Biologicals Data That Talks to Ag Retailers
Dr. Jeff Bunting, Vice President of Crop Protection at GROWMARK, recently spoke to CropLife’s sister brand AgriBusiness Global (ABG) about the data ag retailers like to see from biologicals companies and why certain statistics are game-changers for growers.
ABG: Is multilocation and/or multiyear data preferred over single season data?
Jeff Bunting (JB): Biological products can be more environment- and season-sensitive than conventional inputs. Data across multiple locations and years helps retailers gauge reliability and performance under real-world variability.
ABG: How closely does trial data need to reflect local growing conditions to be useful to retailers?
JB: The closer the trial conditions resemble the retailer’s typical customer conditions, the more useful the data, e.g., similar soil types, climate/water regime, pest/weed pressures, cropping practices, timing (planting/harvest windows), and prevailing management practices.
ABG: What level of crop, soil, or environmental specificity do retailers expect in biologicals data?
JB: Moderate to high specificity is valued, especially for products with mode of action tied to particular crops or soil biology.
ABG: Are side-by-side comparisons with conventional inputs expected?
JB: Yes, side-by-side or head-to-head comparisons against conventional inputs are often expected, at least to compare as a benchmark (e.g., standard fertility/biocontrol programs with conventional products). The rationale is to help retailers quantify relative performance, cost of input, and risk/return tradeoffs, with the expectation that includes direct comparisons on yield, quality, input costs, and risk metrics (e.g., variability, stability under stress).
ABG: Do retailers prioritize yield response, consistency, or risk reduction when reviewing biological performance data?
JB: A balance of all three, but order often follows with first, yield response (magnitude of benefit), which is important for return on investment and gross margins. The second is consistency (stability of response across environments and years) as retailers worry about variability and reliability. The creditability of the crop specialist/retailer is on the line here with the influx of biologicals that the industry is facing, so consistency builds confidence, and that structure builds trust when making recommendations.
The last is risk reduction (reduction in production risk, such as lower disease/pest pressure, reduced input volatility, or improved resilience).
ABG: What other considerations should biological companies address when formulating or launching a product?
JB: Products that seem to have a reduced barrier to entry include those that have solid data with high success rate (defined as breakeven or better), are easy to add in to what a grower or retailer is already doing, and are affordable enough to add into a program without needing a huge yield increase to break even.
Common Data Gaps to Avoid
- Limited multilocation, multiyear programs: Too many trials are short-term or confined to a single location.
- Inadequate local relevance: Trials not aligned with the retailer’s typical crops, soils, or climate zones; insufficient regional adaptation data.
- Insufficient side-by-side comparisons: Lack of clear benchmarks against conventional inputs or standard practices.
- Sparse long-term persistence data: Limited information on residual effects, impact over successive seasons, and compatibility with standard crop protection/fertility programs.
- Incomplete economic analysis: Missing cost of goods, application costs, return on investment, and risk-adjusted financial metrics.
- Insufficient data on specificity: Limited crop-by-crop performance, soil type interactions, and environmental stress scenarios.
- Inconsistent measurement standards: Variability in what is measured (yield versus quality, disease incidence, fruit/seed quality) and in how it’s measured, complicating cross-study comparisons.
- Gaps in real-world, on-farm demonstrations: A lack of farmer-run demonstrations or independent on-farm trials that corroborate
trial data.
Read more articles like this one in AgriBusiness Global’s 2026 Biologicals Deep Dive.
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