WIPO Agriculture Patent Landscape Report Highlights and Analysis

Index:

1. Why Patents and IP Matter in Agriculture

2. Aggregate Overview by Regions, Company, & Focal Areas

3. Non Pesticide Pest Management

4. Soil and Fertilizer Management

5. Formulation Technology

6. Food Segment

7. Predictive models in precision agriculture

8. Autonomous devices in precision agriculture

Access the full WIPO Report here: Patent Landscape Report - Agrifood - WIPO

Why Patents and IP Matter in Agriculture

Patents and intellectual property (IP) form one part of the infrastructure of competitive advantage in agriculture— especially in the upstream segment of the industry in seed, equipment and crop protection.

IP provides legal protection around a novel technology, molecule, formulation, or process. In industries with long R&D cycles and heavy upfront investment, patents are the guardrails that allow companies to commit resources with confidence.

In agriculture, patents create two forms of value.

First, they protect returns on innovation. A new mode of action herbicide or novel trait can take a decade and hundreds of millions of dollars to bring to market. Without IP protection, competitors could quickly copy the work, eroding margins and eliminating company incentive to invest.

Second, they enable strategic leverage. Strong IP portfolios can be licensed, cross-licensed, or defended in litigation, shaping industry structure. Bayer’s herbicide tolerance trait stack, Corteva’s Enlist system, Pivot Bio’s patents around microbial nitrogen fixation, or John Deere’s IP around See & Spray become commercial levers that drive a portion of their business success.

For agribusiness professionals, patents and patent applications provide insight into where companies are placing their R&D bets, which technologies could support farmers and reshape input strategies along with shifting how value might flow through the supply chain.

Some of the largest input and equipment manufacturers spend ~5-10% of their total revenue on R&D annually, much of which is in hopes of identifying a novel molecule, manufacturing capability or digital technology that can create a blockbuster product and solve farmer problems:

Overview from the Report

According to the report, the Agrifood sector comprises over 3.5 million published patent families over the past 20 years, which the report splits into two main categories:

• AgTech, representing 60% of the total patent count (2.1 million)

• FoodTech, making up the remaining 40% (1.5 million).

In recent years, both segments have experienced moderate annual growth rates, 6.9% in AgTech and 3.3% in FoodTech respectively.

The growth in agtech has been more substantial than foodtech:

The drop off in the last couple of years is palpable.

The majority of Agtech patents come from North America, Europe and three Asian countries in China, Japan, the Republic of Korea.

The United States has always been a dominant player, but recent increases in R&D investment by China and Japan have Asia increasing.

The CAGR in Asia for patent growth is largest:

Bayer, BASF and Deere are drivers of innovation, at least innovation when it comes to patents granted and patent applications:

The most common areas remain:

1. pest management

2. crop genetics

3. sensors/connectivity/smart farming

Unsurprisingly, BASF and Bayer are strong in pest management and genetics followed closely by Corteva/Pioneer Hi-Bred, and Deere leads in connectivity/sensors:

Segments

Soil and Fertilizer Management

North America dominates patenting in the Soil and fertilizer management segment

North America leads in patent filings, followed by Europe and Asia with the United States as the primary R&D location.

• North America leads in patent filings:

  • United States: 13,612

  • Canada: 5,854

• Europe is second:

  • Total: 11,358

  • Germany: 4,218

  • Spain: 1,757

• Asia follows closely:

  • China: 7,464

  • Japan: 4,613

  • India: 2,510

From a growth perspective, several emerging markets are accelerating rapidly in the Soil and fertilizer management segment, specifically LatAm:

• Brazil: CAGR 15.0%

• Argentina: CAGR 12.8%

• India: CAGR 11.4%

At the same time, international patent filings in Australia, Japan, China, Republic of Korea, Europe (EPO), United States, and Canada also showed positive growth, with CAGRs ranging between 5% and 10% from 2017 to 2021.

Companies like John Deere, CNH, Kubota, Bayer and BASF lead in the segment:

Notably, there wasn’t much for applications from the fertilizer companies. As you might remember from the image earlier, the largest fertilizer manufacturers like Nutrien, Mosaic and Yara allocate <1% of their revenue to R&D.

Commodity Mindsets

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