How to set up a small-scale biofertilizer production lab: Main considerations to start yours

Are you getting tired of using synthetic products and not seeing the results you expected?
Are you shifting toward organic or biodynamic agricultural production or simply want to create and use your own products on your farm?

As sustainable agriculture gains momentum, many farmers and agricultural entrepreneurs are searching for biological alternatives to chemical inputs. These include a wide range of eco-friendly options such as bioinoculants, biofertilizers, and biopesticides.

In this post, we’ll explore the general steps needed to set up a small-scale biofertilizer/bioinoculant production lab. Whether you're thinking of it as a side venture or as a full bioproducts business, this guide will help you understand the basic process to get started.

Let’s start by acknowledging that there are several important steps to take before investing or setting up your own lab.

Define the type of product

Defining the type of biostimulant that you want to produce. There are microbial-based (bacteria, fungi) stimulants, plant extract-based, seaweed-based, humic and fulvic acids, amino acids and peptides.

This fact will influence the type of equipment, processes, and chemicals needed in your lab because all of them are different and the process of production involves other sorts of elements.

Decide if you want to have a commercial product

If you plan to commercialize your bioinoculant, be aware that the regulatory and quality standards will be stricter, requiring a higher investment.

If you want to produce for your own farm then the standards could relax a little but still you need to have a quality control. You do not want to end up applying something harmful for your crop.

Understand that “It is about time”

Be aware that producing a biostimulant is a process that can take months or even years.

This process will involve a team of people, working in Research and Development of a product based on a microorganism or a natural component.

If you are in a hurry to create a product, you should slow down and keep in mind that microorganisms and bioactive molecules require time and patience and they are not going to work in record time.

Think on an area that you would like to allocate for the lab

Once you have decided what type of product, think of an area that you would like to allocate for the Lab. Remember that the area needs to be specifically for that purpose and that it is an enclosed area with sub areas for different activities.

If you are building a lab from scratch and have resources then you can design a layout having in consideration that you need an area for sterilization, one area for contaminated material, one area for analysis, readings and processing samples.

Additionally the lab should have good ventilation, proper lighting, connection to water and gas, temperature and humidity control for sensitive experiments.

Essential equipment

Depending on the biostimulant production process, you’ll need a combination of standard and specialized equipment.

For some analysis you could connect to an external lab but for the day to day production you will need certain instruments.

Basic tools: these are standard laboratory tools and instruments that are essential for general scientific work, basic testing or analysis. These are foundational for any biotech or microbiology lab.

Autoclave: Sterilization of media and glass material
Incubator: Maintain the exact temperature for the microorganisms growth
Laminar flow cabin: To aseptically manipulate the cultures.
Microscope: Bacteria identification and quality control
Analytical scale: to weigh up the culture media.
Hot plates and stirrer: Culture media preparation and homogenization
Fridge: maintain culture media refrigerated
Freezer: maintain the mother cultures safely.
pH meter: Adjust the pH of media.
Glassware: flasks, test tubes, blue-capped jars for culturing and media preparation.

More specialized tools: refers to advanced or process-specific tools required for scaling up, formulating, or extracting bioproducts. These tools are more complex, often larger, and tailored for specific stages in the production or development of bioproducts.

Fermentation equipment: if you are producing microbial-based biostimulants, you will need fermenters or bioreactors, preferably with controlled conditions (pH, Temperature, Oxygen dissolved sensors, stirring and aeration systems.
Spectrophotometer: Measure the concentration of microbial cells in a liquid culture by assessing the optical density (OD).
Extraction equipment: you may need extraction tanks or solvent-based extraction systems if you are producing plant or seaweed-based biostimulants.
Formulation equipment: mixers, sifters, stirrers.
Analysis and testing equipment: To ensure the quality and effectiveness of biostimulants
Packaging equipment: For bottling or packaging the final products in appropriate containers (e.g., bottles, pouches).

Active ingredient and reagents

As every process you need a starting point and that is the active ingredient plus other enhancers that will help to enhance the product. Depending on your process you will need:

Microbial cultures: If you plan to produce microbial-based biostimulants, you’ll need starter cultures of beneficial microorganisms (e.g., bacteria, fungi).

Plant material: For plant-extract-based biostimulants, you’ll need plant biomass or extracts (e.g., seaweed, algae, or other botanicals).

Nutrient sources: This refers to culture media such as agars or broths. Bacteria and fungi need carbon and nitrogen sources, besides salts and minerals to grow.

Reagents and stabilizers: Important for preparing the right conditions for microbial growth for example, to adjust pH, dissolve nutrients, or trigger specific biological processes.

Preservatives, and adjuvants: Preservatives help prevent microbial contamination and spoilage during storage, while adjuvants enhance the product's performance—improving its absorption, adherence to plant surfaces, or compatibility with other agricultural products. Together, they extend shelf life and ensure the biofertilizer or biostimulant remains viable and effective over time.

Personnel and expertise

A skilled team is essential for setting up and running the lab. However, it depends on the production capacity. You will need microbiologists to do the Research and Development but also laboratory technicians to do the day-to-day processes in the lab.

Quality experts that analyze the product and do the quality control and validate the products, ensuring they meet quality standards.

As soon as you escalate and your production increases you will need a production manager to oversee the entire production process, ensuring efficiency and safety.

Small scale production

Let me briefly show you the core process for production, but if you want to know more in detail about this methodology read my post on how to reproduce microorganisms in the lab.

1. Mother Culture: Start with a clean, verified strain. You can isolate this yourself or obtain it from a reputable source lab.

2. Media Preparation: Prepare a culture media that the bacteria or the fungi likes.

3. Mass Multiplication: Put the bacteria or fungi in the media to allow multiplication.

4. Incubation: Let it incubate for 2–3 days, it depends on the microorganisms.

4. Growth curve: Check the number of viable (alive cells during the whole process. This will allow you to see where you have the exponential phase (you want to collect the microorganisms in this phase).

5. Quality control: Count the number of cells present at the end of your process and do a contamination check for identification of other not desired bacteria.

Scaling up

If you have runned all the tests and your experimental product is going well on a small scale then you are ready to scale up and jump in-to a full-scale production. In this stage you will need bigger bioreactors, more packaging capacity and more materials to keep up with the production.

Regulatory Compliance

Ensure you follow all relevant local and international regulations for a laboratory, for example:

Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP): This ensures that the laboratory is adequate and fulfills all the requirements to produce biostimulants consistently and safely.

Waste management system: You need to have an external entity that comes regularly and collects the waste and gives it an adequate disposal according to the regulation of your location.

Approval for market use: If you have chosen to commercialize your products then you might require a registration with the regulatory bodies of your country.

Product testing

Before commercializing the product you need to run trials in plants and then in the crops that your product is aimed for and see how the product performs in the field. This is very important to assess several aspects such as shelf life, effectiveness in the field and benefits for the plants.

Final thoughts

As you can see it is not a simple process but consider that you would make an investment in one of the most promising industries in recent times.

All the agriculture is shifting towards this natural and chemical free approach so you will definitely have a higher chance to introduce your products in the market and become successful.