Shopping for alternative suppliers
Not all products are created equal.
FORMULATION R&DANALYTICAL COORDINATION
As spring and summer orders ramp up, growers are placing them and manufacturers and dealers are racing to make sure supply can keep up. If you haven't started thinking about your supply line and fertiliser requirements, there's no time like the present. Procurement is integral to any business's bottom line, and with global events shifting local availability and pricing almost daily, you might be needing to shop around for a new raw material or fertiliser supplier.
Products and raw materials aren't always 'simple' inorganic compounds – finding an alternative source can mean substituting in a material with fundamental differences you may not see on a spec sheet.
Some examples, drawn from recent work with clients:
The test method used to determine humic and fulvic content has a huge influence on assay values. Method of production and base material can also drastically affect product characteristics – two products with the same label claim can behave very differently in the field.
Polymers of the same name aren't created equal. Structure (linear vs branched), molecular weight, and impurities are just three ways they can differ.
Chelating agent efficacy depends on many factors, and lots of manufacturers get this wrong. Metal-to-chelator ratio and final product pH are key to any chelate performing as claimed, and common misconceptions around amino acids means that many marketplace products aren't true chelates, despite label claims. Additionally, be aware that large organic substances, like most humic acid and lignosulphonate products, can also suffer from steric hindrance (the chelator getting in its own way) and reduced foliar penetration simply due to molecular size.
Seaweed fertiliser products vary widely – species and processing method are two of the biggest drivers of that variation. Additionally, liquid products often fail to mention how much dried seaweed content is actually in them.
If you're a fertiliser company, input manufacturer, dealer, or grower wanting to understand how these factors affect your day-to-day operation, feel free to call or email today.