bio365
Living Soils Honoring A Plant’s DNA

In nature, plants feed on demand by communicating their needs to biology living in their root zone, which delivers the plant the required nutrients from the soil. In controlled environment agriculture (CEA), however, they cannot selectively feed due to the absence of the required natural biology and organic nutrients in their root zones.

Irrefutably, plants need nature and symbiotic relationships with soil microbiology to reach the full potential of their chemotype expression, a requirement even carefully selected microbe amendments seldom fulfill.

Zeno of Elea centuries ago said, “The goal of life is living in agreement with nature.” Aligning with this philosophy and helping businesses bring nature to CEA is bio365.

“We’re advocating for science and bringing respect for the plants and consumers to the controlled environment agriculture industry,” says Michael Klein, co-founder and CEO of bio365.

bio365 is a science-driven provider of cultivation substrates, systems, and services for CEA. Its proprietary product portfolio of living substrates–backed by ten issued patents–is based on the principles of biomimicry and combines the best aspects of nature and technological innovation. This all-natural, high-porosity media solves the pressing challenges of capturing the true expression of plants and generating flavorful, nutritious, and medicinally effective products from these environments.

"Our living soil honors the plant’s DNA and stimulates on-demand delivery of water and nutrients to improve plant health and resilience, boost yields, and most importantly, accurately capture chemotype expression"

bio365 uses its patented biological activation and aging process (controlled environment manufacturing), culturing clean, consistent, and wide-spectrum beneficial microbiology without worm castings, compost, or unpasteurized manure. This process is conducted indoors, unlike conventional outdoor processing, in restricted and closely monitored HEPA-filtered, air-pressure controlled space. The production buildings are sally-ported, food-grade facilities, bio365 manufactures and stores all inputs and finished goods indoors, protecting them from contamination and exposure to the elements.

bio365 practices a 41-step QC process that ensures product integrity in every batch, season, and location. It utilizes the strictest QA and QC protocols, testing both raw materials and finished goods.

“We use production IPM (Integrated Pest Managegment). We use beneficial nematodes, and hypoaspis mites to reduce fungal pressures in the soil. Our unique production capabilities allow us to deliver the cleanest, most consistent substrates in the industry,” says Klein.

Deploying this quality-centric process, bio365 has created bioCHARGE®, its multi-patented, activated, and aged mixture of microbiology, biochar, and organic nutrients.

bioCHARGE® is a breakthrough solution that allows cultivators to supply essential microbiology to their controlled environments. It empowers plants to signal the microbiology in the growing media of their nutritional and water needs and need for assistance in battling pathogens and pests.

“Our living soil honors the plant’s DNA and stimulates on-demand delivery of water and nutrients to improve plant health and resilience, boost yields, and most importantly, accurately capture chemotype expression,” adds Klein.

bioCHARGE^® is anchored by bio365’s high-temperature, high-carbon, and super low-ash patented biochar matrix bioCORE™.

Backed by 5 patents, bioCORE™ is an ultra-pure carbon matrix that retains water molecules in tiny pores and makes them available for plants as needed, preventing wilting. It mimics the release of water as observed in natural soil. bioCORE™– engineered with high surface area, carbon stability, high porosity, and low ash–creates a favorable physical environment for microorganisms.

bioCORE™, combined with bioCHARGE^®, creates the optimum media that is functionalized and inoculated with biology and nutrients to hold them in the substrate. bio365 has also developed ultimateAIR™, a substitute for perlite that offers remarkable air and water porosity. It offers cultivators crop-steering flexibility to adopt various irrigation strategies for diverse plant species.

We’re advocating for science and bringing respect for the plants and consumers to the controlled environment agriculture industry

All of the growing media offered by bio365–8 substrates– are biologically active and contain biochar, furnishing plants with the optimal condition to grow rapidly and vibrantly. These soils are custom formulated for the various cultivation requirements of farmers and the biological needs of plants. They address anticipated regulatory requisites, reduce consumption of resources, and provide simplicity and increased profitability.

“With biomimicry, our soils provide plants the expected biology living in the root zone, which they can selectively use for critical functions,” states Klein.

As bio365 improves and optimizes controlled environment cultivation, it reduces labor costs and human interventions, substantially improving the cost-effectiveness and efficacy of their cultivation. From seed to harvest, it enhances every stage in the production and analyzes them to generate insightful and actionable data.

By paving the way for plants to form symbiotic relationships with microbiology in controlled environments, bio365’s living soils generate visible and measurable improvements. Its soil was also sent to the International Space Station for the testing of soil microbiology in space.

Ceaselessly Customer-centric; A True Differentiator

Though the benefits of the soils speak for themselves, what empowers bio365 to deliver these innovative and efficacious products is its close collaboration with its customers. While working with them, bio365 becomes a part of its solution space, helping them transform their CEA bottlenecks into leading edges.

“Our product development is driven by working closely with customers on problems around specific improvements or addressing nuances that benefit everyone,” elaborates Klein.

bio365’s team of experts works shoulder-to-shoulder with customers throughout trials. It then delivers a soil that mimics natural biological processes, gives clients extensive training, and helps set up their standard operating procedures (SOPs).

Its experts, committed to the success of their customers, provide consulting expertise, industry-leading technical support, and unmatched services.

bio365 adds value to its existing operations using its science-based analytical horsepower and extensive knowledge base in the domain. The company advises clients on their amendments, identifies the pitfalls in their operations, and suggests the best course of action and associated solutions.

bio365’s team was founded by four visionaries who joined forces in 2015 to ensure the future generation has access to clean, abundant, healthy, and high-quality food and medicine. The team–Jackie Klein, David Shearer, John Gaunt, and Klein– identified that adopting CEA can be crucial in combating climate change. 10% of our country's total energy goes to moving our food from field to fork. CEA offers the potential to move food production to the consumer markets, eliminating much of this energy consumption. Driven by their passion for the cause and drawing from their experience, they broke ground with cultivators and food industry experts to develop a series of technologies that improve CEA cultivation. These groundbreaking soil formulas improve environmental sustainability, diminish the impact of chemical fertilizers, remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and create a seamless path to transition to organic agriculture.

Utilizing its agile product development methodology, bio365 swiftly prototypes specific media, tests them in real-world situations, collects immediate feedback, and improves the process. It conducts quarterly meetings with its multi-state clients to review their goals and progress and determine ways to address emerging challenges and further optimize their cultivation.

Substantiating bio365’s capability to provide customer-centric solutions and services is its collaboration with Columbia Care Inc. (CCHWF: OTCMKTS).

Columbia Care is one of the largest multi-state operators in the medical cannabis industry, licensed to practice in 15 jurisdictions across the U.S. They needed help developing clean and homogeneous substrates as part of their SOP. Their suppliers seldom furnished the quantity and consistency they wanted to give patients. Amidst this tangle of complications, Eric Culberson, VP of Horticulture at Columbia Care, met Gaunt at a symposium.

After learning about its experience in developing nutrient-dense biochar soils and collaborative approaches to delivering the products, they partnered with bio365.

Its experts visited each of Columbia Care’s facilities and worked with their cultivators on maximizing yield and plant expression. They also provided ongoing consultation and technical support, offering Columbia Care an unparalleled experience. Doubling down on its collaborative stance, bio365 helped the client harmonize its cross-country efforts and implement standardized SOPs. Deploying bio365’s substrate in conjuction with Columbia Care’s other SOPs has also resulted in over two times their yield compared to previous years.

For an outsider, delivering such a well-organized process and products may seem unfathomable, but it was just another day for bio365.

In another instance, Apothca Inc., a vertically-integrated cannabis company, utilized bio365’s BIOCOCO as part of its customized feeding program and substantially reduced operational costs and soil usage by one-third.

These customer success stories are an evocative representation of bio365’s expertise in devising customized and efficient solutions that address specific challenges while offering numerous supplementary benefits. As part of its latest endeavors, it is developing a 100 percent fertigated organic solution for CEA.

Though the landscape of agriculture is always dynamic, one fact is for certain; controlled environment agriculture is opening a window of opportunities for innovation in the sector. bio365, with its distinguished team and groundbreaking products and services, will set the stage for sustainable and nature-inspired CEA that holistically addresses global food security challenges.