About Loam Bio

Loam Bio is a sustainability-focused agritech startup that enables farmers and scientists to introduce high quality carbon removal at scale. Their technology helps plants take CO2 from the atmosphere and transform it into the most stable forms of soil carbon, turning the world’s croplands into giant carbon sinks.

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Loam Bio's Challenge

Loam Bio's microbes are delivered as part of a kit for farmers to introduce to the soil. From a packaging perspective, that's easier said than done. The delicate nature of the microbes requires care during handling and transportation to prevent contamination, incorrect temperature, and exposure to sunlight.

This meant that a trained professional accompanied every delivery to help apply the microbes to the soil and dispose of the equipment later. Finding a way to make the microbes easy to apply without the farmer needing any help was Loam's biggest priority because it presented a huge operational saving which allowed Loam to grow to new regions.

But for the farmer to apply the microbes himself, Loam Bio needed to ensure that precise measurements were used and applied to the soil in a specific way. Without clear instructions and a user-friendly design, it's easy to get wrong. Then, after microbes had been applied to the soil, the packaging itself has to be stored and re-used, adding another more complexity to how Loam Bio's packaging should function.

But above all, Loam needed this packaging to work as a scalable, commercial solution that could deliver microbes to farmers in a range of climates and via a number of transportation methods, all over the world.

Loam Bio's packaging brief:

• Product is highly sensitive to temperature changes
• Product is vulnerable to UV light and oxygen exposure
• Requires three-day shipping without cold chain
• Complex usability considerations for farmers
• Precise dosage needed for efficacy
• Multiple SKU Types
• Sustainable packaging is essential
• Packaging needs to showcase the brand
• Packaging must meet safety and industry standards

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Unpac's Solution

Loam had struggledto find packaging that could hit every part of their brief, by improving product stability, streamlining handling and providing a better overall experience for their end-user.

XX, XX from Loam said: "Sure, we could make packaging that would technically work, but it was impossible to scale because it was ridiculously expensive to produce and counter-intuitive for farmers to use. We needed Unpac's help fort that."

Unpac's software was briefed on all of the custom requirements, then it produced a number of material recommendations for Unpac's team of experts to consider as part of the design and development process. For example, Unpac introduced packaging to protect the product from temperature and sunlight.

The team also introduced clear and precise instructions to the box, and designed the packaging in a way that reflected the sequence of steps needed to get there.

Additionally, the packaging size was scaled down to encourage farmers to store the packaging conveniently to be reused later rather than throw it away. This included a resealable design that reduced the need for additional packaging.

Loam Bio's custom packaging:

• Reusable insulated packaging created for Loam's product
• Packaging ensured safe and secure product handling and transportation
• Temperature and UV exposure protection incorporated
• Simplified instructions included for easy use
• Packaging size optimized to reduce wastage
• Re-sealable design to improve usability and convenience

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Unpac's Impact

Unpac's team of designers and packaging developers delivered Loam's new packaging within two months.

XX, XX at Loam Bio said, "Before working with Unpac, we struggled to get our product into the hands of farmers in remote locations, due to packaging constraints. This was a big blocker to our commercial growth, which Unpac helped us overcome with a clever, user-friendly design. Reusable packaging also made it far more sustainable than packaging we had used before."

Unpac's results:

• 76% cost reduction by enabling customer DIY use instead of application by trained professional
• Enabled next day ambient delivery instead of 2-5 days cold chain.
• Elevated customer experience with clear layout and controlled dispensing enabling hassle-free application with no training.
• 100% reusable packaging eliminated the need for landfill and bio-security incineration

Get in touch to learn more about how fixing your unique packaging problems can help you save and reach more customers.