EU microbial pest control: A revolution in waiting

Abstract

Recent evaluations of the microbial biological control sector indicate that implementing microbial control of pests is still slow in the EU. The top causal factors are the lengthy, expensive, and cumbersome two‐stage procedure for approval of biological agents as active substances at the EU level and authorization of formulated products at the national level, limited funding, lack of EU level integrated approaches, and slow implementation of integrated pest management. This article contributes to a better understanding of the factors that limit microbial control of pests in EU agriculture by providing the first evaluation of the evolution of microbial biological control agent (MBCA) EU‐level approval combined with that of microbial biological control product (MBCP) national‐level authorization, discusses recent trends in research and offers some policy recommendations. By 2020, the EU had caught up with the USA regarding research output, approved MBCAs, and MBCA approval procedures (first stage). Despite improvements from 2014 to 2019, the number of authorized MBCPs (second stage) has progressed slowly and unevenly across the EU. Significant progress is concentrated in countries with more extensive agricultural land and higher research intensity. The EUʼs focus on promoting more sustainable agriculture by increasing the availability of low‐risk pesticides of biological origin as alternatives to conventional chemical pesticides has gained traction in recent years. Nevertheless, more efforts to improve the capacity and expertise of laggard EU Member States to contribute to the approval of MBCA, authorization of MBCP, and stimulating market availability are needed. Furthermore, we recommend introducing more concrete measures to promote the adoption of the microbial control of pests in the National Action Plans for the sustainable use of pesticides. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry.

Making the best of research investment in pathogens control through biocontrol. How is research correlated with agricultural microbial biological control product availability?

“…Despite aiming to promote low-risk alternatives [ 6 ], the EU has a more costly and time-consuming double-stage procedure (microbial strain approval at the EU level and product authorization at the national level) [ 7 ] than the United States, similar to chemical pesticides. The situation improved after 2018 when some MBCA were labeled low-risk substances [ 8 ], the European Food Safety Authority published several pesticide risk assessments to accelerate developments and decrease barriers, and MBCA approval accelerated [ 9 , 10 ]. Nevertheless, factors like the cost of patents, high specificity of the products, costs of product registration, complex application of MBCP, more elaborate production and storage processes [ 11 ], the difficulties in identifying efficient strains, and the complex development process leading to efficient microbial biological control products (MBCP), still hamper the development of the sector.…”

“…Furthermore, EU MS can access funding for research through European funds. In a recent article, we used WoS data to show that 2007 marked a turning point in the EU’s and China’s approach to biocontrol, as the number of articles exceeded those published by US-based scientists [ 10 ]. Here, we investigate if this change in publications is linked to the financing structure of MBCA research.…”

Compound fermentation supernatants of antagonistic bacteria control Rhizoctonia cerealis and promote wheat growth

“…In recent years, biological control agents have been paid more attention. The global biocontrol market was assessed as $1.5 billion in 2016, represented only 2% of the chemical pesticide market, and is expected to reach $3.67 billion in the world by 2022 (Helepciuc and Todor 2021). Bacillus, widely existing in nature, has a broad antifungal spectrum and plant growth-promotion properties which facilitate the formulation into biocontrol agents (Yi et al 2018).…”

Changes Are in the Air

“…Other front matter papers related to plant pathology were a review on plant virus transmission by aphids (3) and a perspective on use of metal nanoparticles against fungicide resistance (4). The use and regulation of the microbes for pest management in the EU is discussed in a perspective (5).…”