Highlights
- Biological and liquid seed treatment for drought, temperature and salt stressors
- Four years of field trials (3,000+ plots) showing yield increases of up to 85% in stressed growing conditions and up to 15% in low stress conditions
- Corn and rice formulations ready for sale in 2015 growing season; wheat and soybean in pipeline
- Global seed treatment market $3.6 billion in 2013 and reaching $6 billion by 2020 (AgriThority)
- Biologicals are the fastest growing segment of the seed treatment market, growing at a rate of up to 15% annually (AgriThority)
- Pricing structured for farmer ROI of 200% in lowest bound scenario (3% yield increase)
- Experienced management team with 2 PhDs and 40+ years combined experience with plant-fungal symbiosis and business development and management
- Scalable business model that fits into existing seed supply chain
- Big name collaborators: Monsanto, DuPont, Bayer, INCOTEC, Lords Seed, Reforest, Krishidan Seed, Kenya Biologics
- Scientific community and Press: Scientific American, Washington Post, Nature, Fast Company, Wired, SeedStock, BioScience, NPR
Product / Service
BioEnsure®is applied as a seed treatment. The U.S. agriculture industry is moving in the direction of treating all seeds. According to Bayer CropScience, more than 90% of all corn seeds are being coated with chemicals today. BioEnsure is designed to work within the existing industry equipment and is applied as a liquid formulation at the same time other chemical treatments are applied.
The Problem
Technological efforts to develop stress-tolerant crops have included genetic modification, mutational selection and breeding traits from wild plants, all of which have had low levels of success. Billions of dollars have been spent on these efforts. In addition, the slow and tedious nature of developing these technologies is not meeting the global need to respond to existing climate challenges, and is unlikely to do so in the reasonably near future.
The Solution
- Abiotic stress tolerance – drought, salinity, cold and hot temperatures, low NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium) nutrient levels
- Decrease irrigation needs – plants use up to 50% less water – and decrease fertilizer usage
- Early vigor increase – enhanced growth response & seedling development
- Increase overall plant health, plant biomass and overall yield (the bottom line in agriculture)
- Increase in overall soil health
AST has a strong BioEnsure® product pipeline. Many of the product lines are listed as organic by the Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI).