June 2023 - 10

duets
BY PETER KONJOIAN AND ALLISON JACK
Biostimulants: Learning to
Leverage the Biological World
Peter Konjoian is president of Konjoian's Horticulture
Education Services Inc. His career spans four decades as
a commercial grower, researcher and consultant. Allison
Jack is product technical director at NewLeaf Symbiotics.
M
y guest today is Allison
Jack, Ph.D., product
technical director at
NewLeaf Symbiotics based
in St. Louis, Missouri. Allison
earned her undergraduate
degree at Reed College in
Oregon, working on abiotic
stress tolerance. While
serving as an AmeriCorps
waste reduction educator,
she became interested in
vermicompost, which led
her to Cornell University for
her master's degree in soil
science and doctorate in plant
pathology. A postdoctoral
assignment at Wageningen
University in The Netherlands
completed her formal
education. She has been
at NewLeaf Symbiotics
since 2018.
Peter: That's a full
education path, Allison -
congratulations. Tell us more
about the progression of your
microbial focus.
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JUNE 2023 GPNMAG.COM
Allison: My undergraduate
work on abiotic stress
tolerance broadened to
vermicompost as mentioned.
That paved the way for my
master's, doctorate and postdoctoral
research interests
evolving into how complex
microbial communities
in organic amendments,
composts, liquid compost
amendments or soils can
influence crop production,
either for a growth and
yield response, or a disease
suppressive response.
Peter: This is exactly why
I invited you to Duets. I often
use my own experience to
describe how agriculture keeps
evolving. We're transitioning
from what I call the golden
age of chemicals to the natural
age of biologicals. That's
a bit simplistic; biology by
definition is inseparable from
chemistry, both organic and
inorganic. Your expertise in
biostimulants is a " right time,
right place " focus for sure.
Non-microbiologists like myself
are learning about the term
microbiome thanks to efforts
like yours.
Allison: Developing
biostimulants and
bioprotection products from
key members of the plant
microbiome feels like a natural
progression to me. I still love
composts, soils and microbial
ecology and follow all of the
exciting innovations in the field
of soil health. But I have been
consistently intrigued and,
honestly, quite surprised by
how much you can move the
dial biologically in a plant
with the targeted application
of a single isolate of a
beneficial microbe.
Peter: I'm evolving my
research focus to include your
world of natural microbes
and other growth stimulants.
In no way am I an expert in
this area, but it's fun learning
from colleagues like you and
companies like yours. Help
our greenhouse growers
understand the two main
U.S. agricultural systems;
traditional row crops such as
corn and soybean and specialty
crops. Are biostimulants being
used differently in these two
environments?
Allison: When I first started
in an industry role, I assumed
that specialty crop growers
were much more open to using
biologicals than row crop
growers. After working in row
crop biologicals for almost
10 years, when speaking with
a row crop grower, I usually
start a conversation about
biologicals by pointing out
that they may already be using
biological seed treatments
without realizing it. Major ag
companies in this space have
incorporated biologicals into
their base seed treatments,
http://www.GPNMAG.COM
June 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of June 2023
