Project description
Fighting post-harvest spoilage with biofungicide
Up to 40 % of food and vegetable production is lost at the post-harvest stage, during handling, storage and distribution. This results in high economic and environmental costs. One reason for this is fungal pathogens. The synthetic fungicides traditionally used to control fungal infection are increasingly banned. The EU-funded AgroShelf project proposes use of AgroShelf+ that is an antifungal plant-derived compound with unprecedented fungitoxic effectiveness against a wide range of mainly existing fungi. The product prevents post-harvest fruit decay and extends food and vegetable shelf-life by at least seven days. The project will optimise the product formulation and intensify its performance, targeting specific crops.
Objective
Today up to a third of all food produced—and almost the 50% of fruits and vegetables (F&V)—perishes before being used with a consequent economic and environmental cost of $1.7 trillion.
Somewhere between the 20% and 40% of F&V are lost at postharvest stages, during handling, storage and distribution. Among causes, food spoilage due to fungal pathogens such as molds leads to substantial food waste and an estimated $100 billion of economic losses for producers, retailers and consumers.
Traditional control of fungal infection relies on preharvest (field) application of synthetic fungicides, but their use is being progressively banned and efficient natural alternatives are lacking on the market.
Moving from this scenario, AgroSustain has identified and patented more than 60 antifungal plant-derived compounds, getting to the formula of a new generation of highly-efficient and cost-effective natural fungicides. Our first product, AgroShelf+, shows an unprecedented fungitoxic efficacy against a wide range of mainly spread fungi, thus preventing postharvest fruit spoilage and extending the F&V shelf-life by a minimum of 7 days. This will allow food retailers and distributors using AgroShelf+ to greatly reduce their food loss costs and improving food quality for consumers.
Starting with Switzerland in 2020, AgroSustain plans to expand sales to other EU countries (France, UK and Germany).
During this Ph1 project we will optimize the product formulation in order to stress the AgroShelf+ performances targeting specific crops. We will also go through the first round of toxicity tests requested for the certification and regulative approval pathway. A cost-benefit analysis and a deeper market research will also consolidate our pricing strategy and business model. This will pave the way for the pilot test with large retailers in the Phase 2 project.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- agricultural sciences agriculture, forestry, and fisheries agriculture sustainable agriculture
- medical and health sciences health sciences infectious diseases
- agricultural sciences agriculture, forestry, and fisheries agriculture horticulture fruit growing
- natural sciences biological sciences microbiology mycology
- agricultural sciences agriculture, forestry, and fisheries agriculture horticulture vegetable growing
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.2.3. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.3. - PRIORITY 'Societal challenges
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H2020-EU.2.1. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) H2020-EIC-SMEInst-2018-2020
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
1020 Renens
Switzerland
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.