China’s Biorationals Trending Inward and Upward
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By Renee Targos
Editor
China’s biorationals, in a phrase is: Thriving internally.
In 2022, nine new active substances and 574 formulations were registered making a total of 2,023 registered biorational products according to data from the Institute for the Control of Agrochemicals, Ministry of Agriculture (ICAMA).
While growth is significant, biorationals still only make up 4.5% of all crop protection products in China.
To increase biorational offerings to growers, the Chinese government published Pesticide Registration Data Requirements in 2017, allowing companies to bring biological products to market by exempting some tests required for synthetic chemical pesticide registration, reducing cost and time for companies.
Dr. Peter Chalmers, Senior Partner for AgBioScout, says, “The Chinese regulator ICAMA understands the process specific for biorationals and the new data requirements. There is a ‘green channel’ for biorationals and registrations are fast tracked. Microbials are the largest number of substances, with 61 active substances approved — which includes strains of: Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), bacillus subtilis/amyloliquefaciens, and trichoderma spp. and metarhizium spp.”
Another area of attraction for biorational companies is the ease of getting intellectual property (IP) covered by patents in China. Over the years, China’s government has focused on strengthening IP laws and protecting patents, which has been applied to synthetic chemical pesticides and biorationals and their microbial metabolites.
“Because of the complex nature of biorational products, including the specificity of microbial strains and the trade secrets inherent with the new strains, this ensures that these and complex botanicals are extremely hard to reverse engineer,” says Chalmers. “In addition, the confidential information embedded in the registration dossiers offers extended protection of the developer’s trade secrets. These trade secrets are not time constrained as patents are and can offer a lifetime protection for a company’s technology. However, it should be noted that organisms cannot be patented.”
China’s government also supports the adoption of biorationals by listing them as key research projects in the country’s long-term science and technology planning.
“Chinese universities and institutes have been focused on delivering innovation in biological crop protection products for many years,” says Chalmers. “Bt and other Bacillus spp. based products are well established, and we anticipate that new strains and new microbials will continue to be introduced. There will also be an increased number of botanical extracts and biochemicals (natural substances) introduced over the next few years.
“The one area that remains underdeveloped is biological weed control,” Chalmers continues. “We believe that fundamental research is needed to support this area and identify new biological control agents.”
Specialist Companies Leading the Charge
Biorationals are very specific in treating and supporting good quality and value plant productions, demanding excessive research for efficacy. Interestingly, the uncovering of new biological active substances is not dominated and led by the big R&D multinationals. Rather growth may come through smaller companies located in other regions who then partner with the multinationals for distribution.
While not a biorational, such is the case with the strategic cooperation agreement between Cincinnati, Ohio-based BiOWiSH Technologies, Inc. and MAP (Modern Agricultural Program) of Syngenta Group China to bring BiOWiSH Enhanced Efficiency Fertilizer (EEFs) to Chinese growers.
According to the company’s press release, the new EEFs leverage BiOWiSH endophytic Bacillus spp., which delivers soil nutrients to crops through the rhizophagy cycle, creating a symbiotic relationship between the plant and soil microbes. Under the agreement, MAP will launch a range of BiOWiSH EEFs and operate as a BiOWiSH distributor in the country.
“It would seem that biologicals are an area in which specialist companies can thrive,” says Chalmers. “This has been the case in the past, and it should continue. The specialist companies and innovators are more agile and capable of meeting the requirements for future products.
“The key will be to ensure that they are focused on providing relevant solutions to pest, disease, and weed problems encountered by growers,” Chalmers continues. “These specialist companies will also need to embrace the challenges faced by biological solutions and bring everyone, manufacturers, developers, registrants, regulators, distributors, and farmers along the journey.”
Getting Products to China’s Farmers
Chinese growers are pre-dominantly accessing biorationals through government subsidies.
Yuhong Wu, Director of Crop Subscription Services for Kynetec’s Beijing Office, says, “In the recent years, Jiangsu provincial government invested around 2.1 million USD per year for biopesticide subsidies to achieve 30% market penetration.”
The use of biopesticide products increased from 100 kTons in 2021 to 125 kTons in 2023, with a forecasted double-digit increase for 2024, according to Kynetec research.
However, getting these products to growers takes a lot of strategy.
Wu says companies wanting to launch biorational products in China should understand the potential users and the following information:
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The target potential locations
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The grower’s practice on crop health products usage (For example, treatment cost, application timing, key competitors, performance of competitors, strengths/weaknesses of competitors, needs and challenges, etc.)
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The grower’s purchasing behaviors, including key buying factors
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What distribution channel should be considered
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Optimized packaging
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Best pricing strategy
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Best brand name and slogan (done with marketing research)
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Best communications channel(s)
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Most effective marketing strategies
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The Unique Selling Point (USP)
Chalmers believes that the biologicals value chain is different than traditional chemicals.
“Understanding how your biological products fit into plant production is critical to unlocking potential,” says Chalmers. “One should consider the four D’s: Distribution, demonstration, digital, and delivery.”
Chalmers says once a company has the basic knowledge of what the correct time, way, and equipment is needed for their product, the first step is then choosing a distribution partner.
“Your chosen partner(s) must have the skill set and knowledge to bring your product to market through demonstration to the farming community and to provide the right digital technologies and tools to support farmer adoptions,” says Chalmers. “Nearly every Chinese farmer has a smart phone. It is important to ensure that the performance of your product is optimized, and the right delivery system is employed. This could include specific formulation development to overcome stability and storage problems or payload in spray units, as well as application services such as drones.”
Providing the World with Biologicals
As China is one of the largest exporters of synthetic chemical pesticide active substances, will this giant be leading manufacturer for biologicals as well?
Chalmers believes right now China’s government is focused on feeding its own population.
“Once they have developed and registered biological products to meet internal challenges and achieved good scale, they will shift their focus to export markets,” says Chalmers. “This is going to be more difficult for microbials and complex botanicals because of the issues in scalability of fermentation or extraction processes.”
But if any country can do it, China is well positioned to meet the global need.
“Good fermentation capacity is available, and this is being used already to support agriculture, food, and feed industries,” says Chalmers. “The transitioning of this capacity and refocusing the output onto agricultural solutions will not be easy. However, it is possible to underpin efficient supply chains that support these new industries. Toll manufacturing and microbial biofactories are also great options for developing new manufacturing routes for biological products. Scalability of fermentation is not easy, however, with the right advisors anything is possible.” •