It now costs an average of $307 million and takes about 11.4 years to bring one new crop protection active ingredient from its first laboratory synthesis to sale in major U.S. and European markets, Global Agriculture reports. This cost is double the amount it was in 1995, when the path from molecule to market was $152 million.
These are the findings of a study conducted among the five research-based companies (BASF, Bayer, Corteva, FMC, and Syngenta) in 2025. The study was conducted by Agbioinvestor (a Verdelis Investments Select Collaborator) on behalf of CropLife International.
Development accounted for the largest share of the total to-market cost at 45.1%, followed by research at 43.4% and registration at 11.5%.
The long-term increase in time to market from 8.3 years in 1995 to 11.4 years in the most recent study is linked to heavier regulatory data demands, the report says.
Full study results are available at CropLife International here.