Marrone Bio Innovations’ Regalia is top biofungicide brand in California - Newly approved Stargus expands company footprint

Marrone Bio Innovations, Inc. (NASDAQ: MBII) (MBI), an international leader in sustainable bioprotection and plant health solutions, announced on Wednesday that its flagship biofungicide, Regalia, holds more than 25% market share* of the foliar biofungicide segment in California; outperforming direct competitors during January through April 2020.

“Regalia’s performance is a testament to its efficacy for managing plant diseases and improving crop health,” said Kevin Hammill, chief commercial officer for Marrone Bio Innovations. “Its performance has been proven on domestic and international specialty crops for more than ten years. While the 2020 fungicide market in California is down overall, we are pleased to see that when growers used a biofungicide, they chose Regalia more often than direct competitors.

“As with Regalia, grower response for Stargus has been very positive. Field trials are showing promising results and I am confident the product will continue to gain market share as we continue grower education and outreach,” concluded Hammill.

California’s conventional and organic fungicide market was down 14% January through April 2020 due to less disease pressures resulting in fewer fungicide applications. Almonds, in particular, saw the greatest reduction in treated acres with a 21% decrease.

Despite the reduced fungicide use in January through April 2020, Marrone Bio saw an uptick in the demand for Regalia and its newly approved biofungicide, Stargus, on several crops including wine grapes and stone fruits.

Stargus, MBI’s newest biofungicide that provides broad spectrum disease control through multiple modes of action, saw strong adoption amongst California growers after its January 2020 approval by the California Department of Pesticide Regulation. Since then, several label updates, including the addition of hemp and pome fruits, were made for all states with updates pending in California. Key diseases on grapes and strawberries are expected to be approved for California in late 2020.

Regalia is MBI’s flagship biofungicide that improves yield and harvest quality by stimulating the plant’s ability to fight disease. The preventative nature of Regalia provides early control of a variety of plant diseases on a wide range of specialty crops including hemp and cannabis (labeled as marijuana in Canada).

Both Regalia and Stargus are exempt from maximum residue limits (MRLs), have zero-day pre-harvest intervals, and are Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI) listed.

Source: DPR, CA – May 16, 2020. Note: Only 80+% of January-April data is available.

* Market share was calculated including all biofungicides with the exception of Sulfur, Copper and peracetic acid based products.