Crop BioControl Landscape 2024, 300 Companies Targeting Crop Pests with Biologicals
We introduced our inaugural Ag Biologicals Landscape at last year’s Salinas Biologicals Summit with the goal of capturing the crop biologicals sector and its players. That landscape included 400 companies offering biological crop protection and crop productivity products such as biopesticides, beneficial insects, biostimulants, and biofertilizers.
As the biologicals sector has continued to heat up, we wanted to not only update the landscape, but also drill down more deeply. So, we split the 2023 landscape into its logical BioControl and BioProductivity halves. The 2024 BioControl Landscape discussed here includes 300 companies delivering biological crop protection products that target insect, mite, disease, weed and nematode pests. Of note is that about a third of the 300 companies represented did not appear on last year’s landscape.
The Landscape Today
As with our other Mixing Bowl market landscapes, we focused on product companies with significant development and/or commercialization activity or that are otherwise well-positioned. The landscape has broad geographic coverage and includes both startups and established players. However, it does remain representative rather than comprehensive. Also, it does not generally include broader ecosystem entities like research organizations, tool vendors, consultants, academia, and non-end user product companies, nor does it include vendors of raw materials, adjuvants, co-formulants and the like. Companies focused only on Post-Harvest and Plant Growth Regulator products were likewise excluded.
With its focus on companies, the landscape does not drill down to specific ingredients, modes of action, crops or application methods. Although such information is important, segmenting at that level is beyond the limitations of our landscape’s format.
The landscape itself is organized by pest type with companies targeting insects and mites in the upper portion, those targeting crop diseases in the lower portion and those targeting weeds and nematodes the left middle and right middle, respectively. The landscape is further segmented into 12 product categories based on technology, i.e., active ingredient group or ‘cide type, such as Microbial Insecticides and BioHerbicides. Companies with focused offerings that fall primarily into one of these specific segments are located therein. Conversely, the center of landscape, labeled Multiple Segments, includes companies with broader portfolios spanning multiple product categories. Thus, it's worth noting that the individual product segments are somewhat underrepresented on the landscape as companies located in the Multiple Segments area may also offer such products. This is particularly the case for Bionematicides as well as Microbial and Botanical offerings.
A Closer Look
The individual landscape segments are described below. While some segments are long established, like Beneficial Insects and Nematodes, others are nascent, like RNAi. That bifurcation holds true within many of the individual categories as well. Some active ingredients have been registered and in use for decades now, while companies continue to pursue the discovery and commercialization of novel ingredients with new modes of action from microbial, botanical and biochemical sources.
Insects & Mites
There are five product categories targeting insect and mite crop pests. They are:
Microbial Bioinsecticides - living microbes, e.g., bacteria, fungi, and viruses such as Bt and Beauveria
Botanical Bioinsecticides - plant extracts and essential oils, e.g., neem and pyrethrum
Biochemical Bioinsecticides - other non-living natural substances, e.g., secondary metabolites and minerals
Semiochemicals - chemicals emitted by organisms for communication, e.g., pheromones
Beneficials Insects and Nematodes - predatory and parasitic macrobial organisms
About 75% of the companies on the landscape target insects and mites, the most for any of pest divisions. Microbial and botanical actives were the leading technologies targeting these pests.
Diseases
There are three product categories targeting crop diseases. They are:
Microbial Biofungicides - living microbes, e.g., bacteria, fungi, and viruses such as Trichoderma and bacteriophages
Botanical Biofungicides - plant extracts and essential oils, e.g., BLAD and thyme oil
Biochemical Biofungicides - other non-living natural substances and minerals, e.g., chitosan and citric acid
More than half of the companies on the landscape have products targeting plant diseases while microbials are the dominant technology being employed against them.
Nematodes
Bionematicides - microbial, botanical and biochemical substances used for control of nematodes, e.g., terpenes and Burkholderia ssp.
Although the segment looks small on the landscape, about 20% of companies offered bionematicides. Many of those companies are located in the Multiple Segments area.
Weeds
Bioherbicides - microbial, botanical and biochemical substances used for control of weeds, e.g., pelargonic acid and Streptomyces spp.
Few companies offer bioherbicides and broadly applicable solutions have remained elusive, i.e., this segment is currently more aspirational than commercial. Companies that can deliver such products will be rewarded.
Various Target Pests
The remaining companies are located in the center of the landscape in three categories:
Multiple Segments - organizations with broader product portfolios spanning multiple categories
About 40% of companies on the landscape offer products in multiple segments.
RNAi-based - double-stranded RNA molecules that effect a silencing of genes essential for pest survival.
RNAi-based is a pre-market segment, although the first sprayable RNAi-based product has been registered recently by the EPA.
Incorporated Protectants (PIPs) - gene-altered crops producing pesticidal substances, e.g., Bt corn
PIPs have existed since the 1990s, although relatively few have been registered; relaxed rules approved in the US last year may spur additional commercialization. PIPs can incorporate RNAi-based technology.
Looking Forward
BioControls remains a challenging space to navigate. There are a tremendous number of companies and an even greater number of products and ingredients. Terminology and claims can still be loose and complex; an issue we previously highlighted with our 2023 landscape. In addition, BioControls is just a portion of the biologicals space; there is also the crop productivity half of biologicals to consider.
While we have drilled down to major pest and technology types with our landscape, there are additional important factors that add to the complexity for growers:
Crops, target pests and application type
Modes of action and efficacy
Storage and application requirements
Compatibility with other products
Cost and value
Although there is understandable confusion and lingering skepticism, the drivers for increased use of biologicals are not going away. They include:
Growing preference for reduced chemical environments and crops
Increasing pest resistance to conventional chemical control products
Increased regulation, fewer conventional products available going forward
Increased openness in the market to products with efficacy, value, and application fit.
Robust discovery and development activity continues as companies try to capitalize on these trends. They are pursuing new ingredients and modes of action, leveraging novel technologies like RNAi and making progress in efficacy, consistency, shelf life, cost and ease of application. Established and conventional players continue to pursue M&A and partnerships with startups to expand their biologicals innovation footprint.
Beyond development, time and money is required to commercialize in a very fragmented regulatory environment, a particular burden on startups. These companies also face the difficult and expensive task of building brand presence, and look to those same partnerships and investments to expand and accelerate their impact.
The migration to biologicals is already a decades long movement and a worldwide phenomenon. These products currently capture about 10% of the worldwide crop protection market, but with much faster growth than conventional chemical products. Although adoption varies by region, Brazil has seen tremendous growth recently and is a standout example of what is possible when need and fit are combined with bio-friendly support and regulation. Furthermore, adoption does not have to be an all or nothing switch, but can be a mixed use transition with conventionals over time.
While momentum seems to be favoring these natural pest control alternatives, the road from discovery to commercialization to adoption for biologicals is a long one. Like with everything in AgTech and in agriculture in general, it takes time to grow.
Bio
Chris Taylor is a Partner on The Mixing Bowl team and has spent more than 20 years on global IT strategy and development innovation in manufacturing, design and healthcare, focusing most recently on AgTech. He is also the author of the 2023 Ag Biologicals Landscape, Crop Robotics 2022, and Indoor AgTech 2021 and 2019