Plant-based biotech could stem crop losses in a hotter world

The British food supply stands on a house of cards under a warming climate. 66% of its consumed berries including bananas, 54% of citrus, and 19% of legumes come from countries with high or intermediate climate vulnerability.

Britain is not unique however. The food systems of most countries will be vulnerable to far-flung climate shocks. 19% of global calories cross an international border, according to the international Food Policy Research Institute. Over half of the food consumed in the North Africa and Near East region is imported.

Drought is the most significant wide-scale climate risk for agriculture. Hotter temperatures in some regions will lead to desertification, where fertile soil turns to barren sand. Dwindling rainfall will intensify competition over freshwater, with agriculture often the biggest user of this resource.  

In light of the food security risks posed by heat and reduced moisture, agricultural biotech startups in Europe are beginning to develop products that can enhance crop survival under drought conditions.

Plant-based plant protection

Drought-related crop losses might be something that we associate with countries closer to the equator but as Europe’s dry periods become more frequent, the region will also face food security crises. Record breaking temperatures in 2023 have already meant cereal production in southern Europe could fall by up to 60% on last year.

To mitigate losses in a changed climate, farmers will have to take a multi-pronged approach. Irrigation methods will have to change and tighter water use regulations may become normalised. In some places, farms will plant new crop species altogether.

An emerging tool of agricultural adaptation are biostimulants that help crops survive lengthier dry spells. Elicit Plant, a French agri-biotech company founded in 2017, is one of a growing number of European startups specialising in drought-related agricultural biotech.

Their product is a plant-based molecule which improves plant resistance to water stress, a crop trait that will become much more desirable to farmers across the world over the coming decades.

The active molecule in Elicit Plant’s product is called phytosterol, a lipid naturally found in plant cells that activates water stress mechanisms. Sold under the name Best-a, Elicit Plant already markets it internationally for corn and soy crops.

The product functions as an external, additional source of this molecule to the water-stressed plant. When applied to the plant leaf, it is designed to encourage root system growth so the crop can tap into water stores deeper underground. The substance also reduces evapotranspiration, a natural plant metabolic process that releases moisture from its leaves into the air.

In 2022, Elicit Plant obtained €16M in financing including from an equity component led by Sofinnova Partners and supported by the European Circular Bioeconomy Fund and BPI France. It plans to use the funds to commercialise.

Apart from price point, the major factor that determines the uptake of new agricultural biotech is proof it works in the field. Farmers tend to be conservative in their methods, a hedge against the nature of their product: year-long crop maturation cycles combined with the uncertainties of weather, crop diseases, and changing market prices.

To demonstrate the efficacy of their product, Elicit Plant has organised multiple field trials including with French agricultural cooperatives Euralis and Océalia as well as on their own experimental farm.

Multi-purpose stress relief

Drought is not the only weather pattern that farmers of the future will have to contend with more frequently. Climate change brings not just warming but more and more intense weather events of all shades, including flooding.

Fyteko is a Brussels-based startup working on a very similar product to Elicit Plant but addresses the whole suite of climate-driven extreme weather impacts. Its portfolio consists of several hydroxycinnamic acid oligomers (HAO), molecules taken from plant cell walls.

These molecules send a chemical signal which kickstarts coping mechanisms to combat stresses such as temperature, drought and flooding. Like Elicit Plant’s formulation, it is applied to the leaf.

Fyteko now has its sights on isolating and patenting other kinds of biomolecules that can make crops more robust. One ongoing project is a collaboration with Mycosign, a German company, to develop new biostimulants that can improve stress resistance and increased water use efficiency in plants using mycorrhizal fungi.

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