Doug Ranno has worn many hats during his long career in the produce industry, having held leadership positions in retail at Raley’s and Wild Oats, as well as on the marketing and production side, with stints at Chiquita, Green Giant and leading the startup and sale of Colorful Harvest and working in Food Service at Harvest Sensations.

But in his current role as national vice president at Heliae, Ranno has found a new passion.Doug Ranno

Ranno explained that Heliae is the agricultural commercialization arm of a research and development company that creates products from the innovation of microalgae. Its main product is called PhycoTerra, which is a soil amendment that improves the quality of soil and maximizes water retention, leading to better plant health and higher crop yields.

In a nutshell, it is sustainable farming taken to a new level.

“I am passionate about this because I truly believe in sustainable farming, and I think this is the future,” said Ranno. “There is too much benefit for too little investment.”

Ranno said there are only five or six companies in the world currently working with microalgae, and Heliae is on the leading edge of microalgae technology and scalability. He said the company, based in Gilbert, AZ, has 60 employees, many of whom are high-level scientists.

“At our Gilbert facility, we inventory strains of seed varieties, propagate the strains of seed varieties, and farm the microalgae, harvest it, extract the biomass and use it to create products,” said Ranno. “Also, one of the key features of the facility is that we have a greenhouse operation on site, where we trial and validate the use of products.”

PhycoTerra is currently being used or tested on more than 40 different crops in the United States, and Ranno said he expects increased usage soon in Latin America.

Berries, nuts, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, onions, potatoes, cotton, corn, soy beans and green beans are just some of the crops that have demonstrated favorable results with PhycoTerra.

Approved for both conventional and organic farming, PhycoTerra can be employed in several ways, with in-line application, drip irrigation the most common. However, it can also be applied as a foliar.

Explaining the process, Ranno said, “PhycoTerra naturally stimulates the soil’s beneficial microbial population. We’re increasing biological population in the soil naturally, which has many wonderful benefits, including increasing active carbon in the soil, which enables a grower to farm with less water; higher water efficiency and water retention in the soil; and cleaner water runoff. What this leads to is better root health and stronger root growth, which increases yields.”

He said that strawberries in particular are a success story for PhycoTerra, with healthier berries, earlier harvests, increased yields, longer shelf life and high Brix levels among the benefits of applications with PhycoTerra.

Ranno likens PhycoTerra to a “multi-vitamin for crops,” making soil strong and preventing bad stressors from infiltrating the root base. “It’s a soil amendment, not a pesticide, but in creating healthier soil, the plants are more resistant to disease. We create a natural resilience to these crop stressors by making healthy soil. Like humans, the healthier they are the less likely they are to get disease.”

The frequency of application of PhycoTerra varies by crop, said Ranno. For some crops, growers apply just once at the beginning of the season. For strawberries, more frequent applications are required, such as two to three quarts every two to three weeks. For broccoli and cauliflower, once or twice per season is standard.

But the return on investment of the applications is extremely high, according to Ranno.

“We’ve been able to demonstrate ROI on melons, lettuces, berries and cotton,” he said, adding that ROI ranges from $400 per acre to $2,000 per acre. “On bulk lettuce crops, we’ve been able to demonstrate with real quantifiable yield data as much as an 18-20 percent increase in return after the cost of the goods. That could be $1,800 per acre increase for lettuce yield.”

While PhycoTerra is effective for both conventional and organic crops, Ranno believes the product can provide a huge boost for organic growers.

“Since this is certified organic by the CCOF, organic growers can convert ground and still use this and maintain high productivity,” he said. “Organic growers wrestle with having the right type of agronomy inputs to help them compete vs. conventional market yields, and PhycoTerra enables them to create healthier soil, healthier plants and improved yield opportunities while also extending shelf life and maintaining outstanding flavor.”

Ranno acknowledged that spreading the good word about PhycoTerra has been a challenge for Heliae, but he has noted that momentum is building and he expects wider adoption this year.

“Since this is cutting-edge technology, it has been a little slow to catch on,” said Ranno. “But early-adopters are seeing great results and they are starting to talk about it, which is helping to raise awareness of PhycoTerra.”