmers. Once crops have been seeded, they can be left exposed and vulnerable to the harshest of weather conditions. Farmers know this, and take every precaution they can to protect their investment. Nothing can provide guaranteed protection, but every step taken gives their crops a better chance to thrive. A farmer would never simply plant and hope everything works out.

When it comes to biological inoculants, however, that’s exactly what many growers do. It’s easy to see what crops are facing above ground, but below ground the environment can be just as harsh. When a biological input is applied to a field, the added rhizobia or microbes face immense pressure from the billions of other microbes already living within the soil. Competition between soil microbes is an incredibly important factor in determining the effectiveness of an inoculant. Many inoculants provide the rhizobia necessary for nodulation, but will do nothing to support them once they are in the soil. The microbes already living in the soil can outcompete them, making it difficult for them to survive.

Just as growers do with their crops, they also have the ability to better support their rhizobia. Inoculants containing a new technology such as AGPT (Advanced Growth Promoting Technology) are not only able to adequately boost rhizobia performance, but will also promote synergy between the new rhizobia and the native microbes and get them working together rather than against each other. This reduces one stress that the rhizobia may face, allowing them to better nodulate the crop. Environmental stress can never be removed from agriculture, but improving technologies can make them easier to handle.

Image source: XiteBio Technologies Inc.