Mountain Valley MD Holdings Inc (CSE:MVMD, OTCQB:MVMDF) said it has begun commercial sales and marketing of Agrarius, a certified organic product designed to be applied to agricultural crops to naturally increase yields, reduce fertilizer use, and increase general resilience to pests and climate change.
Agrarius – which works by activating plants’ defense mechanisms at the cellular level, without the actual stress factor – is owned by private US company Agrarius Corp (AC).
By applying Agrarius, treated plants grow deeper roots and open up foliage to optimize the effect of photosynthesis, thus increasing growth hormones, plant efficiency for water use and nutrients, decreasing the requirement of fertilizer where used, and increasing overall resistance to diseases and stressed climate conditions, the company said.
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Toronto-based Mountain Valley MD (MVMD), an authorized reseller of Agrarius products, is aiding sales and marketing of Agrarius through its wholly-owned and developed website IncreaseCropYields.com, including translation into Spanish and Portuguese. The website presents intended product benefits, enables clients to calculate crop-specific return on investment (ROI), and eases product purchases and customer integration through a robust customer relations management (CRM) pathway post-purchase.
Michal Prywata, chair of Agrarius Corp, said MVMD is a great partner in efforts to have a positive impact on the global food supply chain yields.
"Over the past several years, Agrarius Corp has tested the Agrarius product across multiple crop types and has seen dramatic yield increases on a variety of crops conservatively from 10% to 50% or more, with a corresponding reduction in fertilizer usage by more than 30%," said Prywata in a statement.
In August 2020, MVMD announced the execution of a supply and license agreement with Agroresults Inc (AR), the parent company of AC, which provided for the sale, marketing and distribution by MVMD of the novel agricultural technology under MVMD's own brand.
Before this, in November 2019, MVMD said it had also made an early investment of C$100,000 into AR in the form of a convertible debenture. The parties agreed to expand their arrangement to grant MVMD, a non-exclusive, worldwide license to sell and market AC's technology under the Agrarius brand, as an authorized reseller, according to MVMD.
According to MVMD, Agrarius works by sending signals that a plant understands and propagates through its roots and mycelial networks, allowing nearby plants to benefit from the signals naturally while reducing the actual amount of product that is used on a field. These signals literally tell plants how to grow, subsequently increasing yields, volatility resistance, and growth speeds.
MVMD CEO Dennis Hancock said trials over the past two years with partners Agrarius have shown impressive yield improvements through this low cost and easily applied plant technology.
"With the current global fertilizer shortage, related skyrocketing supply prices, soil degradation, and shrinking farmland from urban sprawl, our food supply has never been more vulnerable," Hancock said in a statement.
MVMD said its first-mover advantage with Agrarius presents a significant opportunity, given the rapidly changing global agricultural landscape due to mass fertilizer shortages, population growth, and urban sprawl limiting available farmlands.
As cited by POLITICO, United Nations officials are voicing concerns regarding the mounting crisis for fertilizers as vulnerable countries in areas such as Africa grapple with prices that have soared by 300% since the war between Russia and Ukraine began.
The article noted that "the African Development Bank said in May this year that 'many African countries have already seen price hikes in bread and other food items,' warning that 'if this deficit is not made up, food production in Africa will decline by at least 20% and the continent could lose over US$11 billion in food production value."
MVMD also noted that the World Bank projects that "climate change could cut crop yields, especially in the world's most food-insecure regions", placing more emphasis on the need for yield increases and overall plant resistance. Additionally, Research Gate3 has documented the impact of increasing soil degradation and fertilizer efficiency due to chemical-heavy processes and deforestation, estimating a US$400 billion per year loss in soil and nutrients, according to MVMD.
Hancock said the announcement today marks an important milestone in his company’s revenue targets and plans to be completely cash-flow positive in 2023.
"This is a great example of an incubation investment MVMD made as we pursue leading-edge technologies across the health and wellness space. Agrarius offers a promising diversified vertical for MVMD by inserting us directly in the food supply chain on a global scale," said Hancock.
MVMD said AC has tested the plant stimulant technology across all major agricultural crops and has conducted over 200 global field trials to validate its effectiveness. Agrarius is delivered in a liquid concentrate form that gets mixed with water at the point of application and then applied via sprayer to the plant twice during a plant's lifecycle.
Agrarius received organic certification through the Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI). OMRI is a non-profit organization that provides an independent review of products, such as fertilizers, pest controls, livestock health care products, and numerous other inputs that are intended for use in certified organic production and processing. OMRI reviews products against organic standards and once approved, acceptable products appear on the OMRI Products Lists on their company website at omri.org.
"For Mountain Valley MD to authentically pursue the health and wellness industry with the underlying purpose of helping people live their best life, we knew this opportunity to be involved in an initiative that could have a positive impact on the global food supply would be a relevant diversification for the company," said Hancock.
"Leveraging science to help eliminate harmful pesticides and chemicals often associated with agricultural practices is very aligned with our mission," Hancock added.
Contact the author at susie@proactiveinvestors.com