As the year draws to a close, we are taking time to reflect on a busy and successful year at Brandon Bioscience. We are thankful to all our customers, suppliers and those we have met throughout the year. Our team are looking forward to a well-earned break over the holidays and we look forward to an exciting 2025.
Let’s take a look at some key moments from this year:
Showcasing Brandon’s Best
This year, Brandon Bioscience actively engaged with the wider industry and ag community, presenting our innovations at events and exhibitions worldwide. In April, our Biostimulant Product Manager, Brett Wesley, represented us at the New AG International Annual in Berlin, where he discussed how PSI®362 Precision Technology improves nitrogen use efficiency in winter wheat. Later that month, our Head of Innovation Dr. Shane O’Connell showcased our research at the 5th BioAgTech World Congress in Raleigh, NC, highlighting the role of MARTELLO® in enhancing crop resilience during temperature stress.
In May, we participated in the AgTech UCD Innovation Centre event at Lyons Farm, sharing insights on how AgTech drives resource efficiency and sustainability in Irish agriculture. We also presented at the First Annual RECROP COST meeting in Murcia, where Juan Francisco Sánchez López discussed MARTELLO®’s impact on heat-stressed chilli peppers, alongside international experts exploring climate change’s effects on agriculture.
The summer brought more opportunities to share our research. At the Irish Plant Scientists’ Association Meeting in Cork, our team presented findings on Ascophyllum nodosum’s role in improving thermotolerance in crops. As an active member of EBIC, we took part in a panel discussion at the EBIC Summit in Brussels in June highlighting how biostimulants can enable farmers to be agile entrepreneurs in a changing climate.
In September, we attended The Ploughing Championships in Ireland, showcasing PSI®362 and SEALICIT®, our pod-shatter-reducing biostimulant for oilseed rape. We were honoured to be finalists for the Enterprise Ireland Green Impact Award, recognising SEALICIT®’s contribution to sustainable farming.
In November, we took the stage at the New Ag International Biostimulants World Congress in Miami. Dr. Elomofe Ikuyinminu presented our research on reducing salinity stress impacts with protein hydrolysates and biostimulants. These events highlighted our dedication to innovation and collaboration, showcasing our solutions to the challenges facing modern agriculture.
The Importance of our Partners
This year, Brandon Bioscience strengthened its global partnerships with impactful visits and knowledge-sharing sessions. In February, our team visited long-time partners Biosum Technology in Murcia, Spain, engaging in collaborative discussions with distributors and growers to share our latest research.
April saw the launch of MARTELLO in Korea and LATAM. Commercial Manager Javier Soto joined Agspec Group in Korea to introduce MARTELLO to the Asia-Pacific region, while our CCO Americas, Cristobal Diaz, and CTO Dr. Oscar Goñi visited Chile and Peru to visit our partners ANASAC and HORTUS. They demonstrated MARTELLO’s ability to combat abiotic stresses across diverse crops such as cherries, apples, and avocados, collaborating with growers and technical teams to explore its benefits.
In July, we expanded MARTELLO’s presence to Southeast Asia with visits to Thailand and Vietnam. Javier Soto worked alongside Agspec Group to meet with local retailers and durian growers, discussing how MARTELLO supports yield protection.
In August, we celebrated the growing adoption of TERRAMAR and SEACROP in Brazil with AMVAC. Cristobal Diaz and Dr. Oscar Goñi connected with crop advisors, researchers, and growers of extensive crops and citrus to showcase the benefits of these biostimulants. TERRAMAR improves productivity under stress conditions, while SEACROP enhances citrus yield and quality.
These visits underscore our commitment to building strong global partnerships, sharing knowledge, and driving innovation in agriculture worldwide.
NEW RESEARCH
At Brandon, research publications are at the core of our business. This year marked significant advancements in our research efforts, with two peer-reviewed papers published.
The first paper, authored by Patrick Quille at Munster Technological University in collaboration with Dr. Shane O’Connell (Brandon Bioscience Head of Research) and Professors Joanna Kacprzyk and Carl Ng from University College Dublin, explored the potential of our Ascophyllum nodosum-based biostimulant, PSI®362 Precision Technology. Published in the Journal of Applied Phycology, the study demonstrated how PSI®362 could reduce nitrogen application in pasture systems by 25% without compromising yield. It also highlighted improvements in nitrogen use efficiency and protein content while reducing nitrate leaching and nitrous oxide emissions, offering a more sustainable approach to farming.
Our second publication, “Chitosan from Mushroom Improves Drought Stress Tolerance in Tomatoes”, resulted from a collaborative effort involving researchers from Marigot Ltd., Brandon Bioscience, and the Centre for Applied Bioscience Research (CABR) at Munster Technological University. This study, part of Dr. Olusoji Demehin’s PhD research, compared fungi-derived chitosan with crustacean-derived chitosan for improving drought tolerance in tomatoes. Published in the Journal Plants MDPI, the research confirmed that both types of chitosan enhance plant resilience to drought, while highlighting the sustainability of mushroom-derived chitosan. This work underscores our dedication to developing innovative, eco-friendly biostimulants that are both effective and sustainable.
Milestones & Celebrating Success
Our teams across our business including Technical, Research, our production and quality teams brought some key milestones to the business in 2024.
We continue to certify our biostimulant portfolio under EU Fertilising Products Regulation (FPR) 2019/1009. The EU FPR allows Brandon Bioscience to specify the effects of their plant biostimulants and make these claims on the product label. In 2024, we received a further two CE marks for increasing harvestable crop size in all crop groups and the 2nd for increase in root biomass in broadacre crops.
This year also saw years of research and development work come to the fore as the first shipment of our new precision biostimulant BLOCSAL® begun its journey from Ireland to its first customers in Spain.
This achievement as well as all the highlights of 2024 reflects the hard work and dedication of our entire team, from R&D to production and beyond, each step driven by our commitment to bringing quality products to growers around the world.
From our team at Brandon to yours, we wish you a very happy holidays and peaceful new year.
