Transforming Crop Nutrition one Farm at a Time
By Mary Wales– At Agriculture Solutions Inc., Dave de Vries and his team believe in success – one farm at a time. The Elora-based company helps farmers develop production plans catered to their location, crops, available soil nutrients and more.
“There isn’t a crop that we don’t work with,” states de Vries, “we aim to get to the root of problems and promote optimal soil and plant health for long term solutions that build organic matter and improve soil biology.”
While working as a soil and crop consultant for 10 years, de Vries has been involved with both conventional and organic farmers in the US and Canada ranging from 1 acre backyard gardening plots to farms of up to 25, 000 acres in size.
“It became quite clear that many farmers were dissatisfied with disease and insect pressure problems,” he notes. “They believed that the only answers were chemical treatment and, even though many farmers consistently work with chemicals, they do it uncomfortably.”
Agriculture Solutions Inc. regularly hosts meetings to bring forward information and teach farmers how various biological techniques can be applied to individual farms to reduce the use of chemicals and improve quality and yield.
When asked what Agriculture Solution Inc.’s most popular product is, de Vries looked slightly perplexed. That’s because the company is more focused on transferring knowledge and providing services about soil and plant nutrition to farmers than on selling products.
Staff at Agricultural Solutions Inc. work with individual farmers to develop a systematic approach by using tailored methods based on soil and tissue analysis, refractometer readings, as well as pH and nitrate testing.
A small fraction of the company’s clients are organic growers, although the majority would be considered conventional. De Vries stresses that the concerns of organic and conventional farmers are actually quite similar and how most conventional farmers are not satisfied with the ‘quick-fix’ approach to farming.
“We want to bring hope to organic farmers while also helping conventional farmers realize they don’t have to rely on synthetic chemicals to achieve high yields.”
The company has an active customer base of over 300 farms and demand for their services is certainly on the rise. Their next information session is planned on August 22nd. The location will be announced on the company’s web site. Call 1-855-247-6548 for more information or watch for updates on their website at www.agriculturesolutions.ca.