Over 125 million tonnes of staple and horticultural crops are wiped out each year due to fungal infections, including over 5% of Europe’s vineyards. New, ever-more-powerful chemical fungicides are entering the market, but these are only effective at immediate fungal elimination. Fungi are highly adaptable and quickly develop resistance to such chemicals. This has led to a rise in the excessive use of increasingly aggressive chemicals fungicides, such as copper sulphate, which accumulate in soil and groundwater threatening human and environmental health. Consequences include decreased soil fertility, low crop yields and harmful fungicide entry into the food chain. Growing concerns over these unsustainable practices are reflected in the increasing European consumer demand for products grown without chemical treatment- demonstrated by recent rapid growth (14.8%) in the organic food market. To safely meet the demands of a growing population and increasingly fragile ecosystems, the market needs an affordable and effective, yet environmentally friendly method of fungal elimination.
In pilot studies, our proprietary Trichoderma based biofungicide, BioAvenger, showed 100% lethal efficiency against a range of copper resistant mould and rot fungi whilst boosting crop yields by up to 50% and sequestering harmful copper residues, preventing their entry into groundwater.
The overall objectives of the BioAvenger project are complete product validation and development of infrastructure to produce and supply the product to farmers, producers and gardeners throughout Europe. This will be achieved by completing large scale field trials of BioAvenger in our entry markets to confirm its efficacy against target pathogens on a range of crop species. To guarantee the quality of our final product we will prepare in-house facilities for Trichoderma growth, and validate them under operational conditions. Further objectives are to finalise product composition and secure necessary regulatory approvals whilst protecting our IP and planning for successful commercialisation and dissemination.
