Magnets, Crops & the North–South Polarity Folklore
[Above Image] James Hermans at the Pacific Symposium in San Diego in October, 2025.
For decades, magnet conversations have been distracted by a simple question:
North pole or south pole?
That narrative was popularised in the 1970s and has lingered in both agriculture and magnetic field therapy ever since. The claim was simple: each pole produces fundamentally different biological effects.
But if that were true, we might expect to see differences in the Earth’s north and south hemispheres and we would definitely expect to see it plant research.
Plants are a very honest test subject.
They don’t believe in anything.
They don’t expect an outcome.
They don’t respond to suggestion.
So here’s the logical question:
If north and south poles truly had fundamentally different biological effects, plants should show it clearly.
Yet modern static magnetic field studies in crops consistently focus on:
Field strength
Exposure duration
Spatial configuration
Not polarity doctrine.
Recent wheat research reports improved root growth under static magnetic field exposure that was strength-dependent and polarity-independent.
Other plant studies over the years show similar patterns:
Germination changes
Stress resilience
Early growth acceleration
Yield-related effects
But the variables measured are magnetic field intensity and exposure, not “north energy” versus “south energy.”
And that matters.
Why This Is Important
The lesson from plants reinforces the lesson in humans.
Magnetic fields interact with biology, but the interaction appears to depend on measurable parameters:
Field strength
Field gradient
Exposure time
Placement relative to biological target
Not which end of the magnet is labelled N or S.
From a physics perspective, energy density depends on the magnitude of the field, not its sign. And near a magnet’s surface, what often changes most dramatically is not the pole, but the gradient, i.e. how quickly the field changes across space.
Biology responds best to gradients.
Moving Beyond Folklore
The phrase Field | Dose | Placement captures the real science better than any slogan ever could.
Whether we’re discussing crop science or human magnetic field therapy, reproducible outcomes don’t come from polarity mythology.
They come from:
Delivering the correct field
In the correct dose
To the correct location
Plants don’t believe in north poles.
They respond to physics.
And the physics says:
It’s not the pole.
Until next time, stay curious and stay well,
James Hermans and the Q Magnets Team
P.S. For the full Blog post of this subject including references please visit : https://qmagnets.com/magnets-crops-and-north-south-folklore-why-field-gradient-matters-more-than-polarity/
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