BioBrew Microbial Tool for Agriculture

BioBrew is providing New Zealand’s only fresh, affordable multi-purpose microbial tool for agriculture, with regular brewing at three locations around the country and plans to open more sites. At present, most BioBrew purchasers use probiotics for dairy cow consumption by adding to the water supply, spreading on dry feed or by drenching.

BioBrew makes no therapeutic claims for the products, which are sold as a nutritional supplement. Other possible agricultural uses include using as a crop additive, effluent treatment, silage innoculant and teat/hoof spray.

BioBrew is in the large and developing probiotics market for livestock. Many products are now pitched to farmers for their therapeutic benefits, often claimed to boost immune systems and growth rates. However these are shelf-stable forms of what are supposed to be living organisms. BioBrew founder Andre Prassinos believes competitors are misrepresenting dead or dormant products by using descriptive terms that can only be reasonably applied to a fresh living brew, especially the term ‘probiotic’.

BioBrew produces solutions of living microbials and sells them quickly, recommending that they be used within two weeks. Its two main selling platforms are affordability and transparency.

BioBrew’s approach is very different from other manufacturers of microbial products. Nothing except a few of the finer points of brewery practice is kept secret from the customers. They are completely transparent about ingredients, basic production methods and the nature and scale of the production facilities. Customers are always welcome to drop by and have a look at the next brew that will be delivered to them. The BioBrew AN (animal nutrition) product is made of food grade lactic acid bacteria and yeast cultures brewed in fresh water with feed grade molasses, raw sugar buckwheat and kelp.

Because it is clear to any visiting customer that BioBrew is engaged in basic fermentation, it stands to reason that they will only be charged beer prices rather than the pharmaceutical prices. Neither are products put into containers with different labels for different purposes with different prices based on corporate assumptions regarding the relative value of each application to the end user. The BioBrew product is $3.95 (+gst) per litre whether a farmer uses it as a nutritional supplement for his calves or as a biostimulant for his paddocks.

BioBrew products are not sold on claims. It explains what is in the product, how it is made and how other farmers have made use of it. A generous sample is provided and then BioBrew representatives come back in a week or fortnight to see if the farmer has seen sufficient results to merit continued use. The BioBrew partners want to build the company on real results on each and every farm, so until this point no products have been advertised.

BioBrew products are non-toxic, so require no special handling or storage requirements, and require no withholding period for milk or meat.

BioBrew intends to build a network of regional breweries throughout NZ, perhaps three or four in the South Island and four or five in the North Island, such that every farmer has access to locally produced microbial tools at a price that makes liberal use economically attractive. Two breweries in the South Island (one in the Clutha District and one in Canterbury) are running, plus the first North Island brewery.

Grant Bennett, a microbiologist at Lincoln University, has been advising BioBrew about brewing methods and quality control. He says probiotics are becoming big news in the human health area, such as Yakult. Food microbiologists are helping food companies look for the next “superfood” like yoghurts. But while only a few humans deficient in intestinal bugs might visibly benefit from taking probiotics, if they are fed to the whole dairy herd it is possible to get a lift in average milk production.

“The challenge is to deliver these bugs ‘live’ to the animals, and it seems there is massive variation in the effective strength of products. Many bugs don’t like oxygen and warehousing is simply not practical for living cultures.”

The main bugs in BioBrew are lactobacillus, which are also found in many fermented foods such as, salamis, kimchi, silage or yoghurts. These fermented foods use the acid production of lactobacillus to preserve the food and prevent background pathogens growing that could cause disease (such as botulism).

BioBrew gets its starter cultures from very reputable multinationals. It has received advice from Lincoln on consistent fermentation. Bennett says BioBrew is an “open source” company, which shares its production details and feedback from sales. It is not keeping research and formulations secret.