Best wishes for a wonderful 2003 to all of you.
Here at BioOrganics, we are looking forward to a very substantial increase in the use of our mycorrhizal inoculants, as we added more dealerships in the U. S. and other countries during 2002.
The use of beneficial microbial agents, especially mycorrhizal fungi, as an alternative to NPK fertilizers continues to gain strength, although it will still be some time before most growers switch away from the idea that proper soil chemistry is the only factor that needs to be considered for good plant performance.
I think water contamination and soil depletion/compaction problems will eventually force growers to abandon the unsustainable practice of spreading tonnages of synthetic fertilizers on crop soil, but as usual the problems will have to reach crisis levels before there is any great motivation for change. Human nature versus Mother Nature!
While I do believe strongly that biological alternatives will become the primary tool for both agricultural and horticultural growing in the future, I've come to realize that the use of bio-methods cannot outpace the practical understanding of such methods. The USDA, ag/hort university researchers, and supplier companies such as ours must all contribute to expanding the body of knowledge that will lead to productive and predictable results from using microbial inoculants. Based on the number of jars of our product that were ordered by researchers around the world during 2002, this is happening. The camel's nose is definitely under the tent.
The last half of the 20th Century could probably be labeled as the Golden Age of Soil Chemistry. This force-feeding of plants with incomplete NPK fertilizers brought great short-term increases in crop production, but after a few decades of whoopee yields some bad side-effects are showing up. I think we are now ever-so-gradually entering the Age of Soil Biology, and expect that it will be far more permanent in duration once it gets established.
But I feel like the old joke, "Lord, give me patience...and give it to me NOW!"
Happiness and prosperity, my friends,
Don Chapman
President, BioOrganics, Inc.