Stacking vs. Integration: Why Biological Products Need a Different Growth Strategy
TL;DR
Modern agriculture was built on stacking technologies. For decades, adding another product often resulted in meaningful production gains. But many growers are no longer operating in that environment. The easy gains have already been captured, and biological companies are increasingly competing for a place within an already crowded product mix. Success is no longer about making the highs higher. It is about making the lows higher through resiliency, consistency, and risk mitigation. The future of biological agriculture belongs to companies that think about integration rather than stacking.
Introduction: The Logic That Built Modern Agriculture
Modern agriculture was built on stacking technologies.
Starter fertilizer.
Pre-emergent herbicides.
Side-dress nitrogen.
Foliar fungicides.
Insecticides.
Each innovation solved a specific problem and delivered measurable gains. For decades, agriculture operated in a period of extraordinary productivity growth. Add a new tool, increase production. Add another tool, increase production again.
That formula worked.
In many ways, it worked so well that it shaped how we structure Ag innovation today. When a new product enters the market, the first question is often:
"How many more [production units] does this product give the grower?"
But what if that's the wrong question?
What Stacking Really Means
Stacking is built on the assumption that value comes from accumulation.
More products.
More applications.
More inputs.
More yield.
Under this model, success is measured by the incremental gain generated by each additional product, which also means that a product earns its place in the grower's program by increasing production enough to justify its cost.
This logic made perfect sense during agriculture's rapid growth phase; when we were in a linear growth phase with a high rate of gain.
But many growers are no longer operating in that environment under the same set of assumptions.
The easy gains have already been captured.
And the system has already been optimized.
Therefore, we're actually not even in a stacking economy anymore, we are in a substitution economy. As biological companies, you are in a fight to remain in the grower's product mix.
The Shift From Maximization to Protection
For decades, agriculture focused on maximizing output. We've focused all of our energy on commodity cropping systems where we rewards high volume at low cost.
But today, many growers are focused on protecting what they've already built. The era of massive yield gains from simply adding another input is largely behind us.
Of course growers still want more yield (everyone wants more yield).
But the way in which we reach more yield has changed. It's about risk management, and here is what I mean by that:
Protecting margins.
Managing volatility.
Reducing operational headaches.
Improving consistency.
Maintaining performance under stress.
The goal is no longer simply making the highs higher. It's about making the lows higher.
That distinction matters because it changes how products create value.
Why Biological Products Struggle in a Stacking Framework
Many biological companies unknowingly position their products as another layer in an already crowded program.
The message often sounds familiar:
Add this product and gain another 3 bushels per acre.
Add this product and improve ROI.
Add this product and increase yield.
When biological products are forced to compete using the same criteria as chemistry products, they often struggle to differentiate themselves.
I believe we are evaluating them through the wrong lens. Biological products frequently create value through system-level improvements rather than direct production gains.
Stress mitigation.
Nutrient efficiency.
Disease suppression.
Operational flexibility.
Resilience.
These benefits are real, but require a different set of success metrics. Simply throwing biology-based products in the field and measuring outcome doesn't cut it.
What Integration Looks Like
Integration starts with a different assumption. Instead of asking: "What can we add?" Integration asks: "How can we improve the performance of the entire system?"
This is a fundamentally different way of thinking about product development and commercialization. It's a different set of success metrics. It becomes less about maximizing output and more about improving system function.
Products are evaluated based on how they:
Reduce risk.
Improve consistency.
Support resilience.
Protect performance under challenging conditions.
Create flexibility for the grower.
Under an integration framework, products don't simply occupy a slot in a program.
They become part of how the system operates.
For example: a product that helps corn maintain nitrogen uptake during periods of intermittent drought isn't necessarily making the highs higher. It's preventing the lows from dipping too low.
Questions Every Biological Company Should Be Asking
If biological products are going to be commercialized differently, companies must start asking different questions.
Questions such as:
Are we designing products that integrate or substitute?
Are we chasing broad-acre scale too early?
Are we measuring resiliency or only yield?
Are we trying to fit into an existing category instead of creating a new one?
Are our field trials capturing the metrics that matter?
Are we helping growers solve a real problem?
These questions often reveal whether a company is operating from a chemistry mindset or a biology mindset.
The Opportunity Ahead
The future of biological agriculture is not about finding ways to stack more products into existing systems.
It's about helping growers build stronger systems in the first place.
This means moving beyond a narrow focus on production gains and into thinking about how to measure resiliency, integration, and risk mitigation.
And it means recognizing that the greatest opportunity may not be making the highs higher. It may be making the lows higher.
Because in today's agricultural environment, protecting what growers have already built may be far more valuable than chasing one more bushel.
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Stacking focuses on adding products to generate incremental production gains. Integration focuses on improving the performance of the entire production system by increasing resiliency, consistency, and risk management.
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Biological products often create value through system-level benefits such as stress mitigation, nutrient efficiency, and resilience. When they are evaluated only on short-term yield increases, their full value is often overlooked.
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Making the lows higher means protecting performance during stressful conditions rather than only chasing higher yields in ideal conditions. Success is measured by consistency, reduced risk, and maintaining productivity when conditions are less than perfect.
