Market and product

Despite the constraints of the current farm economy and tighter budgets across the agriculture industry, the global market for biopesticides continues to expand with a growth forecast of $8.94 billion from 2024 through 2029, according to market research firm Technavio.

Improved and verifiable product performance and a better understanding of how biopesticides work to fight weed, disease, and insect resistance are generating more interest and ongoing adoption of biologicals, while the impact of regulatory restrictions on the use of existing chemicals is helping position biologicals as a valuable and versatile tool in the toolbox.

Delivering on Farmers’ Expectations

It’s no secret that farmers have had mixed experiences with biological products over the years.

To gain farmers’ trust in biologicals, the market needs to put forth products that perform consistently, emphasized Keri Carstens, CEO of Jord BioScience.
“Farmers will use products that work,” she says, but they must deliver desirable outcomes.

In addition, the biologicals industry must also better manage farmers’ expectations and strive for more consistent results.

One challenge is that the biological industry essentially followed the synthetic chemistry playbook, whereby you find one active ingredient, formulate around it, then apply that active ingredient across the entire landscape.

“We [the biological industry] tried to do that with a single-acting microbe, then we act surprised when it didn’t behave like a chemistry,” acknowledges Carstens. “We wouldn’t do that with seeds. We wouldn’t try to find one hybrid and put that across 90 million acres of corn and expect one hybrid to perform consistently across all corn acres.”

It wasn’t that pursuing a synthetic chemistry playbook was entirely wrong; it just wasn’t optimized for a biological product.

Microbes are living organisms interact with one another and have specific nutritional needs.

Resistance and Regulatory Challenges

Weed, disease, and insect resistance are ongoing battles for farmers. Yet, it’s also where the value of biopesticides can shine, says Carstens.

Not only can a biopesticide provide effective controls, but with microbial products, in particular, the microbes oftentimes supply plant nutrition benefits beyond the initial pesticide control, she explains.

For example, a farmer may choose to use a biopesticide to control Pythium, then benefit from some additional phosphate availability to support the soybean crop later in the season.

“That’s the beauty of a biological product, especially one that’s a microbe. They have many genes so they can provide more than one benefit,” said Carstens.

Other ways biopesticides are being incorporated include a hybrid approach where a chemistry is in rotation with a biopesticide or even used together in a tank mix.

Another is seed treatment, says Carstens.

“This offers an exciting opportunity for farmers to have some breadth of coverage and be able to manage against resistance, as well.”

Meanwhile, the global regulatory landscape continues to become more restrictive.

“We have fewer and fewer chemical active ingredients available. The regulatory pressures on synthetic chemistries are real and they’re not going to get easier,” says Carstens.

Moreover, some countries only want to approve the use of biological products that originated in their own country, which can have a negative impact on the biological industry and stifle innovation, says Carstens.

“This is an issue we need to solve, because microbes don’t know political borders. We are in a global economy, and we must work together to arrive at sensible regulations.”

Carstens credits industry associations such as the Biological Products Industry Alliance (BPIA) and the American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) among others, for advancing the industry with science-based advocacy and proven best practices.

This includes promoting standardized definitions and providing clarity on claims and expectations for biological products, which contributes to advancing cross-border trade and supporting harmonization and stability across global markets.

Accelerating Innovation for a Competitive Edge

Jord’s strategy as a business-to-business company in the biological industry is unique, says Carstens.

“We partner with others that already have products in the market, some of which have been in the market for decades, as well as companies that are bringing new products forward.”

These are companies that typically excel at late-stage development and launch. However, “Jord is great at helping them figure out how to make their product work better by using our proprietary processes and discovery of novel microbes,” which starts with helping companies select the right microbe then bringing collective expertise together, explains Carstens.

It’s also important to find the right balance between exercising patience and diligence with respect to product development, and the desire to meet growing demand for new products in the marketplace.

“That’s really the foundation of Jord. We develop better performing products by leveraging the science and the 30-year head start we have with data that tells us how microbes actually interact in soil,” says Carstens, referring to Jord’s founder, Dr. Linda Kinkel, and the extensive work she conducted at the University of Minnesota. Kinkel saw the potential opportunity for microbes and decided to leave academia to continue her work with microbes and soil health in the private sector.

Working within a regulatory framework that supports product acceleration is a key component both for approving the use of new biological products as well as keeping U.S. companies competitive in the global market, including regions such as Latin America and the European Union, which have impressive adoption rates for biological products.

While the demand for biologicals is strong, the onus when it comes to product development is delivering efficacy and consistency.

The industry has the technical capabilities, from data science to genomics, and how those pieces need to work together, just like it has previously in the seed industry.

That’s where a different mindset is needed, says Carstens. In other words, “a new playbook.”

Looking ahead, Carstens expects even more advanced technologies will emerge in the biologicals industry across all segments: biopesticides, biostimulants, and biofertilizers.

Higher costs for fertilizers and crop inputs means farmers will require novel modes of action for weeds, diseases, and insects while simultaneously adapting to more frequent severe weather events and climate change.