Dr. Darryl Ramoutar

AgriBusiness Global talked with Dr. Darryl Ramoutar, Global Technical Director, Agriculture for gChem about navigating complex formulation challenges and the rising demands for sustainability. Ramoutar has spent more than two decades directing the development of pesticide formulations. He gives us his top three tips for developing high-performance, formulation-ready crop protection products that meet today’s regulatory and environmental expectations.

1. Formulate with components that are approved across international markets.

Across the globe, countries enforce diverse and often complex regulations shaped by local climate, crop profiles, and pest pressures. As a result, chemical components, whether active ingredients or co-formulants like solvents and surfactants—may be approved in one region but restricted or banned in another. This regulatory fragmentation forces manufacturers to tailor formulations for each market, often requiring significant adjustments.

The lack of harmonized standards creates barriers to compliance, while also prolonging development timelines and inflating costs. Without clear, unified guidelines, manufacturers face regulatory ambiguity, duplicated efforts across regions, and increased risk during product registration and commercialization.

Reformulating products to meet regional requirements may frequently entail developing alternate labels and packaging, conducting new toxicological and efficacy studies, and ensuring long-term stability in divergent shipping and storage conditions, which demand substantial resources and strategic planning.

Manufactures can act to harmonize their formulation ingredient selection by prioritizing actives already approved in target regions to avoid repetitive regulatory tasks. Some tips for enhanced compliance across markets include cross-checking global inclusion lists (e.g., EU’s Annex I or U.S. EPA’s List of Registered Active Ingredients and inerts that are exempt from tolerance), using co-formulants on affirmative lists, and avoiding regionally restricted solvents, surfactants or dyes.

2. Formulate with components that are safe for microbial actives and the soil microbiome.

Bioprotection is an emerging powerhouse within the crop protection industry, outpacing traditional synthetic pesticides with impressive compound annual growth rates of 10–20%, compared to the low single digits seen for traditional products. This surge is fueled by a favorable regulatory landscape, evolution of pest resistance to conventional modes-of-action, and a rising global commitment to sustainable agricultural practices.

Even though bioprotection products—like biopesticides, microbials and biostimulants are outpacing conventional chemical crop protection products in terms of registrations, they remain confined mainly to fruit and vegetable markets, and their growth will be defined by broad-acre crop expansion. Microbial products from the output of scalable fermentation offer the promise of active microbes and metabolites as sources of insecticides and fungicides. Additionally, healthy soils are teeming with diverse microorganisms that are essential to sustainable agriculture. This microbiome is supported by targeted prebiotics and probiotics that enhance nutrient assimilation and symbiotic relationships with roots.

Formulation components to consider that are congruent with microbial pesticides and microbiome health include biocompatible carriers (e.g., clays minerals, biochar and peat, low ionic strength aqueous solutions and vegetable oil-in-water emulsions), stress guards (e.g., pH stabilizers, UV protectants, and temperature buffers) and adjuvants (e.g., non-ionic/mild surfactants, natural oils). Appropriate formulation types include granules, wettable powders, aqueous suspension concentrates, oil dispersions, and micro-emulsifiable concentrates.

3. Formulate with inert ingredients that maximize formulation stability.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), formulations are defined as a combination of active (AI) and inert ingredients; and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) suggests that inerts could be referred to as adjuvants or formulants. These definitions lack some nuance. Formulations should be thought of as containing AIs that have biological activity; inerts which have little or no biological activity but are immensely important for ensuring formulation dynamics (e.g. solvents, stabilizers); and adjuvants which are additives that enhance the effectiveness and/or application of AIs, and in some cases have their own biological activity (surfactants for spreading or sticking on/to pests and plants, synergists for amplifying AI efficacy).  Adjuvants may be classified as inert ingredients when built into the formulation and sold separately as tank mix partners.

A crucial group of inerts to consider are solvents. Solvents contribute to AI load and uniform distribution because of dissolution capability. They play a critical role in agricultural formulations by helping to prevent sprayer clogging, maintaining consistent droplet size, and enhancing overall formulation stability and shelf life. They also protect AIs from degradation and improve tank mix compatibility—especially when used alongside tank mix adjuvants.

Not all solvents are created equal—some pose risks to health or the environment, making it essential to select those that are safer or exempt from tolerance requirements. In biological formulations, solvents must be mild enough to preserve microbial viability while still ensuring AI delivery. Though often invisible to the end user, solvents play a central role in pesticide formulations, influencing everything from stability to application performance and compatibility.