Extending fresh food shelf-life through novel plant-derived biofungicides for post-harvest treatments

Project Information

AgroShelf

Grant agreement ID: 837118

DOI

10.3030/837118

Project closed

EC signature date 15 November 2018

Start date 1 December 2018

End date 31 May 2019

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs

Total cost

€ 71 429,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

AGROSUSTAIN SA
Switzerland

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - AgroShelf (Extending fresh food shelf-life through novel plant-derived biofungicides for post-harvest treatments)

Reporting period: 2018-12-01 to 2019-05-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

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.
Up to 40% of all F&V produced are lost at postharvest stages, during handling, storage and distribution. Among causes, food spoilage due to fungal pathogens (molds) leads to substantial food waste and an estimated $60 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.
After the successful outcomes of the feasibility study, the product development roadmap is now focused on completing the development of the marketable version of AgroShelf+, proceeding through final steps of the toxicity certification and targeting the final regulatory approval and registration of the product in 2022. The AgroSustain team undoubtedly sees a large business opportunity considering the market dimension, the global and regulative trend towards sustainable agriculture practices and food waste reduction, and the current lack of proper solutions addressing it.
Moreover, extensive pilot trials will be carried out with large companies producing and distributing fresh F&V worldwide (Phase 2), thus paving the way to the full market entry in 2022, by targeting the exotic fruits segment first, and then scaling up the business to other crops.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Starting from the successful lab- and greenhouse-scale demonstration of the AgroShelf+ solution, during this Phase 1 project we moved forward on the product development roadmap and validated the feasibility of our business model.
In order to do so, we interacted with a significant number of potential customers, which showed their interest in the AgroShelf+ solution, allowing us to collect more than 20 Letters of Interest and establishing agreements for upcoming in-field pilots with three large global producers and retailers.
The technical, physical and chemical analysis of the AgroShelf+ Active Ingredients (AI) confirmed the broad range fungicide activity of our product and its unique performances, as further validated during a preliminary pilot trial with the largest F&V distributor and retailer in Switzerland. This went along with a continuous product optimization in order to define the best product formulation and large-scale production protocols.
Moreover, we successfully went through the first round of toxicity tests, thus getting to the steppingstone of the product certification pathway.
The business feasibility was also assessed thanks to strong connections with key stakeholders in the fruits & vegetable value chain, thus confirming the possibility to successfully bring the AgroShelf+ product to the market thanks to its solid value proposition, technical performances and significant economic benefits for our customers. We refined our business plan with a more reality-based commercialization strategy, following an in-depth analysis of regulatory constraints and market barriers in Europe and abroad.
The feasibility study also helped AgroSustain to increase its knowledge of the global market and select the most profitable and fastest market segment to access, following product registration foreseen in 2022. Finally, a detailed financial plan has been drafted, together with the future development plan to undertake in order to bring the product to the market.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

To date, postharvest control of F&V fungal infections is being managed through the intensive field application of pre-harvest chemical pesticides. Nevertheless, chemical’s applications for agriculture use is expected to radically decrease in the near future due to some major drawbacks: 1) the development of fungicide resistance, which is making these solutions inefficient over time, 2) mounting health concerns of consumers and health authorities leading to the demand to reduce human and environmental exposure to chemicals, 3) increased restrictions imposed by regulatory agencies on specific agro-chemicals and/or their allowable residues on food. In the recent years, a large number of innovative treatments have been emerging as alternatives to synthetic fungicides. However, just few of these methods are used at commercial scale since their effectiveness is often relatively low and not always consistent.
Our AgroShelf+ product represents a clear step-forwards with respect to the above solutions thanks to a number of unique features:
• It is a Plant-derived treatment, in line with the strictest international and national regulation and with the requirements of the ever more diffused organic agriculture;
• It has outstanding antifungal properties against the widest range of fungi with just one product (27 more spread species), which means no need for multiple treatments and full coverage from spoilage;
• It ensures an unparalleled 7-days minimum shelf life extension for fruits, vegetables and berries
• It is cost-efficient and easily applicable through common practice at storage facilities.
In the fast-changing scenario of crop protection products, AgroShelf+ is the only natural and plant-based fungicide that can be applied at post-harvest stages, providing unprecedented fungicide activity against the widest range of pests and extending shelf-life.
This will allow AgroSustain to fulfil its vision to become a leading supplier of innovative, sustainable and nature-inspired plants protection solutions, contributing to the global efforts in reducing food waste and increasing food quality.

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