STRATEGY A featured segment designed to share business- critical information to seed-selling professionals. Visit SeedWorld.com to download this department and other tools. Biologicals: A Natural Complement to Chemistry Biologicals and chemicals can work together to give growers broader protection, an extended application window, and better management of resistance and residues. Joe Funk jfunk@issuesink.com OUR FOOD SUPPLY is facing new challenges that can only be met with new agricultural solutions.  The world’s population will reach 10 billion in the next 40 years. By then, agricul- tural production will have to double, pressuring farmers to increase yields and expand the growing season. This exposes crops to more dis- eases, insects and other pests. That’s where biological crop protection comes in. Biologicals are an important technology for crop protec- tion that complements chem- istry-based solutions over the full cropping cycle. Biological crop protection agents such as biological fun- gicides and insecticides help reduce the damage caused by diseases and pests including fungi, insects and slugs. Biological crop protection products are derived from natu- ral extracts and living organ- isms such as beneficial bacteria, fungi, nematodes and insects. By leveraging chemistry and biology, BASF biologicals help growers become more productive. “It’s a natural complement that protects the farm – and that BASF’s biologicals pro- vide. By leveraging chemistry and biology, we help growers become more productive,” Howieson says. Consumers are demand- ing food with fewer chemical residues and producers are consistently seeking ways to preserve the effectiveness of their pest control tools. BASF has developed a bio- logical product lineup that pro- vides growers with foliar and drench applied crop protection solutions to help with residue and resistance management. These tools help control a variety of pests and diseases, often in combination with crop protection products, for both greenhouse and open field growers when used as part of integrated management programs. Several biological fungicides and insecticides are registered, or in the process of being regis- tered, in multiple countries. “A strong R&D pipeline will lead to many more excit- ing products in this portfolio,” Howieson says. Biological Basics Seed treatments are a common application method 22 / SEEDWORLD.COM JANUARY 2018 Mark Howieson serves as a Global Biological Seed Solutions R&D team leader for BASF Functional Crop Care. Mark provides leadership and technical direction to the formulation and application teams. Mark and his team partner with the global BASF seed solution laboratory network to test and validate agronomic benefits of new biological and chemical seed treatments as well as functional coatings and colorants. Mark leads projects that include developing new seed-applied biological innovations to complement conventional offers across the globe. Mark is located in BASF’s global R&D center based in Ames, Iowa, US. farming’s – future,” says Mark Howieson, global biologi- cal seed solutions R&D team leader for BASF Functional Crop Care. Around the world, growers are already using biologicals to help increase crop quality and yield potential, as well as meet consumers’ evolving expectations. Biologicals are available for foliar, seed and soil applica- tions. Like chemical products, they employ a wide range of modes of action. Complementary “The real value of biologi- cals is that they’re comple- mentary,” says Howieson. “Biologicals and chemicals can work together to give grow- ers broader protection, an extended application window, and better management of resistance and residues.” Another advantage of bio control products is that they usually don’t work on a single site of action, but instead attack pests in multiple ways, reducing the potential for resistance to develop. “In the years to come, farming will be shaped by the kind of innovative approach