The biostimulant market is anticipated to grow at over 12% CAGR, but is the industry ready to meet the demand?

The biostimulant market size is anticipated to grow at over 12% CAGR between 2022 and 2028 due to increasing sustainable agriculture activities across the globe. Such key benefits as improvement in plant tolerance and recovery from abiotic stresses such as extreme climatic conditions, droughts, unfavourable salinity, and floods are further augmenting the overall biostimulants market value. This increase in market value has many companies engaging extensively to develop innovative products.

Extract-based biostimulants, such as Acadian Plant Health’s seaweed extract Ascophyllum nodosum, have been in the market for over 30 years and have a proven track record to back up results. The agricultural products derived from this seaweed are world-renowned for their quality and consistency. But with a growing market comes growing demand and not all companies selling seaweed extracts are capable of meeting that demand.

Acadian Plant Health™ did the leg work years ago to ensure they were ready to meet global demand as the biostimulant industry grew. ″The founders of Acadian Seaplants, the parent company to Acadian Plant Health, worked very hard to secure government approval and long-term licenses to harvest Ascophyllum nodosum,″ says James Maude, SVP at Acadian Plant Health. ″Those long-term licenses are only awarded to companies that provide third-party audited biomass assessments and harvest plans prior to any harvesting activities taking place in a lease.″

But in addition to these requirements, Acadian wanted to ensure management of this valuable resource was taken seriously. ″We wanted the seaweed resource to be renewable and scalable rather than overexploited,″ says Maude. ″The company has a dedicated science team to ensure we are operating in an environmentally sound business model. Their job is to monitor the growth and ecology of the Ascophyllum nodosum seaweed beds, with a focus on ensuring we keep this valuable resource sustainable.″

Indeed, the research team has done extensive studies to assess the seaweed biomass in licensed areas and recently published this work in a scientific journal here. ″After two decades of continuous commercial harvesting in eastern Canada, we were able to ascertain the impact on the biomass and height of the seaweed. Our research shows no significant decrease in the biomass and in some cases the biomass even increased,″ says Dr. Raul Ugarte, R&D Resource Fellow at Acadian Seaplants Ltd.

″As the biostimulant industry grows, we need to consider how we
meet customer demand,″ says Maude. ″We see the market increasing and are doing the work to ensure we meet customer expectations, while still maintaining good stewardship of the seaweed.″

And while guaranteed supply is a business challenge for many agricultural companies getting into this market, the quality of the supply must be there too. ″That is where Acadian Plant Health really stands out,″ says Maude. ″We’re not just a commodity supplier. The product we put in the market is second to none and it’s why we’ve grown with the market. And to ensure we continue to grow; we are investing in our R&D to take that product quality to the next level by innovating new formulations that are complementary to conventional agriculture inputs. It’s about delivering advanced crop inputs, whether that be for CP companies or fertilizer companies, and ensuring that how we’re doing it remains at the core of who we are.″