2023 Ag Biologicals Landscape
Along with the Western Growers we released our Ag Biologicals Landscape 2023 at the Salinas Biological Summit. Led by Chris Taylor, with support from Franziska Schottler, Rob Trice and Michael Rose we identified 1,200 companies with "Products derived from naturally occurring from micro and macro organisms, plant extracts, and other natural materials used to enhance crop production". Around 400 companies appear on the Landscape (Download a high-res version here)
On the vertical axis we have a primary categorization of "Bio Control/Crop Protection" (with sub-segments of Biopesticides, Macrobials, Semiochemicals, Growth Regulators, and Post-Harvest) and "Crop & Soil Health" (with sub-segments of Biostimulants, Biofertilizers and Inoculants).
On the horizontal axis we have category-level organization with more Bio-based Substances on the left and Living Organisms on the right.
Companies appearing toward the outer edges of the landscape are likely to target the single segment where they are positioned while those nearer to the center are more likely addressing multiple segments.
Of all of the landscapes we have done over the years this was one of the most challenging because:
The Biologicals industry is a messy word salad. There are not yet standard industry definitions and companies are cavalier with descriptions of their activities. (The industry has to tighten this up!)
Many products have broad applicability across crops and application methods.
Of the companies we identified many work across segments. We found about half of the companies active in more than one segment. About 2/3 of companies have biocontrol products, 2/3 have crop health products, and 1/3 have both biocontrol and crop health products. Each company appears once on the Landscape so for a company working in four segments, for example, we had to make a determination which one segment best suited where that company should appear on the Landscape.
We are grateful to Walt Duflock and Pam Marrone for their assistance to make the Landscape happen and to Dennis Donohue and Peter Wren-Hilton of Wharf42 for giving us the opportunity to present at the first-year of the Salinas Biological Summit.