Biological Products To The Rescue?
In the last several years, Growers Mineral, Corp. has noticed an explosion of companies exhibiting biological products at farm shows. This trend has been noticed by the mainstream chemical companies with many of them purchasing these new biological product companies. Since Growers Mineral, Corp. has stressed the importance of soil microbiological life in soil, it was with great interest we examined an article published on www. iowapublicradio.org in 2024 discussing the success of certain biological products. The article "Soil Health Is Big Business, But Some Research Shows Fungal Products Don't Work As Promised" contains several discussions that seem very pertinent for today's agriculture.
This author's discussion centered on products that concentrate on symbiotic fungi. These fungi will actually penetrate into plant roots to form a symbiosis with the plant. After forming this relationship, the plant's ability to harvest elements and water from the soil is improved very significantly.
The article made several key points:
1. Soil microbiome and the term soil health are coming of age.
2. Growers are eager to explore the soil microbiome.
3. Growers are seeking alternatives to chemical fertilizers.
4. Synthetic fertilizers have created concerns with cost and the environment.
Additionally, the article referenced University of Kansas research which claimed on the subject of Vesicular Arbuscular Mycorrhizal (VAM) Fungi in their literature review that, of 250 commercial product trials detailed in peer-reviewed journals that claimed increased fungi activity on roots, 88% did not perform to create more fungi activity. Their literature also found:
Some commercial products contain a pathogen that harms plants.
Some products contain undisclosed chemical fertilizer.
Some products don't contain any spores for the beneficial fungi they are meant to produce.
Some products contain spores that aren't viable.
The bottom line to the University of Kansas research is that fungi grown on a nearby "in house" soil produced mycorrhizae fungi 72% of the time when added to a growth media. The tested commercial products produced mycorrhizae fungi 12% of the time when added to a growth media.
The conclusions of this study are:
1. There is a pressing need for mandatory regulation on product quality control.
2. Farmers and gardeners can improve the conditions for fungi that already live in their soil.
These approaches have the advantage of promoting native fungal species. The promotion of native species tends to work with the known species for the local environment. The effects of introducing fungi from other environments remain uncertain according to past investigations.
This is an excerpt from the Summer Growers Solution (2026) written by Jim Halbeisen, Director of Research.
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