So we have ample warning of what is to come but we are doing little about it. The older countries of the world are becoming more and more interested in humates and have done large scale research projects in many areas of humic use. Not all humates are created equal. The best humate is one that is high in humic acids and are also high in oxygen in the phenolic and quinoid groups. Molecular weight is important and the high oxygen types are usually low molecular weight and more biologically active, because only the low weight molecules can enter the cell membrane and make it more permeable for the flow of nutrition to the cell.
Humic acids work in the low weight fraction on the cellular level.
Stimulation of each cell produces more energy from the plant and higher yield. The process starts with soil microbes, then plant root cells and eventually the entire plant. We can also do this by foliar spraying soluble fulvic acids and adding a humic solution to the soil at planting. Cellular stimulation at all levels is how it works. The more concentrated a humate product the cheaper it is to transport and apply, therefore most of the time the most concentrated source is the best buy due to transportation costs.