Yara North America Management Practices

The main goals of this project include analyzing the impact of the intensive fertigation program on the microbial biodiversity and functionality of the almond orchard soils, and evaluating if the intensive program presents any benefits to microbial community structure compared to the “Baseline” nutrition management program.

This project was located at Yara Incubator Farm in Modesto, California. Yara utilized Biome Makers' BeCrop® technology to analyze 1 treatment program during 4 sampling times (T0, T1, T2, T3) with 3 samples under an intensive fertigation program. The results from BeCrop® indicated an increase in P and K mobilization at T3, an increase of Auxin, Citokinin, and acidic acid microbial potential at T1, and an increase of Bactericide and insecticide potential all times.

The results from the intensive fertigation program demonstrated improvements compared to the “Baseline” nutrition management program. The project identified significant changes to the microbial biodiversity and functionality, pathogen pressure, and microbial nutrient cycling, serving as a bioindicator of the effect of fertigation programs on soil microbiota, affecting the quality of the soil and the product.  "Soil biology really is critical as a building block for all of the downstream processes that ultimately relate to yields and productivity." states Devin Clarke, Crop Manager at Yara Incubator Farm, CA

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