BURLEY, Idaho — Growing up on the small family farm in Heyburn, Idaho, Darin Moon didn’t know how fortunate he was to be in an environment where his father, a biology teacher, was always talking about soil health.

This knowledge would come into play in his job as manager of a large farm in the Central Valley of California, and later when he started Redox Bio-Nutrients — a pioneer in biostimulant technology to improve plant health and production outcomes.

After earning a bachelor’s degree in soil science and agronomy from Utah State University in 1989, Moon headed for California. He was hired to supervise farm operations at a large farm, whose primary crop was table grapes, and to help the operation become organic.

In his work, Moon found a combination of organic practices and modern chemistry worked best.

“That was the incubation of my thought process,” Moon said.

The right thing

Passionate about agriculture’s responsibility to do the right thing when it comes to sustainability, he started thinking of what he could do to make products that would allow farmers to grow better, healthier crops with fewer inputs.

The conventional wisdom at the time was that without chemicals, plants are defenseless against such things as drought and insects. That sent him down the path of working on plant defense response.

“A plant is quite capable if you give it the right bio-nutrients,” he said.

Those bio-nutrients help the plant turn on its own defense response to environmental conditions such as heat or drought. It’s called adaptogenetics — how a plant adapts to those stresses.

This adaptation allows the plant to better protect itself from stresses such as insects and disease pathogens.

Metabolic processes

The company’s products incorporate biostimulant technology and nutrition technology to stimulate metabolic processes targeting four key areas: root development, soil health, abiotic stress defense and nutrient efficiency.

Some of its products reduce the need for traditional synthetic nitrogen fertilizer by up to 50%, which is significant for agriculture.

“Nitrogen is the largest input, and it’s only 35% effective,” Moon said.

When applied, all nitrogen isn’t taken up by the plant. It either leaches into groundwater or is released into the air as nitric oxide, which is a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.

The company is passionate about  sustainability. That means doing more with less, and less input and more output while helping a grower’s bottom line, he said.

Strict criteria

The company’s criteria for developing products includes reducing inputs with renewable resources and not contributing to declines in the ozone layer, soil health and water quality.

In addition, the products’ beneficial outcomes must be repeatable 90% of the time for growers to rely on them. The company’s products are rigorously tested on its research farm, as well as in commercial and university trials.

“Redox is a company of character, integrity and people who are passionate about what they do … when you’re doing things for the right reason, you can be passionate,” he said.

Redox’s right reason is economic sustainability for growers, environmental sustainability and more nutritious food for consumers.

“There’s so much better on the horizon,” he said.

While bio-nutrients are gaining attention, and more companies are pursuing them, Redox has been researching, developing and manufacturing its products and educating growers and consultants for 30 years.

Nevertheless, Moon said, “We’re discovering still, we’re not done yet. I’m more excited today than when we started.”

Owners: Darin and Valerie Moon.

Cofounder: John Kelly.

Founded: 1994.

Headquarters and research farm: Burley, Idaho; facilities in Waxahachie, Texas, Valdosta, Ga., and Monterey, Mexico.

Products: Bioactive, carbon-based nutrition; 36 agriculture products, including 6 organic products and 13 turf products.

Intellectual property: 6 patents, 40 trademarks.

Markets: 48 states and 20 countries.

Employees: 47.

Recognition: Governor’s Award for Excellence in Idaho Agriculture, 2023.

Contribution: $500,000 gift to the University of Idaho Center for Agriculture, Food and Environment, 2023.