Agriculture will play a fundamental role to help ensure good health for future generations. Scientific advancements are key to more nutritious food that is grown in an environmentally and economically sustainable way.

Dr. Debatosh Das recently joined the Redox team, and he is diving deeper into helping unlock the full potential of our premium plant nutrition and carefully sourced biostimulants. He said plant charge balance, or Redox Homeostasis, is at the very foundation of productive farms.

“Balancing the charge in plants helps them avoid expending energy on maintaining charge homeostasis,” Das stated. “When nutrients are supplied in the correct ratios, the plant doesn’t need to divert energy to correct charge imbalances. Instead, that energy can be used more efficiently for growth, development, and ultimately increasing yield.”

Redox products are specially formulated to help with plant charge balance.

Das said new, more exciting discoveries appear on the horizon, as he continues to help Redox Bio-Nutrients fulfill its vision of being the catalyst for change, by redefining agronomic standards with the best verified solutions.

As harvest season largely winds down, it’s time to give strong consideration to steps that will aid your crops next year.

Proper nutrition is a great way to add carbohydrates to your trees and vines, which provide many benefits.

"A lot of the reproductive growth for next year occurred during those stressful months,” remarked Redox lead agronomist John Kelly. “There’s a high probability that many of the orchards did not have the energy necessary for adequate bud differentiation. What that means is that many of the orchards did not have the energy necessary for adequate bud differentiation. What that means is it’s all that much more important that we give that plant a lot of stored energy for next spring to protect what it will produce, because there’s a probability that the heat from this summer means lower set next spring. We need as much energy as possible to maintain that crop.”

Kelly and Redox Sales Manager Jared Sanner agree Banx™ is an excellent choice to boost trees and vines following harvest, as it provides an effective nutrition boost from potassium, phosphorus, zinc and boron, as well as excellent abiotic stress defense.

Potatoes are in the upper echelon in importance to the world’s diet, yet many have little idea of what it takes to get them from farm to French fry.

Dustin Begovich intends to change that.

The Idaho Studio filmmaker is nearly complete capturing two years’ worth of footage, and he soon shift to editing the interviews and activity. The documentary film, SPUDS, should have its first airings in 2025, and Redox is a sponsor.

“It is important that I’m reaching the consumer at their level and walking alongside them,” he said. “I want to bring them into agriculture and farming and help them understand it from more of a layperson’s perspective. … As much as this is a large project for the industry to make sure that their story is out there, it’s coming from a perspective of your average person that’s never thought ‘where the heck did that potato come from?’

Find out more about Dustin’s film and follow how it progresses at https://spudsmovie.com.

Farmers are the key link in keeping bountiful, affordable food to feed the world. There are many others that help growers do their work, including ag retailers.

“If you just look at the top 100 ag retailers, as far as the biggest ones in the country, the last couple of years, it has been over $40 billion worth of products and services that have been provided to farmers,” remarked Daren Coppock, CEO of the Agricultural Retailers Association. “It’s a significant contribution, and essential to raising the food that we need in the country and around the world.”

Coppock has led the ARA since 2009, and said every aspect of agriculture, including retailers, continues to evolve and become more complex. New areas include artificial intelligence and the rise of biological products, including biostimulants.

He said the ag retail industry has a lot of optimism for the future, although areas to watch incudes impacts the interest rate environment and a lack of sufficient labor.

American agriculture not only has a wide range of crops and growing methods, there are also a wide variety of backgrounds among the farming community.

One case in point is Tommy McMurren of Five Patriots Farms in Illinois, a farmer, veteran, crop consultant and ag history afficionado whose Instagram page, tattooed agronomist, reflects another of his passions.

A common thread among those in agriculture is a dedication to getting the best results in the field, by growing their knowledge of new technologies, including in crop nutrition.

“We have evolved,” McMurren said. “When I first started working with clients, it was the very basics. Here’s our chemical program. Here’s our fertility program. Working with companies like Redox, I do have people that are more open to looking outside the box, that we need to be doing something different. We have stagnated. Even if it’s not a monetary thing, it’s more of just a preservation of the farm.”

Third party research is crucial to making sure agricultural inputs work as advertised, and David Holden has been a trusted evaluator for many companies, including ours.

Holden Research and Consulting in Ventura County has worked with more than 100 crops, ranging from avocados to zucchini.

Holden has carried out at least 750 biostimulant-type trials in the last 20 years. He said biostmulants hold promise in fighting abiotic stress, in particular.

“I have quite often seen a reduction in the effect of various diseases, mites and insects when you use some of these products,” he said. “In other words, healthier plants are happier plants, and they live under stress situations better.”

Holden said his research helps show how biostimulants work, but growers would be interested in knowing why they are working. He said better answers to those questions would entice more farmers to try this newer technology.

Thirty years in business is no easy feat. It was in 1994 that Redox started in business and speaker, podcaster and author Damian Mason branched out with independent work.

Damian travels across the U.S. for keynote addresses to agricultural groups and hosts three podcasts, including The Business of Agriculture. He provides insight and commentary on critical subjects in a way that few others can.

He said he expects an increasing call for reducing overall synthetic nitrogen in agriculture, a reduction in acreage in future years based on which ground is best suited for farming, more of a premium paid for better-tasting food and the likelihood of reduced food demand from China based on expectations their population will plummet within the next years.

As for any anxiety over a potential drop in farm income, he pointed out that the recent track record for growers has been excellent.

“I think the mode is a little doomy and gloomy that perhaps is warranted,” he remarked. “Here we are in the first year of a downturn. It’s good to keep in mind that the three years prior to this were the highest agricultural income years in the history of the United States of America.”

Find out more about Damian at DamianMason.com.

Growing up on a farm helped Ben Jauregui form his deep appreciation for agriculture, and it shows in his work.

As a Pest Control Advisor working at AgRx, one of our ag retailers, Ben guides decisions for about 1,800 acres of crops on California’s Central Coast, with strawberries commanding the greatest acreage.

“The most important thing is trust,” he said. “Carrying that relationship with the growers to where they can trust you, especially with the decisions that we’re making every week. There’s a lot of money at stake.”

Every weekday, Ben starts his day at 6:30 am. With the help of a co-worker, they walk every acre, every week. They write recommendations, and after a spray or if they find an area of concern, they will return and review that crop within three to four days.

Ben is active on social media, as he wants to show off crops and many longtime farmers. He’s on Instagram and LinkedIn at #BenNPK.