Rainbow Shares Strategies for Advancing Agribusiness in the Americas

Tom-Lyons

AgriBusiness Global interviewed Tom Lyons, General Manager for Rainbow Agro North America, and a Rainbow spokesperson about the advancement of its business in the Americas. The discussion specifically covered the impact of U.S. tariff changes on the business in the U.S., the progress of business in Latin America, and integrated management with the launch of Rainbow Bio.

ABG: With the U.S. tariffs, how will Rainbow respond to serving its U.S. market and staying profitable?

Tom Lyons: We see this as a broader industry challenge in that the dynamic nature of the tariffs brings uncertainty to the market. In these moments, close partnerships matter most to navigate uncertainty together. Rainbow’s full spectrum supply chain solution platform empowers brand owners with a global supply network that responds with agility.

Rainbow’s recent investments in expanding its U.S.-based formulation capability are more important than ever to give partners more options to optimize their supply chain efficiency.

We’re already hearing from customers whose top concern is market volatility, and they’re turning to Rainbow for practical, reliable solutions to help navigate that risk.

Rainbow Design Studio will serve as a valuable ecosystem for gathering ongoing insights and shaping a responsive, customer-centric strategy that keeps us agile and competitive in a rapidly changing environment.

ABG: Rainbow is expanding its business in Latin America. What LATAM countries are Rainbow focused on and why?

Rainbow Spokesperson (RS): Latin America has long been a strategic region for Rainbow, being one of the first areas where the company began expanding nearly 15 years ago. Since then, our presence has grown steadily, with particular emphasis on markets where we’ve built strong foundations over time. In Central America and South American countries like Uruguay, Paraguay, and Bolivia, we are focused on sustained, year-on-year growth, strengthening partnerships, and continuously adapting to local needs.

The most significant shift in our LATAM strategy is happening in Brazil, where we see both a challenge and a major opportunity. Although our presence in Brazil is more recent compared to other Latin American markets, we are rapidly accelerating our efforts there. This is driven by a clear global imperative: according to projections, global food production must increase by at least 10% over the next decade to prevent food shortages.

Food security is critical to ensuring social and political stability worldwide, and Brazil is uniquely positioned to play a leading role in this context. As noted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Brazil will need to double its food production growth compared to other major producers such as the U.S., Canada, the EU, and Eurasia. This makes the country essential to meeting future global agricultural demands.

At Rainbow, we are committed to supporting Brazil in this role by providing sustainable crop protection solutions that help farmers grow more with less impact. Our focus in LATAM aligns with our broader mission: to be the best partner for growth, promoting innovation, sustainability and strong long-term local partnerships.

ABG: With Rainbow Bio coming out last year, how will Rainbow be setting up its sales staff to educate retailers and growers about its products? Will Rainbow be offering IPM packages?

RS: Biological solutions are undoubtedly the future of agriculture — and that future is approaching fast. However, the biggest challenge in accelerating adoption is not availability, but education.

To make this transition effective and impactful, the entire agri-chain needs to develop a deep understanding of the value and application of biological products. This includes learning when and how to use them, how to integrate them into existing programs, and how to maximize their effectiveness at different stages of the growing cycle.

That’s why, in this first year since the launch of Rainbow Bio, our primary focus is on building the capabilities to educate, promote, and demonstrate the impact of our biosolutions across different types of farming operations.

We’re expanding our reach on several fronts. We are running extensive field trials to generate relevant, real-world data. We are also conducting ongoing training programs for both customers and retail partners and putting a strong focus on capturing insights from the field, using our sales teams’ experiences to continuously feed and improve our innovation pipeline.

By investing in education and demonstration, we’re not just selling products — we’re enabling a mindset shift that will help growers and partners embrace a more sustainable, effective way to grow.