Saline agriculture may offer farmers an increasingly important defence against worsening soil and water salinisation, but its biggest barriers are now commercial rather than technical, according to a new study from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
The research found that scientific advances and field trials have demonstrated numerous ways to produce crops sustainably under saline conditions. Yet commercial adoption remains limited, with businesses reporting weak demand, low awareness, high customer acquisition costs and lengthy sales cycles.
Based on 15 interviews with market participants, from halophyte growers to seed technology developers and water-management companies, the study found many businesses are operationally capable of scaling but cannot generate sufficient sustained demand to justify doing so.
“This study was based on a simple observation that holds true for a lot of sustainable and regenerative agriculture,” co-author Richard Bellis told AgNavigator. “We actually know quite a lot about ways to deal with climatological and environmental threats to food production, but getting that stuff to scale commercially is really hard.”
One problem, he said, is that salinisation itself is poorly understood.
“Generating demand for solving a problem that isn’t widely understood to be a problem, or that’s seen as a different type of problem than the one you’re trying to solve, is incredibly difficult.”
‘From a garnish to a side dish’
The study identifies a fragmented industry containing two largely distinct groups.
One consists of producers growing halophytes, plants adapted to highly saline environments, largely for specialist markets. The other comprises “enablers”, such as developers of salt-tolerant varieties, seed treatments and water-management technologies targeting conventional, much larger agricultural supply chains.
For halophyte producers, even modest increases in consumption could transform the economics.
“One told me, ‘Our big challenge is to go from a garnish to a side dish. If we can go from two grams to 10 grams, it would make an enormous difference,’” Bellis said.
The disconnect between these emerging markets also makes it difficult to establish a simple proposition for investors, food businesses and farmers.
“This structural asymmetry makes it tough for any of these businesses to tell a coherent story about what saline agriculture is and why it’s important,” Bellis said.
Incumbents could provide the route to scale
Rather than attempting to disrupt existing agricultural systems, however, businesses interviewed for the study overwhelmingly viewed integration with established supply chains as the most credible route to growth. Low-friction technologies that require farmers, processors and consumers to change existing practices as little as possible were generally preferred.
The findings point to a need for coordinated commercial support, including shared marketing, better market intelligence, partnerships, improved procurement opportunities and mechanisms that reduce risk for operators and financiers. The authors also call for clearer sustainability standards and stronger policy support for converting proven innovations into scalable businesses.
The stakes extend beyond individual ventures. As Bellis put it, for farmers facing worsening salinity, the alternative to adapting is frequently stark: “The alternative to saline farming is frequently no farming at all.”
