I have seen humate from New Mexico work all over this country in the last 25 years. I started with corn and alfalfa and now it's coffee and macadamia nuts. It worked the first time I used it and it worked the last time I used it. My sheep are still thriving on a salt-humate mineral mix I provide. There was no quality control or knowledge of why the stuff even worked and the application rates were guesses.
All humates are different, just like soils are different.
When quality control got better and legitimate producers got in to the act things started changing. When farmers found out they could reduce their fertilizer cost, and even reduce the herbicide by using liquid humic concentrate in the spray mix, the petrochemical industry kept up the attack, as this could cost them millions every years if the truth was known. Humates gained recognition in a big way in Europe, even Central America before the U.S. gave it any credibility. The big ag-chem industry has decided it may be better to switch than fight and are now starting to offer liquid humic acid products, not really ready to embrace the dusty, messy natural humate long used by organic farmers and other fringe types of which I was doubtlessly included by the ag establishment. Most farmers still don't know the truth about humate.