Biostimulant

October 14, 2025

Fertcare – What's It All about?

Fertcare^® lifts the skills and knowledge of anyone involved in the supply of fertiliser and soil ameliorant products. It ensures that high quality advice is passed on to farmers, allowing them to optimise productivity while minimising environment and food safety risks. Fertcare provides high quality training for all, and robust quality assurance of advisors to ensure standards are met and skills continuously improved It also provides certification of broadcast spreading equipment to help optimise the return on fertilizer and machinery investments through even application.

Trusted Advisors

Fertcare Accredited Advisors are assessed against standards set by the Australasian Soil and Plant Analysis Council (ASPAC). Once competent they are audited biennially to ensure that these standards are being routinely applied.

Fertcare Training

High quality, independent training under the National Qualifications Framework. Participants will have up to date knowledge on productivity, safety and environmental issues associated with fertiliser handling and use. Courses are available at three levels, from the complexity needed by an advisor to the practical information needed by a spreader or depot operator.

Fertcare Licensed Organisations

Organisations that display the Fertcare Organisation logo have all of their eligible staff Fertcare trained.

For Policy Makers And Researchers

With nearly 3000 people trained and an active database we can help you communicate with industry staff who speak to growers every day. We can support your objectives through communication, revision of materials or special workshops.

Nutrients And Fertiliser Information

Fertcare is, or has been, involved in a number of projects with organisations like GRDC, Dairy Australia, Sugar Research Australia, and The Department of Agriculture. Participants are kept up to date as new research and development becomes available.

Evaluation Of Fertcare

The Fertcare program has been evaluated in several independent studies.

Fertcare Privacy Policy.pdf

Fertcare^® is a registered trade mark, action will be taken against organisations or individuals for unauthorized use.

Biostimulants

What is a biostimulant?

A plant biostimulant is a substance(s), microorganism(s), or mixtures thereof, that, when applied to seeds, fertilizer, plants, the rhizosphere, soil or other growth media, act to support a plant’s natural nutrition processes independently of the biostimulant’s nutrient content.

Plant biostimulant thereby improves one or more of:

nutrient availability, uptake, or use efficiency.
tolerance to abiotic stress such as drought, salinity, or disease.
consequent growth, development, plant vigour, crop quality or yield.

Plant biostimulants can be placed into five compositional categories:

A. Microbial based biostimulants

1. Live microbial products

2. Complex products based on non-living microorganisms and their metabolites

B. Algal or plant extract biostimulants

1. Aquatic plant extracts

2. Microalgal and macroalgal extracts

3. Higher plant extracts

C. Complex carbon-based biostimulants

1. Humic substances. These can be mined natural deposits or synthesised from composts or organic agricultural by-products. They are primarily composed of three fractions (humic acids, fulvic acids, and humin). Sources of humic substances are commercially harvested from terrestrial deposits which include, but are not limited to, Leonardite, oxidized lignite, oxidized sub-bituminous coals, humalite, carbonaceous shales (including humic shale), peat, and sapropel.

2. Other complex carbon-based residuals and extracts (e.g., vermicompost/worm castings, compost waste materials, biochar etc.), or liquid extracts derived from these materials (e.g., compost tea, etc.).

D. Protein hydrolysate biostimulants (containing peptides and free amino acids) - derived from plant, animal, or microbial protein feedstock

1. Manufactured by chemical hydrolysis.

2. Manufactured by enzymatic hydrolysis.

E. Defined molecules purified from minerals, plants, animals, microbes, or obtained by synthesis.

These may include:

1. Organic molecules that are not defined as humic substances (e.g., amino acids, polyamines, polyphenols, betaines, oligosaccharides, alginates, carboxylic acids, fatty acids, chitin, chitosan, etc.)

2. Minerals that may not be recognized as plant nutrients (e.g., silicon, selenium, etc.).

Click Here for more information on Biostimulant CoP

Click Here for more information on 2025 Microbial Scoping Study.