I’m Rich Johnston, and I built Performance Enhanced Delivery (PED) because ag inputs can work better—without forcing a choice between efficiency and affordability.
I didn’t set out to invent around ag inputs. I set out to solve a problem I kept running into—again and again.
As the owner of a consumer fertilizer brand, I needed calcium nitrate that wouldn’t fall apart in storage or wash out after one good rain. I needed coatings that didn’t use plastics or require high heat. And I needed control—over the formula, the delivery, the supply chain. None of that existed.
I realized: if I wanted to build a reliable product, I had to build the protection system myself. So I started blending. Testing. Learning. Reinventing what coatings could be.
At first, I thought I had made a better version of Controlled Release Fertilizer. But the more I built, the more I saw the limits of that category. CRFs focus on timing. I was focused on protection. CRFs rely on synthetic polymers. I was working with bio-based materials.
I wasn’t refining a category.
I was creating a new one.
That’s when Durable Inputs™ clicked into place. Not about delay. Not about complexity. Just simple, resilient solutions that protect the input long enough to do its job—no matter the weather, crop, or storage conditions.
There was a time I shelved it all. After being strung along by big companies, passed over by grant programs, and told I needed more credentials, I walked away. I focused on my B2C brand. Paid the bills. Put Durable Inputs on pause.
But it never left my mind.
Eventually, I came back to the core questions:
And the big one:
What if we’ve been building for the few inputs that survive, instead of protecting the many that fail silently?
That’s when it became clear: I wasn’t just building a product. I was building a platform.
Every product in our portfolio is designed to maximize its impact—ensuring nutrients, protection, and performance reach their full potential in the field.
Whether through coatings, ingredient formulations, or application methods, PED is built to improve how inputs perform from start to finish.
Some products improve how nutrients and protection get where they need to go. Others focus on the effectiveness of what’s inside.