The Impello Agronomy Newsletter

February 2025 Edition

The impact of California’s wildfires: A fight on many fronts.

Impello’s home office is located in Colorado, where each summer we gear up for smoke and wildfires. Speaking for myself, when the sky darkens and the air thickens, I begin to feel a sense of dread and helplessness. It is difficult to feel like one can take a stand against a roaring wall of flame, and smoke that cuts off the life-giving light from our home star, the sun. But, I also know that world is full of people who won’t give up: the firefighters that spend long, dirty, hours battling to save lives; those that set up refuge for humans displaced from their homes, and also, the people who fight long, dirty hours on another front line: our farms, the place from which nourishment and survival of our species stems. 

If you live under this threat and you farm, you know the devastation of the wildfires sweeping across California intimately, and that they’re more than just a headline—they’re a stark reminder of the challenges that farmers face in managing abiotic stress. From prolonged heatwaves to smoke exposure, these fires are a prime example of the pressures reshaping agriculture today.

Agronomists, like our own Jose Ramirez, know that while disasters can feel overwhelming, they also highlight the importance of strategies to manage abiotic stress. Whether it’s mitigating heat damage, dealing with water scarcity, or addressing soil imbalances, growers need solutions that work.

The high winds that fueled the fires are, by themselves, hard on crops; the sun can’t penetrate the smoky air; and ash blocks key leaf processes like transpiration and contaminates crops and soils. Abiotic stress—caused by non-living factors like extreme weather, soil toxicity, and drought—is one of the leading threats to crop health. This month, we’re putting a spotlight on how our team can help growers tackle these challenges head-on. From the latest innovations in biostimulants to practical advice tailored to your region, we’re here to support you every step of the way.

Seasonal Updates: What Growers Are Facing Across the Regions

We’ve already talked a bit about what growers are facing in the Southern California region at the moment, but much of the stress of the fire comes down to the generation of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS). ROS occurs across all of biological life, and just as in the human body’s responses to phenomena like disease and wound healing, these molecules are often beneficial– dispatched in times of need and play a role in plant signaling processes. However, when stress becomes too great, these molecules can become a burden and cause oxidative damage– usually visible to growers as the appearance of suboptimal tissues (yellowing, burn, etc.) and compromised growth. Jose tells us that biology can help in many ways. In particular he mentions that the microbes in biological products (like the Pantoea dispersa in Komens) often produce organic acids that can help mitigate ROS– ensuring the plant doesn’t have to divert as much of its energy to doing so.

In the Pacific Northwest: It has been colder than average. Year round, a swirling pattern of cold air (the polar vortex) exists at the earth’s poles– its reach to lower parts of the globe waxes and wanes with the seasons. Counterintuitive though it may seem, the increased heat trapped in earth’s atmosphere actually causes irregularities in the pattern, causing cold air to penetrate further from the poles and increasing arctic flow in typically mild areas. It has been cold in the PNW this year, and in other regions, which slows everything down from production prep to plant growth.  Much of this slowdown in growth has to do with how cold temperatures reduce nutrient mobility in plant tissues. Products that contain amino acids or soluble forms of silicon can help increase mobility, maintain photosynthetic capacity, and thus alleviate cold-induced slowed growth. Recently, in a trial, we saw that supplementing with a biostimulant like monosilicic acid can help migrate critical nutrients in a citrus canopy and mitigate frost damage.

In the Central Valley: As in many places, water limitation is a perennial issue. Water is the single most critical resource for plants, but it isn’t just the absolute amount of water that matters. When precipitation or irrigation capacity are very scarce, the trouble is that many more abiotic stresses are intensified. For example, reduced rainfall exacerbates salt build-up and drives sodium toxicity because when Sodium (Na) is the dominant cation in the soil, plants will uptake it instead of taking up valuable Ca, leading to leaf scorch, root burn, and compromised development and yield. Under these circumstances, Jose recommends supplementing with nutrients like Calcium compounds, and especially treating with biologically active microbes. These are especially effective because they solubilize nutrients which reduce the ratio of Na to other salts in soil solution, leading to less Sodium damage. In addition, because microbes mineralize, fix, and mobilize nutrients, they improve Nutrient Use Efficiency (NUE) and enable the application of fewer salt-based inputs that also drive high EC (electrical conductivity) and salt stress.

In the Desert: Southwest growers are in production and are facing price issues. Because of what it costs to grow and low market prices, some commodity crops in the southwest sometimes get “walked over” which means that it isn’t worth the cost of harvest. Strong temperature fluctuations don’t help: they lead into increased pest pressures from sucking insects and more susceptible plants. Jose tells us that healthy rhizosphere development with microbes raises brix and naturally helps keeps these pests at bay. As in the Pacific Northwest, using monosilicic and amino acids strengthens cell walls and prevents rupture and damage that can occur with temperature change. Jose tells us that a combination of optimum nutrients like silicon and building a healthy rhizosphere with plant growth promoting bacteria can build plant cellular structures that withstand these fluctuations and the trouble they bring.

Jose Ramirez, Director of Agronomy, assessing a strawberry field in east Salinas Valley. He designed a regenerative cropping program using Dune™ and Komens™ to address soil compaction and saline water issues.

How We Can Help

Impello goes beyond identifying problems—we offer actionable solutions. Whether it’s improving soil health, optimizing irrigation, or leveraging biological products for better resilience, we’re here to partner with you. Don’t hesitate to reach out to discuss how we can address your specific challenges.

Stay Connected

Looking for more insights or personalized support? Contact our agronomy team today to discuss how we can help address your growing needs.

 

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