Ontario Grain Farmer March 2023

10 AS THE NEEDto reduce carbon footprints grows, interest and investments in developing biological pesticides and fertilizers have exploded in recent years, but their effectiveness remains questionable. “Large sums of money are being invested in biologicals … so it’s a great time to be curious and cautious,” says Dale Cowan in an on-demand presentation at the 2023 Ontario Agricultural Conference. “There are estimates that between $3.2 billion and $6.7 billion will be invested by 2027.” Cowan is an agronomy strategy manager and senior agronomist at AGRIS Co-operative. BIG OPPORTUNITY “The science and technology is changing rapidly, and there’s a lot of investment going into this space to better understand how these products work, how to make them better, and how to work with them to get a better success rate,” says Nathan Klages, biological business manager for Syngenta, in a presentation on Crop Day at the GreyBruce Farmers Week in January. Klages outlined three basic categories of biologicals: biocontrols that address a specific issue involving insects, disease, and weeds; biostimulants that help crops better manage weather stresses like too much heat or cold; and biofertility like inoculants that use microbes to promote plant health and endophytes that live within crop plants and can fix nitrogen. Klages explained that biocontrols are generally used more in fruit and vegetable Biologicals THE PROMISES AND PERILS Lois Harris crops. They are also getting some traction in row crops to avoid export market issues around residues from synthetics and fill in crop protection gaps. “About 570 products are under review at the PMRA (Pest Management Review Agency) right now, and the reality is that some of those products won’t be available in five or 10 years, so we have to start thinking about what different kinds of products — synthetic and biological — will be needed down the road,” he says. Cowan and Klages noted that 70 per cent of yield reduction in field crops is due to abiotic, or weather-related, stress, which biostimulants are designed to address. Klages said that the biostimulant market is crowded, with more than 1,000 registered Agronomy

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