Biologicals are making significant inroads into becoming a more mainstream piece of the typical grower’s crop protection regime. Years of field trials are proving the efficacy of these products and their usefulness in a comprehensive crop protection strategy that also includes more traditional synthetic chemistries.
But while most conversations turn immediately to biopesticides when we talk about biological crop protection, other tools should be part of that conversation as well. Growers must consider how biopesticides work in the real world in conjunction with conventional crop protection products, biostimulants, plant nutrition, and various other inputs.
We asked experts across all elements of biological crop protection, plant health, and soil health to offer their takes on how the many pieces of this puzzle fit together to help growers produce a healthy, profitable crop. Here’s what they had to say.
Jay Stroh, Biological Seed Treatment Lead, Albaugh
Let’s talk about biological seed treatments. How do tools like biopesticides and biostimulants fit into a well-rounded crop protection program that likely includes more traditional prop protection materials as well?
We focus on products that deliver as a fungicide, insecticide and nematicide and that are compatible with our current synthetic chemistries. As an example, we have a bioinsecticide that can be used on corn for corn rootworm protection and work with the current synthetic insecticides. That brings another mode of action for corn rootworm control, while reducing the amount of synthetic insecticide needed. So, it's really a win-win and, at the end of the day, has very good protection against corn rootworm.
It can deliver natural defenses, too. You hear about ISR or SAR, inducing the plant to resist disease or insects. So, there are multiple modes of action with these biologicals.
It's the same with biofungicides. Again, we’re looking at products that are compatible with our synthetics and deliver targeted disease protection. With the biofungicides, some are more active on Fusarium or Rhizoctonia, and others more active on the oomycetes like Pythium. So, depending on what the customers are looking for, we can incorporate one of those biofungicides into the package.
I will note that biofungicides work differently than synthetics. Most have live bacteria that work with the plants and colonize that root system to outcompete any pathogens. And when you think about a living biofungicide, living on the root system, it's very possible that will extend protection further into the season. They also release metabolites that disrupt the pathogens.
Are growers focused on the fact that it's a biological? Or do they see it more as just another tool to help avoid resistance and hit the pest a different way?
When they're working with their seed companies that are pre-treating seed with these products, I would say a lot of growers probably don't realize they're using biologicals.
Like when they plant corn, they just assume they are using the best seed treatment package based on their trials. They may note that the seed company’s seed may germinate quicker or that they seem to have less corn rootworm, for example. And when they look at the end result, they see better performance and yield, and then they say, “Oh, didn't realize it was a biological, that works pretty good” and that enhances their trust in the products. So, I think what the seed companies are doing is really raising the bar and showing the efficacy of these biopesticides.
What are some of the latest developments in biologicals we should be watching for in seed treatment?
I believe that the RNAi technology research being done today that is very targeted for insects and diseases holds a lot of promise for seed treatments in the future.
Rick de Jong, International Business Development Manager, Agro-K Corporation
How do tools like plant nutrients fit into a well-rounded crop protection program?
A well-rounded crop protection program starts with plant nutrition. When plant nutrition is balanced, plants are simply healthier. They're less prone to disease impacts and to insect pressures. And when we do get some disease and insects showing up, the crop is healthier because we've achieved that plant nutritional balance. They're coming from a stronger position, and then that chemistry works better.
How should growers be thinking differently about biological products as part of a crop protection program focused on the overall health of the plant?
The focus needs to be on the overall health of the plants when it comes to crop protection. Instead of waiting for that disease or insect pressure to show up in the crop before we're treating, the focus needs to shift to a proactive approach. We are building a healthy, resilient plant that can better resist those attacks in the first place.
Biological products have a huge role to play. They enhance the soil health. They can promote beneficial microbial activity. Through these actions we're supporting healthy plant growth. Biological products, though, should not be seen as a replacement for conventional pesticides. They should be seen rather as complementary to those conventional pesticides that are on the market today. The two go hand in hand.
Are growers planning their production around crop protection and nutrition together now or are they still two separate pieces?
That's a shift that is indeed happening on the farm level. The grower is connecting crop nutrition to disease and insect pressures. For example, we know when we get high nitrates in the crop — which means typically that we spent a lot of money on nitrogen — that we're going to see disease and insect pressures.
We need to accept the fact that the crop isn’t going to be 100% clean, but we're still getting the desired outcome, which is a healthier crop, higher yields, and good quality fruit, and that's all achieved through improving plant health through nutrition.
I think the farmer is starting to focus more at the start of the season, and think, “If I'm more proactive on my crop nutrition, I'm going to be more proactive on that disease and insect pressure.” For instance, we now know powdery mildew can be more of an issue when micronutrients become deficient. So, let's monitor and manage those micronutrients to increase levels into the optimum balance range, and the mildew will have less of an impact in the crop.
It creates a different thought process. When farmers go to conventional chemistry, they think eradication. The biological process doesn't necessarily lead to eradication. It leads to managing that disease and that insect pressure, so it never really crosses the threshold of requiring that next step. We need to accept the fact that the crop isn’t going to be 100% clean, but we're still getting the desired outcome, which is a healthier crop, higher yields, and good quality fruit, and that's all achieved through improving plant health through nutrition.
What are some of the latest developments in biofertilizers that growers should know about?
There are some neat new products coming on the market designed to support the soil’s food web, the soil’s bacteria, and the fungi.
By applying these products we're improving nutrient cycling and nutrient uptake, growing healthy plants. Other biological products coming on the market can improve plant functions and development. For example, as we understand more about plant hormones, we have the ability to help plants mitigate stress impacts. If used properly, these new products will have the potential to improve returns at the farm gate and deliver a return on investment.
Holly Little, Director, Research and Development, Acadian Plant Health
When we talk about biological crop protection, there are a number of biological tools that can play into protecting plants and helping them fend off threats throughout the season. What role do biostimulants play in in crop protection?
Too often, I think we categorize inputs and don't think about how they can act upon one another and build off each other. Biostimulants can enhance crop productivity and resilience, not by acting as a typical pesticide or even in a biopesticial manner, but by acting on the natural pathways in the plants. They can improve activity and reduce stress — things which can help actually make the plant more resistant to pests and diseases. And the cool thing about that is that by improving plant health, biostimulants can actually remove some of that pressure from biocontrol to perform. So, where the biocontrol might not conform to a synthetic pesticide standard, by bolstering the plants, you can get a synergistic effect that would allow that biocontrol to perform to a higher standard than it otherwise would. In some cases, maybe even higher than a synthetic agent.
Do you feel like growers understand biostimulants pretty well now?
There's still a lot of education and learning, not only from the grower, but from the biostimulant companies as well. I think a lot of the challenges surround how products have been historically marketed. What are these products actually? Are they a fertilizer? Are they a plant growth regulator? Are they something different? The truth of the matter is they are something different and there’s not a regulatory framework for that.
We will have a level playing field where we can talk about these products as they are and what not how they're registered, just because that's what existed for a framework.
Hopefully, now, with global interest in developing proper regulatory framework for biostimulants, that should help clear up a lot of the confusion around it. We will have a level playing field where we can talk about these products as they are and what not how they're registered, just because that's what existed for a framework. I think that will help a lot with educating and training people to understand what biostimulants are, how they work, and how they can be incorporated into production practices.
How can growers make better use of biostimulants in a sustainably focused production system?
Biostimulants are a great tool for both sustainable and regenerative agriculture. Beyond working with biocontrol and improving plant health, it can also benefit soil health through improving soil microbial abundance and activity which can lead to improved soil structure. For example, increasing arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi can increase root stability and aggregate formation in soil which can, of course, lead to improved water holding capacity, less run off, and things like that.
In addition, stimulating root growth can improve organic matter in the soil, specifically soil organic carbon which can help build quality soils and have implications for carbon balance as well.
What are some of the latest developments in biostimulants and specifically seaweed extracts?
From a practical side, some of the developments we're seeing now are really modernized biostimulants and seaweed extracts. By focusing on formulation and product performance, we’re able to address how you make that formulation stable, consistent, and compatible with other products. We are really elevating biostimulants and seaweed extracts to the level of crop production standards so that a grower or a distributor can have the same expectation of biostimulant in a seaweed extract as they would from any other crop production input.
Do you have to use biostimulants in advance to get a benefit? Is that a hurdle to increasing their use?
Not entirely. The better response, particularly when we're talking abiotic stress, would be prior to the stress, of course. The treated plant may not feel the stress at the same level that an untreated plant would. Any stress will reduce that plant’s productivity and growth potential, so if you can stop that plant from feeling the stress, you're better off than if you try to fix it after the fact.
That doesn't mean you can't make it better after a stress. You can help with the recovery period with the right products and the right program. But there's going to be damage from that stress that you can’t overcome. So doing it in advance is much more beneficial, for sure.
If you make an application but don’t end up having that specific stress condition or event, it may or may not help you. Is that a big educational hurdle to get past?
That can be hard, right? No one likes cutting that check for insurance. But while you never want to use your insurance, if you need it, you have it. However, it’s important to understand the full range of benefits of these products. Even under non-stress or mild-stress conditions, we can help with a plant’s photosynthesis, productivity, and growth.
Gus Plamann, Agronomist, Biome Makers
How can some of the advances in soil testing change how we incorporate biologicals in crop protection programs?
When it comes to soil testing, we've had a lot of new technology emerge to look at the species of bacteria and fungi in the soil.
Historically, beyond crop scouting and lab plant tissue analysis of fungal diseases there hasn't been an easy way to look across soilborne pathogens at what we have in the soil. Now we're able to detect nearly all major soilborne bacterial and fungal diseases. So that's an area where soil testing checks a box that historically was not an easy piece of information to gather. This can help inform biological product choice to address disease issues most effectively.
For a well-rounded crop protection program, it's important to be informed of the populations of soilborne pathogens you have in the soil, and it's also very important to be aware of some of the biological factors that can mitigate pathogen impact on the crop, such as beneficial microbes that naturally suppress pathogens by acting as biocontrol agents. With our BeCrop Test, both the pathogens and the beneficial biology can be measured to optimize crop protection programs.
How should growers be thinking differently about soil health as part of a crop protection program focused on the overall health of the plants?
We think of the disease triangle having 3 points that all drive the impacts of diseases. One of those points is your environmental factors —levels of moisture and the temperature. Another point is the abundance of the pathogen in the soil. And the third point is the host of the pathogen, the plant and its health and susceptibility to disease.
When we talk soil testing and soil health, it's important to not get tunnel vision by addressing only one of those three points on the disease triangle. Conventional agronomy tends to focus mainly on control of the pathogen or pest, but it is also valuable to think holistically about the system. You can’t control the rain or the temperature, and you can’t always control the pathogen effectively or affordably. But we can work on equipping that plant to deal with the pathogen most effectively by enhancing soil health.
Most of the talk today focuses on bioinsecticide or biofungicide treatments that can directly suppress pathogens. But there are a lot of biostimulants out there that can improve plant stress tolerance and reduce disease risk in doing so. Some of these products are able to increase the levels of microbes in the soil that produce certain compounds that boost plant health and plant stress tolerance. This includes phytohormones, PGRs like auxin, cytokinin, abscisic acid, ACC deaminase. Microbes can produce these compounds or precursors to these compounds in the soil and essentially donate them to the plants. Many of the plant-growth-promoting bacteria and fungi included in biological products are known to perform these functions and many others that improve the ability of crops to withstand stress.
A plant that's receiving those PGRs, auxin and ACC deaminase from the soil microbes, is going to be more equipped to prime its natural defenses to ward off diseases to reduce pathogen impacts.
I think that’s a big missing piece of the crop protection conversation when we talk about biologicals and biostimulants. Hitting on that disease triangle and not having tunnel vision on the pathogen, but stepping back and thinking about how management practices or biologicals that do not claim crop protection properties can also fit into programs to address soilborne disease.
What are some of the latest developments in soil testing we should be aware of?
We talked about how soil genomic testing spans beyond conventional fertility analysis to include levels of soilborne pathogens we can detect, as well as the beneficial biocontrol agents.
Another element we can measure with BeCrop is the levels of microbes that help support the plants’ health and vigor. We can actually measure the microbes that produce those plant growth regulators in the soil that can contribute to improved plant health and vigor and equip the plant with what it needs to suppress and fend off pathogens.
We also, in terms of our soil biology testing, can look at biological nutrient cycling, the levels of microbes that unlock phosphorus, release nitrogen, or fix carbon in the soil. So, we are looking at how biology influences fertility, similar to what would be on a conventional chemical fertility test, but we evaluate the biological processes that drive nutrient availability, not the levels of nutrients themselves.
I think that's going to be a big step in the right direction over the next 5, 10 years: taking soil tests that don't necessarily look solely at chemical fertility directly related to the plant, but also take into account soil microbes and how we can potentially improve and support their populations through practices like cover crops, carbon sources, and organic amendments. The Haney Test and other newer soil testing technologies also take a similar approach and assess microbe-available carbon and soil respiration to better understand the role microbes play in soil health.
Rob Gibson, Global Portfolio Manager, Global Marketing, Certis Biologicals
How do tools like biopesticides fit into a well-rounded crop protection program that likely includes more traditional protection products as well?
Biologicals are the future of crop protection for all growers. In my opinion, every acre should receive a biological treatment as part of an integrated system that is tailored to optimize production within that acre’s specific environmental conditions.
Today’s products have proven themselves to be effective. Just as synthetic chemistries have evolved over the years to help farmers defend and optimize yields, biologicals have been through multiple iterations of improvements. The result is increased performance and more consistent results a farmer can trust. We have more than 8,000 field trials that have proven the efficacy of biologicals.
There are numerous areas where biologicals offer superior benefits to synthetic chemistries, while proving themselves to deliver a position ROI. One such area where biologicals drive value is residue management. We're getting a lot of increased pressure with the MRLs to have safer, healthier, better-looking food, and applying a biological into your integrated pest management program really helps you stay within those limits and guidelines.
Resistance management is another key value proposition for using biologicals. It is a continued focus, especially in specialty crops, while it has also proven beneficial in conventional broadacre crops. Adding a biological that provides different modes of action is critical for controlling pests. It gives the pest a different look at what it's having to go against, similar to how football team will alter or disguise a defensive scheme to blow up an offensive play.
Improved worker safety is another benefit of using biologicals. Labor is a huge concern right now across the ag industry, and when you add biologicals, it really addresses areas that can be problematic with some of our traditional chemistries. Not that those traditional chemistries are always that bad, but if we can reduce those and have a more sustainable or regenerative ag potential with biologicals, we’re helping that labor you have hired to go into your field with confidence. Lower REIs and PHIs are an advantage that we bring that opens up the field so you can work quickly. When you do have those laborers in there, they can get in and out. It helps with planning, and you can harvest when you need to harvest.
What role can products like biostimulants play in a modern crop protection program focused on the overall health of the plant?
I believe biological crop protection plays a larger role in an IPM program than biostimulants. Biostimulants can support that integrated pest management program in a positive way, so I don't want to take anything away from them. But sometimes there's a confusion around them being the same thing, and they're not.
To start, we need to understand what biostimulants are, what biologicals are, and how they can be successfully implemented into a crop management plan. Biostimulants are a substance or microorganism that stimulates natural processes to enhance or benefit nutrient uptake, nutrient use efficiency, tolerance to abiotic stress, or crop quality and yield. Biologicals contain cultures of living microorganisms that protect plants from pests and environmental stresses.
Biostimulants are important to help feed the biologicals to ensure they have the right tools for success. But not all strains are the same. So, the bigger question is, are the biostimulants I'm adding priming the best biologicals for my soil and crops?
A lot of times you have to find the best combination that works. Are you looking for a combination for a foliar disease or in the soil? Those might be two different things, so you need to reach out and get educated on the best process.
What are some of the latest developments in biological products that we should know about?
We’re focused on creating an ease of application and handling for the traditional proven technologies by creating liquid formulation options for better mixing and dispersion. Beyond that, we’re improving the storage, so you can have confidence that if you have a little bit of carryover, you know that that product is going to still work down the road — and ensuring you are able to store it in an ambient temperature. You don't have to freeze it or have refrigeration. These improvements make it easier to set these products next to your conventional chemistries, where they can be used and added under the same conditions, making it very easy to fit in the current grower standard program.
Ron Geis, Market Development Specialist, Corteva Agriscience
How do tools like biopesticides and biostimulants give us new options in crop protection programs?
I’d like to contrast the chemistry world to the biology world. They are vividly different. The chemistry world, which we’re used to, is more a matter of taking compounds and combining them to make a product that didn't exist in the past. You've formed something brand new to bring control, or whatever the desired effect is.
Biologicals are different in that these compounds already exist in nature. We've been able to isolate the part of that that's giving us a desired effect, and then you just make a whole lot more of it and make it available. And because they're natural, they don't have the level of scrutiny or level of oversight.
So, the non-farming public sees this as a very nice additive thing that will help us produce more food, and yet be environmentally in sync with their goals. I see it as a win-win.
So, we’re using natural sources, controlling diseases, controlling insects. I hope to see the control of weeds or things like rodents in the future that can be derived from a natural source.
Biological products will work very well in harmony with our existing products that we are already using in the market. In the last 20 or 30 years, we have brought production levels from 150- or 180-bushel corn traditionally up to 230-to-250-bushel corn as an expectation — that's a tremendous growth.
How are we going to continue that growth projection? That's where new and better things come into play.
So, we talk about biologicals. You have biostimulants. As the name implies, it stimulates growth. It makes things grow better, or more of, or more nutritious. You've got biocontrol products. So, we’re using natural sources, controlling diseases, controlling insects. I hope to see the control of weeds or things like rodents in the future that can be derived from a natural source. Both give the farmer the ability to produce more quantity and more nutritious food, to feed a bigger and hungrier consumer base.
What are some of the latest developments in biological crop protection that we need to make sure that growers know about?
I think biopesticides are really exciting in that we can't talk about a pesticide without in the same breath, talking about resistance.
Whether that's insects, disease, or weeds, the repeated use of something is leading to resistance, or will ultimately lead to resistance. It certainly needs to be managed for that.
With biological products, you have just vastly expanded the availability of products that can give additional modes of action, additional utility, and additional longevity of existing products by mixing things up. If an insect or a disease starts to go down the path of finding a way around what we're doing, and all of a sudden, we hit it from left field with something entirely different, okay, we sort of wipe the slate clean, and hit the refresh button.
Now with the biological products, we've added a whole different way of managing that pest in a marketplace that receives multiple insecticide applications each year. We’re switching things up so that the insect has to learn to adjust.
Think of something like a seed corn production field. Corn earworm is devastating in seed corn production, because one little bite out of a kernel, and you've got a useless seed. Well, we've been managing corn earworm with insecticides for as long as we've been raising seed corn and have had insect problems. But that's still a very narrow number of insecticides and insecticide families.
Another real benefit of using biological control on something like corn earworm: it's specific to corn earworm. It's not cross-function. So, all of these beneficial insects that have an effect on corn earworm are preserved. They are able to continue to help our cause of giving control of the species that we need control of, but not the negative effect that traditional insecticides have given us — the negative effect of also harming, or damaging, the beneficial insects we'd love to keep. We have a way to do that now with biologicals.
Alex Cochran, Chief Technology Officer, DPH Biologicals
How are biologicals and synthetic chemistries now being used together?
I think we’re seeing a real emergence today of biologicals becoming a mainstream practice for many growers, and in particular, integrating the use of biopesticides, biofungicides, bioinsecticides, etc., with synthetic traditional crop protection chemistry. The combined approach offers a lot of advantages for growers. In the case of disease control, for example, pesticide resistance is very top-of-mind. Biopesticides can act as an excellent hedge against resistance. Microbial technologies in particular offer multiple modes of action. They can help stimulate the plant's own defense response, which is not something that pathogens can evolve resistance to.
Combining a biological technology with a synthetic technology makes for a really nice one-two punch. In addition, biological technologies can help broaden the spectrum of disease control. Traditional fungicides, for example, are very specifically targeting fungal pests, and in some cases even certain classes of fungal pests. Biological products, however, tend to be very broad spectrum. They can have activity on a full range, not just specific classes of fungi, but multiple classes of bacterial pests as well.
So, you get the benefit of spectrum. You get the benefit of hedging against resistance, and then, in many cases, technologies like this can also provide a plant-health benefit that provides an added biostimulant boost for the grower. So, you see some hybrid solutions starting to emerge which canbe even co-formulated solutions of a biological with a synthetic chemistry.
What role can biofertilizers play in a modern crop protection program focused on the overall health of the plant?
We're seeing a lot of interest here to combine biofertility technologies with fertilizers. Again, this notion of a hybrid solution, but in a little bit different way, a hybrid solution for economic performance versus either disease or pest protection. It’s an opportunity to supplement traditional fertility programs, and in some cases even replace a portion of that program, because the biological technologies can help the synthetic fertilizers that we use be much more efficient for the plant to take in and respond to.
And in addition to that, these technologies can really help improve soil conditions. We know these microorganisms play a critical role in improving important aspects of soil, including soil tilth, and helping alleviate compaction. I think that's why, in many cases, you're seeing growers start to think about biological technologies more, as the benefit goes even beyond just improving the crop’s health. That has a long-term benefit for the grower far past just one typical season.
What are some of the latest developments in biologicals that we should be watching for?
I think one of the most interesting areas to emerge here in the last few years is something that we're calling biodigesters. They're all truly biofertilizers, soil amendments by definition. But biodigester really describes the functionality of the technology, and that is the opportunity to accelerate the degradation of crop residue. Here in the corn belt in Indiana, crop residue is a significant issue for many growers, particularly growers that are in reduced tillage systems and in continuous corn production systems. Residue accumulates in the fields at levels high enough to interfere with planters in the spring.
But that residue also represents a tremendous opportunity for growers, because there's a lot of both macro and micronutrients tied up in that residue that once unleashed can help provide fertility for the subsequent crop that’s planted into it. An application of a technology like a biodigester, either in the fall immediately postharvest or in the spring pre-plant to help accelerate the degradation of crop residue that's present can both help feed the next crop that goes into that field as well as improve the logistics in the field itself making it easier to plant.
Scott Lawson, Director Product Marketing, Vestaron
Why are biologicals becoming more important for agriculture and where do tools like peptides fit in this equation?
The world is changing because consumers’ preferences have changed. They're driving this and the industry is responding. I think biologicals fit nicely into meeting those demands, but, as you know, it takes some adjustments by the grower on how to use them. The growers in general are trying this new technology and finding out how it fits into their pest control program.
So, in addition to meeting the demands that the customers are placing on our growers, there clearly is the whole issue about resistance. There's really a core group of classes of insecticides that are being widely used, and they're very good chemistry. But some of them are beginning to not work as well as they used to. Resistance is increasing, and we're not generating as many new insecticides. I'm aware of only one of what I'd consider a big insecticide coming in the future. And that's because the hurdles and the costs to develop these products are getting so difficult.
Whereas you look at these biologicals, the thresholds from, for example, the EPA, are just lower. The studies that have to be done are still stringent, but biologicals fit those profiles better, and they're easier and less expensive to get registered.
We expect to register peptides as much as 3 or 4 times faster than a traditional synthetic. It should allow us to bring a lot of additional technology to the market where some of the larger synthetic companies can't do that anymore.
I think it’s interesting to think about how peptides fit in agriculture by looking back to the situation in pharma 25 years ago. In the late 1990s and early 2000s pharmaceuticals had been relying on synthetic molecules that were beginning to fail. Resistance was really beginning to become an issue and new molecules were very expensive to develop. So, they began to shift to biological-based products. That’s exactly what’s happening in agriculture now. We’re seeing similar resistance issues in synthetic products, and we know how expensive it is to develop and get approval for new synthetics. So, we’re seeing more attention turn to biologicals in ag.
We expect to register peptides as much as 3 or 4 times faster than a traditional synthetic. It should allow us to bring a lot of additional technology to the market where some of the larger synthetic companies can't do that anymore. I'm not saying there's not a place for synthetics. They will continue to be used, but it’s changing and the use of bio-based insecticides such as peptides will increase.
How do biologicals and synthetics fit together going forward?
A lot of these biologicals require growers to change their practices. In many cases they're living organisms. They may need a different supply chain. They are applied at different times compared to synthetics And the growers need to put them out under optimal conditions.
That's one of the really cool things with peptides. Growers can use them in their existing program. Pull out a diamide, a spinosad, and use a peptide instead. Same equipment, same everything. That puts peptides in a unique position.
The Insecticide Resistance Committee just added a new group of chemistry for our peptides, such as our Spear products. Peptides are unique molecules that work differently than anything else out there and can work on many known insecticidal sites in the insect, even if resistance has occurred.
If we can bring this all the way to fruition, we'll have peptide molecules that can be used on a very broad set of insects and some diseases and mites, and it can do that using different modes of actions. So, it should be able to prolong the peptide's life, as well as many of the other insecticides that are out there are still very important to the grower. Everybody wins.
Other biologicals work. They just need to be used in a slightly different way. They're not quite as robust as what I'd say a synthetic or a peptide is. But with all these products together and with a lot of cooperation with the growers, we can develop sustainable systems. Biologicals are an important part of that moving forward.
Jason Kuhlemeier, VP, Market and Customer Strategy, AgBiome
From your perspective, how do tools like biopesticides fit into a well-rounded crop protection program that likely includes other traditional crop protection materials?
I think that's important from the perspective of the biological industry and as a company providing biological solutions, we need to understand how these products fit in with synthetic chemistries, fertilizers, and other products that growers might be using in their operation.
With AgBiome, for example, we found that the majority of our sales have gone into conventional cropping systems. And these are growers that are looking for a resistance-management tool, or it’s a disease that they're having some difficulty controlling and maybe aren't getting that same level of control that they had in the past.
Certainly, there are some opportunities around worker safety and MRL management and those sorts of things depending upon what other activities might be going on in the field in that given time. So, I think it's very important to consider how these products fit, whether it's with conventional fertilizer, or plant health products, or with your typical crop protection inputs.
Do you find that growers are looking for biologicals specifically or are they just looking for other tools for their toolkits that they can work in?
Growers are incredibly innovative and also very curious. They are always looking for different ways to improve their operation, to think differently about how they might grow the quantity and the quality of produce they're looking to provide. And I think that biologicals, whether that be pesticides, biostimulants, or biofertilizers, I think that plays well where growers are looking at it, and perhaps saying, “Hey, I would like to improve a little bit in this area. Are there products out there that can help me to do that?”
I don't know that it's always biological, specifically. I just believe that there's been a tremendous amount of innovation in this space over the last several years. And I think that as an industry we’ve really improved to where this newest generation of products that are coming forward are incredibly effective. They work tremendously well. They're easy to use and to incorporate into a standard program where perhaps 15 years ago maybe that wasn't the case. And so, I think that all those things have kind of created a perfect storm for growers to look at unique and different solutions to some of the challenges or areas that they want to improve in their operation.
Convenience and ease of use is so important for growers, whether we’re talking about a conventional product or a biological, right?
I think even if you go back 15 years in time, if you apply those products perfectly, they probably work exceptionally well. But as we well know, in agriculture it's impossible to apply with perfect conditions every time, right? So maybe those products in that case didn't scale well, where I think with today's technology, what you're seeing is much less refrigerated storage or special handling requirements, products that can be treated just like typical chemistry —products that go into solution and mix well, so the grower can use them without any significant burden or extra time required to utilize those products. They also are hardy enough to be mixed with other crop inputs, so that they're you're not adding a trip across the field to make the application. You can continue with your typical program. And if that includes some sort of a nutritional package, you're able to do that as well.
