Built to Outlast: The
Origin of Durable Inputs

By Rich Johnston, Founder of PED

I didn’t set out to build this. What I started with became the foundation of something bigger—a platform to protect, improve, and extend the life of inputs in the field.

I built this to protect my business. When supply chain risk threatened everything, I started building my own solutions.

Learn how that personal workaround became
a system that works across input types.

The Problem That Wouldn’t Go Away

As the owner of a consumer fertilizer brand, I wanted a traditional fertilizer that wouldn’t fall apart or wash out after one good rain. I wanted a coating that didn’t use plastics or require high heat. And I wanted control—over the formula, the delivery, and the supply chain. None of that existed for me.

I realized: if I wanted a reliable product, I had to build the protection system myself. So I started formulating. Testing. Learning. Reinventing what a coating could be.

Discover how PED evolved by solving failures that others overlooked.

The Shift: From Product to Platform

At first, I thought I was building a Controlled Release Fertilizer.
But the deeper I got, the clearer it became:

CRFs were about timing. I was solving for durability.
CRFs relied on synthetic polymers. I was using bio-based films.
They were trying to control delay. I was trying to protect performance.

I wasn’t refining a category.
I was creating a new one.

That’s when Durable Inputs™ clicked into place.

Not just a better product—a better system for getting fertilizer, seed, biologicals, and pesticides to actually do what they’re supposed to do.

Break down the difference between CRFs, traditional inputs, and the PED approach.

I built this platform. Then I stepped away. Frustration, funding, timing—it all catches up eventually.

But the problem never went away. It was still out there—unsolved, expensive, and costing growers trust.

So I came back. And I brought the platform with me.

See what pulled us back—and why Durable Inputs™ matter now more than ever.

What Performance Enhanced Delivery Means

It’s not just a name. It’s a principle.

Performance

Every product we touch is designed to protect value—nutrients, actives, biologicals—so they can actually deliver in the field.

Enhanced

Whether through coatings, formulations, or simple improvements, we make inputs work harder—without making farming harder.

Delivery

That’s the heart of it. If an input doesn’t get where it’s supposed to go—intact, timed, and functional—it doesn’t matter what’s in it.

PED isn’t about selling something new. It’s about making what’s already being applied… actually work.

See how coatings, formulations, and field testing all feed the same goal.

From the Founder

Follow the journey and see where PED is heading next.