Algifol

Agronomists interested in finding out more about biostimulants and the effect they can have on UK crops are being encouraged to contact one of Europe’s leading brands of natural fertilisers.

 

The UK importer of seaweed-based biostimulant, Algifol, wants to establish a network of regional agronomists to receive insights and feedback from them and their clients.

 

Marcus Palmer, the UK importer of Algifol, is offering free product to those that get involved.

 

Algifol is manufactured in Germany by NeoMed-Pharma. The biostimulant has been distributed in the UK by Marcus since 2005. In that time, Marcus and his customers have applied it to a wide range of crops, including combining peas, potatoes and other vegetables as well as sugar beet, oilseed rape and cereals.

 

Now, Marcus is keen to hear the views of agronomists and their clients as he looks to build the brand’s profile in the UK.

 

“Last year, we worked with the Processors and Growers Research Organisation and their field trials on Combining Peas proved that the use of Algifol increases yields and reduced foot rot infection,” says Marcus. “We have also worked with several universities and academics who have said Algifol has a positive effect on root establishment, disease resistance and yields.

 

“Since distributing Algifol in the UK, I have received lots of feedback from customers who are delighted with the results of using it. They say they like it because it is entirely natural, improves yields, reduces the stress caused by droughts, heat and heavy rainfall. It is also cost-effective, with just one litre being enough to spray one hectare.

 

“Now, though, I’d like to work with agronomists and gain their feedback on the product as we look to broaden our knowledge and develop our proposition. Most big brands have their in-house agronomists, but we’d like to take a different approach and work with independent agronomists.”

 

Algifol is a concentrated brown algae gathered from the North Atlantic, dried and refined to maximise its wealth of trace elements, vitamins, enzymes, amino acids, carbohydrates, polyuronides and growth-regulating plant hormones.

 

NeoMed-Pharma recommends four applications of one litre of Algifol diluted at a ratio of up to 1:1,000, which can be applied by knapsack, trailed or mounted sprayers or planes.

 

Algifol wants to work with one agronomist in the South East, South West, East and West Midlands, Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, the North East and North West of England, as well as Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Agronomists wanting to take part or needing further information should contact Marcus on 07702 293 727 or email [email protected]

 

Growers without access to irrigation systems are being encouraged to follow the lead of one Lincolnshire farmer who has embraced seaweed to help his crop fend off the effects of heat stress.

 

Since 2018, the Louth Potato Company has used a seaweed-based biostimulant to counter the impact of extreme weather conditions. Ryan Wrisdale has been applying Algifol regularly to his winter wheat, pumpkins, and potatoes. He says the results have been amazing. “In 2018, we had a very wet winter and spring, followed by drought conditions over the summer. As we don’t have an irrigation system, we could not water our 20-acre crop of early and second early potatoes. After a few weeks, the plants were suffering from stress due to no water and were not growing.

“We were introduced to Algifol, which we applied with every blight spray on a seven-day interval. This meant that the plant was fed through the leaves with Algifol applied little and often. This kept the plant alive, and the potatoes were able to gain more weight and size, resulting in a bonus of an increased yield after we thought it was too late. “We also gained a good-sized potato which was amazing as at one point we thought we were going to have a disastrous crop. The potato crop yield averaged between seven and ten tonnes to the acre that year.

“It wasn’t just me that saw the benefits of using Algifol that year. One of our growers had over seven acres of Accord, which had developed a virus and distress. I told them about Algifol, and they started using it too. After four applications spread over four weeks, their crop recovered to a high standard and produced an exceptional yield at the end. We know this was down to the Algifol because the grower had a small strip in the field which never received Algifol. That strip didn’t produce a high yield, and the potatoes didn’t grow very big because the tops died off.”

Today, the Louth Potato Company is so happy with the results Algifol produces; the company uses it on all of its crops.

 

Algifol is distributed in the UK by Marcus Palmer, who runs MJP Supplies. The biostimulant is manufactured by NeoMed-Pharma in Germany using seaweed gathered from the North Atlantic. The seaweed is dried and refined to maximise its wealth of trace elements, vitamins, enzymes, amino acids, carbohydrates, polyuronides and growth-regulating plant hormones.

“The popularity of biostimulants is growing rapidly,” says Marcus. “And I’m not surprised! Since 2005, I’ve been promoting the benefits of using biostimulants, and we’re now seeing other people in the industry promoting them. We have lots of farmers who, like Ryan, have seen first-hand how crops can recover from extreme temperatures. If you’re a grower reading this who doesn’t have an irrigation system and is worried about their crop, then I’d encourage you to get in touch. You’ve got nothing to lose by trying Algifol and everything to gain.”

Applied by knapsack, trailed or mounted sprayers or planes, Algifol is used worldwide on various crops, including bananas, grapes, tea, potatoes and cereals. In the UK, most of Marcus’ customers are growing potatoes, oilseed rape and sugar beat, with the manufacturer NeoMed-Pharma recommending four applications of one litre of Algifol diluted at a ratio of up to 1:1,000.

A Lincolnshire farmer believes many in the industry are ignoring valuable research into how best to protect crops from extreme weather conditions and are losing millions of pounds as a result.

As well as growing potatoes, sugar beat cereals and peas at Rose Villa Farm in Spalding, Lincolnshire, Marcus Palmer is the sole UK distributor of Algifol, a seaweed-based biostimulant. Marcus says recent unexpected frosts, combined with almost no rainfall in April, will have had a drastic effect on many growers, who rely solely on chemical fertilisers. Mr Palmer says that despite academic studies being produced since 2009, UK farmers are sadly ignorant of the natural properties of biostimulants such as Algifol.

One such academic papers – De Saeger, J., Van Praet, S., Vereecke, D. et al. Toward the molecular understanding of the action mechanism of Ascophyllum nodosum extracts on plants. J ApplPhycol 32, 573–597 (2020)  – written in 2019, said that the use of brown seaweed enhances play tolerance against environmental stresses such as drought, salinity and frost. While the studies have not shown how or why the biostimulant improves the plant’s ability to cope with extreme weather, they have clearly demonstrated that the Ascophyllum nodosum extracts in Algifol and its lipophilic fraction significantly increased tolerance to freezing temperatures in vitro and in vivo assays. Seaweed extracts have been used for many years and in several areas, including medicine and agriculture. Still, despite calls for the use of inorganic fertilisers to be reduced, the need to maintain or increase yields has maintained the popularity of traditional methods.

Manufactured in Germany by NeoMed-Pharma, Algifol contains significant levels of trace elements, vitamins, enzymes, amino acids, carbohydrates, polyuronides and growth-regulating plant hormones. As well as having a yield-enhancing effect, NeoMed-Pharma says its biostimulant also helps lower the crop’s carbon footprint by improving fertiliser uptake through better rooting and improved photosynthesis, thus reducing leaching and losses to the atmosphere.

“Lincolnshire, in particular, has been hit by hard frosts recently, and I’ve heard from lots of people that their crops have been affected,” says Marcus. “When you combine these frosts with a lack of rainfall, it’s quite a challenge to achieve good crop establishment. I think there could be millions of pounds worth of damaged crops in fields around Yorkshire and Lincolnshire at the moment, which could be revived by using a biostimulant such as Algifol. There is increasing awareness of biostimulants, and lots of the big fertiliser and chemical companies are introducing their own brands. Algifol has been established for a long time and is proven around the world. Our customers, once they’ve tried it, rarely go back. It really is that effective.”

Algifol can be used on all crop types, with MJP Supplies recommending a one litre per hectare rate of application via a trailed or mounted sprayer. The product can be applied alongside most crop protection products. “The algae used to produeAlgifolgrows on rugged, rocky shores, where it is whipped by waves and at low endures dryness, sun and frost. The seaweed grows 30 times faster than land plants and has, over  millions of years, adapted to the incredible stress of their location,” adds Marcus. “The best part  for farmers is that Algifolpasses this stress tolerance onto plants!”

Field trials of 13 biostimulants on a crop of Combining Peas have shown that a seaweed-based product delivered a several benefits, including increased yield.

Undertaken by the Processors and Growers Research Organisation (PGRO), the UK’s centre of excellence for peas and beans, the trial results show that the use of Algifol delivered the highest yield.

The seaweed-based biostimulant, which is marketed in the UK by MJP Supplies, produced an almost 3% increase in yield (2.94%) compared to the untreated crop. Aligfol was 11.3% better than the worst performing biostimulant, which actually reduced yield by nearly 3% (2.94%).

The report also shows that the presence of foot rot infection was lower in the sample crop treated by Algifol compared to the control crop (0.6 and 0.7, respectively)

Manufactured in Germany by NeoMed-Pharma, Algifol contains significant levels of trace elements, vitamins, enzymes, amino acids, carbohydrates, polyuronides and growth-regulating plant hormones.

“The field trials were undertaken in Lincolnshire in 2020, following one of the wettest periods on record. The field had not recovered from the dreadful weather in 2019 and it was difficult for the grower to establish a good seed bed,” says Marcus Palmer, director of MJP Supplies. “Despite the conditions, Algifol delivered several marginal gains, and in today’s economic climate, these small improvements can make a big difference to profit levels and return on investment.”

The PGRO results show that Algifol generated 3.84 tonnes per hectare compared to 3.73 tonnes per hectare of untreated peas. Marcus predicts that this increase of almost 3% in yield (2.94%) could be worth as much as £40 per hectare to a grower.

With the farming community increasingly interested in natural fertilisers and stimulants, Marcus believes it is interesting that the PGRO trial shows that ten of the biostimulants performed worse than the control crop.

“The Government is very keen for pesticides that can harm the environment to be removed, which is driving an interest in biostimulants,” says Marcus. “The results of these trials are quite worrying as they indicate that quite a few biostimulants can have a negative effect on crop health and yield. Thankfully, this is not the case with Algifol, which has increased the yield.

“Every farmer is trying to increase their return on investment, and it’s very pleasing to see that this field trial shows that Algifol will more than pay for itself if an application delivers a 3% increase in yield.

“There is also the added benefit of Algifol being more concentrated than other biostimulants. This means you can apply less, and we have reduced the amount of packaging in which Algifol is supplied.”

As well as having a yield-enhancing effect, NeoMed-Pharma says its biostimulant also helps lower the crop’s carbon footprint by improving fertiliser uptake through better rooting and improved photosynthesis, thus reducing leaching and losses to the atmosphere.

Algifol can be used on all crop types, with MJP Supplies recommending a one litre per hectare rate of application via a knapsack, trailed or mounted sprayer. The product can be applied alongside most crop protection products.

Algifol has been a prominent biostimulant on our farm for over 15 years and we have always seen the benefit. Although this hasn’t always been the case in our industry, the results are now being proven and research shows that these products can help against stresses such as water logging, highlight intensity and drought plus the immediate weather conditions we are experiencing.

Algifol is a concentrated biostimulant made from brown algae. It’s gathered from the ocean, dried and refined through special processes to allow us to benefit from it’s wealth or trace elements, vitamins, enzymes,  amino acids, carbohydrates, polyuronides and growth regulating plant hormones. Algifol can be used on all crops, the dilution is easy and economic for all growers, whether you use a knapsack, trailed or mounted sprayers or planes. For agricultural and horticultural use it can be used along side most pesticides and fungicides.  Algifol is used globally on a wide range of crops including Bananas, Grapes, Potatoes, Cereals and Tea.

Using Algifol early in the season is key, we recommend using the first application as a maintenance dose before any symptoms of deficiency or drought occur. This dose will also mean that the plant cells are ready to ward of any disease causing the ‘elicitor effect’, which only happens with an early application. Many agronomists are trialling biostimulants on Spring Barley and only seeing positive results, something we have seen for many years. Due to acting early with Algifol plus micronutrients we have seen a decrease in Ramularia, a disease that only occurs later in the season, and a problem many growers are experiencing.

As cost is an issue we recommend applying 1Litre/ha at T1 with another 1Litre/ha at T2, this can be incorporated with other fungicides as 1 application, reducing the amount of times you are running through crops and saving money on diesel usage. We have had continuous reports of the greening effect of Algifol, as growers know a very important property for Barley with a smaller leaf area. Our original trials and regular use have shown an increase on average of 0.2t/ha resulting in a positive return over investment.

For those wanting to improve the quality of their products, now isn’t too late to trial Algifol and be protected for the remainder of the season.