Global Regulatory Dialogue on Microbial Products for Agriculture (MPA) | 2026 | Session 1: Mapping the Regulatory Landscape of Biostimulants in the United States

Session 1: Mapping the Regulatory Landscape of Biostimulants in the United States

The first installment in the Global Regulatory Dialogue on MPA webinar series, “Session 1: Mapping the Regulatory Landscape of Biostimulants in the United States” provided an overview of how biostimulants are regulated in the United States. The term “biostimulant” covers a wide range of products, from living microbial inoculants to non-microbial inputs such as humic and fulvic substances, seaweed extracts, and amino acids. These products are generally intended to support plant nutrition, stress tolerance, or yield, and have significant potential to help mitigate the impacts of agriculture on the environment. In the U.S., the regulatory landscape for biostimulants has transformed rapidly in recent years, as stakeholders navigate open questions about how these products are defined, evaluated, and brought to market.

This session began with an overview of relevant information from the Global Regulatory Compendium for Agricultural Biological Products. Experts in U.S. federal and state-level regulatory oversight bringing experience from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Association of American Plant Food Control Officials (AAPFCO) presented current terminology, definitions, and regulatory frameworks relevant to bringing biostimulant products from development to market, including updates on emerging categories of biostimulants, such as Microbially Enhanced Fertilizers (MEFs) and Enhanced Efficiency Fertilizers (EEFs). Academic and industry scientists also shared research findings and perspectives on approaches for demonstrating biostimulant efficacy and establishing product validation tools. The session concluded with a moderated panel discussion examining the outlook for biostimulant products over the coming decade, including implications for agricultural production and sustainability and how regulatory frameworks in the United States may continue to evolve.

Agenda

Tuesday, September 29, 2026 | 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm (ET)

Dr. Patrick du Jardin

Professor of Plant Biology, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, University of Liège, Belgium

Dr. Patrick du Jardin is Professor of Plant Biology at Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, University of Liège, in Belgium, where he served as Dean from 2007 to 2009. He has been pioneering the concept of the plant biostimulant by authoring review articles and book chapters, by advising Belgian and European regulatory authorities, and by chairing international conferences, drawing on a long-standing, multidisciplinary expertise in the assessment of agricultural technologies. He was vice-chair of the GMO experts panel of the European Food Safety Authority between 2012 and 2015, and is currently chairman of the Joint Ethics Committee of the French public research institutes INRAE, Cirad, Ifremer, and IRD, active in the sectors of agriculture, food, environment, and sustainable development. He joined this session as a panelist.

Mr. John Gorsuch

Vice President, Research & Development, BiOWiSH Technologies, USA

Mr. John Gorsuch is the Vice President of Research and Development at BiOWiSH Technologies, where he specializes in the development of shelf-stable microbial fertilizer additives. He is an advocate for the establishment of science-based regulations to help restore growers’ confidence in microbial technology, and his industry stewardship work has included collaborations with The Fertilizer Institute and the Association of American Plant Food Control Officials in the United States, as well as support of efforts to establish sensible regulations for these products in China, Australia, Brazil, and Vietnam. He also works to support efforts at the International Organization for Standardization and AOAC International to ensure that appropriate laboratory methods for verifying the composition of agricultural microbial products are made available to regulators and other stakeholders around the world.

Mr. Keith Matthews

Principal, Matthews Law, LLC, USA

Mr. Keith Matthews is the Principal of Matthews Law, LLC, where he counsels and represents agricultural biotechnology companies as they navigate the U.S. regulatory system. He has practiced environmental law focusing on the regulation of chemical substances for over 30 years, in the private sector and, for over 13 years, as a staff attorney and Assistant General Counsel in the Office of General Counsel at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — first in the Air and Radiation Law Office, and then in the Pesticides and Toxic Substances Law Office. He also served for four years as Director of the Biopesticides and Pollution Prevention Division in EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs. His practice covers chemical products and genetically engineered organisms regulated by EPA, the Food and Drug Administration, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, across statutes including FIFRA, the FFDCA, TSCA, the Endangered Species Act, and the Plant Protection Act.

Dr. Sarah Richards

Scientific Program Manager, Agriculture & Food Systems Institute (AFSI), USA

Dr. Sarah Richards is the Scientific Program Manager at the Agriculture & Food Systems Institute (AFSI), where she contributes to the development and implementation of AFSI’s scientific programs on the regulation of biological products for agriculture, with an emphasis on microbial biopesticides, biofertilizers, and biostimulants. She joined AFSI in 2026 and is building its scientific program in this area, working across research, policy, and stakeholder communities to advance science-based approaches to the oversight and evaluation of microbial agricultural inputs. Her background spans soil microbial ecology and microbial inoculants alongside international agriculture and development. She was previously a Senior Research Associate at Indigo Agriculture, where she designed high-throughput screening assays and conducted field sampling to isolate bacterial and fungal strains for product development testing. She holds a Ph.D. in Ecology and a dual-title degree in International Agriculture and Development from The Pennsylvania State University.

Dr. Andrew F. Roberts

Chief Executive Officer, Agriculture & Food Systems Institute (AFSI), USA

Dr. Andrew Roberts joined the Agriculture & Food Systems Institute (AFSI) in December 2009 as the Deputy Director of the Center for Environmental Risk Assessment (CERA), where he developed tools and materials for use in training and capacity building related to the problem formulation approach to environmental risk assessment and served as the coordinator for CERA’s capacity building projects under the USAID-funded South Asia Biosafety Program (SABP) and the World Bank-funded Partnership for Biosafety Risk Assessment and Regulation, in Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Vietnam. He also provided technical support for capacity building work in Brazil, India, Japan, Chile, and South Africa. In January 2015, he became the director of CERA, as well as the Center for Safety Assessment of Food and Feed (CSAFF), which worked on food and feed safety assessment for foods derived from genetically engineered plants. The two centers were later consolidated under the Research Foundation, for which he became Deputy Executive Director in January 2017. When the organization became the Agriculture & Food Systems Institute in 2020, his title shifted to Vice President – Biotechnology, and he assumed the role of Chief Executive Officer later that year.

Prior to joining AFSI, Dr. Roberts worked at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in several different capacities, all related to the regulation of agricultural biotechnology. He began his career at USDA as an AAAS Risk Policy Fellow in the Office of Science at Biotechnology Regulatory Services (BRS), the group responsible for regulating genetically engineered plants at USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. After spending a year in the New Technologies office of the Foreign Agricultural Service serving as the lead for USDA’s efforts related to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, he returned to BRS to serve in the International Affairs branch where he remained until joining AFSI.

Mr. Terry Stone

Founder, Stone Biological Solutions, LLC, USA

Mr. Terry Stone is the founder of Stone Biological Solutions, LLC, a consultancy offering regulatory support to companies of all sizes in navigating the regulatory environment for biological products, and the author of AFSI’s Global Regulatory Compendium for Agricultural Biological Products. He was previously the Global Regulatory and Policy Leader for Corteva’s portfolio of biological products, and before that Vice President for Regulatory Affairs and Sustainability at Agrinos, having held leadership roles with Syngenta, The Scotts Company, and Monsanto across global regulatory affairs, sustainability, industry relations, and research and development. He helped establish and chaired the Biological Products Industry Alliance’s Biostimulant Innovation Committee, and co-founded the Biostimulant Industry Workgroup. He has earned Master’s degrees in International Business and Entomology.

Mr. Ed Thomas

Vice President, Government Affairs, The Fertilizer Institute, USA

Mr. Ed Thomas is the Vice President of Government Affairs at The Fertilizer Institute, where he has worked for over eight years advocating for the policy, legislative, and regulatory priorities of the plant nutrition industry. Before joining The Fertilizer Institute he was an engineer at the Virginia Department of Health, Department of Drinking Water, and he spent 10 years at the Washington, DC office of the National Rural Water Association as its Director of Regulatory Affairs. Earlier in his career he worked at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Water, and began as an environmental consultant. He graduated from Virginia Tech in 1993 with a Bachelor of Science degree and received his Master’s degree in Environmental Engineering from Johns Hopkins University in 1996.