Balchem introduces digital nutrition platform for specialty crop advisors
Balchem introduces digital nutrition platform for specialty crop advisors
Balchem Plant Nutrition has launched Metalosate T.E.A.M., a new digital plant tissue analysis platform designed to help crop advisors and agronomists make more precise nutrient management decisions for specialty crops.
The free platform, available to pest control advisors and agronomists throughout the United States, analyzes plant tissue results and converts them into crop-specific nutrient recommendations intended to improve yield potential, fruit quality and return on investment while reducing unnecessary fertilizer applications.
Balchem describes Metalosate as a complete amino acid chelated micronutrient platform, powered by Albion technology, proven across the world's most demanding specialty crops.
T.E.A.M., which stands for Technical Evaluation of Albion Minerals, builds on decades of research behind Balchem's Metalosate micronutrient products. Rather than simply reporting nutrient concentrations, the system evaluates tissue analysis against crop-specific sufficiency ranges and examines the relationships among nutrients to identify the mineral imbalances most likely limiting crop performance.
“More data isn't always the answer,” said Jeremy O'Brien, global sales director for Balchem Plant Nutrition. “Crop advisors need confidence and clarity in plant nutrition decisions. Metalosate T.E.A.M. translates tissue results into customized, prescriptive recommendations that agronomists can use to strengthen their customers' crop yield and quality.”
While plant tissue analysis has long been an important management tool in specialty crop production, interpreting laboratory results often requires significant agronomic expertise. Balchem said the new platform simplifies that process by prioritizing nutrient interactions and producing actionable recommendations rather than leaving advisors to interpret pages of analytical data.
The company said the platform is designed to support a wide range of specialty crops, including tree nuts, tree fruit, berries, vineyards and other high-value commodities where balanced nutrition plays a critical role in maximizing quality and productivity.
According to Balchem, field trials using nutrition programs guided by the T.E.A.M. methodology have demonstrated improvements in yield, crop quality and overall profitability compared with programs focused on correcting individual nutrient deficiencies.
In addition to generating in-season recommendations, the digital platform stores historical tissue analysis results, allowing advisors to monitor nutrient trends over multiple growing seasons. The company said that long-term perspective can help improve nutrient management strategies while avoiding unnecessary input costs.
The launch comes as specialty crop growers continue to adopt more data-driven production practices in an effort to improve efficiency, sustainability and profitability. Balchem said T.E.A.M. gives advisors another tool to incorporate plant tissue analysis into both preseason planning and in-season fertility programs.
Available at no cost, the Metalosate T.E.A.M. platform is designed to help advisors provide growers with more informed, science-based nutrition recommendations while supporting the production of higher-quality specialty crops.
