Dr. José Roberto Postali Parra addresses an audience during an event at SPARCBio, a research centre focused on biological control and sustainable agricultural technologies in Brazil. Photo: SPARCBio

NNA News - Brazil is expanding the use of biological inputs in agriculture as researchers and producers develop pest and disease control technologies adapted to the country’s tropical conditions.

The development was highlighted during a press visit to the São Paulo Advanced Research Center for Biological Control, SPARCBio, in Piracicaba. The centre brings together the University of São Paulo’s Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture, FAPESP and biological control company Koppert to develop technologies for tropical agriculture.

The wider growth of Brazil’s bioinput sector has attracted international attention. A 2026 review in the Journal of Integrative Agriculture described Brazil as the world's leading producer and user of agricultural bioinputs, while a separate study published in the Brazilian Journal of Microbiology reported rapid growth in the sector and identified Brazil’s tropical agricultural conditions as an important driver of research and adoption.

José Roberto Postali Parra, director of SPARCBio, said Brazil could not simply reproduce biological control systems developed for different agricultural environments.

“Brazil is a leader in tropical agriculture with a different kind of agriculture, with characteristics such as open fields, two or three crops per year, crop succession and climatic conditions suitable for pests and diseases,” Parra said.

“If you are planning to develop a biological control system, it is impossible to copy from other countries. It is necessary to develop a technology with our own characteristics to serve our agriculture.”

The scale of Brazil’s farming system is one reason biological control has become an important area of research. Unlike much of the biological control used in temperate markets, which is often associated with protected cultivation and high-value crops, Brazilian researchers are developing applications for large open-field production.

One of the most significant developments followed the arrival of the pest Helicoverpa armigera in Brazil in 2013. Parra said the pest exposed limitations in conventional chemical control and accelerated the adoption of biological methods.

“The milestone in biological control is considered to be 2013, when Helicoverpa armigera was registered in Brazil,” he said.

“At that time, there was no insecticide active ingredient for this pest. So they used a specific virus and Trichogramma pretiosum, a microparasitoid. The result was fantastic.”

Research published by Parra in 2023 also identified Helicoverpa armigera as an important turning point for biological control in Brazil. The study documented the use of microorganisms and natural enemies across millions of hectares of crops, including sugarcane, soybean and maize.

Sugarcane provides one of the clearest examples. A 2026 review by Parra and Tamara Akemi Takahashi reported that Trichogramma galloi, a parasitoid used against sugarcane pests, was being deployed on about five million hectares, with large-scale releases carried out using drones.

SPARCBio's work extends beyond individual biological agents. The centre says its objective is to develop research, products and technologies that strengthen integrated pest and disease management in tropical agriculture.

That distinction is important because researchers do not necessarily see biological products as a replacement for conventional chemicals.

Ítalo Delalibera, a principal researcher at SPARCBio, said biological control was developing as an additional approach to crop protection.

“We are not competing with chemical companies, we are not taking any market share away from them,” he said.

“Biologicals are a different paradigm: we are not focusing on just one pest, we are increasing the resilience of the system and making plants healthier.”

Parra similarly said biological control should be integrated with other approaches rather than used independently.

“We are not recommending biological control alone; we are recommending IPM,” he said, referring to Integrated Pest Management.

The growth is occurring alongside a broader expansion of Brazil’s bioinput market. A 2026 review reported that sales of agricultural bioinputs reached about US$930 million in the 2023/24 harvest and that approximately 25 million hectares had been treated with bioinputs.

Brazil has also established a dedicated regulatory framework. Law No. 15,070, enacted in December 2024, covers the production, import, export, registration, sale, research and use of bioinputs across agriculture, livestock, aquaculture and forestry.

The government is still working on detailed regulations. The Ministry of Agriculture opened a proposal for regulations implementing the law in 2026.

That regulatory transition is significant because rapid growth also brings questions about quality and safety.

A study published in May 2026 found that on-farm production of microbial bioinputs can carry risks if producers do not maintain adequate quality control. Researchers identified potential contamination with non-target microorganisms and said the effectiveness and safety of such products depend on proper identification, viability testing, production controls and biosafety measures.

The study does not challenge the wider development of bioinputs. Instead, it argues that expansion needs to be accompanied by effective regulation and quality assurance.

Brazil’s agricultural research institutions are therefore working on both the biological technologies themselves and the systems required to scale them. Embrapa identifies increasing the use of biological inputs for pest control, plant growth, nutrient supply and other agricultural applications as a continuing research priority.

For SPARCBio, the next stage is to translate research into technologies that can operate at the scale and under the environmental conditions of Brazilian agriculture.

The experience is increasingly being watched beyond Brazil as countries search for ways to reduce dependence on conventional agricultural inputs while maintaining production in challenging climates.