Navigating Crop Protection Regulations and Innovations

In this episode of the Villa Botcast, we take you behind the scenes of the crop protection industry’s evolving regulatory landscape. Discover how Villa navigated major product restrictions, overcame complex labelling hurdles, and continues to invest in innovative, safer solutions—both chemical and biological. Hear how Bianca Rabie's strategic “hurdle” approach to product development helps the team focus, adapt, and stay ahead. Plus, don’t miss details about the exciting Villa Crop Capture Challenge and how you can enter to win epic prizes.

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Transcript

Hi there and welcome to the Villa Botcast. You're on the go audio hub for smarter crop protection. Quick heads up before we jump in. This episode is voiced by AI for speed and accessibility, but every insight you hear was crafted by real experts at Villa. That means you get reliable, expert backed information anytime, anywhere.

Okay, let's, let's dive into this. Imagine, if you will, an entire industry facing this constant barrage of new rules, new regulations, often with very little warning time. Yeah. Like overnight sometimes. Exactly. How do you even begin to keep essential products available? Products people rely on when the ground rules are just constantly shifting under your feet? It's a massive challenge. It really is. And while lots of businesses deal with red tape, for some the stakes are incredibly high. We're talking impacts on the environment, sure. But also, you know, global food security, absolutely critical stuff.

So today we're taking a deep dive into the world of crop protection. Specifically, we're looking at how a company like Villa, tackles this incredibly complex, constantly changing regulatory landscape. Right. Our mission here, it's really to uncover how they don't just sort of survive these shifts, but how they might actually turn regulation, which sounds like a burden, into maybe a driver for innovation, for strategic growth.

That's a really good way to frame it, because our source material, it gives us this fascinating inside look, doesn't it, at Villa’s approach. It does. And it's largely through the perspective of Bianca Rabie who's their manager of regulatory affairs and research. So we'll be digging into the specific challenges. She talks about the well, the pretty creative and systematic strategies they use. Systematic is a good word for it. Yeah. And just the sheer adaptability needed to make sure farmers still get the tools they need, especially when facing huge changes like, you know, major product bans.

Okay, so let's start with that dynamic world, Bianca. She makes it clear. Regulatory affairs and crop protection is anything but monotonous. The requirements are always changing. What's the part that keeps them really on their toes? The most unpredictable bit. Well, it's a puzzle. Like you said, but it's a puzzle with immense responsibility. It's not just about Villa checking boxes for compliance, right? It's got these much wider implications for food security. I mean, if farmers can't get the products they need, crop yields drop. And that affects all of us eventually.

Yeah, Bianca emphasizes that. Yeah. Okay. There are strict black or white rules, definitely. But the constant evolution of those rules that demand some really creative problem solving, especially when products get pulled from the market. So the question becomes, what else can you offer? Yeah, exactly. How do we fill that gap effectively? What innovative alternatives can we bring?

And Bianca herself, she's kind of lived this evolution, hasn't she? Her career path reflects it started at Meridian Agritech way back in December 2015. Then Meridian became part of Winfield United S.A. in 2021 and she moved over to Villa. She's worked through different regulatory roles product development. Yeah. So you know from multiple sides and then took on her current manager role on September 1st, 2024. So that's what nearly a decade of navigating these shifts. Yeah. And that long term view is so valuable. She really pinpoints the core challenges. First just staying up to date. Constant must be relentless totally. Second truly understanding what the changes mean in practice, not just on paper. And third, maybe the most daunting part, actually implementing those changes across Villa's massive product portfolio, which is huge, right? How many products? We're talking around 800 different products. Imagine the sheer logistics, the admin headache, managing all those individual registrations, labels. It's enormous.

Okay. That scale. It brings up a question for me how does communication even work in a big company like the distributed people out in the field? Yeah, not everyone's glued email, right? A field agent is driving farm to farm. How do you make sure they get crucial regulatory updates quickly and well understand them. You've really hit on a key point there. And Villa they actually came up with a pretty smart, effective solution. Bianca and her team, they go to all the relevant industry meetings, soak up all the info okay. So they're the intelligence gather. Exactly. Then they take these often really complex regulatory updates and distill them down into concise ten minute presentations. Ten minutes. That's impressive. Yeah, yeah. Delivered every Monday morning via Teams. And they're not dry technical dumps. They designed them in simple, practical terms explaining what the changes and crucially, how it actually impacts the staff in their day to day work and their clients. Okay, that impact part is key. Totally. And they record them so people can catch up later. Plus they make it super clear who to contact if you have questions. It just simplifies everything for the people actually doing the work on the ground.

That communication strategy sounds absolutely vital, but okay, let's get to the real curveball. The thing that must have really tested their agility. The ban on CMR 1A and 1B products. The big one. Yeah. For anyone listening who isn't familiar. CMR stands for carcinogenic, mutagenic or reproductively toxic. We're talking serious potential health concerns right. And this wasn't a minor tweak. It affected what 55 Villa products? 55 yeah a significant chunk. And they had to be phased out and replaced within a decade.

Now ten years might sound like a long time, but in this industry, exactly when registering a new product can easily take six years just on its own. That ten year window suddenly looks incredibly tight. It's incredibly tight. The main deadline for that CMR ban was May 31st, 2020 for very reason, though importantly, some critical extensions were granted for specific products, pushing their deadline to May 31st, 2025. But still, this wasn't some far off possibility. It was a hard, looming deadline that needed serious, immediate action.

So faced with losing 55 products, how do you even start? What was Villa's first move? Their strategic challenge? Well, the key thing in this comes through strongly is that they didn't just react defensively, they were strategic. They diversified their response really a multi-pronged approach. Okay. Like what. So first tough decisions. They just discontinued 37 products entirely. Cut them loose okay 37 gone gone. For others they sought derogations. That's basically asking for an extension. Permission for continued use beyond the deadline. They put in two applications for specific critical post emergent herbicides. Things farmers really relied on. It's exactly hoping to stretch their use out until the final final ban implementation in 2035. Those requests are still pending, by the way, which shows you the kind of long game they have to play sometimes. Right. So derogations are about buying crucial time while you work on alternatives.

What else was in their toolkit? Well, beyond buying time, they also managed to get six products reclassified. They submitted new safety data, basically arguing the initial classification wasn't accurate anymore. Interesting. So they challenged the basis of the ban for some products. In a way, yes, based on updated science, it shows they're constantly reevaluating. And then there were the formulations changes. Lots of those. They did 28 minor tweaks, minor tweaks like adjusting inactive ingredients for the thing. Yeah. Smaller changes to meet the new standards. Yeah. But they also undertook seven major reformulations big changes to the product itself. Five of those were done by April, with the last two nearly finished them. So they really tried to salvage products where possible. Exactly. It shows this pragmatic commitment to making existing things compliant if they could, rather than just scrapping everything. It's a mix of strategies.

Okay, that's a huge effort. But let's go back to the 37. They did discontinue. How did they replace those? Farmers needed solutions right. You can't just leave a gap. No you absolutely can't. And this is where Villa's existing really large product portfolio became a massive asset. So they could look internally first. Precisely. They didn't necessarily have to invent something brand new for every single gap.

What's interesting is how systematic they were about it. They figured out, okay, which of these banned products are still heavily used? What specific pests or diseases do they target? And crucially, where is their overlap? Do we already have other products that can do a similar job? So mapping the functions exactly. Mapping functions, identifying gaps where they found a deficit like no good solution for a particular pest or a certain crop, or during the specific season. Then they assigned dedicated project teams to investigate and develop alternatives. But the key is it wasn't always a one for one replacement. Sometimes one existing compliant product could effectively cover the function of, say, 2 or 3 of the discontinued ones because of that strategic overlap you mentioned, it's about finding the best overall toolkit for the farmer, not just a direct swap for every single item. That makes sense. It's all about that strategic agility, isn't it?

Okay, let's pivot slightly. Another category of change. You mentioned bringing its own practical headaches. Restricted agricultural remedies.

These are the products only registered pest control officers, PCOS, can buy or use, or they have to be used under strict PCO supervision. That sounds like a whole different layer of complexity for sales and use. It absolutely is. And again, it affected a fair number of products. 55, in this case, were hit by this change. 55 again, wow. And the practical challenges, like you said, were significant, especially with stock they already had manufactured sitting in their warehouses. Right. So if you've got pallets of this stuff already made, already labeled, what's the hurdle? Can't they just sell it with maybe new instructions or something? No, it wasn’t that simple. Unfortunately for 29 of those 55 products, they had existing stock that needed completely new labels before a single box could be sold. New labels reflecting the PCO restriction. Exactly. And crucially, those new labels had to be formally submitted to and approved by the registrar, the regulatory authority. Under Act 36. You can’t just print your own. So more bureaucratic hurdles, even for existing inventory. You got it. At the time our source material was put together, they’d submitted new label applications for all 55 affected products. They were working through it, 46 had already gotten approval. But yeah, it’s another huge logistical and administrative task managing label updates across that many products, tracking existing inventory. It’s intense. Absolutely.

Okay, so we’ve talked a lot about reacting to bans, restrictions, labeling changes. But looking forward, how does Villa approach new product development, especially when, as we said, it takes 5 or 6 years just to get something to market. How do you decide what to invest in now, hoping it will still be relevant and compliant years down the track? That requires some serious foresight. Yeah, that’s a really critical strategic question. And this is another area where Bianca Rabie’s systematic approach that comes through in the source material really shines. She apparently implemented this process specifically to weed out less viable ideas early on. Okay, how does that work? She calls them basic hurdles. Ideas coming from the agronomy teams or the commercial side, they have to pass these hurdles before serious development money and time get committed. Like a filter system. Pretty much. First hurdle: do we already have enough products in this market segment, or maybe something similar already in the development pipeline? Avoid duplication. Focuses effort. Makes sense? Don’t reinvent the wheel. Exactly.

Second hurdle: what about export markets, especially big ones like the EU? They look ahead. Are there potential regulations coming down the line in those markets? They could block this product’s export later. You don’t want to spend years developing something you ultimately can’t sell where you need to. Smart thinking globally from day one, right? Third hurdle: sourcing. Where will the active ingredients come from? Are new suppliers needed? Do existing reliable suppliers have it? And crucially, do they have the regulatory data required to support registration? That data package is vital. And expensive I imagine. Very.

And finally, hurdle four: decide upfront which specific crops you’re developing this for. That way you can plan the necessary field trials properly, budget accurately for the required three years of trials. No scope creep later on. So it’s not just about having a good chemical idea, it’s about whether that idea fits the business strategy. The long-term regulatory forecast, the global trade picture. You nailed it. It’s all connected. And this strategic hurdle-based system, it allows for much better planning all the way through—planning the submission to the registrar, planning the launch, the marketing. It makes sure development efforts are focused, efficient, and ultimately create real value for Villa and for the farmers.

It’s fascinating, this proactive approach. It sort of hints at the broader trends, doesn’t it? Given all these shifts, what does Bianca see coming down the pipeline? What are the key future developments Villa is positioning itself for? Yes, she definitely has an eye on the future. She points to biological products—things derived from natural sources like microbes or plant extracts—as one of the most important developments. The bio trend is big everywhere. It is, and she emphasizes needing to integrate them thoughtfully into Villa’s portfolio, not just as replacements, but maybe in combination with other things, alongside those things like biostimulants and plant growth regulators—products that boost the plant’s own health and defenses—they’re expected to play a much bigger role. Okay, so more focus on plant health itself, right? And nematicides, that’s another critical area. She highlights nematicides—those target the little worms in the soil. Right. Nematodes. Exactly. Microscopic worms that cause huge crop damage. The problem is many of the older nematicides, the older active ingredients, are pretty toxic and are now heavily restricted or banned. So there’s a real need for new, safer options there. A definite gap to fill, for sure. But—and this is important—she stresses that while biologicals are vital, we also still need new chemical products, just ones with much better, safer toxicity profiles. So it’s not either-or. Not at all. Her view is that biologicals alone simply cannot secure global food production at the scale needed, so Villa is planning to keep investing in both pathways—developing safer chemicals and integrating biologicals. It’s about building a balanced, resilient toolbox for farmers for the future. That makes a lot of sense.

So looking at the big picture, what does all this tell us about the adaptability of the whole crop protection industry? It sounds like they’re just constantly being pushed, forced to innovate and evolve. They really are. Bianca talks about how these rapid, significant changes—she mentions GHS, the Globally Harmonized System for Chemical Classification and Labeling. Yes, standardising hazard communication, right? That or these big CMR restrictions. Initially they seem overwhelming, maybe even impossible, as she puts it, but they ultimately force the industry to learn extreme agility, to find new ways of work. Trial by fire, almost. Kind of. She even gives this great example of someone from their finance department learning how to prepare a complex regulatory dossier. Wow. Really? Finance? Yeah, it just highlights how crucial teamwork and cross-functional collaboration become when you’re navigating these huge challenges. Everyone has to pitch in and maybe learn new skills. That’s a fantastic illustration.

And she shares another great anecdote about chlorpyrifos. Oh yeah, that was a big one. Widely used insecticide. Hugely used, yeah. For a long time people thought it was indispensable. We can’t possibly manage without it. Yeah, but it’s been off the market for what, two years now? Something like that. And the industry, the growers—they are managing, they’re moving forward. It’s a perfect example of that phrase: a farmer makes a plan. People adapt. It proves it can be done even when key products disappear. Exactly. And despite the fact that South Africa is, you know, maybe a smaller market for big international companies launching brand new active ingredients, Villa is still innovating right here. They’re launching generics, yes. But also—get this—a first-in-South Africa active ingredient planned for 2025. Really? Even with all these hurdles? Even with the hurdles. That just screams resilience, doesn’t it? Resilience in action. Wow.

What a truly remarkable deep dive. An industry just constantly reinventing itself under pressure. Villa’s success here, navigating these incredibly tough regulatory waters—a CMR ban, restricted products—it really seems to boil down to a few key things, doesn’t it? It does. Proactive strategic planning, like those hurdles. Systematic adaptation, not just reacting. That crystal-clear internal communication system. And, well, just an incredibly resilient, collaborative team pulling together across departments. You summed it up perfectly. And you know, in a world where these regulatory landscapes are just always churning, that ability to anticipate, to respond strategically—it isn’t just a nice-to-have for a company. It's not just about competitive advantage. No, it’s more fundamental. It’s absolutely essential for ensuring global food security.

Which kind of leaves us with a final thought. Maybe something for you, the listener, to consider. Okay, what other industries out there are facing similarly high-stakes, dynamic regulations? Maybe health care, energy, finance? Could they benefit from adopting a similar proactive, systematic, forward-looking approach to dealing with regulatory change—especially when, like in agriculture, the well-being of millions might be on the line?

That’s a really powerful question. Definitely something to ponder as you go about your day.

Before you go, if you’ve got an eye for photography then you want to listen up. Villa is launching our first ever photo competition. We’re calling all South African growers, crop advisors and everyone in the crop production industry to join the Villa Crop Capture Challenge. You can enter up to five photos, one per category, which include Machines and Equipment, Farm Landscapes, Faces of Farming, Pests and Diseases, and Villa Products in Action.

Every three months we’re awarding epic prizes to category winners. And agents, listen up: if you refer a grower and they enter your name on the entry form, you win—if they win—even if you don’t enter yourself. After three rounds, we’ll crown our overall champions. Third place wins a DJI drone worth around R15,000. Second place gets a FLIR night vision camera worth around R30,000. And the grand prize? A METOS weather station worth up to R60,000.

So yes, this is not just any competition. All you have to do is capture the winning photos, post it on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok or LinkedIn, then finalize your entry on our website where we explain everything in detail. Don’t miss this chance! Visit our website now—link in the description.

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