Report on “Biostimulants World Congress 2021” in Florida, U.S.

Ac-Planta Inc. has exhibited at Biostimulants World Congress 2021, a biostimulants exhibition held in Miami, Florida, the USA from November 30 to December 2. In this article, I will introduce the exhibition hall and an overview of the business meetings.

Most of the exhibitors were European and American companies. There were also companies from Brazil and India.

First of all, most of the exhibitors were from the U.S. and Europe. That’s about 80%. As for the remaining 20%, there were companies from Brazil and India, and only one company from Japan, Ac-Planta Inc.

This is the view from the hotel where the exhibition was held. The beautiful view made my heart dance.

The exhibition was held in Barcelona, Spain two years ago in 2019, and those who knew it then said that the number of visitors had been reduced by about half this year due to the coronavirus.

Since this was an exhibition specializing in biostimulants, all the visitors were interested in biostimulant materials and technologies, so it was easy to communicate with them, and we were able to have a very meaningful exchange of opinions. Most of the exhibitors were manufacturers, but some wholesalers and companies undertake performance tests and product registration in various countries. The main purpose of the visitors was to look for new materials, and there were also representatives from major trading companies and manufacturers from Japanese companies.

Ac-Planta Inc.’s unique technology was recognized as unique and gave us confidence.

We received many comments from visitors to our booth, such as, “The development approach to improve plant resistance through the activity of genes related to environmental stress using the epigenetics technology of ACPLANTA is unique and interesting because it is completely different from the biostimulant products currently on the market. This approach is unique and interesting because it is completely different from other biostimulant products currently on the market.” We received many comments from the audience, which gave us renewed confidence in our technology. Everyone listened attentively to my explanation of the technical mechanism, and I felt that I had a good response.

The following is a summary of the specific companies and discussions we had.

(1) Global chemical manufacturer in Europe

A marketing representative visited us after reading the introduction page of ACPLANTA on the exhibition website in advance. He showed interest in our basic techniques and we were able to talk with him in the context of joint research and product development.

(2) Wholesalers in Canada

They were interested in Skeepon’s expansion in Canada. The person in charge of the project was a former frequent visitor to Japanese exhibitions, so he had a good understanding of the Japanese market. Therefore, he trusted Japanese technical capabilities and responded positively to our request.

(3) A company that supports product registration and performance testing in Italy

We have been researching product registration in countries around the world as we expand our business overseas. In the meantime, we were told that Skepon may be able to be registered as a plant-activating agent in Italy, rather than as a pesticide. This is very useful information for us to register our products in Europe. We will be investigating the details.

We would like to use our participation in the exhibition as an opportunity to accelerate our overseas expansion.

We believe that the following three points were achieved through our participation in this exhibition.

(1) We were able to discover and develop joint research partners.

(2) We were able to develop sales agents in various countries.

(3) We have started to register our products overseas.

Although the exhibition was held in the U.S., we were able to have business meetings with companies from various countries and regions, mainly Europe. This was also the first overseas exhibition for ACPLANTA, and we were able to gain a lot of interest in our approach to developing biostimulants that are completely different from other companies’ products, which gave us a lot of confidence. We would like to continue to promote our research and technological capabilities in overseas markets.