1: Syngenta Group acquires leading biologics company Varagro

On October 6, the Syngenta Group announced the acquisition of Valagro, a leading biologics company, from its plant protection business unit Syngenta.

This investment establishes Syngenta Plant Protection's global leader position in the rapidly growing biologics market, which will almost double in size in the next five years.

Valragero's product portfolio in biostimulants and specialty fertilizers will complement Syngenta Plant Protection's current bioactivator and biocontrol business and its future bioagent solutions.

2: American Pioneer-AMVAC acquires bio-stimulant company Akunas

On October 5, 2020, American Vanguard Corporation announced that its main operating subsidiary AMVAC Chemical Corporation has acquired the Agrinos Group, a leading technology in the field of biostimulant crop inputs Type enterprise.

The layman looks at the excitement, the insider looks at the doorway. What are the biostimulants of the fires in recent years? What's the charm of the two world giants one after another?

What is a biostimulant?

Official definition: Plant biostimulants include some active substances and/or microorganisms. When applied to plants or around plant roots, these substances and/or microorganisms can stimulate the natural physiological processes of plants to enhance or benefit the nutrition of plants The improvement of absorption, nutrient absorption efficiency, tolerance to abiotic stress and improvement of crop quality.

Why are biostimulants so hot?

In recent years, the popularity of biostimulants at home and abroad has benefited from three aspects: consumer demand, production demand, and policy preference.

Consumer demand: With the improvement of living standards, modern consumers have an increasingly strong demand for high-quality agricultural products, and the market forces the upgrading of production technology. Biostimulants can improve crop nutrient conversion, enhance photosynthetic efficiency, effectively improve crop quality, and allow agricultural products to sell at higher prices.

Production demand: Due to severe soil problems and various sudden extreme weather, agricultural producers are increasingly demanding technology products that can improve crop resistance. Biostimulants can directly or indirectly improve the disease resistance and adversity resistance of crops, and effectively avoid crop yield reduction or even production failure due to soil problems and extreme weather, and reduce losses.

Policy preference: Multi-country policies around the world advocate green development. For example, China, from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs' "Three-in-One Innovation" and "Medicine and Fertilizer Reduction" policies put forward policy-oriented policies to reduce fertilizer use and increase fertilizer utilization. The use of biological stimulants can effectively improve fertilizer utilization, which is an important technical support for fertilizer reduction and an important guarantee for the development of green agriculture.

The functional characteristics of biostimulants meet the needs of consumption, production, and policy, so they can develop rapidly and are in line with the future global agricultural development direction. This is also the reason why the world's two giants are optimistic about this field.

The battle for biostimulants

Biostimulants currently have a global market of approximately US$2.5 billion, with an annual growth rate of more than 10%. China is very likely to become the largest market for biostimulant applications in the future.

In this battle, what kind of company has the best chance to win? The author believes that biostimulants are functional products and must be marketed in a targeted manner. In this process, companies that focus on applied research have the best chance to find a market entry point.

Today, efficiency and quality improvement and green development have become the main keynote of global development and transformation. Throughout the world, it is the general trend to rely on biological sources to increase weight loss. The rapid development of biostimulant products is driving the development of a new industry. The combination of biostimulants and the rational use of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium fertilizers and pesticides will definitely be used in the future. With its unique role, it plays an important role in the global agrochemical industry.

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