Biostimulants—especially seed-applied biological products—continue to generate interest across soybean-growing regions. The promise is appealing: improved early vigor, stress tolerance, or yield, often layered on top of existing seed treatments. But do these products actually deliver under real-world farming conditions?
A large, multi-state study led by Science for Success, a group of land-grant university soybean agronomists, set out to answer that question using an approach designed to mirror how farmers actually use these products. The study was published in the scientific journal Field Crops Research in December 2025.
Seth Naeve, one of the study’s 28 co-authors and a University of Minnesota Extension soybean agronomist, describes the goal clearly:
“We were really looking for which products worked in the most locations—and then trying to identify characteristics of environments products worked in—so that we could channel the use towards areas that would have a greater potential response or a better ROI.”
Source : umn.edu