Project description
Smart biological risk diagnosis in agriculture
Soil is populated by microbes that affect crop quality and cause damage to agriculture. As a consequence, there is a need for microbiome diagnosis and a deep understanding of microbial interactions to assess the health of soils and predict disease risks. The EU-funded BeCrop project will investigate the complex network of microorganisms populating the soil by combining DNA sequencing technologies and proprietary AI and using computational algorithms. BeCrop is an innovative product that will provide detailed information on the health status of soils, diagnose crop disease risks and detect nutritional shortcomings. The product is supported by the first patented smart soil microbiome-based platform possessing a pioneering database of more than 5 000 soil samples from 20 different countries worldwide.
Objective
Biome Makers is an innovative biotech company founded in 2015 by two well-recognized Spanish entrepreneurs, based in both Spain (14 employees) and U.S. (6 employees). We were named one of the Most Innovative Startups at the AgFunder Innovation Awards and Worldwide Agripreneur of 2019 in the future Agro Challenge. By combining DNA Sequencing technologies to profile the whole spectrum of microbes populating in the soils and proprietary Artificial Intelligence, we are using ecological computing algorithms to understand this complex network of microorganisms. The final goal is to provide insights and innovative metrics measuring soil bioactivity to improve agricultural yields and lower its environmental impact. Biome Makers have developed the first patented smart soil microbiome-based platform with a unique database of more than 5,000 soil samples from 20 different countries worldwide. In this context, BeCrop® rises as an innovative product that will provide a detailed snapshot of the health status of crop soils, by giving metrics about crop diseases risks, general biodiversity, an nutritional shortcomings, through the identification of the whole soil microbiome (the known +67K microbial species but also the unknown) with only a soil sample per ha. BeCrop® is the direct evolution of our system WineSeq®, developed by Biome Makers. WineSeq® is the first and the only intelligent platform designed for the wine sector for the characterization and comparison of the microbial communities that influence the quality and the organoleptic properties of wine, through a genomic NGS tool. In this context, the development of BeCrop® relies on the need to develop a complete soil microbiome diagnosis and microbial interactions understanding to identify potential microbial biomarkers to measure the health and quality of soils and, thus, to predict disease threats, functional bioactivity, as well as providing practical ag-input recommendations into a near future.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
SME-2b - SME Instrument (grant only and blended finance)Coordinator
47006 Valladolid
Spain
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.