Biological controls, aided by new precision technologies, are reaching new heights in the field
By Thomas Skernivitz, Senior Editor, American Fruit Grower tskernivitz@meistermedia.com
The best tag team going in agriculture these days might be the combination of biological controls and precision technologies. Just ask the good nematodes.
As high as Chris Thrasher is on the biologicals industry, the Director of North America at Agrauxine gets even more excited knowing that companies such as his can now take a biocontrol application and dot an “i” in the field.
“We can be more prescriptive in biologicals,” Thrasher says. “If we can go and pinpoint a hot area in a field with, for example, nematodes, we don’t have to apply that $30-an-acre application to the whole field. We can go to that hot spot and, if we have the right type of biologicals, we can control the reproductive cycle of the nematodes. And we also know that there are good nematodes out there along with bad nematodes.”
What happens to the beneficial nematodes? Ideally, nothing, says Bond McInnes, Technical Service Manager with AgBiome. With the help of precision technologies, that is what separates biocontrols, he says, from conventional treatments — the ability to recognize, isolate, and protect beneficial organisms while eliminating the bad ones.
“It’s a great, booming area of science, and I see that as something that’s really evolving in terms of precision agricultural and scouting. Where do we need to spray? At what pest level? How do you incorporate?” McInnes says. “I see the biofungicides, insecticides, and nematicides really playing a big role in that because, in the past, we would just nuke everything in the soil. ‘Who cares?’ But now, ‘Hey, if we can impact this, we’re going to have a more vigorous plant on an annual or a perennial tree crop like citrus or almonds; we’re going to have long sustainability of that crop.’ There’s a lot of investment in agricultural production. You really need to maximize those investments.”
Monitoring and taking advantage of the ever-evolving technologies is a constant effort for a biosolutions company such as Agrauxine, Thrasher says.
“We’re working with the drone manufacturers, and we’re working with the software manufacturers to make sure that we’re focusing our efforts in product development on what the real issues in the field are, not just what we think farmers need,” he says.
Mike Allan, Vice President of North America with Certis Biologicals, welcomes the synergy he sees between biocontrols, which are primarily applied as preventive measures, and recent technologies.
“The frequency of application and the ability to get into the field and make an application fit very nicely with the biological platform,” Allan says. “We want to utilize these drone technologies, which are lower-volume sprays. We want to use autonomous sprayers like the GUSS (Global Unmanned Spray System) that can apply day or night, 24/7. Biologicals can fit into that and allow for lower rates, lower volumes, and more frequency, which enhances efficacy overall for these products in their use in the field.”
Carolina Fernandez, Research and Development Director with Futureco Bioscience, says growers should aim to be less invasive and more on target while avoiding chemicals and broad-spectrum pesticides that could harm pollinators and other beneficial insects and microorganisms.
“This is something that, from our DNA, we believe in,” Fernandez says. “If we can think about precision agriculture, I wonder if we could also think about precision biocontrol.”
Global challenges, from the pandemic and its lockdowns to inflation and supply chain disruptions, have had a significant effect on the biocontrol segment of U.S. agriculture, according to Gary Schulenberg, Director of Business Development with Anatis Bioprotection. Fortunately, that effect, he says, has been positive.
“The global events that are happening, I think they really altogether changed the collective context and the conscience toward, I guess, climate correction,” Schulenberg says. “It’s penetrated every industry these last few years. In general, globally, we’re more aware and have identified a lot of contributing concerns or problems.”
In turn, growers and the public have adopted safer and smarter growing methods, Schulenberg says.
“It just seems that ‘change’ is the word that seems to rule the day, and it goes through every fabric of our society,” he says. “And, yeah, agriculture has definitely been presented with those same challenges and how we’re going to do it.”
The quest for positive environmental impact has moved from desire to demand, Schulenberg says. Biological practices, he adds, are “here to stay.”
“The awareness level has almost become self-perpetuating at this point, where everybody is just changing because they see others change,” he says.
Growers, in the wake of dynamic pricing and supply chain uncertainty, have shown increased interest in evaluating alternative technologies, such as biologicals, Mick Messman, CEO of DPH Biologicals, says. His company’s biocontrols and biofertilizers have drawn more attention, he notes.
Deeper into the fields is the topic of pesticide resistance. Growers who have used synthetic chemistry to protect against diseases are in some cases seeing such resistance, Messman says.
“You’ve probably heard a lot about things like weed resistance and the different herbicides that are being used. Similar things are also happening within the disease control segment,” Messman says. “We’re seeing more interest in biofungicides to get that second mode of action to complement the chemistry that the growers have been using and also to extend the life of that chemistry.”
Vestaron, led by President/CEO Anna Rath, produces a peptide-based chemistry that has overcome existing resistance issues while offering desired safety profiles for workers, beneficials, and the environment.
“As the world becomes aware of some of the negative side effects that many of the traditional small-molecule crop protection chemicals have, increasingly those small molecules are getting banned or restricted in their use,” Rath says. “Meanwhile, no new insecticides, no new small-molecule insecticides with novel modes of action are being introduced. And the ones that are still out there all have increasing resistance issues. So, the big problem for growers is that they don’t have the tools that they need to control their insect pests.”
Peptides — fundamentally different from all previous biological protection, Rath says — help to solve that problem.
“We bring growers less risk of loss due to resistance. We reduce their labor costs because we have only a 4-hour worker reentry interval, which is the shortest that you can have. We can reduce operational costs, especially for folks like almond growers, because we have a zero-day preharvest interval,” Rath says. “If you are using a traditional chemical, and you come into the field when you want to harvest, and you have an insect outbreak, you have to spray that day and come back seven to 10 days later to be able to harvest. Just think about what that does to your operation and your operational costs.”
Not all biologicals are created in the same image. Some take different paths to accomplish the same biocontrol mission.
Albaugh’s biological seed treatment platform focuses on products that have biopesticides and bio-stimulants. This includes nematicides, insecticides, and fungicides that enhance the company’s portfolio of synthetic seed treatment chemistries or complete the biological offer.
“It starts early with the seed,” Jay Stroh, Biological Seed Treatment Lead with Albaugh, says. “That is often the first time that a grower experiences using a biological product in their crop protection program.”
Those growers may not even realize that their seed treatment program includes biologicals, Stroh says. Instead, he notes, they simply understand that the approach works.
“It’s really that ‘easy button’ — the grower wants to plant the seed knowing that the seed company that they’re partnering with has all the bases covered based on what that grower needs,” Stroh says. “Whether it’s a nematicide, an insecticide, or whatever, it’s being delivered on the seed, and this is happening today. As we go forward, you’re going to see new technologies to deliver more options on the seed.”
Verdesian Life Sciences, a crop nutrition company, manufactures biostimulants that, in the process of benefiting a plant’s health, have the potential to enhance biocontrols.
“What we know is that when you elicit a certain gene expression within a plant, you can improve the plant’s response to an infection,” Jason Radford, Verdesian’s Vice President of Special Strategy, says.
Radford notes that Verdesian, for the most part, does not boast biopesticide registrations. And while there is currently no biostimulant category for registering a product, progress is being made on that front, he says.
“We’re supportive of that initiative because it would take some of the ambiguity away that currently exists. ... Is it fertility? Is it a biological? Is it a biostimulant?” Radford says. “Having some definitions would be great and helpful and something that we look forward to.”
Crop protection company AgBiTech focuses on biological insect protection. Its products harness natural insect pathogens to control major pests. According to Marcos Castro, the company’s Vice President of Sales and Marketing, the negative perception that has surrounded biological products is diminishing but not yet erased.
“This skepticism comes in terms of efficacy but also in terms of costs,” Castro says. “Biologicals many times are seen as niche tools, which can only be afforded by farmers who are growing high-value crops, such as fruits and vegetables. The perception is changing, but I think there’s still a long way to go.”
Suterra produces biorational products for crop protection and commercial pest control. Included are environmentally friendly products that use naturally occurring compounds, such as pheromones. Carlos Bassa, the company’s Senior Director of North America, says the biologicals industry has evolved from trying to educate the market and growers about the benefits of the technology. Today, he says, those efforts have become reality.
“The educational part was the cornerstone, the foundational thesis that this market was needing,” Bassa says. “Now, for the most part, there’s no doubt that this technology works, that this technology is here to stay, that it is sustainable, that it’s environmentally friendly, and that it’s actually needed — not from the grower perspective but just from the way that the world is evolving. Growers are being more responsible with the way they farm.”
