Exponential growth forecast for the biostimulants market driven by an increasing food demand

The market for biostimulants is growing rapidly, and is estimated to grow from $1.5 billion in 2015 to $2.8 billion in 2021 at a CAGR of 11.01% during the forecast period, according to Smithers Viscient.

Global food demand is expected to rise 59%-89% by 2050, as the population is set increase from 7.3 billion in 2015 to 9.7 billion in 2050. Considering the effects of climate change, efforts must be made to increase the productivity of agricultural crops significantly and that too in a sustainable manner. Thus, biostimulants will become an important solution in the plan to increase the yield level. The biostimulants industry is geared up to face the challenge, and working towards its goal of providing biological solutions for crop health and yield enhancement

According to Smithers Viscient’s new report – The Future of Biostimulants to 2021 – evolution is happening in the whole value chain of the biostimulants industry. Companies are investing more than 3% of their revenues in R&D. New investments are also coming to support the research activities in this sector. There is a focused interest from big agriculture conglomerates in the biostimulants industry, to widen their product offerings and position themselves as integrated suppliers of agricultural inputs.

Dan Rogers Head of Publishing, Smithers Viscient, comments, “The biostimulants industry is evolving rapidly and establishing itself as an important input sector for agriculture productivity across the globe. In the longer term, the industry is looking forward to being one of the dominant players in sustainable agriculture and the trend is looking positive. Future demand for food will drive agriculture productivity to grow significantly in a sustainable manner, and this will trigger exponential growth in the usage of biological crop health products that have the least impact on the environment. Emerging trends are clearly pointing towards a steady replacement of chemicals with biological substitutes and preventive care, which will ask for a strong biostimulants sector to chip in.”

Farmers across the geographies are realising the economic and ecological benefits from using biostimulants and the market for biostimulants is growing. Shifts from conventional crop management practices, which are using chemical fertiliser and pesticides, to a more integrated approach of including biological inputs (including biostimulants and biopesticides) is happening across crop categories and geographies. Also the growth of organic farming, where biostimulants are an important component, are steady and expected to keep the pace, considering the robust demand for organic foods.

Biostimulants are generally applied to crops by three broad application methods. These are:
• Foliar spray
• Soil applications
• Seed treatments.

It is estimated that 81% of biostimulants are applied via foliar spraying, while 12% of the biostimulant market has soil application formulations. Seed treatments are growing, with a market share of 8%. Seed treatment of biostimulants is growing, as major chemical companies are focusing on providing solutions for seed industry.