UNIBEST International: The Future of Precision Nutrient Management

In the agriculture industry, current soil fertility analysis methods often provide information to make decisions about the feeding of plants reactively. They measure the nutrients that are present in the soil, but not the bioavailable levels that are impacted by the soil’s ability to release those nutrients at a rate that matches plant uptake demands at critical growth stages. Specializing in innovative agricultural testing and environmental sustainability, UNIBEST International is looking to replace this reactive approach with a predictive and balanced feeding method using its Predictive Nutrient Intelligence (PNI) software. “By measuring the amount of bioavailable nutrients for plants in various growing mediums, we predict those nutrients’ adequacy in a crop and a plant tissue,” explains Mark Riess, CEO of UNIBEST International. This information helps make critical decisions to improve soil quality and plant health.

During the growth stage, every crop has a specific nutrient uptake demand from the soil that needs to be fulfilled for maximum yield and quality. UNIBEST Ag Manager, a component of PNI, provides data concerning the active, dynamic components of each soil type. It helps growers, agronomists, and product developers adhere to the 4Rs of Nutrient Stewardship for determining the right source of fertilizer applied at the right rate, in the right place, and at the right time. With a number of fertilizer products available in the market, it is challenging to quickly evaluate their effectiveness in different types of soil. To compare how different products will bestfit a specific soil and grower’s soil, UNIBEST offers its Try-Before-You- Apply kit. “Our patented Ion-Exchange Resin technology is the core component of this kit, which provides the product performance information,” states Riess. Unlike conventional testing methods that change the physical and chemical characteristics of soil by drying and grinding the samples, UNIBEST uses field-moist soils to quantify the bioavailability of nutrients to plants.