Ceradis: Focus on formulation technologies and biological solutions

AgroPages recently interviewed Willem-Jan Meulemeesters, CEO at Ceradis BV，who shared his views on Ceradis’ solutions and formulation technology, its target markets and target clients, the plans to extend new markets/regions, as well as current collaborations with other companies.

Q1. Who is Ceradis?

Ceradis is a spin-off from the University of Wageningen, the Netherlands. This university is consistently ranked #1 or 2 globally for Food/Agri. Ceradis develops and commercializes innovative and patent-protected, environmentally friendly crop protection products and formulations. Its founder was a formerly a scientist at Wageningen University; and our team still mainly consists of scientists – we have a very high percentage of PhD’s in the company!

Q2. Could you talk about Ceradis’ series products /solutions and its special advantages?

Basically, we aim to help farmers and the crop protection industry in general make the transition to more environmentally friendly agriculture, responding to societal and regulatory pressure. This means keeping the same level of control but with less chemicals. To achieve this, we have 2 types of solutions: biopesticides to replace chemical pesticides, and formulation technologies to reduce the amount of active ingredient needed. So all our solutions are essentially similar to the current products in efficacy, handling and value, making the transition for farmers easier.

Q3. Could you highlight Ceradis’ formulation technology and its innovation and application value?

At the moment, we have 4 formulation platforms, and are seeking new ones. To give one example, we have an entrapment technology which allows a slow release, enhanced rainfastness and thereby overall much higher efficacy. This technology is very versatile – we have shown its efficacy with fungicides and herbicides and we are now working to show this effect also for other classes. It is also low-cost, relatively simple from a regulatory point of view and is compatible with organic certification (depending on the AI used). So we believe this technology can bring unique products, enhanced formulations with reduced AI dose rates, offering clear value to farmers and a differentiator for distributors.   

Q4. Could you introduce the global presence of Ceradis and its plans to extend new markets?

Currently, we are active in the EU and in parts of LATAM. Our next main expansion, geographically, is the USA. There we are preparing to launch our biofungicide, CeraMax. It has an excellent profile (exempt from tolerance), similar efficacy as chemicals and easy usage. The interest from the industry has been very high and it is one of the main investment targets for us in the coming years.

Q5. Could you talk about your company’s current collaborations with other companies?

We are proud to work with several of the largest and best-known crop protection and production companies, such as Syngenta, Adama, DeSangosse, Belchim, Koppert and Dole. In fact, there are many more – I cannot list them all here. It is great to work with them, and a real validation of the value and scope of our technology. Our strategy is not to distribute our products ourselves, but to work with distribution partners on the basis of solid, long-term partnerships.

Q6. What’s the development planning of your company over the next 5 years?

Fundamentally, it is bringing our products to the market and showing more application areas for our technologies. Therefore, we are always keen to find new potential business partners so we may explore with them how our products and technologies could help them. Agriculture is going through some major changes right now, with regulatory pressure, ever-rising costs to develop new AI’s, the consolidation in the industry, the cost pressure by farmers and so forth. So whether you’re looking how you can add biologicals to your line, or how you can make the most of your current AI portfolio, we believe we have the tools to help you.