Huge jugs of liquid fertilizer stacked at Win Biologics are far from exclusive to the company specializing in regenerative agriculture.
But owner Carolyn Wingate isn’t above using the “hot pink” nitrogen stabilizer—nicknamed Barbie Juice‑to promote her female-owned firm.
It’s an amusing coincidence to the entrepreneur, whose dedicated staff of six has only one male. Yet they compete for business in an industry packed with Y chromosomes. (In the above photo) Win Biologics sales representative Raeann Magill, left, and company owner Carolyn Wingate pose with the hot pink urea they sell to farmers. (Journal photo by Tim Unruh.)
“We’d like to hire more men, but we just happened to collect female unicorns instead,” Wingate said. “It’s difficult to gain ground on big agriculture, regardless of gender.”
She referred to the likes of Koch, Verdesian, CHS, Nutrien, Winfield United, and other Goliath companies that sponsor academic research.
Win Biologics is focused on bringing life to soils through fertility, feeding microbes and using soil health principles and other earthy necessities, such as cover crops. They keep green foliage on the land throughout the year and provide a conduit for water infiltration, rather than watching it drain into ditches and streams.
“Win Biologics is all about growing native life in the soil. We’re not a bug-in-a-jug company,” Wingate said. “We sell food sources for natural biological systems.”
The company started small and sells products to rural retailers.
While it has taken some time to snare attention, Win Biologics is using results to earn favor, one farmer at a time, through small suppliers.
Wingate sells products in Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado, Nebraska and Missouri, just to name a few.
In North Carolina, Win Biologics played a role in farmer Russell Hedrick’s dry land corn yield record in 2022, Wingate said, binning 459.91 bushels to the acre.
Win Biologics is posting sales on farms tiny to huge, she said, relying on end results and word-of-mouth advertising to collect customers.
Wingate’s forces “have had to earn their seat at the table of the good ol’ boy network of big ag. When a woman walks into an ag retailer, you have to prove that you’re not just a pretty face. I feel like we have to be twice as smart as any guy walking through the door,” she said.
Win Biologics staff offer education in rural America by bringing in speakers on cover crops, small water cycles, fungal and biological systems in soil and other areas of regenerative agriculture.
“There are other companies who do similar things. Our business has doubled every year for the past three years because we make products that have an ROI and provide the education and customer service from highly knowledgeable agronomists,” Wingate said. “We don’t want to see anybody go broke. We’re not trying to be cocky, but we are confident in regenerative agriculture solutions on big acres and small.”
Like the natural wonders contained in healthy soils, which are the building blocks to feeding the world, she insists balance is necessary in most endeavors.
“Guys are natural born protectors and killers. They have been trained by big ag to hit the easy button with anything that ends in ,cide’ or death. Women are made to be nurturers, and we grow things as God intended, and we can easily soften the approach to agriculture,” Wingate said. “Sometimes you need a handshake, and sometimes you need a hug.”
The fledgling firm, based in south Wichita, enjoys a history hinged to regenerative agriculture. That’s how Win Biologics got its start. Its evolution, however, has branched out to meld old farming methods with new.
“The whole point of the company is to try to build a ladder or bridge to conventional agriculture, big ag, big chem and big pharma, with hard chemistry,” she said, “and start educating on how you can have better nutrient cycling through carbon products and cover crops.”
It’s all about adapting to a “systems approach.”
“You can’t just buy something in a jug and expect it to work,” Wingate said. “It’s about increasing your biology, understanding how to get from dead to alive. Most farmers’ soils are dead and propped up on synthetic inputs, and they’re trying to keep their crops alive long enough to get them to harvest.”
While Wingate’s company is relatively meek in size, she’s not afraid to take on the establishment with a “two-step distribution process (selling directly to small independent retailers) rather than a three-step process. We skip the distributors, making it a better value on the farm.”
She relies on farmer research (customers) and independent companies, such as Performance Crop Research in Hoxie, Great Bend and Manhattan.
“(Carolyn) is a very driven lady. We enjoy working with her,” said Melissa Nelson, Performance Crop Research’s owner.
“My job is to provide unbiased data collection to Win Biologic,” she said. “I love what I do, helping companies move the industry forward.”
C4 Ag Solutions, of Great Bend, with a store between Pawnee Rock and Dundee, carries Win Biologics additives.
“We’ve got a niche in our area for certain products from (Wingate),” said Lance Crosby, C4 Ag Solutions owner.
Wingate said, “Rather than sending money to universities, we support other local companies, such as Performance Crop Research. Trials make all the difference. We make and manufacter everything and go directly to the retailer, bring products close to the customers and facilitate a lot of conversations with them.”
Wingate started her company in early 2021 — with the help of some farmers who believed in her mission and gave her cash in hand before her first products were even produced.
“We are able to go toe-to-toe with these giant corporations,” she said, but it’s not the intention to match the competitors in size or sales.
The “family-owned independent business sells regenerative agriculture products primarily to small family-owned retailers or farms” in the High Plains and Midwest, according to a company biography.
Win Biologics’ main drivers are the legion of ladies who work out front as sales representatives who are educated in agronomy, she said, with college degrees and experience from some of the above-named major organizations.
The small company is glued by solid friendships of folks who hold tightly to Win Biologics’ mantra.
“We’re on a mission for healthy soils, healthy crops and healthy people, all the way through the cycle,” Wingate said. “Our slogan is ‘We Wet Our Plants,’ and we have many other catchy product names such as Soy Sauce or HotMeth (methylated seed oil). We try to have fun and edutain (educate and entertain) as much as possible.”
They are proud members of the “Soil Sisters,” an unofficial club dedicated to improving soil biology to aid in food production. The tag originated in 2016 at High Plains Journal’s yearly Soil Health U gatherings in Salina, Kansas.
“We are all girls (in the field), and we sell hot pink urea,” Wingate said, “but this is not a feminist operation.”
Urea can be changed to other colors, she said, but hot pink is preferred because it stands out.
Win Biologics stages yearly “Soil Health Events” where they focus on education and entertainment on Todd Tobin’s farm near Iuka, north of Pratt, Kansas. They aim to solve problems for all, in a fun way, with generous portions of food and music.
“Sometimes, agronomy’s boring. We try to host fun events such as Farmer Daycare (at the Win Biologics warehouse, 2028 E. Northern Street, in south Wichita). On Dec. 6 this year, while wives come Christmas shopping in Wichita, we will feed the guys snacks and play agronomy yard games with prizes,” Wingate said.
It helps when farmers like Tobin and others back up Win Biologics’ results.
“Todd uses almost everything we make, and he’s been the research person for almost everything we make. He’s proving it can be done on a large scale,” she said. (See sidebar.)
Win Biologics’ platform is built on solutions.
“We’re just trying to sell products,” said Raeann Magill, sales representative. “We’re trying to make lasting change. If we can introduce ideas that lead to change, that’s great.”
Jesse Blasi, who also farms near Iuka, received help from Wingate for a non-farm problem some eight years ago.
“I have a daughter who was diagnosed with arthritis, and Carolyn reaches out to help us out with dietary. She sent a random stranger cookbooks,” Blasi recalled.
He later discovered Win Biologics carried “a highly refined fulvic acid, a food source for microbes in the soil that breaks down naturally occurring fertilizer like phosphorus and potassium, and man-made fertilizers. It makes a healthier plant that will hang on longer in stressful conditions.”
Win Biologics isn’t hell-bent on creating converts. This is not a religion, Wingate said, just another idea billed to trim the cost of inputs, save water, help the environment and put more money into the pockets of farmers.
“If they just want to stabilize their nitrogen with our Barbie Juice, just that is a step in the right direction,” Wingate said. “I think we have a lot of respect, but there is a split between the regenerative focus and the conventional approach, and we work in either vein.”
That’s perfect at the Blasi farm. His father, David Blasi, uses conventional practices on his portion of the operation.
“I sold all of my tillage equipment and a four-wheel-drive tractor. We used to have four of everything,” Jesse Blasi said. “It didn’t take much convincing on fulvic and humic acids. There’s definitely some yield pickup there.”
Father and son support each other, but engage in friendly competition “about who out-yielded who, or more importantly, who had the highest revenue,” he said. “The only places that high yields matter are the Domino table at the co-op or the coffee shop.”
Not every farmer is an easy sell, Wingate said. It took some time to convince eastern Pratt County farmer Brandon Bortz when they met some four years ago.
With any new technology, the integrated farmer, rancher and feedlot owner is a show-me operator who demands proof that products fit on his operation.
He calls it his Facebook or MySpace test. Only one of those survived the early days of social media.
“MySpace didn’t last. There are a lot of companies that make a big splash, and they don’t last,” Bortz said. “(Wingate) was still relatively new, just starting to get into the game. A lot of salesmen will pitch you a lot of different stuff. The question is, do you really want to invest in certain technology if it’s going to be gone in a year? We challenged Carolyn on her sales pitch and got into the technical stuff pretty deep to back up what she was trying to sell.”
He didn’t take an immediate plunge, but stayed in touch.
“That first year, we bought a little bit of her products to try them out,” Bortz said. “She’s done a very good job. We would ask her a question, and she would either find the answer or find a person who knew it. We’re very diligent and made her prove her stuff, and she doesn’t take it personal.”
This past year, the Bortz operation purchased more products from Win Biologics, and just as in the beginning, continues to challenge the technology.
“I think we have a good relationship,” he said. “There are places and times that regenerative farming practices are a good thing, and at other places, you have to see it work. Carolyn is proving to be more than a salesman. She’s helping us learn, and we’re helping her learn along the way, too. She’s part of our farm now.”
Wingate and staff are addicted to the satisfaction of seeing producers succeed, no matter how they do it.
“I one thousand percent support conventional farmers, but I don’t support conventional agriculture because it robs profits from farmers,” she said. “I do believe agriculture is broken, but the tools to fix it are right in front of your face.”
Reducing input costs takes pressure off of yield, Wingate said.
“When farmers are able to back down by a gallon (per acre) on fertilizer, when soil health starts improving, and you see a yield bump over conventional fertilizer planning, people start talking,” she said. “Farmers are our best salespeople.”
Wingate knows who pays her bills.
“Keeping farmers profitable is how we keep our nation happy and fed,” she said. “The mental health of farmers is a massive problem. They work way harder than I do in a day, and I believe they should be paid for that work.”
Tim Unruh can be reached at [email protected].
Tobin’s endorsement a win-win for Wingate
By Tim Unruh
It took awhile for Iuka, Kansas farmer Todd Tobin to be “all in” with Win Biologics and regenerative agriculture.
“We’ve been on this path for a long time,” he said.
The evolution of folding no-till, strip-till and minimum-till into their farming practices started in 2001, and it followed with the addition of Win Biologics’ products.
“It’s kind of a systems approach, and her products fit well into our system,” Tobin said, like adding carbon to the soil, producing water savings and fertility benefits that help with nutrient uptakes into the plant and cutting the need to add more fertilizer.
“We got started with them in 2016 using their nitrogen stabilizer, and right off the bat, we started being able to lessen our nitrogen applications. Efficiencies went up,” he said. “I’m keeping the soil more in balance.”
Having “very low CEC (cation exchange capacity) and low organic matter means my soil has less fertility-holding capability,” Tobin said. “I put on a little nitrogen, phosphate and potassium at a time to kind of spoon feed it through a season rather than front-loading all of it.”
While yields have generally maintained, he said, water use has dropped, along with input bills.
“Even though costs have gone up, we’ve reduced inputs,” he said. “Cover cropping has cut my herbicide bill in half.”
The farm has integrated livestock, and those critters benefit from the cover crops.
“That turned into a revenue stream in and of itself,” Tobin said.
Yields are down this year because of drought conditions and some disease, such as corn stunt.
But bushels don’t necessarily tell the story.
“Everybody talks yield, yield, yield. I would rather talk profit,” he said. “We’re still maintaining yield, but my profit levels have gone up on irrigation. On dryland row crops, we will cut some this year.”
Nationally, he said, it takes an average of 4,000 to 5,000 gallons of water to raise a bushel of corn.
“Through our efforts, I figure it’s down to 3,036, taking in rain and all irrigation,” Tobin said.
He invites the public to view the data from all five of his weather stations at weatherlink.com.
With his regenerative measures, Tobin is helping his bottom line.
“The whole goal is to get soils healthy enough and resilient, too,” he said, “where it’s not a total loss, even in drought years.”
Tobin is a super asset to Win Biologics, said Carolyn Wingate, company owner.
“Todd is a great teacher of regenerative agriculture in that whole (Iuka) community,” she said. “We’ve been working together since 2016.”
