Agricultural Biologicals Market: Current Landscape, Growth Opportunities and Future Market Outlook

The agricultural biologicals market (including biopesticides market, biofertilizers market and biostimulants market) has emerged to be an essential component of sustainable farming practices in order to grow organic food products. These novel bio solutions have the potential to address a number of challenges associated with conventional farming. Presently, over 185 nations worldwide have started adopting sustainable agriculture practices; close to 73 million hectares of agricultural land is organically cultivated across the globe. It is worth highlighting that in 2021, over EUR 105 billion worth of sales were witnessed for organic food products, with North America capturing the majority share (42%). The following figure presents some of the agricultural biologicals manufacturers captured in the report along with the information on certain relevant parameters.

Players Engaged in the Agricultural Biologicals Market

During our research, we came across around 220 players engaged in the agricultural biologicals market, which claim to offer various types of biologic crop solutions for organic crop cultivation; close to 105 such players have entered the market between 2001 and 2023. As per our analysis, the majority of these players are located in Asia-Pacific, followed by Europe. The following figure presents players engaged in the agricultural biologicals market captured in the report along with the information on year of establishment and location of headquarters.

Within Asia Pacific, a majority of the players are located in India, followed by China, Australia and Japan. Presently, within the region, Australia encompasses the majority (35.7 million hectares) share of organic agriculture land. Further, in August 2021, the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) initiated the Green Food System Strategy, promoting the use of biostimulants and biopesticides for sustainable agricultural practices. It is important to highlight that a significant number of agricultural biologicals providers in Europe can be attributed to the implementation of the Farm to Fork strategy in 2020, initiating substitution of chemical pesticides and fertilizers with agricultural biologicals. Although these regions have the majority of agricultural biologicals providers, it is interesting to note that in 2022, the US alone witnessed a sale of worth USD 67 billion in organic food products and beverages.

Competitive Landscape of Key Players Engaged in the Agricultural Biologicals Market

The agricultural biologicals market landscape features companies offering a range of biologic crop solutions, including biostimulants, biopesticides / biocontrol and biofertilizers. Overall, the market landscape of agricultural biologics is well-fragmented, featuring the presence of very small, small, mid-sized, large, and very large companies, which claim to have the required expertise to offer novel biologic crop solutions for different types of crops worldwide. In addition to this, more than 35% of agricultural biologicals companies offer all three types of products, namely biostimulants, biopesticides and biofertilizers. Additionally, key players, including Syngenta Ag, Bayer Ag, BASF SE, and Marrone Bio Innovations, offer a portfolio of leading microbial biopesticides providing biological crop protection to a variety of crops. The following figure presents the distribution of the agricultural biologicals market by type of products offered.

Partnership Activity Focused on Agricultural Biologicals Product Development and Distribution

Stakeholders in the biological crop protection market have forged several partnerships in order to strengthen their agricultural biologicals portfolios and augment the reach of their proprietary crop protection products. Moreover, it is worth highlighting that over 70% of these partnerships have been inked since 2021. Deals focused on distribution of biopesticides across different regions, followed by product development agreements signed for biofertilizers have been identified as the most popular partnership models in the agricultural biologicals market. This highlights the efforts of industry stakeholders to expand their product portfolio as well as the geographical outreach.

In May 2023, Syngenta Ag signed an agreement with Unium Bioscience for the distribution of biostimulants across Northwest Europe. In another deal inked between Bayer Ag and Kimitec in February 2023, the companies partnered together to develop and commercialize their novel biopesticides and biostimulants product portfolio. The following figure presents the various types of deals inked by stakeholders engaged in the agricultural biologicals market.

Regional Highlights: North America and Europe Emerged as the Hubs for the Agricultural Biologicals Market; Asia Pacific to be the Fastest Growing Region

Presently, North America and Europe capture over 60% of the market share of the overall agricultural biologicals market. In recent years, demand for biologic crop solutions, such as biofertilizers and biopesticides, in the North America region has witnessed a tremendous increase. This is due to the prevailing sales of organically produced goods in the region. In 2021, North America contributed 42% in the global sales of organic foods and beverages. The following figure presents the distribution of the agricultural biologicals market by key geographical regions.

Future Perspectives and Conclusion

Driven by a range of factors, including the rising demand for organic food products, increased awareness towards the benefits of sustainable agriculture coupled with cost efficiency and reduction in performance inconsistency, the agricultural biologicals market is poised to a steady growth over the coming years. However, the market may also face several challenges, including regulatory constraints, lower adoption rates, availability of substitutes and intense competition within the industry. To overcome these challenges and capitalize on the market opportunities, players engaged in the agricultural biologicals market should provide more real-life data supporting product performance and collaborate with other industry stakeholders to develop these innovative products, tailored to the customer’s needs.

Although the agricultural biologicals market is anticipated to play a pivotal role in achieving sustainable agricultural practices, their development is still in its infancy. Presently, these biologicals are used alongside their chemical alternatives to provide optimal results. Nevertheless, there is a prominent inclination towards transitioning to sustainable agricultural practices with minimal environmental impact. The development of biologicals presents a significant investment opportunity for stakeholders. For instance, companies like Novozymes, in collaboration with Bayer Ag and other prominent companies in this domain, propose that their microbial products can serve as an effective alternative or supplement for agrochemicals and fertilizers. In future, consumers are likely to gain assurance that their food is cultivated in a safe and sustainable manner because of the biological crop solutions utilized to cultivate the crops.

For detailed insights about this domain, check out our report on Agricultural Biologicals Market