History of Martin BioChem Inc
Ken Martin grew up on a family farm in Mesa, Arizona. His father, Henry Martin, operated the largest contract hay harvesting operation in central Arizona. Farm machinery manufacturers brought farm equipment to be tested in Arizona haying operations. One of those manufacturers, Massey-Ferguson Inc., offered Ken a job testing farm machinery in the ten western states. In the late 1950s and early 1960s Ken noticed a significant increase in tractor horsepower while many soils became more compacted and cloddy and more difficult to farm. After eight years of traveling and attaining a Senior Field Test Engineer status, Ken decided to return to the family farm.
Ken discovered that Farm Builders, Inc. had developed a biological soil conditioner and the Martins developed a Farm Builders distributorship named Martin BioChem. Ken pioneered this technology in central Arizona. Farm Builders built the business on the basis of one application of Farm Builder BioChem at the rate of 50 gallons per acre, sprayed on the soil or run in the irrigation water. Ken felt that a continuous application of the product would be more effective so he began to install BioChem Bio-Generators on the farm designed to treat every irrigation. The results were so significant that Farm Builders adopted this method of treatment throughout their operations in the western states.
The success of the BioChem product caught the attention of eastern financial interests that formed a company named American BioCulture Inc. American BioCulture Inc. bought Farm Builders Inc. and Martin BioChem and went public in the late 1960s. Ken was made vice-president and opened agricultural operations in California in Bakersfield, Tulare, Fresno and Woodland. Agricultural sales increased and stock prices increased significantly. Ken was not comfortable with the business practices of the corporation and resigned in 1971. American BioCulture Inc. went bankrupt shortly thereafter.
Ken began to improve the BioChem technology with his company, Probiotics International, Inc. He developed BioChem to treat the sludge of Springfield, Missouri wastewater treatment plant for odor control. He has spent the last several years improving the BioChem technology.
After developing a more effective product and reducing the volume of product required, Ken decided to re-establish Martin BioChem in 1998 for agriculture, dairy lagoon treatment, wastewater treatment, golf course and sports turf and other environmental applications.
The main thrust of Martin BioChem Inc. marketing has been in production agriculture. It was discovered that BioChem reduced odor in wastewater operations. It was then discovered that the increase of bio-oxidation caused sludge reduction, converting carbonaceous sludge to odorless carbon dioxide. Martin BioChem Inc. is presently expanding its wastewater division to serve the wastewater treatment industry.