From selling pesticides to focusing on soil health: Canadian company sees regenerative agriculture as the future

Johnston’s Grain, a Canadian company that made its name by selling pesticide products, sees regenerative products as the future—which is why it recently established Johnston’s Regenerative, a new branch of the company.

“That’s one of the biggest things we’re doing now,” said Joel Merkosky, president of Johnston’s, of the company’s new direction towards regenerative. He explained that they were “trying to find an offramp” from their original product focus, instead turning their attention toward resilient soils.

Michael Launer, director of sales with Johnston’s Regenerative, says that farmers who work with Johnston’s typically cut their fertilizer use by 25–35% and see a 15–20% increase in yields.

The firm conducts full-spectrum soil analyses for farmers in conjunction with Cropland Solutions, a lab based in Tofield, Alberta, headed by Karthi Narayanan. While traditional lab tests analyze the amount of micro- and macronutrients in the soil, Narayanan’s lab tests explore factors such as water holding capacity, oxygen levels, microbial respiration rates, humic and folic acid levels, sodium saturation rates, calcium-to-magnesium ratios and ammonium levels.

The post-testing recommendations can be shocking. Last year, Johnston’s told a farmer who had been applying 250 pounds of fertilizer per acre to one field despite having hardly any rainfall to cut his fertilization program by 85% on that field. “His agronomist damn near fell out of his chair,” said Launer.

The grower was also advised to apply biologicals to help cycle the nutrients, which he agreed to do on one-third of his field. “He outperformed the rest of his field by 23% on that,” said Launer, “so now this year we’re doing all of his field and his brother’s.”

Source: The Western Producer

https://www.producer.com/news/agriculture-chemical-company-embraces-regenerative-farming/

Organic & Non-GMO Insights August 2025