Growing more resilient crops with biostimulants

What are biostimulants? 

Biostimulants are products that contain substances and/or microorganisms whose function is to stimulate and strengthen specific metabolic processes within the plant. By doing this, it enhances a crop’s tolerance to abiotic stress (such as drought and extreme temperatures), as well as improve nutrient use efficiency, overall crop quality and yield.  

“That’s the good thing about biostimulants. They support the crops to become more resilient to abiotic stress, have better nutrient use efficiency and more.” 

Alexandre Macedo, VP Fertigation, Foliars and Biostimulants, Yara  

Just like supplements 

A useful analogy to explain the value of biostimulants is to compare them to human nutrition.

We eat food to get mineral nutrients, take medicine to fight off illnesses, and use supplements to address vitamin and mineral deficiencies. 

For plant nutrition, the same concept applies. Crops are given fertilizers to supply them with mineral nutrients, and biostimulants are complementary to enhance crop performance.

And just like with human nutrition, these components form a complete crop nutrition program that works together.

Our trials have shown that when combining fertilizers with YaraAmplix biostimulants, yields increase by an average of six percent.One of Yara’s strategic pillars is climate and contributing to decarbonizing agriculture. By enabling farmers to maximize their yields, the upside is that they have a lower carbon footprint for their crops, because they get more out of the same field.

“The role of biostimulants is complementary with the role of other agricultural inputs used, such as fertilizers and plant protection products. So, we need Biostimulants to be part of an integrated crop program," says Antonis Angeletakis, Director Biostimulants, Yara.

Contributing to Regenerative Agriculture  

With regenerative agriculture being a central part of Yara’s overall sustainability efforts, biostimulants contribute to all its key pillars – climate, soil health, resource use, biodiversity and farmers prosperity.  

By strengthening crops with biostimulants, they become more resilient to abiotic stress. Also, more resilient crops better utilize nutrients, have better root growth and ensures high crop yield (which benefits the farmers). 

Overall, incorporating biostimulants into a crop nutrition plan contributes to ensuring better crop yield and quality, and helps in creating positive impact for the environment and the farmers. Integrating biostimulants into farming practices means contributing to a more sustainable, resilient and productive future for agriculture.