July 8, 2021
Students' Soy Biostimulant Claims Top Prize
'Lettuce prove it' could be the rally cry of a team of Purdue University students that just captured top prize at the annual Student Soybean Innovation Competition, where students harvest new ideas that will drive consumption of the crop. Now with a pending patent, the team invented a liquid biostimulant—made almost entirely of soybeans—that produced lettuce 30% bigger than standard lettuce when the students tested it. But greens are just the beginning; the team believes the biostimulant could be used on any plant, and especially benefit crops in vertical farming.