Bayer and the Brazilian biotech company IdeeLab have agreed a 12-month research and development partnership to bring biological crop protection products to Brazil, covering the whole product development cycle with the aim of eventually selling biofungicides.
IdeeLab's work will give Bayer new candidates, three of which are already in field trials in Brazil. The announcement came in the same week that Bayer said it would launch 17 new biological products in Latin America by 2030.
Neither company has named the pathogens or the crops it will target first. Fungal disease is a live problem across Brazil's main crops, however: Asian soybean rust, white mold and target spot reduce soybean yields, witches' broom hits cassava, and coffee is exposed to leaf rust, brown eye spot and target spot. Brazilian growers are also dealing with growing resistance to common fungicides, which means more frequent spraying and higher production costs.
"Biologicals are another way we address these challenges," said Benoit Hartmann, insights, innovation and partnerships lead at Bayer's Crop Science division, describing them as part of full-farm systems that complement the crop protection toolkit.
IdeeLab is a contract development and manufacturing organization that helps other companies develop, test and commercialize biological products. Founder and CEO Ronaldo Dalio said it already has more than 30 products on the market and works with more than 60 partners, including Syngenta and ICL. Its own selling point is an exclusive microbial collection chosen for tropical pests and diseases, on the argument that bacteria, microbes and molecules already present in tropical farming make research and adoption more efficient.
Under the deal, IdeeLab will supply bioprocess engineering expertise to establish qualities such as efficacy and shelf life, along with access to local partnerships and knowledge of Latin American regulators. Bayer has operated in Brazil for more than a century and already sells several biological products in the region.
Brazil is at the front of biological crop input development, helped by strong grower adoption and a favorable regulatory environment. There, row crops such as corn and soybean lead adoption, unlike other regions where biologicals are more common in specialty crops.
The companies plan to show results and hope to commercialize a product after the 12 months. Dalio said registration and further field trials would follow, and that future projects are already under discussion.
Source: AgFunderNews
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