Biopesticides are derived from renewable sources such as plants, animals and bacteria and are used to control weeds, pathogens and pests. Unlike their synthetic counterparts, they are less toxic; effective in smaller quantities; decompose quickly and target specific pests better than broad-spectrum pesticides; the latter having often been applied to the detriment of birds, insects and the environment in general.

Tougher “truth in labeling” laws and pesticide legislation require pest controls that neither have a safety period between application and harvesting, nor leave pesticide residue behind. While they currently account for only 5 percent of the total global crop protection market, biopesticides are expected to play an important role in meeting these demands and ensuring the world has enough safe food in the future.

Apples & oranges

A significant barrier to biopesticides gaining traction, proponents say, is that they are often compared to synthetic variants even though there are fundamental differences between them – from how they get approved and are launched to how they work.

In stark contrast to the highly regulated, long and expensive road to get synthetic solutions on the market (ca. 12 years), biopesticides tend to follow an agile, fund-as-you-go model; the latter are often placed with willing testers and go through a quicker succession of trials and are optimized along the way.

When new products are finally available, synthetic product launches are generally supported by large marketing budgets and a host of eager distributors. The same cannot be said for biopesticides, which have fewer champions at the sales and distribution level and are sometimes dismissed outright. The reasons cited being: low profit margin; too complicated to use (or at least perceived to be); lack of sufficient test results; higher cost, narrow spectrum of activity and tendency to degrade more quickly and inconsistent performance, making them a tough sell to some farmers, who themselves often have very little practical experience with biopesticides or evidence to draw on.

A sticking point for some farmers is that synthetic pesticides generally kill pests immediately because the chemical agents are so powerful, whereas biopesticides may take a few days to kill their target pest. Some approaches harness other insects to serve as the delivery mechanism (e.g. bees carrying a benign fungus to spread on and protect strawberry plants) or use insect pheromones to confuse pests by interfering with their mating patterns or even trapping them. Neither of these methods, however, has gained traction in industrial agriculture.

It's also important to note that some biopesticides are developed to be used in combination with synthetic products. Many countries still allow their organic growers to use small amounts of synthetic pesticides to ensure profitable yields, and to some extent, this has led growers to believe that biopesticides are not an effective, “stand-alone” alternative. This contributes to their being quite misunderstood, because in fact, many biopesticides are most effective when used as a component of a larger integrated pest management (IPM) program.

Twin peaks driving (uneven) growth

Despite the challenges, the biopesticide industry is growing, due to the increased demand for organic food and tougher synthetic pesticide legislation.

Interestingly enough, although Europe has some of the strictest laws regarding pesticides, it has registered fewer biopesticide-active substances than the United States, India, Brazil or China. This is due to a long and complex registration process, which takes an average of seven years versus two years in the U.S.

Biopesticides are expected to equalize with synthetics by 2050, but funding for research as well as conducive processes and legislation will play a determining role. In the U.S. and Australia, for example, funding for biocontrol research has gone down, whereas in Europe, Brazil, China and India the opposite is true. However, if the agrochemical industry is any litmus test, then the takeovers and acquisitions that have taken place in the last few years are clear indicators that the big players are counting on increased biopesticide adoption.