The Danish Innovation Fund has awarded a grant to Chr. Hansen, the University of Copenhagen and the Danish Technological Institute (DTI), who have joined forces to develop natural solutions for sustainable agricultural production.
Called Bac4Crop, the €3.9 million project has just started and will run for four years.
Chr. Hansen said steps in the project include the “screening of new microbials based on plant and microbiome predictors”, and engineering more efficient and robust products by “making bacterial consortia”.
According to the American Academy of Microbiology, microbial solutions to improve plant health have the potential to increase crop productivity by 20% and reduce fertiliser and pesticide requirements by 20% within 20 years.
Chr. Hansen vice president of plant health Henrik Joerck Nielsen said: “Beneficial bacteria is a natural way to protect plants and crops, and can contribute to improved crop yield, as well as yield stability within agriculture.
“With this grant, we join forces with Copenhagen University and DTI, to develop cost-effective, beneficial bacteria for agricultural production that can spur the conversion away from classical pesticides and fertilisers.”
Innovation Fund Denmark managing director Peter Høngaard Andersen said: “The combination of the University of Copenhagen’s world-class research with Chr. Hansen’s technical know-how and deep microbial knowledge and DTI’s field trial capabilities creates a compelling platform to address this important challenge. The end goal is to increase yield for farmers globally and to provide consumers with crops exposed to fewer chemicals.”
Joerck Nielsen added: “Today, there is very little science applied in understanding the mode of action when it comes to microbial solutions in agriculture, which leads to inefficient product development and insufficient products. The Bac4Crop project will increase the success rate and decrease the development cost of launching new plant beneficial bacteria as robust products for use in sustainable agricultural production.
“Chr. Hansen has already had great success within plant health during the last five years. Leveraging on expertise built up over 140 years of developing microbial solutions within food, it is our ambition to expand our global leadership to provide a sustainable alternative to farmers worldwide.”
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