AgFunder News
Editor’s Note: Pam Marrone is CEO and founder and Keith Pitts is senior VP of regulatory and government affairs and chief sustainability officer at Marrone Bio Innovations, Inc., a California-based producer of biological crop inputs. Here they respond to an article published by AgFunderNews last month.
Recently, AgFunderNews published an insightful article by Spencer Maughan and Kieran Furlong, “Crop Protection: Biologicals vs. Chemicals.”
The authors are generally bullish on biologicals and hence the title, which implies a conflict, is a misnomer. Biologicals are best suited to be integrated into pest management and crop production programs as they can:
- Increase yields and quality compared to chemical-only programs,
- Reduce pesticide residues at time of harvest, which has become increasingly important for both domestic and export markets,
- Allow shorter field re-entry allowing labor flexibility, which is an absolute must for high value, fresh produce in particular and,
- Reverse, reduce or delay the development of resistance to single-site or single-pathway chemicals.
