In 2026, many farmers had to rethink their crop nutrient strategy due to high fertilizer prices and availability concerns, with biostimulants becoming a key tool to improve crop nutrient utilization and yields. Idaho-based Redox Bio-Nutrients is one company helping farmers better use their nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium with its portfolio of biologicals, including with the launch of RDX-Flex.
Available for the 2027 season, RDX-Flex is a foliar-applied biostimulant, based on the same technology as its patented botanical-extract technology as RDX-N, a soil-applied biostimulant to improve nitrogen-use efficiency, Gifford Gillette, head of research at Redox, told AgNavigator. RDX-Flex is shelf-stable and formulated with 10% urea nitrogen, the company shared in a press release.
RDX-Flex is “mix friendly” and can be used with herbicides or fungicides at an inclusion rate of 32 ounces per acre, Gillette added. Redox tested RDX-Flex in trials using nitrogen rates reduced by 50% from grower standards, and the results showed that farmers could lower nitrogen inputs and maintain yields, Gillette explained.
“Someone can reduce their nitrogen, put a lot of money back in their pocket, and maintain their yield, or stay at the rate that they’re using [and] increase their nitrogen utilization in the plant, which typically leads to an increase in yield,” Gillette elaborated.
Redox invests in R&D pipeline
Redox is not only focusing on nitrogen but also offers products to better utilize phosphorus, like Rootex for soil applications and Dikap for foliar applications, Gillette said. On the potassium side, Redox offers products like Supreme and Supreme Flowable, which are blends of potassium, phosphate, and other crop nutrients to promote crop health.
Outside the big three crop nutrients, Redox is also tapping into growing demand for silicon-based biostimulants, which have been identified as a beneficial element, Gillette noted.
Looking ahead, Redox is continuing to invest in research and product development, with three PhDs on staff, to develop its next generation of biostimulants. Biostimulants are not just beneficial for nutrient uptake and efficiency, but they can also be useful in treating abiotic and biotic stress, Gillette noted.
“The benefits of bio-stimulants certainly do not end with nutrient efficiency,” Gillette said. “The healthier your crop is with a biostimulant approach, the more resistant it is to other impacts that come at the expense of the farmer’s pocketbook.”
