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  • Standard Humic Acid Testing Protocols – A Review

    Humic substances are present in all organic ecosystems: oceans, rivers, lakes, and top soils.  Quantifying the amount of humic material present in these systems is essential for academic research and industrial applications, specifically agricultural soil management.  Additionally, testing humic acid levels is essential for companies, like Ocean Agro LLC, who are marketing humic acid based […]

  • Overview of Soil Testing Protocols (SOM, Mineral, and CEC)

    This overview of soil testing covers soil organic matter (SOM), mineral analysis, and cation exchange capacity (CEC) in detail.  When managing soil fertility, these three metrics are essential for understanding the health of a soil.  Additionally, Ocean Agro LLC is interested in these metrics as they have specific relevance to humic acid products and their […]

  • Overview of factors effecting humus decomposition

    Humic substances native to agricultural soils typically maintain at constant levels (humus decomposition and new formation are balanced); however, environmental factors can directly effect the amount of decomposition – leading to an overall decrease in soil organic matter.  The main factors effecting decomposition of soil humic matter include the effects of vegetation, topography, parent material (minerals), […]

  • Organic Matter in Soil – Overview of composition, distribution, and content

    Soil is a complex array of mineral material, air/water and organic matter.  Organic matter itself is composed of three basic types: living organisms (microorganisms, earthworms, insects etc), recently dead (micro, plant, and animal), and very dead components (humic substances).  There can be a wide range of organic content distribution among various soil types: “Organic matter […]

  • Dirt M.D. Strawberry Trial Report

    The Dirt M.D. team is excited to announce the completion of our first strawberry field trial. While we have been selling Dirt M.D. to strawberry growers for over a year, this is the first time we have been able to collect detailed data on the results. A special thanks goes out to Jonathan Swift at […]

  • Dirt M.D. Carrot Trial Results

    Through a collaboration with Rockwood Chemical, the Dirt M.D. team has completed a carrot field trial in Imperial Valley, CA. We were able to show a 6.4% increase in yield on a 15 acre plot – resulting in nearly a 3 ton increase per acre. (Click image to view PDF) Text from report to increase […]

  • A New Standardized Method for Quantification of Humic and Fulvic Acids in Humic Ores and Commercial Products

    A New Standardized Method for Quantification of Humic  and Fulvic Acids in Humic Ores and Commercial Products Abstract: Increased use of humic substances in agriculture has generated intense interest among producers, consumers, and regulators for an accurate and reliable method to quantify humic acid (HA) and fulvic acid (FA) in raw ores and products. Here […]

  • A Humic by any other name

    Brief: For practical purposes, Humic acid, Humus, and Soil Organic Matter (SOM) can all be used interchangeably when discussed in soil science; however, solubilized humic substances can take on enhanced characteristic based on the extraction process employed. When discussing humic substances, there are various terms thrown around by different groups: soil organic matter, humic acid, humus, humates, and […]