Bionema Group

03/09/2026

Pleased to share that Bionema Group has been named among the nominees for the 2026 Bernard Blum Award by the International Biocontrol Manufacturers Association (IBMA).

Our nomination is for Incapsulex®, Bionema’s advanced microencapsulation platform developed to help protect biological actives and improve their performance under real-world conditions.

Biological crop protection is not only about finding an effective microorganism. Success also depends on how well that biological is protected, formulated, applied and delivered to the target.

That is exactly the challenge Incapsulex® was designed to address.

We are pleased to see this technology recognised alongside other leading innovations in biological crop protection.

Thank you to the Bionema team, our research collaborators and partners who have contributed to its development.

Bionema makes biologicals work.

Minshad Ansari World BioProtection Forum

28/08/2026

Good science is not enough.

In more than 30 years of working in biological crop protection, I have seen excellent laboratory results fail to translate into successful commercial products.

The reason is simple: performing in a Petri dish and performing reliably in a farmer’s field, as economic growers can justify, are two very different challenges.

At Bionema Group Limited, we built our platform around closing that gap: biologicals that perform under variable field conditions, can be scaled commercially, and deliver a credible economic proposition against conventional alternatives.

That approach has earned international commercial validation, including our 2021 agreement with Syngenta, and recognition through two The King's Awards for Enterprise: Innovation in 2024 and Sustainable Development in 2026.

The next challenge for our industry is not to prove that biologics can work in theory.

It is proving they can perform consistently under commercial field conditions, at scale, and at economics that drive adoption.

That is when good science becomes a real product.

Where do you think biologicals still fail most often today: field consistency, formulation, cost, or route to market?

26/08/2026

When most people hear “pesticide”, they picture synthetic chemistry.

But crop protection can also come from living microorganisms already found in nature.

Certain strains of fungi and bacteria can protect crops from damaging pests and diseases.

These microbial biopesticides can help growers reduce their reliance on synthetic pesticides while protecting crop health and productivity.

The challenge is not simply finding a microorganism.

The right strain must be selected, formulated, manufactured, applied, and validated under field conditions. That is where many promising biological products succeed or fail.

At Bionema, we combine microbial science with formulation and delivery technologies to turn promising biology into practical crop protection.

Bionema makes biologicals work.

26/08/2026

If you are a , this article is for you.

https://www.hortweek.com/dismissing-golf-course-management-degrees-spend-morning-greenkeeper/turf/article/1968138?bulletin=breakfast-briefing&utm_medium=EMAIL&utm_campaign=eNews%20Bulletin&utm_source=20260826&utm_content=Horticulture%20Week%20Breakfast%20Briefing%20(344)::&email_hash= Minshad Ansari

Before dismissing golf course management degrees, spend a morning with a greenkeeper - from HortWeek

25/08/2026

𝗕𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗼𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗯𝗶𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁, 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁.

Biological crop protection products, biostimulants and biofertilisers perform fundamentally different jobs.

𝗕𝗶𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗺𝘂𝗹𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘀 support plant processes such as nutrient-use efficiency, stress tolerance and plant development.

𝗕𝗶𝗼𝗳𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘀 use beneficial microorganisms to improve nutrient availability and support plant nutrition.

𝗕𝗶𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗿𝗼𝗽-𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 products target specific pests and diseases through biological modes of action.

Confusing these categories leads to unrealistic expectations and poor programme design.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲:

What agronomic problem are we trying to solve?

Once that is defined, the appropriate biology, formulation, application timing and delivery system can be selected.

That is how biologicals should be integrated into modern crop-management programmes.

23/08/2026

"The future of crop protection is not about replacing chemistry with biology. It is about making biology perform with the consistency growers expect."

Biological crop protection has advanced enormously. But strong laboratory biology is not enough.

Growers do not buy scientific potential. They need reliable performance in the field, under variable temperature, UV exposure, moisture, application conditions, and pest pressure.

That is why I believe the next stage of biological crop protection will be driven as much by formulation and delivery technologies as by the microorganisms themselves.

Chemistry has spent decades optimising formulation, stability and application. Biologicals now need the same level of engineering.

At Bionema Group Limitedma, that is what our platform technologies are built for — Incapsulex® for microbial protection and stability, Adhesulex™ for spreading, adhesion and target delivery, BiofilmTech® for root-zone establishment and persistence. The objective isn't to replace chemistry. It's to make biological solutions consistent, scalable, and commercially credible enough for growers to adopt with confidence.

What do you see as the biggest barrier to wider biological adoption: efficacy, consistency, cost, regulation, or grower confidence?

21/08/2026

Golf has an £85 million problem hiding beneath the fairway.

And most golfers will never know what caused it.

ADAS estimated that chafer grubs alone can cost UK golf courses up to £85 million a year through lost income and damage repair.

In a separate survey of 400 golf courses, only 1% reported no damage from leatherjackets and chafer grubs.

Yet when golfers see damaged greens, weakened fairways or turf torn apart by birds searching for larvae, very few will know what is happening underneath.

One of the culprits is the leatherjacket, the larval stage of the crane fly, or daddy-longlegs.

But here is the part that matters.

The damage you see in spring often starts with decisions made months earlier.

Adult crane flies emerge and lay their eggs from late summer into autumn. Within weeks, young larvae begin feeding below the turf.

By the time severe damage becomes visible, the best biological treatment window may already have passed.

After more than 30 years working with biological pest control, I have learnt that this is where biologicals are often misunderstood.

It is rarely enough to ask:

“Which product should I use?”

The better questions are:
When should I intervene?
Where is the pest in its lifecycle?
Can I get the biological agent to the target?
Are the soil temperature and moisture right?

Timing and delivery can determine whether biological control succeeds or disappoints.

That is why late summer and early autumn matter so much for leatherjacket management.

In this short video, I explain what is happening beneath the turf and why acting before visible damage develops can make such a difference.

For golf course managers and greenkeepers, prevention is considerably cheaper than rebuilding damaged turf.

What happens beneath the fairway now can determine what golfers see next spring.

19/08/2026

Biologicals do not succeed on biology alone.
Field performance depends on the combination of the right biological active, the right formulation and the right delivery system.

At Bionema, this is the principle behind our work across biological crop protection, biostimulants, biofertilisers and enabling technologies including Incapsulex®, Adhesulex™ and BiofilmTech®.

The objective is practical: help growers protect crops, improve plant health and use agricultural inputs more efficiently while reducing reliance on synthetic chemistry where effective biological alternatives are available.

Achieving that requires collaboration across science, growers, manufacturers, distributors, regulators and commercial partners.

Better biology. Better formulation. Better delivery. Better field performance.

Minshad Ansari

19/08/2026

Europe's extreme weather is turning climate-resilient farming from a sustainability discussion into an economic necessity.

Almost three-quarters of England is now officially in drought. The UK cereals and oilseeds harvest is on track to be the worst since detailed records began in 1984. And the June heatwave is estimated to have wiped more than €2 billion from European grain production.

This is no longer simply a sustainability issue. It is becoming a farm economics, food security and supply-chain problem.

Regenerative farming and better soil management are part of the answer. But on their own, they will not be enough.

Farmers need an integrated resilience toolbox: drought-tolerant varieties, healthier soils, smarter water management, precision agriculture, biological crop protection, microbial biostimulants and technologies that improve nutrient-use efficiency.

For biologicals, that creates both an opportunity and a responsibility.

Strong performance under controlled conditions is not enough. Products must perform reliably under heat stress, drought and increasingly unpredictable field conditions.

Climate resilience will not be proven in a laboratory. It will be proven in the field, season after season, under real pressure.

That is where the next generation of agricultural innovation must focus, and where investment needs to go now, not five years from now.

Where are you seeing the biggest resilience gaps in the field this season? I would particularly like to hear from growers and agronomists.

Source: Reuters, 19 August 2026.

Minshad Ansari World BioProtection Forum