The widely predicted demand for biologicals never materialized and companies disappeared or downsized. Even this fraction is threatened as new pesticide chemistries and transgenic plants come on-line. The current paradigm for commercializing biocontrol is based on a chemical model which emphasizes major crops and cheap, stable products that are easy to scale-up and use. Biocontrol agents fit this model poorly. We need new strategies to over-come the inherent production, formulation, and distribution problems of biologicals.
Biological control is at a crossroads.
The early vision of biologicals becoming significant pest management tools has faded. No foreseeable technology appears likely to change this reality. In the next decade, biological control will either begin to play a meaningful role in specialty crops or become a curiosity relegated to organic farming.