Soil Amendment Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
- Filing peaked in 2018 at 20 records and has not returned to that level since — the field cooled well before the current filing year.
- 27.1% of all 221 records sit with the top five assignees combined, leaving a long tail of single- and few-filing entrants across the remaining ranked leaders.
- C09K materials claims dominate at 63.3% of records while narrower branches such as horticulture-specific and catalysis-linked applications each sit under 10%.
What this landscape covers
This dataset tracks 221 published records filed against soil amendment, soil conditioning and agricultural soil remediation, filtered to documents that address organic matter improvement, heavy metal passivation, salinity alleviation, water holding capacity or application rate, and classified under C09K17, C05F11 or B09C1. The scope spans filings from 2015 through the 2026 data cut-off, though publication lag means the most recent year is always undercounted relative to filing activity that has not yet published.
Records in scope carry classification across materials science, fertiliser chemistry and agrochemical use, so a single filing can touch several of the technology categories tracked below. The picture that emerges is one of an established, moderately consolidated field rather than an emerging one: filing activity built through the mid-2010s, peaked, and has since settled at a lower, roughly flat rate.
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Filing trends and technology composition
Two views of the same 221 records: how filing volume has moved year over year, and how those records classify across the IPC subclasses that define the field's technical boundaries.
Filing trend, 2017-2026
Filings rose to a peak of 20 records in 2018, then declined. By the 2022 midpoint the annual count had fallen to 7, and 2026 (partial, due to publication lag) also sits at 7 — consistent with a field that expanded once and has since plateaued rather than one still building momentum.
Technology composition by IPC subclass
C09K (materials for miscellaneous applications) appears in 63.3% of the 221 records, and C05G (fertiliser mixtures) and C05F (organic and waste-derived fertilisers) each appear in roughly half. Because records carry multiple classes, these shares add to more than 100%; the narrower classes — A01G, B01J and C08G — each sit at 7.2%, marking where claim density is lightest.
Shares are the percentage of the 221 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Soil Amendment and Agricultural Remediation with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about soil amendment and agricultural remediation and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaMost-cited records and a recent representative filing
US20250346540A1 — Soil amendment and method of using the same
A method for lowering a sodium absorption ratio (SAR) in soil, comprising measuring an initial SAR in a soil sample, applying a soil amendment comprising humalite, gypsum and agricultural lime (Ag lime) to the soil, and subsequently measuring the SAR of the treated sample.Filed by Westmet Group Holdings, LLC; published 2025-11-13.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US6811703B2 | Methods for adsorption and retention of solvated compounds and ions | 93 |
| 2 | US5014462A | Soil amendment with rubber particles | 83 |
| 3 | US5013349A | Soil conditioner and method of producing the same | 68 |
| 4 | CN107446585A | 一种复合生物土壤改良剂及其制备方法 | 65 |
| 5 | US20090078014A1 | Agricultural compositions and methods for making and using the same | 60 |
| 6 | US20030153466A1 | Phillipsitic zeolite soil amendments | 58 |
| 7 | US6524600B2 | Aqueous soil amendment compositions | 45 |
| 8 | US20040195182A1 | Compositions and methods for adsorption and retention of solvated compounds and ions | 42 |
| 9 | US6187326B1 | Soil amendment composition | 33 |
| 10 | WO2000038513A1 | Soil amendment compositions and methods for using the same | 24 |
Citation counts accumulate over time, so older records such as the two from 1990 and 1991 lead the table; treat this as a measure of historical influence rather than current relevance.
Patent titles are shown in the language they were filed in, not translated, so that each record stays verifiable against the original filing — a translated title will not match in Eureka or in any national register. Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Browse MCP servers →What the numbers mean for filing strategy
Three patterns stand out once the filing trend, the class composition and the citation table are read together.
Leadership is real but not exclusionary
The top five assignees combined account for 27.1% of all 221 records in scope, and the top ten for 38.9%. That leaves well over 60% of filings spread across the remaining ranked leaders and the long tail beyond them — a field with a leader but no dominant gatekeeper.
Growth flattened after an early peak
Filing volume roughly matched its 2018 peak only once since, and the 2022 midpoint sits at a third of that level. Combined with a 2026 count also at 7, the evidence points to a mature, steady-state field rather than one accelerating toward new filing activity.
Materials claims crowd the centre of the field
C09K, C05G and C05F together cover the bulk of records, meaning most activity clusters around amendment materials and fertiliser mixtures. A01G (horticulture), B01J (catalysis-linked processing) and C08G (condensation polymers) each sit at only 7.2%, marking the thinner edges of the claim map.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to soil amendment and agricultural remediation, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where the gaps sit
The assignee ranking spans 100 companies, headed by a leader with 23 records and a fifth-place holder at 7 — a gap wide enough to suggest one filer set an early pace that the rest of the field has not matched.
One filer well ahead of the pack
The top-ranked assignee holds 23 records against a fifth-place count of 7 and a tenth-place count of 5 — a steep drop-off that marks a genuine leader rather than a cluster of near-equal filers.
Co-filing is rare in this field
Only four co-assignee pairs appear across all 221 records, each linked to a single joint filing. Most patenting here happens through solo assignees rather than joint ventures or research partnerships.
Filing is US-led with a strong China and PCT presence
The United States receives the most filings at 63, followed by China at 35 and Europe (EPO) and WIPO (PCT) tied at 22 each, with Australia at 20 and India at 16. That spread suggests protection strategies extend beyond a single home jurisdiction for a meaningful share of filers.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Owens Corning Intellectual Capital, LLC | 1 | — |
| YAMASHITA THOMAS T | 0 | — |
| CHT Germany GmbH | 0 | — |
| WARD PAULA MARIE L | 0 | — |
| Envirofocus Ltd. | 0 | — |
| BASF SE | 0 | — |
| Dow AgroSciences LLC | 0 | — |
| Evonik Operations GmbH | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to specific next steps depending on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, portfolio benchmarking or identifying a filing opportunity.
Check freedom-to-operate against the leader's portfolio
With one assignee holding 23 of 221 records, any new filing in this space should be checked against that portfolio specifically, not just the field average.
Run a freedom-to-operate searchProbe the under-claimed IPC branches
A01G, B01J and C08G each sit at 7.2% of records — worth a closer technical read before assuming the space is open.
Explore white space in EurekaTrack whether flat filing turns into a new cycle
Volume has held near 7 filings a year since the 2022 midpoint; a shift in either direction is the signal worth monitoring.
Set up filing alertsCommon questions about soil amendment patents
The dataset's assignee ranking shows one leader with 23 records, well ahead of the fifth-place holder at 7 and the tenth-place holder at 5. Combined, the top five assignees account for 27.1% of all 221 records in scope, and the top ten account for 38.9%. That leaves the majority of filings distributed across the remaining ranked leaders and a long tail of single-filing entrants, so no one company controls the field outright.
Not currently, based on the filing trend. Activity peaked at 20 records in 2018, fell to 7 by the 2022 midpoint, and sits at 7 again in the most recent year tracked. Because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the latest year's count will rise somewhat as more filings publish, but the multi-year pattern points to a plateaued field rather than one accelerating.
Materials-for-applications claims under C09K appear in 63.3% of the 221 records, making it the single most common classification. Fertiliser mixtures (C05G) and organic/waste-derived fertilisers (C05F) each cover roughly half of records. Because a filing can carry multiple IPC classes, these figures overlap rather than sum to a total, but together they show that most patent activity concentrates on amendment materials and fertiliser formulation rather than narrower application-specific methods.
The IPC composition points to A01G (horticulture and forestry), B01J (chemical/physical processing and catalysis) and C08G (condensation polymers), each present in only 7.2% of the 221 records. These lower-density classes do not guarantee an easy grant, but they carry far less claim density than the C09K, C05G and C05F classes that dominate the field, making them a reasonable starting point for a novelty search.
The United States leads as a receiving office with 63 filings, followed by China at 35, then Europe (EPO) and WIPO (PCT) tied at 22 each, Australia at 20, and India at 16. This spread indicates that a meaningful share of applicants pursue protection in more than one jurisdiction rather than filing only domestically, which is worth factoring into any competitive or freedom-to-operate search scope.
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. Patsnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.
Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company’s registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.