Breaking News: Most Awaited Third BioAg World Congress to be held in Valencia, Spain

The 3rd BioAg World Congress will be held in Valencia, Spain in 2022 from April 26 thru 29. While the entire agriculture industry comes out of the COVID-19 pandemic, people are optimistic and excited to take advantage of new and exciting opportunities. In this same spirit, our team and mentors believe that Valencia makes an ideal location to exemplify this. “After the stupendous success of BAW 2021, we received several city and country nomination to host BAW 2022,” says Roger Tripathi, Chairman, CEO and Founder of BioAg Linkages and BioAg Innovations. “After all the considerations and synergies, the winner was Valencia. GBAL, BAW mentors and entire BioAg industry is super excited to announce that we will celebrate Europe, a BioAg regional hub, Spain a global BioAg Country Hub, and the Valencia region.” BLOCK YOUR CALENDARS TODAY, for this very unique program – not only by its knowledge sharing and progress landmarks, but also for its unique highlight of Spain and Europe with their BioAg leadership credentials. Opportunities Despite challenges, Europe’s agriculture industry proved to be resilient in the face of a pandemic. An An executive summary from the EU Parliament highlighted some cases worth noting. Production and trade levels have remained stable all throughout 2020, as have food sectors according to the FAO’s Food Price Index. The summary also highlighted how the EU was able to remain highly effective at preserving the Single market’s integrity while providing aid to the agri-food sector and its workforce. This is especially important for the fertilizer industry which, though it was disrupted momentarily, continued to remain strong. “Fertilizers are closely connected to food security,” said Jacob Hansen, Director General, Fertilizers Europe. “Especially during growing season in the spring when fertilizers are primarily applied to the field. Farmers and horticulturists depend on the supply of fertilizers to grow their crops and thereby our food.” Challenges A unique industry, the BioAg space has some of its own unique challenges. A major one is the reliance on research and development to enhance the productivity of BioAg products. Developing this sector is important as time becomes increasingly important as regions like Europe fight to mitigate the impacts of climate change as quickly as possible. BioAg-products and Climate Smart Agriculture "As “climate smart” agriculture continues to be a topic of much discussion for both consumers and producers. BioAg-products can be an especially important part of making this vision a reality. According to a European Biostimulants Industry Council blog post, this is because of several reasons. This includes enhancing nutrient use efficiency in plants, making agriculture more resilient to climate shocks, enhancing soil health and enhancing resource efficiency", commented Pam Marrone Executive Chair and Partner Primary BioAg Innovation and Global BioAg Linkages BioAg products are also important as science becomes more aware of the relevance and awareness of the plant microbiome. For example, 2021 research from South Korea found that algae – a common ingredient in many BioAg Products – has more beneficial effects on plants and soil within the microbiome than originally thought. Similarly, research from China last August reinforced the importance of a healthy plant biome and the plant-microbial interaction. Part of the Green Deal Strategy Europe is no stranger to finding alternative ways that are not only efficient and resourceful, but also working to reduce overall environmental impact. The ambitious European Green Deal plans to make the continent the first in the world to be climate-neutral by 2050.. The BioAg industry can play a notable role in this, especially with the Farm to Fork Strategy that works to build a more sustainable food system using new opportunities. Biofertilizers, for example, are a very important part of this solution in part due to their smaller carbon footprint made in their development with natural products. European farmers have shown they are committed to making this vision of reality, and with the growth of the BioAg industry, we are able to equip them with the tools they need to do the job. Agriculture Digitalization Part of making a more sustainable world includes digitalization. Spain has been especially proactive in this regard. It is home to several Spanish innovators and digital agtech startups. Notably, Datagri 2021 will be held in Lleida with the goal of discussing the digital trends happening in agriculture and how they can accelerate the innovative and technological processes moving forward. Spain’s Challenges as Produce Supplier While the country is foreword thinking, Spain still faces challenges down the road. According to ABC, Spain exports 60% of its fruits and vegetables. One of the issues they face is that their position as export leaders will not be sustainable based on current prices. They require more ways to add value to their produce that will still result in food that is sustainably grown and distributed. These topics and others we hope to discuss as we meet with professionals and companies throughout the BioAg sector in Valencia, April 26 thru 29, 2022.

Guess What? The BAW Congress is not over yet!

Inspired by the success, we have added an additional 30 days of access to the BAW Congress platform (post-event) for networking, access to the conference room, revisit all presentations and Live Expo Booths, where you can still contact all sponsors at their booth.

If you missed out in joining, you can buy the package for $490 to access, you will only miss live Q&,A of course.

A Conversation with Kevin Helash, CEO-MBII

Kevin Helash, CEO, Marrone Bio Innovations

Marrone Bio Innovations Inc. is an international leader in providing growers with sustainable bioprotection and plant health solutions to support global agricultural needs. It provides biological based solutions for agricultural crops, turf protection, seed treatment, plant health, and waterway systems. As a leader in alternatives to conventional pesticides, MBII has a proven go-to-market strategy and remains on the cutting edge of developing the types of biological products in which today’s farmers are increasingly interested. We recently interviewed Kevin Helash, CEO of MBII, and talked about different aspects of the BioAg industry and MBII’s future plans.

Enjoy the read!

Q1. Biologicals are gaining farmers’ interest and also market. Though their need seems to be obvious, why is it taking so long for farmers to use and become comfortable with biologicals?

Biologicals are getting traction in all geographies. Recent market research shows double-digit growth for biologicals vs. low single-digit growth for conventional chemistry. However, the whole biological market is still a small fraction of the conventional market and the growth potential is important.

Biologicals will become mainstream if the industry is able to convince growers that biologicals achieved these three characteristics: efficacy, consistency, and affordability. Growers need solutions that bring benefits that solve their needs, including better pest control. Our industry needs to prove to growers, through in-field demonstrations, that biologicals are a key component of their pest programs, bringing additional control, yield, and profits.

Some of the biological solutions in the marketplace have shown excellent efficiency against a broad spectrum of pests, year after year, and field after field. MBI is particularly focused on proving high levels of return on investment when promoting its solutions to growers and agronomists.

Q2. MBI has got over 400 patents (including in process). What are the next upcoming innovative products and farmers should get ready for?

I am delighted to share with you the strong pipeline of solutions we are planning to launch in the short and long term. I expect incremental revenues of ~50M in the next five years and more than 100M in 2030 from our pipeline.

• Seed and soil products: Several projects are ongoing; the majority are targeted at row crops (corn, soy, rice, and cereals) and high-value crops (Tree nuts, grapes, leafy vegetables) and expand from North America to European Union. A key project is based on our Burkholderia rinojensis microbial strain and will bring an enhanced version of our current seed treatment and soil applied products to increase pest control at lower rates.

• Bio-Protection Products: These new solutions will help us expand beyond our current footprint and have a deeper penetration in the marketplace. I am happy to announce that MBI is planning to launch ReyZox™, one of the first pre-mix products that combine biologicals and traditional chemistry. In addition, we are making very good progress towards the development of our first herbicide, MBI-015.

• Plant health products: We continue to focus on addressing key issues important to growers, such as zinc deficiency in corn and soy in LATAM, iron deficiency in EU, and improving conditions for better yields in row crops in North America. For example, Emergen™ and Pacesetter® are two products we’ll be launching soon in the U.S. Midwest to help increase yield and achieve a better return on investments.

This exciting pipeline is the result of our intense screening of more than 18,000 micro-organisms, robust patent position of more than 400 issued and pending patents worldwide as well as more than 3,000 trials performed in 23 countries through 2020.

Q3. MBI has seen tremendous growth. What expert advice would you like to give to new companies entering the market and striving to contribute to the BioAg Industry?

I’ll share a few ingredients that are essential to the success of any company, and MBI has consistently focussed on each of these year after year:

• Listen to your customers: This seems obvious, but it takes a lot of leadership and discipline to achieve excellence here. It all starts and ends with listening to growers, understanding their pain points, building solutions that address their needs, and seeking in-field feedback to enhance the customer experience.

• Build an A-class team: Leaders need to make sure they hire, motivate and retain the best of the best in the industry. Also equally important is to have a team that believes in the mission of the company and breathes its values. It is very hard to beat a team that listens to customers, works as one, and is dedicated to the commonly agreed-upon mission. I am very proud of the team we assembled at MBI.

• Lead, do not follow: It is easy to get distracted in any industry by all the noise that we can hear around us. The focus should be on the long-term ambition and goals, not on the short-term variations that happen in the marketplace every season. MBI continues to invest resources in rapidly growing market segments as well as moon-shot types of projects that have the potential to transform the company and reshape our industry.

Q4. What steps should be taken to promote biologicals and make them vastly adopted to make agriculture sustainable?

Biologicals have obviously a great fit in the core organic market, however, I believe they are also important solutions to add to growers’ toolkit in non-organic settings. Today, most stakeholders talk about biologicals as a different category to traditional chemistry. I can see a day when growers, agronomists, and researchers will not differentiate between biologicals and other products; biologicals will be mainstream and part of every grower’s program.

MBI launched a couple of years ago its BioUnite™ concept, which is harnessing the power of biology with the performance of chemistry. We invested heavily in field development trials and large-scale grower demonstrations, to prove that the combination of our biological products with some of the leading chemistries allows growers to achieve higher yields and better return on investments. These combinations can either be tank-mixes, pre-mixes, and rotations in the fields and are proven recipes for success.

Q5. BioAg World Congress is an event by the industry for the industry. What brings MBI to BAW? How do you see your BAW participation befitting your growth?

MBI is always eager to participate in events that promote an exchange of ideas in the biological world and beyond. BAW is an excellent platform to discuss new innovations and trends with other leaders and shape our industry in the long term.

In addition, MBI is always seeking new growth opportunities, either through partnerships or M&A. The BioAg World Congress is an excellent platform to promote our innovative solutions and potentially find partners who could help us accelerate the implementation of these solutions, expand them beyond our original plan and scale them more rapidly in other market segments and geographies. I also expect some of the participants to have complementary technologies to MBI’s and our discussions could lead to the design of better solutions that fit our customers’ needs.

Marrone Bio Innovation Inc. is a BioAg World Congress 2021 supporter and sponsor. Keith Pitts, Chief Sustainability Officer, Sr. VP of Regulatory and Government Affairs will be presenting a talk at the congress. Join us at BAW Congress 2021 to learn more from these industry leaders and gain insights into the BioAg Industry. See you at the Congress!