- Sound Agriculture introduces SOURCE, a pioneering microbiome activator for crop farmers in the US, aiming to reduce synthetic fertiliser dependency by 25 pounds per acre.
- The product activates the soil microbiome, enhancing nutrient access for crops and improving soil health.
- SOURCE addresses challenges posed by synthetic fertilisers, promoting a symbiotic relationship between crops and soil microbes.
Sound Agriculture has announced a novelty product, SOURCE, a first-of-its-kind Fertiliser Replacement Guarantee for crop farmers in the US.
Source Agriculture develops nature-based solutions for sustainable crop production. The company is on a mission to “unleash the natural power that exists in plants”, so as to create a more sustainable and adaptive environment as the world grapples with climate change, as well as providing healthier food options in a time of changing consumer preferences.
SOURCE is its flagship product, which activates the microbiome to allow crops to access more nutrients in the field, thereby reducing synthetic nitrogen and phosphorus dependency by 25 pounds (about 11kg) per acre.
Corn growers are assured that crop yield will be maintained when they use SOURCE, otherwise, they will be reimbursed up to $100 per acre (restrictions apply). This guarantee helps Sound Agriculture to build trust among farmers, while also ensuring that the rate of synthetic fertiliser usage is reduced. Adapting SOURCE as a synthetic fertiliser alternative also enables growers to make proactive choices with fertility programmes that protect against price volatility and potential regulatory oversight, while improving soil health.
Speaking of the adoption of SOURCE by farmers, Kaitlin Fitzgerald, VP Sustainability, Sound Agriculture, said, “We recognise the challenges that farmers face when considering fertiliser reduction and are committed to helping them make this change while maintaining a thriving business.” She added, “Our unmatched guarantee reflects our confidence in the performance of SOURCE and also supports our goal to reduce global fertilizer use by 30%.”
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SOURCE serves as a replacement for synthetic fertilisers which are sometimes ineffective, causing losses to the farmers and with negative environmental impacts. Also, recent studies from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, show that corn gets two-thirds of its nitrogen from the soil, not synthetic fertiliser, which requires a healthy, active microbiome. This new product is a microbiome activator that allows crops more access to soil nitrogen and phosphorus. A foliar application of SOURCE provides 25 pounds of nitrogen and phosphorus and enhances micronutrient uptake by stimulating beneficial microbes in the soil.
“Over the past decades, the use of synthetic fertiliser has caused microbes to go dormant, resulting in limited nutrient uptake when fertiliser runs out due to leaching, tie up, or other issues,” Fitzgerald said. “Using SOURCE ignites the natural exchange between plants and the soil microbiome to improve nutrient uptake and crop vitality.”
SOURCE mimics a plant-to-microbe signal that creates a symbiotic relationship with nitrogen-fixing bacteria and phosphate-solubilising microbes. Through this process, plants fuel the microbes with sugars, and the microbes, in turn, store up nitrogen and phosphorus into a form plants can use.
Cover image from PR Newswire
