The global lifestyle shift towards healthy eating, as well as considering the inputs that go into the production of food people consume, is creating an opportunity for one local farm inputs company that manufactures organic soils and fertilisers.

For crop physiologist Dr Hansel Beckford, founder and executive chairman of Knockalva Enterprises, the rise in the price of inorganic fertilisers due to supply chain challenges and the ongoing Russo-Ukraine war are also opening doors for the company, which sells its products at a far more competitive rate than inorganic inputs.

“The world is changing both in terms of lifestyles as well as applications to improve the environment, and therefore what is being done. We’re very careful in looking at our production systems; that means that the usual fertilisers like NPKs, which are inorganic, while they help with plant production, they do serious damage to the environment,” Beckford told Jamaica Observer recently in an interview.

Alternately, he pointed out that organic-based fertilisers are not only better for the food but also the environment. Dr Beckford noted that organic fertilisers provide both macro and micronutrients to the soil and help with “water economy”.

“It is reduces soil erosion and a number of factors like it crystallises carbon in the soil,” he added.

Dr Beckford founded Knockalva Enterprise in 2014 and a year later began operations at Bernard Lodge in St Catherine. During that time the crop physiologist said he conducted market surveys as well as a number 0f field trials on organic soil and fertilisers.

He revealed that he has used a proven and patented system called the Aeromaster (or Advanced) Composting System (ACS) to develop the inputs with trials conducted on a host of crops in various locations over a period of time. Among the crops: Irish potato, sweet pepper, Scotch bonnet pepper, and leafy vegetables.

As part of the ACS approach is the process of mulching, using material from plant or animals which, when broken down, supplies nutrients to the soil, helps it hold more water, and develops its physical characteristics.

“We have an arrangement with the people with the patent to use it. What we do is every single batch of output has the same volume in terms of CN ratio — carbon to nitrogen ratio. For each raw material we know what the CN ratio is,” Dr Beckford outlined.

And what of the findings?

“There is tremendous demand for organic-based products. With proper application of the fertilisers, there is no significant difference in terms of quantum but using organics, the quality of the product is much better, whether in terms of taste, appearance or shelf-life,” the executive chairman of Knockalva Enterprises stated.

He, however, shared that the minimal difference between inorganic farm inputs and organic ones is the time crops respond to either. And although, crops grow more quickly when using inorganics, the yield from organic materials is about the same.

Still, Dr Beckford emphasises that when farming, there are a number of factors that must be taken into account to reap optimal benefits — material particle derives from rocks by weathering, organic material, soil water, soil air, and living organisms. These components contribute to the “chemical condition” or “nutrient status” of the soil.

According to research, “The chemical relationships influencing soil fertility are complex and are affected by parent material, type of clay, amount of organic matter and soil structure.”

With this understanding of the relationship between soil, crops and organic inputs, Dr Beckford is working with the Northern Caribbean University (NCU) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, through the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA), to disseminate the information to the farming population as part of a public education campaign.

“One of the things I am pushing, particularly with our work with NCU, is doing feed files,” he informed Business Observer, noting how data on the performance of Knockalva Enterprise’s fertilisers would be documented.

But he also noted that the company continues to face hurdles when promoting organic farm inputs.

“Our main hurdle when we started was for local farmers and RADA to appreciate the importance of organic fertilisation. People have been used to using inorganics and when they see the response they don’t think about they’re doing in terms of soil erosion and just creating poor soils,” Beckford noted.

“They just put on inorganics and they perceive that they get a better result…[but] you don’t know how much the plants are getting. With open field systems with a range of rain patterns, when the rains come it washes out a lot of the nutrients from the soil profile,” he continued.

This trend, the crop physiologist points out, is not unique to Jamaica or the Caribbean but a worldwide practice which results in soil toxicity.

It is for this reason that Knockalva Enterprises has proposed to work alongside RADA to educate its field personnel on the benefits of organic fertilisers.

The company’s focus, meanwhile, remains the same.

“To make available organic-based growing media for agriculture production,” Beckford said, adding that it also applies to landscaping.

With costs of Knockalva Enterprise’s Easi-Grow fertilisers ranging between $1,650 and $1,850, Beckford believes that the product is competitively priced, especially at a time when inorganics have skyrocketed due to global shortage.

At present, Knockalva Enterprises distributes to H&L Agro, Rapid True Value, HiPro and Central Agricultural Supplies Company. The founder disclosed that by next March the company should ramp up both production and distribution to all major towns in Jamaica.

“This is why we’re scaling up, retrofitting so to speak, to make sure that we operate at scale. And even at the price that I quoted to you, we believe that with our improvement and upscaling the price would be even more reduced.

Following the upgrade of its production system, the company should increase its capacity output to six tonnes per hour. At the same time, the company has onboarded new investors and will hire more employees as it looks to overhaul its operations at Bernard Lodge.

Upon completion, Beckford said, the company will be rebranded Knockalva Biosystems.

But how did a company in St Catherine end up with a name with Knockalva — a locale in Hanover parish?

“The directors of the company had their early beginnings in eastern Hanover, close to Knockalva. So when we were searching for a name, we said that since Knockalva is known for agricultural training, we would stick with that name,” Beckford outlined.