By Dr. Cara Griffiths, 11 March 2026

Biostimulants are becoming an increasingly discussed topic among farmers. As a relatively new class of crop input, it is only natural that growers have questions about them. At a time when margins are tight, every product applied to the crop must justify its place in the agronomic programme.

Over the past year, farmers participating in our Innovate UK-funded project to accelerate the commercialisation of our first product – a biostimulant based on trehalose-6-phosphate (T6P) – have shown a growing interest in learning more about biostimulants and how they should be evaluated.

Many of the questions we received from them reflect the current state of the UK market. At present, biostimulants do not have a clear legal definition in the UK. Simply put, biostimulants are products applied to crops or soils to stimulate natural plant processes, improve nutrient availability, nutrient use efficiency, stress tolerance or crop quality.

Secondly, there is no certification system for the claims made by companies in the UK. As a result, it can be difficult for farmers to distinguish between robust plant science and marketing claims. As a spin-out from Oxford University and Rothamsted Research founded to develop a new generation of scientifically grounded crop biostimulants, this distinction matters a great deal to us.

To help address this lack of clarity in the UK market, we have compiled the most frequently asked questions we receive into a dedicated page on our website. The page covers topics such as:

• How biostimulants are defined and regulated;
• The different types of biostimulants currently available;
• Why the performance of biostimulants can vary between products and growing conditions;
• The practical questions farmers can ask before investing in a product.

Read our full biostimulant FAQ guide for farmers here.

Our aim is for this page to serve as a reliable reference point for UK farmers, so we will update it as the regulatory environment evolves and the market develops. To stay informed as new information becomes available, follow SugaROx on LinkedIn, where we share updates made on our website.

If you are a farmer who values evidence over marketing claims and who is interested in helping to develop robust biostimulant solutions, contact our Business Development Director, Bianca Forte. As part of our Innovate UK project, we are running tramline trials on commercial farms across the UK.