Report card from California: Farmers and investors need more education on ag biologicals

The ag biologicals sector is still making “steady progress” in terms of new products and overall growth, Dr. Pam Marrone, founder and chair of the Invasive Species Corporation, said during her annual presentation at the annual Salinas Biological Summit in California.

This is despite “global economic and political uncertainty and chaos,” not to mention a difficult fundraising and regulatory environment for startups.

Citing data from research firm Dunham-Trimmer, she noted that most biologicals segments are still seeing double-digit growth, albeit slightly lower than last year: 10.65% CAGR for biocontrols, 9.93% for biostimulants, and 11.08% for biofertilizers.

Regionally, the US and Canada still lead for marketshare ($5.68 billion projected for 2027), but thanks to Brazil, Latin America is now a close second ($4.97 billion projected for 2027).

“The growth has been astonishing,” Dr. Marrone said of Brazil, noting that the country had a $1.2 billion ag biologicals market in 2025 across almost 200 million hectares.