Optimize Biostimulant and Biocontrol Commercialization Success
The well-established crop protection companies have rigorous stage-gate evaluation processes for both internal and external innovations before buying, licensing, or advancing concepts in their own R&D. Most of them also have field development plans that extend well beyond the initial testing phase and continue through localized data generation after launch.
Recently, The Nobel Prize for Economic Sciences 2025 winner, Joel Mokyr, has demonstrated a continual flow of useful knowledge is necessary through his research in economic history. He said, “…if innovations are to succeed one another in a self-generating process, we not only need to know that something works, but we also need to have scientific explanations for why.” The search for why an innovation works historically has been a missing piece in the development of biostimulants in agriculture.
“Finding the why an innovation works is critically important and is a key focus in our work,” says Ignacio Colonna, AgriThority Global Director, Science and Technology. “The data is not simply a box to check in developing a new product. It must be scientifically valid, robust, and credible. For example, today understanding the mode of action of a new biostimulant product is a must-have, which requires a specific dedication—we will not find this out from just a conventional set of field trials.”
Profit Margins and Success
So, what are companies missing? Sometimes a realistic estimation of profit margins for their retail channel partners is missing. The key challenge for all is motivation through performance data that genuinely delivers profit. The question must be answered: Does the product create measurable economic benefit across the channel and for the farmer, for whom profitability is the driver?
For start-ups, the missing pieces can be more numerous. Without the deep pockets and established R&D teams of established crop protection companies, start-ups can be left with decisions on where to compromise. Those decisions can determine the potential success of the innovation and the company.
Here are some common decisions that can create issues:
- Establishing a brick and mortar or large commercial teams before perfecting the technology into a commercially viable, adoptable product.
- Focusing on generating revenue too quickly and skipping critical development steps.
- Leaning on technology to carry the company without parallel planning for long-term operational or regulatory needs.
- Targeting the largest or most lucrative markets as the first target to launch versus choosing smaller, niche markets that can bring revenue and profit more quickly.
- Going straight to the farmer and expecting them to help develop a product. If early performance does not meet expectations, farmer perception may be difficult to overcome later.
12 Questions to Ask
Asking the right questions in the right order and ensuring your answers are sufficient can be the difference between success and failure of a new agricultural innovation. Many times, a third party can provide a different perspective to help ensure the questions have been asked and answered to achieve the best product positioning.
“Product development is as much about process as it is about science,” says Gloverson Moro, AgriThority Chief Technology Officer. “Focusing on a disciplined development plan helps manage risks and resources for commercial success.”
Establishing a standard, uniform development process that combines strategy with scientific direction and execution to meet industry expectations and farmers’ needs is essential. The stage-gate process can help avoid unnecessary risks and wasted resources.
Key questions include:
- Are strategies set?
- Does it work, and why?
- Can it be protected? Does it have freedom to operate?
- What are the first and future markets, and why?
- How will it be registered?
- How will it be used?
- What are registration requirements for first and future markets?
- Is it scalable for profit?
- How resilient is it?
- How does it fit the grower paradigm?
- What is the demand generation and technology transfer plan?
- Where is the launch, and what follows?
The Stage-Gate Process
Following a disciplined stage-gate process will help you truly understand what the product can and cannot do, why it performs the way it does, and how it progresses through development. This framework can help reduce risk and clarify how formulations can be used together with other products and by using the equipment that is available to growers.
Ultimately, this approach helps organizations present a product to retailers and growers with clear expectations of how the product will perform. This process allows retailers and growers to have positive experiences with those products, which will increase adoption.
STAGE 1: DISCOVERY
Exciting beginning of a disciplined process, leading to a commercially viable new technology.
STAGE 2: SCOPING
Planning strategically and scientifically to define the market need, potential product, and business case for profitability
STAGE 3: EARLY STAGE
Focusing on performance with formulation, rates, and timing goes beyond the lab into greenhouse and small plot trials. A careful unbiased evaluation of results is critical for a realistic plan of regulatory needs, market potential, and scalability for predicted profitability.
STAGE 4: LATE STAGE
Targeting the market, generating credible, consistent performance supported by scientific data, defining ultimate commercial claims for target environments, and completing registration processes while scaling operations for final business case and technology transfer into the market with ROI and profitability throughout.
STAGE 5: LAUNCH
Building awareness of technology transfer and adoption requires more than just awareness of best management practices. The Go-to-market strategy includes key influencers, sales channels, and continuous training supported by field experience. Defining new uses or market expansion repeats the early or late-stage processes.
The stage-gate process exists because it’s proven to ensure new innovations are prepared for commercialization. Different industries and organizations may have slight variations, but it’s important to have a systematic approach to development in ag innovations. In several cases, managing some optimal level of overlap between steps minimizes time to market by keeping a good level of control before each important decision is made.
“We’ve witnessed many products fail because of investors rushing to commercialization or building large organizations too early without revenue,” says Jerry Duff, AgriThority Founder and President. “Usually, you only get one shot to commercialize in each market. Farmers have long memories. It’s important to make the first effort count.”
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