Agricultural biological products are the new "Wild West" of agriculture, and this is reflected in the thousands of biological products being sold.

There are many ways to try to make sense of it, like classifying biological products by application method, how they are registered with the government for use, or the University of Illinois Crop Physiology Lab’s proposed categories. The simplest way to start looking at biological products is by application method because farmers can quickly determine if it is feasible to apply - but this way is too broad as it mixes active ingredients.

The government tried to tame the "Wild West" of the biological sector by defining the term bio-stimulant, which can be thought of as a subcategory of biologicals. Classifying bio-stimulant products is important because they are exempt from expensive federal registration as a pesticide and are instead registered on the state level. The definition of a bio-stimulant in the 2018 Farm Bill is too vague to be enforceable because the definition overlaps with the definition of pesticides. However, there is a new Plant Bio-stimulant Act that aims to give better guidelines.

Just like the true "Wild West" couldn’t be tamed overnight, the federal government isn’t going to provide order to the biological side of agriculture overnight either. This leaves us with the last and best option: the University of Illinois Crop Physiology Lab’s proposed categories of biologicals. Below are the subcategories of biologicals and their definitions.

BIOLOGICALS:
Non-synthetic products designed to enhance crop growth and development.

Microorganisms (Microbes or Bugs in a Jug): Contains cultures of living microorganisms.

Bio-Stimulants:
Non-living products that promote the increase of microorganism populations by enhancing the environment in which they live and/or by providing food for them to consume.

Photo submitted by Beck's Hybrids.

It is hard to determine which category some of the biological products fall into. For example, the PFR Proven™ product Micro-AZ IF Liquid™ by TerraMax contains the bacteria Azospirillum brasilense. This living bacteria fixes atmospheric nitrogen but could have a greater effect on plants by producing growth-promoting regulators.

As the "Wild West" was tamed, the region's resources were realized. Similarly, the potential of biologicals is unknown, and the only way to realize the potential is by continuing to do research. If you are looking to try a biological product on your own farm, trying a PFR Proven biological (Figure 5) is a great place to start.

Photo submitted by Beck's Hybrids.

Photo submitted by Beck's Hybrids.

Before fully embracing a biological product in your operation, make sure to evaluate products on a smaller scale to make sure they are accomplishing the goal that you desire. You must also remember that many of these products have special handling requirements. These requirements must be followed to ensure the optimal performance of biological products.

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