By Renee Targos, Editor, AgriBusiness Global
Growers’ adoption of biological crop protection is taking off around the world.
Forecasts for the global biological crop protection market from the USDA-FAS Global Agricultural Information Network predict a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.4% between 2020-2025. Each year shows a steady increase in biocontrol sales worldwide, estimated to grow the market to $11.1 billion in 2025.
Biological crop protection only makes up 8% of the worldwide chemical pesticide market…
Yet, there is still space for growth — acres and acres of it.
Biological crop protection only makes up 8% of the worldwide chemical pesticide market, with 60% of that market in North America and the European Union, according to the FAS’ Brazilian Legislation for Biopesticides - On-farm Biopesticides Production report.
Brazilian growers are leading globally by using biological crop protection in row crops. As cited in the report, the country had a CAGR of 42% from 2017 to 2020 for the biocontrol market, with forecasts of CAGR for 2020-2025 at 35% — but it currently has just 5% share of global biopesticide market.
The shift from synthetic pesticides to biologicals is happening. The proof is clear as the industry watches the larger crop protection companies acquire biological companies. Bayer in August 2022, announced its first biologics strategic partner, Ginkgo Bioworks, with the purpose of focusing on biological crop protection and carbon sequestration.
Then there was Corteva’s acquisition of Stoller and Symborg last year. “These acquisitions were key accelerators to our biologics strategy and catalyst to expand our R&D program,” says Sam Eathington, Executive Vice President, Chief Technology and Digital Officer for Corteva Agriscience. “We approach biologicals as complementary to our crop protection business. Our goal is to utilize biologicals as another mechanism to address grower and consumer needs in the crop protection market.”
Yet, consumers, governments—and growers themselves—are looking for healthier, safer methods to protect crops as well as the health of all individuals involved in growing and consuming food products.
But as with anything, changing from a traditional crop protection program using solely synthetics to one that incorporates biologicals is not as easy as simply putting a new active ingredient in the spray tank. Methods and strategies for biological application can be very different than synthetic products. That learning curve can limit results and return on investment for growers initially. Over the years, this has contributed to a reputation for biologicals having poor efficacy. Additional barriers include higher costs, storage issues, and multiple applications — all together these have contributed to growers’ skepticism and barriers to use.
The Mindset Shift
Education is a large part of helping growers adopt biocontrols as shown by companies’ customized programs. Certis Belchim, a European company, started investing in registering biorational products in Spain and Europe in 2012 to help farmers meet the European Union’s reduction to 50% of maximum residue levels (MRLs) by 2030. The company’s Growing for the Future program uses an integrated pest management (IPM) system, incorporating both biological and synthetic products to meet the EU’s stringent requirements as well as European supermarket standards.
Laurence Gutiérrez, Business Development Manager for Certis Belchim, explains the Growing for the Future program as a partnership with the grower.
“Before we set up any program, we meet with the grower,” Gutiérrez says. “Then we don't fail. Many times, people say, ‘The green products are not working.’ A green product or a biopesticide has to be integrated into a program or applied in the right place and time to control a pest. We cannot just leave the products to be used by the grower without support. This transfer of knowledge to the grower is what is helping us to get success.”
The results have been efficacy levels rivaling phytosanitary programs and a higher reduction of synthetic chemicals than prescribed by the Farm to Fork directive of a 50% reduction by 2030.
Education on the Worldwide Web
As more companies like Bayer, Wilbur-Ellis Agribusiness, and AMVAC are diversifying their portfolios to offer both biological and synthetic crop protection products, an emphasis on educating the grower and staff is emerging.
Bayer created a digital ForwardFarming platform in 2017 to showcase growers and academic studies using biologicals and other sustainable farming methods. “It’s a global collaboration initiative addressing relevant regional and local topics through a network of farmers, academia, and private and societal stakeholders around the globe,” Patricio Gunning, Global Director of Bayer ForwardFarming, says. “It’s a transfer of knowledge with a strong focus on regenerative agricultural practices, combining products, services, and technologies.”
ForwardFarming network reaches four continents, 12 countries, and 28 different crops.
“AMVAC Academy is still relatively new,” says Jim Sulecki, AMVAC Communications and a consultant with 40 Seasons Media.
AMVAC also went digital to launch the AMVAC Academy for growers in October of 2022. Growers, ag retailers, and agronomists can sign up to watch educational modules about biocontrol products and other product categories to better understand the science, application methods, timing, and other details on how products work best in the field. Each module is self-guided with quizzes at the end to help participants retain knowledge.
“AMVAC Academy is still relatively new,” says Jim Sulecki, AMVAC Communications and a consultant with 40 Seasons Media. “We're still building out the modules. If after watching the modules, growers and their employees have questions or ideas for future modules, they can contact their regional AMVAC representative through AMVAC.com. We also see other constituents using the Academy. We do have some retail operations that, at the request of managers, are asking employees to take these modules.”
As far as educating to help growers be successful in using biologicals, Ted Walter, U.S. GreenSolutions Marketing Manager for AMVAC, says, “The biologicals products that we have in the modules go across a wide variety of crops, so there's a lot of different application windows. Growers and retailers have a lot of questions around not only how to apply the products, but the interaction of the products in the soil and in the plant. It's rather complex. These modules make this information and those interactions easier to comprehend and understand.”
Staff Becoming Educators
For Wilbur-Ellis Agribusiness, an ag retail and crop protection company serving North and South America, the way to help growers adopt biologicals is through educating the company’s staff.
“It's teaching our internal team the best way to use these products and the problems they solve,” Chris Wooley, Portfolio Manager for Specialty Products with Wilbur-Ellis Agribusiness, says.
Wilbur-Ellis Agribusiness created an internal-only Agronomy Academy with more than 60 modules covering biological and synthetic crop protection products run by Dr. Greg Binford, National Director of Advanced Agronomic Training for Wilbur-Ellis AgriBusiness.
“It's teaching our internal team the best way to use these products and the problems they solve,” Chris Wooley, Portfolio Manager for Specialty Products with Wilbur-Ellis Agribusiness, says. “They have to get a 90%-plus score to pass, and it’s being tracked by our sales managers to make sure we're getting staff educated before going out to the growers.”
One of the incentives for this educational program is to keep all staff equally educated across all geographical locations so that updated information can be brought to the grower every year. Research and development departments report on current findings and product capacities through the modules.
Education continues to remain an important key to the farmer’s success in meeting and increasing yields.
Darin Ebeling, Director of Agronomic Solutions with Wilbur-Ellis Agribusiness, says, “We need to show the grower the value of these products every year through educating them. Otherwise, they'll try something else before realizing the product’s full potential.”
Fueling the Change
Financial investments are also moving the needle as far as adoption of biologicals or IPM programs. Large food production companies, like General Mills, Nestle, Starbucks, and PepsiCo are investing millions of dollars to ensure their growers use sustainable practices. Government programs, like the EU’s green direct payment, financially benefit farmers “who adopt or maintain farming practices that contribute to EU environmental and climate goals,” as stated on the European Commission website.
Government agencies, like the U.S. EPA, provide investments such as the Pesticide Environmental Stewardship Program grants to help universities study IPM to reduce chemical loads and to share findings with growers. The Government of India created a network of 729 Krishi Vigyan Kendras (farm science centers) to give growers access to education about improved seed varieties, crop protection, and ag technology.
Companies are also doing new product research and development and finding ways to get that information to the growers. “We are always trying to find out what works better through our research program,” Ebeling says. “We continue to look at new products and new concepts to see how they could fit in agriculture. There is a lot to learn in this space.”
