总部位于加拿大东部， Acadian Plant Health 在15个国家拥有员工，在全球80多个国家有销售。该公司使用海藻提取物——特别是那些来源于 叶绿素(Ascophyllum nodosum) 海洋植物——通过改善植物的生长、非生物胁迫抗性和植物营养来优化植物生长，从根系发育到收获后。一个全球综合企业 采访大卫 刀柄z，生物刺激素创新委员会联合主席 生物制品产业联盟（BPIA） 和 Acadian Plant Health 的全球法规事务总监，了解 Acadian 如何推动生物刺激剂的发展。
ABG：几十年来，Acadian Plant Health 一直专注于生物刺激剂。公司的产品在农业中扮演什么角色？
卫生署： We produce products that are derived from seaweed and marine algae for a variety of applications — animal feed, human nutrition, and more importantly, for use in commercial agriculture. And the use of seaweed in agriculture has gone on for literally hundreds, if not thousands, of years. They used to be used more as soil amendments, but in the last 60 years, companies like Acadian have been making extracts of these various seaweeds and using them as either foliar sprays or through irrigation as a way to help plants grow better.
ABG：这些产品在作物投入领域的哪些方面适用？
Acadian Plant Health 全球监管事务总监 David Hiltz。
卫生署： 对于像我们产品这样的产品如何融入全球农用化学品监管计划，从来没有任何明确的途径。通常，当您谈论作物投入时，您会使用直接为植物提供氮、磷、钾或微量营养素的肥料产品。另一方面，您拥有旨在帮助植物战胜病虫害的农化产品——杀菌剂、杀虫剂和杀虫剂。
And in the middle, you had this category of products that was designed to be used with both of these pillars of agricultural inputs. But they aren’t really a fertilizer; they’re not giving nutrients to the plant. They’re not really a pesticide because they’re not directly acting to treat a disease or repel an insect. So that left companies like Acadian trying to figure out how to bring these products to the marketplace.
ABG：所以，它们不是肥料，也不是杀虫剂。这给生物刺激剂供应商带来了哪些挑战，制造商可以做些什么呢？
卫生署： So, it left us kind of in a regulatory quagmire. And that’s where in the U.S. and even globally around the world, companies like Acadian have come together with some of our colleagues and formed industry alliances to lobby regulators to say there needs to be a category of products for plant biostimulants. That term popped up about just about 20 years ago.
大多数人已经开始接受生物刺激剂有助于植物的自然过程。这种作用会刺激能改善植物生长、提高耐受性、非生物胁迫以及在某些情况下对疾病的抵抗力的事物。他们使植物更健康。
ABG：哪些国家或地区采用了生物刺激素？
卫生署： Europe is an established biostimulant market. People have been using biostimulants in Europe for 50 years or more, but even though it’s well established, there’s an area prime for growth because of initiatives that show they want to increase the amount of organic agriculture in Europe.
The EU wants to limit the amount of synthetic chemicals and pesticides going into the environment. So, even though that’s an established market, it’s a market that is poised for significant growth.
世界各地的其他市场可能从未听说过生物刺激剂，或者对它们不太熟悉。在拉丁美洲的某些地区，这是一项相对较新的技术。这些是该行业有机会进入的领域，并试图教育监管机构了解产品是什么、需要如何注册，以及一般的农业社区了解这些产品如何提供帮助。
ABG：在过去几年中，人们对生物刺激剂的看法发生了怎样的变化？
卫生署： 我还记得在参加贸易展览会时，一些大型化工公司的代表会走过来看着你说，“哦，你们卖什么？”
“我们有海藻提取物。”
We just got that “look.” That has changed. Progressive companies like Acadian and our good competition out there have provided a lot of science to show that these products aren’t snake oil.
我们开始真正对这些产品在植物生理学中的作用进行基础研究。我们非常迅速地进入市场并在同行评审的科学期刊上发表，我们向全世界介绍了海藻提取物的作用。我们这样做了，因为它是经过同行评审的科学，我们经常与该领域的领先研究人员合作。
ABG：生物刺激剂在可持续性方面的适用范围是什么？
卫生署： These products can help with a lot of the challenges that are around the world right now. With climate change, we’re seeing increased periods of drought or availability of water. These are things that biostimulants can help with.