Registrations of microbial pesticides in US from 2015 to 2018

Biopesticide has been highly recognized due to its small side effect, high safety and environment-friendly property, having become a new trend of pesticide development worldwide. Biopesticides in Europe have development rapidly in the last few years, but unfortunately Europe is not developed into the world’s largest biopesticide market because of the restraint from the regulatory procedures in the EU. This article talks about the world's most mature and also the largest biopesticide market – the U.S. market.

Simplified biopesticide registration process, having greatly promoted the development of biopesticides

According to the report of MarketsandMarkets, the global sales of biopesticides exceeded $3.3 billion in 2017, which is expected to reach $9.5 billion by 2025, at a compound annual growth rate of as high as 13.9%. As the world's largest biopesticide sales country, in 2017 the sales of biopesticides in the United States accounted for 1 / 3 of the total global sales of biopesticides, of which the microbial biopesticides accounted for 67% of the total sales of biopesticides in the United States.

The rapid development of biopesticides in the United States is attributed mainly to the demand from organic product market and the strong support of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). According to statistics, by the end of 2019 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved about 1,401 biopesticide registrations, involving nearly 400 active ingredients, in which biochemical pesticides accounted for 57.5%, microbial pesticides accounted for 36% and other miscellaneous accounted for 6.5%. The simplified biopesticide registration process of EPA has greatly improved the efficiency of registration, having much reduced the time and cost associated with registration. We can say that EPA has pioneered simplification of the process of biopesticide registration, which is a good reference and worth learning by other countries.

A Summary of New Registrations of Active Ingredients of Microbial Pesticides in the United States from 2015 to 2018

As mentioned above, the sales of microbial pesticides accounted for 2 / 3 of the total sales of biopesticides in the United States, which indicates that microbial pesticide is currently the main trend of development of biopesticides. In this paper, we are presenting the active ingredients of microbial biopesticides newly registered in the United States from 2015 to 2018. Many of them have been the first-time registration in the world, which we hope can provide a reference to our biopesticide counterparts in China.

Pseudomonas chlororaphis AFS009

In August 2017, the American biopesticide company AgBiome obtained EPA’s approval of registration of the biopesticide Howler™. It is the first product developed by AgBiome and launched to market by AgBiome Innovations, which is used for prevention and control of a series of fungi and oomycetes diseases. AgBiome declares that the activity of the fungicide is 20 times higher than the existing biological solutions. It also says that the product can completely supplant chemical pesticides in respect of control effect. This is a rare statement, as biological product manufacturers generally acknowledge that their products can reduce the use of conventional chemical pesticides rather than complete replacement of chemical pesticides.

Muscodor albus SA-13

In November 2016, the biological fumigant MBI-601 EP of Marrone Bio Innovations was granted registration in the United States. According to information, MBI-601 EP can be used for treatment of agricultural and horticultural soils, which can control and inhibit plant parasitic nematodes, soil pests and soil borne diseases. Its active ingredient, Muscodor albus, can produce a variety of chemical substances, which not only can kill or inhibit the growth of some destructive nematodes and pests, but also can control specific plant diseases such as root rot, damping off, blight and greensickness. In addition to soil treatment, the novel microbial pesticide is expected to have more applications to lawn, forestry seedling, post-harvest and seed treatment.

Bacillus mycoides isolate J

In 2016, the LifeGard WG of the US Certis, Mitsui Chemical, was granted registration in the United States, with the active ingredient being Bacillus mycoides, which is the first biopesticide in the world to act via induced resistance against fungal and viral diseases. In that year, the product won the world's best biological innovation award. LifeGard WG is registered mainly for control of potato early blight, late blight and powdery mildew. So far, the product has been sold in most of the regions of the United States and Canada, with a good market response.

Table 1: 2015 – 2018 New Registrations of Microbial Pesticides in US

Correction: 

The product BIOPROTEC (Bacillus thuringiensis Kurstaki EVB-113-19) is owned and registered by AEF Global of Canada.

This article was originally published in AgroPages' 2020 Biologicals Special. 

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