Periodic Reporting for period 2 - BioWeedControl (BioWeedControl: Accelerating Europe’s transition towards a chemical-free agriculture)
Reporting period: 2021-10-01 to 2023-03-31
Agriculture is facing enormous challenges: by 2050, it is expected to feed nearly ten billion people. An additional problem is that energy, water and arable land are becoming increasingly scarce. In order not to permanently damage the soil, sustainable management and a reduction of environmental pollution from agriculture is important. Furthermore, well-managed agriculture is the foundation of a bio-based economy and the source of safe and nutritious food for the world’s population. Tremendous changes are facing this industry as climate change makes outdoor production more vulnerable to extreme weather, drought, and erosion by wind and rain. Weed management is crucial for sustainable and resource-efficient farming and does any longer not need to be based on chemicals alone. Bind-X supports farmers with a new technology that not only helps control weed growth but also mitigates problems caused by climate change, such as wind erosion.
Within the BioWeedControl project a radically different and innovative approach to protect crops against weeds was brought to market readiness. Instead of killing weeds by using an active chemical substance, which is how most conventional herbicides work, BioWeedControl successfully validated - in multiple large-scale field trials all over Europe - a completely new concept of preventing weed growth by forming a water-permeable physical barrier on the soil surface. The unique offering of the technology, i.e. similar efficacies as chemical herbicides but without harmful effects on the environment and human health, was further confirmed by independent third parties during the project. It was confirmed, among other aspects, that the farmer can use existing application equipment and has no disadvantages regarding supply chain and storage. Furthermore, the production of the product candidates could be fully scaled up and the IP protection was strengthened, for instance by nationalization of a core patent in more than 30 countries worldwide.
The main outcome of BioWeedControl is nevertheless that it emerged as an even broader than expected contributor to the Green Deal initiative: the desired increase of organic farming can be supported through preventing wind drift of conventional pesticides onto organic farms, and the developed technology also offers organic farmers an efficient weed management alternative. Furthermore, the reduction of chemical pesticides is heavily supported through not only replacing conventional herbicides, but optionally also increasing the effective duration of these herbicides if they are used. Within the project, further advantages in improving soil health and in preserving topsoil and biodiversity were shown. All these contributions aim at all main stakeholders: farmers (through maintaining and partly even increasing yields), large product manufacturers (through supporting an efficient transition period towards only biologicals), the food value chain (through non-negotiable safety advantages), and political actors (through also tackling CO2 emissions and other structural considerations).