Deployment

Increasing adoption through improved efficacy protocols and co-benefit capture

Getting the metrics right – success and sustainability indicators of biologicals

The team: Sarina Macfadyen, Louise Thatcher, Bree Martin, Marta Gallart, Simon Law, Luke Barrett

The challenge

There are increasing calls for and a need to adopt non-chemical controls in crop protection. Biological products encompassing microbial biological control agents (MBCAs), or microbial derived natural products (biopesticides) are of increasing interest as sustainable alternatives. In addition to reducing pest or pathogen populations in-field, they often have lower residues or shorter withholding periods. Biologicals also offer other benefits over traditional chemical controls that are not captured in scientific or industry trials. For example, good for resistance stewardship, good for soil health and diversity, soft on beneficial insects.

Yet, the adoption of biologicals faces several barriers.

Biologicals are typically evaluated with protocols developed for chemicals and are benchmarked against chemicals. This leads to an expectation that biologicals should perform and behave like chemicals, such that their metrics of success are not accurately captured.

Our response

How do we challenge industry thinking towards accepting a change in practice when using biologicals and capture the broader farming systems benefits of their adoption?  

To answer this, we are identifying and developing metrics, indicators and tools to quantify ‘success’, ‘failure’, and ‘added benefits’. This includes

• incorporation of scientific studies and new method development from laboratory to field scale that provide a functional understanding of when biologicals work, and when they don’t,
• developing and testing quantitative indicators that demonstrate improved sustainability in terms of resistance development, improved pest management, or ecosystem health or diversity when using biologicals,
• working with industry to develop or socialise protocols relevant to biologicals,
• working with industry to evaluate products or provide a framework and tools for doing so,
• working with industry to promote the success stories of adopted biological products

Impact

Quantitative indicators are obtained and inform stakeholders and guide the transition to biologicals so that the desired benefits of improved biodiversity and sustainability are realised on farm.

Learn more here

Overcoming a chemically limited future for weed, pest and disease control in agriculture

Are biologicals more durable than conventional chemical pesticides?

The team: Louise Thatcher, Marta Gallart, Lachlan Dow, Vincent Nowak and Luke Barrett

The challenge

An over-reliance on conventional pesticides with similar modes of action has led to resistance development in pathogens or pests, giving rise to failures in crop protection. Driven by these and other concerns, industry is increasingly committed towards the development of sustainable and emerging technologies, such as biologicals.

Biological solutions typically function through a range of biological modes of action and are therefore generally thought to be more durable as the pathogen or pest must simultaneously evolve multiple mechanisms to achieve resistance. However, limited evidence on the resistance risks of biological crop protection products exists, and we know relatively little about the potential of biological modes of action to be overcome. This knowledge gap means we may not be able manage risks and product durability over time.

Our response

We are assessing resistance risks of biologicals against traditional chemical pesticides through a combination of modelling and empirical testing in the laboratory, glasshouse and field. Data outputs are being used to develop predictive tools and frameworks for proactive resistance management, should they exist, including a framework for developing stewardship options to maintain the durability and longevity of novel biologicals. Our research also aims to investigate types of biological solutions with lower risk of efficacy loss, i.e. modes of action that do not favour the selection of resistant isolates in natural populations. Importantly, to avoid the mistakes and failures of conventional pesticides, we are applying learnings to guide the selection of optimal biologicals.

A global effort

We developed new collaborations with researchers at INRAe (France) and the USDA-ARS Cereal Disease Lab (CDL) (USA) to deepen our understanding on the durability of biological solutions across pathogens of global interest. This included reciprocal access to capability and resources, including unique collections of pathogen diversity panels (Fusarium, Sclerotinia, Botrytis) that can be screened against biologicals to evaluate their durability.

Want to get involved and join us in benchmarking biologicals? We welcome interest from academia and industry to join us or fund our efforts. Please reach out to Louise.Thatcher@csiro.au

Impact

Our research is developing the methods required to establish the resistance risks of biological solutions and implications for field efficacy. In developing predictive tools and frameworks for the proactive management of resistance risks in new products, we aim to help prolong product life and provide practical and credible information to help the agriculture industry evaluate biologicals, and assist them to transition from chemical controls to biological crop protection solutions.

Building a global network, we aim to develop the necessary predictive tools and stewardship strategies essential for preserving the durability and longevity of innovative biological solutions. Our research will advance global knowledge, whilst delivering innovative crop protection strategies tailored towards Australian crop production industries.

Learn more here

Harnessing Actinobacteria for Crop Protection: Current Advances and Future Perspectives. Thatcher, Louise; Gallart Diumenge, Marta. Harnessing Actinobacteria for Crop Protection: Current Advances and Future Perspectives. In: Professor Shashi Sharma and Dr Minshad Ansari, editor/s. Advances in bioprotection of plants against diseases. Burleigh Dodds Science Publishing; 2025. 139-172. https://doi.org/10.19103/AS.2024.0142.11