Plant Impact trumpets new internal quality standard

(ShareCast News) - Crop enhancement technology research and development company Plant Impact announced the launch of the Pi Quality Standard on Wednesday.The AIM-traded firm - which claimed the standard was a first for its fast-developing industry sector - said the standard sets demanding and transparent requirements in product efficacy, innovation, safety and compliance.It said the Pi Quality Standard is designed to help growers identify high quality products in a new sector "awash with confusing claims, but very little data".The standard will only be awarded to Plant Impact products that have completed comprehensive multiyear and multilocation trial programmes providing independently proven, statistically significant and transparent data on efficacy.That, together with 14 other key quality factors concerning safety and compliance, aligned with and exceeded current industry guidelines and legal requirements to create a set of demanding qualifying criteria, the board claimed.Plant Impact confirmed both Veritas - its original soybean crop enhancement product offered to growers in partnership with Bayer CropScience - and Fortalis, its second generation soybean product recently launched in the US and Argentina, achieved the standard at launch.Other Plant Impact products and its research and development pipeline projects were undergoing focussed trial work to build the volume of data required for the standard, starting with those that can have the biggest impact on closing the yield gap, the board explained."If crop enhancement technology and biostimulants more broadly are to make a global impact on the yield gap, we and our peers in this innovative industry sector must adopt transparent and robust practices and we are delighted that Plant Impact is setting the trend," said CEO John Brubaker."Only then will we build trust among hard-working and savvy growers."The Pi Quality Standard marks our commitment to stepping forward as a strong voice for change, maintaining the highest scientific standards and helping growers identify reliable new crop enhancement technologies."