Upstream Ag Insights Patent Analysis: Bio Related Innovation by Crop Protection Companies

Index

1. Introduction

2. UPL: Integrated Pesticide + Biostimulant Formulations

3. BASF: Biopesticide + Nitrogen Stabilizer Combinations

4. BASF: Synergistic Biocontrol

5. FMC: Pheromone Biosynthesis

6. Syngenta: Precision Seed Treatment at Time of Planting

7. Final Thoughts

Other Upstream Ag Insights Patent Analysis

1. WIPO Agriculture Patent Landscape Report Highlights and Analysis

2. Crop Protection Company Patent Analysis: Formulation Technology and Fighting Generics

3. Upstream Ag Insights Patent Analysis: Crop Agnostic Nitrogen Fixing Technology

4. Patenting the Fertilizer Granule as a Crop Input Delivery System

5. Five Technology Patents from John Deere and What They Might Mean for the Future of Precision Agriculture

Overview

If you want to know where the crop protection industry is heading, press releases can be useful map.

Patents convey millions in R&D spending, years of development timelines, and legal declarations of where an innovation company believes future products and differentiation will come from.

For this breakdown, I reviewed recent patent filings from major crop protection companies, including: Corteva, Bayer, BASF, FMC, Syngenta, and UPL. I primarily focused on biologicals and integrated bio-chemical technologies.

Three patterns dominated the research and reviews.

1. The era of standalone biologicals is moving towards integrated bio-chemical formulations that combine the reliability farmers expect from conventional chemistry with the biological modes of action that are being increasingly demanded.

2. The formulation and delivery technology has become a primary effort. Part of this might be because within the biological realm, specifically on biostimulants, there is more effort to be “trade secret” rather than outright file for IP. Though, as I will publish in the next couple of weeks, Dunham Trimmer believes Single Biostimulant Molecules will become key points of differentiation in the future.

3. Several companies are filing patents that are focused on getting into entirely new segments, such as fermentation-produced pheromones at row-crop economics to nitrogen-fixing endophytes that colonize every part of the plant.

Below is an overview key filings, what they protect, why they matter, and what they signal about future products and strategic efforts of the companies behind them.

Patent Breakdowns by Company

1. UPL: Integrated Pesticide + Biostimulant Formulations

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