Top Three Tips: Elephant Vert on Improving Grower Adoption of New Biological Products

Maud Le Bris

As more companies bring biologicals to market, a successful entry strategy is dependent on many factors, including sales staff and growers’ understanding of the product and how it works. AgriBusiness Global spoke with Maud Le Bris, Marketing and Communication Director for Elephant Vert, about her top three tips for building farmers’ trust and adoption when introducing biosolutions in emerging markets.

1. Offer solutions truly tailored to farmers’ challenges, with the goal of improving both the quality and quantity of their harvests.

It’s important to foster a culture of close field engagement. Your sales representatives should be technical advisors capable of identifying issues. For example, Elephant Vert hires sales staff with agronomic expertise, so they can observe crops and challenges with yields.

In addition to providing tailored solutions, your sales staff should offer personalized support in crop management, including soil analysis guidance and the implementation of agronomic trials with farmers to demonstrate the benefits of products.

It’s also important to partner with sources already trusted by growers when acquiring product results. For example, for our project, ECOSTIM—supported by FASEP and the French Ministry of Agriculture—we tested the effects of two biostimulants (Econitrate and Novastim) on five key crops in East Africa, in order to provide tangible evidence to our clients.

One last note. Creating an education program for growers should be ongoing, so they can have a general understanding of how to use biological products. Education can be in person or virtually.  We train more than 10,000 farmers per year in Africa on best agricultural practices and have launched, in collaboration with our East Africa subsidiary, a new podcast and webinar program focused on biosolutions, their effects, and usage.

2. Collaborate with the right stakeholders to optimize our solutions and ensure their effectiveness

From the outset, your company should partner with various organizations to make sure its solutions are accessible to farmers, regardless of the size of their operations. Elephant Vert has created partnerships with NGOs in Africa, the FAO in combating locust and grasshopper invasions, and financial institutions as part of our “Value Chain” approach in Mali.

For product development, your company can expand its scope through acquisition or establishing partnerships. For example, Elephant Vert acquired Lipofabrik in 2022 to enable us to integrate advanced expertise and strengthen ties with a broad network of partners to accelerate a diverse R&D pipeline targeting global markets in fruits, veggies and row crops with biostimulant and biocontrol products. Our subsidiary BIO3G also works closely with public and private institutions such as INRAE and the University of Rennes to develop innovative and differentiated products.

These collaborations are essential to ensure a continuous improvement process and to adapt offerings to the constraints faced by farmers.

3. Place innovation at the heart of your strategy to support the agroecological transition

Growers are facing so many challenges with a shrinking toolbox. Your company should be committed to understanding these challenges and bringing growers new solutions.

As an example, Elephant Vert partners with committed biosolutions providers such as Profarm, Futureco, or Seipasa, to bring new products to market that address major challenges such as soil degradation, increasing abiotic stress, export crop regulations, or emerging threats—particularly pests and diseases.

Your company should also be sure to provide agility to meet today’s constraints. EV strategy has been to have an integrated approach, in order to structure to cover the entire value chain—from R&D to market launch—including production, regulatory approvals, field trials, and commercialization.

In summary, we believe in a collaborative approach where every stakeholder plays a role in the agroecological transition. We are committed to actively contributing to this transformation by working toward a positive environmental and societal impact.