Building resilience from the seed up

Two wet autumns. A brutally dry spring. Then another. For arable farmers across the UK, the pattern of increasingly unpredictable seasons is no longer an anomaly. It's the new backdrop against which every cropping decision is made.

And as growers and agronomists look for ways to give crops the best possible start in an unpredictable climate, a new category of seed-applied technology is gaining serious traction.

Corteva's Ympact biostimulant seed treatment has moved quietly but steadily from trials curiosity to a commercial staple on a growing number of farms. For those yet to encounter it, what makes Ympact different, and the science behind why it works, is worth understanding in some depth.

What is Ympact and where does it come from?

Ympact is a biostimulant, not a fungicide or a fertiliser. Its active components are humic and fulvic acid like compounds derived from lignosulfonates, which are a sustainable by-product of Nordic pine paper mills.

Rather than being simply extracted, these substances undergo a controlled conversion process, which allows regulation of the precise ratio of humic to fulvic acids in the final formulation.

According to Chantal Lipscombe, Corteva's technical specialist on the product, that control over concentration is key to how the product performs.

"The sourcing from a circular economy by-product is important to us," she explains, "but what really matters agronomically is the purity and the ratio of those two acids. That's what drives the mechanism of action."

Ympact is best co-applied alongside a conventional fungicidal seed dressing, with which it is fully compatible. But some growers have still benefitted when it’s used alone in a regenerative system.  

While it contains small amounts of manganese, copper and zinc, it is categorically a biostimulant. Its function is to mobilise and make available the nutrients a germinating seed needs, not to act as a standalone nutrient source.

The science is making small molecules have big effects

To understand what Ympact is doing in the soil, it helps to think of its two acid fractions as having distinct but complementary roles.

Humic acids are large molecules that don't penetrate the seed itself. Instead, they reside in the rhizosphere immediately around the developing root system, where they improve the soil's cation exchange capacity, helping to retain moisture around the roots and create conditions more favourable to root development.

In soils where pH variation can lock up micronutrients, this buffering effect is particularly valuable.

Fulvic acids are much smaller molecules and behave quite differently. They act, in Chantal’s words, as a shuttle: binding with manganese, copper and zinc. These are the three micronutrients most critical to germination, carrying them directly into the seed in a bioavailable form, precisely when the plant needs them most.

The fulvic acid component helps maintain manganese, copper and zinc in plant-available forms, supporting their movement to and uptake by the developing seedling. This can improve access to both seed-applied micronutrients and nutrients present in the rhizosphere, helping to promote strong early growth and vigour.

"Those three micronutrients are essential to enzyme activity, photosynthesis and cell elongation in the early stages of development," Chantal explains. "By getting them into the plant in a readily available form at germination, we're giving it the building blocks it needs right from the start."

Beyond nutrient mobilisation, the fulvic acids have a further physical effect. They loosen the cell walls of germinating roots, which encourages the development of adventitious lateral roots and allows primary roots to penetrate more deeply.

The result is a more extensive root architecture, established earlier. That deeper, denser root system is then better placed to access moisture and nutrients through whatever the season throws at it. This is critical when dealing with waterlogged soils in autumn or a dry, protracted spring.

Corteva's own trial data points to a yield improvement of around 0.2 tonnes per hectare on average, with farm-scale results consistently in the region of a 5% uplift across multiple sites and seasons. That improvement is sufficient to cover the cost of the treatment and deliver a meaningful contribution to the bottom line.

Ympact is registered for use across all cereal crops. While spring barley was the original proving ground, with its short growing season and strong tillering response making rooting benefits particularly visible, its use now extends far beyond this crop.

Today, Ympact is widely used on winter wheat, winter and spring barley and oats. Beyond cereals, it can also be applied to oilseed rape, peas and beans.

Seeing is believing

Andrew Stilwell, Technical Director at Bartholomews Agri Food Ltd, said he has been on a journey with Ympact which started in the South of England-based business’s trials programme.  

"We're working predominantly on calcareous, chalky soils in the central south, and anything that builds root mass and gets a crop off to a better start is worth evaluating seriously,” Andrew said.

What Andrew didn't expect was quite how quickly the results would distinguish themselves. Starting with spring barley on trial plots, the treated seed produced a clear and measurable yield advantage over untreated controls that had received identical management in every other respect.

"Very rarely do you get something that sticks out that quickly for all the right reasons," he says. "It was definitely doing something different."

Bartholomews extended its trials to winter wheat, treating around 20 tonnes of commercial seed, then eventually offering Ympact as a standard product across their entire seed range.

The business has its own seed plant at Merston, which makes co-application with a fungicidal seed dressing straightforward. Andrew reports no compatibility issues and no changes required to drilling timings, seed rates or any other agronomic practice.

Farmer uptake has been steady and accelerating. From around 5% of autumn seed sales in their first commercial season, reaching 15% the following year.

Among spring seed sales most recently, uptake reached approximately 25%.

"It hits a very sensible economic price point," he said. "We're getting enough additional yield to cover the cost and contribute more to the bottom line. That's the conversation growers want to have."

Split-field trials on commercial farms were central to building that confidence. Growers who drilled half a field with Ympact-treated seed and half without could see the difference in establishment speed, root development and ultimately in the combine.

The seasons in which these comparisons were made have not been kind ones. The wet autumn of 2024, followed by a protracted dry spring in 2025, tested crops severely. This spring has been similarly intense.

"I honestly believe Ympact has brought more resilience to those crops in these extremes of weather," he says. "We're seeing it hold up in conditions that expose any weaknesses in establishment, and that's where it really earns its place."

Many of the growers he works with are operating under regenerative principles, and the naturally derived, biologically active nature of the treatment makes it a natural companion to practices that prioritise soil health.

"It works in sympathy with the existing soil biology," he said. "It's like a supercharged trace element which is naturally derived, and compatible with what you're already doing. I haven't found a system where it doesn't fit."

About Corteva

Corteva, Inc. is a publicly traded, global pure-play agriculture company that provides farmers around the world with the most complete portfolio in the industry - including a balanced and diverse mix of seed, crop protection and digital solutions focused on maximising productivity to enhance yield and profitability. With some of the most recognised brands in agriculture and an industry-leading product and technology pipeline well positioned to drive growth, the company is committed to working with stakeholders throughout the food system as it fulfils its promise to enrich the lives of those who produce and those who consume, ensuring progress for generations to come. Corteva Agriscience became an independent public company on June 1, 2019, and was previously the Agriculture Division of DowDuPont. More information can be found at https://www.corteva.com/uk

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