The agricultural biologics market has witnessed a significant growth trend in recent years, which is mainly attributed to the continuous quest for environment-friendly and sustainable agriculture.
According to Mordor Intelligence, the agricultural biologics market was valued at USD 7.84 billion in 2023 and is expected to reach USD 15.9 billion by 2028, at a CAGR of 15.20% during the forecast period.
On July 16, synthetic biology pioneer Ginkgo Bioworks announced a collaboration with agrochemical giant Syngenta, in which the two will work together to develop a new biologic using synthetic biotechnology.
The parties plan to develop and optimize a microbial strain that will be engineered by Ginkgo using AI to calculate theoretical performance and guide strain engineering to develop a microbial strain powerful enough to meet the demand for secondary metabolites in Syngenta's product line.
What are the signals behind the two leaders joining forces?
1. Giants firm up biologics market
In 2020, Syngenta Group acquired Valagro, a biostimulant company, at a cost of $596 million, a move aimed at driving the rapid growth of the global bioproducts market and boosting its competitiveness in the sector, according to relevant information.
In terms of financial disclosure, Syngenta Biologics sales were $122 million in 2020, climbing to $312 million in 2021 and further to $336 million in 2022.
This has undoubtedly made the agrochemical giant firmly move towards the avenue of biologics. And it has allowed Syngenta to actively increase cooperation with several biotech companies in order to accelerate the development and launch of biologics.
In April 2023, Syngenta Seeds, a Syngenta Group company, and Ginkgo Bioworks announced a research partnership focused on screening targeted gene pools to discover new traits. The results of this research are intended to inform future seed trait development so that farmers can grow healthier, more resilient crops.
Back in 2014, Syngenta partnered with Precision BioSciences, a genome compilation company, to develop the first-ever advanced agricultural product using fully synthetic genome compilation technology, which embeds modified target nucleotides into specified locations in the maize genome through the use of engineered nuclease enzymes based on Precision's proprietary ARCUS™ technology.
In April 2024, Moen Bio and Syngenta signed a cooperation agreement. Based on the huge microbial strain library, growing genome sequence library and functional gene element library of Moen Biotech, we will explore new insecticidal and insect-resistant genes, and provide a “gene engine” for the cultivation of excellent germplasm resources.
2. Traditional agricultural giants + emerging synthetic biology companies
Under the strategy of green sustainability, most agrochemical giants focus on improving the efficiency of crop and livestock production, and lay out the development of synthetic biology innovations from the production side through various ways such as cooperation, investment and acquisition. Meanwhile, in terms of products, special attention is paid to crop gene editing breeding and new fertilizers.
In September 2017, Ginkgo Bioworks and Bayer invested $100 million to establish an independent operating subsidiary, Joyn Bio, to focus on the use of microorganisms to fix nitrogen and thereby reduce the environmental impact of agriculture, particularly the use of chemical fertilizers.
In June 2024, Bayer announced that it will plan to launch ten heavyweight innovations over the next 10 years to provide solutions for global agricultural farming. Each product is expected to contribute more than €500 million in peak sales, totaling more than €32 billion, unrivaled in the global agricultural industry.
By the middle of the next decade, Bayer plans to extend regenerative agriculture to more than 400 million acres globally, which will involve synthetic biotechnologies such as gene-edited plant protection programs and biologics combined with artificial intelligence. Bayer is seizing the opportunity to double its revenues in agriculture-adjacent markets to more than 200 billion euros.
Of course, Ginkgo Bioworks has also been favored by large multinational companies in the agricultural field, including Cordova and Sumitomo, in addition to Bayer, and has opened up cooperation.
Outside of the field, BASF has complemented traditional crop protection products with products produced using synthetic biology, such as lNodulator, a dry-seeded inoculant containing more than one million live rhizobia per gram, which helps legumes fix more nitrogen.
