Belchim Crop Protection

Vintec

: When product market fit drives label extension and territories

diversification

Vintec

is the name of Bi-PA’s bio fungicide which was launched six years

ago against Esca in vineyards and vine nurseries by Belchim Crop Protection.

Vintec is based on the specific

Trichoderma

strain named SC1, isolated from

hazelnut plant tissue and registered for crop protection use. While diseases

in perennial crops generally infect the annually produced organs and

structures like flowers, fruits and leaves, Esca infects the trunk through the

pruning wounds and, after a few years, it can kill the entire plant, generating

significant economic losses.

Vintec expectations were high, customers and vine growers showed their

enthusiasm by filling meeting rooms, seminars and field tours but sales did

not take off as foreseen. To trigger the demand for Vintec, it was necessary to

build awareness of the magnitude of the issue caused by lack of protection

on the pruning wounds. In fact, Esca takes a few years to spread inside the

trunk, leading to a lack of rapid visual results which is contrary to the vine

growers’ expectations.

Instead of stopping the developments with biologicals, Vintec became

Belchim’s case study to understand how to position, promote and sell a

biological product in a specific market. Several collaborations were initiated

with leading academic scientists working on Esca to better understand

Vintec’s mode of action and its intrinsic value while contacting customers,

farmers and nurseries across Europe to understand their specific needs and

the drivers for their decisions.

The Vintec project finally pivoted in 2020 with the registration of its use

against Botrytis in indoor tomato in Spain. A thorough approach was

developed to ensure the right market fit, thanks to collective work on

Vintec’s value proposition. It resulted in a successful product launch, even in

the context of a new and unexpected challenge: Covid-19.

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