Kelly Tuttle, Founder - CEO and Richard Tuttle, President - COO and Tyler Tuttle, CCOPharmgrade’s biologically diverse products have a clear advantage over single-strain inoculants that are comparatively ineffective in restoring soil biodiversity after repeated cultivation. Pharmgrade biologicals are built on a consortia foundation of bacillus, pseudomonas, and fungi that reduce plant stress, supress soil disease, and significantly improve crop yield and quality. “Instead of utilizing a single strain of microbes to fight plant and soil disease, we introduce a biodiverse broad spectrum of around 20 to 25 different strains of bacteria and fungi to replenish the beneficial microbiology in the soil,” says Tyler Tuttle, Chief Commercial Officer of Pharmgrade.
Pharmgrade’s cost-effective, concentrated eco-solutions can boost the yield of any cropping system including trees, vines, traditional row crops, as well as cereal and grass applications, enabling producers to capitalize on a higher ROI. The proprietary, research-backed blends combine pharmaceutical grade naturally occurring microbes with energy sources and metabolites to improve nutrient availability in the soil, fight diseases, stimulate plant growth, and reduce plant stress to improve crop quality.
How it all Began…
Pharmgrade’s multi-strain products are the culmination of years of research and innovation. Founded in Central Utah by Kelly Tuttle in 1985, the company has since been uncovering newer ways to bestow growers with effective biological tools for their operations. Kelly’s deep-rooted experience in agriculture and a passion for soil microbiology played a crucial role in laying the cornerstone of Pharmgrade.
Driven by a scientific mindset and intellectual curiosity, Kelly started looking for applications to restore organic matter and biodiversity back into the soil to increase crop yields and soil health on a large scale. In doing so, he developed an industry leading composting operation to achieve his mission and sustainability goals.
With limited resources for composting, the Pharmgrade team decided that a more scalable solution was needed to provide solutions to the global agricultual industry. The team developed a suite of bio-diverse liquid products that consistently produce higher yields and quality along with industry best ROIs to the grower. Pharmgrade teamed up with quality ag retailers and distributors to help cover the nation with their quality products.
Kelly continues his role as Pharmgrade’s Chief Science Officer, researching new organisms with the same vigor he started with and developing novel products. His two sons grew up learning and working with their dad, and returned to help build the business after earning their MBAs. Richard Tuttle, the Chief Operating Officer, oversees production, logistics, and day to day operations. Tyler Tuttle, the Chief Commercial Officer, continues to build and lead the national sales and marketing force for Pharmgrade.
Pharmgrade’s strong reputation in the industry stems from its appetite for innovation, enabling it to develop products marked by unsurpassed quality standards.
Pharmgrade’s flagship product, marketed under the labels EXPONENT and VITA, adds a whole new dimension to soil fertility. It is a microbial inoculum that improves nutrient availability, acts as a biocontrol agent, promotes plant growth, and reduces plant stress.
Pharmgrade’s DOMINATE is a highly concentrated soil probiotic that replaces harsh soil fumigants. DOMINATE has emerged as a disruptive technology in the row crop farming space due to its ability to produce phenomenal results as opposed to traditional chemicals that antibiotically sterilize the soil. The product dominates the soil with beneficial microorganisms through competitive exclusion to eliminate pathogens.
As an alternative to chemical fertilizers, DOMINATE is one hundred percent organic and highly economical. The product reduces the application of chemical fertilizers to potato crop systems by as much as 80 percent.
Pharmgrade demonstrated the potential of DOMINATE to the fullest when it helped one of the largest potato growers in Idaho. The client was contracted with a major French fry producer to supply a certain quantity of large potatoes, but they discovered that the soil was unsuitable for producing this specific variety. The Pharmgrade team responded and applied DOMINATE on the client’s field just a month before the planting to rev up the soil biologically. As a result, the client could successfully reap, on average, 510 bags of 6 to 12 ounce-sized good, blocky potatoes per acre. Without using chemicals and soil fumigants, the producer was impressed with the harvest and was able to capture better profits.
Pharmgrade Nitros—a nitrogen-fixing bacteria solution— pulls atmospheric nitrogen out of the air and makes it available to plants. With Nitros, the company provides growers with an organic nitrogen source and helps them drive down costs on chemical nitrogen fertilizers. Equally impressive is Pharmgrade Exponent, a multivitamin-like approach for plants that invigorates soil fertility and plant growth.
Pharmgrade products increase nutrient availability, supply, feed and sustain microbes in the soil, regulate plant growth, and reduce plant stress through four mechanisms.
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Instead of utilizing a single strain of microbes to fight a disease, we introduce a biodiverse broad spectrum of around 20 to 25 different strains of bacteria and fungi to replenish the beneficial microbiology in the soil
The first mechanism is by enhancing nutrient availability. By solubilizing phosphates and other nutrients in the soil and converting them into a form that plants can easily absorb, Pharmgrade’s biologicals drastically improve nutrient availability and utilization for crops.
The second is biocontrol of pathogens. This involves the elimination of disease-causing organisms through direct predation by introducing microbes secreting antibiotics in the soil or introducing enough good bacteria or fungi to starve the pathogens.
Third, Pharmgrade products provide plant growth promoting metabolites. Through a symbiotic relationship between the microorganisms and plants, Pharmgrade stimulates the release of essential growth hormones in plants to regulate growth and improve overall crop health.
Customer-Centricity at the Core
The key to Pharmgrade’s success is its grower-centric model. The company’s solutions fit within the farmers’ existing logistics, be it for a few hundred acres of land or a massive thousand-acres corporate farm. Pharmgrade has engineered ways to help growers protect and store its products and organisms in a dormant state and apply them by mixing them in a tank with fertilizers currently in use.
Customers can apply Pharmgrade products through liquid injection at the time of planting, spray them with other fertilizers ready for application, or apply them through injector pumps during irrigation. In this way, growers get both fertilizer and biological boost in the same package delivered close to the seed. When mixed with water and sprayed on crops, the products fight diseases affecting the leaf canopy on a crop. Growers are seeing up to 25 percent better germination with the application of Pharmgrade products.
Partnership with Valley Agronomics—Pharmgrade’s Competitive Advantage
Pharmgrade works with reputable agricultural retailers and distributors to bring its products to growers across the country. The company has partnered with Valley Agronomics—a leading supplier of agricultural inputs—to market VALLEY BIOS, which by volume is among the highest selling biological products on the market today. Pharmgrade delivers its products to Valley Ag at a wholesale price and delegates its sales representatives to train the certified crop advisors at Valley Ag on how to market and sell VALLEY BIOS to growers.
“With end users capturing the best value from our products and partnering with quality distributors, we can continue to build our business and grow it quickly.” remarks Tyler. An enduring partnership with a high-growth company like Valley Ag acts as a key business catalyst for Pharmgrade. By pairing its expertise with Valley Ag’s leadership, Pharmgrade is poised to grow for years to come.
Paving the Path for a Successful Future
What steers Pharmgrade ahead of its competitors is its team of exceptionally talented, hard-working professionals with an appetite for excellence. Partnerships with fertilizer suppliers and retailers like Valley Agronomics and Mid Valley Agricultural Services also play a key role.
With end users deriving the best value out of our products and distributors being happy with the profit margins, we can build on our business and grow it quickly
With sights set on expansion, Pharmgrade is focusing on adding quality team members and new distribution partners to provide high quality biological products to agricultural producers across the globe.
With a steadfast commitment to providing future generations with healthy and sustainable soils, Pharmgrade will continue to do what it does best—research, develop, and supply growers with breakthrough probiotic agricultural solutions.
