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From The EditorRenee Targos |
Conversations with Industry Experts
EBIC’s New President Arne Pingel’s Global Vision for Biostimulants
In November 2022, the European Biostimulants Industry Council (EBIC) elected Arne Pingel as its new President replacing Luca Bonini, Chief Executive Officer for Hello Nature. During his term, Bonini led the charge along with Pingel and other EBIC colleagues for biostimulants to be included in the European Union (EU) Fertilizing Products Regulation (FPR), which went into application in July 2022, allowing companies to access the common market of 27 member states of the EU through one harmonized set of rules. With this great accomplishment, Pingel is ready to lead EBIC into its next phase of biostimulant promotion through the EU and beyond.
Meet your Expert: As Global Product Lead Biostimulants for Syngenta Crop Protection and President of EBIC, Pingel has 27 years of experience in agriculture around the globe, including stops in Japan, the Middle East, and China, and is now based in Switzerland. He is passionate about promoting biostimulants as a means to increase sustainable agricultural practices to regenerate soil and increase crop yields. Here’s what he sees for the upcoming year.
ABG: What is your vision for EBIC to promote biostimulants in 2023?
AP: First of all, EBIC has proved it can offer thought leadership, as we worked together with the EU Commission and other collaborative partners to form the FPR in 2022.
Beyond regulations, we plan to further promote the use of biostimulants by positioning them as the fourth leg of the table for food production, to use a term coined by Luca Bonini. If you imagine a table with four legs carrying the food of the world: One leg is seeds, another is nutrients, the third is crop protection products, and the fourth leg is biostimulants for supporting growers and society to make agriculture even more sustainable.
This last year was disastrous when it came to heat and drought stress. Biostimulants can help crops overcome these stresses and deliver higher yields. We need to look into the challenges that are here already, and where we don’t have answers, and find out how a biostimulant could help. Such as, can biostimulants help plants reduce methane gas production? Can a biostimulant help a plant be more efficient in taking up nutrients? Can biostimulants help make food more healthy?
These are questions that need to be answered for not just the European market, but also for all markets, and from that point of view, EBIC will be the leader to show, not just Europe, but also the other regions, these answers.
ABG: Does EBIC have a plan to promote information to growers this year?
AP: Yes, indirectly. We want to bring scientific material out to the world, and we know that growers read these articles. They’re interested in innovation. We want to support growers’ usage of biostimulants, but of course, it’s also a question of how many growers can one association reach. We are looking to partner and collaborate with others to promote this information.
ABG: How do you see growers using biostimulants in the near future?
AP: 2022 was a problematic year all over the world owing to climate change. Climate change will intensify problems over time. And at the same time, we have very high energy prices in Europe that are affecting fertilizer production. I’m not saying that biostimulants can replace fertilizer, but for sure, they can keep a plant happy and healthier at times where nutrition cannot be provided at an optimum level.
ABG: In what regions do you see the greatest amount of growth for biostimulants?
AP: It is happening everywhere: in Asia Pacific, India, and China. Brazil and the United States will not sit on the sidelines either. As companies are able to explain to growers how to get the optimum return on investments, adoption rates will go up.
We see in some of the studies that there is growth in specialty and vegetable crops. When it comes to row crops, the adoption rate is still much lower. The return of investment has been lower, and commodity prices for growers were low. [Compared to] past years, the situation has changed, so biostimulants have become more attractive for growers of row crops. This has increased the adoption rate and will drive the usage of biostimulants everywhere in the world. We believe that all markets will grow strongly in 2023, and in the following years. The beauty of biostimulants is that as the industry grows, we will help bring answers for sustainability questions. •