Biological Crop Protection Global Market Opportunities and Strategies to 2034

This report describes and explains the biological crop protection market and covers 2019-2024, termed the historic period, and 2024-2029, 2034F termed the forecast period. The report evaluates the market across each region and for the major economies within each region.

The global biological crop protection market reached a value of nearly $5.82 billion in 2024, having grown at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.75% since 2019. The market is expected to grow from $5.82 billion in 2024 to $10.25 billion in 2029 at a rate of 12.00%. The market is then expected to grow at a CAGR of 11.78% from 2029 and reach $17.89 billion in 2034.

Growth in the historic period resulted from increasing food security concerns, increasing regulatory restrictions on synthetic pesticides, expansion in horticulture crops and increased incidence of pest and disease outbreaks. Factors that negatively affected growth in the historic period was high production and development costs and competition from conventional synthetic pesticides.

Going forward, growing consumer demand for organic and sustainable food, governmental support and subsidies for improved crop yields, rising awareness of sustainable farming practices and increasing demand for resilient and climate-adaptive biological solutions will drive the growth. Factor that could hinder the growth of the biological crop protection market in the future include short shelf life and strict storage requirements, limited farmer awareness and confidence and impact of trade war and tariffs.

Asia Pacific was the largest region in the biological crop protection market, accounting for 32.36% or $1.89 billion of the total in 2024. It was followed by North America, Western Europe and then the other regions. Going forward, the fastest-growing regions in the biological crop protection market will be Asia Pacific and Africa where growth will be at CAGRs of 14.24% and 12.16% respectively. These will be followed by North America and Eastern Europe where the markets are expected to grow at CAGRs of 11.47% and 11.32% respectively.

The global biological crop protection market is fairly concentrated, with large players operating in the market. The top ten competitors in the market made up to 39.64% of the total market in 2024. Corteva Agriscience was the largest competitor with a 8.18% share of the market, followed by Syngenta AG with 7.97%, Koppert Biological Systems Ltd. with 4.38%, Novonesis with 3.90%, Bayer AG with 3.72%, BASF SE with 3.64%, Nufarm Limited with 2.06%, UPL Limited with 2.02%, ADAMA Ltd. with 1.92% and Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd. with 1.84%.

The biological crop protection market is segmented by product type into microbial pesticides, plant-incorporated protectants and biochemical pesticides. The microbial pesticides market was the largest segment of the biological crop protection market segmented by product type, accounting for 53.95% or $3.14 billion of the total in 2024. Going forward, the microbial pesticides segment is expected to be the fastest growing segment in the biological crop protection market segmented by product type, at a CAGR of 13.47% during 2024-2029.

The biological crop protection market is segmented by crop type into cereals and grains, oilseeds and pulses, fruits and vegetables and other crop types. The cereals and grains market was the largest segment of the biological crop protection market segmented by crop type, accounting for 33.74% or $1.96 billion of the total in 2024. Going forward, the fruits and vegetables segment is expected to be the fastest growing segment in the biological crop protection market segmented by crop type, at a CAGR of 15.57% during 2024-2029.

The biological crop protection market is segmented by formulation into liquid and dry. The liquid market was the largest segment of the biological crop protection market segmented by formulation, accounting for 63.54% or $3.69 billion of the total in 2024. Going forward, the liquid segment is expected to be the fastest growing segment in the biological crop protection market segmented by formulation, at a CAGR of 12.89% during 2024-2029.

The biological crop protection market is segmented by application into foliar spray, seed treatment, soil treatment and post-harvest. The foliar spray market was the largest segment of the biological crop protection market segmented by application, accounting for 49.46% or $2.87 billion of the total in 2024. Going forward, the foliar spray segment is expected to be the fastest growing segment in the biological crop protection market segmented by application, at a CAGR of 13.35% during 2024-2029.

The top opportunities in the biological crop protection market segmented by product type will arise in the microbial pesticides segment, which will gain $2.76 billion of global annual sales by 2029. The top opportunities in the biological crop protection market segmented by crop type will arise in the fruits and vegetables segment, which will gain $2.07 billion of global annual sales by 2029. The top opportunities in the biological crop protection market segmented by formulation will arise in the liquid segment, which will gain $3.08 billion of global annual sales by 2029. The top opportunities in the biological crop protection market segmented by application will arise in the foliar spray segment, which will gain $2.5 billion of global annual sales by 2029. The biological crop protection market size will gain the most in the USA at $1.01 billion.

Market-trend-based strategies for the biological crop protection market include focus on introducing innovative solutions through strategic collaborations, development of innovative solutions, such as biofungicide crop protection solution, focus on biopesticide to effectively manage cardamom thrips, focus on introducing innovative solutions, such as biofungicide-formulated crop protection, focus on developing innovative solutions, such as biochemical pesticides, development of innovative formulations, such as microbial inoculant-based products and focus on developing biological crop protection platform.

Player-adopted strategies in the biological crop protection market include focus on expanding business capabilities through strategic investments, focus on expanding operational capabilities through strategic acquisitions and focus on expanding business capabilities through new launches.

To take advantage of the opportunities, the analyst recommends the biological crop protection market companies to focus on developing advanced biofungicide portfolios, focus on expanding eco-friendly biopesticide solutions for thrips control, focus on advancing biofungicide innovation for sustainable disease control, focus on expanding biochemical pesticide portfolios for resilient crop systems, focus on advancing microbial inoculant solutions for crop productivity, focus on building integrated biological crop protection platforms, focus on scaling microbial pesticide solutions for faster market growth, focus on expanding biological solutions in fruits and vegetables, expand in emerging markets, continue to focus on developed markets, focus on strategic collaborations to scale biologics, provide competitively priced offerings, continue to use B2B promotions, participate in trade shows and events and focus on the high-growth foliar spray segment.