Thursday, March 17, 2016

Public Companies Pursuit of Biological Crop Protection Products

A 2015 article by Jay Ram Lamichhane, and co-workers, indicates that in the European Union a reduced reliance on chemical pesticides is taking place.  (Click here to read this article – PDF file.)  Other integrated pest management approaches need to take the place of chemical pesticides, including biological (the release of natural enemies, such as predators and parasitoids, and the use of bio-pesticides and bio-stimulants) crop protection products.

I conducted an Internet search to find public companies that have programs to develop biological protection products.  Ten companies were found with such programs:  Bayer; BASF; Chr. Hansen; DOW; DuPont; FMC; Narrone Bio Innovations; Monsanto; Novozymes; and Sumitomo.  Based on the information at these companies’ websites and in their annual reports, these companies view the potential for biological crop protection products favorably and are pursuing programs to produce such products.  Based on the websites and annual reports, the companies that seem to have the most activity and have developed the most biological crop protection products are:  Bayer, Narrone Bio Innovations, Monsanto, and Novozymes; then followed by BASF, Chr. Hansen, and FMC, and then followed by DOW, DuPont; and Sumitomo.


Success in replacing chemical crop protection products with biological crop protection products, based on what I have read, would be an important, needed environmental achievement.  It is encouraging that these companies seen to recognize this and also assess the likelihood of doing so to be high enough to be making substantial investments in developing such products.  It seems to me that it is only through the actions of companies, such as those identified above, that any possibility of developing biological crop protection products will be realized.

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