Biologicals and the Preventive Effort

For several years now, biologicals acceptance within the U.S. agricultural space has been a growing trend. In fact, many established “traditional crop protection suppliers” have entered the market, primarily through the acquisition of well-known biological players. A recent example of this would be FMC Corp.’s purchase of Danish company BioPhero ApS at the end of June.

Tim Dlabaj, Helena Products Group

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At the recent Evolve Field Day, hosted by Helena Agri-Enterprises in Memphis, TN, I had the opportunity to discuss the ongoing biologicals trend with Tim Dlabaj, General Manager, Helena Products Group. “The American farmer is trying new ways to safeguard the crops that they bring to consumers, so many of them are looking at biologicals as an option,” said Dlabaj. “Right now, these products probably make up less than 5% of the total crop protection product offerings in the U.S., but this market share was minuscule only five years ago. So, the overall market is definitely growing.”

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Until now, most of the attention in the biologicals space has focused on certain key sectors, such as biopesticides and biostimulants. However, Dlabaj believes that the area of biocontrols bears watching. “That’s a little bit of a different animal,” he said. “When you switch to a biocontrol, you are trying to proactively control a pest or disease that might not be present yet in a preventive way. That will take a different mindset with some farmers. Most times, they apply a crop protection product only after the pest or disease is found.”

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In Dlabaj’s mind, this opens up plenty of opportunities for ag retailers and the “trusted advisor” role they play with grower-customers. “As farmers look to utilizer biocontrol products, they will likely turn to the agronomists they’ve always trusted to make these decisions,” he said. “So these individuals will play a vital role in in this effort going forward.”

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