Overcoming the salinity barrier

Project Information

SALICROP

Grant agreement ID: 887856

DOI

10.3030/887856

Project closed

EC signature date 22 November 2019

Start date 1 December 2019

End date 30 April 2020

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs

Total cost

€ 71 429,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

SALICROP LTD
Israel

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SALICROP (Overcoming the salinity barrier)

Reporting period: 2019-12-01 to 2020-04-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Salinity is among the major global burdens limiting food production, natural or human induced, ~20% of the global irrigated soils are already affected by salinity. Seed producers, aware of the billion-dollar business opportunity, have tried to overcome the salinity barrier without success.
Salicrop Ltd, a Israeli Agtech startup, develops seed treatments for saline soil and water, which enables growing crops on marginal land and/or irrigation with brackish water. Salicrop finalized its Proof of Concept (POC) with numerous successful trials of tomatoes, peppers, spinach, rice, wheat and corn with average of 30% increase in crop yield under salinity conditions.

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

During the program, we developed Salicrop to achieve the following deliverables:
• Conducting significant field trials, and measuring plant performance
• Regulatory issues and IPR management - potential patentable results, trade secrets/NDAs. Invest scientific and business insights in order to enforce the company IP assets
• Identification of technical risks and barriers. Elaboration of mitigation plansLearning the relevant regulation in our targeted markets
• Establish Internationalisation and commercial strategy and marketing and sales team.
• Collaborate with mid-tier seeds companies in order to test Salicrop seeds treatment.
• Adjustment and fine-tuning of business model. Adapting financial plan to target market, segments, prices and operational costs. Revenue projections.
• Capital requirements, financing options and ROI.

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)

We conclude the program with results better than our expectations, both commercially and technically. Based on our solid go-to-market strategy and business model, we will continue to leverage our traction and commercially available product to turn Salicrop to a worldwide leader in salinity agriculture.

Agro-World New Delhi 2019