Novozymes, AgroFresh and Certis Biologicals jointly develop post-harvest preventive bioinputs in Argentina

The biotechnology company, Novozymes, signed a strategic collaboration agreement with AgroFresh and Certis Biologicals aimed at jointly developing biological-based solutions for controlling fungal pathogens that affect fruits, vegetables and flowers, which begin to lose their quality and deteriorate after harvest.

According to the partner companies, the objective is ″to improve post-harvest quality and reduce waste,″ since a third of food produced is lost or wasted even before reaching consumers, with fruits and vegetables responsible for more than half that amount.

Certis Biologicals’ active ingredients are combined with Novozymes' LCO technology, and this combination is being tested.

Certis Biologicals’ biofungicide offers broad-spectrum preventive control and suppresses many fungal and bacterial diseases that affect crops.

Novozymes’ solution uses lipo-chito-oligosaccharide (LCO) promoter technology to maximize plant health and crop yield.

″Certis’ experience and leadership, coupled with Novozymes’ innovation, is a powerful partnership that will bring new bioinput solutions to growers, at a time when effective crop protection is more crucial than ever,″ said Amy O' Shea, President and CEO of Certis Biologics.

Duncan Aust, Chief Technology Officer of AgroFresh, said that his company and Novozymes have ″very similar missions based on sustainability and the introduction of differentiated technologies, to address unmet needs across the food chain.″  

″We are excited to partner with Novozymes to pioneer the use of biological solutions in the post-harvest sector, to reduce food loss and waste and help improve the overall quality of our food system overall,″ he added.

Thomas Stenfeldt Batchelor, Vice President Agricultural Marketing and Strategy at Novozymes, said that there are ″great synergies, including Novozymes’ pioneering bio-innovation experience, R&D resources and AgroFresh’s application knowledge.″

″We will explore the development of viable and sustainable post-harvest solutions, to also alleviate important supply chain problems. Partnering with AgroFresh gives us the opportunity to expand our BioAg offerings to the post-harvest sector, at a time when fruit and vegetable growers are facing some of the toughest challenges in their history,″ he added.

(Editing by Leonardo Gottems, reporter for AgroPages)