Meet the AgriBusiness Global 2026 Visionary Leaders (Part 2)

Meet the AgriBusiness Global 2026 Visionary Leaders (Part 2) As part of the AgriBusiness Global 2026 Visionary Awards, ABG asked this year’s 20 winners about industry trends, tips for navigating those trends, and how they’ve transformed challenges into opportunities throughout their careers. The honorees, who exemplify foresight, flexibility, and innovation, were chosen by the AgriBusiness Global Advisory Board and an internal team at Meister Media Worldwide. Over the next month, AgriBusiness Global will feature five winners each week. In this part, we profile Nadia Gagliardini, President, Sipcam Oxon Spa; S. N. Gupta, Chairman & Managing Director, Bharat Group; Guo Junhui, President, Hebei Bestar Industry Co., Ltd.; Sandeepa Kanitkar, Founder & Managing Director, Kan Biosys Private Ltd.; and Dennis Lu, Vice Managing Director, Shenzhen Baocheng Chemical Industry Co., Ltd. Nadia Gagliardini President Sipcam Oxon Spa ABG: What trends are you noticing in the market, and how are you navigating those trends? Gagliardini: Three trends that I am observing are the following. First, there is intense competition from major manufacturing countries. Second, there are shifting and unpredictable policies and environmental regulations. Third is the rapid adoption of digital tools and AI — even at farm level. TIPS Stay consistent and live frugally. ABG: How have you turned challenges into opportunities throughout your career? How are you using technology at your company? Gagliardini: Courage is a key value for me. I believe that as part of our DNA, we always find a way to transform a challenge in opportunity. In an increasingly competitive market, we stayed focused on our core business and never stopped investing in innovation and our people. We made bold bets — through investments and partnerships — to strengthen the business and build resilience against market swings and volatility … we have had a steady growth, and we look to the future with confidence. That’s something I’m truly proud of. Technology is a powerful driver of innovation in crop protection and biostimulants. The first thing that comes to mind is next-generation formulations that deliver real value and convenience to growers. It also gives us a competitive edge in active ingredient manufacturing through smarter, more efficient synthesis routes. We believe that the impact in the coming years will be huge and we are adjusting to it. S. N. Gupta Chairman & Managing Director Bharat Group ABG: What trends are you noticing in the market, and how are you navigating those trends? Gupta: The three key trends in 2026 are, first, the rising demand for sustainable and environmentally friendly agrochemicals. The second is the increasing outsourcing by global innovators to reliable manufacturers. The third is the growing importance of high-quality intermediates for complex patented molecules and products having green chemistry with lowest toxicity. TIPS To navigate these trends, first, we need to invest continuously in R&D and green chemistry and meet regulatory expectations. Second, deepen strategic collaborations with key partners, multinational corporations, and Japanese firms to secure long-term contracts. This approach ensures resilience, technological access, and sustained growth in a competitive global agrochemical value chain. ABG: How have you turned challenges into opportunities throughout your career? How are you using technology at your company? Gupta: Bharat Rasayan Limited has leveraged technology through strong in-house R&D, process optimization, and integrated manufacturing to produce high-purity technicals and intermediates meeting global standards at the same time minimizing impurities. We recently inaugurated our third R&D center at Bahadurgarh, Haryana. Our three manufacturing facilities act as enablers for excellence in newer chemistries, enabling efficient scale-up and consistent quality. Over the past decade, tightening regulations and global supply chain shifts were converted into opportunities by focusing on contract manufacturing for MNC and Japanese partners, backward integration, and capacity expansion at Dahej. This strengthened export-led growth, improved cost efficiencies and positioned the company as a reliable global supplier of patented and off-patent molecules. Guo Junhui President Hebei Bestar Industry Co., Ltd. ABG: What trends are you noticing in the market, and how are you navigating those trends? Junhui: Global rules and buyer demand are pushing hard for lower-toxicity, low-residue, and eco-friendly chemistries (like advanced neonicotinoids with better environmental profiles) and cleaner manufacturing. Compliance and carbon footprint are now competitive differentiators. Resistance to older chemistries is accelerating. The industry is shifting from single active ingredients to integrated pest management (IPM) programs, tailored formulations, and rotation strategies that preserve long-term efficacy. Customers want complete crop systems, not just chemicals. TIPS Upgrade production for lower emissions and higher purity. Refine formulations of imidacloprid/acetamiprid to boost selectivity, reduce resistance, and meet global environmental standards. This turns regulatory pressure into an export edge. Build integrated, customer-centric offerings. Pair your products with application guidance, resistance management plans, and digital support. Position your company as a solution provider, not just a supplier — strengthening partnerships in South America, North America, and other key markets. ABG: How have you turned challenges into opportunities throughout your career? How are you using technology at your company? Junhui: Over the past decade, we faced stricter regulations, market competition, and supply chain changes. We turned these challenges into opportunities by upgrading our technology, optimizing our operations, and focusing on sustainable products. This helped us build stronger global partnerships and achieve steady growth in exports. We use advanced production technology and digital automation to improve the quality and efficiency of Imidacloprid and Acetamiprid. We also focus on cleaner, greener manufacturing processes to meet global environmental and safety standards, which strengthens our competitiveness in international markets. Sandeepa Kanitkar Founder & Managing Director Kan Biosys Private Ltd. ABG: What trends are you noticing in the market, and how are you navigating those trends? Kanitkar: One of the trends I see is biologicals moving from alternative to mainstream integration. Biologicals are no longer niche products. They are now part of the integrated crop management system. It has become imperative for companies to not just prove product efficacy, but also tank mix compatibility, as there is an increasing need for biologicals to tank mix with chemicals. Fertilizer and agrochemical companies must think about soil health, environmental impact, food safety, and decreasing product efficiency and partner with biological companies for improving soil health, nutrient use efficiency, and food safety, and delaying resistance buildup. Another trend is that climate volatility is driving demand for resilient solutions. What we see now is erratic rainfall, heat stress, and soil degradation across many geographies and the rise of biostimulants, stress-mitigating microbes, and carbon-focused inputs. Products must shift from yield maximization to risk mitigation. Sustainability is the purpose on which regenerative agriculture rests. Currently, demand for biologicals is strong in high-value agriculture like horticulture and export-oriented crops like basmati rice, tea, etc. Lastly, there is the consolidation and platformization of agri-input companies. Large players are continuing to acquire biological startups, and there is a clear emergence of full-stack, agri-platforms (seeds + chemicals + biologicals + digital). It is becoming imperative for standalone players to define their strategic role. TIPS It is time that we build interoperability and not work in isolation. We must ensure that the biological products work with chemical programs and easily integrate with digital advisory platforms. It is important to avoid positioning biologicals as a replacement, but position them as enhancers. The future is not biological versus chemical; it is biological + chemical + digital. Invest in proof, not just promise: multilocation trials, crop-specific data, ROI-driven messaging (price per acre benefit). The industry should move toward data-backed claims for global markets as data along with the microbe has become the new active ingredient. The crop protection industry is undergoing a fundamental shift from input-driven agriculture to outcome-driven agriculture. Biologicals are at the center of this transition, but success will depend on three things: scientific credibility, manufacturing consistency, and digital integration. Companies that can combine these will define the next decade of agriculture. ABG: How have you turned challenges into opportunities throughout your career? How are you using technology at your company? Kanitkar: The biggest challenge faced by biological companies over the last decade has been inconsistent field performance of the microbial products in different geographies and agro climatic conditions. This created an opportunity to develop multistrain consortia with region-specific formulations, which was a clear shift from “one-size-fits-all” to agro-climatic customization. The other major challenge that still continues in a lot of markets, is the low farmer trust in biologicals. Kan Biosys invested heavily over the last decade in farmer demonstration trials with clear data transparency, thereby positioning biologicals as complementary, not alternative, to chemicals. Finally, there was regulatory ambiguity across a lot of markets, and the opportunity we took was building global-compliant manufacturing and documentation systems, which for us enabled export expansion and premium positioning. I believe that, over the last decade, the biggest shift has been from selling products to delivering predictable biological outcomes, and technology has been the bridge to achieve it. This is supported by the transitioning of the farmer’s toolbox: To improve profits, to economize cost of cultivation, and realize genetic potential despite climate change and soil status, successful farmers are now allocating 30% to 50% of costs to biofertilizers, biopesticides, biostimulants, and carbon sequestration. We are using precision biology and data-driven strain selection, moving from “trial-and-error microbiology” to genomics-assisted screening, AI-led strain selection, metabolite profiling, and compatibility mapping to accelerate the development of high-efficacy, climate-resilient microbial consortia. We are transitioning from selling microbes to engineering biological performance systems. The innovation potential in the biological sector is what is exciting, with CRISPR, high-density fermentations, and formulations changing the sophistication level and market potential. We are using advanced bioreactor optimization (fed-batch and continuous systems), shelf-life extension through lyophilization, encapsulation, protective carriers, and stabilizers to produce high-CFU, contamination-free, export-grade products. We are integrating digital agriculture by linking products with advisory platforms, weather data, and soil intelligence, thereby building evidence-based recommendation systems. We support farmers with outcome-based solutions, not just inputs because of our central belief that biologicals perform best when paired with decision-support systems and not in isolation. Microbe-intensive-climate-resilient package of practices is the way ahead. Dennis Lu Vice Managing Director Shenzhen Baocheng Chemical Industry Co., Ltd. ABG: What trends are you noticing in the market, and how are you navigating those trends? Lu: A few trends that need to be studied are, in the short term, due to the war, all the chemicals are in tight supply. In the longer term, for most products, the capacity is too huge in China now, and the price level will stay low and even go down again. A second trend is that more and more products will be exported and sold in formulation type. It has already been a trend for three years in China. Thus, we should embrace the trend, improving ourselves to meet more demands from our customers. Lastly, for technicals, the big manufacturers will become bigger, and government restrictions will become more in the future. TIPS 1. Pay more attention to the market trend, spend more time to check out the newest news/trends in the agrochemical area, and read more leading media of the area (like ABG). 2. For medium/small companies that want to grow, build good relationships with the big players of the technicals. Support from big manufacturers is critical. ABG: How have you turned challenges into opportunities throughout your career? How are you using technology at your company? Lu: Our agrochemical experts at our factory’s lab are with many years experience in formulation development, and they have developed and improved our formulation recipes for many products. With these specific recipes, we have earned good reputation from our customers. Also, with the AI tech now, I have used it to solve our customers problems about “what products to use to kill specific pests/weeds/diseases. I think we will use the AI more and more in the future.