ORGANIC SOIL IMPROVER: Providing a full nutritional profile for you soil to make it healthier and more productive
Cabbage stem flea beetle (CSFB) remains one of the biggest barriers to reliable winter oilseed rape (WOSR) establishment. While pressure varies year to year, CSFB is consistently capable of causing significant early plant loss and uneven crops. With fewer effective control tools available, attention is increasingly turning to fundamental changes that can be made during establishment — from prioritising soil health to using integrated approaches that help crops tolerate stress and reduce the impact of early feeding.
Research carried out at NIAB’s greenhouse testing facility in Cambridge has explored whether a fish hydrolysate application could influence CSFB feeding behaviour during the most vulnerable growth stages. The work focused on young, establishing oilseed rape plants and assessed damage to cotyledons, leaves and stems compared to untreated controls.
In the trials, applications of Sea2Soil were associated with reduced feeding damage across multiple plant parts, with NIAB reporting reductions versus untreated plants of 32% on cotyledons, 90% on leaves and 59% on stems.
Importantly, the results suggest timing plays a key role in any potential benefit. Sea2Soil applied at half, full and double field rates, with a full field rate for WOSR referenced as 10L/ha, showed a significant reduction in CSFB feeding on cotyledons within two days of application. The same application rates were also linked to lower cotyledon feeding damage for up to seven days after application, with indications that this cover may last until cotyledons senesce.
Adrian Harris, NIAB Lead Researcher, commented: “Sea2Soil showed a significant reduction in the feeding of cabbage stem flea beetles on cotyledons within two days of application – several different rates showed a reduction in feeding damage up to seven days after application and may convey cover until they senesce.”
The NIAB findings form part of Sea2Soil’s wider research and development programme, which has seen the product involved in collaborative research with a number of leading UK organisations over a four-year period. This long-term trials work has been important in building a clearer picture of Sea2Soil’s wider role in soil health, plant growth and crop resilience.
Guy Gibson, trials agronomist at Enhanced Efficacy, said long-term trials work, high-quality research and key indicators are crucial to assessing the overall success of Sea2Soil as a soil improver and improving understanding of the product’s wider capabilities.
Although this latest work is focused on pest feeding, it sits within a broader conversation about building establishment resilience. Early season crop performance is tightly linked to nutrition availability, root development and soil function, particularly where crops face multiple stresses at once, including drought, waterlogging, pest pressure and disease risk.
Sea2Soil’s wider impact on soil activity and biology is already being explored through indicators such as worm counts, pH, carbon retention, organic matter, soil moisture and porosity. These wider soil-health benefits are particularly relevant as growers look for approaches that can support resilient crop establishment across conventional, regenerative and organic farming systems.
Liz Brown, Sales Manager at Pelagia, added: “We see Sea2Soil as far more than a natural source of nitrogen and amino acids, but as a soil prebiotic that leads to a healthier soil environment, better crop health and confers increased resilience to environmental and other crop stresses which are becoming more prevalent in UK farming season on season.”
With volatility continuing across global markets, disruption to UK fertiliser costs and supply into 2027 remains a live concern. As a UK-sourced and manufactured input that supports nitrogen and amino acid supply as well as soil biology, Sea2Soil offers farmers an alternative solution ahead of the autumn season — not only to help minimise the potential impact of these global issues on yield, but also on input costs and margins.
For growers and Sea2Soil’s UK distribution partners, the NIAB findings offer a useful addition to the evidence base around establishment support in winter oilseed rape. The Sea2Soil team is also planning to extend its research trials in the 2026/27 season, continuing to explore how fish hydrolysate applications can support crop resilience at key establishment timings.
In partnership with Terrafarmer, Sea2Soil has been involved in key biological studies taking place across Wales. Funded through Innovate UK, this nine-month study involves seven working farms - four farms through Innovate UK and three additional farms through Farming Connect - testing seven biological stimulants to answer critical questions: can biologicals reduce input costs while improving forage quality?
Results so far show an increase in kilograms of dry matter (DM)/ha, crude protein, trace element availability and microbial biomass from some of the seven products tested, when compared with a control. With Sea2Soil setting market-leading results.
This is according to regenerative agronomist and soil consultant Will Marris at Terrafarmer, which is running the nine-month, Innovate UK-funded research project.
Out of seven biological products tested, Sea2Soil ranked number one for crude protein improvement, delivering 136.225 g/kg compared to all other products and the control treatment. It also ranked in the top three for improving microbial biomass.
“A number of products tested, including Sea2Soil, are improving crude proteins and sugar. If that goes into a silage clamp, you’ve got more sugars for the fermentation process. If you get a better fermentation, you get better-quality forage.” - Will Marris, Regenerative Agronomist, Terrafarmer
Sea2Soil fish hydrolysate, the first soil improver product to launch on the UK market, provides an ideal food source for soil biology by providing a naturally high source of protein and carbohydrate.
“By feeding the beneficial underground livestock in the soil – the bacteria and fungi – these in turn are helping with the mobilisation of vital trace minerals such as boron, manganese, and magnesium. Soil, leaf, and forage tests showed more of these nutrients becoming readily plant-available, moving from the soil into the leaf and therefore into the forage. This could even reduce the need to supplement trace minerals given to livestock through licks or drenches.” - Will Marris, Regenerative Agronomist, Terrafarmer
For a grass-based, multicut system using 250kg/ha of nitrogen:
“You could easily reduce synthetic N fertiliser inputs starting at 25% to 50%, but that needs to be done over a few years in a managed reduction,” advises Will.
The trials demonstrated that timing applications correctly significantly impacts effectiveness:
Data has been collected across four farms through Innovate UK and three additional farms through Farming Connect, with each farm having eight trial plots (20x160m). Products were applied using a Tow and Fert machine timed around grazing and cutting regimes.
Ready to see these results on your farm?
Autumn has arrived in the UK, and with it we’ll no doubt be flooded with all too familiar headlines: fields under water, roads washed out, crops lost to flooding. With extreme weather events becoming more common, farmers are being asked to balance two seemingly opposite threats: drought in summer and waterlogging in autumn and winter.
But the solution to both may lie beneath our feet.
As Simon Revell from Claydon Drills explained in our latest podcast episode, soil health isn’t just about crop nutrition. Healthy, well-structured soils are more resilient:
It sounds like a paradox - how can soil both hold more water and let it in faster? The answer lies in biology and structure.
When soils are left undisturbed and enriched with organic matter, earthworms, microbes, and roots create stable aggregates and natural pore spaces. These improve:
In contrast, compacted or over-cultivated soils lack structure. They crust, repel water, and leave fields vulnerable to both erosion and standing floods.
With the Environment Agency warning of increased flood risk this winter, improving soil health is more urgent than ever. Some proven strategies include:
These practices don’t just prevent crop losses - they also build long-term resilience, reduce input reliance, and contribute to climate adaptation goals.
Whether it’s three weeks of drought at 30°C or three days of relentless rain, farmers across the UK are facing conditions that put soils under pressure. But as Simon put it, “Healthy soil can hold more humidity in the soil, and it can absorb more quickly.”
The farms that invest in soil health today are the ones that will weather tomorrow’s storms - literally.
Hear more insights from Simon Revell of Claydon Drills in our latest Sea2Soil Podcast episode: [Listen now]