Get higher yields with biostimulant Vita Folium

hey say that in this world, nothing is certain except death and taxes. Field crop farmers would have to disagree—crop stress is just as certain. That’s why Sollio Agriculture recommends complementing fungicide applications with a biostimulant called Vita Folium.
 

In 2022, Jean-Philippe Fortin, an agri-advisor with more than 20 years of experience, and some of his customers were in their third season of using Vita Folium.

“We added a fungicide to our arsenal because sclerotinia has been a serious threat in the Chaudière-Appalaches region in recent years,” says Fortin. “The time was right to add a natural, stress-relieving compound that could be applied to crops at heading.”

What also appealed to Fortin and the 15 or so farmers using Vita Folium is that the product is manufactured in Québec by OrganicOcean, a local company that fully complies with Fisheries and Oceans Canada’s seaweed sourcing requirements.

Fortin believes that farmers interested in Vita Folium are primarily looking to improve their yields and profitability through environmentally friendly solutions.

“In 2021, a drought year, we applied it to our wheat when the ears emerged and we could see the difference,” says Fortin. “Wheat everywhere was practically dead on its feet, but in the fields where we had applied Vita Folium, the wheat was more consistent, and there were fewer dead plants.”

In 2022, the stress-relieving effect of Vita Folium was still apparent. “We got yields of 1.3 to 1.5 tons per acre in 2022,” says Fortin. “In a year when some yields were very variable, often even falling below one ton per acre, we were able to achieve very good yields in several crops, including oat, wheat and corn.”
 

Very encouraging trials near Montréal and in Montérégie

Closer to Montréal, the farmers supported by Kelley Allen, Agri-advisor at Uniag Cooperative, have also noted the stress-relieving effect of Vita Folium.

“We encourage our customers to use it with fungicide to maximize the effect of the application, as it helps distribute the fungicide throughout the plant,” says Allen. “There was no damage or stress to the plants after spraying.”

Another crop also benefited from the Vita Folium–fungicide combination. “We encouraged dairy farmers to use Vita Folium on corn silage,” adds Allen. “We wanted to maximize the anti-fungal effect and stimulate fertilization. With such a nutrient-hungry crop, it just made sense.”

Although unable to give exact figures, Allen says that yields have been positively improved at Guillaume Gratton’s Ferme Geriaume in Casselman.
 

An undeniable impact in Mauricie

Gabrielle Desjardins, Agri-advisor at Novago Coopérative, received impressive data from one of her customers. “For the 2022 season, a number of customers in the Mauricie region tried Vita Folium as a complement to fungicide sprays on their soybean crops,” she says. “To better understand the product’s impact on yield, the fungicide sprays were applied in strips with and without a biostimulant. As the weeks went by, there was no noticeable difference between the strips. However, when we weighed the crops at harvest, the results were more than satisfactory.”

For example, in a field of Cobra soybeans in Saint-Léon, Desjardins noted a 17% yield increase in the sections treated with fungicide and Vita Folium compared with the sections treated with fungicide alone.
 

Conclusive trials in Centre-du-Québec

Based on these promising early results, the managers of Ferme Drapeau et Bélanger in Sainte-Françoise-de-Lotbinière have increased the areas dedicated to Vita Folium trials for the 2022 season.

“We treated all the wheat with Miravis Ace in combination with Vita Folium and saw a 7% increase in yield compared to last year,” says Valérie Martineau, Technologist and Agri-advisor at Covris Coopérative.

Aware that the season played its part, she nevertheless reports yields of 5.73 tons per hectare for grain, and an average yield of 5.5 tons per hectare for straw.

For corn silage, the yield increase was almost 400 tons more. “We were already treating 243 hectares with fungicide applied by helicopter,” says Martineau. “When we added Vita Folium, the yield increase was 3.5% compared to 2021, a total of 47 tons per hectare. The farmer simply said to me: ‘I think it’s conclusive.’”

The farmers and advisor also carried out eight soybean trials. Of these, six weigh-ins showed positive effects and two showed negative effects. Yield increases ranged from 100 kg to over 400 kg per hectare. With soybean at $700 per ton, the gain ranged from $70 to $280 per hectare.

All the fields with higher yields were treated with Cotegra and Vita Folium.

The owners of Ferme Drapeau et Bélanger, like other customers in the Sollio Agriculture network, reported a reduction in stress on their treated crops in 2022.

Source: This article was originally published in French in the Coopérateur magazine.