International Zeolite Announces Trial Results Confirming Dramatic Plant Growth Improvement, Cost Savings of Its NEREA(R) Nutrient System
Crops grow larger, faster, increasing revenue potential up to 50%, while saving fertilizer and water
Vancouver, August 9, 2022 - International Zeolite Corp. (TSXV: IZ) (OTC Pink: IZCFF) (FSE: ZEON) (the "Company"), creating innovative, environmentally friendly products and solutions utilizing zeolite minerals for the agricultural, industrial and consumer markets, announced that trial results from independent studies of its new flagship plant growing family of products, NEREA® - a revolutionary breakthrough in agricultural technology and crop science - showed significant benefits compared to conventional commercial grow methods.
"Canada's leading agricultural research institutions have demonstrated that NEREA is an industry-changing way to grow every type of plant and crop - for farmers, nurseries, growers, and the exploding CEA (controlled-environment agriculture) sector," said Mark Pearlman, President & Chief Operating Officer of IZ. "With NEREA, plants grow faster, larger and healthier, yet with significantly less fertilizer and water. We've demonstrated that by reducing costs while improving crop yield and quality, as well as increasing the number of crop cycles per season, a grower can realize 33 to 50% more revenue."
BENEFITS OF USING NEREA®
NEREA® is a proprietary technology that embeds the complete suite of plant-required nutrients directly into zeolite, a naturally occurring nano-structured mineral with a broad array of beneficial properties.
As previously reported NEREA® when used as a substrate or soil amendment in agriculture.
- reduces fertilizer waste and runoff by up to 90%,
- has proven to produce higher yields of crops by 20-30% (and achieves a higher quality of agricultural product faster),
- lowers water use water by up to 30% or more, and
- reduces plant infection by fungi, viruses and other pathogens.
Based on naturally occurring products, NEREA® substrates are environmentally friendly and do not produce wastes that damage the environment. IZ holds an exclusive license to produce and market NEREA® in North America.
NEREA® is a holistic agricultural solution that provides both financial and environmental benefits. It improves commercial agriculture financial performance and efficiencies, while also proving to be environmentally safe. By holding and slowly releasing nutrients and water to plant roots, NEREA® reduces fertilizer and water costs while decreasing agricultural runoff and promoting soil sustainability. These are material benefits that extend from the farmers and growers to the consumers and the environment in which they all live.
RESEARCH VALIDATES NEREA'S BENEFITS AND POTENTIAL
The Company has conducted numerous independent research projects with results validating that NEREA® enables crops to mature more quickly, shortening crop cycle and increasing yield while providing all the essential nutrients required throughout the growth period, without any additional nutrient applications.
- Niagara College's Agriculture & Environmental Technologies Innovation Centre ("AETIC")
"NEREA performs remarkably well as a nutrient - we were able to finish both lettuce and basil trials without additional nutrient applications. Our crops matured more quickly, likely owing to the fact that NEREA stores nutrients in a freely accessible format plants can pull from on demand, resulting in an optimal growth rate -- we effectively reduced the total crop time by at least 1-2 weeks. This would represent a substantial improvement for a commercial producer looking to produce more crops per year. The growth response also indicated that no additional fertilization would be needed to complete these crops, further simplifying the production process. NEREA has the potential to both simplify and accelerate crop production for a number of food and ornamental plant producers and would also make an excellent addition to long term crops such as nursery and perennial stock," said Derek Schulze, of Niagara College.
- Vineland Research & Innovation Centre
Following a separate independent trial of four commercial crops, Qinglu Ying, PhD of Vineland, said: "NEREA demonstrated multiple advantages during our greenhouse trials including promoting germination rate and time, promoting flowering, shortening crop cycle and increasing yield. It is worth mentioning that NEREA provided all the essential nutrients required for the growth of various potted plants throughout the growth period. The capability of recharging and reusing zeolite after the crop cycle should be considered, which could potentially improve input use efficiency, and decrease energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions related to horticultural practices. NEREA is a great candidate for soil amendments, green roof substrates or other low impact development settings, due to its capability of holding water and nutrients in the root zone until plants are ready to utilize them, reducing nutrient leaching and environmental impacts."
- The research results and reports are available at internationalzeolite.com
"The dramatic results from our trials show that NEREA has the potential to transform agriculture at a particularly pivotal time for the world," said Ray Paquette, CEO of IZ. "At a time of soaring crop and fertilizer prices, global food supply shocks caused by geopolitical factors as well as climate change, and food and water insecurity, the ability to grow more food, faster, while conserving scarce resources has enormous implications - and potential - for IZ and globally."
International Zeolite is strongly positioned for the significant market opportunity presented by the increased costs within the fertilizer market, and demand for alternative, environmentally friendly and complementary nutrient delivery systems to aid farmers and growers ever increasing input costs.
About International Zeolite
International Zeolite's mission is to produce a line of high-value top-tier performance natural zeolite products and solutions. We believe that real change comes from the ground up. Our focused aim is to utilize the naturally occurring zeolite mineral to innovate commercial agriculture, industry and consumer practices that outperform their competition, and are better for the environment and world populations. Our purpose driven zeolite solutions represent a new era of earth conscious environmental science that will relentlessly seek to transform agriculture, industry, and households to safer, sustainable, superior means of operation.
On Behalf of the Board
"Ray Paquette"
CEO
+1 604.684.3301
For Investor Inquiries:
Bill Mitoulas
Investor Relations
info@internationalzeolite.com
+ 1 416.479.9547
For further information, please visit www.internationalzeolite.com
Forward-Looking Statements
Some statements in this news release contain forward-looking information. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to future expenditures. These statements address future events and conditions and, as such, involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the statements. Such factors include, among others, the ability to complete contemplated work programs and the timing and amount of expenditures. International Zeolite does not assume the obligation to update any forward-looking statement.
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/133197