Agricultural Film and Mulch Materials Patents: Trends & White Space 2026
- Filing has cooled since its 2018 peak. Eight records filed that year against just one in the most recent (partial) year — momentum has not returned to that level since a flat 2022 midpoint of two records.
- No single filer dominates. The five leading assignees together account for 27.5% of the 51 records in scope, and the ranked leaders extend to 37 companies with a long single-filing tail.
- Claims cluster hard around biodegradation and composition. 90.2% of records sit in horticulture/forestry (A01G) and 74.5% in polymer compositions (C08L), while layered-product and fertiliser-mixture claims stay comparatively rare.
What this landscape covers
This dataset tracks 51 published records filed between 2015 and mid-2026 that combine agricultural, mulch or greenhouse film terminology with claims on UV stabilization, biodegradation, light transmission, soil residue or mechanical laying and recovery, restricted to IPC classes covering polymer processing (C08J), horticulture equipment (A01G) and polymer compositions (C08L). It is a narrow, claim-specific slice of a much larger crop-protection and polymer-films literature, built to surface where inventive activity in this combination of function and material actually sits.
Filing activity peaked in 2018 and has not returned to that level since; because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the most recent year understates real activity. Receiving-office data shows China carrying the largest share of filings, with Japan, India and PCT filings forming the next tier — a pattern consistent with mulch film being a field driven by regional agricultural practice as much as by global materials science.
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 51 records: how filing has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claims.
A 2018 peak that has not been repeated
Filings ran from 3 in 2017 to a peak of 8 in 2018, then eased back; the 2022 midpoint sat at just 2 records, and the most recent (partial) year shows 1. Read the tail end cautiously given the 18-month publication lag.
Claims concentrate in horticulture use and polymer composition
A01G (horticulture & forestry) touches 90.2% of the 51 records and C08L (polymer compositions) 74.5%, followed by C08J (polymer processing) at 54.9% and C08K (polymer additives) at 51.0%. B32B (layered products, 23.5%), C05G (fertiliser mixtures, 17.6%), C09K (11.8%) and A01C (5.9%) are all thinner — records can carry more than one class, so these shares add to more than 100%.
Shares are the percentage of the 51 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Agricultural Film and Mulch Materials with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about agricultural film and mulch materials and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe most-cited prior art in this space
US20180295793A1 — Mulch film with stretching guide and method of use
A biodegradable, degradable or bio-polymer mulch film comprising a stretching guide operatively attached thereto is provided. The stretching guide may comprise a mark on a surface of the film or a built-in/integrated tension monitor. A method for manufacturing the mulch film and a method of using the mulch film are also provided.Filed by 9298-6876 Québec Inc., published 2018-10-18.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US4686790A | Degradable agricultural plastic articles, e.g., mulching film, comprising slowly released multinutrients in m… | 54 |
| 2 | CN103627151A | 聚酯类完全生物降解地膜 | 50 |
| 3 | CN106003943A | 三层共挤生物降解地膜的制备方法及三层共挤生物降解地膜 | 31 |
| 4 | CN106519602A | 一种多层共挤生物降解地膜及其制备方法 | 28 |
| 5 | CN109575536A | 改性聚乙醇酸生物降解地膜及其制备方法 | 25 |
| 6 | CN105109165A | 一种可控生物降解地膜 | 24 |
| 7 | CN108260451A | 一种可除草的生物降解地膜 | 22 |
| 8 | CN108690333A | 一种高阻隔可生物降解地膜及其制备方法 | 19 |
| 9 | EP0224990A1 | Degradable agricultural mulch film | 19 |
| 10 | CN107365482A | 一种超薄全生物降解地膜专用增强增韧增透母粒 | 16 |
Citation counts favour older filings inside a searched corpus — read them as markers of influence on later claims, not as a signal of current commercial relevance.
Patent titles are shown in the language they were filed in, not translated, so that each record stays verifiable against the original filing — a translated title will not match in Eureka or in any national register. Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Four read-outs from the filing trend, the assignee ranking and the IPC composition.
Activity has cooled, not accelerated
The field peaked at 8 filings in 2018 and sat flat at 2 by the 2022 midpoint before falling further. Given the roughly 18-month gap between filing and publication, the final year or two of any chart here will always look thinner than filing activity actually was.
No single filer controls the space
The five leading assignees together hold 27.5% of the 51 records in scope, and the top 10 combined reach 47.1%. The ranked leaders extend to 37 companies, most with only one or two filings — a long tail rather than a concentrated core.
Function claims outnumber pure-material claims
Nearly every record ties back to horticultural application (A01G) rather than sitting purely in generic polymer chemistry, and 74.5% also carry a polymer-composition (C08L) class — most inventions here are framed as film-plus-use, not composition alone.
Filing activity is regionally led
China accounts for the largest share of receiving-office filings, ahead of Japan, India, WIPO/PCT, the United States and Canada. That pattern points to mulch film development being tied closely to regional agricultural practice rather than a single global R&D hub.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to agricultural film and mulch materials, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where the gaps sit
The ranking covers 37 companies with recorded filings — a long tail behind a handful of moderately active names, not a small oligopoly.
The leading filer sets the pace, narrowly
The top-ranked assignee holds 5 records, only slightly ahead of the rest of the top 5 and top 10 groups. That gap is too thin to call this a field with an entrenched incumbent.
Volume drops off fast after the leader
Both the fifth- and tenth-ranked assignees sit at just 2 records apiece, meaning most of the top 10's 47.1% share of all 51 records is spread thin rather than banked by one or two dominant players.
Recent-year activity has gone quiet across the board
None of the assignees tracked for recent-year momentum show filings in the latest year — consistent with the broader decline from the 2018 peak, though the 18-month publication lag means some of this year's real activity has simply not surfaced yet.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Zhejiang University | 0 | — |
| Mikado Kako Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Zibo Chengda Plastics Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Zhejiang Bohai Sanitary Products Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Shibataya Kakoshi Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Xinjiang Blue Ridge Tunhe High-End New Materials Engineering Technology Research Center Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Xinjiang Blue Ridge Tunhe Technology Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Chengdu Xinkeli Chemical Technology Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to a fragmented field with thinning recent filings — useful context before committing search or drafting time.
Map freedom-to-operate against the leaders
With the top 5 holding only 27.5% of the 51 records, a freedom-to-operate check needs to run against the full 37-company ranking, not just the visible leaders.
Run a freedom-to-operate check in EurekaWatch the biodegradation and composition core
C08L and C08J coverage sits above 50% of records; any new filing in biodegradable mulch composition should expect dense prior art in that overlap.
Explore claim density in EurekaTest claims in the under-claimed branches
Fertiliser-integrated mixtures and mechanical recovery equipment carry the thinnest IPC coverage in this set — worth a targeted novelty search before drafting.
Search white space in EurekaCommon questions about agricultural film and mulch material patents
The ranking covers 37 companies with recorded filings across the 51 records in scope, and no single filer dominates: the top 5 combined hold only 27.5% of all records, and the top 10 combined hold 47.1%. The leading assignee has 5 records, with fifth and tenth place both sitting at 2 records apiece. This is a fragmented field with a long tail of one- or two-filing entrants rather than a small set of dominant incumbents, so competitive tracking needs to look beyond the top names.
Filing peaked at 8 records in 2018 and has not returned to that level; by the 2022 midpoint it had fallen to 2 records, and the latest tracked year shows just 1. Because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the most recent year or two will always look thinner than actual filing activity turns out to be once later publications catch up. Even allowing for that lag, the multi-year trend from 2018 onward points to a cooling rather than an accelerating field.
Claims concentrate heavily in horticultural application (A01G, covering 90.2% of the 51 records) and polymer composition (C08L, 74.5%), with polymer processing (C08J, 54.9%) and polymer additives (C08K, 51.0%) also well represented. Layered-product structures (B32B, 23.5%), fertiliser mixtures (C05G, 17.6%), miscellaneous materials (C09K, 11.8%) and planting/sowing equipment (A01C, 5.9%) are all comparatively thin. Because a single record can carry multiple IPC classes, these figures describe overlapping claim coverage rather than a strict breakdown of the field.
US20180295793A1, filed by 9298-6876 Québec Inc. and published in October 2018, claims a biodegradable or bio-polymer mulch film with an attached stretching guide — either a printed mark on the film surface or a built-in tension monitor — plus methods of manufacturing and using it. It does not claim biodegradable mulch film generally, so it does not block work on film composition, UV stabilization or light transmission. It is specifically relevant to anyone designing a stretch-indicating or tension-monitoring feature into a laid mulch film, where a workable alternative is likely to sit in a different mechanism for signalling stretch or tension rather than in the film chemistry itself.
The thinnest IPC coverage in this dataset sits in fertiliser-integrated mixtures (C05G, 17.6% of records), mechanical laying and recovery equipment overlapping with planting/sowing classifications (A01C, 5.9%), and miscellaneous-materials applications (C09K, 11.8%). Combined with a filing trend that has cooled since 2018 and an assignee base spread across 37 companies with no dominant leader, these under-claimed branches — particularly fertiliser-integrated mulch and mechanical recovery tracking — look like the areas with the least prior art to design around.
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. Patsnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.
Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company’s registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.