AgroPages-Focusing on botanical biopesticide and heading into row crops: Ziv Tirosh, CEO of Stockton Group-Agricultural news

Grace Yuan

Global Marketing Director

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AgroPages has recently had a dialogue with Mr. Ziv Tirosh, CEO of Stockton Group. Mr. Ziv Tirosh shared his viewpoint about the development orientation of biopesticides, Stockton's specific advantages and the latest dynamics.

Could you please brief the crop protection products structure and development strategy of Stockton Group, how to position the development orientation of biopesticides of your company?

Stockton is a unique company in our industry. Initially, during the last 20 years, Stockton has been a successful globalcompany selling off-patent products in over 30 countries. Then, more than a decade ago, we decided to build an R&D center at Stockton and to focus on the development of biopesticides. Our beliefs were that (a) biopesticides will become mainstream products because they offer a compelling value proposition for conventional crop protection and (b) that biopesticides will work hand in hand with agrochemicals in conventional agriculture spraying programs. On top of that, we decide to focus on plant extract based biopesticide solutions as the suitable source to be a partner to the conventional agriculture.

It took many years, but today it is evident that both beliefs were correct and are in fact a reality today. The value proposition of biopesticides in conventional crop protection is clear: they serve as a resistance management tool, they offer zero to very low residues and allow for end of cycle pest management, they help lowering chemical loads in the ground, they allow for rapid re-entry post spraying…and more.

This has been acknowledged by the industry and practically all market leaders have adopted a biopesticides’ strategy. They’ve either acquired companies, entered into distribution and R&D collaborations or have created their own bio R&D operations and/or collaborations.

What are Stockton’s specific advantages in biopesticide industry, and how to constantly improve industrial competitiveness?

We believed that there are many advantages in an R&D center that is part of an operating commercial company. This meant that the innovative products in the pipeline are very much connected to real life necessities of farmers and that our own agronomists around the world rapidly try our products to fit them with the markets’ needs. But it’s important to mention that taking a commercial business and building an R&D center in it is a huge change and a huge challenge. It took us many years of hard work and investments to reach this point.

Stockton is focused on becoming the world leader in the development of innovative plant extract based biopesticides and their integration into conventional spraying programs. We focus on plant extracts, or botanical sources as they’re sometimes called, for many reasons. Many other biopesticide development companies focus on microbial sources. We work through very close collaborations with leading plant sciences academic institutions such as Israel’s Weizmann Institute and others. Our R&D includes top notch plant genomics capabilities that allow us to discover and analyze plant molecules that could not be analyzed in the past and to develop them into biopesticides.

Today Stockton has Timorex Gold as its first patented commercial biopesticide and then a promising pipeline of IP based biopesticides in development.

The biopesticides we develop are IP protected, broad spectrum, easily blended with chemicals for mixed formulations and are formulated, bottled and handled exactly like chemicals. No special adjustments are needed. We see this as a big advantage of our field of expertise.

As far as we know, Timorex Gold has been registered in 27 countries, including US, Canada, Colombia and so on. Please summarize the global strategic layout of Timorex Gold? How to accurately locate the target market for it?

Due to its versatility, broad spectrum and high compatibility with chemicals, Timorex Gold is becoming an important biopesticide in the industry. As of today, Timorex Gold is sold in 15 of the 27 countries and we continue obtaining registrations in all key agricultural markets globally. Timorex Gold is already sold repetitively in a wide range of crops: rice, coffee, tomatoes, grapes, bananas, cucurbits, peppers and more. While this combination of rice and specialty crops already signifies substantial growth, we are constantly adding new crops through constant R&D work done in Israel and all over the globe. On top of that, our patented blends of Timorex Gold with off patent agrochemicals will create a new set of solutions in the industry.

The success of Timorex Gold is already evident as it has already become a standard product in relevant conventional spraying programs. In quite a few countries spraying programs including Timorex Gold offer the farmer equal efficacy with up to 25% less chemicals, with same economics, with Timorex Gold as a valuable new resistance management tool, end of cycle spraying tool, zero residues and much more.

Being part of conventional spraying programs with leading farmers around the world, where we are able to reduce chemical usage by up to 25% is a great achievement already, and this is just the start.

After being present in quite a few specialty markets, we began aiming our R&D at row crops, which represent 75% of the industry of course. Our first target was rice and proudly we have great results on and are already selling repetitively. Now we are heading into the main row crops where the economics are completely different than with specialty products. We’re now testing Timorex Gold on wheat with initial excellent results in a few locations around the world and we’re sure we’ll find the efficacy and also economic balance for the farmer.

What's the marketing model for Timorex Gold? What's the standard you require for a distributor/ partner to market your product in a new market?

One of the many advantages of Timorex Gold is that it’s a product in a bottle, like many agrochemicals and it does not need special handling of any sorts. It is one more solution in the farmer’s hands.

Timorex Gold works best in conventional agriculture as part of a spraying program. In the commercial introduction stage into each market, this requires crop expertise and technical capabilities to fully understand all added values that Timorex Gold provides and then to fit Timorex Gold best into the spraying program in as many sprays as possible. For example, in several countries we have replaced 25% of agchem sprays which means 3 or 4 sprays out of 12 or 16. This is pretty impressive in our opinion.

So in order to become a Timorex Gold distributor, a company must have the necessary crop expertise and also new product development capabilities. This does not suit all distributors as many distributors have dealt primarily with generic products over the past years and thus have less relevant experience and know-how. We of course create long-term collaborations with distributors that match our criteria in different countries.