Market Trends of North America Biofertilizers Industry
Increasing Demand for Crops with Higher Quality and Yields
The growing population in North America is leading to a decline in the proportion of arable land, which is primarily used to produce food. This necessitates cultivating in poor soils. The application of biofertilizers helps in enhancing the yield and the quality of the soil. Therefore, it also improves the bioavailability of all kinds of nutrients. This, in turn, is anticipated to contribute to productivity, nutrient content, and profitability.
When biofertilizers are properly used to replenish nutrients removed from previous crops, they are anticipated to improve the productivity of farms. An increase in farm productivity is beneficial to the environment, primarily due to the lower requirement of land, labor, and energy per unit of output.
Consumption of organic food has become a popular trend in the last few years due to the awareness of a healthy diet. Organic food sales in the United States reached a record of 49.4 billion in 2017, an increase of 6.4% compared to the previous year. According to the FiBl, North America has 5% of organic agricultural land in the world, while the United States stands as the fifth-largest country. This is expected to drive the usage of biofertilizers in North America.
Rhizobium Biofertilizers Hold the Largest Market Share
The rhizobium segment accounted for 36.6% of the North American market in 2019. Rhizobium is a naturally occurring nitrogen-fixing bacterium found especially in the root nodules of leguminous plants. It has been estimated that 40-250 kg of nitrogen per hectare per year is fixed by different legume crops by microbial activities of rhizobium. In terms of products, rhizobium also accounts for the major share of biofertilizer production globally.
The popular genera used as biofertilizers are Bradyrhizobium, Sinorhizobium, Azorhizobium, Mesorhizobium, and Allorhizobium. Some popular Rhizobium-based products are Cell-Tech® (Novozymes), Nitragin Gold® (Novozymes), TagTeam® (Novozymes), Mamezo® (Tokachi Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives), R-Processing Seeds® (Tokachi Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives), and Hyper Coating Seeds ® (Tokachi Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives).
There is constant research being carried out to develop strains that are biotic/abiotic stress-tolerant across the region. For instance, Rhizobium trifolii inoculated with Trifoliumalexandrinum displayed higher biomass and increased nodulation under salinity stress conditions.
