Patent Landscape Analysis and the Agrifood Sector

The recent WIPO report on the state of innovation in the agrifood sector draws on patent landscape data and analysis by Questel’s IP Consulting team. We profile some of the key findings from the report and explain why analyzing patent trends is key to understanding innovation and technological advancements. 

For its recent Patent Landscape Report—Agrifood, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) set out to investigate the patent landscape of the agrifood sector, a term encompassing the agricultural and food industries. Drawing on patent landscape data supplied by Questel's IP Consulting team, it reveals vital insights into the state of innovation in the agrifood sector today.  

Why Agrifood? 

Food security is a well-recognized cornerstone of modern world sustainability. To achieve ‘zero hunger’, the second Sustainability Goal of the United Nations, governments and international organizations must work together to overcome key problems such as population growth, rapidly expanding urbanism, and climate change. Their efforts to orchestrate the agricultural sector and food industry help to assure the stability of the food security system and are translated into regulations. The regulations, on one hand, and growing food demand, on the other, channel innovation into developing solutions for more efficient food production and distribution. 

Why Analyze the Patent Landscape? 

Analyzing patent filing activity provides vital insights into those channels of innovation. For WIPO’s Agrifood report, we analyzed the patent landscape of 23 subdomains, with special consideration for Soil and fertilizer management, Non-pesticide pest and disease management, Precision agriculture, and Alternative nutrient sources for human food. By identifying the filing trends and key players helping to improve the food security system, the analysis also emphasizes the relationship between government policy and technology development. 

To view the live data and WIPO analysis, please visit WIPO’s dedicated Patent Landscape Report—Agrifood web page. 

Key findings 

Our patent landscape data was provided to WIPO on live dashboards so that filing and innovation trends can continue to be tracked. At the time of launch, the following key findings have emerged: 

• Asia and China lead the field in local applications 

Overall, Asia is the region with the most filed patent applications in the agrifood sector, with China the leader in the total amount of applications. However, most of these filings are not extended internationally, meaning that the solutions provided are beneficial mostly for local populations.   

• The USA leads globally 

As the WIPO analysis focuses specifically on global trends, only extended patent families were chosen for this patent landscape analysis. Globally, the United States of America is the leader in priority filings of extended patents, reflecting the location of the research and development departments of organizations providing global solutions. The USA is followed by China, Japan, the European Union, and Germany. 

• The sector is embracing emerging technologies 

Worldwide patent literature from the last two decades reveals the extensive efforts of agricultural machinery manufacturers to develop automatic and autonomous agricultural robots, as well as controlled farm environments. This field is evolving rapidly due to developments in the Internet of Things (IoT), cloud, artificial intelligence (AI), imaging, and sensor technologies, including the first use of predictive algorithms to assist in farm duties.   

• Digital transformation is key to traceability and recruitment 

Equally, advances in blockchain technology have fueled the progress of two other trending topics, according to our patent landscape research: investment platforms and compliance and traceability systems. Digital transformation is encouraged by governments looking to strengthen the attractiveness of agriculture domains to young people. 

• ‘Greener’ fertilizers and pesticides are fast-growing fields 

The current landscape also demonstrates important growth for domains related to fertilizers and pesticides. Traditionally heavily dependent on chemicals, the agricultural sector’s focus has been switching to green technologies due to wide-ranging regional policies and incentives. These include pushing innovation towards the wider application of biotechnology-based solutions valorizing agricultural waste, supporting soil microbiome, and improving overall soil health. 

• Alternative protein production continues to rise 

With the meat and dairy industry being the most resource-demanding agrifood domains, a strong and stable innovation trend can be identified in alternative protein production. These meat and dairy alternatives include harnessing plant, insect, fungi, and algae sources to produce high-quality protein, as well as more recent technologies, such as cultured meat, precision fermentation, etc. A substantial part of the innovation in this domain is devoted to improving the nutrition and sensory characteristics of alternative food products. 

Looking Forward 

As our patent landscape analysis and WIPO’s Agrifood report reveal, digital transformation and biotechnology have ignited a major shift in this sector, from traditional “human/machine”-centric soil-management systems to multidisciplinary, automated, and connected approaches. Nonetheless, enforcing regional regulations is expected to be critical to the agrifood industry’s ability to orient the promised productivity gain to achieve a universal benefit and guarantee a sustainable global food security system in the coming years. 

To review the patent landscape data and analysis in full, visit WIPO’s interactive Patent Landscape Report—Agrifood.  

To find out more about patent landscape analysis in other sectors, browse our patent landscape reports, or contact our subject matter experts.