Biologicals, integrated management and increased productivity

What is the future of agriculture? If we look at the past, we can remember that the use of agricultural pesticides and industrialized mineral fertilizers brought an important increase in crop productivity and, consequently, a large increase in food production and supply throughout the world.

With technological evolution and the search for new options for controlling agricultural pests, biological products have emerged as an economical and technically viable tool for producers. This does not mean that we are thinking about completely replacing agricultural pesticides with biological ones, but that they act synergistically in an integrated plan for managing pests, diseases, nutrition and growth promotion for plants.

Biological control and agricultural pesticides, as well as the other tools recommended by the integrated management of pests and diseases, must form part of the set of control action measures used by the farmer to achieve high levels of management efficiency, reducing damage and allowing the producer to increase the financial return on his crop.

Previously, the biological solutions market was seen as small, of low effectiveness and inconsistent quality. Now, with the growing interest of multinationals, new companies, innovative technologies for the production and conservation of microorganisms and greater capital for investments using biologicals as a differentiation strategy, it is natural to expect the introduction of a new range of products on the market. In fact, Biotrop's strategic focus on biologicals is to offer integrated solutions that allow improving productivity and profitability in a sustainable way, both for the producer and for the entire chain involved in the production and marketing of food.

The global biological market has grown at a rate five times greater than that of the agrochemical industry. Between 2011 and 2019, the global market for these products had an average annual growth of 15,3%. This is due, firstly, to a question of investment, since to develop a new pesticide the cost is extremely high: US$ 286 million, while the biological one costs a fraction of that amount, in addition, there is a demand from society and regulatory bodies for waste-free food production. In this context, the use of biological pesticides in alternation with chemical products allows biological applications to be carried out to control pests and diseases at the end of the cultivation cycle, whereas in this situation, the application of chemical pesticides is limited due to maximum residue limits and withdrawal period.

Another advantage of introducing biological products into management is the extension of the useful life of the active ingredients of chemical pesticides, that is, the estimated time for the target to show resistance or for the active ingredient to lose effectiveness in control. Biologicals represent new, broad and complex mechanisms of action, for which the evolution of pest and disease resistance is less problematic. Considering that the launch of new chemical molecules has occurred increasingly slowly and more expensively, maintaining the high effectiveness of current molecules is a critical factor for the sustainability of agriculture and in this sense, integration with biologicals is essential to slow down the evolution of resistance and prolong the life cycle of these assets.

Biologicals have an expectation of robust growth, provide effective and sustainable alternatives, and are an efficient tool to protect high investments in seeds and farmer profitability. Producers are adopting integrated pest management (IPM), in which biological pesticides play a central role. The market trend is for the use of biological products to coexist in harmony with chemical pesticides.

The change in the profile of biological products and the exponential increase in their use, migrating from niches to market consolidation, reaching the main crops, depends on the evolution of formulations and production processes. For the consecration of biological products, their formulations must depend less and less on differentiated logistics for transport, storage and application. This evolution will only be possible with massive investments in technology.

We firmly believe that biological solutions will be growing in the crop protection market. This segment is evolving and the main factors are the demand for integrated solutions, increased regulatory pressure and the maturation of biotechnologies. Biologicals allow producers to maintain not only the pace of business evolution, but also their long-term economic and financial viability.

Soil restructuring

Biologicals of fungal or bacterial origin have a transformative and growing role in the regeneration of our soils. For years, agricultural practices did not contribute to maintaining the quantity and diversity of soil microorganisms, in many cases resulting in their reduction: opening new cultivation areas on native vegetation, burning, management that contributed to reducing the content of soil organic matter and the intensive use of chemical fertilizers and herbicides led these actions.

We now have the unique opportunity to bring abundant and diverse life back to the soil through this new bioproduct technology associated with good production, management and soil conservation practices. In this way, we are contributing so that basic principles and conditions of associative and symbiotic relationships between plants and microorganisms are reestablished with more intensity, diversity and durability, providing them with a more developed, voluminous and healthy root system - thus being able to explore a larger volume larger area of ​​soil, consequently absorbing more water and nutrients stored in areas not previously accessible.

Soils rich in previously insoluble nutrient-solubilizing enzymes, more structured, more resistant to erosion processes, with greater capacity for water infiltration and gas exchange are contributions from the activities of soil microorganisms that live around the rhizosphere. The biological fixation of atmospheric nitrogen is only possible thanks to a specific group of bacteria that have this capacity, as well as the synthesis of phytohormones that stimulate the growth of roots and aerial parts of plants.

Bacteria specialized in solubilizing unavailable phosphorus and making it available to plants are now possible to be produced in an industrial process, with a high percentage of viability and high effectiveness. Fungi and bacteria that attack nematodes, that produce enzymes that make it impossible for eggs to hatch (vicicides), that synthesize and excrete metabolites (that act on young and adult forms) are, in addition to being efficient, a reality in thousands of cultivated hectares throughout Brazil.

The benefit needs to be mutual, a two-way street. Microorganisms protect plants from pathogens and plants provide food (amino acids, sugars, etc.) to microorganisms through root exudates. That is why it is so important that the plant has a vast, robust root system with no physical, chemical or biological impediments to its growth.

The occupation of plant sites (leaves and roots) by beneficial microorganisms - providing a “barrier” of defense against pathogenic microorganisms, insects and nematodes - are values ​​attributed to the harmonious relationships that have always governed the genetic manifestation for the productive potential of cultivated plants .  

Ultimately, we are on the threshold of a new era for biologicals where the identification, selection, evaluation and production of new microorganisms should gain an unprecedented scale, resulting in stable formulations with a prolonged shelf life, with a positive and significant impact on perception and adoption of this biotechnological tool by entrepreneurs and rural producers. Biotrop is taking part in this biotransformation.

Antônio Carlos Zem, CEO of Biotrop/Total BIO; with the collaboration of Tedson L. F. Azevedo, Market Development Supervisor