Interview for Global Agribusiness
What countries/regions are most interesting and/or emerging markets for biostimulants?
Asia-Pacific and Latin America are outpacing the rest of the world in biostimulant growth, increasing 12.5% and 12.7%, respectively, driven by the regions’ relatively late adoption and room for growth, consumers’ increasing willingness to pay for higher-quality agricultural products, and the need for more efficient use of resources. Brazil, China and India also present significant market opportunities together with Indonesia and sub-Saharan African countries such as Nigeria. Growing awareness among farmers about the benefits of biostimulants in increasing productivity is undoubtedly a factor that enhances the growth of the market. The market is also growing due to increasing adoption of sustainable farming methods moreover political and government backing for more sustainable farming technologies. The Farm to Fork strategy, which has set targets such as reducing fertilizer use by at least 20% by 2030, is at the heart of the European Union’s Green Deal and is a clear example that support for biostimulants is set to gain traction.
What is the regulatory environment for biostimulant products in your region?
Already in 2022, the primary food production sector has to meet future policy changes: the new policy content of the EU Circular Economy Fertilising Products Regulation (EU 2019/1009) that has been approved on June 5, 2019 will now be effectively implemented starting July 2022. The regulation puts down rules on the making available on the market of EU fertilising products and amending Regulations (EC) No 1069/2009 and (EC) No 1107/2009 and repealing Regulation (EC) No 2003/2003.
This new regulatory framework will undoubtedly be a step forward in the Europen regulation and recognition of the biostimulants industry and will favor companies like Futureco Bioscience, which innovate, research and develop biostimulants based on market needs, but guarantee at the same time effectiveness, reliability and environmentally safety. It is also true that Futureco Bioscience currently exports to approximately 60 countries and has always had an international focus. This approach gives us a great advantage in regulatory terms in that we have a regulatory department that has a lot of experience in adapting to and dealing with the peculiarities of very different regulations at a global level. Including the most demanding ones, and with such different approaches as the American regulations, those of some North African countries such as Egypt or the Mexican regulations.
How has the science behind these products changed?
Classified based on their source rather than constitution, biostimulants have a proven potential in improving plant growth, increasing crop production and quality, as well as ameliorating stress effects. However, the multi-molecular nature and varying composition of commercially available biostimulants presents challenges when attempting to elucidate their underlying mechanisms. While most research has focused on the broad effects of biostimulants in crops, recent studies at the molecular level have started to unravel the pathways triggered by certain products at the cellular and gene level. Understanding the molecular influences involved in the mechanism of action, could not only lead to further refinement of these treatments but also to scientifically demonstrate their effect on crops and therefore to professionalize the sector, avoiding unprofessional intrusions. This advancement is backed up by research in the biostimulants sector, that has experienced a strong and progressive increase in the number of publications in recent years and in 2021, the number of publications has increased even more, reaching more than 450 papers published at international level.
How has the perception of these products changed?
The perception of these products has changed as scientific arguments have supported their functionalities, and producers have been able to confirm on their own farms the role of the use of these products in achieving their qualitative and quantitative objectives. For many years, and in some cases still today, biostimulants have been considered something nice to apply, but not essential. At first, biostimulants were relegated to export agriculture and above all to crops with higher added value, but little by little, seen their impact in terms of yield, quality and management of production, their use has become more widespread. In recent years, its use is already common in extensive crops or cereals. After the pandemic in 2020, it was assumed that with rising input costs, they would have been the first to be cut, but trends seem to be going in the opposite direction.
What trends have you/the company scene regarding biostimulants?
I would say that the main trends regarding biostimulants focus on abiotic stress resistance, followed by improved nutrient uptake and then improved product quality. Among abiotic stresses, drought is the most studied, followed by salinity and temperature extremes, must probably in strong connection with the effect of climate change. On the other hand, there is an increasing demand of nitrogen-fixing microorganisms: while nitrogen is the element required, after carbon, in the greatest quantity by plants for their growth and development nitrogen-fixing microorganisms could help reduce the amount of nitrogen fertilizers, now that there is a shortage of raw materials, very high prices and increasing attention to both environmental and economic sustainability.
As company, we are recognized for our expertise in in the use of microbials, and the added value of our microorganisms and their derived products can offer to agriculture. For example, with additional metabolites of Lysobacter enzymogenes strain B25 and Corynebacterium flavescens strain B2575, RADISAN WG considerably increases the rate of survival transplants and stimulates further the vegetative growth.
What’s driving those changes?
The main trends are driven by the needs of producers: some of these needs are due to the appearance of new situations such as lack of water, changes in weather conditions due to climate change that are causing new types of stresses, regulatory changes that prohibit the use of active ingredients commonly used in most farms, lack of sustainable solutions to maintain productivity without increasing or reducing inputs etc. For all these situations, farmers need products that allow them to continue producing with the yields and qualities that maintain the profitability of their farms.
What new product/service has your company introduced recently?
Futureco Bioscience, led by its founder and current CEO, Rafael Juncosa, a visionary of this business, has been innovating, researching and developing cutting-edge areas of work for almost 30 years. Although for some companies many topics may now be new trends, in Futureco Bioscience they have been our day to day since our origins. Rafael Juncosa, founded the company in the 90s, at a time when these topics seemed “science fiction” while today they are on everyone’s lips. Our extensive knowledge in both biocontrol and biostimulation, the fact that we have a multidisciplinary scientific-technical team and state-of-the-art facilities has allowed us to maintain a holistic vision of the agricultural production system.
We are therefore very conscious of the fact that soil is the backbone that nourishes crops, and that agricultural production depends on its health. Following our interest, expertise and experience with microorganisms, we have recently developed GENOMAAT (www.genomaat.com), a tool that, through a holistic analysis of the production system, incorporating soil metagenomic analysis and functional interpretation, allows us to provide farmers with microbial combos or consortia (chitinolytic, ligninolytic, phosphorus solubilising, nitrogen fixing, …) specifically designed to restore the natural balance of soils, with direct improvement of both yield and crop quality.
What are the biggest opportunities for biostimulants in the next few years (and what is the plan to take advantage of them)?
It may appear that agriculture is dealing with two opposing forces. On the one hand, more production is needed due to world population growth. On the other, we are witnessing a necessary reduction in the amount of available crop productivity tools due to government regulations such as the EU Green Deal. In addition, climate change is also putting a strain on cropping systems. Whether it’s too dry or too wet, we’re seeing these extremes all over the world. In this complex situation, there is a growing demand for new tools that are sustainable, effective, and affordable to complement synthetic chemistry: it’s a big global opportunity for biostimulants.
Finally, at more reduced and maybe simple scale, the greatest opportunities lie in being able to develop products that quickly and safely meet the new needs of producers. In our case, at Futureco Bioscience, we are using the most sophisticated and operational scientific advances to develop new, and increasingly “custom-made ” products.
What are the biggest challenges for biostimulants over the next few years (and what do you plan to do to overcome them)?
One of the bigger challenges facing the biostimulants industry is to scientifically prove the claimed functionality and justify the biological and functional action of the product on crop species. It will be more and more important, and soon necessary, to fulfill very complete dossiers, and all substances will have to be studied and approved by accredited third-party bodies, thus guaranteeing their composition, functionality, and harmlessness for health and environmental safety. I am certain that this landscape will contribute to greater transparency and trust in the sector.
Futureco Bioscience recognizes and addresses these challenges by constantly updating and upgrading its consolidated research and development pipeline, to deliver products backed by consistent and reliable trial data, that can produce valuable and reproducible results. Expertise in protocol development can reduce the number of total trials and seasons required to evaluate performance and gather data for product registration. Proficient analysis can increase the value of the information. Globally, a well-planned approach like the Futureco Bioscience development process also helps avoid the pitfalls that could delay the product development process and market entry as well as increase costs.
What else do we need to know about biostimulants?
Engineering the plant microbiome or designing and developing a biostimulant is far from simple and requires a considerable level of scientific knowledge, field experience and technical innovation. Our multidisciplinary team of scientists and agronomists at Futureco Bioscience are already researching and testing next generation biostimulants designed as a dedicated agronomic tool to meet the demand for alternative methods based on environmentally friendly bioactive substances that support biodiversity in agricultural ecosystems. Indeed, much evidence has demonstrated that a healthy crop microbiome and timely applications of plant biostimulants can restore soil health and productivity under low-nutrient input conditions and thus contribute to sustainable food production systems.